首页 道家 老子道德经(英译本)Lao Tze

38. Ritual

  well established hierarchies are not easily uprooted;

  closely held beliefs are not easily released;

  so ritual enthralls generation after generation. harmony does not care for harmony, and so is naturally attained;

  but ritual is intent upon harmony, and so can not attain it.

  harmony neither acts nor reasons;

  love acts, but without reason;

  justice acts to serve reason;

  but ritual acts to enforce reason.

  when the way is lost, there remains harmony;

  when harmony is lost, there remains love;

  when love is lost, there remains justice;

  but when justice is lost, there remains ritual. ritual is the end of compassion and honesty,

  the beginning of confusion;

  belief is a colourful hope or fear,

  the beginning of folly.

  the sage goes by harmony, not by hope;

  he dwells in the fruit, not the flower;

  he accepts substance, and ignores abstraction.

  

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