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.