1. Mencius said, ＇Yaou and Shun were what they were by nature; T＇ang and Woo were so by returning to natural virtue.
2."When all the movements, in the countenance and every turn of the body, are exactly what is proper,that shows the extreme degree of the complete virtue.Weeping for the dead should be from real sorrow, and not because of the living. The regular path of virtue is to be pursued without any bend, and from no view to emolument. The words should all be necessarily sincere, not with any desire to do what is right.
on common subjects, simple, plain. So, Choo He;but the passage in the Le-ke is not so general as his commentary. It gives the rule for looking at the emperor. A minister is not to raise his eyes above the emperor＇s collar, nor lower them below the gridle.Chaou K＇e tries to explain the expression without reference to the ancient rule for regulating the looking at men. Acc. to him, "words not below the girdle are all from near the heart".
2. This is the explanation of 守约而施博. The paragraph is a good summary of the teaching of the Great Learning.
CHAPTER 33. THE PERFECT VIRTUE OF THE HIGHEST SAGES, AND HOW OTHERS FOLLOW AFTER IT.
1. Comp. Pt. I, xxx, but之has not here a special reference to certain virtues as there.
2. This is an exhibition of the highest style of virtue—that of Yaou and Shun, which does everything right, with no motive beyond the doing so. "Weeping is from real sorrow, and not because of the living,"—i.e., there is nothing of show in it, and no wish to make an impression on others.
3. "The superior man performs the law of right, and thereby waits simply for what has been appointed."
