《中庸》英译（三十）

仲尼祖述尧舜，宪章文武；上律天时，下袭水土。辟如天地之无不持载，无不覆帱；辟如四时之错行，如日月之代明。万物并育而不相害，道并行而不相悖。小德川流，大德敦化。此天地之所以为大也。

 

XXX.

 

Confucius taught the truth originally handed down by the ancient Emperors Yao and Shun; and he adopted and perfected the system of moral laws established by the Emperors Wen and Wu. He showed that they harmonise with the divine order which governs the revolutions of the seasons in the Heaven above and that they fit in with the moral design which is to be seen in the nature of water and land upon the Earth below.

These moral laws form one system with the laws by which Heaven and Earth, support and contain, overshadow and canopy all things. These moral laws for the same system with the laws by which the seasons succeed each other and the sun and moon appear with the alternations of day and night. It is this same system of laws by which all created things are produced and developed themselves each in its order and system without injuring one another; that the operations of Nature take their course without conflict or confusion; the lesser forces flowing everywhere like river currents while the great forces of Creation go silently and steadily on. It is this one system running through all that makes the Universe so impressively great.