Hong Zicheng (洪自誠)

To stay away from the glitter of power and profit is purity; to come near it and remain unstained is greater purity. To know nothing of clever schemes is nobility; to know them and leave them unused is greater nobility.

To have your ears constantly hear words that offend them, and your heart constantly meet things that thwart it: only this is the whetstone for improving virtue and cultivating conduct. If every word pleases your ears and every affair satisfies your heart, you are burying this life in poison.

In raging rain and fierce wind, the birds are distressed; in clear sunshine and gentle breezes, plants and trees flourish. This shows that Heaven and Earth cannot go a day without harmony, and the human heart cannot go a day without a spirit of joy.

Rich, fatty, pungent, and sweet flavors are not the true taste; the true taste is simply mild. The marvelous and extraordinary do not make a perfected person; the perfected person is simply ordinary.

Deep in the night, when others are quiet, sit alone and observe your heart. You begin to feel that delusion is exhausted and truth alone appears, and often find a great insight there. Then you realize that although truth has appeared, delusion is still hard to escape, and find great shame there too.

Those whose mouths and bellies know only wild greens are often pure as ice and jade; those in ceremonial robes who dine on delicacies willingly bend a servant’s knee and wear a slave’s expression. Aspiration becomes clear through simplicity, while integrity is lost through rich indulgence.

Leave the ground before you broad enough that others have no cause to sigh at unfairness. Let the benefits you leave after you flow long enough that others never cease to remember you.

Where the path is narrow, leave a step for someone else to pass. Where the flavor is rich, reduce your share by three tenths so others may enjoy it. This is an exceedingly peaceful way to move through the world.

Being a person requires no enormously lofty undertaking: escape ordinary attachments and you join the company of the distinguished. Learning requires no great labor of adding more: remove the burdens of external things and you rise into the realm of the sages.

In friendship, carry a measure of chivalry. In being a person, preserve a little of an unadorned heart.