The Doctrine of the Mean Passage 16
子曰：「鬼神之為德，其盛矣乎！視之而弗見，聽之而弗聞，體物而不可遺。使天下之人齊明盛服，以承祭祀，洋洋乎如在其上，如在其左右。《詩》曰：『神之格思，不可度思！矧可射思！』夫微之顯，誠之不可掩如此夫。」
The Master said, "How abundantly do spiritual beings display the powers that belong to them! We look for them, but do not see them; we listen to, but do not hear them; yet they enter into all things, and there is nothing without them. They cause all the people in the kingdom to fast and purify themselves, and array themselves in their richest dresses, in order to attend at their sacrifices. Then, like overflowing water, they seem to be over the heads, and on the right and left of their worshippers. It is said in the Book of Poetry, 'The approaches of the spirits, you cannot surmise; and can you treat them with indifference?' Such is the manifestness of what is minute! Such is the impossibility of repressing the outgoings of sincerity!"
English: James Legge (1861), The Doctrine of the Mean, The Chinese Classics vol. 1 (1861); romanization modernized on Wikisource — public domain. Chinese: Chinese text from the Wikisource bilingual edition.
Character glossary
- 子zison, child; seed, egg; fruit; small thin
- 曰yuēto speak; to say
- 鬼guǐghost; demon; sly, mischievous
- 神shéngod, spirit; divine, mysterious, superna
- 之zhīmarks preceding phrase as modifier of fo
- 為wèito do, to act; to handle, to govern; to
- 德déethics, morality; compassion, kindness
- 其qíhis, her, its, their; that
- 盛shèngabundant, flourishing; to contain; to fi
- 矣yǐparticle of completed action
- 乎hūinterrogative or exclamatory final parti
- 視shìto look at, to inspect, to observe, to r
- 而érand, and then, and yet; but
- 弗fúnot, negative
- 見jiànto see, to observe, to meet, to appear
- 聽tīngto hear, to listen; to understand; to ob
- 聞wénnews; to hear, to smell; to make known
- 體tǐbody; group, class; form, style, system
- 物wùthing, substance, matter; creature
- 不bùno, not, un-; negative prefix
- 可kěmay, can, -able; possibly
- 遺yíto lose; a lost article
- 使shǐcause, mission, orders; envoy, messenger
- 天tiānsky, heaven; god, celestial
- 下xiàbelow, underneath; inferior; to bring do
- 人rénman, person; people
- 齊qíeven, uniform, of equal length
- 明míngbright, clear; to explain, to understand
- 服fúclothes; to dress, to wear; to take medi
- 以yǐaccording to; so as to; because of; then
- 承chéngto undertake, to bear, to accept a duty;
- 祭jìto sacrifice to, to worship
- 祀sìto sacrifice, to worship
- 洋yángsea, ocean; western, foreign
- 如rúas, as if, like, such as, supposing
- 在zàiat, in, on; to exist; used to indicate t
- 上shàngabove, on top, superior; to go up; to at
- 左zuǒleft; unorthodox, improper
- 右yòuright; right-wing
- 詩shīpoetry; poem, verse, ode
- 格géform, pattern, standard
- 思sīto think, to ponder, to consider; final
- 度dùdegree, system; manner; to consider
- 矧shěninterrogative particle; much more, still
- 射shèto shoot, to eject, to emit
- 夫fūman, husband; worker; those
- 微wēismall, tiny, trifling; micro-
- 顯xiǎnclear, evident; prominent; to show
- 誠chénghonest, sincere, true; actually, really
- 掩yǎnto cover up (with a hand); to ambush, to
- 此cǐthis, these; in this case, then
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Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.