University · Moderate

Chapter 20
[Original text]

The Master said: "People all say Yuzhi ①, drive them into traps, ②, but no one knows how to get rid of them ③. People all say Yuzhi, choose the mean, and can't wait for a month ④ to keep it."

【Note】

①Yuzhi: Yu, I, here refers to the "big self", generally referring to ordinary people.Zhi, with the meaning of "wisdom" and "wise".

② "Drive and" sentence: accept: include, extended to fall into.罟 (gǔ): The general term for net, also refers to the net for catching animals. "Yi Xici [-]": "For knotting a rope, it is a scorpion." 擭 (huò): A wooden cage with a mechanism for trapping animals.Trap: A deep pit for catching beasts, with a camouflage on the top and a sharp edge on the bottom. "罟擭相损" is a metaphor for a trap of profit.

③Bi (bi): Same as the word "avoid", to avoid.

④ period (jī) month: a whole month.Here it means short time.

【Translation】

Confucius said: "Everyone says 'I am wise', but driven by the desire for profit, they all fall into nets, wooden cages and traps like animals, and they don't even know how to escape. People say 'I'm wise', but they choose the middle way, but they can't stick to it for a month."

[Zhu Xi Tips]

RightChapter 7.

【Translation】

Zhu Xi said that the above paragraph is Chapter 7.

(End of this chapter)