虛用 · 守中如橐龠

Xū Yòng

Classical Chinese Text

天地不仁，以万物为刍狗①；圣人不仁，以百姓为刍狗。
天地之间，其犹橐龠乎？虚而不屈，动而俞出。多闻数穷，不若守于中。

Translation & Meaning

天地沒有偏私的情感造作，一視同仁地任憑萬物自然生長榮枯；聖人沒有主觀偏愛的幹預，平等無私地讓百姓自作自息。 天地之間生機流轉，不正像一座巨大的風箱嗎？內部空虛而不窮竭，一旦鼓動便生生不息地湧出風力。 政令與巧言繁多，反而更快陷入困窘，倒不如靜守內心的虛明中道。

Commentary

青禾散人評注：「不仁」並非冷酷，而是超越個人好惡的最高公正——如陽光普照萬物而不索感恩。風箱唯因其「虛」，方能生風不息；人心唯因其「守中」不偏執，方能應物無窮。

Linguistic & Character Analysis

  • 天 (tiān): heaven / nature / cosmos
  • 地 (dì): classical character (dì)
  • 不 (bù): not / un- / without
  • 仁 (rén): benevolence / kindness
  • 以 (yǐ): in order to / by means of
  • 万 (wàn): ten thousand / myriad / all
  • 物 (wù): things / phenomena / forms
  • 为 (wèi): act / deem / become
  • 刍 (chú): classical character (chú)
  • 狗 (gǒu): classical character (gǒu)
  • 圣 (shèng): sage / enlightened one
  • 人 (rén): person / human
  • 百 (bǎi): classical character (bǎi)
  • 姓 (xìng): classical character (xìng)
  • 之 (zhī): particle: of / possessive / it
  • 间 (jiān): classical character (jiān)
  • 其 (qí): its / their / his / her
  • 犹 (yóu): classical character (yóu)
  • 橐 (tuó): classical character (tuó)
  • 龠 (yuè): classical character (yuè)
  • 乎 (hū): classical character (hū)
  • 虚 (xū): empty / clear / open
  • 而 (ér): yet / and / but
  • 屈 (qū): classical character (qū)
  • 动 (dòng): action / motion / movement
  • 俞 (yú): classical character (yú)
  • 出 (chū): emerge / issue forth / originate
  • 多 (duō): classical character (duō)
  • 闻 (wén): classical character (wén)
  • 数 (shù): classical character (shù)
  • 穷 (qióng): classical character (qióng)
  • 若 (ruò): classical character (ruò)
  • 守 (shǒu): classical character (shǒu)
  • 于 (yú): to / at / in
  • 中 (zhōng): classical character (zhōng)