Selected Passages from "Yuan’s Model Conduct in Society "
 
Yuan Cai, courtesy name Yuan Junzai (1140 – 1190 AD), was born in Xinan (now Changshan City, Zhejiang Province) in the Song Dynasty (960 – 1279 AD). He was third place in the civil service examination in Longxing Year One (1163 AD), and served as high as the Prosecutor. He once served as the mayor of Leqing County, and was known for his integrity and straightforwardness. To educate the local citizens and improve the moral standards of the general public, he wrote Suxun (meaning "lessons for the general public") in the 5th year of Emperor Song Xiaozhong (1127 – 1194 AD, ruling from 1162 – 1189 AD), to teach people how to behave in society. Later the book was renamed Shifan (meaning "model conduct in society") and was also called Yuan’s Shifan. It was widely circulated and had a profound impact. It became the first book to read for many private schools. Scholars throughout history have thought highly of the book.
 
The following are a few passages from the book to give readers a flavor of the divine culture of China, in which people respect heaven and comply with their fate, and emphasize respect and morality. This way we can understand the moral standard that ancient people have lived by.
 
1) One should treat others with respect whether they are rich or poor, noble or common
 
There are some narrow-minded people in this world who cannot treat everyone with equal respect and hospitality. They treat people according to their wealth and status and divide them into classes. When they see a rich or noble person they will be very polite. The wealthier and the higher-ranking the person is, the more humble they will be toward him. When they meet their fellow townsman who is poor and of lower status, they will be arrogant and look down upon him. They seldom help or take care of the lower class people. We should know that other people's wealth cannot add to our own glory, and other people's poverty cannot add to our shame either. Why change our attitude according to others' financial or social status? A person with high moral character and wisdom would never act this way.
 
2) Being noble or common is all predestined
 
One's moral character is entirely independent of one's career position. A person with higher moral character is not necessarily rich or noble; and a person with poor moral character does not always have a bad fate either. If that were the case, people such as Confucius and Yan Hui (a favorite student of Confucius) ought to have been prime ministers, and none of the prime ministers in the past history could have been corrupt. To cultivate our moral character is what we need to do; it is not for achieving any particular goal of profit or self-interest. Otherwise, one would relax his cultivation once the goal is not attained. He may then change his earlier principles and turn into a bad person.
 
Nowadays there are many ignorant people in this world who are rich, and also many that are intelligent but very poor. These are all pre-determined by the heaven, and we do not need to search for a reason for it. Knowing this principle and accepting it peacefully can save one much anxiety.
 
《袁氏世范》选译
 
袁采，字君载，宋朝信安（今浙江常山）人。隆兴元年登进士第三，官至监登闻检院。曾任乐清县县令，以廉明和刚直为人所称道，为了教化当地百姓，淳正风俗，化导人伦，他于宋孝宗五年（乾道三年）写了教授人立身处世之道的《俗训》一书，后来这本书被改名为《世范》，又称《袁氏世范》，流传甚广，影响深远，成为私塾学校的训蒙课本，历代士大夫都十分推重该书。现选译其中的部份内容，让我们从中领略中华神传文化中敬天知命、重礼重德的神韵，了解古人的立身处世之道。
 
*富贵贫贱皆需以礼待之
 
世上有一些没见识的人，不能在对待父老乡亲时一视同仁，礼待如一，却根据他人的富贵贫贱划分高下等级，见到有钱有官职的就礼貌恭敬。钱财越多，官职越高，就越是恭敬。而见到贫穷的，地位低下的乡亲，就态度傲慢，心下轻视，很少去关照周济他们。殊不知，别人的富贵并不是自己的荣耀，别人的贫贱也不是自己的耻辱，又何必因他的富贵贫贱而用不同的态度对待！德行深厚，有识有见的人决不会这么做。
 
*贵贱皆天命
 
品行的好坏与官职的升降是两回事。不能说品行端正，就应该享受荣华富贵；品行不端，就一定遭受厄运，如果那样，孔子、颜回等人就应该当上宰相了。而古往今来的宰相和达官之中就不应有小人了。培养自己的德行自然是我们应该做的事，不能因此而带有甚么功利目的，否则，一旦没有达到目的，就必然会放松了在品德方面的修养，使得原本奉行的信念有所改变，从而沦为小人之类。
 
如今，世间有很多愚蠢的人在享受富贵，而有智慧的人却很贫寒，这些都是上天安排好的，不必深究。如果明白这个道理，泰然处之，岂不省去许多烦恼！