Selected Passages from "Yuan’s Model Conduct in Society " (Part 3)
 
5) Follow the course of nature and feel at ease wherever one goes
 
As soon as one learns how to feel and reason, one is faced with worries and unhappiness in this world. A baby cries because its needs are not met. From a person's childhood, to his youth, adulthood, and old age, there are many more things that make him unhappy than happy. Even those who are filthy rich, whom everyone envies and thinks of as living as royalty, have their own problems and are just as unhappy as many ordinary people. It is only that his problems are of a different kind. This is why this world is called "an imperfect world". No one on earth can be happy all the time. The more deeply one understands this the better one feels when faced with difficulties.
 
6) One needs to know his own deficiencies and try to make up for them
 
Most people are born with some deficiencies in their moral character or disposition. An intelligent and well-disciplined person knows his deficiencies and studies hard to find remedies. He or she will then turn into someone with wonderful moral character. Most people do not know their deficiencies, and are often controlled by these deficiencies to act without much self-discipline, therefore they commit many mistakes.
 
It says in Shang Shu (also known as The Classic of History) that people have nine characteristics: tolerant, tender, forgiving, disorderly, disturbed, straightforward, simple, inflexible, and strong. These are in-born characters. On the other hand, "dignified, upright, humble, respectful, persevering, moderate, honest, sincere, and righteous" are characteristics acquired through learning. These are things that make saints saints. In the later ages of Shang Shu some people who tended to be impatient wore belts to remind themselves to be resilient. Some who liked to procrastinate wore bowstrings to remind themselves to be decisive, like an arrow on the bowstring, ready to go at any time. Even so, people are often troubled by their inability to find their own deficiencies. They find that they need to ask others for help to identify their shortcomings.
 
《袁氏世范》选译（三）
 
*随遇而安　顺其自然
 
人活在世间，自从有了知觉、识见，就有了忧患和不称心的事。小孩子哭闹，都是因为有些事没达到他的要求。从幼儿到少年到壮年再到老年，顺心如意的事少，而不如意的事却常常很多。即使大富大贵的人，虽然天下人都羨慕他，认为他过的是神仙一般的日子。但是，这种人也都有各自的烦恼不称心处，跟贫民百姓没甚么两样。只不过他所忧虑的事情跟普通人不一样罢了，所以这个世界又叫作「缺陷世界」。人生活在世上没有谁能处处如意、事事美满。能深刻地明白这个道理而在遇到挫折不如意时，安然处之，就能感到心里顺畅一些。
 
* 知己不足　弥补缺陷
 
人的品德、性格从生下来就各有缺陷。有学问、修养的人知道自己的不足之处，所以用学习的办法来弥补，于是就变成了一个具有完美品德的人。普通的人不知道自己的不足之处，而被这种不足支配着任意作为，率性行事，所以造成许多过失。
 
《尚书》中说有九种德性，即「宽、柔、愿、乱、扰、直、简、刚、强」。这些是天生的；而「栗、立、恭、敬、毅、温、廉、塞、义」，这些是通过学习而养成的。这就是圣贤之所以能成为圣贤而凭借的东西。后世有一些有性急毛病的人佩韦（皮带），有性缓毛病的则佩弦（弓弦），也是出于这种原因。即使这样，自己的不足之处，也常常因自己无法知道而苦不堪言，必须向他人请教才能知道。