First Reading of Chapter One of the Upper Xici: Heaven and Earth Take Their Places, and Virtue Is Formed Through Ease and Simplicity
A close reading of Chapter One of the Upper Xici within the context of pre-Qin thought, moving through the layers of Heaven and Earth, Qian and Kun, the firm and the yielding, image and form, change, ease and simplicity, virtue and achievement, and the taking of one's place -- to see how the Yi runs through the Way of Heaven, the Way of Earth, and the Way of Man.
XXXIII. Endurance Is Virtue, Greatness Is Achievement
"What can endure is the virtue of the worthy; what can grow great is the achievement of the worthy." Here, for the first time, the text lands explicitly on the worthy person. Everything before seemed to speak of Heaven, Earth, Qian, and Kun, and only here does it become clear: observing Heaven and Earth is not meant to satisfy abstract speculation, but to accomplish a person's virtue and achievement. The ease and simplicity of Qian and Kun, through closeness and merit, are transformed into a life practice that can endure and grow great. A person does not discuss the Way apart from Heaven and Earth, but forms himself and completes things by modeling himself on Heaven and Earth.
Virtue leans toward what is formed inwardly -- the stable character a person forms through sustained practice over time. To endure means not changing because of gain or loss, not being cast aside because of hardship or success, not indulging oneself simply because no one is watching. Virtue that can be sustained for only a day cannot be called accomplished; if it appears only in favorable circumstances and is lost in adversity, it likewise cannot be called enduring. The virtue of the worthy is like the revolving of sun and moon, the coming and going of cold and heat -- its expression differs across different circumstances, and yet its fundamental direction never wavers.
Achievement leans toward what is formed outwardly -- the effect produced when virtue enters into human affairs. Cultivating oneself so that kin and friends benefit, governing so that the people find peace, establishing teaching so that later students have a path, fashioning implements so that daily life is more convenient -- all of these can be called achievement. Achievement does not belong only to those who occupy high position. The farmer who tills diligently so that household and state have food, the artisan who works skillfully so that implements are reliable, the teacher who teaches even a single person to become fully human -- all have their achievement. Greatness need not mean grand scale in the immediate present, but that what is accomplished accords with the principle of ceaseless generation, and can be expanded and passed on.
Virtue and achievement are like Qian and Kun -- they cannot be separated. Virtuous intention without achievement leaves goodness confined to a single person; achievement without a root in virtue may be swayed by shifting interest. When the Master said, "Cultivate oneself so as to give others peace" and "cultivate oneself so as to give the common people peace," cultivating oneself comes first and giving others peace follows, and yet this does not mean waiting until one has become a complete sage before beginning to help others. Cultivating oneself and giving others peace promote one another: within the work of giving others peace, virtue is tested; and as virtue deepens day by day, the scope of what is given peace likewise grows wider.
The sequence set out in the Great Learning (Daxue) -- manifesting bright virtue, renewing the people, resting in the highest good, and the sequence of investigating things, extending knowledge, making one's intentions sincere, rectifying one's heart, cultivating one's person, ordering one's household, governing one's state, and bringing peace to all under Heaven -- can likewise be understood through the relation between virtue and achievement. Manifesting bright virtue is not goodness kept to oneself in a private chamber; it must renew the people. Bringing peace to all under Heaven is likewise not an external technique apart from sincerity of intention and rectification of heart. Only when inner and outer run through one another is the practice complete. Though this passage offers no textual gloss here, its pre-Qin Confucian spirit communicates with the Xici.
Master Meng's statement that in adversity one perfects oneself alone, and in success one perfects the whole world together, is often misread as meaning that one has only virtue in adversity and only achievement in success. In fact, perfecting oneself alone already has its influence on kin, friends, and later students, and perfecting the whole world together must still be rooted in inner virtue. Adversity and success change the scope in which one's undertaking is carried out, but do not change the direction toward which benevolence and righteousness point. Endurance keeps a person from abandoning himself when unsuccessful; greatness keeps a person, when successful, from seeking only for himself.
Master Xun, by contrast, places even greater stress on virtue and achievement being realized through ritual propriety, law, and institution. An individual's good intention is not sufficient to govern a complex group; it requires division of duties, statutes, moral instruction, and the example of a teacher. The achievement of the worthy therefore lies not only in personally doing good deeds, but also in establishing an order that lets the multitude accomplish things together. If the institution is good, it can continue to function even after its founder is gone -- and this is precisely where the greatness and the endurance of achievement intersect.