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Shi Jing Introduction Table of content – The Book of Odes

The oldest collection of Chinese poetry, more than three hundred songs, odes and hymns. Tr. Legge (en) and Granet (fr, incomplete).

Section III — Greater odes of the kingdom
1 2 3
Chapter 2 — Decade of Sheng Min

245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254

Shijing III. 2. (253)

The people indeed are heavily burdened,
But perhaps a little ease may be got for them.
Let us cherish this centre of the kingdom,
To secure the repose of the four quarters of it.
Let us give no indulgence to the wily and obsequious,
In order to make the unconscientious careful,
And to repress robbers and oppressors,
Who have no fear of the clear will [of Heaven].
Then let us show kindness to those who are distant,
And help those who are near ; –
Thus establishing [the throne of] our king.

The people indeed are heavily burdened,
But perhaps a little rest may be got for them.
Let us cherish this centre of the kingdom,
And make it a gathering-place for the people.
Let us give no indulgence to the wily and obsequious,
In order to make the noisy braggarts careful,
And to repress robbers and oppressors ; –
So the people shall not have such sorrow.
Do not cast away your [former] service,
But secure the quiet of the king.

The people indeed are heavily burdened,
But perhaps a little relief may be got for them.
Let us cherish this capital,
To secure the repose of the States in the four quarters.
Let us give no indulgence to the wily and obsequious,
To make careful those who set no limit to themselves,
And to repress robbers and oppressors ; –
Not allowing them to act out their evil.
Then let us be reverently careful of our demeanour,
To cultivate association with the virtuous.

The people indeed are heavily burdened,
But perhaps a little repose may be got for them.
Let us cherish this centre of the kingdom,
That the sorrow of the people may be dispelled.
Let us give no indulgence to the wily and obsequious,
In order to make the multitudes of the evil careful,
And to repress robbers and oppressors,
So that the right shall not be over thrown.
Though you may be [but as] little children,
Your work is vast and great.

The people indeed are heavily burdened,
But perhaps a little tranquillity may be got for them.
Let us cherish this centre of the kingdom,
That it may not everywhere suffer such wounds.
Let us give no indulgence to the wily and obsequious,
In order to make the parasites careful,
And to repress robbers and oppressors,
So that the right shall not be reversed.
The king wishes to hold you as [sceptres of] jade,
And therefore I thus strongly admonish you.

Legge 253

Shi Jing III. 2. (253) IntroductionTable of content
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The Book of Odes – Shi Jing III. 2. (253) – Chinese on/offFrançais/English
Alias Shijing, Shi Jing, Book of Odes, Book of Songs, Classic of Odes, Classic of Poetry, Livre des Odes, Canon des Poèmes.

The Book of Odes, The Analects, Great Learning, Doctrine of the Mean, Three-characters book, The Book of Changes, The Way and its Power, 300 Tang Poems, The Art of War, Thirty-Six Strategies
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