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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 II — ¤p ¶® Minor odes of the kingdom
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Chapter 7 — ®á ±¯ ¤§ ¤° Decade of Sand Hu

215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224

Shijing II. 7. (224)

There is a luxuriant willow tree ; –
Who would not wish to rest [under it] ?
[But this] god is very changeable ; –
Do not approach him.
If I were to [try and] order his affairs,
His demands afterwards would be extreme.

There is a luxuriant willow tree ; –
Who would not wish to take shelter [under it] ?
[But this] god is very changeable,
Do not get yourself into trouble with him.
If I were to [try and] order his affairs,
His demands on me afterwards would be beyond measure.

There is a bird flying high,
Even up to heaven.
The heart of that man, –
To what will it proceed ?
Why should I [try to] order his affairs ?
I should only find myself in pitiable misery.

Legge 224

Shi Jing II. 7. (224) IntroductionTable of content
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The Book of Odes – Shi Jing II. 7. (224) – 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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