雙語詩歌翻譯|《中庸·二十五》

《中庸》是中國儒家經(jīng)典之一，原是《禮記》第三十一篇，相傳為戰(zhàn)國時期孔伋（子思）所作。其內(nèi)容肯定“中庸”是道德行為的最高標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，把“誠”看成是世界的本體，認(rèn)為“至誠”則達(dá)到人生的最高境界，并提出“博學(xué)之，審問之，慎思之，明辨之，篤行之”的學(xué)習(xí)過程和認(rèn)識方法。宋代從《禮記》中抽出，與《大學(xué)》《論語》《孟子》合為“四書”。宋元以后，成為學(xué)校官定的教科書和科舉考試的必讀書，對中國古代教育產(chǎn)生了極大的影響。

中庸·二十五

誠者，自成也；而道，自道也。誠者，物之終始；不誠，無物。是故，君子誠之為貴。誠者，非自成己而已也，所以成物也。成己，仁也；成物，知也。性之德也，合外內(nèi)之道也，故時措之宜也。

XXV

Truth means the realisation of our being; and moral law means the law of our being. Truth is the beginning and end (the substance) of existence. Without truth there is no existence. It is for this reason that the moral man values truth.
Truth is not only the realisation of our own being. It is that by which things outside of us have an existence. The realisation of our being is moral sense. The realisation of things outside of us is intellect. These, moral sense and intellect, are the powers or faculties of our being. They combine the inner or subjective and outer or objective use of the power of the mind. Therefore with truth, everything done is right.