Chinese text
善建者不拔，善抱者不脱，子孙祭祀不辍。
修之身，其德乃真；修之家，其德有余；修之乡，其德乃长；修之于国，其德乃丰；修之于天下，其德乃普。
故以身观身，以家观家，以乡观乡，以国观国，以天下观天下。
吾何以知天下之然？
以此。
Translation
He who knows how to build does not fear destruction; he who knows how to preserve does not fear loss.
His sons and grandsons will offer sacrifices to him without interruption.
If a man cultivates the Tao within himself, his virtue will become genuine.
If he cultivates it in his family, his virtue will become abundant.
If he cultivates it in the village, his virtue will become widespread.
If he cultivates it in the kingdom, his virtue will flourish.
If he cultivates it in the empire, his virtue will become universal.
Thus, by myself, I judge other men; by a family, I judge other families; by a village, I judge other villages; by a kingdom, I judge other kingdoms; by the empire, I judge the empire.
How do I know that this is so about the empire? It is only by this.
Notes
E: 欧阳修 says: If you plant a tree in a plain, there will necessarily come a time when it will be uprooted and blown over. But what is well established is never uprooted. If you hold an object in your two hands, there will necessarily come a moment when you let go; but what we hold firmly never escapes us. I think, says 谢朓 (E), that this double comparison applies to one who knows how to deeply establish virtue (dé) within himself and firmly preserve the Way (dào).
C: Every material object has a body that can be established somewhere; thus it can be removed from where it was established. But he who cultivates the Way (dào) does not establish it materially; he establishes it in spirit. Therefore, what he establishes is intangible, indestructible.
H: If the merits and virtue (dé) of the Sage are imperishable, and if his benefits extend to the most distant posterity, it is because the sincere cultivation of the Way (dào) is the foundation of his conduct. Among the men of the age who seek merit and reputation, not one desires to establish eternal merits and leave behind imperishable works.
If ordinary people do not know how to make their merits eternal, it is because they want to establish them by the strength of their prudence, and they encounter men endowed with superior prudence, who prevail over them and strip them of their reputation.
E: That is, his virtue (dé) will flourish, and his benefits will extend to his last nephews.
H: The Sage renews the purity of his nature and establishes the Way (dào) and virtue (dé) in the world (tiānxià). The men of the world are moved by his example and submit with all their heart. His works are eternal. Therefore, his merits flow to ten thousand generations, and his benefits extend infinitely. Behold a man who knows how to establish and preserve the Way.
E: Based on the current state of the world (tiānxià), I judge the future state of the world.
E: The world (tiānxià) has not two Ways (dào). If the Sage knows the world, it is solely through this Way.
Alternate C: How do I know that the world (tiānxià) does not differ from a kingdom, a kingdom from a village, a village from a family, a family from a man? Because all men are alike, because they are equally fit to cultivate virtue (dé). How do I know this? I know it through this body, that is, through myself, by examining the way I practice the Way (dào). (See chap. XLVII.)
A follows the same interpretation in the next three sentences; but he explains the words tiānxià (commonly 'the empire') as 'master, sovereign.' According to a sovereign who cultivates the Way (dào), I judge the sovereigns who do not cultivate it.
A: By these five things, I know that the men of the world (tiānxià) who cultivate the Way (dào) are flourishing, and those who abandon the Way do not delay to perish.
