1. If you don’t follow the rules, you won’t be able to form a circle.

The translation cannot draw squares and circles correctly without compasses and rulers.

2. Power, then know the severity; degree, then know the length.

Only when the translation is weighed can one know its importance; only by measuring it can one know its length.

3. People do not do anything, and then they can do something.

The translator must not do anything before he can do something.

4. Although there are things that are easy to grow in the world, if they are violent in one day and cold in ten days, nothing can survive.

Translation Even if there is a plant that is the easiest to grow, if it is exposed to the sun for one day and then frozen for ten days, nothing will grow again.

5. Those who advance sharply will retreat quickly.

Those who move forward too quickly will retreat too quickly.

6. The organ of the heart is thinking. If you think, you will get it. If you don’t think, you won’t get it.

Translation: The organ of the heart is responsible for thinking. Only by thinking can we obtain, but without thinking we cannot obtain.

7. Only benevolent people should be in high positions. Being unkind and holding a high position is spreading evil to others.

Translation Only benevolent people with high moral standards should be in a dominant position. If an unkind person with low morals is in a dominant position, his evil will be spread to the masses.

8. If the emperor is unkind, he will not protect the world; if the princes are unkind, he will not protect the country; if the ministers are unkind, they will not protect the ancestral temple; if the common people are unkind, they will not protect the four bodies.

Translation: If the emperor does not practice "benevolent government", he cannot preserve his world; if the princes do not practice "benevolent government," they cannot preserve his country; if ministers and officials do not practice "benevolent government," they cannot preserve their ancestral temples; ordinary people cannot "Benevolence and righteousness" will not protect one's body.

9. If the king is benevolent, he will be invincible in the world.

Translation: If the monarch of a country loves benevolence, there will be no rivals in the world.

10. Save penalties, reduce taxes, and make farming easier.

The translation reduces penalties and reduces taxes, so that people can cultivate deeply and carefully and get rid of filthy weeds early.

11. The benevolent are invincible.

Translation: A virtuous person has no enemies.

12. For a five-acre house with mulberry trees, a person in his fifties can wear silk clothes. Chickens, dolphins, dogs, and pigs are all animals that have not lost their season. Those who are seventy years old can eat meat. Don't take away a hundred acres of land, and a family of several people will not be hungry. I sincerely follow the teachings of Xiangxu, apply the meaning of filial piety and brotherhood, and award the white ones to live up to the road.

Translation: Each family is given five acres of land to live in, and mulberry trees are planted around it. Then, people over fifty years old can wear silk cotton-padded jackets. If the breeding period of domestic animals such as chickens, dogs and pigs is not disturbed, then people over the age of seventy will have meat to eat. If the family gives him a hundred acres of land and does not disturb its seasonal growth patterns, then a family of several people can have enough to eat. Run schools at all levels well, and educate them repeatedly with the principles of filial piety and respect for elders. Then the old people with gray hair and beards will have someone to do the work for them, and they will no longer have to walk on the road with things on their heads and shoulders.

13. By changing the fields and reducing taxes, the people can become rich.

Translation: Doing farming well and reducing taxes can make the people rich.

14. If a king is benevolent, he will never be unkind; if a king is righteous, he will never be unjust; if he is upright, he will never be unrighteous.

Translation: If the monarch is benevolent, no one will be unkind; if the monarch is righteous, no one will be unjust; if the monarch is upright, no one will be unjust.

15. If the people are happy, the people will also be happy; if they are concerned about the people's worries, the people will also be worried about them.

Translation: The king who takes the happiness of the people as his own happiness, the people will also take the happiness of the king as their own happiness; the king who takes the sorrow of the people as their own sorrow, the people will also take the sorrow of the king as their own. own sorrow.

16. Kindness brings honor, while unkindness brings disgrace.

Translation If the princes and ministers implement benevolent government, they will have glory; if they implement unbenevolent government, they will suffer humiliation.

17. Those who have constant income have perseverance, and those who do not have perseverance have no perseverance. If you don't have perseverance, you will do everything you can to ward off evil spirits.

Translation Only those who have a certain amount of industrial income will have certain moral concepts and codes of conduct. People who do not have a certain amount of industrial income will not have certain moral concepts and codes of conduct. If you don’t have certain moral concepts and codes of conduct, you will act recklessly, break laws and disciplines, and do anything.

18. Fight for land and kill people to fill the fields; fight for cities and kill people to fill the city. This so-called taking advantage of the land and cannibalizing human flesh is a crime not punishable by death.

Translation: Fighting for the land, killing people everywhere; fighting for the city, killing people all over the city? This is leading the land to eat human flesh, and even the death penalty is not enough to redeem them. sin.

19. If the king regards his ministers as his hands and feet, then his ministers will regard him as his heart; if the king regards his ministers as dogs and horses, then his ministers will regard him as his countrymen; foe.

Translation: If the monarch regards his ministers as his brothers and sisters, the ministers will regard the monarch as their confidant; if the monarch regards his ministers as cattle and horses, the ministers will regard the monarch as ordinary people they meet on the road; if the monarch regards his ministers as clay or weeds, the ministers will regard the monarch as an enemy.

20. Fish is what I want, and bear’s paws are also what I want; you cannot have both, and you would give up fish and take bear’s paws. Life is what I want, and righteousness is what I want. You cannot have both, and you have to sacrifice life for righteousness.

Translation Fish is what I want, and bear paws are also what I want. If these two things cannot be obtained at the same time, I will abandon the fish and choose bear paws. Life is also something I want, and righteousness (truth, belief, justice, thoughts and actions that benefit the public) are also things I want. If I cannot get these two things at the same time, I will give up life and choose righteousness.