27

"One who excels in travelling leaves no wheel tracks; One who excels in speech makes no slips; One who excels in reckoning uses no counting rods; One who excels in shutting uses no bolts yet what he has shut cannotbe opened. One who excels in tying uses no cords yet what he has tied cannot beundone. Therefore the sage always excels in saving people, and so abandons noone; Always excels in saving things, and so abandons nothing. This is called following one's discernment. Hence the good man is the teacher the bad learns from; And the bad man is the material the good works on. Not to value the teacher Nor to love the material Though it seems clever, betrays great bewilderment. This is called the essential and the secret."