When he first went to the lodging-house, the people of it met him and went before him. The master of it carried his mat for him, and the mistress brought the towel and comb. The lodgers left their mats, and the cook his fire-place (as he passed them). When he went away, the others in the house would have striven with him about (the places for) their mats{fr. 1}. {fn. 1. So had his arrogant superciliousness given place to humility.} {file "Book XXVIII. Zang Wang, or 'Kings who have wished to resign the Throne'"} {p. 149} BOOK XXVIII. PART III. SECTION VI. Zang Wang, or 'Kings who have wished to resign the Throne{fr. 1}.' 1. Yâo proposed to resign the throne to Hsü Yû, who would not accept it. He then offered it to Dze-kâu Kih-fû{fr. 2}, but he said, 'It is not unreasonable to propose that I should occupy the throne, but I happen to be suffering under a painful sorrow and illness. While I am engaged in dealing with it, I have not leisure to govern the kingdom.' Now the throne is the most important of all positions, and yet this man would not occupy it to the injury of his life; how much less would he have allowed any other thing to do so! But only he who does not care to rule the kingdom is fit to be entrusted with it. Shun proposed to resign the throne to Dze-kâu Kih-po{fr. 2}, who declined in the very same terms as Kih-fû had done. Now the kingdom is the greatest of all concerns, and yet this man would not give his life in exchange for the throne. This shows how they who possess the Tâo differ from common men.
Source: Internet Sacred Text Archive, file tao/sbe40/sbe40.htm.
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