老子道德经(英译本)Lao Tze 38. Ritual

作者：《Lao Tze》李耳

• Well established hierarchies are not easily uprooted;
  Closely held beliefs are not easily released;
  So ritual enthralls generation after generation. Harmony does not care for harmony, and so is naturally attained;
  But ritual is intent upon harmony, and so can not attain it.
  
  Harmony neither acts nor reasons;
  Love acts, but without reason;
  Justice acts to serve reason;
  But ritual acts to enforce reason.
  
  When the Way is lost, there remains harmony;
  When harmony is lost, there remains love;
  When love is lost, there remains justice;
  But when justice is lost, there remains ritual. Ritual is the end of compassion and honesty,
  The beginning of confusion;
  Belief is a colourful hope or fear,
  The beginning of folly.
  
  The sage goes by harmony, not by hope;
  He dwells in the fruit, not the flower;
  He accepts substance, and ignores abstraction.