双语诗歌翻译|《中庸·二十五》

《中庸》是中国儒家经典之一，原是《礼记》第三十一篇，相传为战国时期孔伋（子思）所作。其内容肯定“中庸”是道德行为的最高标准，把“诚”看成是世界的本体，认为“至诚”则达到人生的最高境界，并提出“博学之，审问之，慎思之，明辨之，笃行之”的学习过程和认识方法。宋代从《礼记》中抽出，与《大学》《论语》《孟子》合为“四书”。宋元以后，成为学校官定的教科书和科举考试的必读书，对中国古代教育产生了极大的影响。

中庸·二十五

诚者，自成也；而道，自道也。诚者，物之终始；不诚，无物。是故，君子诚之为贵。诚者，非自成己而已也，所以成物也。成己，仁也；成物，知也。性之德也，合外内之道也，故时措之宜也。

XXV

Truth means the realisation of our being; and moral law means the law of our being. Truth is the beginning and end (the substance) of existence. Without truth there is no existence. It is for this reason that the moral man values truth.
Truth is not only the realisation of our own being. It is that by which things outside of us have an existence. The realisation of our being is moral sense. The realisation of things outside of us is intellect. These, moral sense and intellect, are the powers or faculties of our being. They combine the inner or subjective and outer or objective use of the power of the mind. Therefore with truth, everything done is right.