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46. 1. When the Tâo prevails in the world, they send back their swift horses to (draw) the dung-carts.
When the Tâo is disregarded in the world, the war-horses breed in the border lands.
2. There is no guilt greater than to sanction ambition; no calamity greater than to be discontented with one's lot; no fault greater than the wish to be getting. Therefore the sufficiency of contentment is an enduring and unchanging sufficiency.
, 'The Moderating of Desire or Ambition.' The chapter shows how the practice of the Tâo must conduce to contentment and happiness.
In translating par. 1 I have, after Wû Khäng, admitted a
after the
, his chief authority for doing so being that it is so found in a poetical piece by Kang Häng (A. D. 78-139). Kû Hsî also adopted this reading (
, XVIII, 7 a). In par. 2 Han Ying has a tempting variation of
for
, but I have not adopted it because the same phrase occurs elsewhere.