《老子道德经(英译本)Lao Tze》38. Ritual

　　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.