Bit by Bit - Chapter 13, Part 2

Trey Smith

The sage is still not because he takes stillness to be good and therefore is still. The ten thousand things are insufficient to distract his mind - that is the reason he is still. Water that is still gives back a clear image of beard and eyebrows; reposing in the water level, it offers a measure to the great carpenter. And if water in stillness possesses such clarity, how much more must pure spirit. The sage's mind in stillness is the mirror of Heaven and earth, the glass of the ten thousand things.
~ Burton Watson translation ~

If a person is good because they believe that being good is a sign of goodness, how good is that person really? The goodness is based on a calculation which significantly negates the value sought.

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