忠箴 Loyalty
- 忠箴
- ZHONG (Loyalty)
| 中心為忠 | 謂無貳心 | 如為人謀 | 竭盡丹忱 |
| 無慙衾影 | 無疚神明 | 鞠躬盡瘁 | 不計死生 |
中心為忠 謂無貳心 忠之字義，乃中心兩字合成，是言心獨居中，不能有貳。
O（詩） 「上帝臨汝， 無貳爾心。」
如為人謀 竭盡丹忱 若替他人籌劃一事，要竭盡其心力，方可謂之盡職。
O（論語）「為人謀而不忠乎。」 為，替也。謀，籌劃也。 丹枕， 赤心也。
無慙衾影 無疚神明 能如是盡職，則對於自己之衾影，上界之神明，自然不生慙愧。
O（劉子新論）「獨立不慙影，獨寢不愧衾。」 慙，音蠺，羞愧也。 衾，音钦，大被也。
鞠躬盡瘁 不計死生 若是敬慎其事，勞瘁其心，不能成功之時，即斷送生命，亦不計較，此乃精忠之本色。
O（諸葛亮後出師表）「鞠躬盡瘁，死而後已。」 鞠躬，敬慎也。
The Chinese character ZHONG, which means faithfulness or loyalty, is made up of two characters; one character means middle, while the other means heart. This represents that the heart always stands in the middle and that there can never be two hearts in one person (A). For instance, when transacting business with others, one has exhausted the strength of one’s heart, then such a person shall not feel ashamed to his own conscience, or feel remorse towards the gods above. To perform one’s duty attentively, cautiously and untiringly and to never care about the cost to that person is the true meaning of ZHONG.
NOTES: –
(A) Without any knowledge of anatomy, the Chinese people from the ancient times believed that the heart was situated in the center of the chest.
