<![CDATA[穷则独善其身， 达则兼济天下]]>穷则独善其身， 达则兼济天下

When you are poor, take care of your soul; when you are rich, take care of the world. — Mengzi (Mencius)

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/topic/5046d2ce-a727-41b0-ae71-ae2f9288bc59/穷则独善其身-达则兼济天下RSS for NodeFri, 15 May 2026 01:52:08 GMTSat, 02 May 2026 11:38:28 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to 穷则独善其身， 达则兼济天下 on Sat, 02 May 2026 14:26:26 GMT]]>@0xabad1dea thanks for that. I knew it as body and self, 'moral nature' is new to me. I spent very little time reading Confucian or adjacent texts, so I was wondering if this maybe was a term of art or something.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/BoysenberryCider/statuses/116505443494056867https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/BoysenberryCider/statuses/116505443494056867Sat, 02 May 2026 14:26:26 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to 穷则独善其身， 达则兼济天下 on Sat, 02 May 2026 14:22:28 GMT]]>@BoysenberryCider 身 has a most literal meaning of “body”, a more abstract meaning of “the self,” and an even more abstract meaning of one’s moral nature. So if we are 善-ing “gooding” -> bettering our 身 self/moral nature, in a way that is under our control even when we are poor and destitute, then to me, describing that as taking care of (tending, cultivating, whatever) your soul feels natural and idiomatic

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/0xabad1dea/statuses/116505427896399668https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/0xabad1dea/statuses/116505427896399668Sat, 02 May 2026 14:22:28 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to 穷则独善其身， 达则兼济天下 on Sat, 02 May 2026 14:13:54 GMT]]>@mrg @0xabad1dea oh wth https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16955265

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/teohhanhui/statuses/116505394170230706https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/teohhanhui/statuses/116505394170230706Sat, 02 May 2026 14:13:54 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to 穷则独善其身， 达则兼济天下 on Sat, 02 May 2026 14:12:49 GMT]]>@0xabad1dea 身 as soul? Is there something in a commentary I missed?

I would add - I do really like the quote as a standalone sentiment.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/BoysenberryCider/statuses/116505389923337694https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/BoysenberryCider/statuses/116505389923337694Sat, 02 May 2026 14:12:49 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to 穷则独善其身， 达则兼济天下 on Sat, 02 May 2026 14:12:31 GMT]]>@0xabad1dea @teohhanhui Although I'm probably mischaracterising Boodberg, he'd probably say that his only concern was producing an extremely correct translation. (I think, I'm way out of my comfort zone here...)

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.sdf.org/users/mrg/statuses/116505388722161023https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.sdf.org/users/mrg/statuses/116505388722161023Sat, 02 May 2026 14:12:31 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to 穷则独善其身， 达则兼济天下 on Sat, 02 May 2026 14:06:27 GMT]]>@0xabad1dea @teohhanhui I agree, "soul" is a bit of a stretch but an interesting translation, in contrast to a merely correct one (see Boodberg's Laozi 😀 ), has to put its foot down and not just split the distance between the source and target language. Particularly when the distance is as big as between classical Chinese and English.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.sdf.org/users/mrg/statuses/116505364871401794https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.sdf.org/users/mrg/statuses/116505364871401794Sat, 02 May 2026 14:06:27 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to 穷则独善其身， 达则兼济天下 on Sat, 02 May 2026 13:43:31 GMT]]>@0xabad1dea Ah, Mencius, I love that big old softie!

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.sdf.org/users/mrg/statuses/116505274716109359https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.sdf.org/users/mrg/statuses/116505274716109359Sat, 02 May 2026 13:43:31 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to 穷则独善其身， 达则兼济天下 on Sat, 02 May 2026 12:26:33 GMT]]>@0xabad1dea I'd maybe say "hone your morality", but I'm not sure that's correct too... 🙈

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/teohhanhui/statuses/116504972086055451https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/teohhanhui/statuses/116504972086055451Sat, 02 May 2026 12:26:33 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to 穷则独善其身， 达则兼济天下 on Sat, 02 May 2026 12:25:39 GMT]]>@0xabad1dea Just my personal opinion, but even from a non-religious perspective, I think "soul" was not really what they meant. But it's hard to convey this across cultural differences...

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/teohhanhui/statuses/116504968525337427https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/teohhanhui/statuses/116504968525337427Sat, 02 May 2026 12:25:39 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to 穷则独善其身， 达则兼济天下 on Sat, 02 May 2026 11:52:45 GMT]]>@teohhanhui I don’t use “soul” in a religious sense (I am an atheist) but just as an elegant word for one’s inner self; I considered “take care of yourself” but decided that sounds too focused on food, shelter etc when I believe what is meant is making sure that the thoughts, actions etc of your 身 self are 善 good, no matter how bad the circumstances

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/0xabad1dea/statuses/116504839147063897https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/0xabad1dea/statuses/116504839147063897Sat, 02 May 2026 11:52:45 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to 穷则独善其身， 达则兼济天下 on Sat, 02 May 2026 11:44:54 GMT]]>@0xabad1dea "soul" is quite a bit of creative license there 🙈

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/teohhanhui/statuses/116504808274670901https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/teohhanhui/statuses/116504808274670901Sat, 02 May 2026 11:44:54 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to 穷则独善其身， 达则兼济天下 on Sat, 02 May 2026 11:42:06 GMT]]>I feel like I should read more (i.e. more than the few pages I have already) Mencius.

@0xabad1dea

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://kpop.social/users/dogfox/statuses/116504797279488904https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://kpop.social/users/dogfox/statuses/116504797279488904Sat, 02 May 2026 11:42:06 GMT