I always try my best to hold on to the due mean,

Also known as the Middle Path or Golden Way:

Where there is too much space I put in a thing,

Where it is too crowded I take away something;

Where things cluster together I spread them out,

Where things are diffuse I tighten them slightly;

Where it is difficult to walk upon I level it, and

Where it is level I introduce a little unevenness.

These six methods of handling an issue are still

Insufficient in themselves to create an algorithm

Of running all affairs and therefore should better

Be subordinated in the criss-cross manner

To the other three modes that call us first

Be simple outside and honest inwardly; then

Reduce selfish thoughts and subdue desires;

And the next to abandon learning from outside

In order to draw no troubles upon our own necks.

This means one does what one should do, but not

What all other people do in their own way. Yes,

It can be likened to a good doctor curing a patient

By means of using both nourishing and excitative

Remedies, or like a wise general on the battlefield,

Using both the conventional and unconventional

Manoeuvring. Again, it is like a master-painter

At one’s work, not allowing a single dead stroke,

Or a famously known writer writing one’s essays,

Not permitting any omission or unbalanced sentence.

This principle is put in the formula that we have

To show the large in the small and the small

In the large, as to providing for the real in unreal

And for the unreal in the real stuff. We’ve to reveal

And then conceal alternately, making our intentions

Sometimes apparent and sometimes concealed

To build up a harmony, irregularity, concealment,

Surprise and suggestion—these five are only some

Of the usages, as they are of many other forms

Of the cognition. And this is the whole secret

Of completing a truly appreciated masterpiece of art

In each and every single school, branch and genre.

Thus we prevent the development of freakish theories

And enslaving of man by the production

Of his own intelligence. It gives us a sense

Of true values and teaches us to accept the material,

As well as the spiritual accomplishments of life.

It also teaches us that after all what is said and done,

The ultimate solution of what is called ‘happiness’

And ‘good fortune’ is the ending point of wisdom.

And we arrange ourselves to make our lives happier

On this fragile planet, under whatever vicissitudes

Of fate heaping upon each of us, without exception.