Original source spelling · punctuation belongs to the digital witness · pronunciation tools follow your language focus.
A route through this passage
34 Han characters · 18 distinct forms · 7 units separated by the witness’s punctuation
- Establish the frame. Read the surrounding chapter. Who speaks, what is being discussed, and which earlier words supply the context?
- Test one unit.
故古之人為之不然。
Mark a possible predicate and its participants. Record what you have supplied rather than found explicitly in the text. - Reconstruct the argument. Connect the units in your own words. Where does a description, question, contrast, or consequence depend on your interpretation?
Investigate 6 written forms in this passage
Matched by spelling. These are candidate reading procedures, not assigned grammatical analyses.
Watch recurrence: 之 × 6 人 × 5 其 × 2 取 × 2 有 × 2 道 × 2. Repetition of a graph need not mean repetition of a sense.
Computed from this exact witness · Contextual interpretation awaits editorial review. The guide is a set of reading prompts, not a translation. Sources & methods
Make this passage yours.
Use the reading guide above, build your interpretation, then test what you can recover. Your notes and schedule stay on this device.
1 · Explain it in your own words
2 · Recover the wording
Select a source unit, then hide the passage and reconstruct it. This checks textual recall, not understanding.
3 · Explain, then revisit
Without the source in front of you, explain the passage’s main point and one choice you made in reading it. Then reopen the text and check the evidence.
Rate your understanding yourself. These reminders use a simple schedule; they do not certify mastery.
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Shared wording
Computed exact phrases in the pinned witnesses. These links do not assign a sense or assert borrowing.
莊子 · 天道第十三故古之人下而有餘；有為也，則為天下用而不足。故古之人貴夫无為也。
荀子 · 富國篇第十古之人為故古之人為之不然，使民夏不宛暍，冬不凍寒，急不傷力，緩不後時，事成功立，上下俱富；而百姓皆愛其
荀子 · 正論篇第十八古之人為「古之人為之不然。以人之情為欲多而不欲寡，故賞以富厚而罰以殺損也，是百王之所同也。故上賢祿天下
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Shared teaching construction · an editorial learning connection, not evidence of common authorship or origin.
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Edition, source, and reuse
- Work
- 荀子 · Xunzi
- Attribution
- Traditionally associated with Xun Kuang; the received collection contains multiple textual layers.
- Digital witness
- Kanseki Repository · KR3a0002 · base edition tls
- Contributors
- Kanseki Repository (Kanripo) contributors; upstream base-edition labels retained in each original file.
- Source position
- KR3a0002_012.txt, lines 622–628. XUN 12:8c:1, Beida p.203; Knoblock 2:186
- Version
e18a27621ef434940a368defd29e00eee205dfd2- Reuse
- CC BY-SA 4.0. Text extraction and teaching additions share this licence.
- Text policy
- Source spelling and punctuation retained. Encoding headers, page markers, paragraph markers, whitespace, and leading section numbers are removed from the reading view. No silent script conversion or textual correction.
- Teaching
- zimai · AI-assisted editorial notes. English renderings are excerpt-level reading aids, not a full published translation. Editorial pilot · not independently reviewed.
Source-file SHA-256: be6fcf714d0723141ff2412c41cdd7c0edf69ad8488eff7e1113eb59b385cdc6. A source comment that cites a translator is an upstream reference, not the attribution of a translation imported here.