Now the empire is of paramount importance. Yet here was a man who would not allow it to injure his chance of life. How much less then would he let other things do so? Yet it is only he who would do nothing in the way of government who is fit to be trusted with the empire.
Those personages who have not been previously mentioned may be taken to be allegorical.
Shun offered to resign the empire to Tzŭ Chou Chih Poh. The latter said, "Just now I am suffering from a troublesome disease, and am engaged in trying to cure it. I have no leisure to look after the empire."
Now the empire is a great trust; but not to sacrifice one's life for it is precisely where the man of Tao differs from the man of the world.
Shun offered to resign the empire to Shan Chüan. Shan Chüan said, "I am a unit in the sum of the universe. In winter I wear fur clothes. In summer I wear grass-cloth. In spring I plough and sow, toiling with my body. In autumn I gather in the harvest, and devote myself to rest and enjoyment. At dawn I go to work; at sunset I leave off. Contented with my lot I pass through life with a light heart. Why then should I trouble myself with the empire? Ah, Sir, you do not know me."
So he declined, and subsequently hid himself among the mountains, nobody knew where.