Sinographs 102 · Chapter 14

All of it

To say all, the language slips 皆 in front of the verb: everyone-alike does it. To say the utmost, it uses 至 — “arrived,” as far as going goes. This chapter rounds out the quantities and the pointing:

Sign	Key	Says	Means	How to see it
皆	all	jiē	all, everyone	two people side by side over a saying-mark — everyone speaking alike
百	hundred	bǎi	hundred; all kinds	one over 白 — the white-sign borrowed into the round hundred
九	nine	jiǔ	nine	a bent reaching arm — the count reaching its last step before ten
至	arrive	zhì	to arrive; utmost	an arrow struck ground-down — the flight ended, the point reached
此	this-here	cǐ	this, this-here	a stopped foot beside a person — the spot one stands on

All, here, to the last

萬物皆有道。wàn wù jiē yǒu dào"the ten thousand things all have their way" — 皆 before the verb spreads it over every subject

九日不出。jiǔ rì bù chū"for nine days he did not go out" — a number phrase up front tells the duration; no "for" required

Practice lines assembled from taught characters.

The label makes its opposite

皆 opens the Laozi’s warning about unanimous taste:

天下皆知▢之為▢。tiān xià jiē zhī měi zhī wéi měi"the whole world knows the beautiful as beautiful" — and that, the text continues, is exactly how ugliness is born: the moment everyone agrees on a label, its opposite exists too. Both boxes are "beautiful"

Laozi 2, the first line. urn:nabu:kanripo:KR5c0057:002:1a · license: attribution.

A hundred generations, readable

The answer to the ten-generations question lands with 百:

百世可知也。bǎi shì kě zhī yě"a hundred generations can be known" — each age inherits the last one's forms and adjusts them; read the pattern of keeping-and-changing and even the far future has a shape. Every character taught

Analects 2.23, the answer. urn:nabu:kanripo:KR1h0004:002:24a · license: attribution.

Stopping at the utmost

至 completes the Great Learning’s program — and 此 signs its first conclusion:

止於至善。zhǐ yú zhì shàn"come to rest at the utmost good" — the final clause of the book's opening program: polish what is best in yourself, turn it outward, and stop nowhere short of the best. Four characters, four chapters of this course, no box

此謂知本。cǐ wèi zhī běn"this is called knowing the root" — the book's own summing-up formula: 此謂…, "THIS is what we mean by…". 本, the tree's root from Foundations, marking what to fix first

Great Learning (Daxue). urn:nabu:kanripo:KR1d0052:043:1a · license: attribution.

Where this leaves you

All, each, utmost, this: the words that total a world. One chapter remains — the way one thing follows from another, and the people who say “we did it ourselves.”