To be honored or disgraced is to be startled — when one is favored, one is startled; when one is disgraced, one is also startled. Valuing great calamities as one values one's own body — Gui means to fear; Ruo means to the utmost. When great calamity comes to one's body, both are startling. What is meant by honor and disgrace? Favor means respect and honor; disgrace means shame and humiliation. When one turns back to ask oneself, it is to enlighten others. Disgrace means being humble and lowly. To obtain favor causes surprise — those startled by receiving honor treat a high position as if standing on the edge of a precipice; when honored, one dares not be arrogant; when wealthy, one dares not indulge in extravagance. To lose it causes surprise — losing means losing favor and being subjected to disgrace; surprise is the fear that calamity may come again. This is what is meant by being startled whether honored or disgraced. What is meant by valuing great calamities as one's own body? The reason I have great calamities is because I have a physical self. Those who worry about having a physical self labor over concerns of hunger and cold, indulge in emotions and desires, thus encountering calamities. If I had no body, what calamity could there be? If I were without a physical body, attaining the Dao and returning to nature, lightly ascending into clouds, entering and exiting without hindrance, communicating with the Dao in spirit — what calamity would there be?

Therefore, one who values the self as he would value the world may be entrusted with governing it — a ruler who esteems himself and looks down upon others, wishing to rule over all under heaven, can only temporarily hold power, not for long. To love the self as one would love the world — thus, it is as if the whole world could be entrusted to him. A ruler who cherishes his own life not for himself alone, but in order to be the father and mother of all the people — such a one who governs in this way may truly be entrusted with his position among the people, enduring without fault.