The Weight of Virtue
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重為經根，靜為躁君。是以聖人終日行不離輜重。雖有榮觀，燕處超然。奈何萬乘之主，而以身輕天下？輕則失臣，躁則失君。
The heavy is the constant root; the still is lord of the restless. So the sage travels all day without leaving his baggage cart. Though there are splendid towers and restful halls, he stays far above them. How can the lord of ten thousand chariots take himself lightly before the world? If he is light, he loses his ministers; if he is restless, he loses his throne.
Chapter 26. Heshang Gong titles it 重德, "The Weight of Virtue."
Gravity works here in both senses, physical weight and seriousness of bearing. The baggage cart is the key picture: the sage never gets ahead of what actually sustains him.
Heshang Gong’s text differs from Wang Bi’s at two points that change the shape of the argument. Where Wang Bi pairs “heavy” with its opposite, “light” (輕), as the root, Heshang Gong has “the constant” (經); and where Wang Bi says a careless ruler “loses the root,” Heshang Gong says he “loses his ministers.”
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