Sharp vision and wisdom are innate endowments; movement‑stillness and deliberation are human activities. Human beings see through innate eyesight, hear through innate hearing, and think through innate wisdom.
Excessive straining of eyes blurs vision; excessive listening dulls hearing; over‑deliberation confuses the mind. Blurred vision cannot distinguish black from white; dulled hearing cannot tell pure from turbid sound; confused mind cannot judge gain and loss.
To fail to distinguish colors is blindness; to fail to distinguish sounds is deafness; to fail to judge gain and loss is madness. The blind cannot avoid daytime dangers; the deaf cannot perceive thunder’s harm; the mad cannot escape legal misfortune.
“Regulating oneself” means moderating conduct and reducing mental expenditure. “Cultivating one’s innate nature” means not exhausting sight‑hearing or overusing intellect. Exhaustion wastes spirit excessively, bringing blindness, deafness and madness. Therefore one must be frugal.
Frugality means cherishing spirit and conserving intellect. Hence the saying: “For regulating oneself and cultivating innate nature, nothing surpasses frugality.”
Note
This passage presents a psychological‑physical rule: overusing senses and intellect damages innate nature; frugality in mental exertion preserves spirit and avoids personal misfortune.
Late Warring‑States Legalist philosopher. This passage is from Explaining Laozi (Jie Lao), his commentary on the Dao De Jing. He re‑interprets Daoist “frugality” as practical self‑preservation by limiting sensory and mental overexertion.
Innate Nature vs Human Activity
Han Fei distinguishes innate sensory‑mental gifts (heaven) from acquired deliberate thinking (human), arguing human over‑strain harms natural endowments.
Frugality
A core Daoist virtue; Han Fei defines it as conserving spirit and intellect rather than mere material thrift, to avoid blindness, deafness and madness.
Self‑Regulation as Governance
“Regulating oneself” becomes a micro‑governance principle: controlling one’s mind and senses prevents personal and legal disaster.
聰明睿智天也，動靜思慮人也。人也者，乘於天明以視，寄於天聰以聽，託於天智以思慮。故視強則目不明，聽甚則耳不聰，思慮過度則智識亂。目不明則不能決黑白之分，耳不聰則不能別清濁之聲，智識亂則不能審得失之地。目不能決黑白之色則謂之盲，耳不能別清濁之聲則謂之聾，心不能審得失之地則謂之狂。盲則不能避晝日之險，聾則不能知雷霆之害，狂則不能免人間法令之禍。書之所謂治人者，適動靜之節，省思慮之費也。所謂事天者，不極聰明之力，不盡智識之任。苟極盡則費神多，費神多則盲聾悖狂之禍至，是以嗇之。嗇之者，愛其精神，嗇其智識也。故曰：「治人事天莫如嗇。」
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