Objections, Part One難一

Duke Wen of Jin was about to fight the men of Chu. He summoned Jiufan and asked him, "I am about to fight the men of Chu. They are many and we are few. What is to be done?" Jiufan said, "Your servant has heard this. A gentleman abundant in rites does not tire of loyalty and good faith; between the battle lines one does not tire of deceit and falsehood. Let my lord simply deceive them." Duke Wen dismissed Jiufan and then summoned Yong Ji and asked him, "I am about to fight the men of Chu. They are many and we are few. What is to be done?" Yong Ji answered, "Burn the forest to hunt, and you snatch many beasts for the moment, but afterward there will surely be no beasts. Meet the people with deceit, and you snatch one season, but afterward there will surely be nothing more to take." Duke Wen said, "Good." He dismissed Yong Ji, fought the men of Chu by Jiufan's plan, and broke them. When he came back and bestowed ranks, he put Yong Ji first and Jiufan after. The body of his ministers said, "The affair at Chengpu was Jiufan's plan. Is it right to use a man's words and put his person last?" Duke Wen said, "This is not for you to know. Jiufan's words were the expedient of one moment; Yong Ji's words are the benefit of ten thousand generations." Zhongni heard of it and said, "Fitting indeed that Duke Wen became hegemon! He knew the expedient of one moment, and he knew as well the benefit of ten thousand generations."

Someone says: Yong Ji's answer did not match Duke Wen's question. Whoever answers a question answers according to whether the question is small or great, slow or urgent. If what is asked is high and great and the answer is low and narrow, an enlightened ruler will not receive it. Now Duke Wen asked how to meet the many with the few, and the answer was that afterward there would surely be nothing more to take. This is no response at all. Moreover Duke Wen knew neither the expedient of one moment nor the benefit of ten thousand generations. Fight and win, and the state is at peace and his person is settled, the army is strong and his authority stands. Though there be something more to take afterward, nothing is greater than this. Why fear that the benefit of ten thousand generations will not come? Fight and lose, and the state perishes and the army is weak, his person dies and his name ends. He cannot even shake off today's death. What leisure has he to wait for the benefit of ten thousand generations? Waiting for the benefit of ten thousand generations lies in today's victory. Today's victory lies in deceiving the enemy. Deceiving the enemy is the benefit of ten thousand generations and nothing else. Therefore it is said: Yong Ji's answer did not match Duke Wen's question. And Duke Wen did not understand Jiufan's words either. When Jiufan said that one does not tire of deceit and falsehood, he did not mean deceiving his own people. He meant deceiving the enemy. The enemy is the state one attacks. Though there be nothing more to take from it afterward, what harm is there? Did Duke Wen put Yong Ji first for his merit? Then the one who beat Chu and broke its army was Jiufan, by his plan. Was it for his good words? Then Yong Ji only said that afterward there would be nothing more to take, and there are no good words in that. Jiufan had both together. Jiufan said that a gentleman abundant in rites does not tire of loyalty and good faith. Loyalty is how one loves those below; good faith is how one does not cheat one's people. If a man already loves them and does not cheat them, what words are better than these? Yet he still had to say that it comes out of deceit and falsehood, because that is the reckoning of an army in the field. Jiufan had good words before and victory in battle after. So Jiufan had two merits and was ranked last, and Yong Ji had not one and was rewarded first. "Is it not fitting that Duke Wen became hegemon?" Zhongni did not know how to reward well.

The farmers of Mount Li encroached on one another's boundaries. Shun went and plowed there, and within a year the furrows and the ridges were straight. The fishermen on the banks of the He fought over the shoals. Shun went and fished there, and within a year they yielded to their elders. The potters of the Eastern Yi made vessels that were rough and flawed. Shun went and worked the kiln there, and within a year the vessels were firm. Zhongni sighed and said, "Plowing, fishing, and potting were not Shun's office, yet Shun went and did them in order to rescue what had broken down. Shun was truly benevolent! He put his own body to it and dwelt in hardship, and the people followed him. Therefore it is said that the virtue of a sage transforms men."

Someone asked a Confucian, "At that time, where was Yao?" The man said, "Yao was the Son of Heaven." "Then what of Zhongni calling Yao a sage? When a sage sees clearly and holds the high seat, he will make all under heaven free of wickedness. Now if those who plowed and fished did not quarrel, and the potters' vessels were not flawed, by what virtue would Shun have transformed them? If Shun rescued what had broken down, then Yao was at fault. Call Shun worthy, and you throw away Yao's clear sight; call Yao a sage, and you throw away Shun's transforming by virtue. The two cannot both be had. There was a man of Chu who sold shields and spears. He praised them, saying, 'My shields are so hard that nothing can pierce them.' He praised his spears too, saying, 'My spears are so sharp that there is nothing they do not pierce.' Someone said, 'What if a man pierces your shield with your spear?' The man could not answer. A shield that cannot be pierced and a spear that pierces everything cannot stand in the same age. That Yao and Shun cannot both be praised now is the doctrine of the spear and the shield. Moreover, in rescuing what had broken down, Shun ended one fault in a year and three faults in three years. Shun has an end and a lifetime has an end, but the faults of all under heaven have no end. To chase what has no end with what has an end stops very little. Make all under heaven act by reward and punishment. Issue an order saying, 'Those who meet the standard are rewarded; those who do not meet the standard are put to death.' Then if the order comes in the morning, things change by evening, and if it comes in the evening, they change by morning. In ten days all within the seas would be done. Why wait a year? Shun did not even use this to persuade Yao and have men follow him, but went in his own person. Is that not to be without technique? And to toil in one's own body and only then transform the people is what Yao and Shun found hard. To hold power and straighten those below is what an ordinary ruler finds easy. A man who would govern all under heaven, yet lets go what an ordinary ruler finds easy and speaks of what Yao and Shun found hard, is not one to share the governing with."

Guan Zhong fell ill, and Duke Huan went to ask after him. He said, "If Zhongfu's illness should end in the great decree, what will you leave to tell me?" Guan Zhong said, "Though my lord had not spoken, your servant meant to say it. I beg my lord to cast out Shu Diao, to be rid of Yi Ya, and to keep Kaifang, the noble son of Wei, far off. Yi Ya had charge of my lord's flavors. Because my lord alone had never tasted human flesh, Yi Ya steamed his own son's head and presented it. In the feeling of men there is none who does not love his own child. He does not love his own child; how then can he love my lord? My lord is jealous and fond of the inner palace, and Shu Diao gelded himself in order to manage the inner palace. In the feeling of men there is none who does not love his own body. He does not even love his own body; how then can he love my lord? Kaifang has served my lord fifteen years. Between Qi and Wei is not even a journey of a few days, yet he abandoned his mother and held office long without going home. He does not love his own mother; how then can he love my lord? Your servant has heard this: 'Vaunting falsehood does not last long; covering emptiness does not endure.' I beg my lord to cast out these three men." Guan Zhong died at last, and Duke Huan did not act on it. When Duke Huan died, the maggots came out of the door before he was buried.

Someone says: what Guan Zhong told Duke Huan were not the words of a man who has measure. His reason for casting out Shu Diao and Yi Ya was that they did not love their own bodies and fitted themselves to the ruler's desires. Say, "They do not love their own bodies; how then can they love the ruler?" and then a minister who spends his dying strength for his lord is one Guan Zhong would not use either. One would say, "He does not spare his dying strength; how then can he love the ruler?" This is to want the ruler to cast out his loyal ministers. And to measure a man's not loving his ruler by his not loving his own body is to measure Guan Zhong's not dying for Duke Huan by his not dying for the noble son Jiu. Then Guan Zhong too falls among those to be cast out. The way of an enlightened ruler is not like this. He sets out what the people desire and so seeks their merit, and therefore makes ranks and salaries to urge them on. He sets out what the people hate and so forbids their wickedness, and therefore makes punishments to overawe them. Congratulation and reward are trustworthy and punishment is certain, and so the ruler takes up merit in his ministers and wickedness finds no use above. Though there be a Shu Diao, what can he do to the ruler? Moreover the minister spends his dying strength to trade with the ruler, and the ruler holds out rank and salary to trade with the minister. Between ruler and minister there is no closeness of father and son. It is a place where calculations come out. If the ruler has the Way, his ministers spend their strength and wickedness does not arise. If he is without the Way, his ministers block the ruler's brightness above and work their private ends below. Guan Zhong did not make these measures and numbers clear to Duke Huan, but had him cast out Shu Diao. One Shu Diao goes and another Shu Diao comes. This is not the way to cut off wickedness. And the reason Duke Huan's body lay unburied until the maggots flowed out of the door is that a minister was heavy. The substance of a heavy minister is that he takes the ruler for his own. Where there is a minister who takes the ruler for his own, the ruler's orders do not reach down and the ministers' feelings do not reach up. The strength of one man can block the space between ruler and minister, so that success and failure are not heard and fortune and misfortune do not pass through. Hence the trouble of lying unburied. In the way of an enlightened ruler, one man does not hold two offices and one office does not hold two tasks. The low and mean do not wait upon the honored to advance, and the great ministers are not seen by way of those at the ruler's side. The hundred offices are kept in order and open, and the body of ministers gathers like spokes to a hub. When a man is rewarded, the ruler has seen his merit; when a man is punished, the ruler knows his crime. Seeing and knowing are not twisted beforehand, and reward and punishment are not clouded afterward. How then could there be the trouble of lying unburied? Guan Zhong did not make these words clear to Duke Huan, but had him cast out the three men. Therefore it is said: Guan Zhong was without measure.

Xiangzi was surrounded in Jinyang. When he came out of the encirclement, he rewarded five men who had merit, and he made Gao He first in the reward. Zhang Mengtan said, "In the affair at Jinyang, He had no great merit. Why is he made first in the reward?" Xiangzi said, "In the affair at Jinyang my state was in danger and the altars of soil and grain were at their last. Among my ministers there was none without a mind of arrogance and contempt. Only Master He did not lose the rites between ruler and minister. For this reason I put him first." Zhongni heard of it and said, "How well he rewards! Xiangzi rewarded one man, and now no one under heaven who serves as a minister will dare lose the rites."

Someone says: Zhongni did not know how to reward well. Where a man rewards and punishes well, the hundred offices do not dare encroach on one another's duties and the body of ministers does not dare lose the rites. Those above set up the law, and those below have no heart of wickedness and deceit. Like this, one may be said to reward and punish well. If at Jinyang Xiangzi's orders were not carried out and his prohibitions did not stop men, then Xiangzi had no state and Jinyang had no ruler. With whom would he have held it? Now at Jinyang the Zhi clan flooded the city, and frogs bred in the mortars and the stoves, and still the people had no mind to turn against him. This is ruler and minister being close. Xiangzi had the favor of closeness between ruler and minister, and he held the law by which orders are carried out and prohibitions stop men. If even so he had arrogant and contemptuous ministers, then Xiangzi failed in punishment. A man who serves as a minister is rewarded when he rides an affair and has merit. Now He merely was not arrogant and contemptuous, and Xiangzi rewarded him. This is failing in reward. An enlightened ruler does not lay reward on the meritless nor punishment on the guiltless. Now Xiangzi did not put to death the arrogant and contemptuous ministers and rewarded He, who had no merit. Where is Xiangzi's rewarding well? Therefore it is said: Zhongni did not know how to reward well.

Duke Ping of Jin was drinking with the body of his ministers. When the wine was deep, he sighed and said, "Nothing is more delightful than to be a ruler of men. Only his own words stand, and no one crosses them." Shi Kuang was sitting in attendance before him. He drew up his zither and struck at him. The duke pulled his robe open and dodged, and the zither broke against the wall. The duke said, "Grand Master, whom did you strike?" Shi Kuang said, "Just now there was a petty man speaking at my side, and so I struck him." The duke said, "It was I." Shi Kuang said, "Ah! These are not the words of one who rules men." Those at his side asked leave to be rid of him. The duke said, "Let him be. I will make him my warning."

Someone says: Duke Ping lost the way of a ruler, and Shi Kuang lost the rites of a minister. To hold a man's conduct wrong and put his person to death is what a ruler does to a minister. To hold his conduct wrong and then lay out one's words, and, having remonstrated well and not been heard, to take one's person far away, is what a minister does to a ruler. Now Shi Kuang held Duke Ping's conduct wrong, yet he did not lay out a minister's remonstrance. He carried out a ruler's putting to death, raising the zither against his lord's own body. This is to turn upside down the places of high and low, and to lose the rites of a minister. A man who serves as a minister remonstrates when his ruler has a fault, and when his remonstrance is not heard he holds rank and salary light and waits. This is a minister's rite. Now Shi Kuang held Duke Ping's fault wrong and raised a zither against his body. A stern father does not do so much to his son, and Shi Kuang did it to his ruler. This is the technique of great treason. A minister carried out great treason, and Duke Ping was pleased and listened to him. This is to lose the way of a ruler. So Duke Ping's traces cannot be held up as clear, for they make a ruler go too far in listening and never wake to his error. Shi Kuang's conduct cannot be held up as clear either, for it lets a wicked minister take over the form of utmost remonstrance and dress up the road to killing his ruler. They cannot be called clear on both sides. They are at fault on both sides. Therefore it is said: Duke Ping lost the way of a ruler, and Shi Kuang too lost the rites of a minister.

In the time of Duke Huan of Qi there was a retired scholar called Xiaochen Ji. Duke Huan went three times and did not get to see him. Duke Huan said, "I have heard that if a scholar in hempen clothes does not hold rank and salary light, he cannot hold light a lord of ten thousand chariots, and that if a lord of ten thousand chariots is not fond of benevolence and righteousness, he cannot lower himself to a scholar in hempen clothes." So he went five times, and then he got to see him.

Someone says: Duke Huan did not know benevolence and righteousness. Benevolence and righteousness mean grieving over the harm of all under heaven, running to the trouble of a state, and not shunning what is low and shameful. So Yi Yin held the Middle Kingdom to be in disorder and took the road of a cook to reach Tang, and Baili Xi held Qin to be in disorder and took the road of a slave to reach Duke Mu. Both grieved over the harm of all under heaven and ran to the trouble of a state, and did not decline what was low and shameful, and therefore they are called benevolent and righteous. Now Duke Huan, with the power of ten thousand chariots, lowered himself to a common scholar, meaning to grieve for the state of Qi, and Xiaochen would not go. In this we see that Xiaochen had forgotten the people. Forgetting the people cannot be called benevolence and righteousness. The benevolent and righteous man is one who does not lose the rites of a minister and does not ruin the places of ruler and minister. For this reason, within the four borders, those who hold a bird and come to court are named ministers, and those who divide duties under ministers and clerks and receive their tasks are named commoners. Now Xiaochen was among the throng of commoners, and he went against the desire of his ruler above, and therefore he cannot be called benevolent and righteous. Benevolence and righteousness were not in him, and Duke Huan went on to treat him with the rites. If Xiaochen had wisdom and ability and fled Duke Huan, he was a man in hiding, and punishment was fitting. If he had no wisdom and ability and preened in empty arrogance before Duke Huan, he was a deceiver, and death was fitting. Xiaochen's conduct called for punishment if not for death. Duke Huan could not keep hold of the principle of minister and ruler, and gave the rites to a man fit for punishment or death. In this Duke Huan taught the state of Qi the custom of holding those above light and despising the ruler. This is not the way to make order. Therefore it is said: Duke Huan did not know benevolence and righteousness.

At the battle of Miji, Han Xianzi was about to behead a man. Xi Xianzi heard of it and drove out to save him. By the time he arrived, the man had already been beheaded. Xizi thereupon said, "Why not carry the body round for all to see?" His driver said, "Were you not just now going to save him?" Xizi said, "How should I dare not to share the blame?"

Someone says: Xizi's words must be looked into. They did not share the blame. If the man Hanzi beheaded was a criminal, then he could not be saved. To save a criminal is how the law breaks down, and when the law breaks down the state falls into disorder. If he was not a criminal, then one could not urge that his body be carried round. To urge the carrying round is to double the wrong done to the guiltless, and doubling the wrong done to the guiltless is how the people's resentment rises, and when the people resent, the state is in danger. Xizi's words meant danger if not disorder. They must be looked into. Moreover, if the man Hanzi beheaded was a criminal, what did Xizi share? If the man beheaded was not a criminal, he had already been beheaded, and only then did Xizi arrive. So Hanzi's blame was already complete, and Xizi came after it. When Xizi said to carry the body round, that was not enough to share the blame for beheading a man, and it bred a further blame for the carrying round. Is this what you call sharing blame? Long ago, when Zhou made the roasting pillar, Marquis Chong and Elai further said to cut off the shins of the men who waded the river. What did they share of Zhou's blame? Moreover the people's hope in those above them is great. If they got nothing from Hanzi, they still hoped that Xizi would get it for them. Now that Xizi too got nothing for them, the people cut off their hope in those above. Therefore it is said: Xizi's words did not share the blame; they added to it. And Xizi went to save the condemned man because he held Hanzi to be wrong. He did not say wherein he was wrong, and urged him to carry the body round, and so he made Hanzi not know his own fault. Below, he made the people's hope in those above be cut off, and he made Hanzi not know his error. I have not found wherein Xizi shared the blame.

Duke Huan loosed Guan Zhong's bonds and made him his prime minister. Guan Zhong said, "Your servant has your favor, yet your servant is low." The duke said, "I will set you above the Gao and the Guo." Guan Zhong said, "Your servant is honored, yet your servant is poor." The duke said, "I will let you have the house of the three returns." Guan Zhong said, "Your servant is rich, yet your servant is distant." So the duke set him up as Zhongfu. Xiao Lue said, "Guan Zhong held that the low cannot govern the honored, and so asked for a place above the Gao and the Guo. He held that the poor cannot govern the rich, and so asked for the three returns. He held that the distant cannot govern the close, and so took the place of Zhongfu. Guan Zhong was not greedy. He did it to make governing easy."

Someone says: now have a slave carry the ruler's order and announce it to the prime ministers, and none will dare not to listen. This is not because the prime ministers are low and the slave is honored. It is that where the ruler's order is laid, none dare not follow it. Now if Guan Zhong's governing did not come by way of Duke Huan, then there was no ruler, and a state without a ruler cannot be governed. If he carried Duke Huan's authority on his back and sent down Duke Huan's orders, this is the very thing by which even a slave is trusted. Why wait for the honor of the Gao, the Guo, and Zhongfu before acting? In our day those who carry out affairs, and those who send down summons under the ducheng, do not shrink from the honored and noble and do not stoop to the low and mean. So when a man acts within the law, even a palace eunuch is trusted by the prime ministers, and when a man acts outside the law, even a great clerk bends before the commoners. Now Guan Zhong did not work at honoring his ruler and making the law clear, but busied himself with adding favor and adding rank. Either Guan Zhong was greedy for wealth and honor, or he was surely in the dark and did not know technique. Therefore it is said: Guan Zhong had faulty conduct, and Xiao Lue gave excessive praise.

King Xuan of Han asked Jiu Liu, "I wish to use both Gongzhong and Gongshu. May it be done?" Jiu Liu answered, "Long ago Wei used both the Lou and the Di and lost Xihe, and Chu used both the Zhao and the Jing and lost Yan and Ying. Now if my lord uses both Gongzhong and Gongshu, they will surely fight over affairs and trade with the outside, and the state will surely be in trouble."

Someone says: long ago Duke Huan of Qi used both Guan Zhong and Bao Shu, and Cheng Tang used both Yi Yin and Zhong Hui. If using two ministers were the trouble of a state, then Duke Huan would not have become hegemon and Cheng Tang would not have become king. King Min used Nao Chi alone, and his person died in the eastern shrine. Zhufu used Li Dui alone, and his food was cut down and he died. If the ruler has technique, using two is no trouble. If he is without technique, then using two means they fight over affairs and trade with the outside, and using one means that man rules alone and coerces and kills his lord. Now Jiu Liu had no technique for taking the measure of the one above him, and he made his ruler drop the two and use one. Then if there is not the trouble of Xihe and of Yan and Ying, there will surely be the trouble of a person dead and of food cut down. In this Jiu Liu had no good eye for knowing words.