Zhushu — The Ruler's Techniques主術訓

The art of the ruler is to dwell in affairs of non-action and to carry out the teaching that does not speak. He is clear and still and does not stir; he holds to one measure and is not shaken; he follows along and entrusts matters to those below; he demands results and does not toil. Therefore, though his mind knows the compass, his tutors instruct and guide him; though his mouth can speak, the herald announces his words; though his feet can walk, the usher leads the way before him; though his ears can hear, the minister of state comes forward to remonstrate. Therefore in his thinking there is no failed plan, in his planning no undertaking that goes too far; his words become patterned writing, and his conduct becomes a model for the world. His advancing and withdrawing answer the season, his motion and stillness follow the natural order. He makes nothing of ugly and beautiful, of liking and hating; he makes no reward or punishment out of joy and anger. Names name themselves, kinds sort themselves into kinds, affairs are as if self-so, and nothing comes out of himself. Therefore the kings of old hung jade beads before their caps, to screen their sight; they stopped their ears with yellow silk floss, to cover their hearing; and the Son of Heaven had an outer screen, to shut himself off. So what he governs is far, yet where he is, is near; what he rules is great, yet what he guards is small.

Now when the eyes look wildly there is excess, when the ears listen wildly there is delusion, when the mouth speaks wildly there is disorder. These three gates cannot but be guarded with care. If one would set them right, that is what drives them away; if one would adorn them, that is what harms them. The breath of Heaven becomes the hun soul, the breath of Earth becomes the po soul. Turn them back to the dark chamber, let each dwell in its own house, guard them and do not lose them, and above you reach through to Taiyi. The essence of Taiyi reaches through to the Way of Heaven, and the Way of Heaven is dark and silent, without shape and without rule, so great it cannot be exhausted, so deep it cannot be measured; it changes along with people, and knowing cannot grasp it. Long ago, when Shennong ruled the world, his spirit did not gallop about within his breast, his wisdom did not go beyond the four quarters, and he held a heart of benevolence and sincerity. Sweet rain fell in season, the five grains grew thick, spring gave birth and summer raised, autumn gathered in and winter stored away. Every month he inspected, every season he examined; at the year's end the works were presented, and in season he tasted the grain and sacrificed in the Mingtang Hall. The rule of the Mingtang Hall was this: it had a roof but no four sides, so that wind and rain could not assail it and cold and heat could not harm it; he entered it slowly, and he nourished the people with what was common to all. His people were plain and steady, upright and careful; they did not quarrel and yet goods were enough; they did not wear out their bodies and yet the work was done. He followed the stuff of Heaven and Earth and was in harmony and one with them. Therefore his authority was severe yet he did not kill, punishments were set aside and not used, the laws were few and not troublesome. So his transforming power was like a spirit. His land reached south to Jiaozhi, north to Youdu, east to Yanggu, west to Sanwei, and there was none that did not listen and follow. At that time the laws were lenient and the punishments slack, the prisons were empty, the world had one custom, and no one harbored a treacherous heart.

The government of a fallen age is not like this. Those above love to take and know no measure; those below are greedy as wolves and never yield. The people are poor and suffering and fight as enemies; their tasks and their strength are wearied and nothing is accomplished; cunning and deceit sprout up, robbers and thieves multiply and grow bold, high and low resent one another, and commands are not carried out. The ministers and the officers do not strive to turn back to the Way and straighten what is bent at the root, but busy themselves with the branches; they pare their virtue thin and pile up their punishments, and by this they hope to rule. It is no different from holding a pellet bow and calling the birds to come, or swinging a club and trying to make friends with a dog. The disorder only grows worse. When the water is muddy the fish gasp at the surface; when the government is harsh the people fall into disorder. So those who raise tigers and leopards, rhinoceroses and elephants make pens and cages for them, supply what they crave, suit their hunger and their fullness, and keep clear of their rage. Yet the beasts cannot live out the years Heaven gave them, because their bodies are held captive. Thus when those above have many devices, those below have many deceits; when those above have many affairs, those below have many pretenses; when those above meddle and disturb, those below are unsettled; when those above seek much, those below strive against one another. To fail to set the root straight and to busy oneself with the branches is like throwing up dust to stop the dust, or carrying firewood to put out a fire. Therefore the sage has few affairs and is easy to govern by, seeks little and is easily satisfied; he does not give and yet is benevolent, does not speak and yet is trusted, does not seek and yet obtains, does not act and yet completes. Solid as a clod he keeps what is true; he holds virtue close and puts sincerity forth, and the world follows him as an echo answers a sound, as a shadow takes the shape of a form, because what he cultivated was the root. Punishments are not enough to shift custom, and killing is not enough to stop treachery. Only transformation by spirit is precious. The utmost essence is spirit.

A shout at its loudest is heard no more than a hundred paces off, but where the will reaches goes beyond a thousand li. The sunlight of a winter day, the shade of a summer day: the ten thousand things turn toward them, and no one makes it so. Therefore the image of the utmost essence comes of itself without being called, and stays of itself without being waved on; dim and dark, no one knows who does it, and yet the work completes itself. The wise cannot recite it, the eloquent cannot give it shape. Long ago Sun Shu'ao lay at ease, and the men of Ying had nowhere to turn their blades. Yiliao of Shinan played with his balls, and the quarrel between the two houses found no place for its words. Leather corselets and iron armor, glaring eyes and gripped wrists, are far off from warding off weapons. Tallies and contracts, bundles of silk, the punishments of axe and halberd, are thin things for undoing trouble. To wait upon the eye in order to see, to wait upon words in order to command, makes governing hard. When Qu Boyu was prime minister, Zigong went to look at him and said, "By what do you govern the state?" He said, "I govern it by not governing." Jianzi wished to attack Wei and sent Shi An to go and see. He came back and reported, "Qu Boyu is prime minister. Arms cannot yet be raised against them." Firm forts and steep passes, how could they be enough to bring that about! So Gao Yao was mute and was chief justice, and the world had no cruel punishments, for there is something more precious than speech. Shi Kuang was blind and was grand steward, and Jin had no disordered government, for there is something more precious than sight. Therefore the command that does not speak and the seeing that does not look are what made Fuxi and Shennong masters.

Therefore the people are transformed not by following what is said but by following what is done. So Duke Zhuang of Qi loved bravery, and though he set no one to fight, the state had many troubles, and by degrees it came to the revolt of Cui Zhu. King Qingxiang loved beauty, and though he set no rumors going, the people fell into much disorder, and the heaping up of it came to the trouble of Zhaoqi. So what the utmost essence sets moving is like the breath of spring giving life and the breath of autumn killing: though post horses gallop and relay stations be set up, they are not as swift as this. So one who rules others is like an archer. A hair's breadth here is a fathom there. Therefore he is careful about what he stirs in others. Rong Qiqi plucked the strings once, and Confucius was glad for three days, moved by harmony. Zou Ji touched a single stop, and King Wei grieved all evening, moved by sorrow. If stirring the zither and the lute and giving shape to sound and tone can make people sorrow and rejoice, then when hanging up laws and setting out rewards cannot shift custom and change usage, it is because the sincere heart has not been put forth. Ning Qi sang a merchant's song beneath his cart, and Duke Huan sighed and awoke. The utmost essence enters into a person deeply. Therefore it is said: listen to a people's music and you know their custom; see their custom and you know their transformation. Confucius learned to play the zither from Shi Xiang and understood the will of King Wen: he saw the slight and thereby knew the manifest. Jizi of Yanling listened to the music of Lu and knew the airs of Yin and Xia: he weighed the near and thereby knew the far. Made in high antiquity, handed down a thousand years, and the pattern is not wiped out. How much more when one lives in the same age as the people one transforms! In the time of Tang there was a drought of seven years, and he prayed with his own body at Sanglin, and the clouds of the four seas gathered and the rain of a thousand li came. He held to substance and offered sincerity, he moved Heaven and Earth, and the spirits understood him beyond the bounds. That orders are carried out and prohibitions obeyed, how could that be worth the doing! The sage kings of old gave the utmost essence shape within and forgot liking and hating without. They put out words to match their feelings and issued commands to make their purpose clear; they set things out with rites and music and worked upon the people with songs. Their work ran through ten thousand ages without being blocked, and stretched across the four quarters without coming to an end. Birds and beasts and insects were shaped and transformed along with them. How much more, then, with holding the law and issuing commands!

Therefore highest of all is transformation by spirit; next is making it impossible to do wrong; next is rewarding the worthy and punishing the violent. The balance set to left and right has no private judgment of light and heavy, and so it can serve for levelness. The marking line drawn within and without has no private judgment of crooked and straight, and so it can serve for straightness. The ruler in his use of the law has no private liking or hating, and so it can serve as the decree. Now in weighing light and heavy it does not err by a gnat's head; in propping up what is bent and twisted it does not miss by a needle's point; in setting things straight and correcting what is crooked it does not privately keep clear of the steep. Treachery cannot bend it, slander cannot throw it into confusion; virtue has no place to establish itself, resentment has no place to hide. This is to entrust things to method and to let go of the human heart. Therefore the one who governs takes no part in it.

A boat floats on water and a cart rolls on land: this is the self-so of circumstance. When a log strikes and snaps the axle-end, when the current runs against the boat and breaks it, people do not resent the wood and the stone but hold the skilled or the clumsy at fault, because knowing and contriving are not loaded into wood and stone. Thus if there is cleverness in the Way, it deludes; if there is a calculating heart in virtue, it grows steep; if there are eyes in the heart, it is dazzled. Among weapons none is crueler than the will, and Moye ranks below it. Among robbers none is greater than yin and yang, and the drum and the drumstick are small beside them.

Now the steelyard and the balance, the compass and the square, are fixed once and do not change. They do not alter their measure for Qin or Chu; they do not change their look for the Hu or the Yue. Always one and never crooked, they go square and do not drift. Shaped in a single day, they are handed on for ten thousand ages, and they do it by non-action. So a state may have a ruler who is lost, but the age has no Way that is abolished; a man may have hardship and want, but in the natural order there is nothing that does not go through. Seen from this, non-action is the ancestor of the Way. So one who gains the ancestor of the Way answers things without end, and one who entrusts things to human talent can hardly reach perfect rule. Tang and Wu were sage rulers, yet they could not join the men of Yue in riding a bare boat and floating on the rivers and lakes. Yi Yin was a worthy minister, yet he could not join the men of Hu in mounting a yuan horse and mastering the jutu. Confucius and Mozi were broadly learned, yet they could not join the mountain dwellers in entering the thickets and the steep places. Seen from this, a person's knowledge of things is shallow; and to wish to shine upon everything within the seas and preserve the ten thousand regions, without following the numbers of the Way but relying on one's own ability alone, is to be hemmed in and get nowhere. Therefore cleverness is not enough to govern the world. The strength of Jie was such that he could master horns and straighten hooks, twist iron and crumple metal, shift a great sacrificial ox with a mallet, kill soft-shelled turtles and alligators in the water and take bears and brown bears on land. Yet Tang with three hundred war chariots hemmed him in at Mingtiao and seized him at Jiaomen. Seen from this, courage and strength are not enough to hold the world. If cleverness is not enough to govern and courage is not enough to make one strong, then human talent is plainly not enough to rely on. Yet one who rules others knows what lies beyond the four seas without coming down from the hall of the ancestral temple, because he knows things by means of things and knows people by means of people. So what massed strength lifts, nothing is left unconquered; what the wisdom of the many does, nothing is left unfinished. There are no turtles and alligators in a pitfall, because it is narrow; there are no tall trees in a garden, because it is small. One who lifts a heavy cauldron has too little strength and cannot manage it, but when it comes to shifting it along he need not wait for the strong man. So in a band of a thousand men there is no bridge left broken, and in a gathering of ten thousand there is no work left undone.

Now Hualiu and Lü'er could reach a thousand li in a day, yet set them to catch a hare and they are no match for the jackal and the wolf, because their skills are different. The owl snatches fleas and gnats at night and can tell apart the tip of an autumn hair, but in broad day it blunders about and cannot see hill or mountain, because its form and its nature are otherwise. The tengshe serpent roams in the mist as it moves, the responding dragon rides the clouds as it rises, the ape gets a tree and is nimble, the fish gets water and darts away. So when the ancients made carts, the lacquerer did not paint and the borer did not hew; a craftsman had no second skill and an officer held no second post. Each kept to his own charge and they could not encroach on one another, so people got what suited them and things got what settled them. Thus the tools and the gear were not strained, and the duties of office were not neglected. One who is charged with little repays it easily, one whose office is narrow guards it easily, one whose burden is light weighs it easily. Those above hold the simple, pared-down share, and those below offer up work that is easy to do; thus ruler and minister grow old together and do not tire of one another. The way of one who rules others is like the impersonator at the Lingxing sacrifice: solemn, dark and silent, and yet he receives good omens and blessings. Therefore one who has gained the Way makes no ugly ornament and no false goodness; one man wears it and it is not too long, ten thousand wear it and it is not too narrow. Therefore if granting favor is treated as gravely as doing violence, the way of government goes through. To grant favor is to esteem giving out. But when there is heavy reward without merit and high rank without toil, then those who keep their office grow slack at their posts and the idlers press forward in a hurry. To do violence is to execute wildly. When the guiltless die and the upright suffer punishment, then those who cultivate themselves are not moved to good and those who do wrong offend against their superiors lightly. So the one who grants favor gives birth to treachery, and the one who does violence gives birth to disorder. Customs of treachery and disorder are the airs of a state that perishes. Therefore under the rule of an enlightened ruler, when there are executions in the state the ruler has no anger in them, and when there are rewards at court the ruler takes no part in them. The one executed does not resent the ruler, for it is what his crime deserved; the one rewarded does not credit his superior, for it is what his merit brought about. The people know that execution and reward come to them from themselves. So they strive at their work and cultivate their calling, and take no gifts from the ruler. Thus the court is overgrown and without footprints, and the fields are opened and without weeds. Therefore highest of all is that those below know only that he is there. The bridge stands straight and upright and does not move, and those who stoop and those who look up take their measure from it. When the ruler is still and quiet and not restless, the hundred officers are able to keep themselves in order. It is like the man who holds the banner in an army: if he points wildly, there is confusion. Cleverness is not enough to bring great peace, and knowing is not enough to make danger safe. Rather than praising Yao and reviling Jie, it is better to cover up one's own keen ears and eyes and turn back to cultivating the Way.

Be clear and still and without action, and Heaven gives its seasons. Be pure and frugal and keep to your measure, and Earth brings forth its goods. Dwell in seeming folly and speak of virtue, and the sage plans on your behalf. Therefore to what lies low the ten thousand things return, and to what is empty the world gives itself over. When the ruler attends to government, he is clear and bright and not dim, empty in heart and weak in will. Thus the host of ministers converge like spokes and come forward together, and whether foolish or wise, worthy or unworthy, there is none who does not exhaust his ability. Then at last he sets out his rites and builds them up for a foundation. This is to ride the force of the many as one's cart and to drive the wisdom of the many as one's horses. Then though the country be wild and the road steep, there is no way to go astray.

A ruler lives deep within and dwells hidden, to avoid dryness and damp; his gates are doubled and layered, to avoid treacherous thieves. Within, he does not know the feeling of the wards and lanes; without, he does not know the shape of the hills and marshes. Beyond his curtains his eyes cannot see ten li ahead and his ears cannot hear a hundred paces off. Yet of the things of the world there is none he does not reach, because what pours in to him is great and those who weigh it are many. Therefore he knows the world without going out the door, and knows the Way of Heaven without peering through the window. Ride the wisdom of the many, and the world is not enough to hold. Use only one's own mind, and one cannot keep even a single body safe. Therefore the ruler covers them with virtue and does not put his own cleverness to work, but follows what the ten thousand people find profitable. The whole world raises its heels and gains what profits it, and so the people bear him above them and do not find him heavy, set him before them and do not find him harmful, raise him up and do not find him lofty, push him along and do not tire of him.

That the ruler's way is round means that it turns and revolves without an end, that it transforms and nurtures like a spirit, that it is empty and follows along, always behind and never in front. That the minister's way is round means that it turns and revolves without a fixed quarter, that it weighs what is right and settles on what is fitting, that it leads the call in affairs, that it keeps its charge clearly and thereby establishes merit. Therefore when ruler and minister go by different ways there is order, and when they go by the same way there is disorder. When each gets what suits him and dwells where he belongs, then high and low have the means to employ one another. Now when the ruler attends to government, he is empty in heart and weak in will, clear and bright and not dim. Thus the host of ministers converge like spokes and come forward together, and whether foolish or wise, worthy or unworthy, there is none who does not exhaust his ability; then the ruler gains the means to control his ministers and the ministers gain the means to serve their ruler, and the way of governing the state is clear. King Wen was wise and loved to ask, and so he was a sage. King Wu was brave and loved to ask, and so he conquered. Ride the wisdom of the many, and there is nothing that cannot be entrusted; use the strength of the many, and there is nothing that cannot be overcome. A weight of a thousand jun Wu Huo could not lift, but let the many join as one and a hundred men have strength to spare. Therefore one who relies on the strength of a single man finds even Wu Huo not enough to depend on, and one who rides the ordering of the many finds even the world not enough to hold.

Yu opened the Jiang and dredged the He and made profit rise for the world, but he could not make the water flow west. Ji opened the ground and cleared away the weeds and made the people strong at farming, but he could not make grain sprout in winter. Was it that their human effort fell short? It was that the circumstance would not allow it. Now to push at a circumstance that cannot be worked, and not to cultivate the numbers of reason and order, is something in which even a spirit-like sage could not bring his work to completion, and how much less a ruler of the present age! When the load is heavy and the horse is lean, not even Zaofu could reach far; when the cart is light and the horses are good, even a middling driver can be set to chase down speed. Therefore when the sage takes up an undertaking, how could he go against the numbers of reason and order and cross the self-so nature of things, making the crooked straight and the bent stretched! He has never failed to follow the stuff of a thing and use it. Thus what massed strength lifts, nothing is left unconquered, and what the wisdom of the many does, nothing is left unfinished. A deaf man may be set to chew sinew, but he cannot be made to hear; a mute may be set to guard the frontier, but he cannot be made to speak. A form has what it does not reach, and an ability has what it cannot hold. Thus one who has one form dwells in one position, and one who has one ability takes on one task. When strength masters its charge, the one who lifts does not find it heavy; when ability matches its task, the one who does it does not find it hard. Small or great, long or short, let each get what suits it, and the world is of one piece and nothing outdoes anything else. The sage uses them all together, and so no talent is thrown away. A ruler honors uprightness and esteems loyalty. When the loyal and upright are in the high positions, holding to what is upright and managing affairs, then slanderers and flatterers, the treacherous and the crooked, have no way to come forward. It is like the square and the round that do not cover one another, and the bent and the straight that do not fit into one another. Birds and beasts cannot flock together because their kinds differ; the tiger and the deer do not roam together because their strength is not matched. Thus when a sage gains his purpose and is in the high position, those who slander and flatter, who are treacherous and crooked, and who would offend against the ruler, are like the sparrow that sees the falcon or the rat that meets the wildcat: they too must have no life left to them.

Thus a single act of the ruler cannot but be done with care. If the one he entrusts is the right person, the state is well governed, high and low are in harmony, the host of ministers are close to him, and the people cleave to him. If the one he entrusts is not the right person, the state is in danger, high and low are at odds, the host of ministers resent him, and the people fall into disorder. So when a single act is unfitting, the harm lasts a lifetime. The way of gaining and losing turns on the ruler. When the marking line is true above, the wood is straight below. It is not that anything is done to the wood; it is that what it is worked along is so. So when the ruler is truly upright, upright officers take charge of affairs and treacherous men lie down and hide; when the ruler is not upright, crooked men gain their purpose and the loyal are hidden away. Now why is it that a ruler does not scratch at jade and stone but scratches at melons and gourds? Because there is nothing to be got from jade and stone, and so he does not touch them. If the ruler is made to hold to uprightness and keep to levelness, as one follows the marking line and the water level for high and low, then those of his ministers who come with crookedness are like eggs thrown at a stone, like fire thrown into water. So King Ling loved slender waists, and among his people there were those who cut down their food and starved themselves. The king of Yue loved bravery, and his people all put themselves in danger and vied to die. Seen from this, the handle of power and position can shift custom and change usage. Were Yao a common man, he could not transform even one ward with his benevolence; were Jie in the high position, his orders would be carried out and his prohibitions obeyed. Seen from this, worth is plainly not enough to govern, while position can change custom. The Documents says, "When one man has blessing, the ten thousand people lean upon it." This is what it means.

The world is often dazzled by name and fame and seldom looks into the substance. Thus a man in office rises by praise, and a wandering scholar becomes known by his arguments; and if one looks into why they rise and become known, there is no other reason than that the ruler does not make clear the ground of shares and numbers, of profit and harm, and takes the arguments of many mouths for worth. Governing a state is not like this. One who speaks about affairs must be tried by the law, and one who acts must be ordered by his office. Those above hold to the name and demand the substance, and the minister keeps to his calling and offers up his merit; words cannot go beyond their substance, and conduct cannot go beyond its law. The host of ministers converge like spokes, and none dares to keep the ruler to himself. When a matter is not within the statutes and yet can ease the state and aid its governing, it must be tested by threes and fives, and examined in the shade to see where it comes out, and used together with wide listening to see how it works out. He does not lean to one bend, he does not take sides in one affair. Thus he stands in the middle and reaches everywhere, and his light circles and shines within the seas. The host of ministers are fair and upright and none dares to do crooked things; the hundred officers give account of their charges and strive to leave behind a record that is impartial. The ruler is keen and clear above, the officers are urged to effort below, treachery leaves no trace, and the many works advance day by day; thus the brave give their all in the army. A disordered state is not like this. Those whom the crowd all praises are rewarded without merit, and those who keep to their posts are executed without guilt. The ruler above is dim and not bright, the host of ministers form factions and are not loyal, those who talk and discourse roam about in argument, and those who cultivate their conduct compete for a place. When the ruler issues an order, they call it wrong and side against it; what the statutes forbid, they break by crooked means. Those who are clever strive at cunning and deceit, and those who are brave strive at quarrels. The great ministers keep power to themselves, the lower clerks hold on to position, and factions band closely together to make sport of the one above them. Though the state may seem to survive, the ancients called it perished. Moreover, for a man who does not attend to his office to put on armor and take up weapons, and for a man who does not follow the southern furrows to have a name for worth and sagehood, is not the way to teach a state. Qiji and Lü'er are the swift horses of the world; but if they will not go forward when driven and will not stop when pulled, then not even a fool would set his body in the cart. Now the spring of order and disorder can be seen in the wheel tracks, yet not one ruler of this age can look into it, and this is why the way of governing is blocked. Power and position are the ruler's carriage; rank and salary are the minister's reins and bit. Thus the ruler dwells at the pivot of power and position and holds the handle of rank and salary; he weighs the measure of slack and urgent and suits the joints of taking and giving. Thus the world gives its full strength and does not grow weary.

Now minister and ruler in their dealings have not the closeness of father and son nor the kinship of flesh and bone, and yet the minister exhausts his strength and braves death and does not spare his own body. Why? Position makes it so. Long ago Yu Rang was a minister of Wenzi of Zhonghang. Zhi Bo attacked the Zhonghang clan and swallowed up their land, and Yu Rang turned his back on his lord and served Zhi Bo as his minister. Zhi Bo fought Xiangzi of Zhao below Jinyang; he died and his body was made an example, and his state was split in three. Yu Rang wished to pay back Xiangzi of Zhao, so he lacquered his body to make himself a leper, swallowed charcoal to change his voice, and knocked out his teeth to alter his face. That a man of one and the same heart, serving two lords, should in the one case turn his back and depart and in the other wish to follow his lord in death, how could it be that his grounds for taking up or letting go, for thick or thin, were differently placed? It was the kindness shown him that made it so. Zhou held the whole world together and had the lords come to his court, and wherever human footprints reached and boats and oars passed, there was none that did not submit as a guest. Yet King Wu, with three thousand armored soldiers, took him at Muye. Was it that the people of Zhou died for loyalty and the people of Yin turned traitor? It was that their lord's righteous virtue was rich and his commands were carried out. Now a fast wind raises the waves, and when trees grow thick the birds gather: these are breaths that give life to one another. Thus if a minister does not get from his ruler what he wants, the ruler too cannot get from his minister what he seeks. What ruler and minister give each other is a circumstance of paying one another back. So the minister exhausts his strength and dies for loyalty and gives that to his ruler, and the ruler reckons his merit and hands down rank and gives that to his minister. Therefore a ruler cannot reward a minister who has no merit, and a minister cannot die for a ruler who has no virtue. For a ruler's virtue not to flow down to the people, and yet for him to want to use them, is like whipping a horse on the hoof. It is like ripening a crop without waiting for the rain, a reckoning that certainly cannot come out.

The way of one who rules others is to dwell in stillness and cultivate himself, and to lead those below with frugal restraint. When he is still, those below are not disturbed; when he is frugal, the people do not resent him. When those below are disturbed, the government falls into disorder; when the people resent, virtue is thin. When the government is in disorder, the worthy will not plan for him; when virtue is thin, the brave will not die for him. Thus if a ruler loves birds of prey and fierce beasts, rare and strange things, if he is sly and restless and wild, if he does not spare the people's strength, if he gallops and hunts and comes and goes out of season, then the hundred officers are thrown into confusion in their work, tasks are toilsome and goods run short, the ten thousand people all suffer, and their livelihood is not kept up. If a ruler loves high terraces and deep ponds, carving and chiseling and fretwork, embroidered emblems and figured patterns, fine and coarse hemp and damask and needlework, treasures and playthings and pearls and jade, then taxes are levied without measure and the strength of the ten thousand people is used up. When Yao held the world, it was not that he coveted the wealth of the ten thousand people and took his ease in the ruler's seat. It was that the people were attacking one another by force, the strong riding down the weak and the many doing violence to the few; and so Yao took upon his own person the conduct of restraint and frugality and made clear the benevolence of loving one another, and by this he brought them into harmony and gathered them. Thus his thatch was not trimmed and his oak rafters were not smoothed, his great carriage was not painted and his rush mat was not bordered, his great broth was not seasoned and his millet was not husked fine. He made his tours of inspection and carried out his teaching, he toiled for the world, and he went round the Five Peaks. Was it that what he had to live on was not enough to enjoy! To take the world and make it a state altar was not for any profit in it. When his years declined and his will grew troubled, he took the world and handed it to Shun, as lightly as stepping back and slipping off a sandal. A declining age is not like this. Given the wealth of the world in a single day and set in the ruler's position, such a man uses up the strength of the people to serve the desires of ear and eye, and his whole will is on palaces and halls, terraces and pavilions, ponds and parks, fierce beasts and bears and brown bears, playthings and rare and precious things. So the poor people have neither chaff nor bran to put in their mouths, while tigers and wolves and bears and brown bears eat their fill of grain-fed meat; the people's short hempen coats are not whole, while the palace chambers are clothed in brocade and embroidery. The ruler presses on with these useless works, and the common people waste away throughout the world. Thus he makes the world unable to rest in its own nature.

The place where a ruler dwells is like the brightness of the sun and the moon. It is what the whole world turns its eyes sideways to see and its ears sideways to hear, stretching their necks and raising their heels to gaze at. Thus without calm and plainness there is no making virtue clear, without quiet and stillness there is no reaching far, without breadth and largeness there is no covering all together, without kindness and warmth there is no gathering in the multitude, without evenness and uprightness there is no deciding and cutting off. Thus a worthy ruler's use of people is like a skilled craftsman's handling of wood: the large he makes into boats and pillars and beams, the small into oars and wedges, the long into rafters, the short into dwarf posts and bracket blocks. Small or great, long or short, each gets what suits it; compass and square, angled and round, each has its use. Among the things of the world none is more deadly than aconite, yet the good physician bags it up and stores it away, because there is a use for it. Thus even in the timber of the thickets there is nothing to throw away, and how much more with people! Now those whom the court does not raise up and the village does not praise are not unworthy men; it is that the office they are given is not their proper charge. When the deer goes up the mountain the roebuck cannot keep pace with it, but when it comes down a herd boy can run it down, for talent has its long and its short. Thus one who has great plans cannot be held to quick dexterity, and one who has small cleverness cannot be charged with great works. A person has his own talent and a thing has its own shape: there are those for whom one charge is already too heavy, and those for whom a hundred is still light. Thus one who examines and reckons in hairs and hundredths is sure to let slip the great numbers of the world, and one who never fails in choosing small things is bewildered when great numbers are taken up. It is like being unable to set a wildcat to seize an ox, or a tiger to catch mice. Now a man's talent may lie in settling the Nine Provinces and taking in the lands beyond, in preserving a state in danger and continuing a line that has been cut off, his will set on making the Way straight and correcting what is crooked, on cutting through what is troublesome and putting the snarled in order, and he is held to account for the etiquette of the inner chambers and the corners of a room. Or a man may have petty knacks of flattery and cunning, coming forward with fawning and pleasing talk, following the customs of the village and stooping to the ears and eyes of the crowd, and he is charged with the power of the world and the spring of order and disorder. This is like shaving hair with an axe and chopping wood with a knife: in both, what suits has been lost.

The ruler sees with the eyes of the world, hears with the ears of the world, thinks with the wisdom of the world, and contends with the strength of the world. Thus his commands can reach all the way down, and the feelings of his ministers can be heard above. The hundred officers are ordered and of one mind, the host of ministers converge like spokes; he does not reward out of joy, and he does not punish crimes out of anger. Thus his authority stands and is not undone, his keen sight and hearing shine and are not shut off, the statutes are clear and not harsh, his ears and eyes reach through and are not darkened, and the truth of what is good and what is not is set out before him day by day with nothing to go against it. Thus the worthy exhaust their wisdom and the unworthy exhaust their strength. His generous virtue covers all together and does not lean; the host of ministers urge themselves to their duties and are not slack; those near rest in their own nature, and those far off cherish his virtue. Why is this so? Because he has gained the way of using people and does not rely on his own talent. So one who borrows a carriage and horses reaches a thousand li without wearying his feet, and one who takes a boat and oars crosses rivers and seas though he cannot swim. Now among rulers' feelings there is none that does not wish to gather the wisdom of all within the seas and use up the strength of the many; yet among ministers who reach through with their purpose and offer up their loyalty, few do not bring hardship on themselves. If what a man says is right, then though he be a fellow in hempen clothes or a gatherer of fodder, still he cannot be cast aside; if what a man says is wrong, then though he be a high minister or a prime minister or a ruler drawing up plans in the hall of the temple, it is not necessarily fit to be used. Where right and wrong lie cannot be settled by noble and base, high and low. This is how the enlightened ruler listens to the host of his ministers: if the plan is fit to be used, he is not ashamed of the man's station; if the words can be carried out, he does not hold the man's eloquence against him. The benighted ruler is not like this. Those he loves and is used to and keeps close he cannot see to be crooked and bent and not upright; those who are distant and low and base he cannot know, though they exhaust their strength and give all their loyalty. If someone speaks, he corners him with words; if someone remonstrates, he executes him for a crime. To be like this and yet wish to shine upon all within the seas and preserve the ten thousand regions is like stopping one's ears and listening for clear and muddy notes, or covering one's eyes and looking for blue and yellow. How far indeed he has strayed from keen hearing and sight!

Law is the measure and the weight of the world, the water level and the marking line of the ruler. Hanging up the laws is making law of what is lawless; setting out rewards is rewarding what deserves reward. After the law is fixed, those who meet the standard are rewarded and those who fall short of the line are executed. The honored and noble do not have their penalty lightened, and the low and base do not have their punishment made heavy; one who breaks the law, though worthy, must be executed, and one who meets the measure, though unworthy, must be held guiltless. Thus the public way goes through and the private way is blocked. When the ancients set up officers, it was to restrain the people and keep them from acting as they pleased; when they set up a ruler, it was to control the officers and keep them from acting on their own; and the laws, the records and the rites were to restrain the ruler and keep him from deciding as he liked. When no one can act as he pleases, the Way prevails; and when the Way prevails, reason reaches through, and so one returns to non-action. Non-action does not mean congealing and sticking fast and not moving; it means that no word comes out of oneself. Now the inch is born from the millet grain, the millet grain from the sun, the sun from the form, the form from the shadow: this is the root of measure. Music is born from tone, tone from the pitch pipes, the pitch pipes from the wind: this is the ancestor of sound. Law is born from what is right, what is right is born from what suits the many, and what suits the many accords with the human heart: this is the pivot of governing. So one who has reached through to the root is not confused by the branches, and one who has seen the pivot is not deluded by the details. Law did not drop from Heaven and was not brought forth by Earth; it arises among people and turns back to set them straight. Thus what one has in oneself one does not condemn in others, and what one lacks in oneself one does not require of others. What is established for those below is not set aside by those above; what is forbidden to the people is not practiced in one's own person. What is called a state that perishes is not one without a ruler but one without law. To alter the law is not to be without law; but to have law and not use it is the same as having none. Thus when the ruler sets up laws, he first makes himself the gauge and the model, and so his commands are carried out throughout the world. Confucius said, "If his own person is upright, things are done without orders; if his own person is not upright, then though he gives orders they are not followed." So when the prohibition prevails over one's own person, the command is carried out among the people.

The rule of a sage ruler is like Zaofu's driving. He gathers them evenly at the reins and the bit, and quickens or slackens them by the harmony of his lips and mouth; he keeps the measure straight within his breast and holds the beat within his palm; within he has it in his heart, and without he matches the will of the horses. Thus he can advance and retreat treading the marking line, and turn and bend true to the compass, and take the road and reach far with strength to spare. It is truly that he has gained the art of it. Thus power and position are the ruler's carriage, and the great ministers are the ruler's team of four. For the body to leave the safety of the carriage and the hand to lose the hearts of the team, and yet not come to danger, is a thing that has never been from antiquity to now. Thus if carriage and horses are not in tune, not even Wang Liang is enough to take the road; if ruler and ministers are not in harmony, not even Tang and Yu could make a government of it. Hold the art and drive them, and the wisdom of a Guan Zhong and an Yan Ying is fully drawn out; make the shares clear and show them, and the treachery of a Zhi and a Qiao is stopped. Now if one leans on the steps and peers down to the bottom of a well, then even with piercing sight one still cannot see the pupil of one's own eye; but borrow brightness from a mirror to light it, and inches and fractions can be made out. Thus the ears and eyes of an enlightened ruler are not wearied and his spirit is not used up: a thing comes and he views its image, an affair arrives and he answers its changes; what is near is not thrown into disorder, and what is far is governed. Thus he does not use numbers that merely happen to come out, but walks the way that must be so, and so in ten thousand undertakings he leaves no plan astray.

Now when a driver has his horses' bodies in tune with the cart and his own heart in harmony with the horses, then he passes steep places and reaches far, advancing and retreating and roaming about, and nothing is not as he wills. But though he have the excellence of Qiji and Lü'er, if a slave drives them the horses grow willful instead and the man cannot control them. So one who governs does not prize being right himself; he prizes it that others cannot do wrong. Therefore it is said: do not make things worth wanting, and do not say, "Do not seek them"; do not make things easy to seize, and do not say, "Do not fight over them." Be like this, and human talents are set free and the public way is carried out. Those who excel are set straight by the measure, and those who fall short are built up by being put to use, and so all within the seas can be made one. Now when duties are let go and blame and praise are listened to, when public toil is thrown aside and factions are employed, then odd talents leap ahead and break the order of rank, and those who keep their offices are blocked and do not advance. Be like this, and the customs of the people fall into disorder in the state and meritorious ministers quarrel at court. So the statutes and the measures are what the ruler holds those below by; to let them go and not use them is like galloping without rein or bit, and the host of ministers and the people make sport of the one above them instead. Thus with the art one controls others, and without the art one is controlled by others. A fish that could swallow a boat, once it is tossed about and loses the water, is at the mercy of mole crickets and ants, because it has left where it lives; and when gibbons lose their trees they are taken by foxes and wildcats, because that is not their place. When one who rules others lets go what he ought to guard and contends with his ministers below, then the officers hold their posts by doing nothing, and those who keep their charges gain acceptance by falling in with the ruler. Thus the ministers hide their wisdom and do not use it, and roll their business back onto the one above them instead.

Now the rich and noble as against toil, those who have mastered affairs as against close examination, the proud and willful as against respectfulness: in position none of these comes up to the ruler. If one who rules others does not entrust work to the able and loves to do it himself, then his cleverness is worn out day by day and he carries the blame himself. When his reckonings are exhausted among those below, he cannot set reason forth; when his conduct falls away in the state, he cannot govern on his own. When cleverness is not enough to govern and authority is not enough to carry out executions, he has nothing with which to deal with the world. When joy and anger take shape in his heart and his desires show without, then those who keep their charges leave what is upright and fawn on the one above, and the officers bend the law and follow the wind; rewards do not fit the merit and executions do not answer the crime; high and low part in heart, and ruler and ministers resent one another. Thus the ministers in power fawn on their ruler, and when there is a fault there is no way to hold anyone to account. When there is guilt and no execution, the hundred officers are troubled and thrown into disorder and cleverness cannot untangle it; blame and praise sprout up and brightness cannot shine on them. Not to set the root straight and instead to turn what is self-so about is to make the ruler ever more toilsome and the ministers ever more idle. It is like taking the butcher's place and flaying the sacrifice, or doing the master carpenter's hewing for him. Race a horse and your sinews will snap before you can catch it; get up in the cart and take the reins, and the horse will die under the yoke. So when Bo Le judges the horse, Wang Liang drives it, and the enlightened ruler rides it, he reaches a thousand li without the labor of driving and judging, because he rides on what others have and makes it his wings.

Thus one who rules others does nothing and yet has what he guards; he acts and yet has nothing he is fond of. Where there is acting, slander is born; where there is fondness, flattery arises. Long ago Duke Huan of Qi loved fine flavors, and Yi Ya boiled his own eldest son and served him as a dainty. The lord of Yu loved treasures, and Duke Xian of Jin hooked him with jade and horses. The king of Hu loved music, and Duke Mu of Qin lured him with women musicians. In all of these they were shown a profit and so were controlled by others. So one who builds well is not uprooted. Fire is hot and water puts it out; metal is hard and fire melts it; wood is strong and the axe cuts it; water flows and earth dams it. Only the one who does the shaping and changing is a thing that nothing can master. So when desire within does not come out, it is called the bar; when crookedness without does not come in, it is called the block. With the inside barred and the outside shut, what affair will not be kept in measure! With the outside shut and the inside barred, what affair will not be brought about? Only by not using can one then use; only by not doing can one then do. When the spirit is wearied it overflows, and when ear and eye run to excess they are used up. So a ruler who has the Way puts out his thoughts and lets go his intentions, waits clear and empty, does not strike with his words and does not snatch at affairs; he follows the name and demands the substance; he sets the officers to work, entrusting them and not instructing them, holding them to account and not teaching them; he makes not knowing his way, and "What is to be done?" his treasure. Be like this, and the business of the hundred officers has each its own keeper. Take up the handle of power and position, and transforming the people becomes easy. That the lord of Wei could put Zilu to work was because his power was weighty; that Duke Jing and Duke Huan had Guan Zhong and Yan Ying as their ministers was because their position was honored. That the timid can subdue the brave and the foolish can control the clever is because the position they lean on prevails.

So when the branch cannot grow bigger than the trunk and the tip is not stronger than the root, then light and heavy, great and small, have a way of controlling one another. It is like the five fingers joined to the arm: striking, pulling, grasping, darting, nothing is not as the will would have it. This speaks of the small being joined to the great. Thus one who has gained the advantage of position holds very little and yet what he keeps is very great, guards what is very spare and yet controls what is very wide. Thus a tree ten spans around upholds a house of a thousand jun, and a bar five inches long controls a gate that opens and shuts. Is it that the timber is large or small enough for it? It is that where it sits is the pivot. Kong Qiu and Mo Di cultivated the arts of the former sages and mastered the discourse of the six arts; they spoke that teaching with their mouths and walked its purpose with their bodies; yet those who longed for their righteousness and followed their example and worked for them were no more than a few dozen men. Had they been set in the seat of the Son of Heaven, the whole world would have become Ru and Mo. When King Zhuang of Chu grieved at the death of Wen Wuwei in Song, he shook out his sleeves and rose, and robes and caps followed one after another along the road, and in the end an army was formed below the walls of Song. His power was weighty. King Wen of Chu liked to wear the xiezhi cap, and the state of Chu copied him; King Wuling of Zhao held court in a cowrie belt and a junyi cap, and the state of Zhao was changed by it. Had they been common men in hempen clothes, then though they wore the xiezhi cap and came to court in the cowrie belt and the junyi cap, they would not have escaped being laughed at. Now among the people, those who love the good and delight in what is upright, and hit the measure of themselves without waiting for prohibition and punishment, are not one in ten thousand. Let there be a command below that must be carried out, so that those who follow it profit and those who go against it come to grief, and before the sun's shadow has shifted there will be none within the seas who is not brought to the line.

So if you grip the point of a sword and go up to Beigongzi, then not even Sima Kuaikui could be made to meet an enemy; but grip the hilt and beckon with the point, and even a common man can win with it. Now set Wu Huo and Ji Fan to pull an ox from behind by the tail, and the tail will break off and it still will not follow, because that goes against it; but thread a mulberry twig through its nose, and a boy five feet tall can lead it around the four seas, because that goes along with it. A steering oar seven feet long controls a boat to left and right because it takes the water for its ground; the Son of Heaven issues commands and his orders are carried out and his prohibitions obeyed because he takes the multitude for his position. Now to shut off what the people find harmful and to open what the people find profitable is authority carried out as one breaks a dike and lets out a pond. So to follow the current downstream is to arrive easily, and to run with the wind at one's back is to go far easily. When Duke Huan set up his government, he did away with the beasts that ate meat, the birds that ate grain, and the nets that were kept strung; three acts, and the people were pleased. Zhou killed the prince Bi Gan and his own flesh and blood resented him; he cut through the shins of a man fording a stream in the morning and the ten thousand people turned against him; two acts, and he lost the world. So righteousness is not being able to profit all the people of the world: profit one man, and the world follows like the wind. And violence is not harming all the multitudes within the seas: harm one man, and the world departs and turns against you. So Duke Huan by three acts gathered the lords nine times, and Zhou by two acts could not remain even a common man.

So what one takes up and sets down cannot but be looked into with care.

When a ruler levies taxes on the people, he must first reckon the year's harvest and measure what the people have stored, and know the numbers of famine and of surplus and want; only then does he take carriages and clothing and food to supply his own wants. High terraces and tiered pavilions, joined roofs and linked galleries are not unlovely; yet if among the people there are those who dig caves and shelter their bodies in cramped huts, the enlightened ruler takes no pleasure in them. Rich meats and strong wine, sweet and tender fare, are not unpleasing; yet if among the people there are those who cannot get chaff and bran, beans and millet, to their mouths, the enlightened ruler does not find them sweet. A comfortable couch and a soft rush mat are not uneasy; yet if among the people there are those who dwell in the border forts, braving danger and hardship, and die in the marshes with their bones left bare, the enlightened ruler does not rest easy on them. So the rulers of old grieved bitterly over their people. If there were any starving in the state, they did not take two flavors at a meal; if any among the people were cold, they did not wear furs in winter. When the year gave a full harvest and the people were well off, then and only then did they hang up the bells and drums and set out the shields and axes, and ruler and minister, high and low, made merry with one heart, and there was no one in the state who mourned. So when the ancients made instruments of metal and stone, of pipe and string, it was in order to spread out joy; armor and weapons, axe and halberd, were in order to give shape to anger; goblets and stands and vessels and the rites of pledging a cup were in order to offer up goodwill; mourning garments and hempen bands and straw sandals, the beating of the breast and the leaping and the wailing, were in order to make grief plain. In all of these there was a fullness within that took shape without. But when it comes to a disordered ruler, he takes from the people without gauging their strength and demands of those below without measuring their stores, so that men and women cannot attend to the work of plowing and weaving because they must supply what those above demand; their strength is worn out and their goods run short, and ruler and ministers hate one another. So when the people have come to parched lips and boiling livers, with something for today and nothing laid by, then and only then does he strike the great bell and beat the sounding drum, blow the yu and the sheng and pluck the zither and the lute. This is like putting on armor and helmet and entering the ancestral temple, or wearing gauze and silk and following the army: the ground from which joy is born has been lost. Now as for how the people live, one man treads the plow and tills no more than ten mu; the yield of middling land, the harvest of a whole year, is no more than four measures the mu; and wife and children and the old and the weak look up to it for their food; and there are the troubles of flood and drought and calamity, and there is nothing left to meet the levies from above, the cost of carts and horses and armor and weapons. Seen from this, a person's life is pitiful! Now with the greatness of Heaven and Earth, reckon that three years of plowing leaves one year's food over: roughly, in nine years there is a store of three years, in eighteen years a store of six years, in twenty-seven years a laying-by of nine years, and then, though the disasters of flood and drought and calamity come, the people are not driven into want and scattered abroad. So a state without a store of nine years is said to be short; a state without a store of six years is said to be in straits; a state without a store of three years is said to be destitute. So when there is a benevolent ruler and an enlightened king, whose taking from those below has its limits and whose keeping of himself has its measure, then he can receive what Heaven and Earth hand down and can leave behind the troubles of hunger and cold. But with a greedy ruler and a violent lord, who throws those below into disorder and preys upon his people to suit his endless wants, the people have no way to be covered by the harmony of Heaven and to tread the virtue of Earth.

Food is the root of the people, the people are the root of the state, and the state is the root of the ruler. Thus one who rules others follows the seasons of Heaven above, draws fully on the goods of Earth below, and uses human strength between; and so the living things grow to their term and the five grains multiply. He teaches the people to raise the six domestic animals, to plant trees in season, to work at keeping up the fields, to grow mulberry and hemp in plenty; rich land and poor, high and low, each is used as suits it, and hills and slopes and steep places where the five grains will not grow are planted with bamboo and timber. In spring the withered wood is cut, in summer the fruits are gathered, in autumn the greens are stored, in winter the firewood is cut, and this is made the people's stock. Thus in life there is no lack of what is needed, and in death there are no corpses rolling in the road. So the law of the former kings was that in hunting one did not take a whole herd, and one did not take the fruit and the young. They did not drain the marsh to fish, and they did not burn the forest to hunt. Until the jackal has made its offering of beasts, snares and nets may not be spread in the fields; until the otter has made its offering of fish, nets may not be put into the water; until hawk and falcon strike, no netting may be stretched across streams and valleys; until grass and trees have shed, no axe may be brought into the mountain forests; until the insects have gone into hiding, no fire may be used to burn off the fields. What is carrying young may not be killed, nestlings and eggs may not be groped for, a fish not a foot long may not be taken, a pig not yet a year old may not be eaten. Thus the shooting up of grass and trees is like steam rising, the return of birds and beasts is like flowing springs, the return of the flying birds is like smoke and cloud, for there is a reason that brings them. So the government of the former kings was this. When the clouds of the four seas came, they saw to the boundary walls; when the toads croaked and the swallows came down, they opened the roads and cleared the ways; when the shade came down upon the hundred springs, they repaired the bridges. When at dusk the Zhang stars stood at the meridian, they pressed on with sowing the grain; when the Great Fire stood at the meridian, they sowed millet and beans; when the Xu stood at the meridian, they sowed winter wheat; when the Mao stood at the meridian, they gathered in and stored up and cut firewood and timber. Above they announced it to Heaven, and below they set it out for the people. The reason the former kings answered the seasons and kept their preparations in order, enriched the state and profited the people, filled the empty places and drew the far ones in, was that their Way was complete. It was not that they could see it all with their eyes and walk it all with their feet; it was that they wished to profit them. When the wish to profit them is not forgotten in the heart, the offices order themselves. The heart can do not one thing for the nine openings and the four limbs; yet that moving and resting, hearing and seeing all take it for their master is because the wish to profit them is not forgotten. So Yao did good and the many goods came, and Jie did wrong and the many wrongs came. When good is heaped up, the work is accomplished; when wrong is heaped up, disaster reaches its height.

In every discussion of a person: the heart should be small and the will should be great, the wisdom should be round and the conduct should be square, the abilities should be many and the affairs should be few. That the heart should be small means to think of trouble before it arises and to prepare against calamity before it breaks out, to guard against fault and be careful in small things, and not to dare to let one's desires loose. That the will should be great means to take in the ten thousand states together and make differing customs of one piece, to cover the people all alike and join them as one clan, so that right and wrong converge like spokes and make him their hub. That wisdom should be round means to turn and revolve as a ring does, with beginning and end that have no end, to flow out to the sides and reach the four quarters, deep as a spring and never used up, so that as the ten thousand things rise up together there is none it does not turn and answer. That conduct should be square means to stand straight and not bend, to be plain white and not stained, not to change one's hold in hardship and not to give one's will free rein in success. That abilities should be many means that civil and martial are both complete, that motion and stillness meet the standard, that in taking up and in setting aside one gets what is fitting at every turn, with nothing that strikes or goes crosswise and nothing that is not wholly apt. That affairs should be few means to hold the handle and keep the art, to grasp the pivot and answer the many, to hold the spare and govern the wide, to dwell in stillness and keep to the center, turning on the jade pivot, joining the ten thousand with the one as the halves of a tally match. So one whose heart is small forbids things while they are slight; one whose will is great has nothing he does not cherish; one whose wisdom is round has nothing he does not know; one whose conduct is square has things he will not do; one whose abilities are many has nothing he cannot manage; one whose affairs are few keeps spare what he holds to.

In antiquity, when the Son of Heaven held court, the high ministers remonstrated to his face, the erudites recited the Odes, the blind musicians spoke admonitions and the music masters recited, the common people passed their words up, the recorder wrote down his faults, and the steward took a dish from his table. Even this was thought not enough, and so Yao set up a drum for those who dared remonstrate, Shun set up a post for criticism, Tang had an officer to keep him straight, and King Wu set up a hand drum of warning and care. A fault the size of a hair was already provided against. Now the sage, when it comes to good, leaves nothing unraised however small, and when it comes to his own faults, leaves nothing uncorrected however slight. Yao, Shun, Yu, Tang, Wen and Wu all sat calmly facing south over the world. In that time the great drum sounded as they ate and the Yong was played as the dishes were taken away; after the meal they sacrificed at the hearth; in their going about they used no shamans and no invokers, and yet the ghosts and spirits dared not curse them and the hills and streams dared not bring harm on them. They may be called honored in the highest degree. Yet they trembled and were afraid, and each day was more careful than the last. Seen from this, the heart of the sage is small. The Shi says, "This King Wen, careful in heart and reverent, served the Lord on High with clear light, and so drew many blessings to himself." Is this not what it means! When King Wu attacked Zhou, he opened the grain of Juqiao and scattered the coin of Lutai, he raised a mound over Bi Gan's grave and marked out the village gate of Shang Rong, he paid court at the temple of Cheng Tang and released Jizi from confinement. He let each dwell in his own house and till his own field, making nothing of old and new and being close only to the worthy; he used what had not been his and set to work men who had not been his own, and it was as calm as if he had held them from the first.

Seen from this, the will of the sage is great. King Wen and the Duke of Zhou looked at gain and loss and surveyed right and wrong throughout; how Yao and Shun flourished and how Jie and Zhou perished they set forth in the Mingtang Hall, and thereby they kept their own cleverness spare and asked widely, so as to answer what has no fixed quarter. Seen from this, the wisdom of the sage is round. Cheng and Kang carried on the work of Wen and Wu and kept the rule of the Mingtang Hall; they looked at the traces of survival and ruin and saw the turns of success and failure; what was not the Way they did not speak, and what was not right they did not do; they did not let a word out carelessly and did not act carelessly, but chose the good and then went about their business. Seen from this, the conduct of the sage is square. Confucius in his mastery had wisdom beyond Chang Hong and courage that made Meng Ben submit; his feet could run down a cunning hare and his strength could lift the bar of a city gate. His abilities too were many. Yet his courage and strength were never heard of and his skill and dexterity were never known; he devoted himself to the way of teaching alone and became the uncrowned king. His affairs too were few. In the two hundred and forty-two years of the Chunqiu, fifty-two states perished and thirty-six rulers were murdered; he picked out the good and weeded out the ugly and thereby completed the kingly Way. His discussion too was wide. Yet when he was surrounded at Kuang his color did not change and he did not stop his strings and his singing; facing a place of death and ruin and braving the danger of calamity, he leaned on righteousness and followed reason and his will was not cowed. His sense of what was his own too was clear. Yet as minister of justice in Lu, when he heard a case he always gave a decision, and in making the Chunqiu he did not speak of ghosts and spirits and did not dare to take things upon himself alone.

Now the wisdom of the sage is of itself already ample. What he guards is spare, and so when he acts he is sure to flourish. The wisdom of a foolish man is of itself already scant, and what he busies himself with is much, and so when he moves he is sure to come to a dead end. Wu Qi and Zhang Yi were less wise than Confucius and Mozi, and yet they contended with lords of ten thousand chariots; this is why they were torn apart by chariots and had their limbs dismembered. One who transforms by what is upright has an easy task and is sure to succeed; one who is crafty toward the age by crooked means has a hard task and is sure to fail. Whenever one is about to set out a course of conduct and establish a purpose in the world, to throw away what is easy to accomplish and go after what is hard and sure to fail is what folly and delusion bring about. All these six opposites cannot but be looked into. To know the ten thousand things throughout and not know the way of people cannot be called wisdom; to love all living things throughout and not love one's own human kind cannot be called benevolence. The benevolent love their own kind, and the wise cannot be deluded. Though the benevolent man be in the midst of cutting and punishing, the look of what he cannot bear to do can be seen in him. Though the wise man be in a troublesome and hard affair, the proof that he is not in the dark can be seen. To measure within and turn back to one's own feelings, and not to lay upon others what one's own heart wants; to know the far by the near and to know others by oneself: this is where benevolence and wisdom join and act together. There is a small teaching that brings a great preserving, and a small execution that brings a great peace; and to put pity forth and act on it is what the wise man decides alone.

So benevolence and wisdom go apart and yet at times they join. Where they join, that is the upright; where they part, that is expediency; but their meaning is one. The clerk of the office keeps the law, and the ruler settles what is right. Law without righteousness is a clerk of the office as well, and not enough to make a government with.

Plowing as a task is toilsome and weaving as a task is troublesome, and that the people do not give up these troublesome and toilsome tasks is because they know that by them they can be clothed and fed. Human feeling cannot do without clothing and food, and the way to clothing and food must begin in plowing and weaving; this the ten thousand people all see. Things like plowing and weaving are very toilsome at the start and sure to profit at the end. What the many foolish see is little, and what in affairs can be weighed is much, and what the foolish weigh is little; this is why the foolish have many troubles. What in things can be provided against, the wise provide against fully; what can be weighed, they weigh fully; this is why the wise have few troubles. So the wise man goes against the grain first and falls in with things afterward, while the foolish man begins in delight and ends in grief. What shall I do today to come to glory? What shall I do tomorrow to be righteous? This is easy to say. What shall I do today to be righteous, and what shall I do tomorrow to come to glory? This is hard to know. Someone asked a blind music master, "What is white silk like?" He said, "It is white." He said, "And what is black like?" He said, "It is dark." But hand him white and black and show them to him, and he cannot deal with them. People see white and black with their eyes and speak of white and black with their mouths. The blind music master has the means to speak of white and black but no means to know white and black; so in speaking of white and black he is the same as others, but in telling white from black he is different from others.

To be filial to one's parents within and loyal to one's ruler without: there is no one, foolish or wise, worthy or unworthy, who does not know that this is righteousness; but those who set out the conduct of loyalty and filial piety and know where it comes from are few! In all human thinking, none acts without first holding a thing to be right; but whether it is right or wrong is what makes the foolish and the wise differ. In human nature nothing is more precious than benevolence and nothing more urgent than wisdom. Take benevolence for the substance and wisdom for the carrying out: these two are the root. Add to them courage and strength, eloquence and cleverness, quickness and diligence, skill and nimbleness, slowness and sharpness, keen hearing and sight and close examination, and they are all so much gain. But when the stuff of the person is not yet cultivated, and the skills are complete at every turn, and yet there is no benevolence and wisdom to serve as the outer form and the trunk, then to add the many fine things only adds to his loss. So courage and strength and boldness without benevolence is a madman gripping a sharp sword, and eloquence and cleverness and a ready flow of words without wisdom is casting a Qiji aside and not riding it. Though a man have talent and ability, if his using of it is unfitting and his standing is out of place, it serves only to help falsehood along and dress up what is wrong, and many skills are then worse than few. So one who has a wild heart cannot be lent a convenient position, and one whose stuff is foolish cannot be given a sharp instrument. When a fish gets water and swims in it, it is glad; when the dike breaks and the water dries up, it is eaten by mole crickets and ants. If there is someone charged with keeping up the dike and mending its gaps and leaks, then the fish gets its profit from it, and the state has the means to survive and people have the means to live. What a state survives by is benevolence and righteousness; what a person lives by is the doing of good. A state without righteousness, though it be great, must perish; a person with no will toward the good, though he be brave, must come to harm. In governing a state, those above are kept from taking a hand in this. To be filial to father and mother, respectful to elder brother and elder brother's wife, trustworthy to friends, can be done without getting any order from above. To let go of what one is able to do oneself and to demand it of what one cannot control is perverse. When an officer dwells low and hidden and wishes to reach upward, he must first turn back to himself. Reaching upward has its way: if name and repute do not arise, one cannot reach upward. Winning repute has its way: if one is not trusted by friends, one cannot win repute. Being trusted by friends has its way: if in serving one's parents one does not please them, one is not trusted by friends. Pleasing one's parents has its way: if in cultivating oneself one is not sincere, one cannot serve one's parents. Making oneself sincere has its way: if the heart is not wholly one, one cannot be wholly sincere. The Way lies in what is easy and people seek it in what is hard; the proof lies in what is near and people seek it in what is far; and so they do not find it.