The Way of the Sovereign君道第一
貞觀初，太宗謂侍臣曰：「為君之道，必須先存百姓，若損百姓以奉其身，猶割股以啖腹，腹飽而身斃。若安天下，必須先正其身，未有身正而影曲，上治而下亂者。朕每思傷其身者不在外物，皆由嗜欲以成其禍。若躭嗜滋味，玩悅聲色，所欲既多，所損亦大，既妨政事，又擾生民。且復出一非理之言，萬姓為之解體，怨讟既作，離叛亦興。朕每思此，不敢縱逸。」諫議大夫魏徵對曰：「古者聖哲之主，皆亦近取諸身，故能遠體諸物。昔楚聘詹何，問其理國之要。詹何對以修身之術。楚王又問理國何如？詹何曰：『未聞身理而國亂者。』陛下所明，實同古義。」
In the first years of Zhenguan, Taizong said to the ministers in attendance:
"The way of being a ruler lies first of all in caring for the people. To harm the people in order to serve oneself is like cutting one's own thigh to fill one's belly. The belly is full, but the body dies. To bring peace to all under heaven, one must first set oneself straight. Never has a body been straight and its shadow crooked, never has the top been well governed and the bottom in disorder.
"I think often that what harms a man is not in outward things. It is craving and desire that bring the disaster. If a man is greedy for fine flavors and delights in music and beauty, his wants grow many and his losses grow great. Government is hindered and the people are troubled. And if a single word against reason goes out, the hearts of the ten thousand people fall apart; and once resentment rises, revolt rises with it. I think of this always, and I dare not give myself to idle pleasure."
Wei Zheng, the grand counselor of remonstrance, answered:
"The sage rulers of old all took what was near, from their own persons, and so could reach as far as all things. Long ago Chu summoned Zhan He and asked him the essentials of governing a state. Zhan He answered with the art of cultivating oneself. The king of Chu asked again what should be done about governing the state, and Zhan He said, 'I have never heard of a man whose own person was governed and whose state was in disorder.' What Your Majesty has made clear is truly the same as the meaning of the ancients."
貞觀二年，太宗問魏徵曰：「何謂為明君暗君？」徵曰：「君之所以明者，兼聽也；其所以暗者，偏信也。《詩》云：『先人有言，詢於芻蕘。』昔唐、虞之理，辟四門，明四目，達四聰。是以聖無不照，故共、鯀之徒，不能塞也；靖言庸回，不能惑也。秦二世則隱藏其身，捐隔疏賤而偏信趙高，及天下潰叛，不得聞也。梁武帝偏信朱異，而侯景舉兵向闕，竟不得知也。隋煬帝偏信虞世基，而諸賊攻城剽邑，亦不得知也。是故人君兼聽納下，則貴臣不得壅蔽，而下情必得上通也。」太宗甚善其言。
In the second year of Zhenguan, Taizong asked Wei Zheng:
"What is called an enlightened ruler, and what is called a benighted ruler?"
Wei Zheng said:
"A ruler is enlightened because he listens to all sides. He is benighted because he trusts one side alone. The Shi says, 'The men of old had a saying: ask even the grass cutter and the woodcutter.' In the government of Yao and Shun long ago, the gates of the four quarters were opened, the eyes that see the four quarters were made bright, and the ears that hear the four quarters were opened. So there was nothing the sage did not light upon, and Gonggong and Gun and their kind could not shut him off, and smooth words with a crooked heart could not lead him astray.
"The Second Emperor of Qin hid himself away, shut out the low and the humble, and trusted Zhao Gao alone; and when all under heaven collapsed in revolt, he did not hear of it. Emperor Wu of Liang trusted Zhu Yi alone, and when Hou Jing raised troops and marched on the palace gates, he never knew of it. Emperor Yang of Sui trusted Yu Shiji alone, and when bandits attacked the walled towns and plundered the districts, he too did not know of it.
"So when a ruler listens to all sides and takes in those below him, the honored ministers cannot screen him, and what is felt below is sure to reach above."
Taizong thought his words very good.
貞觀十年，太宗謂侍臣曰：「帝王之業，草創與守成孰難？」尚書左僕射房玄齡對曰：「天地草昧，群雄競起，攻破乃降，戰勝乃克。由此言之，草創為難。」魏徵對曰：「帝王之起，必承衰亂。覆彼昏狡，百姓樂推，四海歸命，天授人與，乃不為難。然既得之後，志趣驕逸，百姓欲靜而徭役不休，百姓雕殘而侈務不息，國之衰弊，恒由此起。以斯而言，守成則難。」太宗曰：「玄齡昔從我定天下，脩嘗艱苦，出萬死而遇一生，所以見草創之難也。魏徵與我安天下，慮生驕逸之端，必踐危亡之地，所以見守成之難也。今草創之難，既已往矣，守成之難者，當思與公等慎之。」
In the tenth year of Zhenguan, Taizong said to the ministers in attendance:
"In the work of an emperor, which is harder, founding it or holding what has been won?"
Fang Xuanling, the left vice director of the Department of State Affairs, answered:
"Heaven and earth were still dark and the many heroes rose one against another. Only when you broke them did they surrender, and only when you won the battle did you prevail. Speaking from this, the founding is harder."
Wei Zheng answered:
"An emperor rises always upon an age of decay and disorder. He overturns the benighted and crafty ruler, the people gladly push him up, and the four seas entrust their lives to him. Heaven gives it and men give it, so it is not hard. But once he has won it, his will grows proud and idle. The people wish for quiet, yet the labor levies never stop; the people are worn away, yet extravagant works never rest. The decline and ruin of a state always begins here. Speaking from this, the holding is harder."
Taizong said:
"Xuanling followed me long ago when we settled all under heaven. He went through every hardship and came out alive from ten thousand deaths, so he has seen how hard the founding is. Wei Zheng has brought peace to all under heaven with me, and he fears that once the shoots of pride and idleness appear we must tread the ground of peril and ruin, so he has seen how hard the holding is. Now the hardship of the founding is already past. The hardship of the holding is what I must guard against together with you, my lords."
貞觀十一年，特進魏徵上疏曰：
In the eleventh year of Zhenguan, Wei Zheng, who held the honorary rank of specially advanced, sent up a memorial:
臣觀自古受圖膺運，繼體守文，控禦英雄，南面臨下，皆欲配厚德於天地，齊高明於日月，本支百世，傳祚無窮。然而克終者鮮，敗亡相繼，其故何哉？所以求之，失其道也。殷鑒不遠，可得而言。
Your servant observes that from ancient times those who received the charts and met the destiny of the age, who carried on the line and kept the statutes, who reined in the heroes and faced south to rule those below, all wished to match their ample virtue with heaven and earth and to set their height and brightness level with the sun and the moon, so that trunk and branch would last a hundred generations and the blessing be handed down without end. Yet few brought it to a good end, and one after another they fell and perished. What is the reason for it? When one looks for it, it is that they lost the way. The mirror of Yin is not far off, and it can be spoken of.
昔在有隋，統一寰宇，甲兵強銳，三十餘年，風行萬里，威動殊俗。一旦舉而棄之，盡為他人之有。彼煬帝豈惡天下之治安，不欲社稷之長久，故行桀虐，以就滅亡哉！恃其富強，不虞後患。驅天下以從欲，罄萬物而自奉，采域中之子女，求遠方之奇異。宮苑是飾，臺榭是崇，徭役無時，幹戈不戢。外示嚴重，內多險忌，讒邪者必受其福，忠正者莫保其生。上下相蒙，君臣道隔，民不堪命，率土分崩。遂以四海之尊，殞於匹夫之手，子孫殄絕，為天下笑，可不痛哉！
Long ago the Sui gathered the world into one. Their arms were strong and sharp, and for more than thirty years their power ran ten thousand li and shook the peoples of other customs. Then in a single morning they let it go, and it all became another man's. Did Emperor Yang hate a world governed and at peace, and not wish the altars of the state to last long, and so act as cruelly as Jie and walk into ruin? He trusted in his own wealth and strength and took no thought for what would come after.
He drove all under heaven to follow his desires and scraped up the ten thousand things to serve himself. He picked out the daughters of the realm and sought strange things from far places. He adorned palaces and parks and raised terraces and pavilions; the labor levies knew no season and the weapons were never put away. Outside he made a show of gravity, and inside he was dangerous and full of envy. The slanderous and the crooked were sure to receive his favor, and the loyal and the upright could not keep their lives. High and low deceived each other, the way between ruler and minister was blocked, the people could not bear his commands, and the whole land broke apart.
In the end, holding the honored seat of the four seas, he died at the hand of a common man; his children and grandchildren were cut off and he became the laughingstock of the world. How can one not grieve at it?
聖哲乘機，拯其危溺，八柱傾而復正，四維弛而更張。遠肅邇安，不逾於期月；勝殘去殺，無待於百年。今宮觀臺榭，盡居之矣；奇珍異物，盡收之矣；姬姜淑媛，盡侍於側矣。四海九州，盡為臣妾矣。若能鑒彼之所以失，念我之所以得，日慎一日，雖休勿休，焚鹿臺之寶衣，毀阿房之廣殿，懼危亡於峻宇，思安處於卑宮，則神化潛通，無為而治，德之上也。若成功不毀，即仍其舊，除其不急，損之又損。雜茅茨於桂棟，參玉砌以土堦，悅以使人，不竭其力，常念居之者逸，作之者勞，億兆悅以子來，群生仰而遂性，德之次也。若惟聖罔念，不慎厥終，忘締構之艱難，謂天命之可恃，忽采椽之恭儉，追雕墻之靡麗，因其基以廣之，增其舊而飾之，觸類而長，不知止足，人不見德，而勞役是聞，斯為下矣。譬之負薪救火，揚湯止沸，以暴易亂，與亂同道，莫可測也，後嗣何觀！夫事無可觀則人怨，人怨則神怒，神怒則災害必生，災害既生，則禍亂必作，禍亂既作，而能以身名全者鮮矣。順天革命之後，將隆七百之祚，貽厥子孫，傳之萬葉，難得易失，可不念哉！
Then a sage seized the moment and saved the world from its peril and drowning. The eight pillars had tilted, and they stood straight again; the four bonds had slackened, and they were drawn taut again. It took less than a month for the far places to grow solemn and the near to grow peaceful, and there was no waiting a hundred years to overcome cruelty and do away with killing.
Now Your Majesty dwells in all the palaces and terraces, has gathered in all the rare and marvelous things, has all the fair women in attendance at your side, and the four seas and the nine provinces are all your servants and your handmaids.
If you take as a mirror the reason those others lost it and reflect on the reason you gained it, if you are careful day after day and take no ease even when you are at ease, if you burn the treasured robes of the Lu Terrace and pull down the wide halls of Epang, if in a lofty house you fear peril and ruin and in a low house you think of dwelling at peace, then the transforming power of the spirit will quietly reach through and there will be order without action. This is the highest of virtue.
If you do not pull down what is already built but leave the old as it is, and only cut away what is not urgent, cutting and cutting again, if you mix thatch with the cassia beams and earthen steps with the jade stairs, if you please the people when you put them to work and do not use up their strength, if you remember always that the one who dwells is at ease and the one who builds is worn out, then the multitudes will come gladly, like children to a father, and every living thing will look up and fulfill its nature. This is the next of virtue.
But if, being a sage, you do not reflect and are not careful of the end, if you forget how hard the building was and think the mandate of heaven can be relied on, if you slight the thrift of rough-cut rafters and chase after the splendor of carved walls, if you widen the old foundation and add more ornament to what was there, extending it by likeness and not knowing where to stop, then the people will not see virtue and will hear only of forced labor. This is the lowest.
To liken it to something, it is carrying firewood to put out a fire, or ladling up the boiling water to stop the boiling. It is replacing disorder with cruelty, and that is the same road as disorder, so there is no measuring it; and what will those who come after look upon? When there is nothing worth looking upon in the deeds, the people resent it; when the people resent it, the spirits are angry; when the spirits are angry, calamity is sure to arise; when calamity has arisen, disorder is sure to break out; and when disorder has broken out, few keep body and name whole. After following heaven and changing the mandate, if you would make the blessing of seven hundred years flourish, hand it to your sons and grandsons and pass it down ten thousand generations, it is hard to win and easy to lose. How can you not reflect on it?
是月，徵又上疏曰：
That month Wei Zheng sent up another memorial:
臣聞求木之長者，必固其根本；欲流之遠者，必浚其泉源；思國之安者，必積其德義。源不深而望流之遠，根不固而求木之長，德不厚而思國之治，臣雖下愚，知其不可，而況於明哲乎？人君當神器之重，居域中之大，將崇極天之峻，永保無疆之休。不念居安思危，戒奢以儉，德不處其厚，情不勝其欲，斯亦伐根以求木茂，塞源而欲流長者也。
Your servant has heard that one who would have a tree grow tall must make its roots firm, that one who would have a stream flow far must dredge its spring, and that one who thinks of peace for the state must heap up virtue and right. To hope a stream will flow far when its source is not deep, to seek a tree that grows tall when its roots are not firm, to think a state will be governed when virtue is not ample: your servant is the dullest of men, yet he knows this cannot be. How much more one who is enlightened and wise?
A ruler takes on the weight of the sacred vessel and holds the great place within the realm. He would raise a height that touches heaven and keep a blessing without bound forever. If he does not think of danger while he is at peace, and check extravagance with thrift, if his virtue does not rest in what is ample and his heart does not master its desires, this too is cutting the root and seeking a flourishing tree, blocking the source and wanting the stream to run long.
凡百元首，承天景命，莫不殷憂而道著，功成而德衰。有善始者實繁，能克終者蓋寡，豈取之易而守之難乎？昔取之而有餘，今守之而不足，何也？夫在殷憂，必竭誠以待下；既得志，則縱情以傲物。竭誠則胡越為一體，傲物則骨肉為行路。雖董之以嚴刑，震之以威怒，終茍免而不懷仁，貌恭而不心服。怨不在大，可畏惟人，載舟覆舟，所宜深慎，奔車朽索，其可忽乎！
Of all the rulers who have received the great mandate of heaven, there is none whose way did not shine while he was deep in care, and none whose virtue did not decline once his work was done. Those who begin well are truly many, and those who can end well are few. Is it that winning it is easy and holding it is hard? Long ago they had more than enough to win it, and now they have not enough to hold it. How is this?
When a man is deep in care, he is sure to exhaust his sincerity in dealing with those below him; and once he has his wish, he gives free rein to his feelings and looks down on others. Exhaust sincerity, and the Hu and the Yue become one body; look down on others, and your own flesh and blood become strangers on the road. Though he binds them with harsh punishments and shakes them with his awesome anger, in the end they only escape as best they can and do not cherish his kindness; they are respectful in their looks and do not submit in their hearts.
Resentment does not lie in being great; what is to be feared is the people alone. The water that bears the boat overturns the boat, and this ought to be deeply guarded against. A runaway cart tied with a rotten rope, how can it be slighted?
君人者，誠能見可欲，則思知足以自戒；將有作，則思知止以安人；念高危，則思謙沖而自牧；懼滿溢，則思江海下百川；樂盤遊，則思三驅以為度；憂懈怠，則思慎始而敬終；慮壅蔽，則思虛心以納下；想讒邪，則思正身以黜惡；恩所加，則思無因喜以謬賞；罰所及，則思無因怒而濫刑。總此十思，弘茲九德，簡能而任之，擇善而從之。則智者盡其謀，勇者竭其力，仁者播其惠，信者效其忠。文武爭馳，君臣無事，可以盡豫遊之樂，可以養松喬之壽，鳴琴垂拱，不言而化。何必勞神苦思，代下司職，役聰明之耳目，虧無為之大道哉？
If one who is ruler of men truly sees something to covet, let him think of knowing enough and warn himself. When he is about to build, let him think of knowing where to stop and give the people peace. When he thinks how high and perilous his place is, let him think of humility and of tending himself. When he fears he is full to overflowing, let him think how the rivers and the sea lie below the hundred streams. When he delights in hunting and roaming, let him think of the three drives as his limit. When he fears that he is growing slack, let him think of being careful at the start and reverent at the end. When he is anxious that he is being screened, let him think of emptying his mind to take in those below. When he thinks of slander and crookedness, let him think of setting himself straight to drive out evil. When he bestows favor, let him think not to reward wrongly because he is glad. When he hands down punishment, let him think not to punish wildly because he is angry.
Gather all these ten thoughts and broaden those nine virtues, choose the able and entrust them with office, choose the good and follow it. Then the wise will use all their counsel, the brave will use all their strength, the benevolent will spread their kindness, and the faithful will offer their loyalty. The civil and the military will race each other forward, ruler and minister will have nothing to trouble them, you may have your fill of the joy of roaming at ease and may nourish the long years of Chi Songzi and Wangzi Qiao, and, sounding the zither with your hands folded in your sleeves, you will transform the world without a word.
Why must you weary your spirit and torment your thoughts, take over the duties of those below you, wear out the keenness of your ears and eyes, and mar the great way of ruling without action?
太宗手詔答曰：
Taizong answered with an edict in his own hand:
省頻抗表，誠極忠款，言窮切至。披覽忘倦，每達宵分。非公體國情深，啟沃義重，豈能示以良圖，匡其不及。朕聞晉武帝自平吳已後，務在驕奢，不復留心治政。何曾退朝謂其子劭曰：「吾每見主上不論經國遠圖，但說平生常語，此非貽厥子孫者，爾身猶可以免。」指諸孫曰：「此等必遇亂死。」及孫綏，果為淫刑所戮。前史美之，以為明於先見。朕意不然，謂曾之不忠其罪大矣。夫為人臣，當進思盡忠，退思補過，將順其美，匡救其惡，所以共為理也。曾位極臺司，名器崇重，當直辭正諫，論道佐時。今乃退有後言，進無廷諍，以為明智，不亦謬乎！危而不持，焉用彼相？公之所陳，朕聞過矣。當置之幾案，事等弦、韋。必望收彼桑榆，期之歲暮，不使康哉良哉，獨美於往日，若魚若水，遂爽於當今。遲復嘉謀，犯而無隱。朕將虛襟靜志，敬佇德音。
I have looked over the memorials you have sent up one after another. Your sincerity is loyal to the utmost and your words are as earnest as words can be. I forgot my weariness in unrolling them, and often it was the middle of the night. If your feeling for the state were not deep, and your sense of the duty to open and enrich my mind not weighty, how could you show me good plans and set right what I fall short in?
I have heard that Emperor Wu of Jin, after he pacified Wu, gave himself to pride and extravagance and no longer put his mind to governing. He Zeng withdrew from court and said to his son He Shao, "Whenever I see His Majesty, he does not discuss the far plans of governing the state but speaks only of ordinary things. This is not what a man hands down to his sons and grandsons. You yourself may still escape it." Pointing to his grandsons he said, "These will surely meet disorder and die." When it came to his grandson He Sui, he was indeed killed by excessive punishment. The earlier histories praised him for this and held that he was clear in seeing ahead.
My own view is not so. I hold that He Zeng's disloyalty was a great fault. One who is the minister of another should think, when he goes forward, of giving all his loyalty, and think, when he withdraws, of mending faults; he should help on what is fair in his lord and set right and save what is bad in him, and this is how they govern together. He Zeng's place was at the very top of the three ducal offices and his name and station were high and weighty, so he ought to have spoken straight and remonstrated honestly, discussing the way and aiding his age. Instead he had words behind his back when he withdrew and never contended in open court when he came forward. To call this clear wisdom, is it not wrong? If a man does not hold up what is in peril, what use is such a minister?
Through what you have laid before me I have heard my faults. I shall keep it on my desk and treat it as the bowstring and the soft leather. I will surely gather in that evening light and make good the close of the year. I will not let "How peaceful! How good!" be fair only in the days gone by, and I will not let the friendship of fish and water go wrong in our own time. Do not be slow with good counsel, and do not hide it even when it offends. I shall empty my heart and still my mind and wait respectfully for words of virtue.
貞觀十五年，太宗謂侍臣曰：「守天下難易？」侍中魏徵對曰：「甚難。」太宗曰：「任賢能、受諫諍，即可，何謂為難？」徵曰：「觀自古帝王，在於憂危之間，則任賢受諫。及至安樂，必懷寬怠，言事者惟令兢懼，日陵月替，以至危亡。聖人所以居安思危，正為此也。安而能懼，豈不為難？」
In the fifteenth year of Zhenguan, Taizong said to the ministers in attendance:
"Is holding all under heaven hard or easy?"
Wei Zheng, the director of the Chancellery, answered:
"It is very hard."
Taizong said:
"Employ the worthy and the able and take in those who remonstrate, and it is done. Why do you call it hard?"
Wei Zheng said:
"Looking at the emperors of old, while they were among cares and perils they employed the worthy and took in remonstrance. But once they came to peace and pleasure, they were sure to harbor a loose and idle heart, so that those who brought up matters were left in fear alone. Day by day it crumbled and month by month it fell away, until they came to peril and ruin. This is just why the sage thinks of danger while he is at peace. To be at peace and still be afraid, how is that not hard?"