Governing治政篇

Master Mingdao said, "Even a single scholar, if he truly sets his heart on cherishing all things, will surely bring relief to someone."

The writing of Emperor Taizong of Tang says, "Above there are those who command. In the middle there are those who govern. Below there are those who follow. You are clothed with the tribute silk and fed from the grain of the storehouse. Your pay and your salary are the fat of the people and the blood of the people. The people below are easy to oppress, but the blue Heaven above is hard to deceive."

The Tongmeng xun says, "There are only three rules for holding office. Be honest. Be careful. Be diligent. Know these three, and you know how to carry yourself."

One who holds office must guard against sudden anger. When something is wrong, handle it closely and carefully, and nothing will be out of place. But flare into anger first, and you only harm yourself. How could you harm anyone else?

Serve the ruler as you serve a parent. Serve your superior as you serve an elder brother. Live with your colleagues as with the people of your own house. Treat the clerks as the servants of your own house. Cherish the people as you cherish your wife and children. Handle the affairs of the state as the affairs of your house. Only then have you given all of your heart. If there is a hair's breadth you have not reached, it is all a place where your heart has not been given fully.

Someone asked, "The registrar (簿) is the one who assists the magistrate. If the magistrate will not follow what the registrar wishes to do, what then?" Master Yichuan said, "He should move him with sincere intent. When a magistrate and a registrar do not agree, it is only because they are contending out of private intent. The magistrate is the elder of the district. Serve him with the way one serves a father or an elder brother. Take the faults upon yourself, and fear only that the credit may not go to the magistrate. Build up this sincere intent, and how could it fail to move the man?"

You should not keep company with people of a strange sort. Shamans and sorcerers, nuns and old crones, are all the more to be cut off. Take a clear heart and few affairs for your root.

Liu Anli asked how to govern the people. Master Mingdao said, "Let every one of the people be able to speak out what is in his heart." He asked how to manage the clerks. Master Mingdao said, "Set yourself straight, and so set others straight."

Han Weigong asked Master Mingdao, and Master Mingdao said, "The great rule for standing at court is to leave the road ahead of you wide. If it is narrow, one day you will have no room to turn yourself."

Confucius said, "To kill without teaching is called cruelty. To demand the result without warning beforehand is called violence. To be slack with the order and then press for the deadline is called injury."

Raise up the straight and set them above the crooked, and you can make the crooked straight.

Raise up the straight and set them above the crooked, and the people submit. Raise up the crooked and set them above the straight, and the people do not submit.

When a man himself is straight, things are done without his ordering them. When a man himself is not straight, he may order and no one follows.

If his words are loyal and true and his acts are earnest and respectful, they carry even in the lands of the barbarians. If his words are neither loyal nor true and his acts are neither earnest nor respectful, will they carry even in his own district?

Zigong said, "One whose place is high must not be thin in virtue. One whose office is great must not deal falsely in government."

Confucius said of Zichan that he had the four ways of a gentleman. "He bore himself with humility. He served his superiors with respect. He nourished the people with kindness. He employed the people with rightness."

Zizhang asked Confucius about benevolence. Confucius said, "Be humble, and you will not be slighted. Be generous, and you will win the multitude. Be trustworthy, and others will give you work to do. Be quick, and you will have success. Be kind, and you will have enough to employ people with."

Confucius said, "The gentleman is kind but not wasteful. He sets people to work but draws no resentment. He desires but does not covet. He is at ease but not arrogant. He has dignity but is not fierce."

Mencius said, "To urge hard things on the ruler is called respect (恭). To set out the good and shut out the crooked is called reverence (敬). To say that our ruler cannot do it is called injury (賊)."

The Book of Documents says, "Wood is made straight by the inked line. A ruler is made straight by remonstrance."

The Baopuzi says, "He faces the axe and still dares to remonstrate. He is thrown into the cauldron and still says all he has to say. This is what is called a loyal subject."

A loyal subject does not fear death. One who fears death is no loyal subject.

This is the motto at the side of Master Gu Dongqiao's seat. "Measure your words and acts against the people of old, and your virtue and your work go forward. Leave merit and fame to the mandate of Heaven, and your mind is at leisure. Remember that the return will reach your children and grandchildren, and your government becomes fair. Think of the days of sickness while you enjoy what you receive, and your spending becomes thrifty."

An earlier scholar said, "Affairs must be handled cleanly and quickly. The heart must be kept generous and easy. Yourself you must treat strictly and clearly. Others you must treat with a warm air."

Master Zhu Ermei Shuqing said, "To sit in office and govern the people is surely not a thing without cause. Look at the people on the road of office. Every one of them knows himself only as this officer or that official. Not one knows that he himself is the living Buddha who saves the world. Reward those who have merit and punish those who have faults. Take away harm and give the people peace. Spread kindness and favor in many ways, but only in right measure. It must be neither too much nor too little. If he truly acts as father and mother and elder to the people, so that old and young, man and woman, each find their place in that region and it is changed into a Pure Land, then every house will hold him up and every person will bow to him. He has held office and become a Buddha as well. How easy his heart will be! How free he will feel! Set beside sitting in practice with your face to a wall, this is as far off as the clouds from the earth."