Ruxiao — The Achievements of the Confucians儒效篇

The achievement of the great scholar. King Wu died and King Cheng was young, so the Duke of Zhou set King Cheng aside and took up the place of King Wu to hold all under heaven, for he hated that all under heaven should turn its back on Zhou. He trod the seat of the Son of Heaven and heard the judgments of all under heaven, at ease as though it had been his own from the first, and all under heaven did not call him greedy. He killed Guan Shu and emptied the state of Yin, and all under heaven did not call him harsh. He cut out and ordered all under heaven together and set up seventy-one states, of which the Ji surname alone held fifty-three, and all under heaven did not call him partial.

He taught and guided King Cheng and made him understand the way, so that he could cover his traces before King Wen and King Wu. The Duke of Zhou went back to Zhou and returned the seat to King Cheng, and all under heaven did not cease to serve Zhou, and the Duke of Zhou faced north and paid court to him.

The Son of Heaven is not a place that youth can fill, nor a place to be held by borrowing and standing in. If a man is able, all under heaven turns to him; if he is not able, all under heaven leaves him. This is why the Duke of Zhou set King Cheng aside and took up the place of King Wu to hold all under heaven, for he hated that all under heaven should fall away from Zhou. When King Cheng put on the cap and became a man, the Duke of Zhou went back to Zhou and returned the seat, and so made clear the right of not doing away with the ruler.

The Duke of Zhou had all under heaven no longer. Before, he had all under heaven, and now he has it not, and this was not seizing it for himself. King Cheng before had not all under heaven, and now he has it, and this was not taking it away. The changing of the situation and the ordering of the sequence were of themselves so.

So for a branch to take the place of the trunk was not overstepping, for a younger brother to cut down an elder brother was not cruelty, and for ruler and subject to change places was not disobedience. He followed the harmony of all under heaven, carried through the work of King Wen and King Wu, and made clear the right of trunk and branch. This too was change and alteration, yet all under heaven was at ease and still one. None but a sage could do it, and this is what is called the achievement of the great scholar.

King Zhao of Qin asked Sun Qingzi, "The scholar is of no benefit to another man's state."

Sun Qingzi said, "The scholar takes the former kings for his law, honors ritual and rightness, is careful in being subject and son, and makes his superior utterly honored. If the ruler of men uses him, his place is in the court and it is fitting. If he is not used, he withdraws and ranks among the hundred families and is sincere, and he is sure to be an obedient subordinate.

Though he be blocked and poor, frozen and starving, he will never be greedy by a crooked way. Though he has not land enough to set down an awl, he is clear about upholding the great right of the altars of earth and grain. He may cry out and none can answer, yet he goes through the guiding threads of making a wealth of the ten thousand things and nourishing the hundred families. If his place is above men, he is timber for a king or a duke; if it is below men, he is a servant of the altars and the treasure of the lord of a state. Though he hide in a poor lane and a leaking house, there is no one who does not honor him, for the way is truly in him.

When Zhongni was about to become minister of justice, the Shenyou clan dared not water their sheep in the morning, the head of the Gongshen clan sent his wife away, the Shenkui clan crossed the border and moved off, and those who sold oxen and horses in Lu did not raise their prices. It was that he had set himself right early and so awaited them. When he lived in Quedang, the sons and younger brothers of Quedang divided what they had netted, and those who had parents took more. It was that filial piety and brotherliness had changed them.

The scholar in the court makes the government beautiful, and in a low place he makes the customs beautiful. Such is the scholar when he is below men."

The king said, "Then what of him when he is above men?"

Sun Qingzi said, "When he is above men he is broad and great. His will is settled within, the measures of ritual are cultivated in the court, law and standard and measure are made right in the offices, and loyalty and good faith and love and benefit take shape below. To do one unrighteous deed or kill one innocent man and so gain all under heaven, he would not do. When this ruler's right is trusted by men and goes through the four seas, all under heaven answers him like a shout of joy.

Why is this so? It is that his honored name is clear and all under heaven is ordered. So those near sing and take joy in him, and those far off stumble and hurry to him, and within the four seas it is like one household, and among all that can be reached there is none that does not follow and submit. This is what is called the teacher of men. The Odes say, 'From the west and from the east, from the south and from the north, there was no thought but to submit.' This is what is meant.

When he is below men he is like that, and when he is above men he is like this. How can it be said that he is of no benefit to another man's state?"

King Zhao said, "Good."

The way of the former kings is the height of man, and it is carried out by measuring against the mean. What is called the mean? The answer is, ritual and rightness.

The way is not the way of heaven and not the way of earth. It is that by which man goes, and that which the gentleman walks.

What the gentleman calls worthy is not being able in everything that others are able in. What the gentleman calls wise is not knowing everything that others know. What the gentleman calls disputing is not disputing everything that others dispute. What the gentleman calls examining is not examining everything that others examine. There is that which he sets right.

In looking at high ground and low, seeing which soil is barren and which is rich, and putting the five grains in order, the gentleman is not the equal of the farmer. In circulating goods and wealth, looking at fine and foul, and telling costly from cheap, the gentleman is not the equal of the merchant. In setting up compass and square, laying out line and ink, and making tools ready for use, the gentleman is not the equal of the craftsman. In caring nothing for the truth of right and wrong, of so and not so, and in pushing at one another and shaming one another, the gentleman is not the equal of Hui Shi and Deng Xi.

But as for weighing virtue and settling rank, measuring ability and granting office, so that the worthy and the unworthy all get their places and the able and the unable all get their offices, so that the ten thousand things get what suits them and the turns of affairs get their answer, so that Shen Dao and Mozi cannot bring their talk forward and Hui Shi and Deng Xi dare not slip in their examining, so that words are sure to fit the pattern and affairs are sure to fit the work, only then is it what the gentleman excels in.

In all affairs and conduct, what benefits the pattern is set up and what does not benefit the pattern is cast out, and this is what is called affairs of the mean. In all knowing and speaking, what benefits the pattern is done and what does not benefit the pattern is put aside, and this is what is called speech of the mean. Affairs and conduct that lose the mean are called crooked affairs, and knowing and speaking that lose the mean are called a crooked way. Crooked affairs and a crooked way are what an ordered age throws away and what a disordered age follows and submits to.

As for the full and the empty shifting and changing into each other, and hard and white, same and different, being split apart, these are what a sharp ear cannot hear, what a clear eye cannot see, what a disputing scholar cannot speak, and what even the knowledge of a sage cannot count off on the fingers. Not to know them does no harm to being a gentleman, and to know them takes nothing from being a small man. That a craftsman does not know them does no harm to his skill, and that a gentleman does not know them does no harm to his ordering. If kings and dukes love them, the law is thrown into disorder; if the hundred families love them, affairs are thrown into disorder.

Yet mad and deluded, dull and narrow men go on to lead their crowds of followers, to dispute their talk and speech, and to make clear their comparisons; their bodies grow old and their sons grow up, and they do not know it is bad. This is what is called the highest folly, and it is not even as good as reading fowls and dogs, by which a man may at least get a name. The Odes say, "Were you a ghost or a water-lurker, you could not be got at. But you have a face and eyes and show them to men without end. I make this good song to tell out your tossing and turning." This is what is meant.

I wish to be base and yet honored, foolish and yet wise, poor and yet rich. Can it be done? The answer is, only through learning.

As for the learner: if he acts on it, he is called a scholar; if he loves it deeply, he is a gentleman; if he knows it, he is a sage. Above I may become a sage and below a scholar and gentleman. Who is to stop me?

Before, he was a muddled man of the road, and in a moment he stands level with King Yao and King Yu. Is this not to be base and yet honored? Before, at telling gate from room he was muddled and could never decide, and in a moment he traces benevolence and rightness to their source, divides right from wrong, rolls all under heaven on his palm and tells white from black. Is this not to be foolish and yet wise? Before, he was a man in bonds, and in a moment the great vessels for ordering all under heaven are all in him. Is this not to be poor and yet rich?

Now suppose a man here keeps hidden away a treasure of a thousand yi (溢), and though he begs for his food, men call him rich. That treasure cannot be worn for clothing and cannot be eaten for food, and if he sells it, it will not sell at once. Yet men call him rich. Why? Is it not that the vessel of great wealth is truly in him? So even this simple fellow is a rich man. Is this not to be poor and yet rich?

So the gentleman has no rank and yet is honored, has no stipend and yet is rich, does not speak and yet is trusted, does not grow angry and yet is awesome, dwells blocked and yet is glorious, lives alone and yet is glad. Is it not that the utmost honor, the utmost wealth, the utmost weight and the utmost dignity are all heaped up in him?

So it is said: an honored name cannot be won by banding together and fighting for it, cannot be had by boasting and wild talk, cannot be forced by power and weight. A man must make this true in himself, and only then does he reach it. Fight for it and you lose it; yield it and it comes. Follow the way and it gathers; boast and talk wildly and it empties.

So the gentleman works at cultivating what is within and yields to others without, works at heaping virtue in his own person and dwells in it by following the way. In this way his honored name rises like the sun and moon, and all under heaven answers him like thunder. So it is said: the gentleman is hidden and yet shows, small and yet clear, yielding and yet wins. The Odes say, "The crane cries in the ninth fold of the marsh, and its voice is heard in heaven." This is what is meant.

The mean fellow is the opposite of this. The more he bands together, the less he is praised. The more meanly he fights, the more his name is shamed. The more he troubles and labors to seek ease and benefit, the more his own person is endangered. The Odes say, "The people who are not good resent only the one side. They take rank and do not yield, and it comes at last to their own ruin." This is what is meant.

So when ability is small and the task is great, it is like having little strength and carrying a heavy load: there is nowhere to go but to be crushed and broken. When a man is unworthy in himself and deceives the worthy, it is like a hunchback trying to straighten and loving to climb high: the more people there are to point at the crown of his head.

So the enlightened ruler weighs virtue and orders the ranks, and this is how there comes to be no disorder. The loyal subject is truly able and only then dares to take a charge, and this is how there comes to be no blocking. When the divisions are not thrown into disorder above and ability is not blocked below, this is the height of ordering and distinguishing. The Odes say, "Even and even are those to left and right, and these too follow along." This says that the dealings of above and below do not throw each other into disorder.

To take following custom for goodness, to take goods and wealth for treasure, and to take nourishing one's own life for one's utmost way, this is the virtue of the common people.

To carry out the law with the utmost firmness and not to let private desire throw into disorder what one has heard, such a man can be called a sturdy scholar.

To carry out the law with the utmost firmness and to love cultivating and setting right what one has heard, so as to straighten and adorn one's nature and feelings; his words are often fitting but he is not yet clear, his conduct is often fitting but he is not yet at ease, his knowing and weighing are often fitting but they are not yet close-woven; above, he can make great what he honors, and below, he can open and guide those who are not his equal; such a man can be called a generous and solid gentleman.

To cultivate the law of a hundred kings as one tells white from black, to answer the turns of the time as one counts one and two, to carry out ritual and hold to its measures and be at ease in them as with one's own four limbs, to be so skilled at holding to the season and setting up merit that it is as though he gave orders to the four seasons, and to be so even and right in the goodness that harmonizes the people that among the countless he is as broad as with one man; such a man can be called a sage.

Jingjing (井井), and he has pattern in him. Yanyan (嚴嚴), and he can revere his own person. Fenfen (分分), and he has an end and a beginning. Yanyan (猒猒), and he can be long and lasting. Lele (樂樂), and he holds the way and is not slack. Zhaozhao (炤炤), and his use of knowledge is clear. Xiuxiu (修修), and his use of the guiding threads and the kinds is carried out. Suisui (綏綏), and he has pattern and figure. Xixi (熙熙), and he takes joy in the goodness of others. Yinyin (隱隱), and he fears that others may not be fitting. Such a man can be called a sage.

This way of his comes out of one thing. What is called the one? The answer is, to hold the spirit (神) and be firm. What is called the spirit? The answer is, to exhaust goodness and carry order within is called the spirit, and that the ten thousand things are not enough to tip him over is called firmness, and spirit and firmness are called the sage.

The sage is the thread on which the way is strung. The way of all under heaven is strung on this, and the way of a hundred kings is one in this, and so the way of the Odes, the Documents, the Rites and the Music comes back to this. Where the Odes speak of this, it is his will; where the Documents speak of this, it is his affairs; where the Rites speak of this, it is his conduct; where the Music speaks of this, it is his harmony; where the Spring and Autumn speaks of this, it is his subtlety.

So the reason the Guofeng does not run loose is that it takes this and gives it measure. The reason the Xiaoya is the Xiaoya is that it takes this and gives it pattern. The reason the Daya is the Daya is that it takes this and gives it light. The reason the Song is the utmost is that it takes this and makes it go through. The way of all under heaven is complete in this.

He who faces this is good, and he who turns his back on this perishes. One who faced this and was not good, or turned his back on this and did not perish, from old times down to now there has never been such a man.

A guest said, "Confucius said, 'How full was the Duke of Zhou! The more honored he was in his person, the more respectful; the richer his household, the more sparing; the more he beat his enemies, the more wary.'"

The answer to this is, "This is likely not the conduct of the Duke of Zhou, and not the words of Confucius.

King Wu died and King Cheng was young, so the Duke of Zhou set King Cheng aside and took up the place of King Wu, trod the seat of the Son of Heaven, and sat with the screen at his back while the feudal lords hurried below the hall. At such a time, to whom was he respectful?

He cut out and ordered all under heaven together and set up seventy-one states, of which the Ji surname alone held fifty-three, so that among the descendants of Zhou there was none, unless he were mad and deluded, who did not become a shining feudal lord of all under heaven. Who calls the Duke of Zhou sparing?

When King Wu cut down King Zhou (紂), the day he set out was a day forbidden to armies, and he faced east and met Taisui (太歲). He came to the Si and the water flooded, he came to Huai and there was a collapse, and he came to Gongtou and the mountain slid. Huo Shu was afraid and said, 'Three days out, and five disasters have come. Is this not a sign that it cannot be done?' The Duke of Zhou said, 'They cut open Bi Gan and shut up Ji Zi, and Fei Lian and Elai hold the government. What is there then that cannot be done?' And so he picked out his horses and went forward.

In the morning he ate at Qi (戚), at dusk he lodged at Baiquan, and at dawn he came down on the wilds of Mu. The drums were beaten and the soldiers of King Zhou (紂) turned about, and so he rode on the men of Yin and cut down King Zhou. Those who did the killing were not men of Zhou but men of Yin. So there were no heads taken and no captives gained, and no rewards for treading into danger.

He came back and settled the three kinds of armor, laid down the five weapons, joined all under heaven together, and set up sound and music. Then the Wu (武) and the Xiang (象) rose and the Shao (韶) and the Hu (護) were put away. Within the four seas there was none who did not change his heart and alter his thoughts and be changed into following him, and so the outer gates were not shut, and he bestrode all under heaven and wanted nothing. At such a time, of whom was he wary?"

Zaofu was the best driver under heaven, but without a carriage and horses he had nowhere to show his ability. Yi (羿) was the best archer under heaven, but without a bow and arrows he had nowhere to show his skill. The great scholar is the one who is best at tuning all under heaven into one, but without a hundred li of land he has nowhere to show his merit.

If the carriage is sound and the horses are choice, and yet he cannot reach far and go a thousand li in a day, he is not Zaofu. If the bow is tuned and the arrows are straight, and yet he cannot shoot far and hit the small mark, he is not Yi. If he uses a hundred li of land and yet cannot tune all under heaven into one and cut the strong and the cruel to shape, he is not a great scholar.

That great scholar, though he hide in a poor lane and a leaking house with no land to set down an awl, is one whose name kings and dukes cannot fight him for. In the place of a single grandee, one ruler cannot keep him alone and one state cannot hold him alone, and his name is made beside the feudal lords, and there is none who does not wish to get him for a subject. Using a hundred li of land, no state of a thousand li can fight him for the victory: he whips and canes the cruel states and makes all under heaven even and one, and none can tip him over. This is the sign of the great scholar.

His words have their kinds, his conduct has ritual, in the affairs he undertakes there is no regret, and in holding to danger and answering change he fits at every turn. He moves with the times and bends and rises with the age, and through a thousand undertakings and ten thousand changes his way is one. This is the measure of the great scholar.

When he is blocked, the vulgar scholars laugh at him. When he goes through, the outstanding are changed by him, the lofty and the petty flee him, crooked doctrines fear him, and the common crowd is ashamed before him. Going through, he makes all under heaven one; blocked, he stands alone with an honored name. Heaven cannot kill it, earth cannot bury it, and an age of Jie and Robber Zhi cannot foul it. None but the great scholar can set it up, and Zhongni and Zi Gong (子弓) are such men.

So there is the vulgar man, there is the vulgar scholar, there is the correct scholar, and there is the great scholar.

He does not learn and does not ask, he has no correct right in him, and he takes wealth and benefit for what is high. This is the vulgar man.

Broad robe and shallow sash, his cap worn loose; he takes the former kings roughly for his law but is content with the arts of a disordered age; he learns awry and takes things up at random; he does not know how to take the later kings for law and make the institutions one, and does not know how to honor ritual and rightness and cut down the Odes and the Documents. His clothes and cap, his conduct and his shams, are already the same as common custom, and yet he does not know it is bad. His words and debates, his talk and speech, are already no different from Mozi's, and yet his clarity cannot tell them apart. He calls up the former kings to cheat the foolish and so seek clothing and food, and when he has got a store enough to cover his mouth he goes about puffed up. He follows the eldest son, serves the favorite, holds up the chief guest, and blankly, like a prisoner for life, dares have no other purpose. This is the vulgar scholar.

He takes the later kings for law, makes the institutions one, honors ritual and rightness and cuts down the Odes and the Documents, and his words and conduct already have a great law in them. Yet his clarity cannot make even what law and teaching do not reach, and where his hearing and seeing have not come, his knowledge cannot make kinds of it. What he knows he calls knowing, and what he does not know he calls not knowing; within he does not deceive himself and without he does not cheat himself. In this way he honors the worthy and fears the law and dares not be slack and haughty. This is the correct scholar.

He takes the former kings for law, gathers ritual and rightness under his hand, makes the institutions one, holds the broad by the shallow, holds the present by the old, holds the ten thousand by the one. If a thing is of the kind of benevolence and rightness, then even among birds and beasts he tells it as he tells white from black. Strange things and monstrous changes never heard of and never seen, rising of a sudden from one quarter, he takes up the guiding threads and the kinds and answers them, and there is nothing he hesitates over. He spreads out the law and measures by it, and dimly it is as though the halves of a tally were joined. This is the great scholar.

So if the ruler of men uses the vulgar man, a state of ten thousand chariots perishes. If he uses the vulgar scholar, a state of ten thousand chariots survives. If he uses the correct scholar, a state of a thousand chariots is at peace. If he uses the great scholar, then from a hundred li of land, in no long time, in three years, all under heaven becomes one and the feudal lords become his subjects. And if he uses him in a state of ten thousand chariots, the thing is settled as soon as it is set in place, and in one morning he is chief of the lords.

Not to hear is not as good as to hear it, to hear it is not as good as to see it, to see it is not as good as to know it, and to know it is not as good as to act on it. Learning comes to acting on it and stops there. Act on it and you are clear, and being clear you become a sage.

The sage roots himself in benevolence and rightness, fits right and wrong, makes words and conduct even, and does not miss by a hair's breadth. There is no other way. It ends in acting on it.

So to hear it and not see it, though he be broad, he is sure to be wrong. To see it and not know it, though he remember, he is sure to be deluded. To know it and not act on it, though he be earnest, he is sure to be blocked. Neither to hear it nor to see it, though he hit the mark, is not benevolence, and his way falls into the pit a hundred times in a hundred tries.

So if a man has no teacher and no law: if he is wise, he is sure to become a thief; if he is brave, he is sure to become a robber; if he claims ability, he is sure to make disorder; if he examines, he is sure to become strange; if he disputes, he is sure to become wild. If a man has a teacher and a law: if he is wise, he goes through quickly; if he is brave, awe comes to him quickly; if he claims ability, he achieves quickly; if he examines, he exhausts a thing quickly; if he disputes, he judges quickly.

So having a teacher and a law is a man's great treasure, and having no teacher and no law is a man's great calamity. A man with no teacher and no law honors his nature, and one with a teacher and a law honors what he heaps up. But the teacher and the law are got from heaping up and are not received from nature, and they are not enough to stand alone and order a man.

Nature is what I cannot make, and yet it can be changed. Heaping up is not what I have, and yet it can be made. Where a man sets himself down and the customs he practices are the means of changing his nature; joining into one and not making two is the means of completing what is heaped up. Practiced custom shifts the will, and long ease shifts what a man is made of. Join into one and do not make two, and he goes through to the bright spirits and makes a third with heaven and earth.

So heap up earth and it becomes a mountain, heap up water and it becomes a sea, and heap up mornings and evenings and it is called a year. The utmost high is called heaven, the utmost low is called earth, and the six directions within the universe are called the limits. When the man of the road and the hundred families heap up goodness and make it whole and complete, he is called a sage.

He seeks it and then gets it, does it and then completes it, heaps it up and then is high, exhausts it and then is a sage. So the sage is what a man has heaped up.

A man heaps up hoeing and plowing and becomes a farmer, heaps up cutting and shaving and becomes a craftsman, heaps up turning goods over and becomes a merchant, heaps up ritual and rightness and becomes a gentleman. There is no son of a craftsman who does not carry on the work, and the people of a capital or a state are at ease in the dress they are used to. Live in Chu and you are of Chu, live in Yue and you are of Yue, live in the Central Plain and you are of the Central Plain. This is not the nature given by heaven: it is heaping up and rubbing smooth that makes it so.

So if a man knows how to be careful where he sets himself down, careful of the customs he practices, and makes great his heaping up and rubbing smooth, he becomes a gentleman. If he lets his nature and feelings go loose and has not enough of asking and learning, he becomes a small man. Being a gentleman, he is always at ease and glorious; being a small man, he is always in danger and shame. There is no man who does not wish for ease and glory and hate danger and shame, and so only the gentleman can get what he likes, while the small man day by day calls down what he hates.

The Odes say, "This good man is neither sought nor brought forward; it is that hard heart alone that is looked to and turned back to again. The people covet disorder and would sooner have bitter poison." This is what is meant.

Here men are ranked. His will does not escape being crooked and private, and yet he hopes men will take him for public-minded. His conduct does not escape being foul and loose, and yet he hopes men will take him for cultivated. He is deeply foolish and narrow, in a ditch and blind, and yet he hopes men will take him for wise. This is the common crowd.

Only when his will bears down what is private can he be public-minded. Only when his conduct bears down his nature and feelings can he be cultivated. Only when he is wise and loves to ask can he have talent. Public-minded, cultivated and talented, he can be called a small scholar.

His will is at ease in being public-minded, his conduct is at ease in being cultivated, and his knowledge goes through the guiding threads and the kinds. Such a man can be called a great scholar.

The great scholar is one of the three dukes of the Son of Heaven. The small scholar is a grandee or a scholar under the feudal lords. The common crowd are craftsmen, farmers and merchants.

Ritual is the measuring stick by which the ruler of men takes the inch and the foot, the fathom and the ten-foot rod of his host of subjects. The ordering of men is complete in this.

The gentleman's words have a yard and a house, his conduct has a dyke and a marker, and his way has one height.

When he speaks of what is sought in the way and in virtue, he does not go below being at peace and surviving. When he speaks of what is sought in the will, he does not go below the highest. When he speaks of what is sought in the way and in virtue, he does not make two of the later kings.

A way that goes back beyond the three dynasties is called loose, and a law that makes two of the later kings is called not correct. Raising a man up and putting him down, making him small and making him a subject, none of this goes outside this. This is how the gentleman gallops his will in the yard and the house, in palace and court.

So when a feudal lord asks about government and does not come up to being at peace and surviving, he is not told. When a common man asks about learning and does not come up to becoming a scholar, he is not taught. When the talk of the hundred schools does not come up to the later kings, it is not listened to. This is what is meant by the gentleman's words having a yard and a house and his conduct having a dyke and a marker.