Chapter XLV
ABSURD ENCOURAGEMENTS[1]
Means the sage employs to lead to political order are three.
The first is said to be profit; the second, authority; and the
third, fame. Profit is the means whereby the people's hearts
are won; authority is the means whereby to enforce orders;
fame is the common way linking superior and inferior.
Nothing other than these three is so needful to government.
In these days, there is no lack of profit, but the people are
not won over to the superior's wishes; there is no absence
of authority, but the inferiors do not obey decrees; and
there is no absence of laws among the officials, but government
does not correspond to fame. In short, though the
three means are not out of existence, yet order and chaos in
the world follow on each other's heels. Why is this?
Indeed, what the superior values is often contrary to the
purpose of government. For instance, to institute names and
titles is to embody honours; but those who look down upon
fame and make light of facts, the world calls advanced.
Again, to institute ranks and grades is to establish the basal
scale of high and low; but those who slight the superior and
never petition for audience, the world calls worthy. Again,
authority and profit are means to enforce orders; but those
who desire no profit and disregard all authority, the world
calls dignified. Again, laws and decrees are means to attain
political order; but those who obey neither laws nor decrees
but pursue their own good, the world calls loyal. Again,
office and rank are means to encourage people; but those
who like fame but want no office, the world calls heroic
patriots. Finally, punishments are means to solidify
authority; but those who make light of law, and award
neither penalty nor slaughter, the world calls fearless. If the
people seek fame more urgently than they look for profit,
small wonder scholars who are starving and destitute would
even dwell in rocky caves and torture themselves purposely
to fight for a name in the world.
Therefore, the cause of disorder in the world is not the
inferior's fault but the superior's loss of Tao. As the superior
always values the way to chaos and despises the way to order,
the ideal of the inferiors is always contrary to the purpose of
the superior's government.
Now, the inferiors' obedience to the superior is what the
superior urgently needs. However, those who are generous,
sincere, genuine, and faithful, and active in mind but timid in
speech, are called spiritless; those who follow laws firmly and
obey orders fully, are called stupid; those who revere the
superior and fear punishment, are called cowardly; those
who speak on the right occasions and act in the proper
manner are called unworthy; and those who are not double-faced
and engaged in private studies
[2]
but listen to magistrates
and conform to public instructions, are called vulgar. Those
who are hard to employ, are called righteous; those who are
hard to reward, are called clean-handed; and those who are
hard to rule, are called heroic; those who do not obey
decrees, are called courageous; those who render no profit
to the superior, are called straightforward; and those who
extend kindnesses and bestow favours, are called benevolent.
Those who are self-assertive and arrogant, are called elders;
those who pursue private studies and form juntas, are called
tutors and pupils; those who lead a tranquil and complacent
life, are called considerate; those who betray their fellow
men and grab advantages, are called smart; those who are
crafty, deceitful,
[3]
and fickle,
[4]
are called wise; those who act
for others first and for themselves later, coin terms and invent
words, and assume to love All-under-Heaven, are called
sages; those who speak on big subjects and talk about
fundamental but impracticable principles, and act contrary to
the beaten track of the world, are called great men; and those
who despise ranks and bounties and do not yield to the
superior's opinions are called excellent.
The inferiors, acting in such wicked[5]
ways, would disturb
the people in private and do no good when in office. The
superior, who ought to suppress their desires and constantly
uproot their motives, lets them go and honours their deeds.
This is to attain political order by teaching the inferiors how
to violate the superior.
In general, what the superior administers, is penal infliction,
but people doing favours in private are honoured. The Altar
of the Spirits of Land and Grain can stand because of national
safety and tranquillity, but deceitful, crafty, slanderous, and
flattering people are appointed to office. Everybody under
the jurisdiction of the state obeys orders because of trust and
justice, but people exerting their wisdom to upset the present
regime are employed. Orders prevail widely and authority
stands well because of the inferiors' prudence and alertness to
obey the superior, but men living in rocky caves and cursing
the world are celebrated. Public storehouses and granaries
are full because of the people's devotion to the primary duties
of tilling and farming, but men engaged in such secondary
callings as weaving twilled cloth, embroidering and knitting
clothes in gold and silver, and engraving and drawing, are
enriched. Reputation is accomplished and territory[6]
is
extended because of the warrior's services, but in these days
war orphans go hungry, starving, and begging in the streets,
while relatives of actors, harlots, and drinkers, ride in
carriages and wear silk. Rewards and bounties are meant to
exert the people's forces and risk their lives, but in these days
warriors winning in warfare and taking in attack, work hard
but are not properly rewarded, while diviners, palmists, and
swindlers,[7]
playing with compliant words before the Throne,
receive gifts every day.
The superior holds scales and measures in his hands in
order to have the power over everybody's life in his grip,
but nowadays men who obey scales and observe measures,
though anxious to exert the spirit of loyalty to serve the
superior, cannot have an audience, while those who utter
artful words and flattering phrases, play villainous tricks,
and by lucky chance rise in the world, frequently attend on
the Throne. To abide by law, talk straight, keep fame equal
to norm, and censure the culprit according to the inked
string, is to promote order on behalf of the superior, but
people so doing are estranged while adulatory and heretical[8]
men, obeying the opinions and following the desires of
the superior and thereby endangering the world, become
courtiers. To exact taxes and revenues and concentrate the
people's forces is to provide against eventualities and fill up
the public storehouses and the state treasury, but officers and
soldiers who desert their posts, hide themselves, find shelter
in the residences of powerful men, and thereby evade taxation
and military service, but whom the superior fails to catch,
number tens of thousands.
Indeed, to parade good fields and pretty residences is to
encourage warriors to fight, but men resolved to have their
heads cut off, abdomens torn open, and bones exposed in
wildernesses,[9]
though they may lose their lives this way, have
neither shelter nor estates[10]
, while persons whose daughters
and sisters are attractive and chief vassals and attendants
who render the country no distinguished services, receive
residences of their own choice and live on fields selected by
themselves. Rewards and profits issue solely from the
superior purposely to control the inferiors with success, but
warriors and armed officers get no post while men idling their
time away are honoured and celebrated. Now that the
superior takes these practices for the ways of civic education,
how can his name escape degradation and how can his position
escape dangers?
Indeed, when the superior's name is degraded and his
position endangered, it is always because the inferiors are not
obedient to laws and orders, double-faced, pursuing private
studies,[11]
and acting against the world. Yet if their actions
are not forbidden, their gangs are not dissolved, and their partisans
are not thereby dispersed, but they are honoured instead,
it is the fault of the authorities in charge of state affairs.
The superior sets up the principles of integrity and bashfulness
for the purpose of encouraging[12]
the inferiors, whereas
gentry and officials of to-day are not ashamed of dirty mud
and ugly insults, but under the influence of daughters and
sisters married to powerful men and of private friends they
take up office with no need of following the proper order.
Prizes and gifts are meant to exalt men of merit, but men
having given distinguished service in warfare remain poor and
humble while flatterers and actors rise above their due grades,
names, and titles. Sincerity and faith are meant to manifest
authority, but the sovereign is deluded by courtiers; ladies and
interviewers proceed in parallel; officials administer the
bestowal of ranks and change the personnel as they please. This
is the fault of the authorities in charge of state affairs. If chief
vassals appoint people to office by intriguing with the subordinates
beforehand and then play into each other's hands,
and, though against the law, they extend their influence and
benefits among their subordinates, then the sovereign will
become powerless and the chief vassals will become influential.
Indeed, the purpose of enacting laws and decrees is to
abolish selfishness. Once laws and decrees prevail, the way
of selfishness collapses. Selfishness disturbs the law. Nevertheless,
scholars, who, being double-faced, pursue private
studies, dwell in rocky caves, hide themselves by the roadside,
and pretend to profound thought, denounce the world
in general and beguile the inferiors in particular. Instead of
suppressing them, the superior honours them with titles and
provides them with actual support. Thereby men of no
merit are celebrated and men doing no service are enriched.
If so, scholars who are double-faced and are pursuing private
studies, will pretend to profound thought, endeavour to
learn intrigues, denounce laws and decrees, and thereby
elaborate opposite views to the course of the age.
In general, whoever disturbs the superior and acts contrary
to the age, is always a scholar having a double-face and
pursuing private studies. Therefore, in my main discourse I
say: "The cause of order is law, the cause of chaos is
selfishness. Once law is enacted, no selfish act can be done."
Hence the saying: "Whoever tolerates selfishness finds
chaos, whoever upholds law finds order." If the superior
misses the right way, astute men will use selfish phraseology
and worthies will cherish selfish motives, principals will
bestow selfish favours, and subordinates will pursue selfish
desires. When worthy and astute men form juntas, coin
terms, manipulate phrases, and thereby denounce laws and
decrees
[13]
before the superior, if the superior, instead of
stopping and debarring them, honours them, it is to teach the
inferiors neither to follow the superior nor to obey the law.
For this reason, worthies cultivate their fame and live
comfortably and wicked men count on rewards and accumulate
wealth. Because the worthies live comfortably by
cultivating their fame and wicked men accumulate wealth
by counting on rewards, the superior is unable to subdue the
inferiors.
