University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER V.

Annoyances and Vexations (Lei-hai).

Officials in their career may be hampered and checked, their
characters may be slandered and pulled to pieces, their offences be
mercilessly magnified, and their names be sullied and bespattered.
That does not prove that their talents are inferior, or their conduct
is iniquitous, or that their minds are unenlightened, and their ideas
muddled. They have met with misfortune from abroad, and are
hardly dealt with.

This is not only true of men, but of all other things as well.
All living and moving things have to suffer annoyances and vexations.
These annoyances come from without, not from within. Since
their source is not to be sought there, those people who inconsiderately
lay them to the charge of the sufferers, show a narrow
mind and a regrettable want of judgment.

That plants grow in spring, we can warrant, but, whether
they will bear fruit in autumn, nobody can predict. Their roots may
suddenly be trampled upon by oxen and horses, and their stalks
cut down with knives and sickles. Then their growth is impeded,
and they do not ripen in autumn. Plants not ripening have suffered
some injury and thus do not develop.

When rice has been touched by rats, it is spoiled and not
fit for eating. The taste of this spoiled rice is the same as that
of unsullied rice, but owing to the trespass of the rats, it is thrown
away and not used. The annoyances and vexations of a noble
character are similar in nature to those of the plants which did
not develop, or the rice which is not used. Since they all come
from without, they are to be looked upon as annoyances and
vexations.

By purifying oneself and regulating one's conduct it is impossible
to attract happiness, and by trembling fear and precautions
one cannot eschew misfortune. The arrival of happiness and misfortune
is good or bad chance. Therefore they say, "That which
is obtained not by one's own force is called happiness, and that
which happens not through my own doing is called misfortune."[161]

But, when it is not my doing, whence does it come? From my
native place and from the administration.

In one's native place there are three annoyances[162] and in the
administration three vexations.[163] The annoyances originate in one's
native place, and the vexations in the administration. In ancient
and modern times remarkable men and excellent characters have
experienced this.

Which are the so-called three annoyances and which the
three vexations?

People are not always careful enough in selecting their friends.
As long as they agree, there is the greatest kindness, but when
they disagree, an estrangement takes place, and this estrangement
engenders envy and hatred. Then they slander the conduct of
their former friend. That is the first annoyance.[164]

The accomplishments of men are of a higher or a lower order
and cannot be quite equal. When several persons begin their
career at the same time, the well gifted become illustrious.[165] The
less able out of shame and anger then slander their betters. That
is the second annoyance.[166]

Men in their intercourse cannot always be pleased. Cheerfulness
leads to friendliness, anger to alienation, and alienation to
animosity. In this frame of mind people slander others. That is
the third annoyance.[167]

Now for the first vexation. Offices are few, and candidates
many. The scholars compete for admission, and when admitted,
fight for the posts. Calling upon the governor, they defame one
another, sending in coloured reports. The governors are not perspicacious
enough to detect the deceit and listen to their insinuations.[168]

The second vexation is this:—Governors and clerks have different
propensities, and their doings are pure or foul. The generous
clerks are enthusiasts for all that is noble and beautiful, and never

use other but pure words. The corrupt clerks resent this, and by
degrees try to find fault with their rivals, slandering them for the
smallest wrong, for which punishment is inflicted upon the latter.[169]

Or the governors are biassed in favour of some of their subordinates
and believe in what they say. These subordinates will,
against all propriety, recommend their friends for extraordinary
promotion. Those who oppose them, lose their sympathy and are
slandered by them more than can be imagined. Honest officials
daring to offer resistance and to propound different views, attract their
hatred and are decried to the governors. That is the third vexation.[170]

Those who have not yet taken office have to suffer the three
annoyances, and those who are in office, the three vexations. Even
a Confucius and a Mê Ti could not avoid them, and men like Yen
Hui and Tsêng T`san would not be free of them. How many hundred
or thousand meritorious deeds soever they might accomplish, multitudes
of envious persons would rise around them. Thorns and
prickles would prick them and stick to their bodies and faces, and
wasps and scorpions would sting the highly-principled.[171]

These six troubles are not the only ones, but the most conspicuous,[172]
the world however does not perceive them. It does not
see that owing to their doings the scholars have to suffer the
three annoyances, and the officials, the three vexations. Those who
remain uninjured they call undefiled, and those who have been
calumniated, degraded. Those functionaries who advance in their
career they regard as good, and those who are dismissed from
office, as bad.

A man who continues unharmed and advances, is fortunate
and praised, and another who is slandered and dismissed, is
unlucky and blamed. But going thoroughly into the matter, we
must admit that there are the three annoyances and the three
vexations. Since those speaking about these matters ignore that
people may be affected by these grievances, although their deeds
be pure and virtuous, they mix mud with clay, and bespatter silk
with black. But who knows that? Purity is polluted, and whiteness
covered with dirt. Flies like to sully white silk. He who is
standing on a height is in danger, and those living in prosperity
suffer losses. Those fallen down usually were in precipitous places.

Ch`ü P`ing's purity was unblemished, but all the dogs of the city
barked at him. Dogs bark at what appears strange to them. To condemn
the noble-minded and suspect the genius is a sign of a poor head.[173]

A remarkable man endowed with all the virtues of a genius
causes all the dogs to bark. Such being the case, is it necessary
still to persuade the low class people and to harmonise with the
worthless? Those base and worthless people cannot be convinced.

Should then average people be taken as a model to preserve
one's reputation and avoid slander? Those who agree with ordinary
people and preserve their reputation, are those goody persons, who
in all their doings are irreproachable, so that they are not open
to reprimands, and that to criticise them is useless.[174] Thus even
Confucius was found guilty, and Mencius culpable.

Those who in ancient times excelled by virtue could not
safeguard themselves. Therefore those who following their nature
quietly awaited the annoyances and vexations to come, were the
really virtuous and honest. Through the most injurious slanders
and calumnies the real character of those men shone forth.

How should the traces of pure and noble deeds not be covered
with the dust of envious slander? The guitar players would
fain have broken the fingers of Po Ya,[175] and the charioteers have
crushed the hand of Wang Liang.[176] Why? Because they were all
craving for the fame of exceptional skill, and hated those who
surpassed them.

Thus the girl of Wei was a great beauty, but Chêng Hsiu[177]
cut her nose off,[178] and Chao Wu[179] was loyal and honest, but Wu

Chi[180] expelled him. Hunchbacks[181] are full of envy, and big-bellied
persons[182] often deceitful.

For this very reason one does not sprinkle the dust in wet
halls, and one does not shelter low cottages against the wind.[183]
Plants to much shaken by the wind do not grow, and banks
against which the water dashes do not remain high. Yu-li, Ch`ên
and T`sai[184] may serve as an example, and the drowning in the
Yangtse or the jumping into the Yellow River.[185] If those who vie
in virtue to win fame in the eyes of the common people, or strive
to preserve their reputation before the governors, do not meet with
the disgrace of Têng Hsi,[186] or incur the penalty of Tse Hsü,[187] it
is chance.

People do not assault the dead body of Mêng Pên, for its
life is gone, nor do they throw water on a hundred bushels of
burnt out embers, for the fire is extinct. If some one outshines
all others by his intelligence, and sheds his lustre over a whole
age, or if he surpasses all by his energy, and stands towering over
all the crowd, he is always slandered and envied by ordinary
people. In case a man attempts to neutralise the common attacks
with his honest[188] heart, the profit which he seeks turns into loss.
It was for this reason that Confucius felt sad, and Mencius was full
of sorrow.

Those possessed of great virtue attract calumnies and are
carped at by other scholars. To avert these censures with appeasing
words and to try to get rid of these dangerous grievances,
is a hard task indeed.

The defamation of Tsang T`sang has not yet died out, and
the opposition of Kung-Po Liao[189] is not yet broken. Ant-hills are

made into mountains,[190] and rivulets into rivers and streams. The
smallest good is distasteful to wicked people.[191]

If we speak of polluting, purity may be sullied, and whiteness
covered with dirt, and if we speak of slander, the best and noblest
man is envied, and the greatest talent sneered at. As regards
punishment, the most loyal words cause misfortune, and the noblest
deeds bring about shame and disgrace, and as for imperfections,
even a gem may have a flaw, and a pearl, some small defect.

The elder brother of the lord of Ch`ên-liu[192] was renowned
over all Yen-chou.[193] He had left the most brilliant traces, and not
the slightest fault could be detected. When the time of entering
the administration had come, the governor[194] blackened his sterling
character, so that he was disgraced and not employed.

Those who are not yet in office have to suffer the three
annoyances, and those who have already been employed, are visited
with the three vexations. Even Confucius and Mê Ti could not
escape them, and Yen Hui and Tsêng T`san could not remain unscathed.
For all love those only who enjoy the general applause, but slight
the truly wise.

From dukes and marquises down, gems and pebbles are intermixed,[195]
and as regards the actions of the wise and the scholars,
good and bad ones are mingled. As the lapidary breaks the stones
to take out the gem, so those who select the scholars reject the
bad and keep the good. Therefore those who merely annoy and
vex others sin against society. Which way should be taken to
counteract them?