Chapter XXIII.
PURSUING THE WAY.[33]
(a) Secretaries! called the Lord Grand Secretary,
but before they could answer he turned to the Cancellarius[34]
and said: These Literati have been learning how
to argue since they first tied their hair.[35]
They are so
surcingled with words you cannot tear them away from
their periods which seem to run in circles and their
roulades unstopping like the potter's wheel. Their
tirades are as showy as the flowers of spring, but are as
futile as an attempt to embrace the wind. They bedeck
their emptiness so as to injure substance and discourse
on antiquity to the detriment of things modern. If we
follow them now, then the government will be deprived
of its revenue, for their vacuous proposals cannot really
be put into effect. If we do not adopt their plans, these
literati will continue to criticize us. For too long a time
the din raised by this mob has been unbearable in the
great metropolitan offices of the ministers. Now would
you suggest a feasible plan that we could adopt so as to
be in accordance with antiquity and at the same time
clarify the present situation?
(b) Then advanced the Cancellarius and said:
Duke Wên of Chin was cunning but lacked uprightness,
while Duke Huan of Ch'i was upright but never cunning.
Their motives were not alike, yet both of them reached
the goal of the Hegemony.[36]
If one be obliged to follow
old ways unswervingly and carry on old precedents
unchangingly, then culture would never supplant crudeness
and carts with rimless wheels would still be with
us. Hence some create anew, while others transmit; then
only can laws and regulations be consonant to the people's
needs and instruments and implements expedient for
use. Confucius[37]
in his interviews with the three rulers
expressed different ideas and Yen Tzŭ adopted varying
principles in serving as Chancellor to three princes; not
that these two men insisted upon contradicting themselves,
but that the exigencies of the times were different.
Our lords high ministers have now already set out upon
the road of the great undertaking and planted firmly the
root of inexhaustible profit. I wish you would not hark
back to minute analysis of antiquity and would cease
dragging in your Confucianist and Mihist arguments[38]
5 Cf. Discourses, ch. VII, p. 43, note 2.
(c) The Literati: K'uang, the Music-master, when
harmonizing the pentachord never missed the sol-fa;[39]
the
sage Emperors never departed from charity and justice,
when they regulated the world. Thus, while there have
been nominal changes in administration, there has never
been with them any real change of principle. In the days
of high antiquity, from the Yellow Emperor down to the
Three Kings,
[40]
there was none who did not make illustrious
his virtuous instructions,
promote academies anā
schools,[41]
exalt the charitable and the just, and establish
firmly enlightenment and culture. That was the
immutable law and principle for a hundred generations.
By following them closely, the Yin and the Chou
prospered, while the sovereign of Ch'in tampered with
the laws and perished. When they spoke in the
Odes,
Though there be no old nor experienced men there are
still code and statute,[42]
they meant law and education.
Thus, when these dèteriorate, they should be restored and
systematized, and put into effect after systematization.
What need is there to make them over again?
(d) The Cancellarius: It does not profit one's
appearance to talk of Hsi Shih's beauty, nor does
discoursing on Yao's and Shun's virtues bring benefit to
government. Now, O Literati, you tell us nothing of the
means to achieve good administration, and talk only of
the lack of achievement on the part of administrators; it
is like saying nothing of the methods of cultivating land
while keeping on admiring the stores and bins of the rich.
For as he who desires grain should take cognizance of
the seasons, so he who wishes good administration should
follow the needs of the age. Thus, the Lord of Shang
standing in splendid isolation, alone saw clearly the
alternative between preservation and ruin, but found it
impossible to cooperate with those who remained
entangled with the ways of the vulgar because of their
obstructing his achievements and their manifest shortsightedness.
The mediocre man finds contentment in
habit and usage, the foolish one sticks to his bit of
learning. Thus as it took three years after the invention
of boats and carts before people were taught to find
satisfaction in them, so only after the Lord of Shang's
laws were firmly established, the people learned to trust
them. There are some with whom one can associate in
judgment.[43]
Indeed, O Literati, you can be entrusted
with holding the builder's line and following already
carved-out patterns, but surely not to take part in
discussing aught beyond your own `principles and
methods.'
(e) The Literati: Wide in his knowledge, the
superior man still maintains reserve as to lacunae in it;
a transmitter and not an originator,[44]
though sage and
perspicacious, he plans little, though wise and sagacious,
he acts sparingly. Thus it is that his achievement is
complete and falls not, his fame firmly established and
dulls not. But the mean man, shallow in wit but large in
plans, shoulders burdens too heavy for his debility and
languidness, and thus finds himself forced to give up in
the middle of the road.[45]
Such ones were Su Ch'in and
Shang Yang: they would have none of the laws of the
former kings, they disregarded the ways of the Sages,
and relied solely upon themselves—and so went to their
doom. A mean man sitting in resplendent station says
the Book of. Changes, will fall, high as he may be.[46]
Of
such there never has been one who ended his life peacefully
when he strove not for fullness in principle and
constancy in virtue. Thus though he might at first
ascend to Heaven, he will fall to Earth. When Yü
regulated the flood, the people' realized the benefit to be
derived from his activities, and there was none who did
not appreciate his accomplishment; when Shang Yang
established his laws, the people knew the harm to be
expected therefrom and there was none who did not fear
punishment. Therefore, the prince of Hsia affirmed his
achievement and achieved sovereignty, while Shang Yang
perished as soon as his laws were put into effect. Like
Shang Yang you may stand alone in the wisdom of your
plans, but the world is not ready to bear witness to
your `lonely' discernment; while we, the Literati,
though we may be unworthy to associate with you in
judgment of the present world, will also escape the
calamity of being crushed under your loads.[47]
