Chapter XXVII.
SHRILL POLEMICS.
(a) The Lord Grand Secretary: It is because of
his solicitude for the myriads of his subjects and the
deep concern over the continuing unrest on the Northern
frontier that the Enlightened Monarch, the molder of his
age, sent out envoys to seek out worthies and literati of
high grade and to make diligent inquiries after scholars
of high principle.[83]
His wish, meseems, was that diverse
proposals and various plans be submitted to him so that
he might with unprejudiced mind lend an indulgent ear
to the most feasible. But there is no one among you
doctors, who has been found able to advance a plan outof-the-ordinary
or a far-reaching scheme respecting the
questions of the Hsiung-nu and the pacification of the
borderland. Clinging[84]
to your rotting bamboo slips and
holding fast to your empty words, you never want to
recognize the necessity of coming to terms or the
imperative need of changing with the time. You hold to
no firm basis in your discussions, reminding one of
persons scratching their backs when their knees are
a-itching. Unbearable is the din of brawls you raise by
your railings at the Portals of the Commonweal. As if
your orchestrated vociferation will ever bring practical
result! Do you wish us to believe that this is what the
Englightened Monarch desired to hear?
(b) The Literati: All of us in submitting respectfully
our proposals have reached one conclusion though
following different channels.[85]
Our proposals all point to
the necessity of re-establishing Form and Justice on the
pinnacle by relegating monetary gain, of reviving the
principles of old so as to rectify the mistakes of the
present day. There is not a single one of them which
does not spell a universal peace. We realize, of course,
that all of these proposals cannot be actually put into
practice, yet it would seem to us that at least some could
be effectuated indeed. On the other hand, you, having
control of affairs, prefer to remain in the darkness in
the face of the illustrious practices of conformity and
get your only cue from mercenary preoccupations; it
is through your obstructionism, censoriousness, your
manoeuvring and subterfuges that no decision has been
reached even until now. It is not that the Confucianists
can never achieve
practical results, but that you,
high ministers of state, are too engrossed in achieving
practical profits.[86]
(c) The Lord Grand Secretary: Confounders of
truth you are, O Literati, with your flinty faces and
mushy hearts, corrupt to the core with your pompous
appearance and pliant insides! You plagiarize Chou
Kung in your dress with all these well-cuffed robes and
loose belts, plagiarize Chung Ni in your appearance with
all these low-crooked courtsies and mincing steps,[87]
plagiarize Shang and [88]
in your oratory with all this
crooning and sententiousness. Discussing politics—you
pasquinade, O talents superior to Kuan (Chung) and
Yen (Ying)! belittling ministers and Chancellor in your
hearts, determined to slight the Myriad Chariots. Should
we intrust you with practical problems of administration
you will bring nothing but confusion worse confounded
and complete misgovernment. Indeed recommending
such men on the strength of their words is similar to
appraising a horse by its coat only. I have demonstrated
here sufficiently whereby most of you do not deserve the
recommendation you have received. The edict quotes:
`Greatly gratified by the scholars of Our domain,
We intend to search out diligently such of them who by
their great worth, literary knowledge and wide experience
can quickly be given official posts[89]
.' But—fine talkers
are not necessarily possessors of moral excellence.
Preposterous? To talk is easy, 'tis difficult to act.[90]
We
should prefer to take cognizance of the dumb ox and
discard the squeaking cart, for the former is to be prized
for accomplishing much while talking little. Just as the
great bell of Wu by wagging its own tongue smashed
itself, so Chu-fu Yen by wagging his caused his own
death. Master Chu-fu's owl screeches proved of no avail
against impending death just as the nightingale's night
songs do not prevail against the dawn's first light. 'Tis
not that we public officials are too engrossed in seeking
profit, but you rather are too well manacled to the yoke
of obsolete practices which drags you into idle talk.
(d) The Literati: T'ang and Wu (Wang) were
men who could talk as well as act, but you bureaucrats
can but talk, not act. If we have purloined the dress of
Chou Kung, you have stolen his position; if we are
manacled to the yoke of obsolete practices, you are
fettered to that of pelf and profit; if Chu-fu Yen may
have caused his own death by wagging his tongue, you
have penned yourselves in by wagging after profit. Now
we hold that none but Tsao Fu can so bring out the latent
talent of a noble steed that it will run for a myriad li;
if it were not for Shun who made him his minister, Yü
would never have seen employment though in wisdom he
was one in a myriad. Thus when a Chi Huan-tzŭ sits
in control of the administration such as Hui of Liu-hsia
suddenly vanish from sight,[91]
but when a Confucius is
Minister of Justice, then, perversely enough, they blaze
out again. The power of selecting a noble steed rests
with a Po Lo, that it rises to the height of its possibilities
depends on a Tsao Fu. Let a Tsao Fu take the reins and
sorry jade or fine horse, all can be given the freedom of
the roads. In the age of a Chou Kung all scholars, be
they worthy or incapable, will be admitted to take part in
the discussion on the best form of government. It is the
best among drivers who will be found expert in teamstering
horses, and the worthiest among the ministers who
will be found expert in making use of the scholars.
Now-a-days they select men of unusual ability but let
benighted lackeys drive them. It is like yoking a noble
steed to a salt-wain and belaboring it, demanding speed.
This demonstrates well enough how worthies and Literati
are found to be mostly unworthy for recommendation.
(e) The Lord Grand Secretary: Faugh! You are,
my doctors, ne'er-do-wells[92]
devoid of principle, never
practicing what you preach, the spirit of the letter in you
never second each other. A plague since days of old have
you been,
like the wall-piercing burglars![93]
Rightly
indeed was Confucius booted out by the Prince of Lu, and
found of no use by his age! How so? Well, they were
always malaprop with their doltish reactions to their age,
too much preoccupied with the flock of budding ideas in
their skulls. It fell to the king of Ch'in to do away by
fire with their lore instead of practicing it, and burying
their kind in Wei Chung instead of finding employment
for them. Ha! he gave them, indeed, no opportunity to
set their tongues adrumming in their mouths and to
arch their eyebrows premeditating their pro and contra
disquisitions on affairs of national scope.
[94]
