The complete works of Han Fei tzu ... a classic of Chinese political science. |
 |
| 1. |
 | 2. |
| VI. |
| VII. |
| VIII. | Chapter VIII |
| IX. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| 5. |
| 6. |
| 7. |
| 8. |
| 9. |
 | Chapter VIII The complete works of Han Fei tzu |  |
Chapter VIII
WIELDING THE SCEPTRE[1]
Heaven has its destiny[2]
; human beings have their destiny,[3]
too. Indeed, anything smelling good and tasting soft, be it
rich wine or fat meat, is delicious to the mouth, but it causes
the body illness. The beauty having delicate skin and pretty
white teeth pleases feeling but exhausts energy. Hence avoid
excesses and extremes. Then you will suffer no harm.[4]
The sceptre should never be shown. For its inner nature
is non-assertion.[5]
The state affairs may be scattered in the
four directions but the key to their administration is in the
centre. The sage holding this key in hand, people from the
four directions come to render him meritorious services.
He remains empty and waits for their services, and they
will exert their abilities by themselves. With the conditions
of the four seas clearly in mind, he can see the Yang by
means of the Yin.[6]
After appointing attendants on his
right and left, he can open the gate and meet anybody.[7]
He can go onward with the two handles without making
any change. To apply them without cessation is said to be
acting on the right way of government.[8]
Indeed, everything has its function; every material has
its utility. When everybody works according to his special
qualification, both superior and inferior will not have to do
anything. Let roosters herald the dawn and let cats watch
for rats. When everything exercises its special qualification,
the ruler will not have to do anything. If the ruler has to
exert any special skill of his own, it means that affairs are
not going right. If he is conceited and fond of displaying
his ability, he will be deceived by the inferiors. If he is
sagacious and lenient,[9]
the inferiors will take advantage of
his capacity. If superior and inferior exchange their roles,
the state never will be in order.[10]
The way to assume oneness[11]
starts from the study of
terminology. When names are rectified, things will be
settled; when names are distorted, things will shift around.
Therefore, the sage holds oneness in hand and rests in
tranquillity, letting names appoint themselves to tasks and
affairs settle themselves. If he does not show off his sagacity,
the inferiors will reveal their earnestness and uprightness.
He then appoints them to office in accordance with their
upon them powers in accordance with their needs and thus
lets them raise their ranks. Thus, he rectifies their names
first, then works with them, and finally makes them
accomplish the tasks. Therefore, he promotes them through
the examination of names. When the name is not clear, he
seeks for its connotation by tracing[13] its form. After the
form and the name are compared and identified, he puts the
product into use.[14] If both form and name have to be true,
the inferiors will have to reveal their true hearts, too. Carefully
attend to your duties, wait for decrees from heaven to
come, and never miss the key to government. Then you
will become a sage.[15]
The way of the sage is to discard his own wisdom and
talent. If his own wisdom and talent are not discarded, it
will be hard for him to keep a constant principle of government.
When the people exert wisdom and talent, they will
suffer disasters; when the sovereign exerts them, the state
will be in danger and on the decline. So, conform to the
way of heaven, act on the principle of human life,[16]
and then
consider, compare, and investigate them. Where there is an
ending, there is always a beginning. Be empty and reposed,
keep behind others, and never assert yourself before anybody
else. For the calamity of the ruler originates in self-assertion.
you must not listen to them blindly. Then the myriad people
will uniformly obey you.[17]
Indeed, Tao is so magnificent as to have no form. Teh
is evidently systematic and so extensive as to permeate all
lives. When it functions proportionately, the myriad things
are formed,[18]
though it does not add to their security. Thus
Tao is omnipresent in all events. So, follow and preserve
its decrees and live and die at the right time. Compare the
names of different things, and trace the common source of
the principles underlying them.[19]
Hence the saying: "Tao does not identify itself with
anything but itself. Teh does not identify itself with the
Yin and the Yang. The balance does not identify itself
with lightness and heaviness. The inked string does not
identify itself with ingress and egress. The reed-organ[20]
does not identify itself with dryness and wetness. The
ruler does not identify himself with the ministers." These
six are effects of Tao.[21]
Tao is never a pair. Hence it is called one. Therefore,
the intelligent ruler esteems singleness, the characteristic
feature of Tao. Accordingly, ruler and minister do not
follow the same path. When the minister presents any
minister must work out the form. When form and name
are compared and found identical, superior and inferior will
have peace and harmony.[22]
In general, the right way to listen to the ministers is to
take what they utter as the measure of what they harvest.[23]
The ruler investigates their names so as to determine their
offices, and clarify their duties so as to distinguish between
different varieties of work. The right way to hear different
utterances is to look[24]
drunken. Never start moving your
own lips and teeth before the subordinates do. The longer
I keep quiet, the sooner others move their lips and teeth.[25]
As they themselves move their lips and teeth, I can thereby
understand their real intentions. Right and wrong words
coming to the fore in such fashion, the ruler does not have
to join issue[26]
with them[27]
To remain empty and tranquil and practise inaction is
the real status of Tao. To compare, refer, and analogize
things, is the form of affairs. Thus you sometime compare
them and analogize them to other things and sometime refer
them to and accord them with the condition of emptiness.
When the root and trunk of a tree never change, motion
the inferiors feel uneasy. Improve their actions by practising
inaction. When you like them, affairs will multiply; when
you hate them, resentment will appear. So, discard both
like and hate and make your empty mind the abode of Tao.[30]
If the ruler does not share the supreme authority with the
ministers, the people will regard this as a great blessing.
The ruler should never discuss[31]
matters of right and wrong
with the ministers but let them carry on the discussion themselves.
If he locks the inner bar[32]
and sees the courtyard
from inside the room, then just as differences by inches and
feet would come to the fore, so will all ministers know
their proper places. Who deserves reward, will be properly
rewarded; who deserves punishment, will be properly
punished. If everybody pays for whatever he does, and if
good and evil visit him without fail, who would dare to
distrust the law? Once compasses and squares[33]
are
established and one angle is made right, the other three
angles will come out one after another.[34]
If the sovereign is not mysterious,[35]
the ministers will
will change[36] their routine of work. To behave as high as
heaven and as thick as earth is the way to dissolve all worries.
To do as heaven and earth do is the way to dismiss all
discriminations between strangers and relatives. Whoever
can model himself upon heaven and earth is called a sage.[37]
To govern the interior[38]
of the court you may appoint
men to office but should never take kindly to them. To
govern the exterior[39]
of the court you may put one man
in charge of one office but should never allow him to act
arbitrarily. If things are so, how can anybody shake the
ruler's authority or gain any undue power? If there are
numerous men frequenting the gates of the high officials'
residences, it will cause the ruler anxieties. At the height of
political order no minister can surmise what is in the ruler's
mind. If the ruler closely accords form with name, the people
will attend to their daily business. To leave this key and
seek anything else is to fall into serious bewilderment. This
will eventually increase the number of cunning people and
fill the ruler's right and left with wicked ministers. Hence
the saying: "Never ennoble anybody in such wise that he
may molest you; and never trust anybody so exclusively
that you lose the capital and the state to him."[40]
If the calf is larger than the thigh, it is hard to run fast.[41]
As soon as the sovereign ceases being mysterious, the tiger
will follow him from behind. If he takes no notice of it,
sovereign does not stop it, the false dog will increase its
partisans. The tigers will form a party and murder the
mother.[42] If the sovereign has no ministers loyal to him,
what kind of a state has he? Yet as soon as the sovereign
begins to enforce laws, even tigers will become meek; as
soon as he sets himself to inflict penalties, even the largest
tiger will become tame. Laws and penalties being of faith,
tigers will turn into ordinary human beings and revert to
their due status.[43]
Any ruler wishing to give peace to the state must disperse
the partisans of powerful ministers. If he does not disperse
their partisans, they will enlarge their parties. Any ruler
wishing to maintain order in his country must adjust the
distribution of his gifts. If he does not adjust the distribution
of his gifts, rapacious men will seek for extraordinary profits.
To grant them requests will then be the same as to lend axes
to enemies. It is not right to lend out such things. For they
will be used for assaulting the ruler.[44]
The Yellow Emperor made the saying: "Superior and
inferior wage one hundred battles a day." The inferior
conceals his tricks which he uses in testing the superior;
the superior manipulates rules and measures in splitting the
influences of the inferior. Therefore the institution of rules
and measures is the sovereign's treasure, the possession of
partisans and adherents is the minister's treasure. Such
being the situation, if the minister does not murder the
ruler, it is because his partisans and adherents are not yet
the inferior will gain eight or sixteen feet.[46] The ruler in
possession of a state never enlarges the capital. The minister
following the true path never empowers his own family.
The ruler following the right way never empowers any
minister. Because, once empowered and enriched, the inferior[47]
will attempt to supplant the superior. So, guard against
dangers and be afraid of eventualities. Install the crown
prince quickly. Then many troubles find no way to appear.[48]
To detect culprits inside the court and guard against
crooks outside it, the ruler must personally hold his rules
and measures. Make the powerful wane and the powerless
wax. Both waning and waxing should have limitations.
Never allow the people to form juntas and thereby deceive
their superiors with one accord. Make the powerful wane
like the moon, and the powerless wax like the heat of the
bored fire. Simplify orders and dignify censures. Make
the application of penal laws definite. Never loosen your
bow; otherwise, you will find two males in one nest.
Where there are two males in one nest, there the fighting
will continue at sixes and sevens. When wolves are in the
stable, sheep never will flourish. When two masters are in
one house, nothing can be accomplished. When both man
whom to obey.[49]
The ruler of men should often stretch the tree but never
allow its branches to flourish. Luxuriant branches will cover
the gates of public buildings, till private houses become full,
public halls empty, and the sovereign deluded. So, stretch
out the tree often but never allow any branch to grow
outward. Any branch that grows outward will molest the
position of the sovereign. Again, stretch out the tree often
but never allow any branch to grow larger than the stem.
When the branches are large and the stem is small, the tree
will be unable to endure spring winds. When the tree
cannot endure spring winds, the branches will damage its
kernel. Similarly, when illegitimate sons are many, the heir
apparent will have worries and anxieties. The only way
to check them is to stretch out the tree often and never let
its branches flourish. If the tree is stretched out often,
partisans and adherents of the wicked ministers will disperse.
When the roots and the stem are dug up, the tree is no longer
alive. Fill up the foaming fountain with mud and never let
the water clear. Search the bosoms of ministers and take
away their powers. The sovereign should exercise such
powers himself with the speed of the lightning and with
the dignity of the thunder.[50]
[OMITTED]. Certain editions of the text have [OMITTED] in place of [OMITTED].
The latter, however, suits the ideas set forth in the work better than the
former. In style and thought it is similar to Chap. V and contains more
than Chap. V such similes and metaphors as are susceptible of widely different
interpretations. I hope it will be helpful to the reader to give an explanatory
note of my own to each paragraph.
It refers to the course of nature as manifested in the compelling principle
of the rotation of day and night, of the four seasons, and so forth.
It refers to the course of nature as manifested in the necessary relation
of ruler and minister, of superior and inferior, and so forth.
In the opening paragraph it is brought to the fore that though mankind
is endowed by nature with both carnal and sexual appetites, nature does not
allow the satisfaction of either appetite to run to any extreme. It is, therefore,
imperative that the way of life conform to the way of nature. Likewise, the
way of government—the Tao of the sovereign—must conform to the way
of nature. To wield the sceptre right is the right way to political order, which
is expounded in the following paragraphs.
To see the Yang by way of the Yin means to see things from an unseen
place or to see the light from the dark. The Yang ([OMITTED]) refers to the positive
principle of Yi ([OMITTED]) or Change which Chinese sages of classic antiquity
thought to be the permanent function of the universe. The Yin ([OMITTED]) refers
to its negative principle. All phenomena are resultant from the interaction
of these two principles.
The world view of Han Fei TzŬ is purely Taoistic. So is the major
premise of his life view. The doctrine of inaction is advocated in the opening
sentences of this paragraph, which, however, ends with his insistence on
the active application of the two handles to government. Herein lies the
difference between Han Fei TzŬ's ideas and the teachings of the orthodox
Taoists. Lao TzŬ and his immediate followers taught that the origin of life
is inaction, its ideal should be inaction and that the route to this goal must
be inaction, too. With them Han Fei TzŬ agreed that inaction is the end,
but he asserted that the means to the end is action. The Utopia remains a
permanent Utopian ideal. Life is a constant strife after this goal. So is government
an everlasting fight against the disruptive forces in individual and
social life for perfect order. In such a fight the law is the only weapon,
whose two handles are chastisement and commendation. Therefore, to apply
the two handles without cessation is said to be acting on the right way of
government. In this connection the shifting emphases in the social and political
thought of Lin Yu-tang, one of the greatest admirers of Han Fei TzŬ in
modern China, are worth noticing. In his essay on "Han Fei as a Cure for
Modern China" (China's Own Critics: A Selection of Essays, 1931), he
showed his whole-hearted support of Han Fei TzŬ. A few years later, as
shown in his book, My Country and My People (1936), he appeared to be far
more Taoistic and cynical than before, preferring inaction and non-interference
to any kind of remedial work which seems to him laborious but fruitless.
[OMITTED] literally means "fond of living beings" or "loving production",
which here implies "unable to bear killing any human being".
[OMITTED] means to see whether or not name and form coincide
with each other and then enforce reward or punishment accordingly.
To make an objective survey of the ministers' abilities and directly
encourage them to render meritorious services, the ruler has to give up
or keep hidden his own wisdom and talent. On the other hand, to make the
subjects universally obey laws and uniformly follow orders, he should not
allow the masses to abuse their own wisdom and talent.
Here is made an attempt to expound the substance and function of Tao
and connect metaphysics with ethics and politics.
[OMITTED]. A kind of musical instrument able to maintain the same notes in
all kinds of weather.
With Kao Hêng [OMITTED] means [OMITTED]
[OMITTED] inasmuch as [OMITTED] refers to [OMITTED] or name and [OMITTED]
refers to [OMITTED] or form.
The ruler should always stand aloof from the offices to which his inferiors
are appointed, and charge them with such responsibilities as never would
involve himself.
Thus, to do inaction is to see everything done of itself and by itself.
To remain empty and tranquil is to see everybody driven by nature into
good. This, again, is the ideal side of Han Fei TzŬ's thought. In the practical
field he had to advocate the method of persistent action as revealed in the
next paragraph.
[OMITTED] means "so profound and divine that nobody else can conjecture
his intention or estimate his ability".
The intelligent ruler prevents wicked ministers from becoming too
powerful, and improves their character by means of laws and penalties.
[OMITTED] is the total width of four fingers; [OMITTED] is the distance between
the joint of the thumb and the pulse beneath the palm.
Ruler and minister are always vying with each other in power. The
former resorts to the enforcement of state laws throughout the country;
the latter to the distribution of personal favours among the masses. One
easy way open to the ruler to save the situation is, according to Han Fei
TzŬ, to install the crown prince as early as possible so that many court
intrigues will be avoided.
As Han Fei TzŬ directed his main attention in his political thought
to the issues between ruler and minister, in the present and next paragraphs
he taught the ruler how to maintain supremacy and why to weaken the
minister. This well reminds the reader of Lord Shang's "Weakening the
People".
The tree illustrates the state as a whole organic structure; the stem, the
ruler; and the branches, the ministers. Hence Han Fei TzŬ's saying:
"When the branches are large and the stem is small, the tree will be unable
to endure spring winds." Accordingly special attention is called to the
growth of the stem.
| Chapter VIII The complete works of Han Fei tzu | |