Chapter XXVII
HOW TO USE MEN[1]
: PROBLEMS OF PERSONNEL
ADMINISTRATION
They say the ancients who were skilful in personnel
administration always conformed to the way of heaven,
accorded with the nature of man, and clarified the principles
of reward and punishment. As they conformed to the way
of heaven, they expended few efforts, but harvested fruitful
results. As they accorded with the nature of man, penal
acts were simplified, but orders took effect. As they clarified
the principles of reward and punishment, Po-i and Robber
Chê were never mixed up. That being so, white and black
were clearly distinguished from each other.
Ministers of an orderly state render meritorious service
to the country so as to fulfil their official duties, manifest
their talents in office so as to obtain promotions, and devote
their strength to the observance of yard and weight so as
to manage affairs. As all officials have due abilities, are
competent for their duties, and do not covet any additional
post[2]
; and as they have no ulterior motive in mind and
shift no responsibility of any of their additional offices to
the ruler; inside there occurs no uprising from hidden resentment
nor does such a disaster as caused by the Lord of
Ma-fu[3]
happen outside.
The intelligent ruler allows no offices to meddle with
each other, wherefore no dispute can happen; no personage
to hold an additional post, wherefore everybody's talented
skill can improve; and nobody to share the same meritorious
service with anybody else, wherefore no rivalry can ensue.
When rivalry and dispute cease and talents and specialities
grow, the strong and the weak will not struggle for power,
ice and charcoal will not mix their features,
[4]
and All-underHeaven
will not be able to harm one another. Such is the
height of order.
Casting law and tact aside and trusting to personal
judgments, even Yao could not rectify a state. Discarding
compasses and squares and trusting to optional measures,
even Hsi Chung could not make a single wheel. Giving
rulers up and thereby attempting to make shortness and
length even, even Wang Erh could not point out the middle.
Supposing an average sovereign abode by law and tact and
an unskilful carpenter used compasses, squares, and rulers,
certainly there would be no mistake in a myriad cases. Who
rules men, if he casts aside what the wise and the skilful
fall short of and maintains what the average and the unskilful
never fail in, can then exert the forces of the people to the
utmost and accomplish his achievement and reputation.
The intelligent sovereign offers rewards that may be
earned and establishes punishments that should be avoided.
Accordingly, worthies are encouraged by rewards and
never meet Tzŭ-hsü's disaster; unworthy people commit
few crimes and never see the humpback being cut open;
blind people walk on the plain and never come across any
deep ravine; stupid people keep silent and never fall into
hazards. Should such be the case, the affection between
superior and inferior would be well founded. The ancients
said, "It is hard to know the mind. It is hard to balance
joy and anger." Therefore, the sovereign uses bulletins to
show the eye, instructions
[5]
to tell the ear, and laws to
rectify
[6]
the mind. If the ruler of men discards these three
easy measures and practises the sole difficult policy of
mind-reading, then anger will be accumulated by the superior
and resentment would be accumulated by the inferior. When
accumulators of anger are governing accumulators of
resentment, both will be in danger.
The bulletins of the intelligent sovereign being so easy
to see, his promises keep. His teachings being so easy to
understand, his words function. His laws being so easy to
observe, his orders take effect. When these three things are
well founded and the superiors have no self-seeking mind,
the inferiors will obey the law and maintain order; will
look at the bulletin and move; will follow the inked string
and break; and will follow the flat pins[7]
and sew. In such
a case, superiors will incur no bad name for selfishness and
arrogance nor will inferiors receive any blame for stupidity
and awkwardness. Hence the ruler is enlightened and
rarely angry while the people are loyal and rarely guilty.
They say, "To manage an affair and have no worry,
even Yao would be unable." Yet the world is always full
of affairs. The ruler of men, unless generous in conferring
titles and bounties and easy in rewarding people of merit
with riches and honours, is not worth helping in saving
his jeopardized state. Therefore, the intelligent sovereign
encourages men of integrity and bashfulness and invites
men of benevolence and righteousness. Of yore, Chieh
Tzŭ-t`ui
[8]
had neither rank nor bounty but followed Duke
Wên in the cause of righteousness, and, being unable to
bear the thirst of the Duke's mouth and the hunger of his
stomach, sliced off his own flesh to feed his master in the
cause of benevolence. Henceforth the lords of men have
cited his virtue and books and pictures have quoted his
name.
Generally speaking, the lord of men rejoices in making
the people exert their strength for public causes and suffers
by the usurpation of his authority by self-seeking ministers.
The minister feels content when receiving appointment to
office and overburdened when taking charge of two
responsibilities at one time. The intelligent sovereign,
therefore, abolishes what the ministers suffer and establishes
what the lord of men rejoices in. Such an advantage to
both superior and inferior is surpassed by nothing else.
Contrary to this, if the ruler fails to observe closely the
interiors of private residences, handles important affairs with
slight concerns of mind, inflicts severe censure for minor
offences, resents small faults for a long time, habitually
teases people for amusement's sake and frequently requites
trouble-makers with favours, it is the same as to cut off
the arm and replace it with a jewel one. Hence the world
encounters calamities of dethronement.
If the lord of men institutes difficult requirements and
convicts anybody whosoever falls short of the mark, then
secret resentment will appear. If the minister disuses his
merit and has to attend to a difficult work, then hidden
resentment will grow. If toil and pain are not removed and
worry and grief are not appeased; if the ruler, when glad,
praises small men and rewards both the worthy and the
unworthy, and, when angry, blames superior men and
thereby makes Po-i and Robber Chê equally disgraced,
then there will be ministers rebelling against the sovereign.
Supposing the King of Yen hated his people at home
but loved the Lus abroad, then Yen would not serve him
nor would Lu obey him. The Yens,[9]
as hated, would not
exert their strength to render him meritorious services;
while the Lus, though delighted, would never forget the
death-or-life question and thereby become intimate with the
sovereign of another state. In such a case, the ministers would
fall into discord; the lord of men, into isolation. The
country in which ministers in discord serve the sovereign
left in isolation, is said to be in a great danger.
Supposing you discarded the mark and target and shot
blindly, then though you hit it, you would not thereby be
skilful. Similarly, supposing you cast laws and institutions
aside and got angry blindly, then, though you slaughter
many, the culprits would not be afraid of you. If the crime
is committed by "A" but the consequent disaster befalls
"B",[10]
then hidden resentment will grow. Therefore, in
the state of the highest order there are reward and punishment
but neither joy nor anger. For the same reason, the sage
enacts all kinds of penal law; whereas, though he sentences
criminals to death, he is neither malicious nor cruel. Hence
the culprits yield to his justice.
Wherever the shot arrow hits the mark and reward and
punishment correspond with the tallies of merits and demerits,
there Yao can come to life again and Yi can reappear. In
such an orderly country, superiors will encounter no
catastrophe as met by the Yins and the Hsias; inferiors
will suffer no disaster as met by Pi-kan; the ruler can
sleep without worries; ministers can rejoice in their daily
work; Tao will spread all over heaven and earth; and
Teh will last throughout a myriad generations.
Indeed, if the lord of men, instead of paving cracks and
gaps, works hard on painting the surface with red and
white clay, be sure swift rain and sudden gale will tumble
the house down. Likewise, if he does not escape the
impending disaster as near as the eyebrows and eyelashes
but yearns after the manner of the death of Pên and Yü;
if he takes no heed of the imminent trouble within the
enclosure but solidifies the iron castles in remote frontiers;
and if he does not adopt the schemes of the worthies near
by him but cultivates friendships with the states of ten
thousand chariots a thousand li away; then once the whirlwind
arises, Pên and Yü will not be in time to rescue him
nor will foreign friends arrive in time, till the catastrophe
will be surpassed by none. In the present age, whoever
gives loyal counsels to the sovereign, should neither make
the King of Yen like the Lus, nor make the modern age
yearn after the worthies of antiquity, nor expect the Yüehs
to rescue the drowning persons in the Central States. Should
such be the case, superior and inferior would be mutually
affectionate, great achievement would be accomplished at
home, and good reputation would be established abroad.
