Chapter XXIX
THE PRINCIPAL FEATURES OF LEGALISM[1]
The ancients who completed the principal features of
legalism, looked upon heaven and earth, surveyed rivers
and oceans, and followed mountains and ravines; wherefore
they ruled as the sun and the moon shine, worked as the
four seasons rotate, and benefited the world in the way
clouds spread and winds move.
They never burdened their mind with avarice[2]
nor did
they ever burden themselves with selfishness, but they
entrusted law and tact with the settlement of order and the
suppression of chaos, depended upon reward and punishment
for praising the right and blaming the wrong, assigned all
measures of lightness and heaviness to yard and weight.
They never acted contrary to the course of heaven, never
hurt the feeling and reason of mankind, never blew off any
hair to find small scars, never washed off any dirt to investigate
anything hard to know, never drew the inked string off the
line and never pushed the inked string inside the line, and
was neither severe beyond the boundary of law nor lenient
within the boundary of law; but observed acknowledged
principles and followed self-existent standards. Thus,
disaster and fortune were based on rational principles and
legal regulations, but not on love and hate; the responsibility
for prosperity and humility rested with nobody but oneself.
Therefore, in the age at the height of safety law is like
the morning dew, pure and simple but not yet dispersed.
There is no resentment in the mind nor is there any quarrelsome
word from the mouth. Carriages and horses,
accordingly, are not worn out on the road; flags and
banners are never confused on the big swamps; the myriad
people do not lose lives among bandits and weapons;
courageous warriors do not see their longevities determined
by flags and streamers[3]
; excellent men are not reputed
in pictures and books nor are their merits recorded on
plates and vases[4]
; and documents of annals are left empty.[5]
Hence the saying: "No benefit is more permanent than
simplicity, no fortune is more perpetual than security."[6]
Supposing Carpenter Stone kept the longevity of one
thousand years, had his scythes, watched his compasses and
squares, and stretched his inked string, for the purpose of
rectifying Mountain T`ai[7]
and supposing Pên and Yü
girdled the Kan-chiang[8]
Sword to unify the myriad people,
then though skill is exerted to the utmost extent and though
longevity is prolonged to the utmost limit, Mountain T`ai
would not be rectified and the people would not be unified.
Hence the saying: "The ancient shepherds of All-underHeaven
never ordered Carpenter Stone to exert his skill
and thereby break the shape of Mountain T`ai nor did they
instruct Pên and Yü to exercise all their authorities and
thereby harm the inborn nature of the myriad people."
If in accordance with Tao, the law is successfully enforced,
the superior man will rejoice and the great culprit will give
way. Placid, serene, and leisurely, the enlightened ruler
should in accordance with the decree of heaven maintain
the principal features of legalism. Therefore, he makes
the people commit no crime of going astray from law and
the fish suffer no disaster by losing water. Consequently,
nothing in All-under-Heaven will be unattainable.
If the superior is not as great as heaven, he never will
be able to protect all inferiors; if his mind is not as firm as
earth, he never will be able to support all objects. Mountain
T`ai, seeing no difference between desirable and undesirable
clouds, can maintain its height; rivers and oceans, making
no discrimination against small tributaries, can accomplish
their abundance. Likewise, great men, patterning after the
features of heaven and earth, find the myriad things well
provided, and, applying their mind to the observation of
mountains and oceans, find the country rich. The superior
shows no harm from anger to anybody, the inferior throws
no calamity of hidden resentment at anybody. Thus, high and
low both live on friendly terms and take Tao as the standard
of value. Consequently, permanent advantages are piled
up and great merits accomplished. So is a name made in
a lifetime. So is the benefaction left to posterity. Such is
the height of order.
