Superphysics
Art of Governing amd Consistency
8 minutes • 1555 words
How should a government worker do his duties?
Lead the way in it, work hard at it, and do not tire of it.
Chung-kung was made first minister to the Chief of the Ki family and consulted Confucius about government.
Confucius to Chung-kung:
Let the heads of offices be heads. Excuse small faults. Promote men of sagacity and talent.
But how am I to know the sagacious and talented, before promoting them?
Promote those who you know
As to those of whom you are uncertain, will others omit to notice them?
The prince of Wei has been waiting for you to work for his government. What is it your intention to take in hand first?
Only out of necessity, as the rectification of terms.
How far away you are, sir! Why such rectification?
You are so rustic, Tsz-Lu.
A gentleman would be a little reserved and reticent in matters which he does not understand. If terms are incorrect, language will be incongruous. If language is incongruous, deeds will be imperfect.
When deeds are imperfect, propriety and harmony cannot prevail. In this case, the criminal laws will fail in their aim. This will cause the people to not know where to set hand or foot.
Hence, a man of superior mind, certain first of his terms, is fitted to speak. He is certain of what he says and can proceed upon it. His language has nothing heedlessly irregular.
Please teach us about husbandry.
I am not an expert husbandman.
Please teach us gardening.
I am not an expert gardener.
When Fan Ch’i had gone out, Confucius said:
Fan-Chi has a small mind. Let a man who is set over the people love propriety, and they will not presume to be disrespectful. Let him be a lover of righteousness, and they will not presume to be aught but submissive. Let him love faithfulness and truth, and they will not presume not to lend him their hearty assistance. Ah, if all this only were so, the people from all sides would come to such a one, carrying their children on their backs. What need to turn his hand to husbandry?
“Though a man,” said he, “could hum through the Odes�the three hundred�yet should show himself unskilled when given some administrative work to do for his country; though he might know much of that other lore, yet if, when sent on a mission to any quarter, he could answer no question personally and unaided, what after all is he good for?
“Let a leader,” said he, “show rectitude in his own personal character, and even without directions from him things will go well. If he be not personally upright, his directions will not be complied with.”
Once he made the remark:
The governments of Lu and of Wei are in brotherhood. The son of the Duke of Wei managed his household matters well. On his coming into possession, he thought, ‘What a strange conglomeration!’ Coming to possess a little more, it was, ‘Strange, such a result!’ And when he became wealthy, ‘Strange, such elegance!’"
The Master was on a journey to Wei, and Yen Yu was driving him. He saw a huge population in Wei.
They are so many people here. What more would you do for them?
I would enrich them
And then what?
I would instruct them. Were any one of our princes to employ me, after a twelvemonth I might have made some tolerable progress
Again, “How true is that saying, ‘Let good men have the management of a country for a century, and they would be adequate to cope with evil-doers, and thus do away with capital punishments,’”
Again, “Suppose the ruler to possess true kingly qualities, then surely after one generation there would be good-will among men.”
Again, “Let a ruler but see to his own rectitude, and what trouble will he then have in the work before him? If he be unable to rectify himself, how is he to rectify others?”
Once when Yen Yu was leaving the Court, the Master accosted him.
Why are you late?
I was busy with legislation.
I should have been there to hear the details of your legislation, even though I am not in office.
Is there one policy which would make a country prosperous?
A single policy could hardly do so much as that.
But there is a proverb people use which says, ‘To play the prince is hard, to play the minister not easy.’
Assuming that it is understood that ’to play the prince is hard,’ would it not be probable that with that one sentence the country should be made to prosper?"
Is there, then one policy which would ruin a country?
A single policy could hardly do so much as that. But there is a proverb men have which says, ‘Not gladly would I play the prince, unless my words were ne’er withstood.’ Assuming that the words were good, and that none withstood them, would not that also be good? But assuming that they were not good, and yet none withstood them, would it not be probable that with that one saying he would work his country’s ruin?"
The Duke of Sheh consulted him about government.
Where the near are gratified, the far will follow.
Tsz-hi became governor of Ku-fu and consulted Confucius about government.
Do not wish for speedy results. Do not look at trivial advantages. If you wish for speedy results, they will not be far-reaching.
If you regard trivial advantages you will not successfully deal with important affairs.
There are some straightforward persons in my neighborhood. If a father has stolen a sheep, the son will give evidence against him.
Straightforward people in my neighborhood are different. The father will hold a thing secret on his son’s behalf, and the son does the same for his father. They are on their way to becoming straightforward.
What is one’s to one’s fellow-men?
Be courteous in your private sphere. Be serious in any duty you take in hand to do. Be leal-hearted in your intercourse with others.
Even though you were to go amongst the wild tribes, it would not be right for you to neglect these duties.
How would you characterize a ’learned official'?
The most learned have his private life affected with a sense of his own unworthiness. When sent on a mission to any part of the empire, he would not disgrace his prince’s commands.
The next most learned is he who is called as a dutiful son by his kinsmen. His neighborhood would call him ‘good brother’
The next most learned is he who is sure to be true to his word, and effective in his work.
The last most learned is he who has inferior calibre but allow themselves to be hammered.
How would you describe those who are at present in the government service?
Ugh! They are mere peck and panier men, not worth taking into the reckoning. … If I cannot get via media men to impart instruction to, then I must of course take the impetuous and undisciplined!
The impetuous ones will at least go forward and lay hold on things. The undisciplined have at least something in them which needs to be brought out.
The Southerners have the proverb, ‘The man who sticks not to rule will never make a charm-worker or a medical man,’ Good! ‘Whoever is intermittent in his practise of virtue will live to be ashamed of it.’ Without prognostication, that will indeed be so.
The nobler-minded man will be agreeable even when he disagrees; the small-minded man will agree and be disagreeable.
What do you think of a person who was liked by all in his village?
That will scarcely do, whether he is liked or disliked. Better if he were liked by the good folk in the village, and disliked by the bad.
The superior man is easy to serve, but difficult to please. Try to please him by the adoption of wrong principles, and you will fail. Also, when such a one employs others, he uses them according to their capacity. The inferior man is, on the other hand, difficult to serve, but easy to please.
Try to please him by the adoption of wrong principles, and you will succeed. And when he employs others he requires them to be fully prepared for everything.
The superior man can be high without being haughty. The inferior man can be haughty if not high.
The firm, the unflinching, the plain and simple, the slow to speak are approximating towards their duty to their fellow-men."
How would you characterize an “educated gentleman?”
He who can properly be so-called will have in him a seriousness of purpose, a habit of controlling himself, and an agreeableness of manner.
Among his friends and associates the seriousness and the self-control, and among his brethren the agreeableness of manner." “Let good and able men discipline the people for seven years and after that they may do to go to war.
But to lead an undisciplined people to war that I call throwing them away.”
