安危

There are seven methods of safety and six paths of peril.

The seven methods of safety: First, rewards and punishments follow right and wrong. Second, fortune and misfortune follow good and evil. Third, life and death follow the legal code. Fourth, there are the worthy and the unworthy, but no personal love or hatred. Fifth, there are the foolish and the wise, but no blame or praise based on favoritism. Sixth, there are objective measures, but no subjective estimation. Seventh, there is trustworthiness, but no deceit.

The six paths of peril: First, making decisions within the bounds of the plumb line yet cutting beyond them. Second, making judgments outside the bounds of the law. Third, profiting from what harms others. Fourth, delighting in what brings misfortune to others. Fifth, endangering people where they are secure. Sixth, not drawing close to those one loves, and not keeping distant those one dislikes.

Under such conditions, people lose the reasons to take joy in living and forget the reasons to take death seriously. When people do not take joy in living, the ruler is not exalted. When people do not take death seriously, orders cannot be enforced.

If All-Under-Heaven were to devote its full intelligence to standards and measures and its full strength to the balance and scale, then in action there would be victory and in stillness there would be security.

A well-governed age causes people to take joy in living through doing right, and to cherish their lives by avoiding wrong. Petty men become few and gentlemen become many. Therefore the altars of state stand firm and the state enjoys lasting security.

On a chariot veering out of control, there is no Confucius. Beneath a capsized boat, there is no Bo Yi. Therefore orders and decrees are the state's boat and chariot. In security, wisdom and integrity emerge; in peril, contention and baseness arise.

Thus the law of a secure state is like eating when hungry and clothing oneself when cold -- it requires no commands and comes naturally. The former kings entrusted their principles to bamboo and silk. Their Way was smooth and natural; therefore later generations submitted to it.

Now, to make people endure hunger and cold while depriving them of clothing and food -- even Ben and Yu could not enforce it. To abolish what is natural -- even if the Way were smooth, it would not be established. When even the strong and brave cannot carry something out, those above cannot be secure.

When those above make insatiable demands upon those who are already exhausted, those below respond with 'We have nothing.' Having nothing, they hold the law in contempt. The law exists for the sake of the state, yet when it is held in contempt, no achievement can be established and no name can be made.

I have heard that when the ancient Bian Que treated illness, he pierced the bone with a knife. When the sage saves a state in peril, he offers loyal counsel that grates upon the ear.

Piercing the bone causes brief pain in the body but lasting benefit to the person. Grating counsel causes brief displeasure in the heart but lasting fortune for the state.

Thus one who is gravely ill benefits from enduring pain; the resolute ruler finds fortune in accepting unwelcome counsel. By enduring pain, one allows Bian Que to exercise his full skill. By accepting unwelcome counsel, one does not lose a Wu Zixu. This is the method of longevity and security.

Being ill yet not enduring pain means losing Bian Que's skill. Being in peril yet not accepting unwelcome counsel means losing the sage's insight. Under such conditions, lasting benefit will not be sustained, and achievement and fame will not be long-lasting.

Safety and peril lie in right and wrong, not in strength or weakness. Survival and ruin lie in substance and emptiness, not in the many or the few.

Thus Qi was a state of ten thousand chariots, yet its name and reality did not correspond. Its government was hollow within; internally it was not filled with the substance of name and reality. Therefore ministers were able to usurp the ruler.

The Shang king was the Son of Heaven, yet lacked the distinction between right and wrong. He rewarded the meritless and elevated slanderers and flatterers, making deceit and falsehood honorable. He punished the innocent and had the hunchback's back split open because of his natural condition. Taking deceit as right and nature as wrong -- thus the small overcame the great.

The enlightened ruler secures the interior; therefore he does not lose the exterior. There has never been a case of losing what is near yet not perishing at the hands of what is far.

When Zhou took the Shang, it was like picking up lost objects in the courtyard. Had Shang not left things lying about in its own court, Zhou would not have dared to covet even an autumn hair at its border -- let alone dare to change places with it.

The way of the enlightened ruler is loyalty to the law; and the law is loyal to the heart. Therefore when the ruler is present, there is law; when the ruler is absent, there is yearning.

Yao had no bonds of glue and lacquer with the people of his age, yet the Way prevailed. Shun had not even a plot of land to call his own in later ages, yet his virtue remained bound to all.

One who can establish the Way in distant antiquity and make virtue honored through ten thousand generations -- this is called an enlightened ruler.