七患

Master Mozi said: 'A state has seven afflictions. What are the seven afflictions? When the city walls and moats cannot be defended yet the ruler builds palaces -- this is the first affliction. When enemy states reach the borders and none of the four neighbors comes to the rescue -- this is the second affliction. When the people's strength is first exhausted on useless projects and rewards are given to incompetent people, the people's strength spent on the useless and the treasury emptied on entertaining guests -- this is the third affliction. When officials cling to their salaries, wandering scholars worry about their connections, the ruler applies the law to punish his ministers, and the ministers are cowed and dare not remonstrate -- this is the fourth affliction. When the ruler considers himself a sage and wise man and does not inquire into affairs, considers himself secure and strong yet has no defensive preparations, and does not know to be on guard when the four neighbors plot against him -- this is the fifth affliction. When those he trusts are not loyal and those who are loyal he does not trust -- this is the sixth affliction. When the stores of beans and grain are insufficient to feed the people, the great ministers are insufficient to serve him, rewards and bestowals cannot bring joy, and punishments cannot inspire awe -- this is the seventh affliction. A state that harbors these seven afflictions will certainly lose its altars of soil and grain. A city defended with these seven afflictions will fall when the enemy arrives. Wherever these seven afflictions are present, the state will surely suffer calamity.'

The five grains are what the people depend on and what the ruler is nourished by. Therefore if the people have nothing to depend on, the ruler has nothing to be nourished by; if the people have no food, they cannot be employed. Therefore food production must not be neglected, the land must be put to productive use, and expenditures must be kept frugal. When all five grains are harvested fully, then all five flavors are available to the ruler; when not all are harvested, then not all are available. When one grain fails, it is called 'shortage'; when two grains fail, it is called 'drought'; when three grains fail, it is called 'famine'; when four grains fail, it is called 'scarcity'; when all five grains fail, it is called 'starvation.'

Food is the treasure of the state; arms are the claws of the state; walls are for self-defense -- these three are the equipment of the state. Therefore it is said: if you employ the people to the utmost in repairing the city walls, the people will toil but not be harmed; if you collect rent and taxes at the standard rates, the people will spend but not suffer. What the people suffer from is not these things. They suffer from heavy exactions upon the people, from rewards given to those without merit, from emptying the treasury to provide chariots, horses, robes, and exotic curiosities; they suffer from corvee labor to build palaces and places of entertainment, and from lavish coffins in death and excessive burial garments. In life the rulers build terraces and pavilions; in death they construct grand tombs. Thus the people suffer without and the treasury is depleted within; those above never tire of their pleasures, and those below cannot bear their suffering. Therefore when enemies and bandits come, the state is harmed; when the people face famine, they perish -- all this is the fault of inadequate preparedness. Food is what the sage treasures. Therefore the Book of Zhou says: 'A state without three years' store of food is not truly its state; a family without three years' store of food -- the son is not truly its son.' This is what is meant by state preparedness.