弱民

When the people are weak, the state is strong; when the state is strong, the people are weak. Therefore in a state that possesses the Way, the priority lies in weakening the people. When simple, there is strength; when dissolute, there is weakness. When weak, they follow the tracks; when dissolute, they overstep their bounds. When weak, they are useful; when they overstep their bounds, they are resistant. Therefore it is said: using strength to eliminate strength results in weakness; using weakness to eliminate strength results in strength.

The people: treat them with goodness and they become attached; treat them with benefit and they become harmonious. When employed, they have responsibility; when harmonious, there is insufficiency — having responsibility enriches governance. If the ruler abandons law and allows what the people consider good, villainy will multiply.

When the people are poor, they are rich in strength. When rich in strength, they become dissolute. When dissolute, there are parasites. When the people are wealthy yet not employed, make them exchange food for rank — each must contribute strength, and then farmers will not shirk. When farmers do not shirk, the six lice will have no sprouts. Therefore a wealthy state governed as if poor achieves doubled strength.

The army is easy to weaken and difficult to strengthen. The people love life and are content with ease — correcting the difficulty of dying is hard, but if transformed, there is strength. When affairs involve shame, there is much villainy; when rewards are scarce, there are no errors. When much villainy creates suspicion, the enemy's errors become certain — this is advantageous. When the army reaches full strength, there is authority. When affairs involve no shame, there is advantage. Employing the army while maintaining an advantageous position for a long time will inevitably achieve kingship. Therefore when the army does what the enemy dares not do, there is strength; when affairs pursue what the enemy is ashamed to pursue, there is advantage.

When the law exists, the people are content with their station. When the ruler makes changes, affairs can be brought into alignment. When the state maintains stability and the ruler controls authority, there is advantage. Therefore the ruler values frequent change while the state values infrequent change.

When benefit issues from a single channel, the state has many resources. When it issues from ten channels, the state has few resources. Guarding one brings order; guarding ten brings disorder. With order comes strength; with disorder comes weakness. When strong, resources come; when weak, resources leave. Therefore a state that attracts resources is strong; one from which resources depart is weak.

The people: when humiliated, they value rank; when weak, they respect officials; when poor, they treasure reward. Govern the people through punishment and they gladly serve; lead the people through reward and they regard death lightly. Therefore warfare that employs the army is called strength. When the people have private sources of glory, they despise rank and hold officials in low regard; when wealthy, they take reward lightly. Govern the people with shame and humiliation through punishment, then they will fight. When the people fear death, affairs become disordered and warfare fails — therefore both soldiers and farmers become negligent, and the state is weak.

Farmers, merchants, and officials — these three are the state's regular sustaining functionaries. Farmers open land; merchants circulate goods; officials regulate the people. These three functionaries generate six parasites: 'annual surplus' and 'food surplus'; 'beauty' and 'desirability'; 'ambition' and 'conduct.' When these six take root, diminishment is inevitable. When farmers have surplus food, they ease off on the year's labor. When merchants have excessive profit along with beauty and desirability, they damage the instruments of production. When officials are installed but not used, ambition and conduct become the ends in themselves. When the six lice become customary, the army will suffer great defeat.

When the law is bent, governance is disordered. When goodness is the standard, talk multiplies. When governance is complex, the state is disordered. When talk multiplies, the army is weak. When the law is clear, governance is efficient. When strength is the standard, talk ceases. When governance is efficient, the state is well ordered. When talk ceases, the army is strong. Therefore when governance is large, the state is small; when governance is small, the state is large.

When governance creates what the people detest, the people are weakened. When governance creates what the people enjoy, the people are strengthened. When the people are weak, the state is strong; when the people are strong, the state is weak.

Therefore what the people enjoy makes them strong — and if you strengthen what is already strong, the army is doubly weakened. What the people enjoy makes them strong — and if you weaken what is strong, the army is doubly strengthened. Strengthening strength means doubled weakness; weakening strength means doubled strength — and kingship. Governing strength with strength means weakness merely persists. Governing weakness with weakness means strength merely departs. When strength persists, there is weakness; when strength departs, there is kingship. Therefore governing weakness with strength leads to diminishment; governing strength with weakness leads to kingship.

When the enlightened ruler employs his ministers, appointments must correspond to merit and rewards must fully compensate labor. If the ruler can make the people trust in this like the sun and moon, he will be invincible. Now Li Zhu could see the tip of an autumn hair, but he could not transfer his sharp eyes to another. Wu Huo could lift a weight of a thousand jun, but he could not transfer his great strength to another. The sage's and worthy's endowments of body and nature cannot be transferred to one another. Now the practitioners of today all wish to become supreme sages — this means elevating the law. Governing by abandoning the law is like bearing a heavy load on a long road without horses or cattle, or crossing a great river without boats or oars. Now a numerous people and a strong army are the great resources of an emperor or king — if not guarded by clear law, they are neighbors to peril and destruction. Therefore the enlightened ruler examines the law, and the people within his borders have no thoughts of evasion or dissoluteness, the wandering scholars are pressed into the battle ranks, and the myriad people hasten to agriculture and warfare. There is evidence to show this is so. The people of Chu were swift, agile, and coordinated, fast as a whirlwind. The great iron stingers of Wan were sharp as wasp stings. Their shields of dragon-skin, rhinoceros, and wild ox were hard as metal and stone. The Yangtze and Han rivers served as their moat; the Ru and Ying rivers as their barriers. They were screened by the forests of Deng and bordered by the walls of Fang. Yet when Qin's army arrived, Yan and Ying were taken as easily as shaking dead branches. Tang Mie died at the Chui She crossing. Zhuang raised a revolt from within, and Chu was split into five. The territory was not small, the people were not few, the arms and wealth were not scant — yet they could not win in battle and could not hold in defense. This is what comes from having no law — it is like abandoning the scales and balance while trying to judge weight by hand.