禁使

The means by which the ruler prohibits and commands are reward and punishment. Reward follows merit; punishment follows crime. Therefore in evaluating merit and examining crime, one must not be anything less than thorough. If rewards are generous and punishments are harsh, yet those above have no reliable way of knowing the truth, it is the same as having no Way.

All those who know the Way operate through positional advantage and method. Therefore the former kings did not rely on their strength but relied on their positional advantage; they did not rely on trust but relied on their method. A tumbleweed encounters a gust and travels a thousand li — this is riding the advantage of the wind. One who plumbs an abyss knows its depth of a thousand ren — this is the method of the dangling cord. Therefore those who exploit positional advantage, however distant the goal, will inevitably reach it; those who maintain their method, however deep the matter, will inevitably fathom it. In the dark of night, mountains and hills loom large, yet Li Zhu cannot see them. In the clear morning light, he can distinguish flying birds above and observe the tip of an autumn hair below. Thus the eyes' ability to see relies on the positional advantage of sunlight.

When positional advantage is fully realized, one need not double up on officials yet affairs are clean — deploy the method and all things are properly matched. Now rulers rely on many officials and numerous clerks, establishing vice-ministers and supervisors for each office. The purpose of installing vice-ministers and supervisors is to prevent people from pursuing private profit — but the vice-ministers and supervisors also desire private profit, so how can they prevent each other? Therefore governance that relies on vice-ministers and supervisors is governance that barely survives. Those who understand method proceed differently. They differentiate positional advantages and make the path to wrongdoing difficult. Therefore it is said: when the structural position makes concealment difficult, even Robber Zhi would not do wrong. Therefore the former kings valued positional advantage.

Some say: 'The ruler should maintain emptiness and respond afterward — then reports can be verified; through verification, villainy is detected.' Your minister considers this incorrect. Officials exercise exclusive control over decisions a thousand li away. Accounts are settled once in twelve months; affairs are reviewed in annual audits, while the ruler listens only once. He sees what raises suspicion but cannot fully investigate — the personnel are insufficient. When things arrive, the eyes cannot help but see them; when words approach, the ears cannot help but hear them. Therefore when things arrive, there is transformation; when words arrive, there is discussion. In the system of governing the state, the people should be unable to evade guilt, just as the eye cannot hide what it sees from the mind. Disordered states are not like this — they rely on many officials and numerous clerks. Though the clerks are many, they are of one body and one nature. Those who share one body and nature cannot check each other.

But when interests diverge and harms differ — this is what the former kings used as their safeguard. Therefore in the ultimate order, husbands and wives, friends and companions cannot cover each other's wrongs or conceal each other's faults, without harming their closeness — the people cannot conceal things from one another. The ruler and his officials share the same tasks but have different interests. Now if grooms and gamekeepers are set to supervise each other, it does not work — they share the same tasks and their interests differ. But if the horses could speak, then the grooms and gamekeepers would have nowhere to hide their wrongs — because interests diverge. When interests converge and aversions are the same, a father cannot investigate his son, and a ruler cannot investigate his minister. Among officials and other officials, interests converge and aversions are the same. When tasks are shared but interests diverge — this is what the former kings used as their starting point. The people's ability to deceive the ruler does not harm the covering.

The worthy cannot add anything, and the unworthy cannot diminish anything. Therefore setting aside the worthy and discarding the clever is the method of governance.