儒效

The achievement of the great Confucian: when King Wu died and King Cheng was young, the Duke of Zhou set aside King Cheng and carried on King Wu's authority to take charge of the world, fearing that the world would turn against Zhou. He assumed the position of the Son of Heaven, adjudicated all affairs of the realm, and conducted himself as though he had always held it — yet the world did not accuse him of greed. He executed Guan Shu and emptied the state of Yin, yet the world did not accuse him of cruelty. He controlled the entire realm and established seventy-one states, of which fifty-three were held by members of the Ji clan alone — yet the world did not accuse him of favoritism.

King Zhao of Qin asked Xunzi: 'Confucians are of no benefit to a state.' Xunzi replied: 'Confucians model the former kings, exalt ritual propriety and duty, and are meticulous as ministers and sons in elevating their superiors. If the ruler employs them, their influence in the court is fitting; if not employed, they retire among the common people and remain honest — they are certain to be compliant subordinates. Even in dire poverty, cold and hunger, they will never turn to deviant paths out of greed. Even without a spot of land to stand an awl, they understand the great principles of maintaining the altars of state.'

Therefore earth piled up becomes a mountain; water accumulated becomes a sea; mornings and evenings accumulated make a year; the highest is called heaven; the lowest is called earth; the six directions of space are called the cosmos; and the man on the street — the common person — who accumulates goodness to its complete fullness is called a sage. One must seek it and then obtain it, work at it and then accomplish it, accumulate it and then reach the heights, exhaust it and then become sage. Therefore the sage is what a person accumulates to become.