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Adventures in Philosophy |
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by Han Fei
Nothing is more valuable than the royal person, more honorable than the throne, more powerful than the authority of the sovereign, and more august than the position of the ruler. These four excellences are not obtained from outside, nor secured from anybody else, but are deliberated in the ruler's own mind and acquired thereby.... This the ruler of men must keep firmly in mind. Master Shen [i.e. Shen Tao, 4th century] said, 'A flying dragon rides the winds, a floating serpent wanders through the mist on the water; but when the clouds disperse and the mist is gone, a dragon and a serpent are no different from a cricket or an ant. They have lost what they depended on. Thus the reason why a man of worth may be overpowered by a worthless one is that the able man's power is weak and his position humble. And the reason why a worthless man submits to a man of worth is that the able man's power is strong and his position high. Yao [the Sage-king] as a common man could not have governed three people, whilst Chieh [the villain-king] as Son of Heaven could bring the whole of society into confusion. Thus I know that authority and position are to be trusted, ability and wisdom are not particularly desirable.... It was when Yao ascended the throne and was kind over the Great Society that what he commanded was done, what he banned was not done. From this angle I see that worth and wisdom are not enough to subdue a population whilst authority and position are enough to overpower men of worth.' To this the reply is made, 'In the case of a dragon...riding the clouds, I do not regard the dragon as not depending on the clouds.... None the less, if worth is discarded and reliance put solely on authority, is it enough to produce good government? If it is, I have never seen it. There is something which goes along with the particular prestige of clouds and makes the dragon able to ride them...; and this something is the dragon's or the serpent's, special quality.... However thick the clouds and mist might be, the quality of the cricket or the ants is not up to the mark. In the case of a Chieh, seated on the throne and using the majesty of the son of Heaven as clouds and mist, society nevertheless cannot escape great confusion; and this because a Chieh's quality is inadequate. What is more, supposing a sovereign using the authority of a Yao to govern the Great Society, how different that authority is from the kind which makes confusion!... The sovereigns who use their authority to make confusion are many, those who use their authority to make order are few....' No country is permanently strong, nor is any country permanently weak. If conformers to law are strong, the country is strong; if conformers to law are weak, the country is weak.... Any ruler able to expel private crookedness and uphold public law finds the people become law-abiding and the state ordered; and any ruler able to eradicate individualistic action and act on public law finds his army become strong and his enemy weak. So, find out men who follow the discipline of laws and regulations, and place them above the body of officials. Then the sovereign cannot be deceived by anybody with fraud and falsehood.... Now supposing promotions were made because of mere reputation, then ministers would be estranged from the sovereign and all officials would associate for treasonable purposes. Supposing officials were appointed on account of their partisanship, then the people would strive to cultivate friendships and never seek employment in accordance with the law. Thus, with the government lacking able men, the state will fall into confusion. If rewards are bestowed according to mere reputation, and punishments are inflicted according to mere defamation, then men who love rewards and hate punishments will discard public law and practice self-seeking tricks and associate for rebellious purposes.... Therefore, the intelligent sovereign makes the law select men, and makes no arbitrary regulation himself. In consequence able men cannot be obscured, bad characters cannot be disguised, falsely praised fellows cannot be advanced, wrongly defamed people cannot be degraded. In consequence the distinction between the ruler and minister becomes clear and order is attained.... Hence to govern the state by law is to praise the right and blame the wrong. The law does not fawn on the noble, (just as) an inked string does not follow a crooked line. Whatever the law applies to, the wise cannot reject it nor the brave defy it. Punishment for fault never skips ministers, and reward for good never misses commoners. Therefore for correcting the faults of the high, for rebuking the vices of the low, for suppressing disorders, for deciding against mistakes, for subduing the arrogant, for straightening the crooked, and for unifying the folkways of the masses, nothing can match with the law: for warning officials and overawing the people, for rebuking obscenity and danger and for forbidding falsehood and deceit, nothing can match with penalties. If they are strictly administered, no discrimination is made between noble and commoner. If the law is definite, superiors are esteemed and not flouted. If superiors are not flouted, the sovereign will become strong and able to maintain the proper course of government. This was the reason why the early kinds esteemed legalism and handed it down to posterity.
Excerpted from Chinese Philosophy in Classical Times. |
Basic Writings of Mo Tzu, Hs¿n Tzu, and Han Fei Tzu
Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy
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