The Book of the Lord of Shang: State Terror and the Rule of Law by Wei Yang

Author:Wei Yang [Yang, Wei]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2013-12-12T16:00:00+00:00

1

Chapter Seven: Clearing Blockage

When people first lived on earth, they knew their mothers but not their fathers; their way was to feel close to relatives and love their own. When there is familiarity with relatives, then there is discrimination; love for your own is narrow. When the people multiplied yet still operated on the basis of discrimination and narrowness, then people became chaotic. In that age people strove for supremacy and labored for gain. Because they strove for supremacy they fought, and as they labored for gain they disputed. Disputing without rectitude, no one could be natural.

Therefore intelligent individuals defined balance and rectitude and proposed unselfishness, so that the people took a liking to humanism. Now preference for relatives was abandoned, and elevation of the intelligent was established.

Generally speaking, humanitarians worked on love and benefice, while the intelligent made public life their business. When the people multiplied and had no system, after a long time of making public life a business there was chaos. So sages, inheriting this, made divisions of land, property, and gender. It would be useless to have divisions without any system, so they established regulations. Regulations wouldn’t work without anyone to supervise them, so they set up officers. Officers without any unity would be ineffective, so they set up a ruler. Once they set up a ruler, elevation of the intelligent was abandoned, and esteem of the upper class was established.

So in high antiquity they associated with relatives and loved their own; in mid antiquity they elevated the intelligent and enjoyed humanism; in latter ages they esteemed the upper class and honored the officials.

When the intelligent are elevated, they’ll go into public life for profit; to set up a ruler renders the intellectuals useless. Familiarity with relatives is a self-centered way of life; balance and rectitude render selfishness inoperative.

These three do not strive to oppose each other; when the ways of the people degenerate, what they value changes. As times and events change, ways of life differ. So it is said that the royal road has guidelines.

The path of a king is one end, while the path of subjects is another end; they follow different courses, but they are guided by the same principles. So it is said, “If the people are ignorant, it is possible to reign by knowledge; when society is sophisticated, it is possible to reign by power.”

When the people are ignorant, there’s plenty of power but not enough knowledge. When society is sophisticated, there’s plenty of cleverness but not enough power.

The nature of the people is to study what they don’t know, to submit when their strength is exhausted. That is why Shennong reigned over the land by teaching tilling, as they followed his knowledge; while Tang and Wu conquered the other lords by force, as they submitted to their power.

When the people are ignorant, they ask what they don’t know. When society is sophisticated, it is submissive if it has no energy to spare. Therefore one who reigns over the land with love also includes punishment, while one who conquers lords by force de-emphasizes reward.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.