4:5 Confucius said: “Riches and honors are what all men desire. But if they cannot be attained in accordance with the dao [the way] they should not be kept. Poverty and low status are what all men hate. But if they cannot be avoided while staying in accordance with the dao, you should not avoid them. If a Superior Man departs from ren [humaneness], how can he be worthy of that name? A Superior Man never leaves ren for even the time of a single meal. In moments of haste he acts according to it. In times of difficulty or confusion he acts according to it."
16:8 Confucius said: “The Superior Man stands in awe of three things: (1) He is in awe of the decree of Heaven. (2) He is in awe of great men. (3) He is in awe of the words of the sages. The inferior man does not know the decree of Heaven; takes great men lightly and laughs at the words of the sages."
4:14 Confucius said: “I don't worry about not having a good position; I worry about the means I use to gain position. I don't worry about being unknown; I seek to be known in the right way."
7:15 Confucius said: “I can live with coarse rice to eat, water for drink and my arm as a pillow and still be happy. Wealth and honors that one possesses in the midst of injustice are like floating clouds."
13:6 Confucius said: “When you have gotten your own life straightened out, things will go well without your giving orders. But if your own life isn't straightened out, even if you give orders, no one will follow them."
12:2 Zhonggong asked about the meaning of ren. The Master said: “Go out of your home as if you were receiving an important guest. Employ the people as if you were assisting at a great ceremony. What you don't want done to yourself, don't do to others. Live in your town without stirring up resentments, and live in your household without stirring up resentments."
1:5 Confucius said: “If you would govern a state of a thousand chariots (a small-to-middle-size state), you must pay strict attention to business, be true to your word, be economical in expenditure and love the people. You should use them according to the seasons."
2:3 Confucius said: “If you govern the people legalistically and control them by punishment, they will avoid crime, but have no personal sense of shame. If you govern them by means of virtue and control them with propriety, they will gain their own sense of shame, and thus correct themselves."
12:7 Zigong asked about government. The Master said, “Enough food, enough weapons and the confidence of the
People." Zigong said, “Suppose you had no alternative but to give up one of these three, which one would be let go of first?" The Master said, “Weapons." Zigong said, “What if you had to give up one of the remaining two, which one would it be?" The Master said, “Food. From ancient times, death has come to all men, but a people without confidence in its rulers will not stand."
12:19 Ji Kang Zi asked Confucius about government saying: “Suppose I were to kill the unjust, in order to advance the just. Would that be all right?"
Confucius replied: “In doing government, what is the need of killing? If you desire good, the people will be good. The nature of the Superior Man is like the wind, the nature of the inferior man is like the grass. When the wind blows over the grass, it always bends."
2:19 The Duke of Ai asked: “How can I make the people follow me?" Confucius replied: “Advance the upright and set aside the crooked, and the people will follow you. Advance the crooked and set aside the upright, and the people will not follow you."
2:20 Ji Kang Zi asked: “How can I make the people reverent and loyal, so they will work positively for me?" Confucius said, “Approach them with dignity, and they will be reverent. Be filial and compassionate and they will be loyal. Promote the able and teach the incompetent, and they will work positively for you."
Han Fei
Past and present have different customs; new and old adopt different measures. To try to use the ways of a generous and lenient government to rule the people of a critical age is like trying to drive a runaway horse without using reins or whips. This is the misfortune that ignorance invites. . . .
Humaneness [ren] may make one shed tears and be reluctant to apply penalties, but law makes it clear that such penalties must be applied. The ancient kings allowed law to be supreme and did not give in to their tearful longings. Hence it is obvious that humaneness cannot be used to achieve order in the state. . . .
The best rewards are those that are generous and predictable, so that the people may profit by them. The best penalties are those that are severe and inescapable, so that the people will fear them. The best laws are those that are uniform and inflexible, so that the people can understand them. . . .
Hardly ten men of true integrity and good faith can be found today, and yet the offices of the state number in the
Hundreds____Therefore the way of the enlightened ruler is to
Unify the laws instead of seeking for wise men, to lay down firm policies instead of longing for men of good faith. . . .
When a sage rules the state, he does not depend on people's doing good of themselves; he sees to it that they are not allowed to do what is bad. If he depends on people's doing good of themselves, then within his borders he can count fewer than ten instances of success. But if he sees to it that they are not allowed to do what is bad, then the whole state can be brought to a uniform level of order. Those who rule must employ measures that will be effective with the majority and discard those that will be effective with only a few. Therefore they devote themselves not to virtue but to law. . . .
When the Confucians of the present time counsel rulers, they do not praise those measures that will bring order today, but talk only of the achievements of the men who brought order in the past. . . . No ruler with proper standards will tolerate them. Therefore the enlightened ruler works with facts and discards useless theories. He does not talk about deeds of humaneness and rightness, and he does not listen to the words of scholars. . . .
Nowadays, those who do not understand how to govern invariably say, “You must win the hearts of the people!". . . The reason you cannot rely on the wisdom of the people is that they have the minds of little children. If the child's head is not shaved, its sores will spread; and if its boil is not lanced, it will become sicker than ever. . . for it does not understand that the little pain it suffers now will bring great benefit later. . . .
Now, the ruler presses the people to till the land and open up new pastures so as to increase their means of livelihood, and yet they consider him harsh; he draws up a penal code and makes the punishments more severe in order to put a stop to evil, and yet the people consider him stern. . . . He makes certain that everyone within his borders understands warfare and sees to it that there are no private exemptions from military service; he unites the strength of the state and fights fiercely in order to take its enemies captive, and yet the people consider him violent. . . . [These] types of undertaking all ensure order and safety to the state, and yet the people do not have sense enough to rejoice in them.
1. What do Confucius and Han Fei believe about the nature of human beings? Are they intrinsically good and well-behaved, or bad and prone to misbehave?
2. What are the qualities of an ideal ruler for Confucius and Han Fei?
3. By what means can the ruler influence his subjects in Confucian thought? How should the ruler compel obedience in the people in Legalist thought?
4. What do Confucians and Legalists think about the value of the past as a model for the present?
5. Why might Confucius's passionate concern for ethical behavior on the part of officials and rulers arise at a time when the size and power of governments were growing?
Source: Confucius selections from “Hierarchy and Conduct in the Analects of Confucius," translated by Charles Muller, as seen at http://www. human. toyogakuen -u. ac. jp/~acmuller/contao/ analects. htm. Han Fei selections from Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom, Sources of Chinese Tradition, vol. 1 (2nd ed.).
The Warring States Period, 481-221 b. c.e.
The ancestors, whereas women were discouraged from remarrying.
Confucian thought validated these differences in male and female roles, and the concept of yin/yang represented the complementary nature of male and female roles in the natural order. The male principle (yang) was equated with the sun: active, bright, and shining; the female principle (yin) corresponded to the moon: passive, shaded, and reflective. Male toughness was balanced by female gentleness, male action and initiative by female endurance and need for completion, and male leadership by female supportiveness. In its earliest form, the theory considered yin and yang as equal and alternately dominant, like day and night, creating balance in the world. However, as a result of the changing role of women in the Zhou period and the pervasive influence of Confucian ideology, the male principle came to be seen as superior to the female.
The second half of the Eastern Zhou era is conventionally called the Warring States Period (481-221 b. c.e.) because the scale and intensity of rivalry and warfare between the states accelerated. More successful states conquered and absorbed less capable rivals, and by the beginning of the third century b. c.e. only seven major states remained. Each state sought security by any and all means: building walls to protect its borders; putting into the field the largest possible armies; experimenting with military organization, tactics, and technology; and devising new techniques of administration so that it could produce the greatest revenues to subsidize its expanding military and political infrastructure. Some of the wars were fought against non-Chinese peoples living on the margins of the states’ territories or sometimes even in enclaves within the states. In addition to self-defense, the aim of these campaigns was often to increase the territory available for agriculture, since cultivated land was, ultimately, the source of wealth and manpower. The conquered peoples were, in most cases, assimilated, and over time they became Chinese in language and culture.
The most innovative of all the major states of this era was the kingdom of Qin°, on the western edge of “the Central States” (the term used for the Chinese lands of north and central China). Coming out of the same Wei River Valley frontier region as the Zhou had long before, and therefore exposed to barbarian influences and attacks, the Qin rulers commanded a nation of hardy farm-
Qin (chin)
Warring States Period Bronze Figurine
The figurine of a youth, made of bronze, was produced in the Warring States Period, but the jade birds perched atop the staffs were originally carved in the Shang era. The youth has braided hair and is wearing boots and an elaborately decorated robe. The chain may indicate that these were live birds rather than images. (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Maria Antoinette Evans Fund. Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 31.976)
Removed due to copyright permissions restrictions.
Ers and employed them in large, well-trained armies. The very vulnerability of their circumstances may have inspired the Qin rulers of the fourth and third centuries B. C.E. to take great risks, for the Qin were the first to put into practice the philosophy and methods of the Legalist school of political theorists. In the mid-fourth century B. C.E. Lord Shang was put in charge of the Qin government. He maintained that the Confucians were mistaken in looking to an idealized past for solutions and naive in thinking that the ruler should worry about his subjects’ opinions. In Lord Shang’s view, the ruler should trust his own judgment and employ whatever means are necessary to compel obedience and good behavior in his subjects and to guarantee the security and prosperity of the state. In the end, Legalists were willing to sacrifice personal freedom for the good of the state. To strengthen the ruler, Lord Shang moved to weaken the Qin nobility, sending out centrally appointed district governors, abolishing many of the privileges of the
Early Cultures and Egyptian Domination 2300-1100 B. C.E.
Nobility, and breaking up large estates by requiring property to be divided equally among the surviving sons. While he eventually became entangled in bitter intrigue at court and was killed in 338 b. c.e., the Qin rulers of the third century b. c.e. continued to employ Legalist advisers and pursue Legalist policies, and, as we see in Chapter 6, they converted the advantages gained from this approach into a position of unprecedented power.
World History
