"On the other hand, if the Prince loves the good and hates the bad, what object will you have in inviting him to change his ways? Before you have opened your mouth to preach, the Prince himself will have seized the opportunity to wrest the victory from you. Your eye will fall, your expression fade, your words will stick, your face will change, and your heart will die within you. It will be as though you took fire to quell fire, water to quell water, which is popularly known as 'pouring oil on the flames.' And if you begin with concessions, there will be no end to them. Neglect this sound advice, and you will be the victim of that violent man.
"Of old, Chieh murdered Kuan Lung Fêng, and Chou slew Prince Pi Kan. Their victims were both men who cultivated virtue themselves in order to secure the welfare of the people. But in doing this they offended their superiors; and therefore, because of that very moral culture, their superiors got rid of them, in order to guard their own reputations.
Chieh and Chou are the two typical tyrants of Chinese history.
"Of old, Yao attacked the Ts'ung-chih and Hsü-ao countries, and Yü attacked the Yu-hu country. Homes were desolated and families destroyed by the slaughter of the inhabitants. Yet they fought without ceasing, and strove for victory to the last. These are instances known to all. Now if the Sages of old failed in their efforts against this love of fame, this desire for victory—are you likely to succeed? But of course you have a scheme. Tell it to me."
"Gravity of demeanour," replied Yen Hui, "and dispassionateness; energy and singleness of purpose—will this do?"
"Alas!" said Confucius, "that will not do. If you make a show of being perfect and obtrude yourself, the Prince's mood will be doubtful. Ordinarily, he is not opposed, and so he has come to take actual pleasure in trampling upon the feelings of others. And if he has thus failed in the practice of routine virtues, do you expect that he will take readily to higher ones? You may insist, but without result. Outwardly you will be right, but inwardly wrong. How then will you make him mend his ways?"
"Just so," replied Yen Hui. "I am inwardly straight, and outwardly crooked, completed after the models of antiquity.
"He who is inwardly straight is a servant of God. And he who is a servant of God knows that the Son of Heaven
The Emperor.
and himself are equally the children of God. Shall then such a one trouble whether man visits him with evil or with good? Man indeed regards him as a child; and this is to be a servant of God.
(1) Children are everywhere exempt.—This is the first limb of a threefold argument.
"He who is outwardly crooked is a servant of man. He bows, he kneels, he folds his hands;—such is the ceremonial of a minister. What all men do, shall I dare not to do? What all men do, none will blame me for doing. This is to be a servant of man.
(2) The individual is not punished for the faults of the community.
"He who is completed after the models of antiquity is a servant of the Sages of old. Although I utter the words of warning and take him to task, it is the Sages of old who speak, and not I. Thus my uprightness will not bring me into trouble, the servant of the Sages of old.—Will this do?"
(3) The responsibility rests, not with the mouthpiece, but with the authors of the doctrines enunciated.
"Alas!" replied Confucius, "No. Your plans are too many, and are lacking in prudence. However, your firmness will secure you from harm; but that is all. You will not influence him to such an extent that he shall seem to follow the dictates of his own heart."
"Then," said Yen Hui, "I am without resource, and venture to ask for a method."
Confucius said, "FAST. … Let me explain. You have a method, but it is difficult to practise. Those which are easy are not from God."
"Well," replied Yen Hui, "my family is poor, and for many months we have tasted neither wine nor flesh. Is not that fasting?"
"The fasting of religious observance it is," answered Confucius, "but not the fasting of the heart."
"And may I ask," said Yen Hui, "in what consists the fasting of the heart?"
"Cultivate unity," replied Confucius.
Make of the mind as it were an undivided indivisible ONE.
"You hear not with the ears, but with the mind; not with the mind, but with your soul.
The vital fluid which informs your whole being; in fact, "with your whole self."
But let hearing stop with the ears. Let the working of the mind stop with itself. Then the soul will be a negative existence, passively responsive to externals. In such a negative existence, only Tao can abide. And that negative state is the fasting of the heart."
"Then," said Yen Hui, "the reason I could not get the use of this method is my own individuality. If I could get the use of it, my individuality would have gone. Is this what you mean by the negative state?"
"Exactly so," replied the Master. "Let me tell you. If you can enter this man's domain without offending his amour propre, cheerful if he hears you, passive if he does not; without science, without drugs, simply living there in a state of complete indifference—you will be near success. It is easy to stop walking: the trouble is to walk without touching the ground. As an agent of man, it is easy to deceive; but not as an agent of God. You have heard of winged creatures flying. You have never heard of flying without wings. You have heard of men being wise with wisdom. You have never heard of men wise without wisdom.
Wise of God, without the wisdom of man.
"Look at that window. Through it an empty room becomes bright with scenery; but the landscape stops outside. Were this not so, we should have an exemplification of sitting still and running away at one and the same time.
An empty room would contain something—a paradox like that in the text.
"In this sense, you may use your ears and eyes to communicate within, but shut out all wisdom from the mind.
Let the channels of your senses be to your mind what a window is to an empty room.
And there where the supernatural
Something which is and yet is not, like the landscape seen in, and yet not in, a room.
can find shelter, shall not man find shelter too? This is the method for regenerating all creation.
By passive, not by active, virtue.
It was the instrument which Yü and Shun employed. It was the secret of the success of Fu Hsi and Chi Chü. Shall it not then be adopted by mankind in general?"
Who stand much more in need of regeneration than such worthies as were these ancient Emperors.
Tzŭ Kao, Duke of Shê,
A district of the Ch'u State.
being about to go on a mission to the Ch'i State, asked Confucius, saying, "The mission my sovereign is sending me on is a most important one. Of course, I shall be received with all due respect, but they will not take the same interest in the matter that I shall. And as an ordinary person cannot be pushed, still less a Prince, I am in a state of great alarm.
"Now you, Sir, have told me that in all undertakings great and small, Tao alone leads to a happy issue. Otherwise that, failing success, there is to be feared punishment from without, and with success, punishment from within; while exemption in case either of success or non-success falls only to the share of those who possess the virtue required.
I.e. those to whom the issue, as regards their own reward or punishment, is a matter of the completest indifference.
The term virtue, here as elsewhere unless specially notified, should be understood in the sense of exemplification of Tao.