‘Fields in ruin, leaking roofs, lack of food and clothing, unjust taxes, disputes between wives and concubines, disorder between the young and the old, these are what trouble the common folk.
‘Inability to do the job, being bored by their work, bad behaviour, carelessness and laziness in those below, failure to succeed, insecurity in employment, these are what trouble the great ministers.
‘Lack of loyal ministers, civil war in the kingdom, workmen with no skills, tributes that are worthless, poor positioning at the spring and autumn gatherings, the disquiet of the ruler, these are what trouble the noble princes.
‘Yin and yang out of harmony, fluctuations in heat and cold which damage all, oppression and rebellion by nobles, all leading to uprisings, ravage and abuse of the people, the rituals badly performed, the treasury empty, social relationships in turmoil and the people debauched, these are what trouble the Son of Heaven and his people.
‘Now, Sir, at the higher end of the scale, you are not a ruler, nor a noble nor even a minister in a court, while at the other end you are not in the office of a great minister with all his portfolios. Nevertheless, you have decided to bring beauty to the rituals and the music and to balance human relationships and thus to reform the ordinary people. Isn’t this rather overdoing it?
‘Furthermore, there are eight defects that people are liable to, as well as four evils that affect their affairs, which must not be ignored:
‘To be involved with affairs that are not yours is to be overbearing.
‘To draw attention to yourself when no one wants you is to be intrusive.
‘To suck up to someone with speeches designed to please is to be sycophantic.
‘Not to distinguish between good and evil in what others say is to be a flatterer.
‘To gossip about other’s failings is to be slanderous.
‘To separate friends and families is to be malevolent.
‘To give false praise in order to hurt others is to be wicked.
‘Having no concern for right or wrong, but to be two-faced in order to find out what others know, is to be treacherous.
‘These eight defects cause disorder to others and harm to the perpetrator. A nobleman will not befriend one who has them, nor will an enlightened ruler appoint such a person to be a minister.
‘With regard to the four evils of which I spoke, they are:
‘Ambition – To be fond of taking on vast enterprises, altering and changing the old traditions, thus hoping that you can increase your fame and standing.
‘Greediness – To be a know-all and to try and get everything done your way, seizing what others do and claiming it as your own.
‘Obstinacy – To see your errors without doing anything to change them and to persist in doing things the wrong way.
‘Bigotry – To smile upon someone who agrees with you but when that person disagrees, to disown and despise them.
‘These are the four evils. If you can cast aside the eight defects and avoid the four evils, then you are at a point where it is possible to be taught.’
Confucius looked sad and sighed, bowed twice, stood up and said, ‘Lu has exiled me twice, I have fled from Wei, they have felled a tree on me in Sung and laid siege to me between Chen and Tsai. I have no idea what I did to be so misunderstood. Why was I subject to these four forms of trouble?’
The stranger looked distressed, then his expression changed and he said, ‘It is very difficult, Sir, to make you understand! There was once a man who was frightened by his own shadow and scared of his own footprints, so he tried to escape them by running away. But every time he lifted his foot and brought it down, he made more footprints, and no matter how fast he ran, his shadow never left him. Thinking he was running too slowly, he ran faster, never ceasing until finally he exhausted himself and collapsed and died. He had no idea that by simply sitting in the shade he would have lost his shadow, nor that by resting quietly he would cease making footprints. He really was a great fool!
‘You, Sir, try to distinguish the spheres of benevolence and righteousness, to explore the boundaries between agreement and disagreement, to study changes between rest and movement, to pontificate on giving and receiving, to order what is to be approved of and what disapproved of, to unify the limits of joy and anger, and yet you have barely escaped calamity. If you were to be serious in your cultivation of your own self, careful to guard the truth and willing to allow others to be as they are, then you could have avoided such problems. However, here you are, unable to cultivate yourself yet determined to improve others. Are you not obsessed with external things?’
Confucius, really cast down, said, ‘Can I ask you about truth?’
‘True truth is simple purity at its most perfect,’ replied the stranger. ‘To be without purity, to be without sincerity means you cannot move other people. So if you fake mourning and weeping, then no matter how thoroughly you do this, it’s not real grief. If you make yourself act angry, even if you sound very fierce, this won’t inspire awe. If you force yourself to be affectionate, no matter how much you smile, you cannot create harmony. True grief may make no sound but is really sorrowful; true anger, even if there is no manifestation of it, creates awe; true affection doesn’t even need to smile but creates
