Story of 孔子[KongZi](4)

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Besides the initiatives of founding schools, 孔子 [Kong2Zi3]'s forward thinking was shown in the following examples:

In the fifth ruling year of 鲁昭公 [Lu3ZhaoGong - the ruler of State Lu], 孔子 was fifteen. At that time, three most powerful and prominent figures of 鲁 [Lu3] State were 三恒季氏 [SanHeng2Ji4Shi4], 孟孙氏 [Meng4SunShi4], and 叔孙氏 [ShuSunShi4]. They divvied up the army (thus the adminstrative right) of State of 鲁 [Lu3] into four parts. "四分公室, 季氏择二, 二子各一" [Dividing up the country to four administrative districts. 三恒季氏 took two, 孟孙氏, and 叔孙氏 each took one] The power of 鲁昭公 was therefore weakened. Shortly, a civil strive occurred inside 叔孙氏's family. 竖牛 [Shu4Niu2] killed his two brothers 孟丙 [Meng4Bing3] and 仲壬 [Zhong4Ren2], starved his father 叔孙穆子 to death, and hand-picked 叔孙昭子 [SunZhao4Zi3] as the new chief, thinking that this move would win over 叔孙昭子's heart. But once 叔孙昭子 assumed the position as the head of the clan, he charged 竖牛 for crime of insurrection, to which death penalty was considered a proper punishment. 竖牛 fled to State of 齐 [Qi2 - another feudal state], where he was killed by the sons of 孟丙 [meng4Bing3] and 仲壬 [Zhong4Ren2]. When 孔子 heard that, he commented the incident this way: "叔昭子之不劳, 不可能也. 周任有言曰:"为政者不赏私劳, 不罚私怨o" <<诗>>云: "有觉德行, 四国顺之o" [ 叔孙昭子 did not reward a personal favor given to him, and this was hard to come by. There was an old saying: "One who governs should reward no personal favors and punish no personal wrongs. Quoting <<诗>>: (Shi - The Book of Poetry) "when ruling with righteous moral conduct, all surrounding countries will follow"] 孔子 believed that 叔孙昭子 did not reward 竖牛 for putting himself in the chief's position, with clear sanction and straight morality, that he quickly clamed down the riot and met out reward and punishment, this really being one in a thousand, that his act would certainly be praised by all other feudal states. 孔子 believed that 昭子's modus operandi had met the requirement of 为政以德 [Governing according to morality] and was avail to the new and developing force, therefore he needed to be praised.

In the fourteenth ruling year of 鲁昭公 [Lu3ShaoGong], 孔子 was twenty-four. In State of 晋 [Jin4], 刑侯 [Xing2Hou4] and 雍子 [RongZi3] were involved in a protracted land ownership dispute, without a clear outcome. Later the case was sent to official 叔鱼 [ShuYu2], who decided to sentence 雍子 to be guilty. But when 雍子 learned the decision, he gave his daughter to 叔鱼, who subsequently changed the verdict to protect 雍子. 刑侯 was so angry about this judgment, he went in and killed both 叔鱼 and 雍子. Now the case transferred to another official 韩宣子 [Han2XuanZi3], who consulted 叔向 [ShuXiang4] (叔鱼's brother) for solution. 叔向 said, "三人同罪, 施生戮死可也. 雍子自知其罪而赂以买直, 鳆也鬻狱, 邢候专杀, 其罪一也. 己恶而掠美为昏, 贪以败官为墨, 杀人不忌为贼. <<夏书>> 曰: '昏, 墨, 贼, 杀.' 皋陶之刑也请从之."[these three had committed the same crime, therefore all of them deserve to die. 雍子 knew he's guilty but bribed his way out of this case; 刑侯 took the law into his own hand by killing two, all capital one crimes. Wicked looting women is called 昏 (Hun - unconsciousness), being greedy obstructing justice is called 墨 (Mo4 - corruption), killing without sanction of law is called 贼 (Zei2 - murder). The classic law book <<夏书>> (Xia4Shu) said, 'Whoever committed the crime of 昏, 墨, or 贼 ought to be executed.' This was the penal codes used since the day of 皋陶 (GaoTao - GaoTao was a famous ancient law enforcement official). Please follow the law and carry it out.] Later, based on 叔向 [ShuXiang4]'s recommendation, 韩宣子 put 刑侯 to death and publicly displayed the bodies of 刑侯, 叔鱼 and 雍子. 孔子 commented on this:"叔向, 古之遗直也. 治国制刑, 不争于亲, 三数叔 鱼 之恶, 不为末减, 曰义也夫, 可谓直矣!" [叔向 was a person of rectitude from history. Whether it was ruling the country or making criminal law, he never believed in nepotism. Three times he enumerated 叔鱼's wickedness, and refused to reduce his punishment. This is justice, and we can call him person of righteousness!] Here, 孔子 used morality as means of judgment; he believed that 叔向's behavior is well within the ancient definition of 直德 [Zhi2De2 - Un-crooked morality].

When 孔子 was a teenager, 子产 [Zi2Chan3] in the State of 郑 [Zheng4] was carrying out domestic reform. He appointed persons of talent and virtue to the important positions. At the time, people congregating in local schools in the State of 郑 liked to comment on the right or wrong of the policy of the feudal state. Some urged 子产 to abolish these local schools. But 子产 was against it. He said, "夫人朝夕退而游焉, 以议执政之善否. 其所善者, 吾则行之; 其所恶者, 吾则改之. 是吾师也. 若之何毁之? 我闻忠善以损怨, 不闻作威以防怨. 岂不遽止. 然犹防川, 大决所犯, 伤人必多, 吾不克救也. 不如小决使道, 不如吾闻而药之也." [sooner or later people would quit doing this - commenting on the right or wrong of their government. But if they do find good things in my policy, I will continue that; if they find faults in my policy, I will correct them. They are like my teachers, why should I stop them? I heard that honesty and kindness can reduce resentment, but I never heard that mighty might can prevent or stop resentment. Please stop mentioning that immediately. Abolishing these schools to prevent criticism is like constructing a dam preventing flood. One day if the big dam bursted, lots of people were going to get hurt, I wouldn't able to help; rather, I prefer to let the dyke leaks a little bit now, as long as we can direct where the water goes; I prefer to hear criticism, to correct my wrong policy like medicine.] After 孔子 heard that, he was deeply touched: "以是观之, 人谓子产不仁, 吾不信也." [From what I observed, people said that 子产 is not a virtuous man, but I don't believe that.] At that time, the State of 晋 [Jin4] was the hegemony, and State of 郑 [Zheng4] was under its control. When 子产 went to State of 晋 attending a senior official state conference, he tried hard politely to persuade the ruler of 晋 to reduce the tributes and taxes collecting from State of 郑, he's against the avarice of a big state like 晋. When 孔子 heard that, he praised: "于是行也, 足以为国基矣." [His good act can be the foundation of states] When 子产 was dying, he advised his son 大叔 [Da4Shu]: "我死, 子必为政. 唯有德者能以宽服民, 其次莫如猛." [After me, you will be the ruler. Remember, only one with virtue and moral characters can rule: first, be nice and generous (宽 Kuan); secondly, do not rule with a heavy hand (猛 Meng)] When 孔子 heard that, he praised 子产's 宽猛 [KuanMeng3] philosophy: "善哉! 政宽则民慢, 慢则纠之以猛. 猛则民残, 残则施之以宽. 宽以济猛, 猛以济宽, 政是以和." [Excellent! People would be lazy if they were ruled by generousness; correct it using harsh measures. People would be hurt if they were ruled by harsh measures; correct it with tolerance. To mix vigorous exertion with generosity, and to complement leniency with force, that's called the harmony of government] When 子产 passed away, 孔子 was very sad; he praised 子产 as "古之遗爱也." [The heaven's love for our time] he said, "有君子之道四焉: 其行己也恭, 其事上也敬, 其养民也惠, 其使民也义." [There are four ways to be a man of virtue: to behave oneself cautiously; to serve the higher ranks respectfully; to treat the commoners benevolently; to use commoners' labor properly] From this we can see characteristics of 孔子's thought - the goal is to promote progress in the society.

The twentieth ruling year of 鲁昭公 [Lu3ShaoGong], 孔子 reached the age of "而立" [Er2Li4 - thirty years old]. In that year, 齐景公 [Qi2Jing3Gong], the ruler of 齐 [Qi2] and 晏婴 [Yan4-Ying], his prime minister, came to State of 鲁 [Lu3] visiting 孔子 out of the admiration for a famous person. 齐景公 asked 孔子, "昔秦穆公国小处辟,其霸何也?" ["in the old days, the State of 秦穆公 (Qin2Mu4Gong, the ruler of State 秦) was tiny and remote, why could it later become a superpower?"] 孔子 said, "秦, 国虽小, 其志大; 处虽辟, 行中正. 身举五羖, 爵以大夫, 起累绁之中, 与语三日,授之以政. 以此取之, 虽王可也, 其霸小矣." ["State of 秦's size was small, but its ambition was big; its location was out-of-the-way, but it's policy was within the right direction. 秦穆公 (Qin2Mu4Gong) would confer a title of nobility upon someone who was traded back with five black rams; he could even make a prisoner an official of his administration after three days' of in-depth conversation with him. Picking up talents to work for him this way, how could he not be successful? Given that, supremacy over other states was simply too small an accomplishment for him"] Here 孔子 pointed out that the reason that 秦穆公 could hold sway over all other bigger states in a hegemony was because he had a higher political aspiration, a good moral conduct, and could discovered talents without rigidly adhering to formalities. Running a country like him, one's domination over others is no longer a difficult task; to be a king of kings is no longer impossible.

From this example it shows 孔子's advocating responsive government and using talents in a unconventional way.

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