📖 Selections from the Eight Great Prose Masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties - Volume I

At dawn, the Imperial Academy instructor entered the Grand School, summoned the students beneath the lecture hall, and taught them, saying: "Mastery is born of diligence, yet lost through idle play; virtue is shaped by reflection, yet ruined by blind conformity. Now is the age when sages and worthies walk together, all instruments of governance are in place, evil is uprooted, and the worthy are elevated. Those who display even modest talent are often recorded; those skilled in any art are all employed. With meticulous search and refinement, every blemish is scraped and polished away. If one is fortunate enough to be chosen, who can say that merit will go unnoticed? Let the students worry not that officials are blind but that their studies lack depth. Let them fear not that judges are unjust but that their conduct falls short."

As for the way of the world, when order prevails, it is because the right people are in place. Only when the worthy are elevated and the unworthy held below can governance be secure. Now consider the feudal lords, who govern by inherited right if generation after generation governs, are we to believe that those above are always virtuous, and those below always lacking? Then how can we know whether society is in order or chaos? And if one seeks to benefit the state and unify the ears and eyes of the people, yet allows hereditary nobles to consume fiefs and stipends generation after generation, even when sages are born among them, they cannot find their footing in the world. It is feudalism that makes it so. Could it be that the sages of old intended this outcome? I say truly it was not the will of sages, but the force of circumstance.

I have heard that the concept of factions has existed since ancient times, and it is fortunate when rulers can distinguish between the virtuous and the wicked. Generally, gentlemen form alliances based on shared principles, while villains form alliances based on shared interests; this is the natural order. However, I believe villains have no true allies, only gentlemen do. Why is this? Villains are driven by greed for wealth and profit. When they share interests, they temporarily band together as allies, but this is false; when they compete for profit or when benefits run out, they turn against each other, even harming their own kin. Therefore, I say villains have no true allies; their temporary alliances are false. Gentlemen are different. They uphold morality, act with loyalty and trust, and cherish their reputation. By cultivating themselves, they enhance each other; by serving the nation, they unite and support each other; consistent from beginning to end, this is the alliance of gentlemen. Thus, rulers should dismiss the false alliances of villains and employ the true alliances of gentlemen, and the world will be governed well.

Alas! To offer the lands of Qin as bribes, to appoint the world's strategists, to serve Qin with sincerity, and to honor the world's talents, joining forces to the west I fear the Qin people would find it hard to swallow. How tragic! With such power, yet being oppressed by Qin's accumulated might, losing ground day by day, month by month, leading to ruin. Those who govern should not be oppressed by accumulated might! Both the Six States and Qin were vassals, weaker than Qin, yet still had the potential to defeat Qin without bribery. If they were to follow the path of destruction of the Six States, they would fall below the Six States.

In ancient times, those who were called heroes must have had extraordinary qualities. There are things that human emotions cannot endure; when an ordinary man is insulted, he draws his sword and rises, standing up to fight. This is not true courage. The truly courageous in the world are those who remain unflustered in sudden adversity and do not become angry without reason. What they hold is immense, and their ambitions are far-reaching. Master Zifang received a book from an old man on the Yi River; the event was quite strange. Yet, how can one be sure that in the Qin era, there wasn't a hidden gentleman who emerged to test him? Observing the subtle hints of his intentions, all reflect the moral warnings shared by sages. The world, however, fails to discern this, mistaking it for ghosts, which is an error. Moreover, his interest was not in the book.

All under Heaven praised Lord Mengchang for his talent in attracting men of worth, and thus many came to serve him. In the end, it was by their aid that he escaped the savage jaws of Qin. Alas! Lord Mengchang was but a master of cockerel-crowing and dog-stealing rogues how could one truly speak of him as a seeker of worthies? If it were not so, then wielding the full might of Qi and securing but a single true man of talent, he should have been able to face south and command Qin why, then, would he have needed the tricks of cockcrow and thievery? The fact that such men came and went from his gates that is precisely why true worthies never did.