The Way of Heaven as it circuits is not clogged by precedents, and so the myriad things come to full growth. The Way of the Emperor as it circuits is not clogged by precedents, and so the whole world pays allegiance to him. The Way of the Sage as it circuits is not clogged by precedents, and so all within the four seas submit to him.
The man who, being clear about Heaven and versed in sagehood, has an understanding which ranges in the six directions and is open through the four seasons, by the Power which is in emperor or king – in his own spontaneous actions, as though he were unseeing he never ceases to be still. When the sage is still, it is not that he is still because he says ‘It is good to be still’; he is still because none among the myriad things is sufficient to disturb his heart. If water is still, its clarity lights up the hairs of beard and eyebrows, its evenness is plumb with the carpenter’s level: the greatest of craftsmen take their standard from it. If mere water clarifies when it is still, how much more the stillness of the quintessential-and-daemonic, the heart of the sage! It is the reflector of heaven and earth, the mirror of the myriad things.
Emptiness and stillness, calm and indifference, quiescence, Doing Nothing, are the even level of heaven and earth, the utmost reach of the Way and the Power; therefore emperor, king or sage finds rest in them. At rest he empties, emptying he is filled, and what fills him sorts itself out. Emptying he is still, in stillness he is moved, and when he moves he succeeds. In stillness he does nothing; and if he does nothing, those charged with affairs are put to the test. If he does nothing he is serene; and in whoever is serene, cares and misfortunes cannot settle, his years will be long.
Emptiness and stillness, calm and indifference, quiescence, Doing Nothing, are at the root of the myriad things. To be clear about these when you sit facing south is to be the kind of lord that Yao was; to be clear about these when you stand facing north is to be the kind of minister that Shun was. To have these as your resources in high estate is the Power which is in emperor, king, Son of Heaven; to have these as your resources in low estate is the Way of the obscure sage, the untitled king. Use these to settle in retirement or wander at leisure, and the hermits of river, sea, mountain and forest submit to you. Use these to come forward and act in order to bring comfort to the age, and your achievement is great and name illustrious, and the empire is united. In stillness a sage, in motion a king, you do nothing yet are exalted, you are simple and unpolished yet no one in the empire is able to rival your glory.
Seeing in the clearest light the Power which is in heaven and earth – it is this that is meant by being, from the ultimate root and ultimate ancestor, in harmony with Heaven; it is the means to adjust and attune the empire and be in harmony with men. Being in harmony with men is called ‘the joy from man’, being in harmony with Heaven is called ‘the joy from Heaven’. In the words of Chuang-tzŭ, ‘My teacher, O my teacher! He chops fine the myriad things but it is not cruelty, his bounty extends to a myriad ages but it is not goodwill, he is elder to the most ancient but it is not living long, he overhangs heaven and bears up earth and cuts up and sculpts all shapes but it is not skill.’7 It is such that is meant by the joy from Heaven.
Hence it is said that ‘whoever knows the joy from Heaven
In his life proceeds with Heaven,
In his death transforms with other things,
In stillness shares the Power in the Yin,
In motion shares the surge of the Yang.’
So for one who knows the joy from Heaven
There is no wrath from Heaven,
No blame from man,
No being tied by other things,
No retribution from ghosts.
And so it is said: ‘In his motions, heaven, and in his stillness, earth: by the fixity of his unified heart he reigns over the empire. His anima does not sicken, his animus does not tire; to the fixity of his unified heart the myriad things submit’ – meaning that by being empty and still he extends his understanding throughout heaven and earth and becomes conversant with the myriad things. It is this that is meant by the joy from Heaven. The joy from Heaven is the sage’s heart being thereby pastor to the empire.
The Power which is in emperor or king has heaven and earth for its ancestors, the Way and the Power as its masters, Doing Nothing as its norm. Doing nothing, one has more than enough to be employer of the empire; doing something, one is inadequate for more than to be employed by the empire. That is why the men of old valued Doing Nothing. If as well as the man above the men below did nothing, the men below would share the Power in the man above; and if the men below share the Power in the man above, they do not minister. If as well as the men below the man above did something, the man above would share the Way of the men below; and if the man above shares the Way of the men below, he is not sovereign. The man above must do nothing and be employer of the empire, the men below must do something and be employed by the empire; this is the irreplaceable Way.
Therefore those who of old reigned over the empire, though wise enough to encompass heaven and earth would not do their own thinking, though discriminating enough to comprehend the myriad things would not do their own explaining, though able enough for all the work within the four seas would not do their own enacting. Heaven does not give birth, but the myriad things are transformed; earth does not rear, but the myriad things are nurtured; emperors and kings do nothing, but the world’s work is done. Hence the saying: ‘Nothing is more daemonic than heaven, nothing has richer resources than earth, nothing is greater than emperor or king.’ And the saying: ‘Emperor or king is by the Power in him peer of heaven and earth.’ This is the Way by which to have heaven and earth as your chariot, set the myriad things galloping, and employ the human flock.
The root is in the man above, the outermost twigs are in the men below; the crux is in the sovereign, the details are in the ministers. The operations of the Three Armies and the Five Weapons are twigs which have grown from the Power in him. The proclamations of reward and punishment, benefit and harm, the Five Penalties, are twigs from his teaching. The details of rites and laws, measures and numbers, title and performance, are twigs from his government. The sound of bells and drums, the display of plumes and yak-tails, are twigs from his joy. The clothes differentiated for degrees of wailing and mourning are twigs from his sorrow. These five sorts of twig are outcomes which await the circuitings of the quintessential-and-daemonic, and the motions from the workings of the skilled heart. The study of the outermost twigs did exist among the men of old, but was not what they put first.
The ruler comes first, the minister follows; the father comes first, the son follows; the elder brother comes first, the younger follows; the senior comes first, the junior follows; the man comes first, the woman follows; the husband comes first, the wife follows. Being exalted or lowly, first or last, belongs to the progressions of heaven and earth; therefore the sage takes his model from them. Being exalted if of heaven, lowly if of earth, are the stations of the daemonic-and-illumined; spring and summer first, autumn and winter last, is the sequence of the four seasons; the myriad things originating by transformation, and assuming form according to the direction of their growth, is the passing through degrees of flourishing and fading, the process of alteration and transformation. Heaven and earth are supremely daemonic yet have sequences of the exalted and the lowly, the first and the last, and how much more the Way of Man! If you expound a Way without their sequences, it is not their Way; and if you expound a Way which is not their Way, from what will you derive a Way? Therefore the men of old who made clear the great Way
(1) first made Heaven clear,
(2) and the Way and the Power were next:
(3) and when the Way and the Power were clear, Goodwill and Duty were next:
(4) and when Goodwill and Duty were clear, portions and responsibilities were next:
(5) and when portions and responsibilities were clear, title and performance were next:
(6) and when title and performance were clear, putting the suitable man in charge was next:
(7) and when putting the suitable man in charge was clear, inquiry and inspection were next:
(8) and when inquiry and inspection were clear, judging right or wrong was next:
(9) and when judging right or wrong was clear, reward and punishment were next.
When reward and punishment were clear, wise and foolish were properly placed, noble and base occupied their stations, worthy and inadequate were seen for what they were; invariably they were allotted tasks according to their abilities, invariably their tasks derived from their titles. This is how one served the man above or was pastor to the men below, put other things in order or cultivated one’s own person. Cleverness and strategy were unused, they invariably referred back to what was from Heaven in them. It is this that is meant by supreme tranquillity, the utmost in government.
Therefore, when the book says ‘There is the performance, there is the title’, though performance and title did exist among the men of old, they are not what they put first. When the men of old expounded the great Way, at the fifth of the stages title and performance deserved a mention, by the ninth it was time to talk about reward and punishment. To be in too much of a hurry to expound performance and title is to be ignorant of the root of them, to be in too much of a hurry to expound reward and punishment is to be ignorant of their origin. The men whose words turn the Way upside down, whose explanations run counter to the Way, it is for others to govern, how would they be able to govern others? To be in too much of a hurry to expound performance and title, reward and punishment, this is to have the tools for knowing how to govern, it is not the Way of knowing how to govern. Such men are employable by the empire but inadequate to be employers of the empire; it is these that are meant by ‘the subtle advisers, each with his own little corner’. The details of rites and laws, numbers and measures, title and performance, did exist among the men of old, but as means for those below to serve the one above, not for the one above to be pastor to those below.
Formerly Shun asked Yao:
‘To what use does Your Majesty put the heart?’
‘I do not disdain those who have none to complain to, do not neglect the most wretched of the people. I suffer when a man dies, give hope to the children, grieve for the wife. This is the use to which I put the heart.’
‘Fine, as far as it goes, but not yet great.’
‘What should I do then?’
‘Heaven is bountiful, earth firm,
Sun and moon shine, the four seasons run their course.
To accord with rule, be like night succeeding day.
By the clouds running their course the gift of the rain falls.’
‘All my bustling, meddling! You have joined yourself to Heaven, I to man.’
It is the scope of heaven and earth which of old was recognised as greatness, which the Yellow Emperor, Yao and Shun in common glorified. So what did they do at all, those who of old reigned over the empire? They were nothing else but heaven and earth.