Book 10, Part 3

CHAPTER 37

The Lords of the Land

Section 37.1

To give birth to, to nurture, to nourish, and to grow;

to bring to completion and bring to life anew;

to bring to the end and begin again:

These endeavors are the means by which [Heaven] benefits and sustains the people without cease. Even though Heaven does not speak, Heaven’s intention to provide sufficiently for the people may be observed. The sages of antiquity observed Heaven’s intention to provide bountifully for the people, so when they faced south and ruled the world, they invariably brought universal benefit to their people. On account of

things that were distant that their eyes could not see [and]

things that were muffled that their ears could not hear,

beyond one thousand li¹ they parceled out the land and allocated its people to create states and establish overlords to enable the Son of Heaven

to observe what he could not see [personally, and]

perceive what he could not hear.

With a court audience, the overlords were summoned and questioned. This is why the expression “Lords of the Land” resembles the expression “numerous servants.”² [37/48/3–6]

 

  1.  A territory one thousand li square, centered on the capital city, was supposedly reserved as the royal domain.

  2.  This plays on the aural and graphical similarity of zhu hou 諸侯 (Lords of the Land) and zhu hou 諸候 (numerous servants).