25 安危第二十五 \ 25 Safety and Danger 安危. ¹

安術有七，危道有六。

The means of safety have seven varieties; the ways to danger, six.

安術：

Of the means of safety:—

一曰賞罰隨是非，

The first is said to be "reward and punishment in accordance with right and wrong".

二曰禍福隨善惡，

The second is said to be "fortune and misfortune in accordance with good and evil".

三曰死生隨法度，

The third is said to be "life and death in accordance with laws and institutions".

四曰有賢不肖而無愛惡，

The fourth is said to be "discrimination between the worthy and unworthy but not between the loved and the hated".

五曰有愚智而無非譽，

The fifth is said to be "discrimination between the stupid and the wise but not between the blamed and the praised".

六曰有尺寸而無意度，

The sixth is to "have feet and inches but let nobody guess the ruler's mind".

七曰有信而無詐。

The seventh is to "have good faith but no falsehood".

危道：

Of the ways to danger:—

一曰斲削於繩之內，

The first is to "make cuts within the string".

二曰（斲）〔斷〕割於法之外，

The second is to "make breaks beyond the string". With Wang Hsien-shen 法 should be 繩. That is the inked string of the carpenter, which in this case means the fixed rule. ²

三曰利人之所害，

The third is to "profit by people's danger".

四曰樂人之所禍，

The fourth is to "rejoice in people's disaster".

五曰危人於所安，

The fifth is to "endanger people's safety".

六曰所愛不親，所惡不。

The sixth is "not to keep intimate with the loved nor to keep the hated at a distance".

如此，則人失其所以樂生，而忘其所以重死。人不樂生則人主不尊，不重死則令不行也。

In cases like the above-mentioned, people will lose the reason to rejoice in life and forget the reason to take death seriously. If people do not rejoice in life, the lord of men will not be held in high esteem; if people do not take death seriously, orders will not take effect.

使天下皆極智能於儀表，盡力於權衡，以動則勝，以靜則安。治世使人樂生於為是， 愛身於為非，小人少而君子多。故社稷長立，國家久安。奔車之上無仲尼，覆舟之下無伯夷。 故號令者，國之舟車也。安則智廉生，危則爭鄙起。故安國之法，若饑而食，寒而衣，不令而自然也。 先王寄理於竹帛，其道順，故後世服。（令）〔今〕使人去饑寒，雖賁、育不能行；廢自然，雖順道而不立。 強勇之所不能行，則上不能安。上以無厭責已盡，則下對「無有」，〔無有〕則輕法。法所以為國也，而輕之， 則功不立，名不成。

Let All-under-Heaven devote their wisdom and talent to the refinement of manners and looks and exert their strength to the observance of yard and weight, Namely, orders and prohibitions. ³ so that when you move, you triumph, and, when you rest, you are safe. When governing the world, make men rejoice in life in doing good and make them love their bodies too much to do evil. Then small men will decrease and superior men will increase. Consequently, the Altar of the Spirits of Land and Grain will stand for ever and the country will be safe for aye. In a rushing carriage there is no need of Chung-ni; beneath a wrecked ship there is no use of Po-i. So are commands and orders the ship and carriage of the state. In time of safety, intelligent and upright men Such as Chung-ni and Po-i. ⁴ are born; in case of danger, there arise disputants and rustics. Therefore, keeping the state safe is like having food when hungry and clothes when cold, not by will but by nature. The early kings left principles of government on bamboo slips and pieces of cloth. Their course of government being proper, subsequent ages followed them. In the present age, to make people discard clothes and food when they are hungry and cold, even Mêng Pên and Hsia Yü I propose 育 for 欲. ⁵ cannot execute such an order. Whoever discards the way of nature, though his course of government is proper, cannot hold well. Wherever even strong and brave men cannot execute orders, there the superiors cannot be safe. When the insatiable superiors blame the exhausted inferiors, the latter will always give "No more" as reply. When they give "No more" as reply, they slight the law. The law is what the state is governed by. If it is slighted, neither merit will be rendered nor name will be made.

聞古扁鵲之治其病也，以刀刺骨；聖人之救危國也，以忠拂耳。刺骨， 故小痛在體而長利在身；拂耳，故小逆在心而久福在國。故甚病之人利在忍痛，猛毅之君以福拂耳。 忍痛，故扁鵲盡巧；拂耳，則子胥不失。壽安之術也。病而不忍痛，則失扁鵲之巧；危而不拂耳， 則失聖人之意。如此，長利不遠垂，功名不久立。

They say that, of old, Pien Ch`iao, when treating serious Wang Hsien-shen proposed 甚 for 其. <sup>6</sup> diseases, pierced through bones with knives. So does the sage on rescuing the state out of danger offend the ruler's ear with loyal words. After the bone has been pierced through, the body suffers a little pain but the person secures a permanent benefit. After the ear has been offended, the mind feels somewhat thwarted but the state secures a permanent advantage. Therefore, seriously ill persons gain by enduring pains; stubborn-minded rulers have good luck only through ear-offending words. If patients could endure the pain, Pien Ch`iao could exert his skill. If the ruler's ear could be offended, Tzŭ-hsü would not have ended in failure. Thus, pain-enduring and ear-offending are means to longevity and security. Naturally, when one was ill but could not endure pain, he would miss Pien Ch`iao's skill; when one is in danger but does not want to have his ear offended, he will miss the sage's counsels. Were such the case, no permanent benefit would continue nor would any glorious fame last long.

人主不自刻以堯，而責人臣以子胥，是幸殷人之盡如比干。盡如比干， 則上不失，下不亡。不權其力而有田成，而幸其身盡如比干，故國不得一安。

If the lord of men does not cultivate himself with Yao as example but requests every minister to imitate Tzŭ-hsü, he is then doing the same as expecting the Yins to be as loyal as Pi Kan. If everybody could be as loyal as Pi Kan, the ruler would neither lose the throne nor ruin himself. As the ruler does not weigh the ministers' powers despite the existence of rapacious ministers like T`ien Ch`êng but expects everybody to be as loyal as Pi Kan, the state can never have a moment of safety.

廢堯、舜而立桀、紂，則人不得樂所長而憂所短。失所長，則國家無功；守所短， 則民不樂生。以無功御不樂生，（以無功御不樂生），不可行於齊民。如此，則上無以使下，下無以事上。

If the example of Yao and Shun is set aside and that of Chieh and Chow is followed instead, then the people can neither rejoice in their own merits nor worry over their own defects. If they lose their merits, the country will accomplish nothing; if they stick to the defects, they will not rejoice in life. If the authorities having accomplished nothing attempt to rule the people not rejoicing in life, they will not succeed in unifying the people. Should such be the case, the superiors would have no way to employ the inferiors while the inferiors would find no reason to serve the superiors.

安危在是非，不在於強弱；存亡在虛實，不在於眾寡。故齊萬乘也，而名實不稱， 上空虛於國，內不充滿於名實，故臣得奪主。（殺）〔桀〕，天子也，而無是非：賞於無功， 使讒諛以詐偽為貴；誅於無罪，使傴以天性剖背。以詐偽〔為〕是，天性為非，小得勝大。

Safety and danger rest with right and wrong but not with strength and weakness. Existence and extinction depend upon substantiality and superficiality, but not on big and small numbers. For example, Ch`i was a state of ten thousand chariots, but her name and her reality were not mutually equivalent. The ruler had superficial powers inside the state and paved no gap between name and reality. Therefore, ministers could deprive the sovereign of the throne. Again, Chieh With Ku Kuang-ts`ê 殺 should be 桀. ⁷ was the Son of Heaven but saw no distinction between right and wrong, rewarded men of no merit, took slanderers into service, respected hypocrites as noble, censured innocent men, ordered men born humpbacked to have their backs cut open, approved falsehood, and disapproved inborn reason. In consequence, I propose the supply of 故 above小得勝大. ⁸ a small country could vanquish his big one.

明主堅內，故不外失，失之近（正）〔而〕不亡於遠者無有。故周之奪殷也， 拾遺於庭。使殷不遺於朝，則周不敢望秋毫於境，而況敢易位乎？

The intelligent sovereign consolidates internal forces and therefore encounters no external failure. Who fails within his reach, is bound to fail at a distance. For instance, the Chous on supplanting the Yins learned by the latter's failures in the court. Should the Yins have made no mistake in their court, even for an autumn down 秋毫 is the down on hares and plants in autumn or the tip of an autumn spikelet, which in this case means the tiniest thing. ⁹ the Chous would not dare to hope from them. How much less would they dare to shift their throne?

明主之道忠法，其法忠心，故臨之而（法）〔治〕，去之而思。 堯無膠漆之約於當世而（遺）〔道〕行，舜無置錐之地於後世而德結。能立道於往（名）古， 而垂德於萬世者之謂明主。

The Tao of the intelligent sovereign is true to the law, and his law is true to the mind. Therefore, when standing close by it, he acts on the law; when going away from it, he thinks of it in the mind. Thus, Yao made no covenant as binding as glue and varnish with his age, but his Tao prevailed. Shun left no territory sufficient to set a gimlet on with subsequent ages, but his Teh is bearing fruit. Who can trace his Tao to remote antiquity and leave his Teh to the myriad subsequent ages, is called "an enlightened sovereign".