Tao of Heaven Liberalism Discussion Series
Heaven Tea Talk Twenty-Two: Not Competing with the People. Why Must Power-Holders Concede to Preseve Unity
Liu Jun Ning
Translated By: Selene Cong
Confucius: You must be concerned about the two assemblies they are having in Beijing, now.
Lao Tzu: Somewhat. I browse through both the domestic and international news on the assemblies online. Speaking of which, I saw an article about the assemblies that is relevant to our tea topic today. Through their clientele representatives, a group of multinational corporations expressed their support for the bill to “combine two taxes into one.” They also requested that the government strengthen its defense against corruption to establish a fairer, opener, and more just legal and social environment. Dr. Edward C. Tse, Director of the Greater China Region of the internationally renowned consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, which provides services for the top 500 businesses of the world, mentioned two cases during an interview. One case was about the discovery of 1.5 billion RMB missing fund by the American TPG Newbridge Capital, when it joined Shenzhen Development Bank; it has yet recovered from the loss. Another case was about Hong Kong Galilee’s stocks in Beijing being illegally seized by the local government; the national government ruled on the case but the local government countered and actually declared that the national government lost. These two cases are notorious examples of the government competing with the people for benefits. Not only do they not concede for the greater benefits, but they deceive and rob. They have no respect for the Tao of Heaven!
Confucius: I am also very concerned about the two assemblies. How come I didn’t see this article? Could you send it to me via email?
Lao Tzu: No problem. I’ll send it to you when I get home.
Confucius: I’ll thank you in advance then. Let us begin our tea talk with understanding your “conceding for preservation” (bending leads to whole). You know that in our daily life, “conceding for preservation” does not sound very positive; it has some negative connotations. You are aware of this. Were you being ironic or were there other reasons in saying this?
Lao Tzu: For the common people, “conceding for preservation” is not an active attitude and its result can possibly be tolerating some unreasonable demands and leading to the loss of moral principles. Everyone knows that. I agree, too. However, my “bending for whole” is not for the common people. It is for those who control power. The people do not have to concede for preservation. However, the people who control power must concede to the people for the preservation, accommodating the people in everyway possible. Note the latter has a positive connotation!
Confucius: Isn’t it a bit unreasonable to require the rulers to comply with your rule? How could these men of great power concede to the people? It would be a miracle if they would simply abstain from bullying the people. Even if they could succeed in conceding for preservation, how then could the government maintain its dignity? How could a government without dignity pass edicts, or effectively govern the country?
Lao Tzu: Good counterarguments. You only noticed “conceding for preservation” as a life attitude. However, “bending leads to whole” is a great part of the Tao of Heaven, that is commonly ignored. It is a prominent natural phenomenon and an important principle in the establishment of political order and system. If the orbit of Earth were straight, it would not be able to stay in the Solar System. If the chains on a bicycle were open, the bicycle would be useless. Similarly, political order and system must restrain each other like a links in a chain in delineating power, restraining power through “bending” it, preventing the abuse of power through linking the ultimate power with the suffrage right of the common citizens. Once the height of power loses the restraint of the next link, the person in power is free to do what he wishes. If the chain of power were open, with no restriction at the top and protection at the bottom, it would lead to authoritarianism and its result would be a vicious circle of violence. Only when the highest power is restrained by the lowest end can the chain of power be established, hence “bending leads to whole.” Under any political system of the Tao of Heaven, the people would be the originators of power while the political governors are designated to conduct the governmental affairs. Through the traditional belief of the begetters checking each other, and under the political system of the Tao of Heaven, the people can definitely check the politicians. Because the power of the politicians spring from the people, the people should naturally demand the politicians to concede to them for preservation. This concession should manifest itself not only through the arrangement of political order or the structure of power, but also through their actions. The men of power must be gentle like the breeze and rain instead of tigers and wolves, in their treatment of the people. The topic of the division of power in political systems has been extensively discussed by the Western political theorists, although they haven’t talked much about conceding for preservation. In a political system of concession, the power-holders must concede for preservation due to the arrangement of power and process of governing under the constitution, the competition from rival politicians, the monitoring of the media, and the worry of the votes. The people are the dignified ones, not the power-holders. Therefore, men of power must exert themselves in service and concede before the Tao of Heaven and the people.
Confucius: However, the politicians are constantly worried of thousands of things and toiling. Shouldn’t they treat themselves a little better? Shouldn’t they relax?
Lao Tzu: They chose freely to be politicians. Since they have chosen politics as their profession, they should play by the rules of this profession. The government and the power-holders must tolerate the criticism of the people and suffer the weight of their offices. They can only hold themselves to standards and not others. They must restrain themselves and not the people. The greatest virtue of the government when it deals with the people, is to concede for preservation. Only through bending itself, can thousands of citizens be served. Sacrificing the self is a condition for the politicians, not the common people. Only when the power-holders sacrifice themselves, can the common people keep their selves. If the power-holders were supreme, the people would be stripped of their humanity. One of the criteria for judging the worth of a political system, is to see who still has the self: the power-holders or the people?
In keeping with the Chinese tradition of using numbers to discuss political system, I shall also suggest a principle of “three [things] not to compete and four [things] not for the self.” Let’s call it “not three not four” for easier remembrance. “Three not to compete” is that the ideal government should not compete for status with the people politically, not compete with the people to be right morally, and not compete for profits with the people economically. The “four not for the self” is that the ideal government should not promote itself, not be self-absorbed, not gloat, nor be satisfied in itself. It means that if the government does not think of itself as brilliant, it will have clearer understanding; if the government does not think of itself as always correct, it will know right and wrong; if the government does not gloat about itself, it will be successful in its work; if the government does not see itself as perfect, it will enjoy lasting honor. Because we cannot expect it to monitor itself, it must be monitored from the outside and there must be a division in the power.
Let’s talk about the rise of the great nations. Why do you think the U.S. is powerful? It’s because its political system has reduced the possibility for the government to compete with the people for benefits. The U.S.S.R. collapsed because it seized all the benefits of the people and moved them into the government. The beginning of the Chinese Dynasties, such as Tang, Han, and Ming, were powerful because they were not competing with the people for benefits! Every dynasty eventually failed because the competitive machine of a political system of absolutism were stimulated and strengthened against the people. The key to establishing an ideal political system is to uproot the political system that competes with the people for benefits.
Confucius: I still have doubts about your principle of not three not four. What troubles me the most is why can’t the government compete with the people about what’s wrong and right or for honor?
Lao Tzu: That is because there is no evidence supporting that one’s sense moral judgments or one’s knowledge of truths improves as one’s power increases. What we usually see is the opposite case. Therefore, we must separate political power from the authority of morality and truth, as insurance. The powerless must have the authority to decide morality and truth. If the power-holders compete for the highland of morality and truth through the barrels of guns, the people will lose. The result will be chaos in the orthodoxy of morality and truth with the invasion of power.
Confucius: Why do you support “holding one,” and how is this different from my unification under one rule?
Lao Tzu: “Holding one” has two levels of meaning. First of all, I was referring to the power-holders must obey the Tao of Heaven unwaveringly from the beginning to the end. Secondly, the Tao is boundlessly great that nothing is excluded from its unity. An ideal political system should be one that unites all into one. This political system is congruent with the Tao of Heaven. It is like the Tao of heaven, a boundless great vessel, containing all things, combining them into one (E pluribus unum). Many lead to one, one leads to many, holding many into one, and one and holding many. The “one” that is being discussed here is not saying that all belongs to the rulers but all belongs to the Tao of Heaven.
If the government can be tolerant, it will carry others, and if it can compromise, then it can be whole. The power-holders must maintain a low position and act as the plowing oxen of the people, serving the people instead of enslaving the people. Thus, there will be harmony in society. Social harmony can be realized in two ways. One is through the addition of the Tao of Heaven, taking everything in. The other is through the subtraction of the great one rule, eliminating all things that lead to disharmony. The Tao of Heaven adds, while the way of violence subtracts. It is not important to have harmony as the goal. What’s more important is how harmony is realized.
Confucius: Honestly, I still prefer a more aggressive political attitude. The ideal government should “inspire awe and fear” in the people (Analects: Speech of Xiao). Without rules, how can there be order? Those who are ruled must obey the rules and act as they wish! Should we tolerate the mockeries of the court? Therefore, as rulers, they must choose a straight path in ruling the country. I think governing a state is quite easy. It’s nothing more than “educating through laws and restricting through punishments will lead to the people to obey out of fear but they will not know shame; educating through morality and restricting through propriety will teach the people to know shame and they will embark on a path of righteousness.” When the princes hold the swords of justice, who will dare to be unjust?
Lao Tzu: I disagree. The ideal government should be like the valleys, humble and low. It should not dare to be ahead in the world or compete with the people. The people should keep their backs straight while the servants should keep theirs bent. If the people bend their backs and kneel before the tyrants, the Tao of Heaven will dissipate. The rulers must never have the ambition to rule aggressively. Instead, they should have the virtues of “submitting myself as a servant so that all the people in the world may benefit.”
Confucius: You sometimes talk about “power-holders” and other times “rulers.” Aren’t they the same? I am confused.
Lao Tzu: Their common trait is that they are both powers of administering the state. I refer to those who act against the Tao of Heaven as “power-holders;” I call those who obey the Tao of Heaven “rulers.” Those who rule under the ideal government are those “rulers” chosen by the people instead of the “power-holders” that abuse the people.” I’ll use two verses inspired by the Sermon on the Mount to end our chat today.
Blessed are those rulers who do not compete with the people for they illuminated the Te;
Blessed are those rulers who concede for preservation for they obeyed the Tao!
Tao of Heaven Chapter Twenty Two:
The partial becomes complete; the crooked, straight; the empty,
full; the worn out, new. He whose (desires) are few gets them; he
whose (desires) are many goes astray.
Therefore the sage holds in his embrace the one thing (of
humility), and manifests it to all the world. He is free from self-
display, and therefore he shines; from self-assertion, and therefore
he is distinguished; from self-boasting, and therefore his merit is
acknowledged; from self-complacency, and therefore he acquires
superiority. It is because he is thus free from striving that
therefore no one in the world is able to strive with him.
That saying of the ancients that 'the partial becomes complete' was
not vainly spoken:--all real completion is comprehended under it. (J. Legge Translation)
For the ideal government, conducting business should involve concession for preservation, and it should bear the trials of failures. Bending leads to the preservation of the whole. Being wronged leads to being upright in the center. The low valley leads to its fulfillment. Abandoning the old leads to the new. Taking less leads to the people having more. Taking more leads to the officials being blinded by profits. Therefore, the ideal government should keep the Tao of Heaven unwaveringly from the beginning to the end and be the plowing oxen for the Tao of Heaven and the people, working without complaints. A government of such does not see itself as the sun; instead, it may see the sunlight; it does not think of itself as correct so it may have clarity; it does not boast so that it may succeed; it is not proud or arrogant so it may maintain harmony and perpetual rule. Because it does not compete with the people, no one can compete with the Tao of Heaven or the government that follows the Tao of Heaven. “Conceding leads to the preservation of the whole” was not an empty saying from the ancient times. Through obeying the Tao of Heaven, the people may be protected, the self, and the Tao of Heaven will be protected, too.
Concerning the Galilee case, see: www.galilee.com.cn
Concerning the case of the missing 1.5 billion from Shenzhen Development Bank, see：http://cn.biz.yahoo.com/060126/16/fne2.html
This article was published in “Nandu Weekly,” March 9, 2007.
