Talk 4: Tao of Heaven and Constitutional Government
Liu Jun Ning
Translated By: Selene Cong
Confucius: I said, “those who are benevolent favor mountains, and those who are wise favor water.” It has been quoted frequently by subsequent generations. After reading the fourth chapter of the Tao Te Ching, I am reminded of the quote again. If the Analects is filled with benevolence, then the Tao Te Ching is filled with wisdom. You would see water as synonymous with the Tao of Heaven. You descriptions of the Tao of Heaven in this chapter consist in a series of words with water associated with them. I doubt that it was a coincidence. I favor mountains, and am the forefather of benevolence. You favor water, and are the man of ultimate wisdom. You value the softness of water over the firmness of mountains. I know you do not agree with my emphasis on the importance of benevolence.
Lao Tzu: Your observation is quite precise. You and your disciples prefer mountains. Mencius said that you “climbed the East Mountain and surpassed the Kingdom of Lu, and climbed Mt. Tai and surpassed the entire world.” The Mt. Tai Confucian Temple even has verses likening you to the Mt. Tai of the sages. You have commented on water as well, e.g., “time is like the flowing water,” but your heart prefers mountains.
Confucius: Perhaps my partiality toward mountains is because Mt. Tai is located in my hometown. Likening me to Mt. Tai is the work of the flatterers generations after my time. Let us not digress. Why did you use a series of words associated with water, such as surge, abyss, and valley, to describe the Tao of Heaven? Why do you believe that water is representative of the nature of the Tao of Heaven?
Lao Tzu: My partiality toward water is the same as yours toward mountains. Mountains are only firm, while water is both soft and firm. The height of a mountain can be measured, while the depth of water is frequently immeasurable. We could discuss the nature of water further in the future. I honestly can think of nothing resembling the Tao of Heaven more than water. The Tao of Heaven cannot be seen or touched. We may only navigate based on our understanding, experience, and imagination. The Tao of Heaven is like a vessel made of water. It will never fill up, nor overflow; it is boundless and its depth is immeasurable. It seems empty but embraces all like the ocean. Its origin is deep and far, and it will never run dry.
Confucius: Your explanation is still too abstract. Although I am interested in the debate on the apparent reality, I am no expert of it. I am more concerned with the human affairs beneath the surface. Could you include the human affairs in your explanation of the Tao of Heaven?
Lao Tzu: Excellent question! Neither am I one of those scholars who care about how many angels may fit on the point of a needle. I am after incorporating the apparent with the hidden, Tao of Heaven with human affairs, and then observing and understanding human affairs based from the angle of the Tao of Heaven to finally understand the Tao of Heaven from the human affairs themselves. It is a mutual confirmation. In fact, all the schools of the Spring and Autumn period were seeking the Tao of Heaven and human affairs in the mountains and waters. Ultimately, all the thoughts of that period focused on political philosophy. You and I are no exceptions. My interest in the realm of human affairs is much narrower than yours. I cared only for public affairs and social philosophy, and consequently spent little energy on the business between parents and children, or the cultivation of one’s own success. I was focused on finding a political system based on the Tao of Heaven, in order to prevent the rulers from abusing their powers, and to incorporate the rulers in the Tao of Heaven to prevent unbridled violence against the people. I stayed in the institutional life for a long time; I saw and read too many instances of misuse of power. Therefore, when I decided to leave the system, I agreed to leave my insights to the guard at the boarder. I must thank the captain of the border guards here. Had it not for his insistence, there wouldn’t have been the Tao Te Ching.
Confucius: You were the director of the national record archive for a long time, you must have seen many internal documents. Because I was living in Lu, I had only heard of limited instances of abuse of power. Therefore, I traveled around the world and strove to enter the political realm to use my talents and philosophy to help the people. I risked suffering the ridicule of other schools to see Nan Tzu just to enter politics. In retrospect, that was embarrassing. You wanted to get out despite holding a position of high power. I, on the other hand, overestimated my own power, and wanted to enter and salvage the corrupt old system.
Lao Tzu: That’s no surprise. When the operations of the government are not transparent and the institution of the media was not developed, you could only see very little on the outside. I left not because I did not wish to support the country or the people but that the existing system was hopeless. Didn’t you say, “if the state has no Tao, even if it were rich and strong, it is disgraceful?” That was brilliant. But it is very difficult to resist the temptation of power and wealth. Although the Kingdom of Zhou had no Tao and the people suffered greatly, I still spent a long time working for the government, enjoying the taxpayers’ money while helping to support the corruption. What a shame! In the end, I bite my lips, put my foot down, and left.
Confucius: When I heard the news of your departure, I thought it was a rumor and felt regret on your behalf. After hearing what you just said, I think I was too naïve. All I saw was a corrupt province and neglected the fact that the entire Zhou Dynasty was in chaos. Well, if a basket is filled with many rotten eggs, how well can the overall condition of the basket be? My vision was limited! But even in those days, your thoughts on the Tao of Heaven had great influence on me. Although I lacked your ability to explain the Tao of Heaven from its appearance, I always considered the Tao of Heaven to be the ultimate measure for the political justice of a state. But, I was clueless as to how to combine the Tao of Heaven and the affairs of men.
Lao Tzu: If I must use one word to describe the tradition of China, the word would be “Tao.” If I were to use two words, then they would be “Heaven Tao.” You have expressed, “if I could understand the Tao in the morning, I would die gladly in the evening!” Your commitment to the Tao of Heaven has touched many people, including me. As to how to incorporate the Tao of Heaven into human affairs, let me borrow a modern Chinese phrase, “constitutional government.” A constitutional form of government is the political system based on the structures of the Tao of Heaven. The Westerners claim that a government based on a constitution is a political system inherent to the laws of nature. Why don’t you read the Declaration of Independence of the United States?
Confucius: One of my ambitions was to codify the excellent system of ruling during the reigns of King Wen and King Wu, so that their wisdom may be passed on to the future generations. I never completed that task! But I still don’t quite understand the relationship between the Tao of Heaven, the constitutional government, and the public affairs. Please expound!
Lao Tzu: Let me try to explain. The recent discussions on the constitutional government in China have given me many ideas. Politics based on the Tao of Heaven is like an infinitely large vessel. Unlike any other vessels, this one has no limit. It could nourish everything and contain everything. With the constitution, all political activities will have standards to operate upon and the politicians will not be able to act arbitrarily. This invisible net restrains the power of the rulers and thereby gives more freedom to the people. If the political system were tightly sealed, when the rulers wished to pursue costly and onerous ventures, there would be little concern for the survival of the people. Therefore, based on the Tao of Heaven, rulers must resort to the ultimate softness, giving as much room for movement to everybody, letting them develop and create freely. Only then can a society be volatile and vivacious, and can the people live in peace and harmony. So, politics based on a constitution is in the same spirit as the Tao of Heaven; it could be gentle and firm; it is firm to the people who hold power and gentle to the citizens.
Confucius: What’s the relationship between a constitutional government and what you call “dulling sharpness, solving conflicts, dimming brightness, and fusing dusts?”
Lao Tzu: In my opinion, the Tao of Heaven is like the night sky; you do not know its boundary. The Tao of Heaven is the gentle water; you don’t know what it cannot hold. The function of a constitutional government in the political life is the same as the Tao of Heaven. The constitutional governments based on the Tao of Heaven is like water and the night, having the ability to sustain things. It is centered in the mundane world, close to life. It has no distant ambitions, high ideals, or regimented guidelines, but it can incorporate values into a series of rules and thereby regulate political activities. It can dull the sharpness of the politicians through limiting the power of the government, promoting freedom of speech and a multi-party system, and consequently deter the rulers from acting arbitrarily. It can end the bloodshed of power struggle through rules and division of power, help the part of politicians that aims for the good while confronting and preventing the dark side of humanity. That is the meaning of dulling its sharpness, solving its conflicts, dimming its brightness, and fusing its dusts. Only when you dull the sharpness in the spirit of the rulers, can you protect the sharpness in the spirit of the people and the creative energy behind it. One of the greatest attributes of a constitutional government is removing violence from the political life and the power struggle. Its method is eliminating the power of authoritarianism, allowing voices of opposition, abolishing top-down system of selection, and promoting bottom-up system of election. The constitutional government based on the Tao of Heaven holds all that are bright, dark, clear, and obscure. This is the meaning of the “Great Tao tolerates all.” A constitutional government aims at restricting the rulers. A constitutional government is a cage for the rulers. Only when the rulers are locked inside the prison of a constitutional government, can the danger of the abuse of power be reduced to the lowest. When the Tao of Heaven is firmly implemented through constitution, the politicians will cease fighting, the people will have peace, a lawful society will be established, and prosperity will follow. Constitutional governments agree with my beliefs. The Tao Te Ching has only one target, the rulers. My warnings are intended for the rulers, not the common people. A society without a governmental system based on a constitution deviates from the Tao of Heaven; it may seem to have the obedience of the people on the surface but it cannot solve the internal power struggle of the rulers. The rulers are often excessively proud and arrogant, and thus they commit many unbelievably stupid and atrocious acts. Regardless of time and place, it has always been easier to control the people than the rulers. When the rulers are under control, there will be harmony in the world. True harmony is not reflected in whether the people are obedient but whether the rulers are obedient. The less tolerant the politicians are, the less freedom the people will have; the tolerance level of the political system will be low, and the stability of society will be low as well. It would be a real surprise if nothing bad happens under these conditions.
Confucius: The ultimate instances of political stability for me were the reigns of Xiao and Shun of the far distant age and of Wen and Wu of the more recent time. But you believe that the Tao of Heaven had existed before the emperors. Has it existed before all kings and emperors?
Lao Tzu: To this day, I still do not know how the Tao of Heaven was evolved. I can’t seem to find a satisfactory answer from anybody else, either. But I believe, the Tao of Heaven has existed before the kings and emperors, and is above all the power of the common world. All human rulers, including the democratic ones, are beneath the Tao of Heaven. The Tao of Heaven that is carried by the constitutional government is prior to all rulers and above all rulers. Some people say that natural law is the forerunner of the Western constitutional laws. I say, the Tao of Heaven is the forerunner of the Chinese constitutional laws. Furthermore, I believe that natural law is the name of the Tao of Heaven in the West, and there is no difference between the two. When the rulers disobey the Tao of Heaven, they will ultimately be punished by the Tao of Heaven. The quality of the rulers is directly related to their obedience of the Tao of Heaven. I hope that a constitutional political system will be established along with the return of the Tao of Heaven in China soon.
Tao of Heaven Chapter Four
The Tao is (like) the emptiness of a vessel; and in our
employment of it we must be on our guard against all fulness. How
deep and unfathomable it is, as if it were the Honoured Ancestor of
all things!
We should blunt our sharp points, and unravel the complications of
things; we should attemper our brightness, and bring ourselves into
agreement with the obscurity of others. How pure and still the Tao
is, as if it would ever so continue!
I do not know whose son it is. It might appear to have been before
God. (J. Legge)
The Tao of Heaven is empty, shapeless, and never full, but its power is endless, boundless, and limitless. It has no shape and appearance; it is everywhere, without boundaries; it exists eternally, without a beginning or an end.
It can dispel the brightness of the arbitrary powers, eliminate the bloodshed in the power struggles, share the light of humanity, and face the darkness of humanity. Its depth cannot be measured, and its width cannot be calculated; it seems to be without being and seems to not be without not being; it is the mother of all things and the beginning of heaven and earth.
Although I do not know how the Tao of Heaven came to be, it is definitely above all the rulers of the human world.
