Final 1

 [N 32b-33mb] When emperor Shun asks his advisers about what good leadership implies, Kao- Yao gives an intriguing answer that to me needs to be unpacked if we are to recognize its deeper implications. Along general lines, Kao-Yao says first that one needs to make his character trustworthy. Asked how to do that. Kao-Yao offers a further hint by saying that the leader needs to cultivate oneself and think for the long term, underlining that things done near can have far-reaching effects. I suppose that here, Kao-Yao also implies that when focused on the long-term implications, one must see that actions on a small scale will have broader consequences later.

The core message in Kao-Yao's advice and the one that needs the most reflection comes when Yu wants further explanations and Kao-Yao suggests that the basis for cultivating oneself, long term focus, building trustworthy character, choosing the right ministers, inspiring their loyalty and sympathy of the common people, finally depends on one thing: cultivating the nine virtues. 

While at the first glance one recognizes that each one of those nine virtues consists of balancing one’s views and actions between two opposing poles, there is more depth here to be unveiled. The two poles are neither some unrelated static and abstract extremes like hot-cold nor are they pairs like good-bad or disciplined-licentious, with one extreme having to be avoided and the other being idealized as worthy of pursuit. Far from that, each one of the complementary poles of a pair seems to reflect a dynamic process, in which the virtuous man needs some measure of each one of the elements of the pair while navigating through external events and internal impulses. Kao-Yao's advice contains a warning that if one wants to maintain a position of inner balance, one must carefully take both poles of the pair into account and cultivate them simultaneously. 

Asking ourselves why one should do so, it becomes necessary to take a deeper look at the nine virtues. None of the virtues is named, but only suggested, implied as belonging to an invisible balanced inner experience centered between two easier-to-grasp features. This is not a theory. The person interested in cultivating virtues needs to create, recognize, and practice them in one’s inner world if he is to know them. If we go even deeper, we begin to grasp that if one needs to be both strict and liberal, leaning too much into one direction, one will lose one’s inner compass and oversee the other quality which is equally important.  If one is too gentle, one will lose one’s firmness when it is needed; if one is single-mindedly frank yet blunt, one will lose reverence, which is equally required. Surprisingly, Kao-Yao implies that if one is one-sidedly glorifying order, things become too predictable, and one loses alertness, the ability to perceive and respond to the world in vibrant and spontaneous ways. Next, the leader needs to be compliant with traditions and conventions, yet to stay aligned with the higher right when “thinking for the long term”, he needs to augment easy-going manners with an unyielding focus on what matters most. 

The very practice of cultivating a balanced combination of two simultaneously active and mutually complementing yet opposing elements as part of each one of the nine virtues is by itself requiring one to both keep holding on to a big-picture view while at the same time maintain the practice of engaging in precise and detailed actions resulting from one’s interaction with the outside and one’s inner world, while keeping those opposing qualities alive in oneself. The slim chance to meet someone with those qualities among people who usually think in either-or terms explains Kao-Yao's claim that a leader displaying these features will inspire trust and loyalty. 

[Q 6m, 22m, 23m, 25m, 30 t &m, 33 t & m, 86 mb, 87m, 15b-16 t] I will start here with the end. On 86 mb and 87m, SQ tells that although a small, located far away from the imperial Zhou center, and by far not the mightiest state, Qin managed in the end to unite all of China under its rule, and despite its violence, “its accomplishments were great.” Asking what the policies that allowed Qin such surprising results were, I will focus on the approach of the state and the rulers to abiding to the law through time.  

What comes as a surprise is that external policies differed from one period to another. In the early times, one reads on 6m that Duke Wen’s court promulgated the law that the death sentence was not reserved solely for those whose actions seemed to call for such measures, but also their three sets of relatives (note 15 clarifying that this could refer to the person’s parents, siblings, wife and children, or even to their parents’ families). To say the least, these are extreme measures. I wonder what they achieved for the Qin state. Maybe discipline and unquestioned obedience, both paramount for laying the foundations of a future military state. 

22m tells that later, Duke Xian prohibited the practice of “following in death.” I ask myself what did this bring? Maybe an increase in population, among people already groomed to obey the laws. On 23m-24t, Duke Xiao practices kindness and promises rewards for fighting men from other states and strategists with effective plans to strengthen Qin. On 25m, one reads that Wei Yang convinced Duke Xiao that the laws can only become effective when those in high positions are held accountable when breaking them.  

The same paragraph heralds an important turn, with Wei Yang being murdered by aristocrats after Xian’s death. From here on, one reads on page 30 four times that during the period in which Qin’s expansion by the conquest of the other territories started, one of the practices promoted was to move its own people into the new regions and pardon criminals from those places. Page 33 t, m adds that of treating the ministers of the former rulers with generosity.  

So far, we can recognize a sensible and flexible approach to create policy that turned Qin into a military might. At first, the state forged a disciplined and obedient population base. Later, it invited soldiers, strategists, and talented people from other states. After beginning its military expansion several centuries after its beginnings, it practiced a combination of ferocity on the battlefield (see 30b, 31 t & m with the number of beheadings after battles) with treating the former ministers and criminals in the conquered states with generosity, simultaneously inspiring fear and loyalty. With this in mind, we can see how in a fortunate way, Qin’s policies over the years have built a body of diverse yet well-timed and coherent measures, which contributed to its later rise.  

 Interestingly, SQ gives the reader some hints about Qin’s untimely demise (p. 34t). We noted that in parallel with its growth, page 25m underlines an important turn: the state’s laws might be firm, yet the ruling family was not happy to abide by them. SQ gives us a further hint on 15b-16t where You Yu tells Duke Mu that when the ruling class becomes ‘arrogant and licentious”, while hypocritically enforcing harsh regulations on the population in the name of order, the end is not far. You Yu’s message contains two simultaneous dimensions, inner and outer. The Qin state integrated complementary policies with skill, unifying China, yet their rulers oversaw the inner cultivation part, calling for their dynasty's demise.