Week 5: Vital moral qualities for generals or ministers suggested by SQ

So far, SQ praised the ways ancient sage kings ruled by pursuing inner self-cultivation (N33b) and righteousness (Q 85b), and externally acted differently in times of conquest from those when pursuing peace and stability (Q81mb, H 48). For the other brave and capable people who seized the opportunity during times of upheaval and rose to high positions in the empire, a new set of suggested moral qualities emerges from SQ’s writings. On p.144-145 (last paragraph Ch. 89), SQ remarks that when poor, Zhang Er and Chen Yu were fully loyal to one another, yet when gaining power, they contended with and betrayed each other out of “self-interest.” On p.152, in the last paragraph, SQ also underlines that once Wei Bao and Peng Yue had a taste of political power, blinded by the call for worldly gain, this became their very reason to live, so even when being defeated they did not choose to die with honor, but, hoping that their fate might “resurrect” them to rise again to new heights, they “suffered the darkness of prison” and died executed. On p. 184t (last paragraph), SQ concludes that “if Han Hsin had given thought to the Way and been humbler instead of boasting of his achievements and his ability”, he would have been a fine man. Bringing it altogether, the new moral lesson that emerges from SQ’s writing is that for capable ministers or generals, holding their focus on a authority above worldly values (“the Way-184"t) is vital for both personal preservation and fulfilling one’s destiny as well as for the benefit of the people and the empire as a whole. On the other hand, allowing one’s life to be driven by the blind call for worldly gains, ignoring the good contributions that one could bring to the state and to others if one would find one’s position in which one can serve at one’s best and live in accord to “the Way”, is a fatal mistake. From this second lesson, as much as from the first one referring to rulers, a vision suggesting a larger cosmic order emerges, one that is moral in nature. 

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