Government

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter five of the Sayings of Laotsu by Lautsu, translated
by Lionel Giles. This LibriVox recording is in the public
domain recording by NeiMa government. Not the exalting worth keeps
the people from rivalry. Not prizing what is hard to

(00:22):
procure keeps the people from theft. Not to show them
what they may covet is the way to keep their
minds from disorder. Therefore, the Sage, when he governs, empties
their minds and fills their bellies, weakens their inclinations, and
strengthens their bones. His constant object is to keep the

(00:42):
people without knowledge and without desire, or to prevent those
who have knowledge from daring to act. He practices inaction,
and nothing remains ungoverned. He who respects the state as
his own person is fit to govern it. He who
loves this state as his own body is fit to

(01:03):
be entrusted with it. In the highest antiquity, the people
did not know that they had rulers. In the next
age they loved and praised them, in the next they
feared them, and the next they despised them. How cautious
is this age, how sparing of his words? When his

(01:23):
task is accomplished, and affairs are prosperous. The people all say,
we have come to be as we are naturally and
of ourselves. If anyone desires to take the empire in
hand and govern it, I see that he will not succeed.
The empire is a divine utensil which may not be

(01:44):
roughly handled. He who meddles mars, he who holds it
by force, loses it. Fishes must not be taken from
the water. The methods of government must not be exhibited
to the people. Use uprightness in ruling a state, employ
and direct methods in waging war, practice non interference in

(02:07):
order to win the empire. Now, this is how I
know what I lay down. As restrictions and prohibitions are
multiplied in the empire, the people grow poorer and poorer.
When the people are subjected to over much government, the
land is thrown into confusion. When the people are skilled
in many cunning arts, strange are the objects of luxury

(02:31):
that appear. The greater the number of laws and enactments,
the more thieves and robbers there will be. Therefore, the
Sage says, so long as I do nothing, the people
will work out their own reformation. So long as I
love calm, the people will wright themselves. If only I

(02:51):
keep from meddling, the people will grow rich. If only
I am free from desire, the people will come naturally
back to simplicity. If the government is sluggish and inert,
the people will be honest and free from guile. If
the government is prying and meddling, the people will be discontented.

(03:12):
Is it realized that the ultimate ideal is absence of government?
Otherwise the strait will become the crooked, and the good
will revert to evil. Verily, mankind have been under delusion
for many a day. Govern a great nation as you
would cook a small fish. If the empire is governed

(03:35):
according to Tao, disembodied spirits will not manifest supernatural powers.
It is not that they lack supernatural power, but they
will not use it to hurt mankind. Again, it is
not that they are unable to hurt mankind, but they
see that the sage also does not hurt mankind. If

(03:55):
then neither sage nor spirits were calm, their virtue converges
to one beneficient end. In ancient times, those who knew
how to practice now did not use it to enlighten
the people, or rather to keep them ignorant. The difficulty
of governing the people arises from their having too much knowledge.

(04:16):
If the people do not have to fear the majesty
of the law, a greater majesty will take its place.
Do not confine them within two narrow bounds. Do not
make their lives too weary. For if you do not
weary them of life, then they will not grow weary
of you. If the people do not fear death, what

(04:37):
good is there in using death as a deterrent. But
if the people are brought up in fear of death,
regarding it as something unusual, and we can take and
execute them, which of us will dare to do it? Now?
There is always one who presides over the infliction of death.
The man who would take his place and himself inflict

(04:59):
death is like one who should try to do the
work of a master carpenter. And of those who try
the work of a master carpenter, there are few who
do not cut their own hands. The people starve because
those in authority over them devour too many taxes. That
is why they starve. The people are difficult to govern

(05:20):
because those placed over them are meddlesome. That is why
they are difficult to govern. The people despise death because
of their excessive labor in seeking the means of life.
That is why they despise death. A sage has said,
he who can take upon himself the nation's shame is
fit to be lord of the land. He who can

(05:43):
take upon himself the nation's calamities is fit to be
ruler over the empire. Were I a ruler of a
little state with a small population and only ten or
a hundred men available soldiers, I would not use them.
I would have the people look on death as a
grievous thing, and they should not travel to distant countries.

(06:04):
Though they might possess boats and carriages, they should have
no occasion to ride in them. Though they might own
weapons and armor, they should have no need to use them.
I would make the people return to the use of
knotted cords. They should find their plain foods sweet, their
rough garments fine. They should be content with their homes

(06:25):
and happy in their simple ways. If a neighboring state
was within sight of mine, nay, if we were close
enough to hear the crowing of each other's cocks, and
the barking of each other's dogs. The two peoples should
grow old and die without their ever having been any
mutual intercourse. End of government,