"The Pipe": The Way of Valuing the People and Suppressing the King
Guan Zi, a famous politician in the Spring and Autumn Period, made the State of Qi the head of the Spring and Autumn Five Hegemons because of his assistance to the Duke huan of Qi huan ,"Zun Wang Zhiyi", and his concept of governance was also respected by the Jixia Daoists, and he wrote the book "Guan Zi" by his name.
This outstanding statesman was first highly praised by Confucius, who said that the Duke of Qi Huan had repeatedly summoned various princely states, presided over alliances, stopped the war without force, and relied on the power of Guan Zhong. Confucius even praised Guan Zhong as a model of "benevolence" virtue.
However, Mencius, who was also a representative figure of Confucianism, was extremely disdainful of guanzi's road to prosperity. Once, Mencius's student Gongsun Ugly compared Mencius to Guan Zhong, and Mencius was greatly enraged: "Guan Zhong, what Zeng Xi did not do, and the son is what I wish?" ”
Although Mencius disagreed with Guan Zi on the question of righteousness, Mencius shared a common language with Guan Zi in his attitude toward the people and monarchs. In the thinking of "Guan Zi", there are three more obvious tendencies to emphasize the people and suppress the monarchy.
First, the monarch shall conform to the will of the people and shall not disregard the will of the people
"I rejoice in the evil and sorrow of the people; I am rich and poor in the people; I am safe in the midst of the evil of the people; I am in peace when the people are evil and extinct; I procreate." If they can be happy, the people will work hard; if they can be rich, the people will be poor; if they can survive, the people will fall in danger; if they can give birth, the people will perish. ”
It means that the people hate sorrow and fatigue, and I will make them comfortable and happy. The people hate poverty and lowliness, so I will make them rich. The people hate danger, and I keep them safe. The people hate extinction, and I let everyone prosper. Whoever can make the people happy, the people must be willing to work for him; those who can make the people rich and noble, the people are willing to endure poverty for them; those who can keep the people's lives stable, the people are also willing to bear the danger for them; those who can ensure that the people are born and breed, the people will not hesitate to sacrifice their lives for them.
In this passage, guan Zi makes it clear that the monarch respects the will of the people, otherwise it will lead to "rebellion of the nearer". This is in common with Mencius's idea of "the people are noble and the king is light". Mencius said, "Enjoy the world, worry about the world, but those who are not kings have not yet", expressing the same demand.
2. The king shall be kind to his people and shall not do as he pleases
"Whoever desires to be the world will reuse his country; he who desires his kingdom will reuse his people; he who desires his people will regain his people's strength."
"Heavy" here means "prudent". To govern the world, we must cherish the national strength and use our own people carefully; if we want to govern the country well, we must carefully preserve the financial and material resources of the people at home; if we want to govern the people well, we dare not easily use the people's strength not to exhaust it. Guan Zi believes that only by truly practicing virtue from the heart can the monarch harvest a more effective way of governing the country, which is called "only the night walker". What the monarch especially wants to avoid is to pretend to be kind to the people and pretend to be kind, just like all the friendship between crows, but "although good is not close".
Mencius also believed that kings obeyed the rules and could not desire too much: "Rules, the most important of the members; the saints, the most of the people." To be a king, to do the way of a king; to be a subject, to be a subject. Although the monarch is the head of a country, he should not regard it as capital, willful, and must learn self-restraint, and Mencius's words are more severe than those of the pipe.
Third, the monarch should be modest and cautious, and should not be proud of his achievements
"The kingdom of a single king, labor and many misfortunes, the king of a single kingdom, humble but not mighty."
Guan Zi believes that governing the country and serving the people is the duty of the monarch. Those monarchs who are complacent with merit are like "the daughter of self-matchmakers, ugly but unbelieving", which is equivalent to the disgrace of the woman who is her own matchmaker, and will not get a good reputation.
In this regard, Mencius was more radical. Mencius believed that the king must practice "benevolent government", and that a monarch without a royal path would not last long, and would even lay the groundwork for his tragic future.
Guan Zi's political success is inseparable from his political ideas. Although he valued the people and suppressed the monarch, he had a strong practicality, so he was successful. In contrast, Mencius's admiration of the people and nobles is not much different, but it has been repeatedly frustrated, and the actual effects of the two in political practice are too different. The reasons for this are worth pondering.