Post date: Oct 27, 2016 6:14:11 AM
This is the eleventh post in a series for those who:
1- desire to read or teach Confucius' Analects as philosophy, but
2- lack knowledge about classical Chinese language, culture, history, philosophy.
(The translations from Chinese are my own; bear in mind, I'm still learning and practicing.)
| Part 1, On The Analects | Part 2, On Confucius | Part 3, On the Zhōu | Part 4, On Militarism and Legalism | Part 5, On Scholarly Learning |
| Part 6, The Central Argument | Part 7, On Nature and Culture | Part 8, On Nobility | Part 9, On Consummate Conduct | Part 10, On Power |
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On Harmony
Confucius did not develop an approach to living well for the sake of personal enrichment, or for instructing students, or for theoretical curiosity. His approach to living well is part of a larger program for restoring and preserving social order.
Hé
Hé (和) means harmony.[1] If we think of music, harmony involves proper balance among diverse instruments (see Analects 7.32). If we think of soup, it involves proper balance among diverse ingredients. Harmony is not sameness. Nor is it mere toleration. Harmony is a state in which diverse elements work together in making something beautiful.
Analects 1.12 mentions harmony in the context of ritual practice:
有子曰：「禮之用，和為貴。…」
Yǒuzǐ yuē: “Lǐ zhī yòng, hé wéi guì….”
Yǒuzǐ said, “In practicing ritual convention, harmony is precious….”
Practicing ritual convention involves not only bodily behavior but also emotional countenance. So prizing harmony means valuing, not the ritual performance, but the proper balance between behavior and emotion.
Beyond Jūnzǐ to Hé
Analects 13.23 connects harmony with jūnzǐ:
子曰：「君子和而不同，小人同而不和。」
Zǐ yuē: “Jūnzǐ hé ér bù tong; xiǎo rén tóng ér bù hé.”
The Master said, “Noblemen harmonize without [requiring] sameness. Inferior persons require sameness and yet do not harmonize.”
Difference and diversity is inevitable within any sufficiently populous society. Jūnzǐ, insofar as they excel in mastery of culture proper for well-ordered society, know how to navigate diversity correctly, how to respond appropriately as different contexts demand, and how to exercise their charismatic power in drawing others to do the same (see Analects 15.21). Their social interactions are thereby harmonious, properly balancing the desires of self and other, the demands of personal and public living, the concerns of local community and the broader state (see Analects 4.1).
Jūnzǐ-driven harmony is contagious. It spreads, first of all, by attracting others to embrace culture. Whence Analects 2.1:
子曰：「為政以德，譬如北辰，居其所而眾星共之。」
Zǐ yuē: “Wéi zhèng yǐ dé, pì rú běi chén, jū qí suǒ ér zhòng xīng gòng zhī.”
The Master said, “Governing by means of charismatic power resembles being the North Star. Standing still in place, the many together orbit around it.”
Because charismatic power is not coercive, jūnzǐ inspire others to harmonize without threat of force or appeal to heredity (also see Analects 8.2, 12.19).
Jūnzǐ-driven harmony also spreads across generations. For those inspired to mimic jūnzǐ by embracing culture thereby alter community norms, and these alterations are especially potent for shaping younger children. Whence Analects 13.12:
子曰：「如有王者，必世而後仁。」
Zǐ yuē: “Rú yǒu wáng zhě, bì shì ér hòu rén.”
The Master said, “Even if there were a grand king, only after a generation would there be consummate conduct.”
Presumably older folk are set in their disorderly ways, so much so that even the best of rulers cannot draw all of the elderly to embrace harmony-inducing culture. But such resistance is temporary, as elderly fade and younger, more impressionable persons arise.
Governing Well
According to the Analects’ program for social harmony, jūnzǐ are key to reforming disorderly culture. For when their embodiment of proper culture is sufficiently excellent, they acquire charismatic power that inspires the multitude to similarly embrace culture and thereby harmonize with each other.
The most fundamental technique jūnzǐ have for enacting culture in a way that leads others toward social harmony is known as correct speech or, more archaically, rectifying names (對曰 duì yuē, see Analects 12.17). Analects 12.11 explains:
齊景公問政於孔子。孔子對曰：「君君，臣臣，父父，子子。…」
Qí Jǐng gōng wèn zhèng yú Kǒngzǐ. Kǒngzǐ duì yuē: “Jūn jūn, chén chén, fù fù, zǐ zǐ….”
Duke Jǐng of Qí asked Confucius about governing. Confucius [advised] rectifying names: “[Let] rulers rule, officials officiate, fathers father, sons son.”
Rectifying names involves enacting the conventional obligations associated with one’s social roles, as appropriate to the context—and teaching the same to others. So, for example, biological fathers who do not care for their sons are fathers in name only—and they ought to be shown cultural conventions for how to do better; and similarly for biological sons who do not obey and respect their fathers. (See Analects 20.2 for more specific advice on governing well.)
Revisiting Militarism and Legalism
Analects 13.6 encapsulates the fundamental Confucian approach to restoring and preserving social order:
子曰：「其身正，不令而行；其身不正，雖令不從。」
Zǐ yuē: “Qí shēn zhēng, bù líng ér xíng; qí shēn bù zhēng, suī líng bù cóng.”
The Master said: “Living correct, he [issues] no commands and yet [rules] effectively; living incorrectly, [there is] no obedience even though [he issues] commands.”
Context makes clear that the passage speaks of jūnzǐ who, having excelled in mastering culture, conduct themselves consummately and thereby exert charismatic power capable of inspiring others toward harmonious interactions (see Analects 11.26). This is how one rules effectively without coercing. Analects 2.3 explains why non-coercive and effective rule is unavailable to those who are not jūnzǐ:
子曰： 「道之以政，齊之以刑，民免而無恥；道之以德，齊之以，有恥且格。」
Zǐ yuē: “Dào zhī yǐ zhèng, qí zhī yǐ xíng, mín miǎn ér wú chǐ; dào zhī yǐ dé, qí zhī yǐ lǐ, yǒu chǐ qiě gé.”
The Master said: “Directing them according to governmental policies, keeping them together with punishments, the people make excuses and so lack any sense of shame; directing them according to charismatic virtue, keeping them together with ritual convention, [the people] have shame and, moreover, a ruling standard.”
Rulers lacking proper culture lack charismatic power. So their subjects do not defer to their commands or reform their desires, preferring instead to find ways for satisfying their disorder-inducing dispositions.
[1] Here is entry 845 in Shuōwén Jiězì::
和：相譍也。从口禾聲
Hé: Xiāng yīng yě. Cóng kǒu hé sheng.
Harmony: Also mutually obliging. From the sound of a mouthful of grain.