In this previous post, I offered some commentary on a book of recently discovered ancient Taoist (or, as this translator would have it, “Daoist”) scriptures. This morning, in reading the last few pages of the book, I came across the following bit of ancient Chinese wisdom, which seems to warn of certain very specific dangers to which our nation has recently fallen victim.
Here, the Emperor is being counseled by his resident Sage, Yi Yin, on the first of “four crimes of the ruler”:
[The Emperor said], “What are the four crimes of the ruler?”
Yi Yin replied, “The lord who bestows his monopoly of power on another is one who has lost the Dao. As a result, he is acquired by others, it is not that he is the one who acquires others. He is a ‘state’ servant, it is not that he is the one who makes use of others, but he is used by others. For this reason, the minister is able to arrogate authority ahead of the ruler, and uses the ruler’s country, and thus is a minister who controls his ruler. It is for this reason the fault lies with the ruler for the case in which the lord bestows his monopoly of power on another and loses control of the government. …
The Emperor said, “Alas! How dangerous that he obtains the ruler’s abilities! “
That last line (can it refer to anyone other than Big Dick Cheney?) could appropriately be carved into the lintel over the entrance of the G. Dubya Bush Presidential Library.
[The Emperor said], “What are the four crimes of the ruler?”
Yi Yin replied, “The lord who bestows his monopoly of power on another is one who has lost the Dao. As a result, he is acquired by others, it is not that he is the one who acquires others. He is a ‘state’ servant, it is not that he is the one who makes use of others, but he is used by others. For this reason, the minister is able to arrogate authority ahead of the ruler, and uses the ruler’s country, and thus is a minister who controls his ruler. It is for this reason the fault lies with the ruler for the case in which the lord bestows his monopoly of power on another and loses control of the government. …
The Emperor said, “Alas! How dangerous that he obtains the ruler’s abilities! “
That last line (can it refer to anyone other than Big Dick Cheney?) could appropriately be carved into the lintel over the entrance of the G. Dubya Bush Presidential Library.
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