XXXVII. "Through Ease and Simplicity, the Principle of All Under Heaven Is Attained": Principle Is Made Manifest Through Relation

This chapter carries ease and simplicity through to "the principle of all under Heaven is attained." "Principle" (li) here need not be built into a separate abstract world apart from the pre-Qin context. Heaven and Earth have above and below; movement and stillness have their constancy; the firm and the yielding can be distinguished; things have their gathering and dividing by kind; image and shape have their forming and changing; Qian and Kun have their beginning and doing -- the traceable pattern within these relations is the principle of all under Heaven. Principle lies both between things and within the nature of things themselves; a person attains it through observation and practice.

To "attain" it does not mean possessing all knowledge, but grasping the fundamental thread that runs all matters through. A person cannot personally know every blade of grass, every human feeling, every change in all the world, but if he understands that difference must complete itself in relation, that a beginning must be realized, that movement and stillness must accord with the time, that the firm and the yielding must assist each other, and that governance must be able to endure and grow great, he has grounds for judgment when facing a new situation. Ease and simplicity keep knowledge from being crushed under endless detail.

The Master said, "My Way is threaded through by one single thing." This one thread does not replace all matters with a single slogan, but means that conscientiousness and empathetic reciprocity (zhong shu) can be carried out across different relations. Serving one's parents, serving one's ruler and elders, befriending others, and treating the common people all have their own specific forms, and yet the root of fulfilling oneself and extending oneself to others is the same throughout. Master Zeng explained the one thread through conscientiousness and reciprocity, making the lofty Way easy to know and simple to follow. That a single principle threads through the ten thousand matters, and yet each of the ten thousand matters has its own fitting form, is precisely the marvel of ease and simplicity.

The Most High said, "The Dao generates the One, the One generates the Two, the Two generate the Three, and the Three generate the ten thousand things," and also used plainness, fewness, and what-is-so-of-itself to oppose vexatious disturbance. However numerous the myriad things, the Dao does not contend with them in number; however complex the world, its root does not prize complexity. That the Yi extends from Qian, Kun, the firm and the yielding, and the eight trigrams to the ten thousand transformations likewise builds a passage between a finite root and boundless manifestation. Attaining principle does not reduce the myriad things to poverty, but lets their diversity remain, while still threading through as one.

Master Xun stressed that "the Way is not the Way of Heaven, nor the Way of Earth, but that by which human beings find their way" -- placing even greater attention on the principle of ritual propriety and righteousness within human community. Even so, the human Way must still accord with the seasons of Heaven and examine the advantages of Earth; it cannot be suspended in a vacuum. The principle of governance lies in distinction forming the group, nurture bringing peace, teaching bringing transformation, and law bringing trust. If ease and simplicity are realized in the human Way, this means that names and roles are clear, ritual propriety and righteousness are plain, governmental decree is trustworthy, and the common people can follow.

The principle seen by the Guanzi so often lies in the use of things and the workings of configuration: the weighing of prices affects circulation, abundance or scarcity in the granaries affects the people's hearts, terrain and water conservancy affect farming and warfare. Such concrete patterns are likewise part of the principle of all under Heaven. If the Confucian tradition speaks only of virtue without examining the principle of things, good intention may produce bad results; if the technical schools examine only configuration and advantage without asking about benevolence and righteousness, they may know the lesser principle and lose the greater one. What ease and simplicity thread through must accommodate the timeliness of Heaven, the advantage of Earth, human feeling, and righteousness all at once.