XLIV. Further Reflection Two: Those Who Govern a State Must Above All Beware "Beginning Without Completion"

In governing a state, it is easiest to display Qian and hardest to fully realize Kun. Issuing edicts, establishing new categories, and launching great projects all carry the momentum of a beginning; the day-by-day administration, granary storage, water conservancy, agriculture and sericulture, and judicial affairs are the meticulous work of completion. Beginning so often brings a person renown; completion is so often borne by the multitude. If those above love beginning and dislike completing, so that new policies emerge one after another while old duties are neglected, the people become the ground on which orders are repeatedly tested.

Qian's knowing of the great beginning first demands that, before issuing an order, one examine the whole situation: whether the laws will conflict with one another, where the funds will come from, whether those appointed can bear the task, whether the common people can sustain it, and who specifically benefits and who bears the loss -- all of this must be foreseen. One cannot assume the result must be good simply because the intention is good. A good beginning is not enthusiasm, but knowing what it depends on.

Kun's bringing things to completion, meanwhile, demands listening to feedback during implementation: whether a decree is distorted once it reaches the counties and villages, whether the powerful exploit the occasion to encroach upon the people, whether officials seek credit through excessive paperwork, whether the originally set deadline accords with the farming season -- all of this must be examined. If the conditions below cannot reach those above, Qian and Kun are severed from each other; those above may still believe they have made a good beginning, while harm has already been done on the ground. Whether wind and rain truly moisten things is judged by the grasses and trees, not by the self-praise of the one who sent the rain.

The Guanzi's emphasis on the people's wealth, the advantages of terrain, granary storage, and governmental command is precisely because a state cannot run on moral proclamation alone. Master Meng corrected the direction of governance with benevolence and righteousness, and also gave benevolent governance concrete shape through the well-field system, the farming season, the tax system, and the nurturing of the people. Considering the two together, one can see: virtuous intention must enter into the system of resources and finance, and the system must submit to the greater righteousness of nurturing the people.

The Most High warned against too many prohibitions, too many sharp instruments, too much cunning skill, and too many laws -- likewise looking back at the Way of governance from the result of completing things. Those above may believe that the more they do, the better, while the people grow ever poorer and the state ever more confused. The political wisdom of non-action lies in discerning which matters must be done, and which affairs, caused by private desire, ought never to have arisen at all. Removing the actions that disturb the people is itself a great action.

Whether political achievement deserves to be called the achievement of the worthy must be tested through four measures: closeness, merit, endurance, and greatness -- whether the people are willing to draw close, whether the matter has truly achieved merit, whether the institution can endure, and whether the benefit can be extended broadly. Satisfying only one of these is not enough to be complacent about. A severe decree may achieve merit without closeness; a generous reward may win closeness without enduring; a small kindness may endure without growing great; expansion may appear great without any real merit. Only when all four run through together does one approach the governance of ease and simplicity.