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PT. III. SECT. II. THE WRITINGS OF KWANG-8ZE.
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ness to make an end of war;-will that be sufficient?' Hsü Wu-kwei replied, ' By no means. To love the people is the first step to injure them'. By the exercise of righteousness to make an end of war is the root from which war is produced1. If your lordship try to accomplish your object in this way, you are not likely to succeed. All attempts to accomplish what we think good (with an ulterior end) is a bad contrivance. Although your lordship practise benevolence and righteousness (as you propose), it will be no better than hypocrisy. You may indeed assume the (outward) form, but successful accomplishment will lead to (inward) contention, and the change thence arising will produce outward fighting. Your lordship also must not mass files of soldiers in the passages of your galleries and towers, nor have footmen and horsemen in the apartments about your altars 2. Do not let thoughts contrary to your success lie hidden in your mind; do not think of conquering men by artifice, or by (skilful) plans, or by fighting. If I kill the officers and people of another state, and annex its territory, to satisfy my selfish desires, while in my spirit I do not know whether the fighting be good, where is the victory that I gain? Your lordship's best plan is to abandon (your purpose). If you will cultivate in your breast the sincere purpose (to love the people), and so respond to the feeling of Heaven and Earth, and not (further) vex yourself, then your people will already have escaped death;-what
1 Tâoistic teaching, but questionable.
2 We need more information about the customs of the feudal princes fully to understand the language of this sentence.
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