The Human World (2)

1 Mr. Shen Zhuliang, nicknamed Zigao, was a minister of the state of Chu. Prince of Chu dispatched him to the state of Qi with a diplomatic mission. In the eve of departure, he visited Confucius asking for advice about this mission.

2 He uttered the hardship of the mission to Confucius as soon as talk started.

3 He said, “The mission His Majesty assigned is a heavy and hard responsibility to me. As you know, it is well known how Qi treats missioner. They are courteous outside; however, they adhered firmly to their view, never compromising.

4 It is usually difficult for us to persuade a man to accept our advice. Now the mission to me is to persuade a king, so obviously it is harder to be done.

5 I am afraid that I can’t accomplish the mission. You ever told me that everything can hardly be accomplished without abiding by the way of Tao.

6 Regarding the coming mission, if it isn’t accomplished, His Majesty is sure to rebuke and punish me; if the job is done, there is no doubt that the great rewards will come to me.

7 A man will definitely be wounded internally if the fear and the happy mood shift so as the Yin Qi and Yang Qi exchange fiercely in his heart.

8 At this rate, the internal wound makes and mars me no matter the mission is success or not. Now I have to admit that only the man who knows and practices Tao can accomplish the mission and then retreat overall without being hurt.

9 I usually live in a less-desire and simple life and my heart always is peaceful, tranquil and sound. Since the morning when I am appointed as the missioner, I have been considering how to overwhelm the hardship to accomplish it. As a result, I have been annoyed and distracted and have to drink cold water to calm myself down at night.

10 Now I still stay in Chu. The mission to Qi makes me disordered, fickle and fluctuated. If I fail in the mission, His Majesty will rebuke and punish me. Thus no matter what are the results, I will inevitably suffer inward and outward. Isn’t it so bad to me?

11 A missioner can’t accomplish the mission assigned to him smoothly. What do you think of it?”

12 Confucius replied, “There are two credos a man should abide by. One is related to life; the other is related to incumbency.”

13 The one related to life is filial piety which is to love parents, brothers and sisters, and kin. The affection sources from the love of family.

14 The other related to incumbency is that the minister serves the emperor. As long as we live in our society, the service is inevitable. So we should look on it as a great thing and attach importance to it.

15 We mention waiting upon parents. Under any environment we see to it that we make them feel comfortable, which is filial piety.

16 As for the minister serving the emperor, we should try our best to accomplish everything perfectly, which is loyalty.

17 Those of perfect practice, they work peacefully, attaching no importance on the personal affairs. They are always perfectly calm no matter how difficult the missions that parents or emperor assigned to them. They just putting the personal achievement, honor and disgrace aside, and devote themselves to the mission. No delight for success, no distress for failure. Their whole devotion is for the accomplishment of the mission, which is the so-called "Utmost of Virtue".

18 When you handle a business for other, though the business doesn’t come to you by yourself, you take the responsibility for it as soon as you accept it and throw away the consideration of your personal honor, disgrace and benefit. You must go all out to accomplish it. There is no mood and feeling to consider the result of it.

19 You might as well feel secure to visit Qi with your mission. Don’t think it too much. Before your departure, I would like to tell you something and wish you could keep it in mind.

20 Credit acts important role in the diplomatic relation with neighbor countries. Whatever is your mission, credit is the first. Don’t talk big, because the neighbors know well of each other, and they know who you are. Hence sincerity is the first work in the diplomatic relation. Not trying to play trick with them.

21 In association with remote countries, communication is essential. The words of the state chief should be expressed faithfully. Don’t add malicious inflammatory details and don’t misinterpret it.

22 When official hands over his instruction to his missioner, sometimes he will unconsciously add his feeling or mood into the instruction, mixing them on main mission. Carrying out such a mission is very difficult. The instruction with happiness or joy certainly comprises the part of compliment; the one with much gloom and hatred certainly comprises the part of complaint. All of the compliment and complaint beyond the main mission are redundant, and if the missioner transmits those unnecessary supplemental, his credibility will be degraded by others.

23 If a missioner’s words are doubtful, or he is doubted to has misunderstood the main mission of his boss, then he will be out of luck.

24 Based on it, the ancient exhorted us to transmit the key meaning only, and not to transmit the feeling mixed on it. A good missioner should adhere to this principle.

25 Why to stress missioner abstaining from adding his or other’s meaning into the key meaning? In many contests, all agree in the beginning that the contest purpose is for exchanging, viewing and emulation, and contesters behave should be in courtesy way. However, when contesters enter on the stage, they forget all codes and regulations. They scramble each other by hook and crook, by fist and kick.

26 In the party, friends usually toast each other with a small cup of wine. The atmosphere becomes harmonic and affable, which originally is good, but after three rounds of toasting, all drink to red eyes and faces. The toasting comes to fall into forcing other to drink, or becomes the idea to make other drunk. At last, friendship turns into fight and the party becomes the spot where the drunks give their vents.

27 The same goes. For a common purpose, people invest and toil to run a business. In the period of no profit, all members go out to work. However, when they make profit, problems come: how to divide the profit and how to divide it fairly. Reasons that used not to be reasons flood out. Enterprise of partner can’t come to a sound end, mainly because cheat and outwitting happen in the dividend sharing.

28 If the problems mentioned above are solved and enterprise develops well, new problem will follow. We will find that in a matured company many new goals germinate gradually from the original one which is clear and easy to accomplish. Operation becomes more and more difficult, when an enterprise turns into a jumbo one.

29 If we are indiscreet in passing on a message, the content of the message will be changed gradually in the process of passing. In this case, we are not the one passing on words but the one speaking, which is very dangerous to be as a missioner likes that.

30 Words are transmitted from A to B by sound waves. Usually people who hear words from others will carry out what the words instructed, in the wake of that the waves become more serious than the one likes wind just passing through and taking place no action to people. Words into actions lead into the results which include success and failure, gain and loss, some benefit and some suffer, which causes disturbance easily. Therefore words are not just waves as wind but have big influence.

31 When a man becomes furious, we wonder why he is so. In most cases, it is because he hears the bias words and malicious inflammatory details, just like a cornered beast, opening mouth, uttering sound of sizzling, wielding his claws, secreting fiercely adrenalin. He is intending to slay someone at that time.

32 In communication, when a man who is cornering by other’s bully words, he may do evil by all means too. At that time people may even don’t know why he does so. The blundering missioner doing communication like above will certainly bring misfortune to himself as well.

33 Hence the ancient exhorted us to be a missioner we should do thing without changing instruction and promoting it by ourselves. Namely, missioner should not change facilely the instruction, order, information and event that official issued, he should not try to complete the mission by his own way. All those motives are bad. The bottom line is that what a good missioner should do is to transmit the instruction clearly, no more no less.

34 A really fine thing emerges only through long time cultivation. A thing is done in hurry must lack a lot of considerations. Therefore, a thing is done in a hurry is usually not a successful one which should be prudent in.

35 As a subordinate, we must accept the order from our supervisor. The importance is that we treat it in peaceful mind. Do as the supervisor ordered. Not happy when in power and not distressed when out of the office.

36 Two armies meet and fight against each other for their own countries. No personal feeling is added. We keep forever tranquil, sound and peaceful mind, shielding from outer disturbance, which is called a good missioner.

37 Mr. Shen! Forget the rewards and devote yourself to the mission. I know it is difficult not to count personal loss and gain, but it is the goal that you should pursue.”