VOLUME III, SEMESTER 4, CHAPTER 50
That Patch of Soil Supporting These Four Scales
The previous two chapters kept circling a single question, circling for two chapters without answering it directly: with the exact same foundation, why do different buildings grow out? Chapter 48 replaced "determines" with "supports," answering half of it: the foundation governs whether it can stand firm, not what shape it grows into; yet as to what governs the shape it grows into, no answer was given. Chapter 49 clearly drew the boundary between the two positions, yet left the exact same tail behind: with the exact same table, why can both ends truly sit down to speak in some places, while in other places it is merely set up for show? This chapter digs downward, digging down to that final layer, and also hands over the economy that this volume spent four semesters addressing.
Section 1, Laying Out the Question in Three Visible Forms
Look first at laying out that question in three visible forms. Inside those two workshops of the chair factory, with the exact same machinery, identical pay tables, and identical materials, one workshop's master craftsman is willing to teach his trade secrets to apprentices and takes responsibility himself when defective goods are produced, whereas in the other workshop no one is willing to speak an extra word, leaving iron scrap to the next shift as usual. At the exact same table, in one place both ends truly speak their minds, while in another place meetings are held as usual and minutes are issued as usual, yet not a single line of truth is spoken. Under the exact same set of rules, in one place they are followed with meticulous care, while in another place they are not defied openly, but merely circumvented through loopholes. That single difference lies not inside the mechanism, but upon the person who operates the mechanism.
Some might say that plugging all the loopholes will do, but loopholes can never be fully plugged: at that single stage of inspection, taking a glance versus reaching out to feel are recorded as the exact same entry on the books; laying books out in the open still requires someone willing to read and inquire; bringing both ends to sit down at a table cannot make both ends speak the truth. What fills the loopholes is whether a person is willing, and that single bit of willingness can never be manufactured by any mechanism.
Yet this does not mean mechanisms are unimportant; that line of propriety from Semester 3 must be spoken together: mechanisms guard the bottom line, while moral character determines the height.Where does this single bit of willingness come from? Mostly it is accumulated from the manner in which those leading individuals handle matters. Here Confucius must be invited: When a ruler's personal conduct is correct, his government is effective without issuing orders; and To dwell in benevolence is beautiful; if one chooses not to dwell in benevolence, how can he be deemed wise?
Section 2, The Few Lines Taught at Home Follow a Person Through the Factory Gate
Tracing further backward leads to before a person ever walks through the factory gate. That veteran craftsman of nineteen years is willing to teach apprentices—the pay table contains no such clause, and teaching them actually lowers his own market price, yet teach he does; when asked why, he has only one line: Back then, my master taught me the exact same way. This single line is what culture looks like inside a factory floor.
The culture spoken of here is not calligraphy, painting, or formal etiquette, but those few most ordinary yet effective lines: debts of favor must be repaid, spoken words must count, taking unfair advantage is unseemly, lend a hand when seeing someone in distress, and handle matters worthy of one's own pair of hands. Not a single one of these lines is written in a contract, yet they follow a person through the factory gate; the pay table governs how much he does, while these few lines govern how he does it.
Beneath all four scales sit these lines: that single stage of uninspectable quality relies on them, that unwritten inquiry on the slip relies on them, that single loophole unsealed by contracts relies on them, and whether the first person to spot something wrong is willing to speak up relies on them. And these few lines are not innate, but carved and polished generation by generation; The Book of Rites states, Uncut jade cannot become a vessel; an uneducated person cannot understand the Way.
Section 3, Culture Is the Root, Economy Is the Foundation
Now the positions are formally laid out. What this set of books lays out are three layers: culture is the root and that patch of soil; economy is the foundation and the ground; politics and law form the superstructure and the building. The sequence cannot be inverted: if the soil grows loose, those cracks in the building above will be patched only for new ones to open, endlessly impossible to repair.
Why is culture not a fourth item side by side? Because each of the other three layers manages a specific task, whereas culture manages not a single one; yet every matter managed by those three layers must pass through human hands, and how humans handle them is given by culture. That line from Volume II means precisely this: economy is a tree grown out of culture. This layer is not grafted on by force, but reached naturally by this volume itself: Semester 3 dug down from the end of dividing things, digging until moral character was found to belong to culture; this semester dug down from how the four scales come together, digging until the exact same patch of soil was reached.
Yet this layer is also bidirectional: only when granaries are full can those lines be passed down, whereas in lean years those lines are often the very first to break; culture supports economy, rather than culture determining economy. Counting them through once more: coexisting requires someone willing to keep to his own task, co-dwelling requires someone willing to step back when crossing boundaries, co-sharing requires someone willing to acknowledge that a given slot is not his own, and walking all three paths of check and balance requires someone willing to walk them. Every single item requires human willingness, and this willingness grows upon that patch of soil.
The layer established firmly in this chapter is also the line handed over by this volume: this volume addresses economy, and when reaching its deepest point, it hands itself over to that patch of soil called culture. How that patch of soil grows, how it is nourished, and how it carves and polishes people generation by generation is not the position of this volume, but the subject of Volume II, Cultural Systems. Up to this point, the diagram for this semester lacks only the final step: taking a look at these four scales and three layers joined together, to see what they ultimately look like when gathered in one place. The next chapter speaks of that ancient soup: Five Tastes Blending in Harmony: Missing One Fails to Form a World.
Table of Contents for This Chapter
Section 1: The Exact Same Set of Rules Grows Differently in Two Places
Section 2: The Few Lines Taught at Home Follow a Person Through the Factory Gate
Section 3: Culture Is the Root, Economy Is the Foundation
Credit to the ancestors; the mistakes are mine: Tiger Lyon.
Section 1: The Exact Same Set of Rules Grows Differently in Two Places