VOLUME III, SEMESTER 4, CHAPTER 52
Closing the Volume: Handing Over to That Word "Enfeoff/Seal" (封)
The previous chapter brought the diagram of this semester to a close. This chapter is the final chapter of this volume, and the end reached after walking through four semesters. Closing the volume requires completing three tasks: first, settling that account from Chapter 46 to its ultimate end; second, reviewing item by item the elements established firmly across the four semesters; and finally, handing over completely those few questions that this volume cannot answer.
Section 1, settling that account to its ultimate end. Chapter 42 cited the latter half of that passage from Li Yun—the elderly have their end, the able-bodied have their employment, and the young have their nurture; this section brings out the first half as well: When the Great Way moves, the world belongs to all (天下為公). The sequence must be viewed clearly: only with those four words—the world belongs to all—standing first can the series that follows stand firm. What its first line asks is not whether individuals are willing to give, but to whom this entity originally belonged. Public/All (公) here does not mean equal division among everyone, but not being privately owned by any single individual; equal division speaks of how to divide, whereas public/all speaks of to whom it belongs—one comes after, the other comes before. This fits seamlessly with that slot in Chapter 46: that with an owner belongs to the owner, that without an owner belongs to the public. Inside that slot lie roads, bridges, canals, and electricity; words, numbers, standard measurements, and mortise-and-tenon joints; that bit of peace where goods stacked in a warehouse at night remain there the next morning; that bit of heart willing to trust each other; and a room full of workers who can read and do arithmetic—not a single one of which was made by this current generation. Assigning it outward has three directions: collecting it up, spending it out, and leaving it to the next generation—ensuring it is no thinner when handed over than when received. That canal continues to discharge water because no generation across two thousand three hundred years dismantled it to sell off. At this point, those six words at the bottom of the page can be thoroughly explained: that portion with no clear origin is assigned outward; that portion made by oneself is recognized. Recognizing one's own portion keeps one from being empty; assigning outward that portion with no clear origin keeps one from being greedy.
Section 2, reviewing item by item the elements established firmly across the four semesters. The first semester started from that breakfast made by no single person, establishing firmly that master and servant are positions rather than identities, restraint is two-way, the artificial/effort (偽) is neutral, seeking profit is an instinct, running side by side without conflict does not mean not quarreling, the firmest lock is built by accounts, formal freedom versus substantive freedom, and that overriding statement: the higher the position, the more the restraints; the way out lies not in rising, but in remaining clear-headed. The second semester deconstructed that mirror that had shone for over a hundred years, establishing firmly that capital is dead momentum, scarcity is the chessboard, those seven ledger slots, walking up close to look underneath it, economics is not politics, while also leaving behind those few visual images used continuously since. The third semester established two scales, establishing firmly that doing one's best is the cause while distribution according to need is the effect, the closer the level of relationship, the stronger the distribution according to need, those nine ways of giving by the Living Lei Feng, and the two deepest lines: mechanisms guard the bottom line while virtue determines the height, and virtue belongs to culture. This semester established firmly that the four elements are not four historical stages, four scales measure four distinct matters, four shared dimensions, three paths of checks and balances, three layers, and that single line: missing one fails to form a world. Beneath these dozens of lines lies actually the exact same sentence: walk up close to look, look underneath it, and what is seen are positions, not good and evil. There is also one more thing not found in sentences but in methodology: across hundreds of thousands of words in four semesters, whenever explaining any concept, position is laid out first, without ever judging right or wrong for the reader even once.
Section 3, handing over what cannot be answered. What has been answered are what the four items each are, how they combine, how they push against each other, the top-middle-bottom three layers, and how boundaries are drawn; what cannot be answered are five questions: Who holds the pen to mark that boundary? By what authority does the person holding the pen sit there; who gave that weight of having the final say, and can it be taken back? When drawn incorrectly, how is it amended, and who governs the person making the amendment? After being drawn, will that boundary grow into a wall over which no one is permitted to cross? For what is enfeoffed/sealed to one person, how can it be guaranteed to return to the public? None of these five questions can be calculated through accounting. Chapter 49 stated that the three matters governed by the position of economics are all calculated out, not adjudicated out; no matter how thick a ledger is, it can calculate how large that slot is, but cannot calculate who ought to have the final say over that slot. These five questions hit against the exact same word: Feng (封—Enfeoff / Seal). This word itself carries three layers of meaning: drawing boundaries (劃界), granting/conferring (授予), and sealing off (封閉)—matching precisely who draws it, to whom it is granted, and whether it will be sealed off after drawing.
Therefore, this volume discusses economics, reaching its deepest depth by handing over downward to the soil of culture, and handing over upward to that word Feng (封); only when both ends are handed over is this volume truly complete. Handing over is not washing one's hands of it: what is handed over is the portion of making the final decision, not the portion of caring about it. Those who have studied through these four semesters will hold a scale in hand when reading Volume IV and Volume V hereafter: knowing that boundaries ought to be drawn on affairs rather than on persons, knowing that the person drawing the boundary ought not step onto the field, knowing that there are two types of walls, and knowing to whom that ownerless yield originally belonged. The main text of this volume ends at this chapter; below there remains an Afterword, which serves as the true closing chapter of this volume, handing these four semesters over to the next volume.
Chapter Contents
Section 1: The World Belongs to All (天下為公): That Portion with No Clear Origin Is Assigned Outward
Section 2: Reviewing Item by Item What Has Been Established Firmly in This Volume
Section 3: The Four Items Are Placed in Position, but Who Comes to Draw That Boundary
Credit to the ancestors; the mistakes are mine: Tiger Lyon.
Section 1: The World Belongs to All (天下為公): That Portion with No Clear Origin Is Assigned Outward