VOLUME VI, CHAPTER 4, SECTION 11

VOLUME VI, CHAPTER 4, SECTION 11

In the Saving There Is an Iron Line, Barred for Life, and Choosing Officials Rests Not on High Pay but on That Heart

The last section made clear that to save him is to swap him down off that criminal position, to be reforged and become a person anew. But that breath of yours has a last half left un-eased, reforged, character patched, then what he was corrupt in the past, is it simply let go? Patched, can he come back and go on being an official? This section eases this half of the breath to the bottom for you. First it sets up an iron, that the corrupt, and even those who took the benefit, have that door of holding power shut on them, forever. Then it tells what, going forward, choosing officials rests on, not on high pay, but on that heart, hold a license, be reviewed yearly, be reforged.

Let me set up an iron, hard, with not half a room for bargaining. The corrupt, and even those who took the benefit, have that door of holding power shut on them, forever. Barred for life. Let me break down for you where the iron in this iron is.

First tell two things apart, saving him, the person, and whether or not to let him hold power again, are two things. Saving him, the person, pulling him out of the lock, reforging his character, letting him be a clean person anew, live on well, this, may be done. This is benevolence, the root of this book, use the pen and not the knife, not bringing him down, not grinding him to death, giving him a road to become a person anew. But whether or not to let him go back to that position of holding power, be a civil servant again, hold that power to manage matters for the people again, that is another thing. This thing, one word, no. Forever no.

Save you, the person, benevolence, may be done, be reforged, become a person anew, live on well. Let you hold power again, that door, no, shut forever, barred for life. Benevolence, given in full. But that door of holding power, welded shut. This is called, in the benevolence there is an iron.

Why must this door be welded shut? Think, if it were not welded shut, what then. An official is corrupt, is swapped down, goes back and patches character for a few days, and then is put back to go on being an official. Then this reforging becomes a going-through-the-motions. Everyone sees clearly, corrupt? No matter, at most go back and patch a bit, and you can come back. Then who is afraid? That barrier of corrupt-and-you-have-to-leave-the-power-position-for-good is gone, and everyone dares be corrupt, for at worst, corrupt and you go through a reforging and are back on post.

Think it over and you see the sense of it. A line of defense, if it leaves a back door, is as good as no line of defense. You say corrupt and you have to be reforged, but reforged and you can be restored to office, and the corrupt person reckons it, this is a good bargain, when I was corrupt I got an enormous benefit, and if I am caught, it is no more than a reforging gone through as a motion, and I can come back and go on being corrupt. Reckoning it this way, who does not dare be corrupt? So this door, not a crack may be left, it has to be welded dead tight. Corrupt, and to go be reforged and become a person is fine, but that door of holding power, this life, do not think of entering it again. Only by welding this door shut does that reckoning of a good bargain not sound, does that line holding people back from corruption truly stand. So this door has to be welded shut. The corrupt, reforged, becoming a person, living on well, all may be done, but that door of holding power, on him, is shut forever. He may become a clean person anew, but he may not become a person holding power anew. Set this iron, and that stroke of luck of corrupt-and-at-worst-reforged-and-back-on-post is cut off.

And this iron has to be one layer harder still, even the ones who took the benefit may not be civil servants again. Not only the one who was corrupt with his own hands, but even those who, out of his corruption, took the benefit, got the good, shared that cup of soup, the same, that door of holding power is shut on them.

You will ask, the one who took the benefit did not, with his own hands, be corrupt, on what grounds may even he not do it? One line, who told you not to wake up? When you took his benefit, shared that cup of soup, in your heart, did you not know it was corruptly gotten, was unclean? You were not unknowing. You held the knowing and played the fool, you kept one eye open and one eye shut, and went along and shared in that light. At the time, you could have woken up, could have pulled back, could have said this one I do not want, this is not clean, but you did not. For that bit of benefit, you chose not to wake up, to go along and share the light. Then no one else is to be blamed. Since you shared in that unclean light, you have to bear the consequence of not waking up, and that door of holding power is shut on you too. This is not wronging you, this is you yourself, at the time, for that bit of benefit, choosing not to wake up.

You see how this iron is set, how hard, and how clean. It does not bring people down, the corrupt, the benefit-takers, may all be reforged, become people anew, live on well, this is benevolence. And it absolutely does not muddy the water, the corrupt, the benefit-takers, the door of holding power is shut on them forever, this is iron. Benevolence lets this book keep the root of use the pen and not the knife. Iron lets this book's saving never slide into holding a hand high, into indulgence and cover. Saving you, the person, is benevolence. Not letting you hold power again is iron. The two put together, and this saving stands, it has neither ground a person to death nor let corruption off in the least.

That breath in your heart, now, should be eased to the bottom. So it turns out saving him is not letting him off. Saving him, the person, reforged, become a person anew, is benevolence. But what he was corrupt in, shared in, has its consequence to bear, and that door of holding power is shut on him forever, barred for life, and the benefit-takers the same. Those who occupy positions and are corrupt, who go along and share the light, by this, one by one, are swapped down off those positions, reforged and becoming people is fine, but this life, do not think of holding that power again.

Then you have a last solid worry, invite all the corrupt, the benefit-takers, out of the door of holding power, and those positions, who fills them? This, the next section tells especially, there are plenty of good people lined up. This section, let me go on to tell, then going forward, what kind of person is chosen to hold this power? And resting on what, is the one who holds power kept from walking the old road of corruption again?

Let me first break one saying, widely spread and sounding quite reasonable, high pay keeps integrity. The saying goes like this, give the official's salary high, high, so he lacks no money, is fed and clothed without worry, and naturally he need not go be corrupt, can keep his integrity. Sounds reasonable, does it not? Let me tell you, high pay cannot keep integrity.

Why? Look back at the third chapter, at that hand clutching the mountain of gold, with money more than several lifetimes, dozens of lifetimes, could ever spend, did it stop? It did not. It is still in that lock of earn-nothing-and-be-wiped-out, cannot stop. Corruption is the same. This thing corruption is bottomless. A person who has truly raised a greedy heart, been drawn into that lock, you give him a higher salary and it cannot fill that bottomless pit, he has a million and wants ten million, has ten million and wants a hundred million. Money never fills a greedy heart. You suppose that given high pay he will be content, will not be corrupt? He will not. He is corrupt just the same, and has one more reason besides, this is what I deserve, my salary is this high, what is wrong with taking a bit more. So resting on giving money, on high pay, cannot raise a clean official. Money cannot keep integrity.

Then what does it rest on? It rests on that heart. On that official having, in his heart, that heart of I sit in this position to serve the people. Look back at that strand of culture warming the heart from the last section, an official not being corrupt rests, at the root, not on how much money is in his pocket, but on whether that heart for the people in him is still there. This heart there, and even if his pocket is not so full, he will not go be corrupt with the people's, harm the people, that heart will not let him. This heart gone, cold, and you give him a mountain of gold and he is corrupt just the same, nothing can hold him.

Look at the truly clean officials, the good officials, down all the ages, what were they after? Not after a high salary, not a few of them lived quite poor, a coat of patches, not many dishes on the table. What they were after was that solidness in their hearts of having gotten a thing done for the common people, that steadiness of having answered to heaven, earth, and conscience. It was that heart, holding them up, unmoved before a mountain of gold, their hand not reaching out before temptation. The other way, those bottomlessly greedy, which of them was because he was poor? How many were high in office and rich in salary, wealth to rival a nation, and yet that heart for the people had long gone cold, and so however much there was to be corrupt they were corrupt, and it could never be filled. You see, what makes an official clean was never that bit of money in his pocket, it is that heart in him. The heart there, and a mountain of gold cannot move him. The heart gone, and give him a mountain of gold and he is corrupt just the same.

So to choose officials, to choose the one who is to hold power, the first gate looks not at how able he is, how learned, how high a price it takes to invite him, it looks at whether that heart for the people, in his heart, is there, is enough. This heart, where from? Not born with it, and not bought with money, it is raised, by character education, that whole set from the second chapter, raised. So the root of choosing officials comes back again to the root of this book all along, character. A person with that heart is fit to hold that power to manage matters for the people.

Then guarding one gate at the choosing, is it enough? It is not. The human heart can change. A person, chosen in, his heart is hot, is true. But sitting into that position, bound and ground day after day by that lock, that chain of if you want to rise you have to skim spoken of before, will that heart of his slowly go cold, slowly be ground away? It will. So guarding one gate at the choosing is not enough. There has to be a set of ways to keep that heart, all along, watched, raised, not let go cold.

Let me set this set of ways into three things, used together. The first, hold a license. A person who is to hold that power, be this civil servant, has to have a license first, just as this book has told all along, to do an important thing, to hold important power, you have to have a license first, the student holds a student ID, the practitioner of each trade holds the license of his trade, even the real person using AI holds a license and bears the responsibility. To hold this power to manage matters for the people is a most important thing, and of course it has to have a license, and this license acknowledges not only his ability, but more, that heart for the people in him.

The second, yearly review. This license, is not valid a lifetime once got. It has to be reviewed yearly, looked over yearly, whether that heart for the people is still there, still hot, whether his year of using power has gone crooked, been bound by that lock and walked off toward the slant. Reviewed and passed, the license renewed, and he goes on. Reviewed and that heart found gone cold, gone crooked, and this license is stopped. Joining that line of yearly renewal through the whole book, the student ID changed yearly, the religious license renewed yearly, this license of holding power, more still, has to be reviewed yearly.

The third, going back to be reforged in character. In the yearly review, if that heart is seen to have gone a bit cold, a bit ground, there is no need to wait until he is truly corrupt, truly comes to grief, ask him back to that courtyard, the second chapter's school is a prison, to be reforged, to have that heart patched anew, warmed anew, wiped bright anew. Go back regularly, go back when needed, just as an implement, used long, grows dull, grows filmed, and has to go back regularly to be ground, to be wiped. That heart for the people, used in that position bound by the lock, also grows dull, grows filmed, and has to go back regularly to be reforged, ground bright, kept up. Hold a license, be reviewed yearly, be reforged, you see these three are exactly that line this book set up all along, come down onto the choosing and keeping of officials. The student, from the age of six, holds a student ID, changed yearly. The practitioners of every trade hold the license of their trade, renewed yearly. The one who studies through the religions, holds that license of mutual respect, renewed yearly. The real person using AI holds a license and bears the responsibility. Come to here, the official who holds this most important power of managing matters for the people, the same, holds a license, is reviewed yearly, is regularly reforged. In this world, any important matter, any important power, has to have a license, has to be reviewed yearly, has to be regularly reforged and kept up. The next section tells that last solid worry, invite the corrupt, the benefit-takers, all out, and choose so strictly besides, and those positions, who fills them, there are plenty of good people, lined up, waiting to step in.

Credit to the ancestors; the mistakes are mine: Tiger Lyon.