VOLUME VII, CHAPTER 4

VOLUME VII, CHAPTER 4

The Four Institutions, Sustaining and Checking One Another, the Bone of the Living Mechanism

Three sections raise the high point of the volume: the four institutions gathered into one living mechanism.

First, the whole. Culture, economy, politics, law are not four separate things. They are the four faces of this world as one whole. Take one away and it is no longer whole.

Then, sustaining one another. No face stands alone. Each holds up the others, each is held up by the others, not four added together but four woven into one.

Last, checking one another. Beyond holding up, they must also rein each other in, so that no one face grows so large it topples the rest. Set against the Western separation of powers, this laying-down, four faces checking one another, has no forerunner.

Chapter contents:

Section One. The Four Institutions as One: This World, the Whole, Has Only Four Faces.

Section Two. The Four Faces Sustain One Another: No Face Stands Alone, All Four Hold Each Other Up.

Section Three. The Four Faces Check One Another: Beyond Holding Up, They Must Rein Each Other In.

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