DIFFICULTY AND EASE OF GOVERNMENT
YANG CHU had an audience with the King of Leang.
Yang Chu said: "To govern the world is as easy as to turn round the palm of the hand."
The King of Leang said:
"You have a wife and a concubine, Master, but are unable to govern them. You have a garden of three acres, but are unable to weed it. How then can you say that governing the world is like turning round the palm of the hand?"
Yang Chu said:
"Observe, your Majesty, the shepherds. One allows a boy only five feet high to shoulder a whip and drive a hundred sheep. He wants them to go eastward, and they obey him, or westward, and they obey him. Now let Yao drag a sheep, and Shen follow with a whip, and they will never advance a yard. Fishes that swallow ships do not enter into small rivers.
"Wild geese that soar on high do not light on low marshes, but are borne over in their flights. The notes C and Cis do not harmonize with brisk and lively airs, for the sound is too different. Thus a man who manages important matters does not trouble himself about trifles. And he who accomplishes great deeds does no small ones. That was my meaning."
Translator of Yang Zhu's Garden of Pleasure is Anton Forke. If you missed any posts in this series, please utilize the Yang Zhu label below.
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