Chinese Statecraft Maxims
LY 6:8
Qualifications For Office
(c0460)

Ji Kangdz asked, Could Jung You be used in government? The Master said, You is decisive; why could he not be used in government? He asked, Could Sz be used in government? The Master said, Sz is experienced; why could he not be used in government? He asked, Could Chyou be used in government? He said, Chyou is skilled; why could he not be used in government?

From passages elsewhere in LY 6, we know that the Ji family represented illegitimate influence on the government of Lu, and that Confucius disapproved of disciples who served them. Additionally, the conduct in office of two of the disciples mentioned here is criticized elsewhere in LY 6. Confucius's answers to the head of the Ji family are thus to be taken as reluctant and perfunctory. He conspicuously withholds comment on the disciples' love of personal self-cultivation, which is the topic when he is discussing job possibilities with the legitimate Prince of Lu in 6:3.

With due allowances, however, we can say that decisiveness, experience, and special expertise were qualifications valued by the administrative theory of the day, however little Confucius may have approved of them. There is thus a parallel with the criteria recommended by the predecessors of Kautiya, all of which are acknowledged as valid by Kautiya, in Maxim #9.

 

Kautilya's Maxims is Copyright © 2001- by E Bruce and A Taeko Brooks

Contact The Project / Exit to Kautilya Page