💾 Archived View for library.inu.red › file › neither-lord-nor-subject.gmi captured on 2023-01-29 at 13:04:06. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
➡️ Next capture (2024-07-09)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Title: Neither Lord Nor Subject Author: Bao Jingyan Date: 300 C.E. Language: en Topics: taoism, proto-anarchism, Asia, China, Chinese Anarchism Source: Retrieved on 2017-08-23 from https://www.libertarianism.org/publications/essays/chinas-first-political-anarchist-bao-jingyan
We know next to nothing about the man historian Etienne Balazs called
“China’s first political anarchist.” Though we know so little about this
fascinating Taoist writer, Balazs describes him as “a daring thinker who
went well beyond the vague Utopianism of popular Taoism by placing his
argument firmly on the political level.” As such, his sole surviving
work constitutes one of the earliest and clearest expositions of
“Libertarian anarchism,” (Balazs’ phrasing) in world history; a feat of
especial importance in an era of Chinese history marked by rising
nihilism and libertineage.
In his short treatise, Bao Jingyan begins by countering the prevailing
wisdom of ancient China’s dominant “Confucian literati,” and their
fundamental assumption that the heavens had condemned some to serve
while elevating others to rule. In fact, he states, all such
philosophies simply served the interests of those who formulated them,
solidifying the Confucian monopoly of office-holding. Rejecting the
natural authority of rulers, Bao Jingyan encouraged his audience to
investigate the ways of nature and the history of world before the rise
of the ruling classes.
Before men sought power—before they strove to conquer nature as well as
each other—they enjoyed both peace and prosperity. He presents an
idyllic, heavily romanticized vision of ancient life, in which humans
joined in “mystic unity” with nature, did not suffer disease or
privation, and recognized no social distinctions or disturbances of the
peace. Grown fat and decadent, ancient man lost “The Way and Its
Virtue,” providing the powerful with ample opportunities for
establishing socio-political hierarchies. Gradually, but surely, the
social distinction between Lord and Subject grew to include the great
mass of common people ruled over by a small elite.
While hierarchy provided the basis for imperial power, it also attempted
to subvert and violate The Way and Its Virtue. As such, the very
existence of social distinctions provided the impetus for the uprisings
and revolution that caused cyclical dynastic collapse. Bao Jingyan
concluded by suggesting that no one can truly live outside the unitary
system of Nature, and even apparently unnatural socio-political
hierarchies inevitably served to instruct the people in the necessity of
virtuously governing themselves. Hope for once again attaining the
ancients’ mystical union with the natural order rested in individuals’
personal moral commitments to be “Neither Lord Nor Subject.”
Anthony Comegna, PhD Assistant Editor for Intellectual History
THE CONFUCIAN LITERATI SAY: “Heaven gave birth to the people and then
set rulers over them.” But how can High Heaven have said this in so many
words? Is it not rather that interested parties make this their pretext?
The fact is that the strong oppressed the weak and the weak submitted to
them; the cunning tricked the innocent and the innocent served them. It
was because there was submission that the relation of lord and subject
arose, and because there was servitude that the people, being powerless,
could be kept under control. Thus servitude and mastery result from the
struggle between the strong and the weak and the contrast between the
cunning and the innocent, and Blue Heaven has nothing whatsoever to do
with it.
When the world was in its original undifferentiated state, the Nameless
(wu-ming, i.e., the Tao) was what was valued, and all creatures found
happiness in self-fulfillment. Now when the cinnamon-tree has its bark
stripped or the varnish-tree is cut, it is not done at the wish of the
tree; when the pheasant’s feathers are plucked or the kingfisher’s torn
out, it is not done by desire of the bird. To be bitted and bridled is
not in accordance with the nature of the horse; to be put under the yoke
and bear burdens does not give pleasure to the ox. Cunning has its
origin in the use of force that goes against the true nature of things,
and the real reason for harming creatures is to provide useless
adornments. Thus catching the birds of the air in order to supply
frivolous adornments, making holes in noses where no holes should be,
tying beasts by the leg when nature meant them to be free, is not in
accord with the destiny of the myriad creatures, all born to live out
their lives unharmed. And so the people are compelled to labour so that
those in office may be nourished; and while their superiors enjoy fat
salaries, they are reduced to the direst poverty.
It is all very well to enjoy the infinite bliss of life after death, but
it is preferable not to have died in the first place; and rather than
acquire an empty reputation for integrity by resigning office and
foregoing one’s salary, it is better that there should be no office to
resign. Loyalty and righteousness only appear when rebellion breaks out
in the empire, filial obedience and parental love are only displayed
when there is discord among kindred.
In the earliest times, there was neither lord nor subjects. Wells were
dug for drinking-water, the fields were plowed for food, work began at
sunrise and ceased at sunset; everyone was free and at ease; neither
competing with each other nor scheming against each other, and no one
was either glorified or humiliated. The waste lands had no paths or
roads and the waterways no boats or bridges, and because there were no
means of communication by land or water, people did not appropriate each
other’s property; no armies could be formed, and so people did not
attack one another. Indeed since no one climbed up to seek out nests nor
dived down to sift the waters of the deep, the phoenix nested under the
eaves of the house and dragons disported in the garden pool. The
ravening tiger could be trodden on, the poisonous snake handled. Men
could wade through swamps without raising the waterfowl, and enter the
woodlands without startling the fox or the hare. Since no one even began
to think of gaining power or seeking profit, no dire events or
rebellions occurred; and as spears and shields were not in use, moats
and ramparts did not have to be built. All creatures lived together in
mystic unity, all of them merged in the Way (Tao). Since they were not
visited by plague or pestilence, they could live out their lives and die
a natural death. Their hearts being pure, they were devoid of cunning.
Enjoying plentiful supplies of food, they strolled about with full
bellies. Their speech was not flowery, their behavior not ostentatious.
How, then, could there have been accumulation of property such as to rob
the people of their wealth, or severe punishments to trap and ensnare
them? When this age entered on decadence, knowledge and cunning came
into use. The Way and its Virtue (Tao te) having fallen into decay, a
hierarchy was established. Customary regulations for promotion and
degradation and for profit and loss proliferated, ceremonial garments
such as the [gentry’s] sash and sacrificial cap and the imperial blue
and yellow [robes for worshiping Heaven and Earth] were elaborated.
Buildings of earth and wood were raised high into the sky, with the
beams and rafters painted red and green. The heights were overturned in
quest of gems, the depths dived into in search of pearls; but however
vast a collection of precious stones people might have assembled, it
still would not have sufficed to satisfy their whims, and a whole
mountain of gold would not have been enough to meet their expenditure,
so sunk were they in depravity and vice, having transgressed against the
fundamental principles of the Great Beginning. Daily they became further
removed from the ways of their ancestors, and turned their back more and
more upon man’s original simplicity. Because they promoted the “worthy”
to office, ordinary people strove for reputation, and because they
prized material wealth, thieves and robbers appeared. The sight of
desirable objects tempted true and honest hearts, and the display of
arbitrary power and love of gain opened the road to robbery. So they
made weapons with points and with sharp edges, and after that there was
no end to usurpations and acts of aggression, and they were only afraid
lest crossbows should not be strong enough, shields stout enough, lances
sharp enough, and defences solid enough. Yet all this could have been
dispensed with if there had been no oppression and violence from the
start.
Therefore it has been said: “Who could make scepters without spoiling
the unblemished jade? And how could altruism and righteousness (jen and
i) be extolled unless the Way and its Virtue had perished?” Although
tyrants such as Chieh and Chou were able to burn men to death, massacre
their advisers, make mince-meat of the feudal lords, cut the barons into
strips, tear out men’s hearts and break their bones, and go to the
furthest extremes of tyrannical crime down to the use of torture by
roasting and grilling, however cruel they may by nature have been, how
could they have done such things if they had had to remain among the
ranks of the common people? If they gave way to their cruelty and lust
and butchered the whole empire, it was because, as rulers, they could do
as they pleased. As soon as the relationship between lord and subject is
established, hearts become daily more filled with evil designs, until
the manacled criminals sullenly doing forced labour in the mud and the
dust are full of mutinous thoughts, the Sovereign trembles with anxious
fear in his ancestral temple, and the people simmer with revolt in the
midst of their poverty and distress; and to try to stop them revolting
by means of rules and regulations, or control them by means of penalties
and punishments, is like trying to dam a river in full flood with a
handful of earth, or keeping the torrents of water back with one finger.