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The Mountain You See, the Mound You Trip Over
This article unpacks Han Feizi’s proverb: people stumble over tiny anthills, not towering mountains. Citing Bai Gui’s levee‑repair case, it stresses guarding against overlooked minor risks and relying on external rules rather than fragile inner willpower.
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Why the Right Advice Can Still Make You a Suspect
This article analyses Han Fei’s “suspect the neighbour” fable. Identical sound advice can trigger suspicion, depending on the speaker’s positional‑relational standing, not argument merit. It stresses structural awareness before offering critical counsel.
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The Spear, the Shield, and the Trap of Wanting Both
This essay re‑examines Han Fei’s famous spear‑and‑shield parable. Beyond warning against boasting, it uncovers self‑deception from pursuing incompatible goals, urging awareness of which set of rules one is actually following.
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Han Fei on Not Becoming Someone Else’s Piece
This essay explores Han Fei’s defensive framework: conceal intentions, cross‑verify information, and adopt unassuming outward demeanour. It warns against becoming manipulable by being overly legible to others, drawing Legalist state‑craft for modern‑day self‑protection.
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From “investigating things” to “extending knowledge
This passage is a famous commentary by Zhu Xi, in his Commentary on the Great Learning, on the concept of “Investigation of Things” (Gewu) from the Great Learning (Daxue). It represents the cornerstone of Neo-Confucian epistemology and moral psychology.
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The Bride Who Was Told She Would Be Divorced
This article unpacks a parable from Han Feizi about a bride whose pre‑emptive self‑protection brought about her predicted divorce. It explores self‑fulfilling prophecy, “pre‑knowledge”, and advocates verifying reality instead of acting on unproven assumptions.