personal conduct

  • Han Feizi – Chapter 23.18

    Han Feizi uses dusty palace pottery as a metaphor: dirty earthenware turns clean after washing. Likewise, regular self-examination and correcting personal flaws help people reduce mistakes in daily conduct and official work.

  • The Analects – Chapter 12 (1.12). Ritual and harmony

    Master You said, “In the usages of ritual it is harmony that is prized. In the ways prescribed by the ancient kings, this is the excellent quality, and in things small and great people follow them. But there are times when it does not work: if harmony is blindly pursued without regulation by the…