The Analects – Chapter 78 (4.13). The politics of yielding

4.13

The Master said, “If it is really possible to govern countries by ritual and yielding, there is no more to be said. But if it is not really possible, of what use is ritual?”

子曰：「能以禮讓為國乎？何有？不能以禮讓為國，如禮何？」

Notes

Amid the Spring and Autumn period‘s chaos–lords vying for hegemony, ministers usurping power–Confucius diagnosed the root cause: absence of yielding. His statement confronts this “ritual without yielding” disorder, asserting ritual yielding as the soul of ritual propriety and the bedrock of governance.

Strife breeds national chaos:

• Lords contend for dominance,
• Ministers scramble for power,
• People clash over interests.

Ritual yielding offers harmony:

• Rulers yield power to righteousness (no abuse),
• Ministers yield position to duty (no usurpation),
• People yield gain to others (no greed).

Thus emerges “orderly hierarchy and national peace”.

Yielding is ritual’s animating spirit; non-contention is governance’s core. Ritual yielding is not passive retreat but active restraint and mutual respect, forging harmony for individuals, communities, and the state.

Youzi also said:

“The function of ritual propriety lies in promoting harmony – that is its greatest value. The way of the ancient kings excelled precisely in this, following this principle in matters both great and small. Yet there are cases where this does not work: pursuing harmony merely for the sake of harmony, without regulating it by the bounds of ritual propriety, is also unacceptable.”(Analects 1.12)

This quote shares the same emphasis on the spiritual core of ritual propriety as the notion of “governing a state with ritual and deference” – harmony and deference are mutually complementary, being the outward and inward aspects of one another. Without deference, there can be no genuine harmony; without ritual propriety, harmony will fall into disorder. It underscores that ritual propriety serves as the institutional guarantee for deference and harmony, while deference is the ultimate value goal of ritual propriety.