Loss of morality followed by virtue, loss of virtue followed by benevolence, loss of benevolence followed by righteousness, loss of righteousness followed by courtesy. The husband is the head of the faithful and the thin.

- Tao Te Ching

The so-called way of the emperor in the past, many people understand it as power and trickery, first of all, of course, there is such a thing as power, but it is only a technique, not a way.

Here is a question, that is, the four methods of governing the country mentioned by Shang Jun mentioned earlier, which are the three ways of emperor hegemony, and the other is the art of strengthening the country. That is to say, it is different from art. Technique is only a method, a means, to solve the immediate problem, and the Tao is to solve the fundamental problem. Therefore, the way of the emperor and the art of the emperor are completely different.

So what is the way of the emperor? The way of the five emperors and the three kings, to be specific, is benevolence, righteousness and morality.

Let's talk about a problem here, I talked about the many benefits of etiquette earlier, so let's talk about its disadvantages first, and the disadvantage of etiquette is hypocrisy.

Why? To put it simply, etiquette is to use external forms to make people good, and the Fa is to use external punishment to make people not evil. Both of these are on the same level, the level of appearance, not in the heart. To put it bluntly, many people's etiquette is to show it to others, isn't it hypocrisy to be different in form and spirit? Therefore the rite alone is the first of the thin and chaotic of faithfulness.

Of course, this is a form of pure etiquette, but with the addition of connotation, it is different. Benevolence and righteousness are the connotation of etiquette, it is higher than etiquette, Liu Bei reprimanded Xu Yan seems to be rude, but Xu Yan, as a celebrity, does not think of the way to save the world when the world is in turmoil, but asks for help, it is unjust, Liu Bei reprimands it is benevolence and righteousness, so no one said that he was rude. Shang Tang's defeat of King Wu was not in accordance with the law of etiquette, but it was regarded as benevolence and righteousness because it drove out tyranny, so benevolence and righteousness were higher than propriety.

When it comes to benevolence, righteousness and morality, in fact, it is four different levels, from high to low, Tao, virtue, benevolence, and righteousness, and each level also has up and down.

To be virtuous or not to be virtuous is to be virtuous; Virtue is not lost, but there is no virtue. Shangde does nothing but does nothing; Under virtue and inaction, there is thought. Shangren did not do anything for it; The righteousness is for it. If you don't respond to it, you throw it with your arms crossed.

To put it simply, etiquette is only in the form of goodness, but is it really goodness? Not necessarily. Benevolence and righteousness are good, but the benevolent person has no intention to do it, righteousness is to do it with the heart, and the level of virtue is also divided up and down, and the closer to the upper level, the more inaction.

It can also be understood in this way, the ritual law is at one level, through external forces, people are required to go to good and evil, the master of rituals is good and the master of the law is evil. But this is all an external force, and it is not in the heart, so if this external force is gone, people will still do bad things.

Wang Dao is benevolent and righteous, benevolence is good, benevolence is nothing, so wide, righteousness is thoughtful, so narrow. The existence of benevolence and righteousness is to eliminate evil and promote good, and use various actions such as widely exercising benevolent government, punishing adultery and eliminating evil, and even promoting benevolent and righteous teachers like Tang and Wu to hang the people and fight crimes, etc., all of which are promising.

There is benevolence and righteousness in the waste of the avenue; Wisdom has great hypocrisy; Six relatives are not in harmony and have filial piety; The country is in turmoil and has loyal subjects.

Everything advocated by benevolence and righteousness, including loyalty and filial piety, is caused by the abandonment of the avenue and the corruption of society, and if there is evil in society, benevolence and righteousness are needed, and if there is no evil in society, then there is no need to be benevolent, wise, filial piety, and faithful. The ultimate goal of benevolence and righteousness is morality, why is it called benevolence and morality? Yes, there is.

Therefore, the Yellow Emperor and Yao Shun govern the country and talk about ruling by inaction, and the emperor does nothing, and our people don't understand that the government is not chaotic in the world? They attain non-action through emphasizing virtue. To be virtuous or not to be virtuous is to be virtuous. What we usually think of as virtue, such as honesty, kindness, integrity, and so on, is of course virtue, but this is still in the category of lower virtue, because when people emphasize these virtues, their opposites such as hypocrisy, evil, treachery, and so on still exist.

And to the realm of virtue is not like this, virtue is not virtue, even the concept of integrity is gone, everyone is taken for granted to tell the truth, what is integrity? For such a person, honesty will make him fall, because the concept of honesty will involve his opposite, that is, hypocrisy, which may stimulate people to panic.

In addition, some people think that Taoism talks about foolishness, and they feel that Taoism is to make people stupid, and then they say that the family and the Legalist are one. In fact, this understanding is wrong, wisdom has great hypocrisy, because there is hypocrisy in the world and wisdom is needed to distinguish, so if there is no hypocrisy, there is no need for this? When the world is in chaos, people need to be saved, and there is benevolence and righteousness in the aboreness of the Great Dao, so the whole society stresses morality, and finally reaches the realm of virtue or even Taoism, what do you need to be benevolent and righteous? That's what he's talking about. It is wrong to have something to do in the realm of non-action, but for the five turbid and evil worlds, benevolence and righteousness are as bright as the sun.