Signs of Ruin

Whenever the ruler’s state is small and the private power of his ministers is great, the ruler’s authority is light and the ministers’ influence is heavy, ruin may follow. When they slight laws and decrees and devote themselves to scheming, neglect domestic affairs and rely on foreign alliances, ruin may follow. When the multitude of ministers engage in private learning, the sons of nobles delight in disputation, merchants accumulate wealth abroad, and the common people prize private feuds, ruin may follow. When they delight in building palaces, towers, terraces, ponds, and moats, pursue chariots, robes, vessels, and toys to excess, exhaust the people with labor, and squander their wealth recklessly, ruin may follow. When they conduct affairs with regard to auspicious days, sacrifice to ghosts and spirits, trust in divination, and delight in lavish ceremonies, ruin may follow. When they trust only those of high rank without verification, and employ one person as a gate (i.e., rely on one man’s sole judgment), ruin may follow. When offices can be obtained through influence and rank and salary can be bought with wealth, ruin may follow. When the ruler is slow and indecisive, weak and irresolute, with likes and dislikes unsettled and lacking fixed views, ruin may follow. When insatiably covetous, pursuing profit and delighting in acquisition, ruin may follow. When delighting in flowery words that do not accord with law, fond of disputation without seeking practical use, indulging in ornate style while disregarding results, ruin may follow. When shallow and easily seen through, leaking secrets without concealment, unable to be discreet and passing words of the multitude of ministers back and forth, ruin may follow. When fierce, stubborn, and unyielding, rejecting remonstrance and contending for superiority, disregarding the state’s interests and being rashly self-confident, ruin may follow. When relying on foreign aid and slighting neighboring states, trusting in the rescue of powerful forces and insulting states that press close, ruin may follow. When wandering scholars lodge abroad, store up great wealth in foreign lands, intervene above in state plans, and interfere below in the people’s affairs, ruin may follow. When the people trust the chancellor, ministers do not respect the ruler, and the ruler loves and trusts the chancellor but cannot dismiss him, ruin may follow. When outstanding talents within the state are not employed, but scholars from abroad are sought, when merit is not examined, but men are promoted on reputation, causing wandering scholars suddenly to become noble and lord it over original ministers, ruin may follow. When the legitimate heir is slighted, and sons by concubines rival him, when the heir apparent is not fixed and the ruler dies, ruin may follow. When inwardly arrogant and not repenting, when the state is in chaos and the ruler thinks it is well-ordered, when domestic resources are not measured and the ruler lightly makes enemies of neighboring states, ruin may follow. When the state is small and does not occupy a humble position, when strength is weak and the ruler does not fear powerful enemies, when without ritual and propriety the ruler insults great neighboring states, when greedy and stubborn with clumsy diplomacy, ruin may follow. When the heir apparent has already been established, and a daughter from a powerful enemy state is taken as the principal wife, then the heir apparent is endangered, and the multitude of ministers change their minds; when the ministers change their minds, ruin may follow. When timid and weak, clinging to old ways, though foreseeing problems but inwardly weak, knowing what should be done but after deciding not daring to act, ruin may follow. When the ruler flees abroad and a new ruler is set up in the state, when the heir apparent is a hostage abroad and the ruler establishes another heir, then the state will split; when the state splits, ruin may follow. When the ruler humiliates a great minister and then approaches and mocks him, when he punishes and kills the people and violates the principles of employing them, when ministers and people harbor anger and shame and specialize in revenge, then assassins arise; when assassins arise, ruin may follow. When among the great ministers two are equal in power, when the scions of the ruling house are many and strong, forming factions with internal and external support to contend for power, ruin may follow. When the ruler heeds the words of concubines and adopts the schemes of favored ministers, when inside and outside are resentful and repeatedly act unlawfully, ruin may follow. When the ruler treats great ministers lightly and insults them, is discourteous to fathers and elder brothers, toils the people, and kills the innocent, ruin may follow. When the ruler delights in altering laws through cleverness, often interferes with public law for private ends, changes decrees, and issues orders repeatedly, ruin may follow. When there is no dangerous terrain, city walls are broken, there are no reserves, goods are insufficient, and there is no preparation for defense or war yet the ruler lightly launches attacks, ruin may follow. When the ruler’s lifespan is short, and deaths follow in succession, when an infant is ruler and great ministers monopolize power, when they set up wandering scholars as partisans, and repeatedly cede territory to await foreign aid, ruin may follow. When the heir apparent is noble and prominent, his partisans many and powerful, his alliances with great states extensive, and his authority already fully established, ruin may follow. When narrow and irritable, light and impulsive, angry without regard for consequences, ruin may follow. When the ruler is given to anger and delights in warfare, treats fundamental instruction lightly and lightly starts wars, ruin may follow. When noble ministers envy each other, the power of great ministers is strong, they borrow the strength of enemy states abroad, and harass the people at home, to attack their foes, while the ruler does not execute them, ruin may follow. When the ruler is not worthy and a son by a concubine is worthy, when the heir apparent is slight and the son by a concubine is strong, when officials are weak and the people are strong, then the state will be unsettled; when the state is unsettled, ruin may follow. When they harbor resentment without erupting, when they suspend crimes without punishing, causing the multitude of ministers to hate secretly and become more anxious, while the ruler long remains unaware of the situation, ruin may follow. When sending out troops, the general’s authority is too heavy, when the border officials’ status is too exalted, when they make decisions alone and act without reporting, ruin may follow. When the principal wife is licentious, the ruler’s mother has illicit conduct, inside and outside are confused, men and women are not distinguished, this is called having two rulers; when two rulers exist, ruin may follow. When the principal wife is lowly and concubines are noble, when the heir apparent is humble and sons by concubines are eminent, when the chancellor’s power is light and close attendants’ power is heavy, then inside and outside will be at odds; when inside and outside are at odds, ruin may follow. When great ministers are extremely noble, their private partisans many and strong, they block the ruler’s decisions and monopolize power to control the state, ruin may follow. When officials from private gates are employed, and those with military merit are discarded, when village good men are promoted, and those with actual duties and accomplishments are dismissed, when private virtue is valued and public merit is slighted, ruin may follow. When the public treasury is empty and great ministers are wealthy, when regular households are poor and wandering lodgers are rich, when farmers and soldiers are distressed, and merchants and craftsmen profit, ruin may follow. When they see great profit and do not pursue it, hear of disaster and do not guard against it, are shallow in matters of war and defense, and devote themselves to adorning themselves with benevolence and righteousness, ruin may follow. When they do not practice the filial piety of a ruler, but admire the filial piety of commoners, when they disregard the state’s interests and obey the orders of the ruler’s mother, when women rule the state and the castrated hold power, ruin may follow. When words are eloquent but not in accord with law, when the mind is clever but without technique, when the ruler has many abilities but does not act according to law, ruin may follow. When trusted ministers are advanced and old ministers are retired, when the unworthy hold power and the worthy are hidden, when the meritless are honored and the toiling are debased, then the people will resent; when the people resent, ruin may follow. When the salaries and ranks of fathers, elder brothers, and great ministers exceed their merit, when their robes and regalia overstep the grades, when their palaces and sustenance are overly lavish, and the ruler does not prohibit it, then the ministers’ greed knows no bounds; when the ministers’ greed knows no bounds, ruin may follow. When the ruler’s sons-in-law and grandsons live in the same gate with the common people, and are violent and arrogant toward neighbors, ruin may follow.

The signs of ruin do not mean that ruin is certain, but that ruin is possible. Two Yáo cannot rule each other; two Jié cannot destroy each other. The key to ruin or kingship must be the disparity between order and chaos, strength and weakness. A tree’s breaking is certainly due to grubs; a wall’s collapse is certainly due to cracks. Yet though a tree has grubs, without a strong wind it will not break; though a wall has cracks, without a heavy rain it will not collapse. A ruler with ten thousand war chariots, if he can employ technique and practice law, becoming the strong wind and heavy rain for rulers who show signs of ruin, then annexing the world will not be difficult!