用曰

Yòng Yuē 用曰

The Common Saying (modern editorial title; 用曰 is the text’s recurring attributive formula — literally “it is said in common usage” or “the saying goes” — introducing each aphorism or gnomic statement)

(anonymous; excavated bamboo manuscript, no attributable author)

About the work

Yòng Yuē 用曰 is one of the texts in 馬承源 Mǎ Chéngyuán ed., 《上海博物館藏戰國楚竹書》 vol. 6, Shànghǎi gǔjí chūbǎnshè 上海古籍出版社, 2007, comprising approximately 21 bamboo strips. The text is an aphoristic miscellany organized around a recurring introductory formula yòng yuē 用曰 — “the saying goes” or “it is commonly said” — that introduces blocks of gnomic wisdom. Unlike most Shanghai Museum texts, Yòng Yuē does not have a narrative or dialogue frame; it is a pure collection of moral maxims, warnings against political failures, and prescriptions for virtuous governance.

Abstract

The text begins (partially damaged) with a reflection on the human situation: “People at their birth have many dangers and difficulties in reaching maturity. Drawing close to them through contentment and pleasure; moving them away through harsh punishments; the heart, eyes, and words are the constant channels of success and failure; if the three nodes are not yet mastered, [one’s] life is entangled.”

The aphorisms that follow (introduced by 用曰) include:

• “Familiarly vulgar toward one’s lord, familiarly hostile — [be] disciplined and organized, sparse and sparse; in affairs, do not associate with those who have a method; weigh the method, emphasize virtue; brave difficulties, court disasters — not confused by wealth, but also vigorously striving; do not forget the lord.”
• “Guard what has achieved virtue, close off one’s words, self-restrict…”
• “Virtue runs toward ease; be restrained, willing to abandon faults; the Five Punishments are not employed — the dark grows darker, the bright grows brighter; the people daily find pleasure, taking turns [in work], the accomplishments are without end and without an enemy — but also cannot…”
• “Serve vigorously: the red-crested insects fly like kites, receiving things from Heaven; the people’s making of things — only words have trust; look forward and look back; long-lasting benefits — be correct in these.”
• “Muddle the heart and cling to thoughts — each has its different diagram; the source flows are exhausted — how can [the stream] not dry up?” And: “Lips gone, teeth feel cold (chún wáng chǐ hán 脣亡齒寒) — every respectful person, not respectful of others but guarding their own body; treads its guiding lines…”
• “Blame the crowd’s words for abandoning and being careless; slow slow, simple simple — their appearance is embarrassed; pit-like and dangerous, dangerous — viewing themselves as thin/unimportant; truly can one be careful! The selection of words — fear having a martial heart [= aggressive intent].”
• “Build virtue, store kindness; truly preserve it, urgent — not Jì’s planting, yet one can drink and eat; accumulating to fill below Heaven, yet none can obtain it.” And: “Rather than having preserved wealth, better to have preserved virtue — facing difficulty…”
• “Flowing words… causing people to forget civic virtue; internally creating dissension among the crowd, making them turn against each other. Calamity does not descend from Heaven, nor does it emerge from Earth — uniquely the heart harms itself.”
• “Hard-working people have no followers — saying Heaven is high and never reached; saying Earth is thick and never penetrated — the words are in the household, and none disdain my tongue…”
• “Once it has come out of the mouth, it cannot be regretted — like an arrow that has left the bow.” And: “Mumbling its calamity without being able to retract — the tongue is not clever argument…”
• “Do not be bound by Heaven, but be bound by humans — only the lord purchases ministers, not with goods as payment, having dignity in the heart, auspicious virtue, auspicious planning; when the heart’s dignity is balanced, the people are properly guided…”
• “Do not engage in dark-dark affairs; a powerful lord’s domineering governance, brandishing military might abroad; cleverest at hunting military affairs, diminishing the four limits, establishing law and applying punishment, pushing the people to the ultimate of battle-defeat — he must have a continuing plan, but it is difficult to have benevolence toward the people.”
• “Being servile morning and evening, clever with those on the left and right — familiar and not respectful; reporting what the crowd fears and taboos; what the accepted commands observe; the origins of speech-disobedience; the branches and leaves of crime — the good person can think about this.”
• “Widowers respect themselves; grant civil kindness and martial virtue; respectful and excellent in completing affairs; make use of original color; simplify those who have constant forms; be solemn with those who have imposing presence; pacify those who have peace.”
• “None of the crowd is deceived; compete until you cannot pass the bone; expand it until you cannot violate the crowd; [the crowd of] calamitous remonstrants — be ashamed to hear evil plans; affairs that have achieved no accomplishment — the crowd…”
• “People have no culture — words are chapters; initiate affairs, make intentions, comprehend their center; achieve broad plans to enrich the crowd; encourage the people’s livelihood; set up teachers and leaders; establish the governance of construction; discuss remonstrance…”

Genre. Yòng Yuē belongs to the genre of aphoristic wisdom collections with gnomic formulas, similar to the Yúcóng 語叢 texts from Guodian KR2p0028 and comparable to the “field” sections (piān 篇) of the Guǎnzǐ 管子. The yòng yuē formula itself may refer to proverbial sayings in common use (yòng 用 = “employed/used/common”), similar to the shī yuē 詩曰 formula used to introduce Odes citations. The text’s concerns — avoiding political disasters, maintaining virtue under difficult circumstances, the ruler’s relationship to ministers and people — reflect the governance preoccupations of Warring States political culture.

Translations and research

• 馬承源 ed., 《上海博物館藏戰國楚竹書》 vol. 6, Shànghǎi gǔjí chūbǎnshè, 2007 — editio princeps with extensive philological notes.
• Pines, Yuri. Envisioning Eternal Empire. University of Hawai’i Press, 2009 — background on Warring States political aphorism traditions.

Links

• Wikipedia (Shanghai Museum bamboo texts): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Museum_bamboo_texts