AnonyMencius Boshu :verywise: on Nostr: The Master replied, "It is from good intention that your clan leader insists on these ...

The Master replied, "It is from good intention that your clan leader insists on these things, for diligence towards all things under Heaven is virtue. However, when he insists on this to excess- when he calls for water during a drought to clean his carriage instead of satiate the people's thirst, this is no longer right conduct (理) but prodigality. Master Kong (孔夫子) taught that when a leader loses the love of his people in such a way, it is right to overthrow him (Analects 11.17)."

The Master replied, "The most beautiful things under Heaven are the Five Constant Virtues (五常). When you have taught these to your wife, as all husbands should do as one of the Three Fundamental Bonds (五倫), she will no longer plead with you to praise her many charms or seek out aberrant avenues for alluring you."

The Master replied, "When a man grows too zealous to mingle his essence (合氣), he will compromise his standards of beauty and right conduct expected in a wife. When men continue to compromise, ugly and unvirtuous women grow haughty and puff themselves up, believing they deserve more than even Heaven would tolerate. It is only if men stand strong, willing even to embrace the life of a hermit for a time, that women will relearn their proper place under Heaven."

quoting
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I have spoken with many brethren and found consternations great and small:

- Wise master Boshu, our clan head insists on a spotless carriage, no matter the rains that come. He believes it is wise to pursue the attainment of perfection and cleanliness in all things; that he appears trustworthy in stewardship over all things within his purview

- Wise Boshu, my concubine believes I fail to adequately cherish one of her proudest charms! How can I get her to see that it is not the way of heaven to be smitten with bound feet?

- Boshu-tai, a woman of great heft and manifold chins has obtained, by the grace of heaven, a man far greater than her charms could ever entreat into love. She believes her paramour, an herbalist, accept the financial burden of her former husband's spoiled children? Is the way of heaven such that good men must lay upon the pyre in such a case?