君刑 Noble Fairness
with Confucius Quotes
(PD) Japanese Garden
Copyright ©2019 August 14, 2019
(Note: this article is a variation of the lengthier article Fairness.)
Today, not far distant from the rarity of the word 'noble', is the word 'fairness'. People are no longer heard to speak of fairness... laws no longer focus upon fairness... the idea of noble fairness is as an unknown.
刑 (xing), from an outsider point of view, might imply 'punish, punishment, rule of law', but from the insider point of view, it might imply 'even, level, same height cut'. As observed by outsiders, xing implies an act of justice that is physically forced upon people... as self-observed within one's own self, xing is the act of judging fairly, of mentally determining a balanced weight between two or more things: fairness.
The definitions shift relative to outside and inside... individuals who desire favoritism for themselves, they may interpret xing to be as a rule of law that punishes disobedience... but to the noble man, whose mind is actively weighing proportions of events, xing implies the mental judging of what is proportionately balanced.
The tiny man, he desires self-gain without regard to other people... the noble man, he logically concludes what is fair for all people. The tiny man, his mind and heart are narrow of selfishness, and can only think of what he can gain for himself... the noble man, his mind is of widths, heights, depths, and durations of what is balanced for many simultaneous events without permitting the balances to be uneven in favor of one individual.
'Confucius say: Noble man bosom virtue, tiny person bosom earthen-products. Noble man bosom fairness, tiny person bosom favoritism.' (Chidao draft version of a Confucius quote from 里仁 Li Ren (Inner Benevolence) #11)
'Poem say: "Not show only virtue, one-hundred laws him fairness it." Is therefore noble man sincere, polite, and heaven below level-peaceful.' (Chidao draft version of a Confucius quote from 中庸 Zhong Yong (Middle Use, aka Doctrine of the Mean) #33-6)
As the simile was given in Noble, the noble man's virtue is as a 12 core twenty-four thread 4ghz CPU as compared to a single core 4mhz CPU... the speed and quantity of the noble man's reasoning is huge as compared to the tiny man's... the tiny man, cannot so much as adequately judge fairness relative to two little things, but the noble man, is as consciously weighing a hundred rules of virtue simultaneously.
Where, today, is noble fairness being spoken of? It is not spoken of on television, not spoken of in movies, not spoken of in schools, not spoken of in books... today's cultures place no value upon, nor have an interest in, noble fairness. Nevertheless, noble fairness is but one of the many excellent topics within Confucian texts.