Confucius said, "Governing the country by virtue is like the Polaris in its place and the stars ***(gǒng)."

Confucius said: "Taking morality as the center of political work is like determining the center of Polaris, and other stars will naturally surround it."

Beichen, also known as Polaris, is a symbol of the northern sky. Ancient astronomers admired Polaris very much, thinking that it was fixed and all the stars revolved around it. Political activities are complicated, but as long as we grasp the program of "ruling the country by virtue", we will grasp the crux of the problem, just as we have defined the position of the North Pole star, and other stars are around it. This chapter, as a 1 chapter of "doing politics", comes straight to the point, indicating the center of political work: no outline, no virtue and no standing.

In this way, many people will be unconvinced and think that Confucius does not understand politics, because in real life, politics is more about "Machiavellian": superficial efforts, good relations with leaders, several achievements projects, plus some image packaging and event hype, there is hope for promotion. Confucius must also know that he was an official for four years and was a senior scout, taking pictures on his behalf, so he could not understand the bad habits in officialdom. Under the principle of "applying what you have learned" in The Analects of Confucius, "being second" is the beginning of politics. He directly pointed out the virtue behind Machiavelli. What most people think of as official luck, something that cannot be dominated, is precisely virtue.

Looking back at history, it is indeed reflected in the tactics of emperors and generals, but during the real period of peace and prosperity in China, the moral cultivation of its monarchs and officials was quite high. Li Shimin once bluntly said: "The Lord of mortals is only in Germany." Liu Bei also said: "Don't do it because of small evils, and don't do it because of small goodness. Only virtue and virtue can serve people. " During the Zhenguan period, politics was clear, economy was developed and culture was prosperous. There is almost no corruption in the whole society, and Li Shimin did not hurt the loyalty of the founding fathers. These articles are extremely rare in the history of China, and their deep-seated reasons are closely related to the integrity of, Fang and Du Ruhui. The historical period when villains and courtiers came to power was a political dark period, which was short-lived, just as fraudsters and robbers could enjoy the scenery for a while, but could not dominate the political situation for a long time. According to the wisdom of Buddhism, power and wealth cannot be forced. He is a by-product of morality and ability. Even though you made a lot of efforts, you still got what you deserved. Therefore, those bad habits in officialdom that deviate from "ruling the country by virtue" are just reckless.

I hope I can help you! I wish you a happy study!