The perils of power: Confucius advises Duke Ding on leadership

Richard Brown
2 min readDec 26, 2024

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Confucius warns Duke Ding, the titular ruler of his home state of Lu, that there are no easy answers to complex issues of governance in Chapter 15 from Book 13 of The Analects. He advises that for a state to thrive, a ruler must commit wholeheartedly to his duties, heed the counsel of his ministers, and guard against the dangers of arrogance. Here is the passage in its entirety:

Duke Ding asked: “Is there one single saying that can ensure the prosperity of a state?” Confucius replied: “No single saying could have such an effect. There is a saying, however: ‘It is difficult to be a ruler; it is not easy to be a minister.’ A saying that could make the ruler understand the difficulty of his task would come close to ensuring the prosperity of the state.” “Is there one single saying that can ruin a state?” Confucius replied: “No single saying could have such an effect. There is a saying, however: ‘There is nothing I love more about being a ruler than never having to be contradicted.’ If you are right and nobody contradicts you, that is great; but if you are wrong and nobody contradicts you, wouldn’t this come close to being a case of ‘one single saying that can ruin a state?’”

定公問:「一言而可以興邦,有諸?」孔子對曰:「言不可以若是其幾也!人之言曰:『為君難,為臣不易。』如知為君之難也,不幾乎一言而興邦乎?」曰:「一言而喪邦,有諸?」孔子對曰:「言不可以若是其幾也!人之言曰:『予無樂乎為君,唯其言而莫予違也。』如其善而莫之違也,不亦善乎?如不善而莫之違也,不幾乎一言而喪邦乎?」

In theory, officials in ancient China were duty-bound to remonstrate with their rulers when they believed a decision was flawed. However, given the potentially fatal consequences of upsetting an all-powerful leader, many preferred to remain silent and nod in agreement with whatever insane idea he came up with even if this meant that the state would spiral into ruin.

Duke Ding (魯定公) reigned from around 509 BCE to 495 BCE. Although he elevated Confucius to his highest official position as Minister of Justice (大司寇), the duke was ultimately at least indirectly responsible for Confucius’s decision to go into exile because of his inability to control the Three Families, who were the de facto rulers of the state. Indeed, Duke Ding was said to be so weak that he was described as the kind of ruler who “held the blade of the sword and offered the handle to his enemies.”

Related Links
Leadership Lessons from Confucius: one single saying
The Analects of Confucius Book 13 New English Translation

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Richard Brown
Richard Brown

Written by Richard Brown

I live in Taiwan and am interested in exploring what ancient Chinese philosophy can tell us about technology and the rise of modern China.

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