溫故知新 Old wisdom, today’s insight — ONGO
What Is Wealth and Honor Gained Without Righteousness, to Me?
Wealth and status gained by unjust means — even held in hand, can they truly be called one's own?
Wealth and honor gained without righteousness are, to me, like a drifting cloud.
Confucius's standard, drawn in the image of a drifting cloud, became central to the Confucian view of wealth. Mencius carried it forward, specifying the principle of just acquisition: seeking success by wrongful means, whether for oneself or for others, is never acceptable. Legalists, by contrast, considered such a moral yardstick unrealistic, prioritizing the efficiency of results over the legitimacy of means in the name of a wealthy and strong state. Does the process of gaining wealth matter as much as the result itself? This old question runs through the whole of economic ethics, East and West.
The greater the temptation to believe that only the outcome matters, the more urgent this ancient standard becomes — asking whether the means, too, can stand in the light.
Confucius said that even eating coarse rice and pillowing one's head on a bent arm, joy could still be found within — and he likened wealth and honor gained without righteousness to a drifting cloud.
📝I, Too, Stand Before It
Confucius said that even eating coarse rice and pillowing one's head on a bent arm, joy could still be found within — and he likened wealth and honor gained without righteousness to a drifting cloud. A drifting cloud fills the sky for a moment but cannot be held and soon scatters. I do not read this as a denial of wealth itself, but as pointing out that what is gained unjustly was never truly one's own to begin with. I too weigh today whether the gain in front of me truly belongs to me, or is a cloud soon to scatter.
✍️Your Answer
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