The Aim Is That There Be No Litigation at All

answered by Analects of Confucius, Yan Yuan

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🎬 TODAY'S FILM — IT ASKS THIS

The Story of Qiu Ju (1992)

dir. Zhang Yimou · China

When what a person clings to for so long is not punishment but a single sincere apology, what, after all, is justice? How far is the distance between the cold verdict the law hands down and the dignity a person truly wishes to have restored?

THE QUESTION THE FILM ASKS

Absorbed only in who wins or loses the verdict, do I miss what the other truly wishes to have restored?

THE CLASSIC'S ANSWER · ORIGINAL

必也使無訟乎

聽訟吾猶人也必也使無訟乎

📜 THE CLASSIC'S ANSWER

In hearing suits I am like anyone else; what matters is to bring it about that there be no suits at all.

💡 TL;DR

Confucius saw true governance not in judging suits well but in bringing it about that there be no suits at all.

📝The Classic Answers

Confucius saw true governance not in judging suits well but in bringing it about that there be no suits at all. A verdict divides winner from loser, but what a person truly wants is often a restored dignity and a sincere apology. When what someone has long sought is not punishment but a single word of apology, the law's cold conclusion cannot reach that heart. Before absorbing myself in dividing right from wrong, I choose first to listen for what the other truly wishes to restore.

— ONGO · Curator

🌱Apply It Today

If there was a dispute today, ask once — beyond winning — what the other wishes to have restored.

📖 Classic Source: Analects of Confucius, Yan Yuan. Ancient text in the public domain; rendered and interpreted independently by ONGO.
The film is honored as an equal questioner; its plot is rendered only as a universal dilemma. The classic source is an ancient text (Public Domain), and the reflection is 100% original ONGO content.