He who steals the hook will be punished, and he who steals the country will be punished(qiè gōu zhě zhū，qiè guó zhě hóu)

He who steals the hook will be punished, and he who steals the country will be punished

Those who steal the hook will be executed, while those who usurp the power will become princes. In order to satirize the hypocrisy and irrationality of law, it is hypocritical to extend the meaning to reality.

This sentence negates the way of sages and embodies Taoist thought.

Those who steal the hook will be punished. Here "hook" does not mean hook. This refers to ancient belt "with hook".

source

Chuang Tzu's box: "those who steal the hook will be punished, and those who steal the country will be vassals; the door of vassals is where benevolence and righteousness exist." (hook: with hook. Those who steal a hook will be punished and put to death, while those who steal a country will be princes. The family of princes has the name of benevolence and righteousness. Isn't that the plagiarized benevolence and righteousness sage It shows Zhuangzi's cold outside and hot inside, and his cynicism. In fact, Chuang Tzu's writing of this article is not at all a condemnation of the so-called "crimes committed by powerful people". The whole article holds that "saints are born to be thieves" and "saints do not die, but thieves do not stop." he emphasizes that we should "abandon saints and knowledge" in order to return to the quiet and simple situation of the archaic times. Obviously, Zhuangzi's article denies "the way of sages". the so-called "stealing the country" in the article refers to "Tian Chengzi killed Qi Jun and stole his country". Tian Chengzi, or Tian Heng, was a doctor of the state of Qi. In the 14th year of Duke AI of Lu, Tian Heng first killed Duke Jian of Qi. Later, when he came to his great grandson Tian He, he expelled Duke Kang to the sea and became a Marquis of Qi. Seeing this period of history, Zhuangzi believed that what Tian Heng and his gang had stolen was not only the state of Qi, but also the "sage's way" of establishing the state of Qi. In the end, they used this "sage's way" to protect the spoils they had stolen. So Chuang Tzu thinks that those who are generally recognized as smart people tightly seal their belongings in boxes, bags and cupboards, which is just convenient for the robbers to move them; and the "way of saints" is popular in the world, which can be used by the robbers to beautify and cover up the fact of their wrongdoing, so he says, "is there anyone who knows in the secular world who is not accumulated by the robbers? Is there a saint who is not a thief? It's reasonable to think about it. Since ancient times, which one of those who "stole" the country admitted that he was "stolen"? The mutiny of Zhao Kuangyin and Chen Qiaoyi was due to "obedience to nature" and forced the Later Zhou Shaozhu to abdicate and establish the Song Dynasty by himself; Kublai Khan of the Yuan Empire destroyed the Southern Song Dynasty in order to "condone the people and commit crimes"; Zhu Yuanzhang held high the national righteousness of "expelling Tartars" and overthrew the alien rule and established the Ming Dynasty. Don't they all conform to the "way of saints"? Zhuangzi said: with douhu to measure rice grain, some people use douhu to cheat; with weighing to weigh things, some people use weighing to cheat. Isn't "the way of saints" the same? Good people and bad people can flaunt "the way of saints". If there are fewer good people and more bad people in the society, wouldn't "the way of saints" benefit the society less and harm the society more? Therefore, he said, "a good man can't do anything. If the way of a saint is not established, the way of a saint can't do anything. If there are few good people but not many good people in the world, then the benefit of a saint is less and the harm to the world is more." The sage warned us that we should not be greedy for ill gotten gains, so those who steal such worthless things as belts must be punished. But at the same time, the sage also said that they should be obedient to the nature and commit crimes. Therefore, those who succeed in "stealing the country" can use these Grand principles as an excuse to build and maintain what they have stolen. The beginning said: "those who steal the hook will be punished, those who steal the country will be vassals, and the gate of vassals will be benevolent and righteous." If we say that in the past, the world was governed by the way of sages, and today disputes are settled by the legal system, isn't what Zhuangzi's theory points out today just the limitations of the legal system itself? The law can punish evil, but will it be used by those who are engaged in illegal activities? The securities trading system can develop the social economy. Will it also become the accomplice of those clever people to cheat the unfair interests? From Zhuangzi's point of view, all legal classics and systems must be coarse-grained and have their limitations.

example

The gate of marquis is benevolent and righteous. Preface to biographies of Rangers in historical records by Sima Qian in Western Han Dynasty

Chinese PinYin : qiè gōu zhě zhū，qiè guó zhě hóu