Sacred Books of the East Vol. 40 - Taoism Vol. 2

{p. 195} disorder. When the officials attend to their duties, and the common people are anxiously concerned about their business, there is no encroachment on one another's rights. 'Fields running to waste; leaking rooms; insufficiency of food and clothing; taxes unprovided for; want of harmony among wives and concubines; and want of order between old and young;--these are the troubles of the common people. 'Incompetency for their charges; inattention to their official business; want of probity in conduct; carelessness and idleness in subordinates; failure of merit and excellence; and uncertainty of rank and emolument:--these are the troubles of great officers. 'No loyal ministers at their courts; the clans in their states rebellious; want of skill in their mechanics; articles of tribute of bad quality; late appearances at court in spring and autumn; and the dissatisfaction of the sovereign:--these are the troubles of the feudal lords. 'Want of harmony between the Yin and Yang; unseasonableness of cold and heat, affecting all things injuriously; oppression and disorder among the feudal princes, their presuming to plunder and attack one another, to the injury of the people ceremonies and music ill-regulated; the resources for expenditure exhausted or deficient; the social relationships uncared for; and the people abandoned to licentious disorder:--these are the troubles of the Son of Heaven and his ministers.