The Zhou dynasty is known as the cradle of Chinese civilization. 3000 years ago, they created lasting order in China. They gave China its political ideology and introduced the “mandate of heaven” idea, where rule should be virtue based. Only if the ruler is moral and just will the heavens support him.
Confucius thought of the early Zhou rule as the Golden age. Much of his philosophy was inspired by them. The idea of “Li” – of having rituals came from the Zhou dynasty. Rituals help discipline your desires. Rituals help remind people of their duties to their society and their family.
The Zhou’s had seen what happens when desire runs unchecked.
The Shang dynasty before them had a very smart King: Di Xin. But Di Xin was cruel and indulgent. He was hedonistic. Tortured dissenters, and enjoyed the torture. Legend has it that he even built a lake full of wine. This excessive spending meant excessive taxation. He was hated and lost the support of the masses.
Which allowed Wu Zhou to rebel against Shang and win. The Zhous believed that only by creating a society of restraint, duty, and ritual could they prevent the collapse to occur again. A strong moral structure is needed to outlast any one king.
The Zhou dynasty prospered and expanded.
The strong structure lasted for 11 kings. Until the 12th king You Zhou fell in love with a concubine.
Concubine Bao Si was the most beautiful woman of her era. King You Zhou fell in love with her and deposed his wife Queen Shen and crown prince Yijiu to marry her. But just as beautiful as Bao Si was, she was equally cold. She never smiled.
King You became obsessed with making her smile. He called court jesters, held performances, gave her lavish gifts, got the best musicians to play. But nothing worked. Bao Si never smiled.
Out of desperation, King You played a prank.
He ordered the beacon lights to be lit. A chain of bonfires that would allow communication with faraway lands in China. These were supposed to be lit only when the king was in danger and he had to summon the feudal lords and their armies for defense.
When the feudal lords came and were told that it was just a prank, Bao Si laughed!
And so, King You played the prank again after a while and Bao Si laughed again!
When Queen Shen’s father actually attacked King You and the beacons were lit again, no feudal lord came to help. The capital was sacked and King You was killed. It was the end of Western Zhou!
The King who cried wolf!
King You turned a sacred beacon system into a personal joke. Which led to his fall. His son Yijiu was made the next king and so the Zhou dynasty continued. But the capital was moved Eastwards, and so it was the beginning of the Eastern Zhou dynasty.
King You forgot his forefathers’ lessons. He focused on his personal pleasure over public duty. For which he paid a heavy price.
Personal pleasure over public duty breaks trust.
If you don’t take care of others, why would they take care of you? Without trust, no system can survive.
Whenever people place their ego above their duty, the consequences are the same. People stop trusting them. People stop loving them as leaders.
That’s why you need to avoid deceit. Avoid self indulgence. Avoid personal pleasure over public duty. Be someone who can always be trusted. Because that will lead to long term growth.
Design systems that protect others from your weaker self.
As the early Zhou dynasty and Confucius taught, Li is the key. What is Li? Li can be loosely translated to rituals for proper conduct. Rituals give a structure that restraints your instincts.
People feel rituals are superfluous. Excessive waste of time. But that’s usually because they don’t know the reasons behind the rituals.
Rituals are nothing but repeated actions.
All the Confucian rituals like bowing down to elders, reading scriptures everyday were about taming your ego. Repeated actions help you train your behavior.
When You Zhou threw away the rituals to the side, his downfall began. There were specific rituals that needed to be followed to light the beacon. When he lit them for giggles he went against those rituals.
Desires are fast. Rituals are slow.
It’s the slowness that helps you avoid impulse driven mistakes. So build rituals. Slow and deliberate actions that you repeat:
- Restraint based rituals. What will you do to curb your ego?
- Reflection based rituals. How will you train your awareness? Maybe writing your thoughts down so that you can become more aware in the moment.
And then build guardrails that make your rituals bullet proof. Build friction. Pauses.
- It could be asking a question beforehand.
- Or going through a checklist.
- Or getting a witness to verify.
If only King You Zhou would have built guardrails. Had allowed trusted people to keep him in check.
Action Summary:
- It is extremely difficult to keep your ego and desires in check. Rituals and repeated actions help. Slow down with rituals and avoid mistakes.