The War of the Righteous Way

A righteous conduct may not guarantee a successful life. Good and bad deeds may just be perspectives. In life, there is no absolute answer; everything is relative. Acquiring trust from people seems to be more powerful than acting right. Contentment may be the key to inner peace. 
The text is an extract from a daoism book composed by three different stories, each one ending on a lesson. It is a silent war between Confucianism and Daoism. The first party composed by Confucius, Tzu-Chang and Never-Enough; aimed to convince the second party composed by Robber Chih, Want-it-all and Sense-of-Harmony that the righteous way is the unique path towards a successful life. Each part of the Zhuangzi story teaches us a new and different lesson about righteous conduct in the eye of all the six main characters.

Confucius, a sage and humble man thinking that Robber Chih was a greedy rebellious who needed to be tamed, tried to convince him that he has the possibility to be the best person if he focuses on his qualities. Robber Chih affirmed that being good or bad will not change the fatality part. In order to succeed one needs to fight, and being good, will cause you even more trouble. He used Confucius’s examples while responding back and moreover, criticized his way of thinking by stating him as a hypocrite, profiteer and the real robber. In fact, Confucius from being an honored man, in a blink of an eye, became a person who survives dependent on powerful people. One should criticize himself before looking at others.

Tzu-Chang was trying to convince want it all that the righteous conduct is the best path toward success. He stated that in order to be honored one should have a good conduct, which was proven wrong by Want it All claiming that “The petty thief is imprisoned but the big thief becomes a feudal lord” enhancing the idea that being a powerful bad man is enough to gain success and reputation and evil conduct can offer you gain and reputation indeed. He adds that whether being a good or a bad man, in the end, you will lose your true self. And at that point, nothing is worth it. Even though the good man and the bad man differ in these aspects, they are equal in terms of the price they are willing to pay for their aiming which is their true self. Another interesting point shows that the righteous conduct can be someone’s fatality. One should be flexible and remember that all is a matter of perspective, indeed, a righteous conduct for someone can be interpreted as evil; for example: A good man saved his family by killing a murderer who happens to be his brother, can be interpreted as: An evil man killed his own brother.

Never Enough argues that one should always fuel more and more his ambitions. Satisfaction and contentment should never be present in someone’s mind. Being ambitious is good, but we should not allow it to become our way of thinking. In fact, Sense-of-Harmony responded that being always thankful for what we have is the inner success. Being satisfied by the heaven in you is what gives you power over what can destroy you. Surpassing a just measure will bring misfortune. Indeed, an extreme virtue becomes a vice; for instance: religion is considered as the right path. Though, while trying to embrace it to its fullest, one become extremist and known as extremist. And aiming to be a helping hand, he turns out to be a terror, a monster.

Leadership, power and reputation are valuable goals in one's life. Though, as for anything in this world, everything has a price. One should always look for the best trade off. Succeeding in life with a reasonable deal. One should remember his past, enjoy his present to the fullest and build a hope for the future. Living only for the future would lead to the greater loss, the present; which takes also the past in its drowning leaving the person with an illusion of his dreams, regretful and despaired.