To realize that there is no axe to grind, what is the sense of squareness and roundness from the rules?

From the first four lines of the poem "Farewell to the Scholars" by Wang Yangming, a great scholar of the Ming Dynasty: "A thousand years of holy learning have passed, and two words of conscience have been passed on by word of mouth. In order to realize that there is no axe to grind in the world, the rules must come out of the square and the circle." Rules are never an end in themselves; they are only a tool, etiquette and law are its content, reward and punishment are its means, and squareness and roundness are its purpose. The so-called square and round, is in accordance with certain rules, fair and just, standardized and reasonable, lasting and efficient to do things (including administration). Square and round is the starting point and landing point of the rules. Can not "out of the square" of the rules, is a tool to be discarded sooner or later; can not "line square" of the people - especially officials, will eventually learn the rigidity of the hard rules. This valuable self-awareness of the human heart, Mr. Wang Yangming called "conscience".

Everything has rules, not rules, not round. Rules are both norms, laws, but also standards, yardsticks. Being a person has a code of conduct, doing things with the rules of the game.　　Traditional culture in the sense of rules, mainly embodied in the "ritual" and "law" two aspects. Rites, performance, etiquette, three hundred, three thousand, crepe, is a soft rule. The law, the penalty is also, the heart like iron, the official law like a furnace, Wei Hehe ground, is a hard rule. There is no respect for etiquette, law is not solemn. The core of etiquette is respect - respect, reverence, fear, expressed in the respect for all things; the core of the law is solemn - solemn, solemn killing, expressed in the fear of the law. As the saying goes, before the rites are prohibited, the law is applied after it has been done. In other words, the realization of the value of etiquette and law is bounded by the question of whether or not to "break the law", which is a big question of whether or not to do harm to the person concerned, his or her relatives, or even to society, as well as whether or not to cause the depletion of public *** resources and increase the cost of law enforcement, thus involving many aspects of society, such as ethics, culture, politics, and the economy. As the proverb goes, "Rituals are based on customs, and matters are based on officials". "Common" refers to customs and habits, is the scope of the rite, is a long time the family customs and folklore, cultural cultivation of silent and the formation of soft rules; "official" refers to the government officials and law, is the scope of the law, is to maintain fairness and justice, protection of life and property, and to combat criminal activity It is a category of law, which is a hard rule for maintaining fairness and justice, protecting life and property, and combating criminal activities. Therefore, it is said that the ritual system of the gentleman, the legal system of the small man.

Whether it is soft rules, or hard rules, its purpose is to standardize; standardize the means of reward and punishment; reward and punishment of this is to persuade good and punish evil. But as Shangshu - Dayumu has said, "The penalty period in the absence of punishment." This means that the purpose of using punishment is to stop using it in the future. This is a great and compassionate sentiment of the philosophers. Similarly, the establishment of rules is also to cultivate people's self-awareness to abide by the rules.