How Yanzi Diffused His Ruler's Anger

Last week, we looked at the story of how Yanzi humiliated his humiliator. This week, we have another story about Yanzi's wisdom.

During the Spring and Autumn period of China's history (around 2500 years ago), Duke Jing of the State of Qi loved horses very much. He spared no effort to collect famous steeds from all around, and whenever he had leisure time, he would stroll through his stables, admiring his prized animals.

One day, an envoy from the State of Qin came bearing a magnificent gift—a rare horse. The moment Duke Jing saw it, he was utterly captivated. The horse was snow-white from head to hoof. The envoy explained, “Our King of Qin purchased this horse from the western Rong tribes and now presents it to Your Grace as a token of friendship between our two states.”

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Overjoyed, Duke Jing rewarded the envoy richly and appointed a stableman to care for this precious horse.

Before long, tragedy struck. The stableman's father passed away, and the stableman rushed home for the funeral. In his haste, he forgot to arrange for someone else to feed the horse. Three days later, when he hurried back to the palace, he found the horse weak and starving. Panicked, he quickly brought fine rice to feed it. The famished horse devoured the food greedily—but in overeating, it ruptured its intestines and died.

The stableman was terrified and reported the matter immediately.

At that time, Duke Jing happened to be in a good mood. He had just resolved several difficult state affairs, and his Chancellor, Yanzi, had returned from a successful diplomatic mission to the State of Chu with remarkable results. Feeling at ease, the Duke decided to visit his beloved stallion—only to receive the shocking news of its death. His joy turned instantly into fury. Enraged, he ordered the stableman to be imprisoned, declaring that three days later, at the horse’s funeral, the stableman would be executed by dismemberment, and his limbs would be an offering to the dead steed.

The news spread quickly, and the court was in turmoil. The ministers wanted to intervene but dared not. After all, this was the Duke’s most beloved horse, and it had died through the stableman’s neglect. Yet if they stayed silent, it would appear as though their ruler valued a horse above human life, tarnishing the reputation of the State of Qi.

(So if you were minister and advisor to the Duke, what would you do?)

In their anxiety, the ministers turned to Chancellor Yanzi, begging him to dissuade the Duke. Yanzi had just returned from the State of Chu, where he had already shown extraordinary wit and completed his mission with great success.

Now back in the State of Qi, he faced the crisis of the condemned stableman. But when the officials urged him to intervene, Yanzi merely told them, “Go and attend to the great affairs of the state. Do not trouble yourselves over this small matter.” They left, puzzled and uneasy.

Three days later, the Duke held a grand funeral for the horse. The stableman, bound hand and foot, was brought forth. The executioner stood ready, awaiting only the Duke’s command to dismember him.

At the sight of the stableman, Duke Jing’s face darkened with anger once again. He gave the order to proceed.

At that moment, Yanzi calmly said, “Wait. There is no need to rush.”

Everyone froze. Even the Duke was startled, uncertain of Yanzi’s intent.

Yanzi turned respectfully to the Duke and said, “When one dismembers a man, there must be proper procedure. I wish to ask Your Grace—when the sage-kings Yao and Shun dismembered men, from which part of the body did they begin?”

The Duke was struck as if by lightning. Of course, Yao and Shun—the most benevolent rulers of the past—would never have done such a thing. Suddenly aware of his folly, he replied, “Yao and Shun never dismembered men. Alright, spare him his life. Let him be imprisoned instead.”

Yanzi then said, “My lord, look at him—he does not even seem to understand his crimes. How about I explain them one by one so that he may accept his punishment with clarity?"

The Duke nodded. “Very well. Let him recognize his crimes.”

Yanzi turned to the trembling stableman and said:

“Don't you know, you have committed three offenses. First, the Duke entrusted you with his horse, yet you allowed it to die—this is your first crime. Do you acknowledge this?"

The stableman, still trembling in fear, nodded earnestly.

Yanzi continued, "Second, the horse you let die was His Grace’s most treasured horse. This is your second crime. Do you admit guilt?"

The stableman nodded vigorously.

Yanzi then said, "Third, because of your negligence, the Duke has ordered for a man to be executed over a horse. As a result, our citizens would call our ruler cruel, and other Dukes would look down on our Duke and state for valuing a horse over human life. So you see, because of your negligence, you caused upheaval among our citizens and ruined our state's reputation. This is your third crime. Do you admit your guilt?"

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The stableman, shaking all over, could only nod in silence, but around him, many ministers were trying to cover their smiles.

Duke Jing sighed heavily and said, “Yanzi… release him. Let him go. Do not let this stain my benevolent reputation.”

Thus the stableman was pardoned and set free.

(Story translated from here)

Commentary

I am utterly impressed with Yanzi's wisdom. If I were in that situation, I wouldn't have been able to think of such a wise solution. Why?

One major reason is that wisdom comes from a tranquil mind, and emotions disturb tranquility. If I were a minister in that situation, I would probably feel flustered and afraid. On the one hand, I feel like I have a moral duty to advise the Duke against killing the stableman, but on the other hand, I'm also afraid of angering the Duke and endangering my own life. As a result of these emotions of uncertainty and fear, my mind becomes agitated, and my wisdom gets blocked.

Yanzi, on the other hand, was able to maintain his cool, and in his state of calm, he was able to think of a clever solution. So my first major learning from this story is that we have to practice being calm in difficult situations. Moreover, if we want to have the ability to stay calm in difficult situations, we need to practice staying calm in normal situations. After all, if someone is easily flustered and agitated by the normal situations of daily life, how could they remain calm in crises?

Second, when we advise someone against something, it's usually not a good idea to oppose them and tell them they cannot do it. That would be analogous to building a dam to block a flood; if the dam isn't strong enough, it gets destroyed by the flood. Yanzi accorded with the Duke's anger and channeled the flood (of anger) in a different direction, and as it flowed, it got weaker and weaker, until the Duke eventually realized his own folly without being directly told.

This reminds me of a Chinese saying that goes,

"Speak in accordance with human sentiment."

In other words, we don't just say whatever we want to say. We have to imagine how others would feel when they hear our words, and we try to speak in a way that accords with their feelings or in a way that can win their hearts. This also matches the Daoist idea of being like water instead of rock, and going with other's flow and redirecting the flow tactfully rather than opposing their flow like rock.

So Yanzi didn't say to Duke Jing, "Are you crazy? How could you value a horse over a man!"

Let's be real, most people were probably thinking that, and most people have the emotional intelligence to not say it so bluntly to the angry Duke. But only Yanzi had the emotional acuity to make the Duke realize his folly without angering him further.

When we see such a great role model like Yanzi, we should try to emulate his spirit and apply it to situations in our own lives.

For example, recently, I'm teaching at a two-week summer camp, and some kids have bad behavior. I told a kid to not do something, and he opposed me and wouldn't listen. Later, I called the principal over, and the kid finally yielded but cried. I think this is an example of rock against rock; the stronger rock wins, but the weaker rock gets hurt and holds resentment.

Later, another teacher told me, "Don't tell students 'you can't do that.' Instead, say, "please do this instead.' This way, you don't have that energy of opposition."

Indeed, as soon as we oppose others, there's going to be conflict, and it's going to be an irrational battle of who's most stubborn or powerful rather than what's the most logical solution here.

I also decided to implement a rewards and punishment system to manage my students better. I first tell kids the good behavior that I'm looking for, and I reward them points for it, and they can trade in points for rewards. I also tell them bad behavior, explain why it's bad, and that I'll take away points if they repeatedly do bad behavior. I can also add to the list as I go along. The prizes are things that the kids like, so this method really accorded with them.

I then praised them a lot for good behavior and rewarded points generously at the beginning, so the kids gained more confidence in themselves and started having a better relationship with me. I realized that troublemaker kids have nothing against me personally, they just have trouble managing their emotions sometimes, and it might be because of trouble at home, and also because no one taught them how to manage emotions or communicate their needs in a respectful way. Ultimately, everyone wants to be a good person and to be liked by others, so we should praise their goodness and encourage them more. This accords with human sentiment and wins their hearts.

Conclusion

How good are you at maintaining your calm? Do your words accord with human sentiment?

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Weekly Wisdom #355