With Insects Awakening upon us once more, I suddenly find myself thinking back to the days when you and I deba…
With Insects Awakening upon us once more, I suddenly find myself thinking back to the days when you and I debated the Dao in Luoyang. Time has flown. More than ten years have passed already.
I have now resolved to build my hut on Dragonbend Mountain and take in students there. As for that old vow to understand the people, I shall go ahead and put it into practice first, so you need not say another word. Mohist measures and Zhou roads each have their own course. You, of all people, should know by now that your arguments are wasted on me. I do not write this letter to reopen our old disputes over doctrine. I write because I have good news for you.
I have heard that among your disciples there is one Chen Bai, of little use in the classics and with no great virtue to show for himself. Such an unfilial pupil is enough to shame his master, and I confess it troubles me on your behalf. Since you and I are old friends, it is only fitting that I help lighten your burden. I, Crane, am no great talent, yet the three disciples under my care are all exceptional, and in the matter of teaching I do have some experience. You know that well enough.
At the foot of Dragonbend Mountain lies a place called Luancheng. The people there are destitute, and the court treats it as though it were beyond the borders. That makes it the very place for our learning to be tested. Let us see how far the spark of Mohist Hill can light a dark valley. The district has long been without a magistrate, and all the business of registers, documents, judgments, and punishments may serve as a whetstone. Chen Bai may not be enough to govern Luancheng well, but he is better than no one at all, and I will not be too particular. I hope you will send him here at once. I shall see to tempering him for you myself.