THE SACRED EDICT.
[In 1671, the great Manchu Emperor, K‘ang Hsi, published sixteen moral maxims for the guidance of his people, and gave orders for these to be read aloud by certain officials on the 1st and 15th of each month in every city and town in the empire. In 1724, his son and successor, Yung Chêng, caused short amplificatory essays on these maxims to be written by one hundred of the best scholars of the day; and from these were chosen for publication sixteen essays which the Emperor decided to be the best. Below will be found the seventh of K'ang Hsi's maxims, with its amplification by some unknown hand.]
GET RID OF HETERODOXY, IN ORDER TO GLORIFY THE TRUE DOCTRINE.
WE, desiring to improve public morals, must begin by reforming the heart of man; and in order to reform the heart of man, it is necessary first of all to place education upon a sound basis.
When man comes into being between Heaven and Earth, there are certain moral obligations in his daily life, which are for the learned and simple alike; to seek after the mysterious and to practice strange arts is not to follow the example of the wise and the worthy.
The Canon of Changes says, “Teach the young in order to bring them up as they should be; such is the function of the sage.” The Canon of History says, “Without deflection, without unevenness, without perversity, without onesidedness,―such was the Way of the ancient kings.” Both the above have their origin in the true doctrine.
With regard to uninspired books and uncanonical records, such as startle the age and astonish the vulgar herd, bringing confusion in their train and preying upon the substance of the people, all these are heterodox and should be abolished.
You soldiers and people are mostly willing to lead honest lives; but among you there may be some who have been led astray and who fall through ignorance into crime. These We greatly pity.
From of old three sets of doctrines have come down to us, there being, in addition to Confucianism, the systems of Taoism and Buddhism.
