Letter to the Brothers

Chapter8(Taking the example of Po I and Shu Ch’i )

I am deeply concerned about you both. Therefore, I will relate a story that is important for you. Two princes named Po I and Shu Ch’i were the sons of the ruler of Ku-chu in China. Their father had willed his title to the younger brother, Shu Ch’i, yet after he passed away, Shu Ch’i refused to ascend the throne. Po I urged Shu Ch’i to assume the title, but Shu Ch’i insisted that Po I, the elder brother, should do so instead. Po I persisted, asking how the younger brother could contradict their father’s will. Shu Ch’i agreed that their father’s will clearly named him, yet he still refused the throne, claiming that he could not bear to push his elder brother aside.

Both brothers then abandoned their parents’ state and traveled to another where they entered the service of King Wen of Chou. Shortly thereafter, the state was attacked; King Wen was killed by King Chou of the Yin dynasty. Less than a hundred days after King Wen’s death, his son, King Wu, was preparing to do battle with King Chou, but Po I and Shu Ch’i, holding fast to the reins of his horse, strove to dissuade him, saying, “You should be in mourning for three years after your father’s death. If you start a war now, can this conduct be called filial?” King Wu grew furious at this and was about to kill them both, but T’ai-kung Wang, the king’s counselor, restrained him.

The two were so loath to have anything more to do with this king that they went off to seclude themselves in Mount Shou-yang, where they lived solely on ferns. One day a person named Ma Tzu passed by and asked, “Why have you hidden yourselves in a place like this?” They told Ma Tzu the whole story, and he replied, “If that is so, don’t these ferns also belong to the king?” Thus reproached, they immediately stopped eating the plants.

It is not the way of heaven to forsake worthy men. Therefore, a god appeared to them as a white deer and provided them with milk. After the deer had gone, Shu Ch’i said, “Since the white deer’s milk is so sweet to drink, its meat must taste even better!” Po I tried to silence him, but heaven had already heard his words, and the brothers were abandoned at once. Thus they eventually starved to death. Even though one acts virtuously throughout one’s life, a single word can ruin one. Not knowing what thoughts you have in your hearts, I worry about you a great deal.