Duke Wen of Jin
The Cut Sleeve
When someone who hurt you knocks, hear him out first
Zuo Commentary, Duke Xi, year 24
Someone who once hurt you is back and asking to see you. Why did the duke shut the door on the man who had hunted him, then open it?
What actually happened?
Soon after Chong'er took the throne, two ministers of the old regime plotted to burn his palace and kill him. The eunuch Pi asked to see him. Years before, on another duke's orders, Pi had chased him at Pu and slashed off his sleeve, and later hunted him again. The duke sent word: the sleeve is still here, go away. Pi answered that a ruler's command allows no second mind. You were my master's enemy then. Have you no enemies now? The duke saw him and learned of the plot.
His loyalty was to someone else
Pi's whole defence was one point: he had hunted Chong'er because he served the dukes before him, and did whatever they ordered with all his strength. That zeal had been aimed at Chong'er. Now it could be aimed at Chong'er's enemies.
The rival salesperson who took your clients hardest is now applying for a job with you. That is a reason to talk, not to refuse.
Everyone watches how you treat one person
The same year, the servant who kept his stores ran off with them when Chong'er fled. When he came back, the duke said he was washing his hair. The servant sent word: if a ruler holds a grudge against one small man, many will be afraid. The duke saw him at once.
How you treat the colleague who nearly left when things were worst is being watched by everyone else who wavered.
Hearing him out is not trusting him
Once he had heard Pi, the duke did not wait in the palace. He slipped away to meet Duke Mu of Qin. At the end of the month the palace burned, the plotters found no one and fled, and Qin had them killed. He listened to an enemy without staking his life on him.
An old partner who once cheated you says a rival is about to move against you. Hear it all, then check it through your own people.
How do I use it today?
Where you are: someone who once worked against you or walked out on you is back, saying there is something you need to know.
Ask first: Was it me he was after, or was he doing a job for whoever he served then? If I turn him away today, am I keeping my pride or losing a piece of news?
Where it goes wrong: this is about people who stood on the other side of a fight or an organisation, not a partner or a friend who betrayed you. And the duke did not forgive everything: he later invaded Cao, whose ruler had spied on him in the bath.
Lines to keep
A ruler's command allows no second mind.
Duke Huan set aside the hook buckle and made Guan Zhong his minister.
When a ruler bears a grudge against a commoner, many are afraid.
Same situation, other people are asking
It happened once and now I don't trust anyone.I keep giving him one more chance.I have the proof of who wavered. Do I go through it?I was taken in and I can't see how I missed it.I trusted the wrong person · all 6 questions →If this one named what you are going through,
send it to someone who needs it, or keep it somewhere you will find it again.