(Minghui.org) Choosing between profiting from every business opportunity, or being just and righteous can be difficult. In modern society, unscrupulous people are everywhere. There is a saying, “Business is business.” While some companies chase after profit as their only goal, let's look at two paragons of running businesses before we decide about how to choose between profit and justice.
Bai Gui Profits from Benevolence
Bai Gui was a famous businessman in Luoyang city during the Warring States Period (475-221 BC). It was said that he was a student of Guiguzi (an ancient Chinese philosopher from the same period). Bai Gui was an official in the Wei State. After visiting the states of Qi and Qin, he became a well-known economic strategist and an expert on financial management. According to the official History of the Former Han Dynasty, Bai was the originator of business and trade theories.
When Bai managed money for a state, he looked at the big picture. While he did not pass up small earnings and deals, he never engaged in fraud. Paying attention to the flow of goods and development of products, he could sell his profitable goods quickly. When certain goods were in excess and profiteers waited for prices to decline before buying in large quantities, Bai bought the goods at higher-than-market prices. During shortages, while profiteers stockpiled goods before selling them for higher prices, Bai quickly sold his goods with lower-than-market prices to satisfy people's needs.
Bai's way of running a business guaranteed that he had the upper hand in making huge profits. At the same time, it regulated the supply and demand of goods and their prices. In a certain way, Bai protected the interests of farmers, individual artisans, and general consumers.
During the Warring States Period, the most profitable business was jewelry trading among the wealthy elite. Bai chose the business of selling life necessities and trading with common citizens. Bai's principle was “small profit but quick turnover.” He did not raise his prices but made more money through expediting the flow of goods and expanding his market. Bai was blessed with the talent of grasping opportunities. He understood the ancient Jupiter chronology and the theory of the five elements. Using his knowledge of astronomy and meteorology, he predicted and traded based on the cycles of good and bad harvests. He bought cheap, quality crops in good years and sold the crops at higher prices in bad years. This way, he helped people through famines. Meanwhile, his fortune grew exponentially. Bai called his way of running business the “way of benevolence.”
Principles of Justice from the Father of Japanese Enterprise
Shibusawa Eiichi was named the father of Japanese enterprise. He was one of the first to employ the ideas of Confucianism in business management. Moving from politics to business at 33 years of age, he swore to follow the Analects of Confucius in his business activities. In Shibusawa's career, he founded more than 500 companies in various fields, including finance, paper, and logistics. He was the leader of business in the Meiji and Taisho Periods. At the age of 88, he wrote his famous book, The Analects and the Abacus, believing that teachings in the Analects and money-making did not contradict each other. He asserted that upon seeing an opportunity to profit, if one thinks about how to do it justly and righteously, then profiting will be a kind act. One part of the Analects says, “Pursuing profits will generate great resentment.” A decent man carries himself justly and righteously, while a villain acts for personal interests.
Shibusawa was never opportunistic. He knew that buying the government's railway bonds would bring him enormous profits but did not do so. He believed that if he had profited through speculation, it would form a bad habit that would cost him everything he had, bankrupt his credit, and worst of all, bring tragedy to his investors. An entrepreneur should be a decent man, not a villain. Hence, Shibusawa placed his business's impact on and value to society before profit.
The Argument of Justice and Interest: Which Comes First
In both the East and the West, the topic of which comes first, justice or personal interests, remains unsolved. Are the two contradictory or a continuum? To pursue personal gain and avoid loss seems to be human nature. However, when practical interest conflicts with the universal value of justice, which should be sacrificed?
One of the four classic books in Confucianism, Great Learning, states, “A decent man must cultivate his virtue. With virtue, he wins the approval of people; with people, he governs the land; with land, he creates fortune; with fortune, he will be able to use it. Virtue is the root, and fortune is the end of a branch.” Hence, Confucius said, “When one sees the opportunity to profit, he thinks how to do it justly and righteously,” “Becoming rich through unjust means is like a passing cloud for me,” and, “A decent man understands the importance of righteousness, and a villain understands the importance of profit.” Traditional businessmen in China who are inspired by Confucianism believe in the principle that “A decent man who wants fortune will earn it through righteous ways.”
Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen said that as the economy develops, it needs to return to ethics, because no matter how people try to loosen the restraints of ethics, they are bound to fail because ethics is a built-in nature of economic activities.
Mr. Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Dafa, talked about fortune in a more fundamental view:
“Becoming a king, an official, wealthy, or nobility all come from virtue. No virtue, no gain; the loss of virtue means the loss of everything. Thus, those who seek power and wealth must first accumulate virtue. By suffering hardships and doing good deeds one can accumulate virtue among the masses.” (“Wealth with Virtue” from Essentials for Further Advancement)
Morality and ethics should be the ultimate standard and basis for all activities. Economic activities should be altruistic deeds that also benefit the businessperson. As a result, the more good deeds a businessperson does for others, the more profit he should receive as a reward. Justice and personal interest should be one. Fortune and profit should come from deeds that conform to just and righteous activities.
Industry Must Also Choose Between Good and Evil
Before the seductive power of enormous profits, not every person or company are equipped with visionary eyes.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) built the Great Firewall to block the flow of free information on the Internet. Everyone has to know that it is evil. Facing the 300 million Internet users in the Chinese market, the largest in the world, Microsoft chose to actively collaborate with these evil deeds, while Google chose to follow the righteous principle of “do no evil” and left China.
Dresdner Bank once actively worked with the Nazis. To shoulder its ethical obligation and to awaken the conscience of its peers, the bank later spent tremendous amounts of manpower and money to investigate its past crimes and show them to the public. When publishing the investigative report, Wulf Meier, a board member, said, “We must take this information the way it comes. As much as it hurts, we accept these truths.” He stressed that all inhumane activities started with small things, and history warns us about it every day.
Since Jiang Zemin and his regime launched the persecution of Falun Gong in July 1999, Bo Xilai followed Jiang closely and spared no effort in suppressing the practice for his personal interests. Removing Falun Gong practitioners' organs for illegal organ transplants and selling their remains became another profitable venture for Bo, his wife Gu Kailai, and his political ally Zhou Yongkang. Gunther Von Hagens chose to invest in a corpse processing factory in Dalian in August 1999 (the partially dissected and “plastinated” human corpses are then posed in life-life positions as part of Von Vagens' “Body Worlds” exhibitions). He told reporters around the world that he chose to set up his company in Dalian because of “governmental support, preferential policies, good labor, low wages, as well as an abundant supply of bodies.” The bodies of unknown origin earned these people billions of dollars. Everyone with a conscience should be pained. How many appalling crimes took place behind the exhibition of horror?
In reality, business people who value justice and righteousness appear to be at a disadvantage when compared to those who see only profit and make a fortune. However, righteousness and profit have a fundamental relationship. There is a lag in time and space between the two. One should accumulate virtue first and profit later. Virtue has no visible form, while profit does. Ordinary people don't see virtue and thus do not believe in it. Only the enlightened ones see the cause and effect from higher principles. “A family that accumulates virtue leaves auspiciousness for its future generations, while a family that does not leaves disasters.” Those who do good deeds and follow the principles of justice and righteousness are building the foundation for their future prosperity. Those who gain prosperity through evil deeds are digging into a collapsing tunnel.
Companies that want to benefit mankind and plan to seek long-term profits for themselves and their employees, please remember the principles of making profit – justice and righteousness. Please hold on to your conscience and make the right choice between good and evil in this crucial time of history.
Category: Perspective
