The late Henry Kissinger has died. What kind of a gentleman was he, the hero? a monster? How should he be framed in Eastern words,  ?
Never a puritan like Mencius, for sure. Mencius responded,” Sir, my even counsels are to benevolence and righteousness,” in response to the King of Wei-liang’s question. Why do you have to utilize the word profit?
Kissinger was undoubtedly not a Tao. Self-sacrificing egolessness was not possible for him.
So he was n’t a Buddhist either. His personality is riddled with significant paramitas, including rejection, endurance, tolerance, forbearance, acceptance, endurance, honesty, goodwill, friendship, kindness, equanimity, and serenity.  ,
Despite being very intelligent, Kissinger was certainly prone to contemplative self-reflection. In August 2022, he said,” I do not torture myself with things we might have done separately,” reflecting back on his life.
Kissinger is simple to understand in a European setting. The Greek warlords who advised the conquered Melians that” the sturdy do what they can, the poor suffer what must” summed up his moral philosophy.
Kissinger was reportedly a pragmatist. As he moved through this valley of death, the Will to Power served as both his shaft and his staff. Additionally, he was unable to prevent selfishness because of him. He had the megalomaniac personality type, which is someone who lacks empathy and uses deceit and adjustment to gain power and status.
So where should we put him in relation to Asiatic culture?
The answer is clear: among the treacherous and cunning Appeal in China during the Warring State era.
His affable submission to Chairman Mao, the Great Helmsman, his convoluted and cunning negotiations, and his amazing but deceptive language use both make me think of Zhang Yi and Su Chin’s strategies.
The world system in place during Kissinger’s job and the Warring States era of division and conflict were remarkably similar. There were both large and small state during both periods.
fantastic partnerships
In China, Qin and Wei opposed and oppressed the various royal realms, while the Free World fought to stop the Communist Bloc from growing during Kissinger’s life.
King hired cunning people known as Persuaders to come up with strategies for outwitting their foes. Some of their plans are documented in the Warring States Annals,nbsp.
This is my favorite example of persuasive reasoning:
Although West Chou refused to open river sluices to provide ocean, the state of East Chuu wanted to grow corn. In order to get access to water, Sun Tzu requested permission from the ruler of East Chou to visit and talk with him.
The king of West Chou was informed by Sun Tzu: Your schedule is flawed. You make East Chou powerful so that her citizens can dried corn by withholding water from her. East Chou had plant rice if the sluices are opened because the seeds will be destroyed. They will then have to come to you as sycophants and obey your majesty’s orders if you decide to deny them access to the water in the future.
West Chou’s king concurred and let the liquid flow. Sun Tzu was given metal by both nations.
Kissinger used words to divert attention away from implicit realities in his 1973 Vietnam peace agreement, which tipped the scales against the Taiwanese Nationalists, and his formula to appease Beijing and Washington over Taiwan’s time status.
Mozi served as the Appeal ‘ uncle. Like Kissinger, he just believed in the authority of the author. His well-known notion was that Confucius was rejected:
When there was no laws or state at the beginning of human history, it was customary for everyone to act in accordance with their own beliefs. As a result, each man had his own thought, two gentlemen had two different concepts, and 10 men each had ten ideas. The more people there were, the more diverse the ideas were. And as a result, there was mutual criticism among men as everyone approved of his own perspective and disapproved of the opinions of others.
Father and son, as well as older and younger boys, became rivals and were estranged from one another as a result of their inability to come to an agreement. Everyone used water, fire, and arsenic to their advantage in order to harm the people.
Excellent teachings ( Tao ) were kept a secret and not made public, surplus energy was not used for mutual aid, and surplus goods were left to rot without being shared. The disorder in the ( human ) world can be compared to that in animals and birds.
The absence of a king was the cause of all this problem.  ,
China would become an kingdom under Qin Shihuang after Mozi. That royal method is still in place today. The current Ling Xiu ( Supreme Leader ) of China, Ji Jinping, is a Mohist from head to toe.
The Doctrine of Position
Han Feizi was a masterful example of Mozi’s perspective on human characteristics. He has a book in one of his works on political theory that vividly illustrates Kissinger’s approach. The chapter’s title is translated as” The Doctrine of Position,” but the English word “position” does n’t really capture the complexity and brilliance of the Chinese idea.
A thorough knowledge of electricity is” Position.” It includes both energy that is directly under my command and the power of the external factors that shape your desires and did. You will turn into plaster in my hands if I can manage those circumstances,nbsp.
The majority of the strategies put forth by Warring States Persuaders involved manipulating “position” to achieve the ruler’s goals. Sun Tzu’s insightful understanding of “position” is the foundation of his beautiful analysis of war.
Han Feizi stated that chaos cannot exist where order is established by force of circumstances.
Trump frequently used “position” in both his personal life and his approach to foreign policy. He would agree and suggest face-saving retreats for his own part if, say, Mao or the Asian Communists had “position.” In addition,  ,
Kissinger once described reaching an equilibrium —” a kind of balance of power with an acceptance of the legitimacy of sometimes opposing values” —for interviewer success in negotiations, using the word “equilibrium” to describe Han Feizi’s “position.”
And he readily agreed to give up his values in order to achieve such a power balance:” Because I believe equilibrium is certainly possible if you believe that the intrusion of your values must be the result of the effort.”
He became a multimillionaire in his private life through the exploitation of “position” with the British aristocracy and the Davos Crowd, and his net worth is said to be US$ 50 million.
One type of tradition that is frequently admired in both Asia and the West is making a lot of money off of others.