范蠡 / Fan Li
Hanji 920 uses Fan Li as the positive example for 求财先明道. The source says Fan Li learned through Jiran, linked through 老子, grasped rule and human nature, left politics for commerce, preserved his life, became wealthy, gave away wealth, and rebuilt it repeatedly.
This addition shifts one side of Fan Li’s wiki role from political exit to wealth ethics. The same person who leaves 越王勾践 after victory becomes, in Hanji 920, an example of durable earning through timing, perception, and moral capacity rather than mere money-seeking technique.
范蠡 / Fan Li appears in 《资治通鉴·周纪》57丨古代发毒誓还有这作用？ after 越王勾践 destroys 吴国. The episode says Fan Li recognizes the changed danger: the ruler who endured humiliation before revenge may not want powerful ministers nearby after victory.
Fan Li’s role is diagnostic. By leaving 越国 and warning 文种, he turns a triumph story into a political-exit lesson: usefulness in adversity does not guarantee safety once the ruler has recovered status and no longer needs witnesses to the earlier humiliation.
Hanji 150 part 4 cites Fan Li as the successful-retirement contrast to 陈平. The source acknowledges the appeal of功成身退, but uses Chen Ping to argue for 入世政治修行: staying inside the court and continuing to act can represent a higher or harder political path than leaving once personal safety is secured.
Connections
- Hanji 920, 求财先明道, 老子, and 认知通达决定福禄 - wealth, Dao, rule, and human-nature reading.
- 越王勾践 - ruler Fan Li leaves after victory.
- 文种 - minister Fan Li warns.
- 越国 and 吴国 - victor state and defeated enemy.
- 权力退场困境 - adjacent concept for dangerous exit after accumulated political exposure.
- Hanji 150 part 4, 陈平, and 入世政治修行 - source-scoped retirement contrast.