Yi — righteousness

Definition

Do what is right and just, including when no one is watching. Do not betray the principle for an advantage.

The lesson

Yi is the cousin of rectitude, not a copy to be merged away. In the Shaolin teaching it is the refusal to sell the art, the brother, or the truth for position. Unseen righteousness is the point. A just act with an audience is still being tested.

Find one advantage you could take today because nobody would catch it. Leave it. If you have already taken such advantages, return one.

How. Refuse one unseen advantage. Write the principle you would have betrayed.

Watch. Justice that only operates when it makes you look just.

The book finishes this. Righteousness in the life of a martial hall, where skill itself becomes a temptation to betray the weak.