Liaofan’s Four Lessons and the gongguoge: keeping merits and demerits, then and now
“Fate is made by me; fortune is sought by me” is the line people quote most from Liaofan’s Four Lessons. The most practical method in the book, though, is the gongguoge, the merit and demerit ledger. This article explains in plain language what it is, how people used it, and how to practise it in modern life without being hard on yourself.
Liaofan’s Four Lessons and Yuan Liaofan
Yuan Liaofan lived in the Ming dynasty, and Liaofan’s Four Lessons is the family instruction he wrote for his son. It has four chapters: the study of shaping destiny, the way to correct faults, the path of accumulating goodness, and the effects of humility. In the book he recounts that as a young man he met a fortune-teller, and after hearing a reading of his whole life he came to believe everything was already settled, and lived listlessly.
Later he met Master Yungu on Qixia Mountain. The master urged him not to be bound by a fixed verdict but to start by adjusting his everyday conduct, and he handed Yuan a gongguoge and taught him to record day by day. Yuan followed the advice and wrote the experience into the family instruction that has been passed down ever since.
How the traditional ledger was kept
A gongguoge is a day-by-day table or booklet in which good deeds are entered as “merits” and faults as “demerits”. Some versions also rate the weight of different acts so the keeper can total them at the end of a month or year.
The point was never the size of the total. It was facing yourself every day: at night you write down the day’s words and actions, read through them one by one, and know what went well and what you want to change. That daily self-review is the part most worth learning from.
Practising it today without judgement
You can keep the skeleton of the gongguoge and drop its severity. Three principles are enough to start:
- Record honestly: write what you did, without inflating the good or magnifying the faults.
- A demerit is for seeing, not for punishing: treat it as information and ask how you would like to adjust next time.
- Merits count as much as demerits: find at least one small thing worth recording each day, and practise noticing your own kindness.
Traditional versions lean toward right and wrong in conduct. A modern practice can add one more question, “what did I really care about then?”, shifting the focus from judging yourself to understanding yourself.
How KindTree helps
KindTree is an app built on the gongguoge. In about 2 minutes a day, tap “Merit” after a good deed and choose a category such as helping others, filial care or diligent study, and tap “Demerit” for a thought or behavior you want to change. After a demerit you can enter the reflection room, where an AI asks gentle questions in three layers: event, reason and heart. The AI does not judge right or wrong.
Your tree grows slowly as you record, journeys and milestones give the practice a rhythm, and on-device reminders help you remember the bedtime moment. Your records stay on your own phone and can be exported as a backup file. The basic features are free to use, and AI reflection is a Premium feature. The app is available in Traditional Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese.
Frequently asked questions
How is a gongguoge different from a diary?
A diary mainly records events. A gongguoge sorts each day’s words and actions into merits and demerits so you can review and improve, rather than vent or judge.
Do I need to believe in fate or karma to use it?
No. You can treat it as a method of self-observation: record what you did, notice patterns, and adjust little by little. KindTree makes no promises about fate or outcomes.
How much should I record each day?
There is no need to record a lot. Pick one or two things that stood out today, log good deeds as merits and things to change as demerits, and describe only what happened.
How does KindTree differ from the traditional ledger?
It keeps the core of logging merits and demerits each day and adds a growing tree, gentle questions in the reflection room, and journeys with milestones, so your phone replaces the paper. The AI does not judge right or wrong, and your records stay on your own phone.
Start your own ledger tonight
Download KindTree and log your first merit.