和氏

A man of Chu named He discovered an uncut jade stone in the mountains of Chu. He presented it reverently to King Li. King Li ordered a jade craftsman to examine it. The craftsman said: "It is a stone." The king, considering He a fraud, had his left foot amputated.

When King Li died and King Wu ascended the throne, He once again presented his uncut jade reverently to King Wu. King Wu ordered a jade craftsman to examine it. Again the craftsman said: "It is a stone." The king again considered He a fraud, and had his right foot amputated.

When King Wu died and King Wen ascended the throne, He embraced his uncut jade and wept at the foot of the mountains of Chu for three days and three nights. When his tears were exhausted, he continued weeping blood.

The king heard of this and sent someone to inquire the reason, saying: "There are many men in the world who have suffered amputation. Why do you weep so bitterly?"

He replied: "I do not weep because of the amputation. I weep because a precious jade has been labeled a stone, and a man of integrity has been branded a fraud. This is why I weep."

The king then ordered a jade craftsman to cut and polish the uncut stone, and a treasure was found within. It was thereupon named "The Jade Disc of Master He."

Now pearls and jade are what rulers urgently desire. Although He presented an uncut stone that had not yet been polished to beauty, it posed no harm to the ruler. Yet even so, both his feet were cut off before the treasure was finally recognized. If establishing the worth of a treasure is this difficult!

Today, rulers do not necessarily desire law and technique as urgently as they desire the Jade of Master He — and law and technique prohibit the private corruption of ministers and common people alike. If those who possess the Way have not been executed, it is merely that the emperor's uncut jade has not yet been presented.

When a ruler employs technique, then great ministers cannot monopolize decisions and court favorites dare not trade on their influence. When officials enforce the law, then idle vagrants are driven toward farming, and itinerant scholars are put at risk on the field of battle. Therefore, law and technique are precisely what ministers and common people regard as a calamity.

Unless a ruler can reject the arguments of his great ministers, rise above the slander of the common people, and attend solely to the words of the Way — then even if men of law and technique die for their cause, the Way will assuredly never be recognized.

In former times, Wu Qi counseled King Dao of Chu on the customs of Chu, saying: "The great ministers hold too much power; the enfeoffed lords are too numerous. Under such conditions, they oppress the ruler above and tyrannize the people below. This is the path to an impoverished state and a weakened army. It would be better to reclaim the ranks and salaries of enfeoffed lords' descendants after three generations, to cut and reduce the salaries of the hundred officials, to eliminate unnecessary branch offices, and to devote those resources to training select soldiers."

King Dao implemented these reforms, but after one full year he died. Wu Qi was dismembered in Chu.

Shang Yang counseled Duke Xiao of Qin to organize the population into groups of five and ten households with mutual responsibility, to establish the system of denunciation and collective punishment, to burn the Odes and Documents and make the law codes clear, to block private entreaties through back doors and promote those who labored for the public good, to prohibit idle wandering among the people and honor those who farmed and fought.

Duke Xiao implemented these reforms: the ruler became exalted and secure, the state became rich and powerful. But after eight years he died, and Shang Yang was torn apart by chariots in Qin.

Chu did not continue Wu Qi's reforms and fell into decline and disorder. Qin carried on Shang Yang's laws and grew rich and powerful. The words of these two men were entirely correct. Yet why was Wu Qi dismembered and Shang Yang torn apart by chariots? Because the great ministers suffered under the law, and the common people resented good governance.

In the present age, the great ministers are even more rapacious and overbearing, and the common people even more complacent in disorder, than were the customs of Qin and Chu. Yet the rulers of today lack the discernment of King Dao and Duke Xiao. Under such conditions, how can men of law and technique endure the dangers that those two men faced, in order to make their own doctrines of law and technique known? This is why the age is disordered and produces no hegemon-kings.