三守

A ruler has three safeguards. When the three safeguards are complete, the state is secure and the ruler honored. When the three safeguards are incomplete, the state is endangered and the ruler imperiled. What are the three safeguards?

First: When a minister identifies the failures of those in power, the errors of those managing affairs, or the true character of officials, and the ruler does not keep this in his heart but leaks it to intimate favorites and powerful attendants -- then any minister who wishes to speak up dares not do so without first accommodating the wishes of those favorites, and only then reports upward to the ruler. Consequently, men of upright speech and direct conduct cannot gain an audience, and the loyal and forthright become ever more estranged.

Second: When the ruler rewards someone, he does not act on his own judgment but waits for praise from others before conferring benefit; when he punishes someone, he does not act on his own judgment but waits for condemnation from others before inflicting harm. In this case, the ruler has no authority of his own, and the real weight rests with those at his left and right.

Third: When the ruler dislikes the labor of governing personally and allows ministers to converge and manage transformations of affairs, thereby passing the handle of power and transferring the instruments of authority so that the mechanisms of life and death and the essentials of giving and taking rest with the great ministers -- this is encroachment.

These constitute the three safeguards being incomplete. When the three safeguards are incomplete, it is a sign that coercion and assassination will follow.

There are three forms of coercion: overt coercion, operational coercion, and penal coercion.

When a minister holds the eminence of a great minister, externally controlling the essential levers of state to supply resources to other ministers, making it so that no internal or external affair can proceed without his involvement -- then even if there are worthy and capable men, those who oppose him will certainly suffer, while those who comply will certainly prosper. Consequently, no minister dares to be loyal to the ruler, to worry about the state, or to contend over the interests of the altars of soil and grain. Though the ruler may be capable, he cannot plan alone; and when no minister dares to be loyal -- that state is a ruined state. This is called 'a state without ministers.' A state without ministers does not mean the palace corridors are empty or that court officials are few. It means that ministers draw their stipends and cultivate their connections, pursue private interests and do not demonstrate public loyalty. This is called overt coercion.

When a minister sells favor and monopolizes power, manipulates external affairs to override internal governance, makes threatening pronouncements about fortune and misfortune, gain and loss, and panders to the ruler's likes and dislikes -- the ruler heeds him, debases himself and diminishes the state to supply him. When affairs fail, the minister shares the blame with the ruler; when affairs succeed, the minister alone claims the credit. All those involved in managing affairs speak with one heart and one voice to praise his merits, so that anyone who speaks ill to the ruler is certainly not believed. This is called operational coercion.

When it comes to controlling the prisons and monopolizing the apparatus of punishment -- when a minister seizes this, it is called penal coercion.

When the three safeguards are incomplete, the three forms of coercion arise. When the three safeguards are complete, the three forms of coercion are stopped. When the three forms of coercion are stopped and blocked, then the ruler can achieve kingship.