定法

A questioner asked: "Between Shen Buhai and Gongsun Yang, whose teachings are more urgent for the state?"

The answer: "This cannot be measured comparatively. If a man does not eat, he dies in ten days. In the depth of great cold, without clothing he also dies. To ask whether clothing or food is more urgent for a person -- neither can be dispensed with, for both are necessities of life. Now Shen Buhai advocated techniques while Gongsun Yang established the law. Techniques involve appointing officials according to their responsibilities, demanding results that match their titles, holding the power of life and death, and evaluating the abilities of all ministers. This is what the ruler must personally wield. The law involves constitutional edicts published in government offices, punishments firmly impressed upon the people's minds, rewards reserved for those who carefully follow the law, and penalties imposed on those who violate edicts. This is what ministers must take as their guide. When the ruler lacks techniques, he is undermined at the top. When ministers lack law, there is chaos below. Neither can be dispensed with -- both are the instruments of emperors and kings."

The questioner asked: "Why is it unworkable to have techniques alone without law, or law alone without techniques?"

The answer: "Shen Buhai was the assistant of Marquis Zhao of Han. Han was a successor state of Jin. The old laws of Jin had not yet expired while Han's new laws were also being issued; the former ruler's edicts had not yet been withdrawn while the current ruler's edicts were being promulgated. Shen Buhai did not unify the law or standardize constitutional edicts, so treachery multiplied. When profit lay in the old laws and earlier edicts, people cited them; when profit lay in the new laws and later edicts, people cited those. When profit lay in the contradiction between old and new, between earlier and later, then even if Shen Buhai employed techniques with Marquis Zhao ten times over, treacherous ministers still found ways to twist their words. Therefore, despite possessing a state of ten thousand chariots as formidable as Han, for seventy years it did not achieve hegemony -- the problem was that though techniques were used at the top, the law was not diligently maintained in the offices.

Gongsun Yang's governance of Qin established mutual denunciation and collective responsibility, demanding accountability for results. He linked the groups of five and ten households to share in guilt. Rewards were generous and credible; punishments were severe and certain. Thus the people labored with all their strength without rest, and pursued the enemy into danger without retreating. The state grew rich and its army strong. Yet without techniques to detect treachery, that very wealth and strength merely provided resources for the ministers. After Duke Xiao and Shang Yang died and King Hui ascended the throne, Qin's laws had not deteriorated, yet Zhang Yi used Qin's resources to serve Han and Wei's interests. After King Hui died and King Wu ascended, Gan Mao used Qin's resources to serve Zhou's interests. After King Wu died and King Zhaoxiang ascended, the Marquis of Rang bypassed Han and Wei to attack Qi in the east for five years, gaining not a foot of territory for Qin but building up the walls of his own fief at Tao. The Marquis of Ying attacked Han for eight years, establishing his own fief at Runan. From that time on, all those who used Qin's power were of the same type as the Marquis of Ying and the Marquis of Rang. Thus when battles were won, great ministers gained prestige; when territory was added, private fiefs were established -- all because the ruler had no techniques for detecting treachery. Even if Shang Yang had perfected his laws ten times over, the ministers simply used those resources for themselves. That Qin rode its strength for decades without achieving imperial status was the problem of the law not being diligently maintained in the offices and the ruler lacking techniques at the top."

The questioner asked: "Can the ruler employ Shen Buhai's techniques while the officials follow Shang Yang's laws?"

The answer: "Shen Buhai did not fully develop the law. Shen Buhai said: 'In governance, do not overstep your office; even if you know, do not speak.' Not overstepping one's office may be called maintaining one's duties -- that is acceptable. But knowing and not speaking is wrong. The ruler views through the eyes of the entire state, so no one sees more clearly; he listens through the ears of the entire state, so no one hears more keenly. If those who know do not speak, from whom can the ruler borrow insight?

Shang Yang's law says: 'One who takes one head receives one rank of nobility, and if he wishes to serve as an official, is appointed to a post of fifty shi. One who takes two heads receives two ranks, and if he wishes to serve as an official, is appointed to a post of one hundred shi.' The promotion in official rank corresponds to the merit of taking heads. Now suppose a law said: 'One who takes heads shall be made a physician or a carpenter.' Then houses would not be built and diseases would not be cured. Carpentry requires manual skill, and medicine requires knowledge of drugs -- to assign these based on the merit of taking heads does not match the required abilities. Now, governing offices requires wisdom and knowledge, while taking heads requires courage and strength. To govern offices requiring wisdom and knowledge based on the merit of courage and strength is exactly like making head-takers into physicians and carpenters.

Therefore I say: neither of the two masters fully perfected the law and techniques."