Chinese philosopher and politician (c.400–c.337 BC)
In this Chinese name, the family name is Shen.
Shen Buhai
Chinese
申不害
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin
Shēn Búhaì
Wade–Giles
Shen Pu-hai
IPA
[ʂə́n pûxâɪ]
Yue: Cantonese
Yale Romanization
Sān Bāt-hoih
Jyutping
San1 Bat1-hoi6
Southern Min
Tâi-lô
Sin Put-hāi
Old Chinese
Baxter–Sagart (2014)
*l̥i[n]pəm-kˤat-s
Part of a series on
Chinese legalism
Figures
Guan Zhong
Marquess Wen of Wei
Li Kui
Duke Xiao of Qin
Shang Yang
Shen Buhai
Wu Qi
Shen Dao
Zhang Yi
Han Fei
Li Si
Qin Shi Huang
Han figures
Jia Yi
Emperor Wen of Han
Emperor Wu of Han
Chao Cuo
Gongsun Hong
Zhang Tang
Huan Tan
Wang Fu
Zhuge Liang
Later figures
Emperor Wen of Sui
Du You
Wang Anshi
Li Shanchang
Zhang Juzheng
Xu Guangqi
Relevant texts
Guanzi
The Book of Lord Shang
Shenzi (both books)
Han Feizi
Wuzi
Wei Liaozi
Annals of Lü Buwei
Huang-Lao
Relevant articles
Rectification of names
Wu wei
Discourses on Salt and Iron
Criticize Lin, Criticize Confucius
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Shen Buhai (Chinese: 申不害; c. 400 BC – c. 337 BC)[1] was a Chinese essayist, philosopher, and politician. The Shiji records that he served as Chancellor of the Han state under Marquis Zhao of Han for fifteen years, from 351 BC or 354 to his supposed death in 337 BC. He died of natural causes while in office.[2] A contemporary of syncretist Shi Jiao and "Legalist" Shang Yang, he was born in the State of Zheng, and was likely a minor official there. After Han conquered Zheng in 375 BC, he rose up in the ranks of the Han officialdom, dividing up its territories and successfully reforming it.
Though not dealing in Shang Yang's doctrine of reward and punishment, his administrative innovations would be incorporated into "Chinese Legalist" statecraft by Han Fei, his most famous successor. Shen Buhai's fragments most resembles the Han Feizi, though more conciliatory.
Though the origins of the Chinese administrative system cannot be traced to any one person, prime minister Shen Buhai may have had more influence than any other in the construction of the merit system, and might be considered its founder, if not valuable as a rare pre-modern example of abstract theory of administration. Sinologist Herrlee G. Creel saw in Shen Buhai the "seeds of the civil service examination," and perhaps even the first political scientist.[3][4]: 94
Although Sinologists Schwarz and Hansen would take Shen Dao as a more relevant Daoist forebear, Creel believed that Shen Buhai's correlation between an inactive (Wu-wei) ruler, and a handling of claims and titles likely informed the Daoist conception of the formless Dao (name that cannot be named) that "gives rise to the ten thousand things." He is credited with the dictum: The Sage ruler relies on measures and not on wisdom; he relies on technique, not on persuasions.[5]
^Knechtges (2014), p. 874.
^Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies XII, An Outline of the Former Han Dynasty
Bishop, Donald H. (September 27, 1995). Chinese Thought: An Introduction.
Motilal Banarsidass Publ. p90 ISBN 9788120811393
S.Y. Hsieh, 1995. p.90 Chinese Thought: An Introduction.
^Graham, A. C. 1989/2015. p283. Disputers of the Tao.
Creel, 1974. p4–5. Shen Pu-hai: A Chinese Political Philosopher of the Fourth Century B.C.
^Creel, Herrlee Glessner (September 15, 1982). What Is Taoism?: And Other Studies in Chinese Cultural History. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226120478 – via Google Books.
^
Creel 1974 p.21-23 Shen Pu-hai: A Chinese Political Philosopher of the Fourth Century B.C.
Creel 1970 p.48,62-63,97. What Is Taoism? https://books.google.com/books?id=5p6EBnx4_W0C&pg=PA48
S.Y. Hsieh, 1995. p.92 Chinese Thought: An Introduction.
ShenBuhai (Chinese: 申不害; c. 400 BC – c. 337 BC) was a Chinese essayist, philosopher, and politician. The Shiji records that he served as Chancellor of...
to have been imported from the earlier political thought of Legalist ShenBuhai (400 BCE – c. 337 BCE) as Daoists became more interested in the exercise...
characterizes Shen as a theoretician of centralized power. He espouses an impersonal administration in much the same sense as ShenBuhai, and in contrast...
great importance to the Han Feizi, as well as to Han Fei's predecessor ShenBuhai. Han Fei describes an interest-driven human nature together with the political...
Xiang (77–6 BC) attribute it to the Legalist doctrine of ShenBuhai (400 – c. 337 BC). Shen actually used the older, more philosophically common equivalent...
to have admired and utilized the ideas of ShenBuhai", repeatedly referring to the technique of ShenBuhai and Han Fei, but regarding law followed Shang...
through "Legalist" ShenBuhai (400–337 BC) before it reached the Analects for the same reasons. However, as Creel discusses, ShenBuhai has Confucian elements...
exaggerate, it would no doubt be possible to translate (foundational Realist) ShenBuhai's term Shu, or technique, as 'science', and argue that Pu-hai was the first...
Han Feizi, synthesizer of Legalist theories. Li Kui Li Si Shang Yang ShenBuhaiShen Dao Zi Chan Yang Zhu Deng Xi Hui Shi, relativistic Logician who influenced...
centuries BCE), including Mohism, Confucianism, Legalist theorists (like ShenBuhai and Han Fei, which speak of wu wei), the School of Naturalists (from which...
Han Fei Hui Shi Laozi Li Kui Li Si Lie Yukou Mencius Mozi Shang Yang ShenBuhaiShen Dao Su Qin Sun Tzu Wu Qi Ximen Bao Xu Xing Xunzi Yang Zhu Yuan Xian...
government. He was said by Liu Xiang to have been fond of reading the works of ShenBuhai, using Xing-Ming to control his subordinates and devoting much time to...
is said to have attached great importance to the Han Feizi, as well as ShenBuhai. Sima Qian recounts that Qin Shi Huang went to war with the state of Han...
of personal cultivation and Dào. Several Legalist theorists, such as ShenBuhai, who spoke of Dào and wúwéi, and Han Fei, whose work explicates some parts...
Han Fei Hui Shi Laozi Li Kui Li Si Lie Yukou Mencius Mozi Shang Yang ShenBuhaiShen Dao Su Qin Sun Tzu Wu Qi Ximen Bao Xu Xing Xunzi Yang Zhu Yuan Xian...
Confucianism and Huang-Lao. Between Shang Yang and ShenBuhai, he was likely much more influenced by ShenBuhai. Poetry portal Chao Cuo Fu (poetry) Jia Yi's...
quotation to verify] The writings of influential Chinese Legalist philosopher ShenBuhai may be considered[by whom?] to embody a rare premodern example of abstract...
one individual, figures of the Fa-Jia emphasizing a merit system, like ShenBuhai (400–337 BC) may have had the most influence, and could be considered...
itself shen, spirit. By the words of the Neo-Confucian thinker Cheng Yi: [Heaven] is called ... the gǔi-shén with respect to its operation, the shén with...
Hansen, ShenBuhai http://www.philosophy.hku.hk/ch/Shen%20Bu%20Hai.htm Archived 19 November 2017 at the Wayback Machine Creel, 1974 p. 4, 119 Shen Pu-hai:...
Han Fei Hui Shi Laozi Li Kui Li Si Lie Yukou Mencius Mozi Shang Yang ShenBuhaiShen Dao Su Qin Sun Tzu Wu Qi Ximen Bao Xu Xing Xunzi Yang Zhu Yuan Xian...
Guan Zhong Marquess Wen of Wei Li Kui Duke Xiao of Qin Shang Yang ShenBuhai Wu Qi Shen Dao Zhang Yi Han Fei Li Si Qin Shi Huang Han figures Jia Yi Emperor...
become a regional power. He attached great importance to the works of ShenBuhai and Han Fei, refusing to indulge local elites and adopting strict, but...
Unwin Ltd. pp. 47–49. ISBN 978-0-691-02021-1. Shen 2013, p. 86. Shen 2013, p. 87. Creel 1949, p. 30. Shen 2013, p. 88. Creel 1949, p. 32. Creel 1949, p...
Thought in Ancient China. Cambridge: Belknap Press. ISBN 978-0-674-96191-3. Shen, Tsing-song Vincent (2015). "Evolutionism through Chinese Eyes: Yan Fu, Ma...
Han Fei Hui Shi Laozi Li Kui Li Si Lie Yukou Mencius Mozi Shang Yang ShenBuhaiShen Dao Su Qin Sun Tzu Wu Qi Ximen Bao Xu Xing Xunzi Yang Zhu Yuan Xian...
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