Philosophers · 哲學家 · China
Han Feizi 韓非 · Han Fei, “Master Han Fei”
A prince with a stutter who wrote the clearest account of power in Chinese, was admired by the king who would become the First Emperor, and died in that king’s prison.
一位口吃的公子；他寫下了中文裡對權力最清晰的說明，受到後來成為始皇帝的那位秦王的讚賞，而死在那位秦王的監獄裡。
- Born 出生
- c. 280 BCE, a prince of the ruling house of Han
- Died 去世
- 233 BCE, in prison in Qin, by poison
- Teacher 老師
- Xunzi. His fellow student was Li Si
- School 學派
- Legalism 法家, which he brought to its final form
- The book 著作
- Han Feizi 韓非子, 55 chapters
- Known for 特點
- A stutter that kept him from speaking at court, and the best prose of his age
中文翻譯Every paragraph has a Chinese translation. Tap 中譯▾ under a paragraph to open that one, or use Show Chinese · 顯示中譯 at the top to open them all. 每一段都有中譯：點段落下方的「中譯」只開那一段，或按上方的「顯示中譯」一次全部打開。
Life · 生平
A life in three scenes 三幕人生
The prince who could not speak 不能言說的公子
Han Fei was born about 280 BCE into the royal family of Han, the smallest and most exposed of the seven warring states, with the rising power of Qin on its western border. Sima Qian records two facts about the man himself. He “stuttered and could not present his views in speech, but was good at writing books.” And he studied under Xunzi together with Li Si, who “considered himself not the equal of Fei.” From Xunzi he took the view that people are moved by self-interest. He did not take the conclusion that they can be remade by ritual and learning.
韓非大約在公元前 280 年生於韓國的王室。韓是戰國七雄當中最小、處境最危險的一個；西邊就是崛起中的秦。關於這個人本身，司馬遷記了兩件事。他「為人口吃，不能道說，而善著書」。他與李斯一同在荀子門下求學，而李斯「自以為不如非」。他從荀子那裡接受了「人是被自利推動的」這個看法。他沒有接受那個結論：人可以經由禮與學被重新塑造。
He watched his state grow weaker and several times wrote to its king with advice. The king did not use it. Han Fei was angry, the historian says, that the ruler did not clarify the laws, use his position to control his ministers, and enrich the state and strengthen the army, and that he instead honored “vermin” who lived on reputation and fine words. Since he could not speak at court and was not heeded when he wrote to it, he wrote for readers he would never meet: essays called “Solitary Indignation,” “The Five Vermin,” and “The Difficulties of Persuasion,” more than a hundred thousand characters in all.
他看著自己的國家日漸削弱，好幾次上書向韓王進言。韓王沒有採用。史家說，韓非憤恨的是：國君不致力於修明法制、不憑藉權勢來駕馭臣下、不富國強兵，反而尊崇那些靠名聲與漂亮話過活的「蠹蟲」。既然他在朝廷上說不出話，寫給朝廷的又不被理會，他就為他永遠見不到的讀者而寫：〈孤憤〉〈五蠹〉〈說難〉等篇，總共十餘萬言。
The reader in Qin 秦國的那位讀者
Someone carried the essays to Qin. The young king, the future First Emperor, read “Solitary Indignation” and “The Five Vermin” and said: “Ah, if I could meet this man and keep his company, I would die without regret.” Li Si, by then a minister in Qin, told him who the author was. Qin attacked Han, and the king of Han, who had ignored his cousin for years, sent him to Qin as an envoy.
有人把這些文章帶到了秦國。年輕的秦王，也就是未來的始皇帝，讀了〈孤憤〉與〈五蠹〉，說：「嗟乎，寡人得見此人與之游，死不恨矣！」這時已經在秦國為臣的李斯告訴他作者是誰。秦國於是急攻韓國；而多年來不理會這位公子的韓王，派他出使秦國。
The king of Qin was pleased with him and did not yet trust him. Li Si and another minister saw their chance. Han Fei, they said, is a prince of Han. Now that Your Majesty means to annex the other states, he will in the end work for Han and not for Qin, for such is human nature. To keep him here and then send him home is to make trouble for yourself. It would be better to find a legal charge and execute him. The king agreed and had him jailed. Li Si sent poison to the prison. Han Fei asked to plead his case before the king and was not allowed to. The king later regretted the order and sent a pardon, but Han Fei was already dead. The year was 233 BCE.
秦王喜歡他，但還沒有信任他。李斯與另一位大臣看到了機會。他們說：「韓非，韓之諸公子也。今王欲并諸侯，非終為韓不為秦，此人之情也。今王不用，久留而歸之，此自遺患也，不如以過法誅之。」秦王認為有理，把他下獄。李斯派人送毒藥到獄中。韓非要求向秦王當面陳述，不被允許。秦王後來後悔了，派人去赦免他；但韓非已經死了。那一年是公元前 233 年。
What the historian grieved over 太史公所悲的
The argument Li Si used against him came from his own books: no one is to be trusted whose interests point elsewhere, and a ruler should act on interests and ignore professions of loyalty. Sima Qian noticed the irony and wrote the most personal line in the biography: “I grieve only that Master Han wrote ‘The Difficulties of Persuasion’ and could not escape them himself.” The essay explains with great subtlety how an adviser can be destroyed by saying the right thing at the wrong moment or to the wrong man.
李斯用來對付他的那個論證，出自他自己的書：任何一個利益指向別處的人都不可信任；君主應該依據利益行事，不理會表白忠誠的話。司馬遷注意到了這個諷刺，寫下了這篇傳記裡最有個人感情的一句：「余獨悲韓子為說難而不能自脫耳。」那篇文章極其細膩地說明了：一位進言者，怎麼會因為在錯的時刻、或對錯的人說了對的話而被毀掉。
Twelve years after his death the king of Qin completed the conquest of the six states, governing by methods that Han Fei had described. Li Si became chancellor of the empire and was himself executed in 208 BCE. The dynasty fell the following year. Later ages drew the lesson that Legalism wins wars and loses the peace, and for two thousand years no Chinese government admitted to following it, though all of them kept its laws, its bureaucracy, and its examinations of performance.
他死後十二年，秦王完成了對六國的征服；用來治理的，正是韓非描述過的方法。李斯成了帝國的丞相，而他自己在公元前 208 年被處決。隔年，這個王朝覆亡。後世得出的教訓是：法家贏得了戰爭，卻輸掉了和平。此後兩千年，沒有一個中國的政府承認自己奉行法家；雖然它們全都保留了它的法律、它的官僚體系，以及它對政績的考核。
- c. 280 BCEBorn a prince of Han生為韓國公子
- c. 255 BCEStudies with Xunzi alongside Li Si與李斯同學於荀子
- c. 250–234 BCEWrites his essays after his advice is ignored進言不被採用，著書
- 234 BCEQin attacks Han. He is sent to Qin as envoy秦攻韓；出使秦國
- 233 BCEImprisoned and poisoned下獄，被毒死
- 230 BCEQin destroys Han, the first of the six states to fall秦滅韓，六國中第一個滅亡
- 221 BCEThe king of Qin becomes First Emperor秦王稱始皇帝
- 207 BCEThe Qin dynasty falls秦亡
The central idea · 核心觀念
Law, method, and position 法、術、勢
Han Fei starts from an observation about what moves people. Parents love their children, and a spoiled son does not reform for their love, for the scolding of neighbors, or for the wisdom of teachers. When the district officer arrives with soldiers and the law, he is frightened and changes his ways. “The people are by nature spoiled by love and obedient to authority.” Confucius, the sage of the whole world, won seventy followers by his goodness. Duke Ai of Lu, a mediocre ruler, was obeyed by everyone within his borders, Confucius included. Government should therefore be built on what works for nearly everyone. Hoping for virtue is no basis, since few respond to it.
韓非從一個關於「什麼能推動人」的觀察出發。父母愛孩子；而一個被寵壞的兒子，不為父母的愛、鄉人的責備、師長的智慧而改過。等到州部的官吏帶著官兵、拿著公法來了，他才害怕，才改變行為。「民固驕於愛、聽於威矣。」孔子是天下的聖人，以他的仁義贏得了七十個追隨者。魯哀公是個平庸的君主，國境之內卻沒有人敢不臣服，孔子也在其中。所以，治國應該建立在幾乎對每個人都有效的東西上。寄望於德行不能當作基礎，因為會回應德行的人很少。
He joined three ideas that earlier Legalists had held separately. Law, fa, is written, published, and applied to all: “The law does not favor the noble, as the plumb line does not bend for what is crooked. Punishment for faults does not spare great ministers, and reward for good does not pass over commoners.” Method, shu, is the ruler’s private technique for managing officials: assign duties, compare what a man promised with what he delivered, and hold in his own hands the “two handles” of punishment and reward. Position, shi, is the authority that belongs to the throne whoever sits on it. To these he added a view of history. Times change, and remedies must change with them, so that “the sage does not aim at practicing antiquity.”
他把更早的法家各自分開主張的三個觀念結合起來。法，是成文的、公布的、對所有人一體適用的：「法不阿貴，繩不撓曲……刑過不避大臣，賞善不遺匹夫。」術，是君主用來駕馭官員的私下的技術：「因任而授官，循名而責實」，並且把刑與德這「二柄」握在自己手裡。勢，是屬於君位的權威，不管坐在上面的是誰。他還加上了一個歷史觀。「世異則事異」，對策必須跟著改變；所以「聖人不期修古」。
The law does not favor the noble, as the plumb line does not bend for what is crooked. What the law applies to, the clever cannot talk their way out of and the brave dare not contest.法不阿貴，繩不撓曲。法之所加，智者弗能辭，勇者弗敢爭。
The most quoted sentence of Chinese Legalism, and the one that reformers of every later age could admire. 中國法家最常被引用的一句；也是後來每一個時代的改革者都能欣賞的一句。
The strongest objection · 最強的反駁
Nothing binds the ruler 沒有東西約束君主
Han Fei’s law applies to ministers and commoners alike, and he means it. But it comes from the ruler and serves the ruler, and nothing in the system tells the ruler what the law should contain or restrains him when he breaks it. The whole design assumes that the man at the top is at least of the “middle sort.” Han Fei admits that a Jie or a Zhou will bring disorder, and accepts this as the price of one bad age in a thousand. His own state was destroyed and he himself was killed by rulers who were using his methods, which suggests that the price is higher. A system that makes everyone below the throne predictable makes the throne itself the single point of failure.
韓非的法對大臣與平民一體適用；他是認真的。但它出自君主，為君主服務；而這個制度裡，沒有任何東西告訴君主法律應該包含什麼，或者在他違法的時候約束他。整個設計假定了最上面的那個人至少是個「中者」。韓非承認，來了一個桀或紂就會亂；而他接受這是「一千世裡有一世壞」的代價。他自己的國家，是被使用他的方法的統治者滅掉的，他自己也是被這樣的統治者殺掉的；這表示代價比他說的高。一個讓君位以下每個人都可以預測的制度，使君位本身成了唯一的失效點。
The second objection is Sima Qian’s: his doctrine was “extreme in its harshness and short on kindness.” A state that runs on fear and reward alone teaches its people that only fear and reward matter, and such people will serve the next master as readily as this one. In one of Han Fei’s own stories, a ruler falls asleep drunk and the keeper of the royal hat covers him with a robe. On waking, the ruler punishes the keeper of the robe for neglecting his duty and the keeper of the hat for exceeding his. Han Fei tells this with approval. A reader may conclude that in such a court no one will ever again do more than he is told, and that when the ruler is in real danger everyone will keep to his post.
第二個反駁是司馬遷的：他的學說「其極慘礉少恩」。一個只靠恐懼與賞賜來運轉的國家，教給人民的是「只有恐懼與賞賜才要緊」；而這樣的人民，為下一個主人效力，會跟為這一個效力一樣爽快。在韓非自己講的一個故事裡，韓昭侯醉了睡著，管帽子的官（典冠）替他蓋上了衣服。昭侯醒來之後，處罰了管衣服的官，因為他失職；也處罰了管帽子的官，因為他越職。韓非講這個故事是帶著贊許的。讀者也許會得出結論：在這樣的朝廷裡，再也不會有人做得比被吩咐的多；而當君主真的有危險的時候，人人都會守在自己的崗位上。
How we know · 史料
A Legalist who commented on Laozi 一位注解老子的法家
Two chapters of the Han Feizi are the oldest surviving commentary on the Daodejing. Sima Qian put Han Fei in the same biography as Laozi and said that his thought, though it dealt in law and administration, “had its root in Huang-Lao.” This has puzzled readers, since the gentle book of the Way and the harsh book of the state seem to have nothing in common. The link is the ruler who does nothing. Han Fei’s ideal sovereign is still, empty, and hidden. He shows no preferences, so that no minister can flatter them. He takes no action himself, and the machinery of law and reward does the work. Laozi’s non-action thus became a technique of control, which is a reading the Daodejing permits and which many think a betrayal of it.
《韓非子》裡有兩篇，是現存最古老的《道德經》解說。司馬遷把韓非跟老子放在同一篇傳裡，並且說他的思想雖然談的是刑名法術，卻「歸本於黃老」。這讓讀者困惑：那本談道的溫和的書，與那本談國家的嚴酷的書，看起來毫無共同之處。兩者的連結，是那位「什麼也不做」的君主。韓非理想中的君主是靜的、虛的、隱藏的。他不顯露好惡，這樣就沒有臣子能投其所好。他自己不行動，而由法與賞的機器來做事。老子的無為，就這樣成了一種控制的技術；這是《道德經》容許的一種讀法，而許多人認為這是對它的背叛。
There is also a question about the man. He was a prince of Han who wrote the manual by which Han’s enemy conquered the world. One chapter of his book urges Qin to spare Han, and its authenticity is disputed. Whether he hoped to save his state by making himself useful to Qin, or simply followed his argument where it led, the texts do not settle.
關於這個人，還有一個問題。他是韓國的公子，卻寫下了韓國的敵人用來征服天下的那本手冊。他的書裡有一篇勸秦國保全韓國；它的真偽有爭議。他究竟是希望藉著讓自己對秦有用來保住自己的國家，還是只是順著自己的論證走到哪裡算哪裡，這些文本並沒有給出定論。
Dharma and the West · 佛法與西方哲學
Han Fei and the Buddha 韓非與佛陀
Han Fei and the Buddha agree on one fact and draw opposite conclusions from it. The fact is that fear and desire move nearly everyone. A verse of the Dhammapada begins exactly as Han Fei might: “All tremble at the rod, all fear death.” Han Fei concludes that a ruler should take hold of these two handles and steer the people with them. The verse continues: “Treating others like oneself, neither kill nor incite to kill.” The Buddha takes the universal fear of punishment as a reason for compassion. In Buddhist terms the Legalist state governs by cultivating greed and fear in its subjects, which are two of the three roots of suffering, and so it makes people easier to rule by making them worse.
韓非與佛陀在一個事實上意見一致，而從中得出了相反的結論。那個事實是：恐懼與欲望推動著幾乎每一個人。《法句經》有一首偈的開頭，簡直就是韓非會說的話：「一切都害怕刀杖，一切都畏懼死亡。」韓非的結論是：君主應該握住這兩個把柄，用它們來駕馭人民。那首偈接下去說：「以自己推想他人，不要殺，也不要教人殺。」佛陀把「人人都怕刑罰」當作慈悲的理由。用佛教的話來說，法家的國家，是靠著在臣民心裡培養貪與懼來治理的；而這是苦的三個根當中的兩個。所以它讓人民更容易統治的辦法，是把他們變得更壞。
The comparison should be fair to Han Fei. The Buddha’s own community had rules, procedures, and graded penalties, and he did not rely on the goodness of monks any more than Han Fei relied on the goodness of ministers. The differences are in the purpose and the limit. The monastic rules exist to train the person who keeps them, and the heaviest penalty is to be sent away. There is no throne above the rules, since the Buddha left the teaching and the discipline as the only teacher. Han Fei saw clearly that institutions must not depend on saints. He did not see that an institution also shapes the people who live under it (Dharma and Western Philosophy D18).
這個比較應該對韓非公平。佛陀自己的僧團有規則、有程序、有分等級的處分；他並不倚賴比丘的善良，就像韓非不倚賴大臣的善良。不同在於目的與界限。戒律的存在，是為了訓練持守它的那個人；而最重的處分是擯出。規則之上沒有君位，因為佛陀留下法與律作為唯一的老師。韓非看得很清楚：制度不能依賴聖人。他沒有看到的是：一個制度也塑造著活在它底下的人（佛法與西方哲學 D18）。
Terms of art · 哲學術語
Words that come with him 跟著他一起來的詞
Ch. 法 fǎ
Written, published standards applied equally to all below the ruler.
成文的、公布的標準；對君主以下的所有人一體適用。
Ch. 術 shù
The ruler’s technique for appointing, testing, and controlling officials.
君主任用、考核與控制官員的技術。
Ch. 勢 shì
The power that belongs to an office apart from the qualities of its holder.
屬於一個職位的權力；與在位者個人的品質無關。
Ch. 二柄 èr bǐng
Punishment and reward, which the ruler must never let out of his own hands.
刑與賞；君主絕不可以讓它們離開自己的手。
Ch. 循名責實
Holding an official to exactly what his title and his own proposal promised.
要求一位官員做到的，恰好就是他的職稱與他自己的提案所承諾的。
Ch. 法家 fǎjiā
The school that held that a state is ordered by law and power, not by the virtue of rulers.
一個學派；主張國家是靠法律與權力而得到秩序的，不是靠統治者的德行。
Reading check · 理解測驗
Did it land? 讀懂了嗎
1. What does Han Fei think moves most people?
2. What are law, method, and position?
3. What did Sima Qian grieve over?
Go further · 延伸
Where he appears 他出現在哪幾課
- 《韓非子》原文，中國哲學書電子化計劃 ↗Begin with chapters 49 (“The Five Vermin”), 7 (“The Two Handles”), and 12 (“The Difficulties of Persuasion”). 從〈五蠹〉〈二柄〉〈說難〉讀起。
- 《史記・老子韓非列傳》 ↗The life, with a long quotation from “The Difficulties of Persuasion.” 他的生平，附有〈說難〉的長篇引文。
- Burton Watson, Han Feizi: Basic Writings (Columbia, 2003) ↗Twelve chapters in a clear English version. 十二篇，清楚的英譯。
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “Legalism in Chinese Philosophy” ↗The school as a whole, with Shang Yang and Shen Buhai. 整個學派，連同商鞅與申不害。