Book II 179cunning slander; and consequently you will become ignorant of what goes
on. So your attitude toward these two groups of people can make your
country strong or bring it to ruin. Hence, we wish that Your Majesty would
invite honest and wise officials and discuss the affairs of state with them
every day, while staying away from petty people and women.
“1. In olden times the personnel working in the palace had quotas lim-
iting their number. At the end of the Koryŏ dynasty, however, no such limits
existed, so that a considerable amount of money had to be paid for their
wages, and the problem still remains unresolved. Hence, we would like to
ask you to reduce the number of working personnel appropriately and save
the expenses by letting excess personnel return to farming.
“1. The spirits reward good people with blessings and punish evil people
by sending disasters, and it is their way of dealing with people. If people
offer sacrifices without cultivating their virtues, what good is it, even if they
offer sacrifices to the spirits?
“In ancient times the Son of Heaven sacrificed to Heaven and Earth;
feudal lords to mountains and rivers; grandees to five spirits in charge of
kitchens, gates, roads, etc.; and scholars and commoners to their fathers and
grandfathers. So they sacrificed only to those that deserved their sacrifices.
However, how can they, without doing good deeds, expect blessings from
the spirits only by offering sacrifices to them?
“Hence, we request that only the sacrifices recommended by the books
of rites^23 be offered, while all other improper sacrifices be prohibited, and
this injunction made into law so that those who violate it can be strictly
punished.
“According to the regulations of the Palace Treasury (Naet’anggo), the
king gave his orders to a palace eunuch (naealja) whenever he had the need
to spend money, and the palace eunuch passed the orders to a royal secre-
tary. Then, the royal secretary spoke to the king and carried out his orders
after obtaining his written permission. At the end of the former dynasty,
however, palace eunuchs issued royal orders directly without notifying
royal secretaries. How can you expect conspiracy and abuse not to take
place? From this day forward, we request that you send your orders directly
through the royal secretary to the Privy Council whenever there is a need to
spend money and not to repeat the mistakes of the past.
- “Books of rites” here may refer to Liji, Book of Rites, or Rites of Zhou (Zhouli), or
many other books related to rituals and ceremonies.