Book II 209
right even if their words offend the ruler; those who are cunning, on the
other hand, only try to please the ruler no matter what happens. If you
believe a person to be loyal and reliable, hire him; if you believe him to be
cunning, do not hesitate to reject him.
“Third, the memorial says, ‘It is important to establish the Royal Ancestral
Shrine and prohibit lewd sacrifices (ŭmsa).^73 In the previous dynasty, the
lewd sacrifices spread so widely that people offered sacrifices to the same
god in many different places or repeatedly offered several sacrifices in a
day. As a result, rites and rituals became corrupt and fell into disorder,
driving the country into ruin.’ We fully agree with the statement. Our
dynasty is newly founded in accordance with the will of Heaven, and there-
fore we cannot allow ourselves to repeat the same mistakes of the previous
dynasty. So we request that you give orders to the Board of Rites and make
appropriate rules and regulations to solve this problem.
“Fourth, the memorial says, ‘The practice of paying penalty for crime
with linen and silk [along with physical punishment] must be stopped.’ We
believe it makes sense. The Classic of Documents says, ‘Crime penalty can
be paid with money.’ It means that, starting from capital punishment down
to the corporal punishment of beating with light or heavy sticks, all the pen-
alties that deserve sympathy in the eyes of the law or humanity can be paid
off with money. For that reason, the previous dynasty allowed such a prac-
tice of collecting linen and silk to pay the penalties for crime; however, it
happened at the end of its decline that offenders were required to pay for
their penalty in addition to serving their sentences, which was quite against
the intention of the law that allowed extenuating circumstances. From this
day forward, we request you to give orders to both central and local govern-
ment and prohibit them from administering punishment and collecting linen
and silk for penalty concurrently.
“Fifth, the memorial says, ‘It should be prohibited that those who failed
to pay their debt be made into slaves.’ We fully agree with the statement. In
our government, the law with regard to the social status of commoners and
slaves is very strict. Then it is quite against reason to make a person of good
status into a slave permanently just for his failure to pay his debt. From this
day forward, when it happens that a person [who has become a slave] fails
to pay off his debt, the government authorities should compare the principal
- “It is a pejorative term for Buddhist, animist, and other non-Confucian rituals con-
ducted in rural villages.” (Palais, p. 1189)
