794 t h e a n n a l s o f k i n g t’a e j o
11th Day (Pyŏngsul)
Red rain fell on Mt. Paegun in Yŏngp’yŏng.^16When the king ran his eyes over the memorials from the Chancellery and
the Security Council, he saw that they were mostly about the request for
ending the construction work, abolishing the offices of court ladies and
eunuchs, holding the morning audience and receiving reports on state
affairs, associating with virtuous men while shunning petty people, and so
forth. Among these memorials, the one submitted by Yi Chi was most
ardent. It read as follows:
“Endear yourself to men of virtue while keeping away from petty people.
The Classic of Documents says, ‘The three dukes discuss the way and run
the state.’ It also says, ‘Morning and evening present your instructions to
aid my virtue.’^17 The sage rulers in antiquity invited men of virtue, even at
night, to seek advice for affairs of state, and the degree of their diligence
was to that extent.
“Your Majesty now allows only a few days for seeing your ministers, and
consequently wise counsel on the affairs of state cannot reach you. I sin-
cerely urge you to give an audience to wise scholars and ministers and dis-
cuss the ways of governing the state. In so doing there will be no abuses that
cannot be corrected and no profits that fail to be produced, and petty people
will withdraw from you by themselves.
“1. The way of receiving remonstrance should be open. The Classic of
Documents says, ‘Wood by the use of the line is made straight, and the sov-
ereign who follows reproof becomes sage.’ The sage kings in antiquity pre-
tended not to be wise and kept remonstrating officials next to them so that
these could advise them on all of their conduct, and the kings followed their
counsel like running water. As remonstrating officials now find themselves
alienated, the right and wrong of your conduct as well as the comfort and
anxiety of the people have no proper channels by which to be conveyed.
Hence, I urge you to let remonstrating officials attend you all the time,
in turn. If you make sure that their words are implemented and their
remonstrance accepted without fail, you will be duly informed of the real- A district in South Hamgyŏng Province.
- The remark of King Wu Ding of the Shang dynasty to Fu Yueh, his newly appointed
prime minister. See “Charge to Yueh,” Shu King, p. 96.