Warring States Legalist from the old state of Zheng who served Marquis Zhao of Han as chancellor and taught that a ruler should control his officials by technique
Mural guide
A thatched pavilion open on three sides stands among tall bamboo; one person sits with their back turned at the veranda rail beside a zither and a stack of bamboo slips, while a stone path runs to a calm pond reflecting clouds and distant hills.
Shen Buhai came from Jing and began as a minor official of the state of Zheng. The Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji) says he won an audience with Marquis Zhao of Han through his teaching on names and performance, became chancellor, and for fifteen years kept order at home while handling the other states. It adds that while he lived Han was well run and strong and no state invaded it, and that his teaching grew from Huang-Lao thought but centred on matching titles to results. He held that the ruler should use concealed technique, checking each official's work against the post he held, and the Han Feizi chapter Fixing the Law sets his technique beside Shang Yang's law and criticises each. The Shiji's Han chronicle dates his death to the twenty-second year of Marquis Zhao. His book, the Shenzi, ran to two or six chapters by different counts and is lost, though the early Tang anthology Qunshu zhiyao keeps its chapter on the Great Whole.
The Records of the Grand Historian says Shen Buhai was a man of Jing, once a lowly official of Zheng. He sought audience with Marquis Zhao of Han through his learning, and the marquis made him chancellor. For fifteen years he ordered government and teaching at home and dealt with the lords abroad; Han was well governed and strong, and none invaded it. His teaching rested on Huang-Lao and favored names and duties; he wrote two parts, called Master Shen.
Zhou