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Shen Buhai (; c. 400c. 337) was a Chinese bureaucrat who was the Chancellor of Han under Marquis Zhao of Han from 351 BC to 337 BC. Shen was born in the State of Zheng; he was likely to have been a minor official for the State of Zheng. After Han conquered Zheng in 375 BC, he rose up in the ranks of the Han officialdom. Shen Buhai was the earliest known political philosopher to have been influenced by Huang-Lao,〔Rickett, Guanzi (1985) p.15〕 combining political methodology with Taoistic thought. But as an innovator of administrative bureaucracy he became known as a Legalist. He is credited with writing the ''Shenzi''. Shen Buhai successfully reformed the bureaucracy in the State of Han; his reforms would later be copied by other states. He died of natural causes while in office. ==Philosophy== Shen was chiefly concerned with government administration through the use of bureaucracy. His system required a strong ruler at the center. Shen Buhai believed that the ideal ruler should remain distant from his officials, keeping his innermost thoughts secret and maintaining an independence of thought. According to Shen, the ruler needed to be the loneliest person in the world. Shen Buhai believed the greatest threat to a ruler's power came from within. Threats from powerful, independent ministers were more dangerous than threats from external forces, and championed ''Shu'' (術 administrative methods/techniques). Shen advocated for equally applied checks against the power of officials, touted the primacy of finding the right person for the job (''xingming'' 刑名), and evaluated officials based on skill, achievement and seniority. He also encouraged routine assessments of officials. Earlier modern scholars suggested that Shen's legalism blended with Taoism. Shen Buhai promulgated his own concept of wu wei, but he uses the terms differently and makes no reference to metaphysics, but only administration. In Shen's case, he believed that rulers maximized power by exercising it as little as possible, and encouraged rulers to limit their scope, leaving the details of administration to capable ministers. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Shen Buhai」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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