Questions on Disputation問辯
或問曰：「辯安生乎？」
Someone asked, "Where does wrangling come from?"
對曰：「生於上之不明也。」
The answer was, "It comes from the one above not being clear."
問者曰：「上之不明，因生辯也，何哉？」
The questioner said, "Why is it that the one above not being clear goes on to give birth to wrangling?"
對曰：「明主之國，令者，言最貴者也；法者，事最適者也。言無二貴，法不兩適，故言行而不軌於法令者必禁。若其無法令而可以接詐、應變、生利、揣事者，上必采其言而責其實。言當則有大利，不當則有重罪，是以愚者畏罪而不敢言，智者無以訟。此所以無辯之故也。亂世則不然：主有令，而民以文學非之；官府有法，而民以私行矯之。人主顧漸其法令而尊學者之智行，此世之所以多文學也。夫言行者，以功用爲之的彀者也。夫砥礪殺矢而以妄發，其端未嘗不中秋毫也，然而不可謂善射者，無常儀的也。設五寸之的，引十步之遠，非羿、逢蒙不能必中者，有常儀的也。故有常，則羿、逢蒙以中五寸的爲巧；無常，則以妄發之中秋毫爲拙。今聽言觀行，不以公用爲之的彀，言雖至察，行雖至堅，則妄發之說也。是以亂世之聽言也，以難知爲察，以博文爲辯；其觀行也，以離羣爲賢，以犯上爲抗。人主者說辯察之言，尊賢抗之行，故夫作法術之人，立取舍之行，別辭爭之論，而莫爲之正。是以儒服、帶劒者衆，而耕戰之士寡；堅白、無厚之詞章，而憲令之法息。故曰：「上不明，則辯生焉。」
The answer was, "In the state of an enlightened lord the command is the most honored among words, and the law is the most fitting among affairs. Among words there are not two honored things, and in the law there are not two fitting things. So words and conduct that do not follow the laws and commands are certainly forbidden. If there is no law or command for it, and a man can meet deceit, answer change, bring forth benefit and measure affairs, then the one above must take up his words and hold him answerable for the substance. If his words fit, there is great benefit; if they do not fit, there is heavy punishment. For this reason the foolish fear punishment and do not dare to speak, and the wise have nothing to contend over. This is why there is no wrangling. A disordered age is not like this. The lord has his commands, and the people fault them with book learning. The offices have their laws, and the people bend them with private conduct. The lord of men on the contrary pares away his laws and commands and honors the wisdom and the conduct of the learned, and this is why there is so much book learning in the age. Words and conduct take merit and use for their target. Now grind and sharpen an arrow and shoot it at random, and its point has never failed to hit the tip of an autumn hair; yet the man cannot be called a good archer, because there is no constant mark and target. Set up a target of five inches and draw it at ten paces, and none but Yi and Peng Meng can be sure of hitting it, because there is a constant mark and target. So where there is constancy, even Yi and Peng Meng count the hitting of a five inch target skillful; where there is none, the hitting of an autumn hair by a random shot is counted clumsy. Now if one listens to words and watches conduct without taking the common use for a target, then though the words are most searching and the conduct most firm, it is the talk of a random shot. For this reason, when a disordered age listens to words it counts what is hard to know as searching and what is widely read as eloquence, and when it watches conduct it counts leaving the crowd as worth and offending the one above as firmness. The lord of men delights in eloquent and searching words and honors conduct called worthy and firm. So though the man who makes law and method sets up a conduct of taking and putting aside and would sort out the contending arguments, there is no one to set it straight. For this reason those in scholars' robes and those who wear swords are many, and the knights who plow and fight are few; the words of hard and white and of the thicknessless are made plain, and the law of the statutes dies away. So it is said, 'If the one above is not clear, wrangling arises.'"