Cháo Cuò 晁錯
Western Hàn statesman and political theorist (c. 200–154 BCE). Native of Yǐngchuān 潁川. Yùshǐ dàfū 御史大夫 (Imperial Counsellor) under Emperor Jǐng 景帝. Author of the celebrated political treatises Lùn guì sù shū 論貴粟疏 and Yán bīngshì shū 言兵事疏; principal architect of the xiāofān 削藩 (“trimming the feudatories”) policy aimed at reducing the power of the regional kings. The policy precipitated the Revolt of the Seven Kingdoms (七國之亂, 154 BCE), in which Cháo Cuò was executed at the urging of 袁盎 Yuán Àng as a placatory measure.
Appears in Chinese Buddhist hagiography (with Yuán Àng) as the karmic counter-party in the legend of 知玄 Zhīxuán’s rénmiàn chuāng 人面瘡, the precipitating episode of KR6k0199 Cíbēi shuǐchàn fǎ.
Sources: Shǐjì 史記 j. 101; Hàn shū j. 49.