Abstract
The Guodian bamboo texts appear to suggest that the notion of the division between Humans and Heaven is a basic precept of early Confucianism, with a discernible influence on Mencius. Mencius differs from Xunzi, whose concept of the division between Humans and Heaven is inherently more complex, and which scholars in the past have often taken a simplistic view of. Mencius and Xunzi both propounded ideas of the division as well as the unity of Humans and Heaven, but they differ in specific terms on practical levels.
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Notes
- 1.
This article previously appeared in Chinese and has been revised and updated (Liang 2003). This translation was provided by Rens Krijgsman, with editorial modifications by Daniel Lee and Shirley Chan.
- 2.
In this chapter personal names such as Xunzi and Mencius are used for ease of reference. As the context will indicate, they generally refer to the implied authors of, or the precepts as read in, their eponymous works, not necessarily the historical personages.
- 3.
This idea was first advanced by Li Xueqin (Li 1999: 239–44).
- 4.
I would like to thank the anonymous reviewer who pointed out that the bamboo text here is seriously corrupted. Here I follow the majority view of scholars in reconstructing and interpreting the text. Textual stability, or lack of it, of the manuscript is beyond the scope of this chapter.
- 5.
My view presented here was published in 2003 and 2008. I thank the anonymous reviewer of this article who pointed out that a similar view can be found in Meyer (2011).
References
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Liang, T. (2019). The Qiong da yi shi 窮達以時 (Poverty or Success Is a Matter of Timing) and the Concept of Heaven and Humans in Early Confucianism. In: Chan, S. (eds) Dao Companion to the Excavated Guodian Bamboo Manuscripts. Dao Companions to Chinese Philosophy, vol 10. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04633-0_11
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