Abstract
This chapter charts Xunzi’s influence from the Han through the Tang dynasties by (i) focusing on the histories of followers trained in Xunzi’s teachings; (ii) considering restatements of important themes in his work; (iii) searching for convergences between Xunzi’s prescriptions and actual institutions; (iv) ascertaining which problems Xunzi’s formulations appear to have resolved; and (v) tracing how Xunzi’s reputation fared over time, especially in comparison with rival masters. The extant sources for Xunzi’s influence during the Han show it pervading at least four aspects of elite culture: in the programmatic outline of the new imperial ideology and the arts of governing; in the philosophical underpinnings of penal and administrative law; in the articulation of a highly plausible picture of the physiology and psychology of human nature; and in the stark rejection of any role for abdication in matters of dynastic succession. Furthermore, Xunzi’s teachings inform discussions about direct vs. indirect remonstrance and technical discussions about logic. The sheer regularity with which Han thinkers advanced ever more “comprehensive” (i.e., systematic) solutions for society’s ills equally suggests the power of Xunzi’s persuasions. Tuning to the post-Han period, this essay disputes the commonly held view that esteem for Xunzi’s writings was in sharp decline by Sui-Tang times, especially in comparison with Mencius. Had Xunzi’s writings really been eclipsed by Mencius during the Six Dynasties, Sui, and Tang, scholars would find it hard to account for what texts from those periods reveal. Apparently, wherever we find the impulse to synthesize discrete areas of knowledge and create theories, thoughts of Xunzi arose, judging from our sources. Thus simple justice demands that we take seriously Sima Qian’s claim that Confucian teachings would never have achieved the prominence accorded them in imperial and post-imperial China, were it not for Xunzi’s making Kongzi’s teachings more “glossy and appealing.”
Minister Sun’s [i.e. Xunzi’s] Way preserves rituals and proper attention to duties, and conduct that adheres to the straight and narrow, which gives security to the poor and debased. Mencius was also a great classicist and Confucian (Ru).
Liu Xiang 劉向, Bie lu 別錄 [emphasis mine]
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Notes
- 1.
When I speak below of “Xunzi’s writings,” I refer to the recension edited by Liu Xiang originally entitled “New Text,” the basis for all modern editions, including that of Yang Liang , even though Liu may have accepted materials incorrectly ascribed to Xunzi. References to chapters in the Xunzi, however, will be according to the different arrangement of chapters made by Yang Liang, which most modern commentaries, translations, and concordances follow, including that of WXQ.
- 2.
The three are Master Mao 毛 for the Mao Odes ; master Fu Qiubo 浮邱伯 for the Lu Odes ; and the Han imperial counselor Zhang Cang 張蒼 (fl. 180 BCE) for the Zuoshi Chunqiu . The last identification, from Liu Xiang’s Bie lu 別錄 (cited in the Zuozhuan zhengyi 正義, Postface 序), suggests that the Zuo’s influence started earlier in Western Han than some believe. However, the time gap between Xunzi and Zhang Cang seems impossibly large, unless Zhang was a very young disciple of a very elderly Xunzi. Yan Kejun 1883: 3/3b, also casts Xunzi as a master of the Guliang Tradition but on somewhat shaky grounds. Yan can’t explain how Xunzi can be both a student of Zixia 子夏, on the one hand, and lambast “the debased Ru in Zixia’s camp” (子夏氏之賤儒) in his chapter 6 (“Fei shi’er zi,” HKCS 6/25/1), on the other, unless Xunzi charges the followers of Zixia with being unfaithful followers (?); cf. Fayan 12/12.
Several translations can be recommended to those who do not read Chinese or Japanese: those by James Legge , for the Liji (1885); by James Robert Hightower, for the Hanshi waizhuan (1952); by Steven Durrant, Li Wai-yee, and David Schaberg , for the Zuozhuan (2016); by Eric Henry , for the Shuoyuan (forthcoming); and by this author, for the Fayan (Nylan 2013).
- 3.
See Yan Kejun 1883: 3/3b; cf. Li Hua 2010; Lai Yanyuan 1963. Many scholars have noted that passages borrowed from the Xunzi appear in the Da Dai Liji chapter 49 (“Zengzi lishi”); also the Liji chapters 19, 39, 46 (“Yue ji,” “San nian wen,” “Xiangyin jiu yi”). Fan Youfang 2001 ruminates on Xunzi’s chapter 19 (“Li lun”), but, notably, Xunzi never identified “desires ” and “evil” or “ugly” 惡 (see the discussion below). Ma Jigao 2002: 197 disputes the influence of Xunzi on neoclassical texts, but his reasoning is faulty.
- 4.
For these works, see the indexes to the translations of the Lüshi chunqiu by Knoblock and Riegel 2000Riegel, Jeffrey K.; of the Huainanzi , by Major et al. 2010; of the Shuoyuan, by Eric Henry (forthcoming), all of which are well-indexed. NB: My translations often depart from those of Knoblock’s three-volume rendition (1988–1994) of the Xunzi [indicated by “K” in the footnotes below]; I provide references to his work for the reader’s convenience.
- 5.
See Ying Shao 1996, chapter 7 (“Qiong tong”). Xunzi is identified as both a sage and a worthy man of breeding (xian 賢)—the latter by his contemporaries. Then come worthy men, beginning with Yu Qing (supposedly Xunzi’s teacher), and ending with Chen Fan of Runan. Xunzi is praised for his learning in four of the Five Classics. (Oddly enough, the Documents does not appear in the list, though scholars have long detected Xunzi’s influence in Fu Sheng’s “Great Commentary” to that work.) NB: My translation of the word xian 賢 is meant to give equal weight to the social status and character of the “worthy .”
- 6.
The chapter’s complex argument is studied in Nylan (2015a). Nor is the silence of the Xunzi regarding the legend of Bo Yi and Shu Qi, the main subject of Shiji chapter 61, coincidental, I would argue. Many other unattributed sayings from the Xunzi appear in Shiji (e.g., SJ 128.3226, cited in WXQ, juan 1, p. 11).
- 7.
According to Ying Shao 1996, Sun Qing 孫卿 (“Minister Sun”) is the courtesy title the “men of Qi” gave Xunzi (i.e., Sun Kuang 孫況), though Sun’s highest official posts were Libationer for Jixia in Qi and later Prefect of Lanling, for Lord Chunshen in Chu. The number of direct citations to Xunzi in Han writings is 157 times, according to the CHANT ICS Concordance Series, as compared with 119 times for Mengzi , of which 42 come from Wang Chong alone. (Apparent citations to Mengzi are also sometimes to other figures.) Not all citations to Mencius are flattering, though all extant citations to Xunzi are. More citations to Xunzi than to Mengzi occur in the Shiji [hereafter SJ] and Hanshu [hereafter HS] (28 vs. 16 in SJ; 24 vs. 16 in HS). Indirect citations number many more, as noted below.
- 8.
See Chen Liangwu 2009: 119, for details. Chen sees these “Working Songs” as Xunzi’s attempt to proselytize by easy-to-remember mnemonics.
- 9.
The terminus ad quem for SHD is 217 BCE, and for ZJS, 186 BCE.
- 10.
See Nylan 2001, 2008. The “Gongyi” pian of Kong congzi 1998 is one of many texts to query the reliability of oral transmissions transcribed. NB: By this point in time, a comparison of excavated and received texts allows us to assert the probability that many direct references to masters (esp. Kongzi himself) were inserted over time into later editions. This pattern is so well known that Liao Mingchun 2006, esp. p. 72, uses it to date editions (though Liao doesn’t expand upon the implications of his findings).
- 11.
Xunzi often cites traditions or commentaries, using the formula zhuan/chuan yue 傳曰 (“the tradition or commentary says”). The slogan “Employ the worthy,” probably first enunciated by the Mohists , is embraced by nearly all the third-century BCE thinkers, as is the notion that “the people are the basis” of stable rule (min ben 民本).
- 12.
Recently, many scholars, following the lead of Li Xueqin 李學勤, have begun making curious arguments about what was and was not possible based on the strong presumption of regional learning. See, e.g., Chen Liangwu 2009 : n. 8.
- 13.
Cf. Lü Simian 1982: 688–89. For one example of inter-textuality, see Hanshi waizhuan 6/14, where two passages in the extant Xunzi are credited to Mencius . (Of course, the lines may be proverbial.) This means that I do not accept the unilinear schema for tracing intellectual developments, contra such authors as Liao Mingchun 1998: 80, where Liao’s dating schema relies on sets of three becoming sets of five over time.
- 14.
I query the existence of the so-called “Jixia Academy ” in pre-Qin times, which many erroneously take to be the source of Qin and Han Learning; I query the existence of discrete “schools” in pre-imperial times, as well as deep divisions between the so-called “New Text/Old Text” adherents in Han classicism. I see little reason to presume the leading role of Dong Zhongshu in Western Han. On the “factoid” of the Jixia Academy , for which the early accounts never use the word xue guan 學官 (“academy”), see Sivin 1995. (The status and function of Jixia is relevant, since Xunzi served as a Libationer at Jixia , which I take to be some sort of official residence.) Loewe has consistently avoided translating Ru 儒 as “Confucian,” and I have reserved the term for such dedicated ethical followers of Confucius as Xunzi (Nylan 2001), while emphasizing the disparate sources of inspiration that most pre-Qin, Qin, and Han thinkers drew from (Nylan 2008). For the dating of the “classical turn” not to the reign of Han Wudi (r. 141–87 BCE) but to the reign of Han Chengdi (r. 33–7 BCE), see Nylan 2011 and Nylan 2015b. Fukui 2005 argues that the number of Academicians was possibly sharply reduced during Wudi’s reign, from around 70 in Qin and early Western Han to only 7; cf. the doubts raised by Loewe 2011 regarding Dong Zhongshu’s role at Han Wudi’s court. Many scholars still assume first, that the Mengzi provided the main inspiration for Dong Zhongshu , and second, that Dong himself was a major influence on Western Han thought.
- 15.
Fukui 2005 set me on this path.
- 16.
One must remember that the Kongzi portrayed in the Analects refused to speak at length about human nature ( Analects 5.12); Xunzi either departed from this tradition or, as I suspect, didn’t know it. Xunzi’s account of qing 情 (“human inclinations”) and xing 性 (“human nature”) apparently was deemed satisfactory for most purposes; the differences between Xunzi’s theory and that of Mencius are not, of course, as the diametrically opposed slogans about human nature would make them seem. Xunzi thought human nature “ugly ,” rather than irretrievably “evil” (contra the usual Christianized rendering in English); see Sahlins 2008 for this important distinction. Shen jian 1995, chapter 4 (“Zayan, shang”), shows that Yang Xiong and Liu Xiang both thought that human natures were “mixed,” in the sense of generated ethically good or bad impulses, depending on circumstances and basic proclivities. Other nice distinctions continued to be worked out, including the pragmatic application of Xunzi’s emphasis on “rule by ritual” under the watchful eye of the thinking ruler of discrimination, who is quite unlike Han Fei’s “empty ruler” who does not himself legislate, but lets the “rule of law” takes it course.
- 17.
The phrase run se 潤色 (“glossy and appealing”) perhaps cites Analects 14.8 (Waley trans.: “give it amplitude and color”; Lau : “make embellishments,” which seems less likely). SJ 61.3166, HS 88.3591 repeat the phrase.
- 18.
See, e.g., Xu Pingzhang 1988 : 127 for the use of this slogan.
- 19.
- 20.
According to Ying Shao , Xunzi lambasted Lord Chunshen in his fu , which took the form of riddles. Li Zehou 2010: 33 emphasizes the way in which Han Confucians used poetry as a means to convey veiled criticism, even satire.
- 21.
The value placed on being tong 通 (“comprehensive”) in analysis rather than piecemeal helps to explain why Eastern Han and post-Han critics did not regard Wang Chong highly. Wang’s essays contradict one another, and they offer no grand theory, aside from arguing that qi 氣 is material (hardly a new idea); hence their failure to rise to the status of texts devoted to tongyi 通義 that aim to find the “comprehensive meaning.” The term qi is frankly untranslatable; for its meanings in the immediate pre-Qin, Qin, and Han periods, see Nylan 2010.
- 22.
For Yang , see Nylan 2011. For Xunzi, see the opening lines to Xunzi, chapter 17 (“Tian lun”), where Xunzi says the “Perfected Man” understands “the division between the activities of heaven and those of mankind.” See WXQ 17.1 (pp. 306–7); HKCS 17/79/21; K III.15. However, the term for “sympathetic resonances” (gan ying 感應) could be applied to certain physiological processes whereby something external to the self stimulates it in such a way as to give rise to “motions” and “reactions” (dong 動 or ying 應). Li Zehou 2010, chapter 3, inexplicably makes Xunzi the precursor to Dong Zhongshu’s “unity of heaven and humans.”
- 23.
As Tjan Tjoe Som 1949: 75, remarks, by the time of the promulgation of the Bohu Conference conclusions (after 79 CE), the idea that “the events of man’s life correspond with the phenomena in the world of nature” had become an article of faith for the dynasty, despite Xunzi’s sharp divide between the cosmic and social realms. For “personal welfare,” see Poo Mu-chou 1998. NB: I do not capitalize “Heaven” when translating tian because Xunzi denies the relevance, and possibly the existence of an anthropomorphic god.
- 24.
Chapter 9 of the extant Xunzi entitled ”“Wang zhi” 王制.
- 25.
The terms for “hegemon” and “[true] king” are ba 霸 and wang 王 respectively.
- 26.
WXQ 9.1–2 (pp. 149–52); HKCS 9/35/3–12; K II.94–95. Knoblock translates yi shan zhi 以善至 as “coming forward with good intentions” but Xunzi is interested in results, in my view, though these are clearly tied to intention. Hutton comments that the shan here can accommodate both intentions and results.
- 27.
WXQ 9.2 (pp. 150–52); HKCS 9/35/14–20; K II.95–96, speaking of what is gong ping 剬平 (“fair and just ”). Here (as elsewhere) Xunzi emphasizes that good judges must extrapolate from the laws “by analogy” (yi lei ju 以類舉) to cases not covered explicitly in the legal code, or miscreants will evade the law.
- 28.
WXQ 9.3 (p. 152); HKCS 9/36/1; K II.96.
- 29.
WXQ 9.3 (p. 152); HKCS 9/36/1–3; K II.96; cf. chapter 17 (“Li lun”), which presents sumptuary laws as one key to effective rule. In chapter 10, esp. sections 10.8–9 (HKCS 10/44/20 – 10/46/4), Xunzi specifically disputes the Mohist belief that material resources are inherently scarce; most relevant is the section translated in K II.127–30.
- 30.
While many are quick to see Mohist influence in all talk of ai min 愛民 (“caring for the people”), these ideas could equally well be ascribed to Mencius or several other thinkers. On the Han blending of Mohist and Confucian ideas, see Wallacker 1978. Other measures are listed in WXQ 9.13 (HKCS 9/38/9–12, K II.101–2), including a taxation rate of 1/10. For the state care of the elderly, see Giele 2006c; for other measures, see the Introduction to Nylan and Vankeerberghen 2015. Henry Rosemont has emphasized this aspect of Xunzi’s views in his “State and Society in the Xunzi” (Rosemont 2000).
- 31.
WXQ 9.5 (p. 153); HKCS 9/36/16–20; K II.98.
- 32.
WXQ 9.6 (p. 154); HKCS 9/36/17; K II.98, which states that hegemons fu shi 富士 (“favor those men-in-service”), while true kings fu min 富民 (“favor their subject populations”).
- 33.
Cf. WXQ 15.1b–c (pp. 266–67); HKCS 15/68/9 – 15/69/19; K II.219–22.
- 34.
WXQ 9.8 (p. 156); HKCS 9/37/6; K II.99. Some texts characterize Xunzi as anti-merchant, but there is little evidence of this, although he knows full well that the vast majority of subjects will be farmers, as is true of all pre-industrial societies. See Crone 1989.
- 35.
WXQ 4.12 (p. 71); HKCS 4/17/3–4; K I.195; cf. ibid. 20.1 (p. 379); HKCS 20/98/14 – 20/99/2; K III.80–81. While one line in chapter 10 speaks of “reducing the numbers of traders and merchants” (WXQ 10.3b (p. 179); HKCS 10/43/6, K II.123) this merely urges an increase in the numbers of farmers, so anti-merchant sentiments do not figure largely in the Xunzi, as we have it.
- 36.
WXQ 9.2 (p. 151) HKCS 9/35/20; K II.96: 治生乎君子.
- 37.
WXQ 9.11 (pp. 158–59); HKCS 9/38/1–3; K II.101, for the term fu gu 復古 (“restore the past”).
- 38.
WXQ 15.6b (p. 290); HKCS 15/74/19; K II.234. At WXQ 9.13 (p. 160); HKCS 9/38/9; K II.101, and at 10.5 (p. 180); HKCS 10/43/19; K II.125, the term used for the masses is wan min 萬民.
- 39.
WXQ 9.14 (p. 162); HKCS 9/38/19; K II.102, for the term da shen 大神 (“greatly divine ”). WXQ 9.15 (p. 163); HKCS 9/39/3; K II.103, identifies the junzi 君子 (either “noble man” or “ruler,” depending on context) as a Third Power with heaven -and-earth (the cosmos), although junzi here almost certainly refers to the “ruler.” For the importance of unity as a function of one standard, even-handed policies, see WXQ 9.16a (p. 164); HKCS 9/39/11–12; K II.104, also WXQ 9.18 (pp. 171–72); HKCS 9/40/18 – 9/41/7; K II.108–9. “Divine ” seems to mean “supremely efficacious” when it refers to rulers and their officials. See fn. 23 above, regarding the use of “Heaven” with or without a capital “H.”
- 40.
On the first point, see WXQ 9.19a (p. 173); HKCS 9/41/9–14; K II.109, which speaks of punitive expeditions manned by loving subjects. On the second point, see Xunzi 9.19c (p. 174); HKCS 9/42/5; K II.111, which speaks of “using [the people] unto death.”
- 41.
WXQ 15 (passim). Cf. ibid. 4.12 (p. 71); HKCS 4/17/3–4; K I.195.
- 42.
Analects 2.4 had spoken of “following the heart’s desires without overstepping the bounds of right.” The term translated as “appropriate” is yi 義 . Eric Hutton 2000, esp. p. 223, argues against the idea that it is the mere capacity for knowing and doing yi that makes humans superior to animals . Wong 2000 overstates the role desires play in Xunzi’s vision, assuming also that “There is nothing in our nature that Xunzi thinks can be called good” (Wong 2000: 135), and second, that the inborn nature includes “the self-seeking tendency to satisfy the desires” (ibid). However, he writes, “[I]t is quite plausible that we do have feelings that are congenial to morality even if they aren’t moral feelings” (Wong 2000: 150), which seems to contradict his earlier statement. Finally, he resolves the issue, saying, “Human nature is not evil because it contains nothing but selfish desire and feeling. It is evil because these kinds of desire and feeling dominate in conditions of insecurity and lack of order” (ibid, italics in original).
- 43.
WXQ 9.16a (p. 164); HKCS 9/39/11–13; K II.104. Behuniak 2000 places equal stress on fen , but there are other problems; for example, I believe he is wrong to assume that the rituals of which Xunzi speaks are one or more books entitled Rituals .
- 44.
See WXQ 9.17 (pp. 166–71); HKCS 9/40/1–16; K II.106–8, for the xu guan 序官 (“order of officers”).
- 45.
For Mencius , see Mencius 7B35 for the desirability of reducing the desires (養心莫善于寡欲). Xunzi ascribes this idea to Song Xing (宋子有見於少, WXQ 17.12 (p. 319); HKCS 17/83/4–5; K III.22). See Nylan 2004: 90. Xunzi 4.9 (p. 63); HKCS 4/15/7; K I.191, says that the best and worst of men are “the same” in “only one aspect”: that they “have these desires” (fan ren you suo yi tong 凡人有所一同). Xunzi 27.63 (p. 502); HKCS 27/132/1; K III.222, says that all humans, even sages , possess both a sense of appropriateness and a desire for benefit/profit. Desires are linked to the senses throughout the Xunzi, chapter 11 (“Wang ba”).
- 46.
WXQ 22.5a (p. 428); HKCS 22/111/14; K III.136: qing zhe, xing zhi zhi 情者性之質.
- 47.
For example, the Guodian “Wuxing pian,” section 22, says about cheng : “Only those of the highest integrity in the realm can fully realize their true natures, and only those who can so realize their natures can fully acquire a humane nature” (唯天下至誠為能盡其性; 能盡其性則能盡人之性). Xunzi’s chapter 3 (“Bu gou”) includes a long passage about the importance of cultivating cheng to the completion of one’s endowed human nature (君子養心莫善于誠, WXQ 3.9a–c (p. 46–48); HKCS 3/11/4–12; K I.177–78). Wong 1991: 33 identifies the most important function of the xin as recognizing the salient features of each situation, determining whether it is important to act or not. However, this is hardly the only capacity of the xin. For moral judgment as the capacity to use analogies, as well as focus, see Kim 2014.
- 48.
Xunzi, after all, had no concept like that of Western original sin . Contrast Sahlins 2008. Put another way, the appetites generated by sensory contact, in other words, are not absolutely at war with “higher” impulses toward moral action; they constitute the only groundwork for all thought and action. NB: I do not agree with Van Norden , especially his remarks about the need to engage in the “moral equivalent of war against our desires” in the process of moral cultivation (Van Norden 2000: 127), though some others would.
- 49.
This theme of cheng 誠 (“integrity”) appears often, e.g., in WXQ 17.3 (p. 309); HKCS 17/80/10; K III.16, which describes the “heart that dwells within the core cavity” as the single organ capable of correlating the activities of the senses.
- 50.
Xunzi 3 (passim). For more, see Liang Tao 2002; the key phrase is shen qi du 慎其獨 (either “to be cautious when alone [or in one’s family circle]” or “to be cautious of one’s singularity” (with the latter usage attested in Han texts as well). See WXQ 3.9b (p. 46); HKCS 3/11/7; K I.178.
- 51.
WXQ 9.18 (p. 171); HKCS 9/40/21 – 9/41/1; K II.108: “When a ruler finds himself in the circumstances where the world is coerced by one state’s aggression and he must find alliances with others, doing things he has no desire to do, so that day by day he comes to execute the same policies and commit the same actions as a Jie, this will not prevent his becoming a Yao.” Cf. WXQ 15.1b (p. 267); HKCS 15/68/14; K II.220: “But for a Jie to try to practice deception against a sage like Yao would be like trying to break a rock by throwing eggs at it or trying to stir boiling water with bare fingers.”
- 52.
This list comes from the opening paragraphs of Xunzi, chapter 19 (“Li lun”), which mentions the desires for satisfaction of the senses, for “symbols of trust,” for awesome spectacles, and for safety specifically. See Nylan 2004. Xunzi’s main criticism of Mozi’s teachings is that they do not make sufficient provision to satisfy people’s desires.
- 53.
WXQ 15.5 (p. 287); HKCS 15/74/4–5; K II.232.
- 54.
WXQ 19.3 (p. 357); HKCS 19/92/21; K III.62.
- 55.
WXQ 19.5b (p. 363); HKCS 19/94/8; K III.65.
- 56.
WXQ 19.11 (p. 376); HKCS 19/97/20–22; K III.72.
- 57.
NB: “Mimetic desires” is my own term for what Xunzi describes in the opening passages of his chapter 19, when he has ordinary people wanting to imitate their social betters who have more goods and services at their disposal, and finding that imitation will give them and their families the safety and security they crave.
- 58.
WXQ 19.2c (p. 355); HKCS 19/92/8–10; K III.60–61.
- 59.
WXQ 19.11 (p. 376); HKCS 19/97/22 – 19/98/1; K III.72.
- 60.
This may seem like a great many conditions, but I believe all are necessary; cf. Baier 1992.
- 61.
The current academic fashion viewing such commemorative activities as mere political theater or worse—the cynical manipulation of “those below” by the sociopolitical elites of the early empires—necessarily downplays Xunzi’s achievement.
- 62.
Li Zehou 2010: 13.
- 63.
WXQ 11.4 (pp. 210–11); HKCS 11/52/3; K II.156. No one should take this to mean that Xunzi is a hedonist. See Nylan 2001.
- 64.
- 65.
- 66.
See HS 36.1921–22. Fu Qiubo is also known as Bao Qiuzi 包丘子 or Bao Qiu 鮑丘. Lu Jia 陸賈 and Huan Kuan 桓寬 say he was a student at the same time as Li Si .
- 67.
HS 78.3271.
- 68.
According to An Zuozhang’s reconstruction, the Guliang represents the Lu Learning, opposed by the Qi classicists. However, An’s reconstruction is impossibly neat (and flawed in its assumptions about Modern Script-Archaic Script differences), even if An makes many useful points. Cf. Tjan Tjoe Som , Bo hu tung, Tables 3, 7 (between pp. 86–87). The Zuoshi Chunqiu and the Mao Odes supposedly were represented by Academicians at the court of Liu De 劉德, King of Hejian 河間 (r. 155–129 BCE).
- 69.
- 70.
Lu Deming [1873] 1983: “Shulu” 敘祿. But see above. For a convenient chart of lines of filiation posited in early works, see Xu Pingzhang 1988: 119–20.
- 71.
Riegel 1997. Cf. WXQ 27.92 (p. 511); HKCS 27/135/7–8; K III.230.
- 72.
An Zuozhang 2001 remarks, in section 2, that by mid-Western Han times, these location markers (Qi vs. Lu) no longer had much correlation with the places of origin of the followers. The standard narrative makes Liu Xiang a Guliang proponent, in contrast to Liu Xin (advocate of the Zuozhuan ), but Liu Xiang’s several compilations seem to use the Zuo . For Yin Gengshi and the Shen Pei-Guliang connection, see HS 88.3617–18; for the Zuo , see above (on Zhang Cang and Jia Yi ). Another possible tie is the court of Liu De 劉德, King of Hejian, who was allegedly an early collector of texts relating to rites and music , but too little is known.
- 73.
HS 88.3617 shows the Odes and Guliang being taught together in Lu continuously from the time of Shen Pei. HS 88.3617–18 makes it equally likely that Xunzi influenced Dong Zhongshu’s reading of the Gongyang (hardly an impossibility, given Dong’s interest in jurisprudence).
- 74.
Every reformer who weighed in on the subject of the suburban sacrifices under Chengdi (r. 33–7 BCE) was a student of Hou Cang, including Kuang himself, Yi Feng 翼奉, and Xiao Wangzhi 蕭望之. See fns. 79, 89.
- 75.
- 76.
We do not know how much Xunzi accepted certain cosmological constructions of his time concerning the sympathetic laws of attraction threading through the universe, but we do know that chapters 5 and 17 of the extant Xunzi deny that important cosmological connections between heaven and the people exist. Moreover, Xunzi, like Kongzi before him, was mainly preoccupied with events in the sociopolitical realm. In support of this point, I would add that the Changes is hardly mentioned in the Xunzi, there being only two direct quotations from the Changes , and three (or possibly four) other references to it. Moreover, a number of these quotes and references occur in chapter 27, which is generally regarded as having a weaker claim to represent Xunzi’s views. Notably, Xunzi does not identify the Changes as a Classic, unlike the Odes and Documents.
- 77.
Yantie lun 1994: 4.3/24/21, for example, disassociates Xunzi from Li Si , by showing how shabbily Li treated Xunzi and a student of his; similarly, Xinxu 1992 shows Xunzi reproving Li Si ; and Yang Xiong (a fierce critic of the Qin) in Fayan 12.5 calls Xunzi a true Confucian (“a different door in the same gate” [with Kongzi ]), meaning his teachings and example proved good entryways to Kongzi himself. The Xunzi itself contains a story of Xunzi upbraiding Li Si that serves as a parallel to the Xinxu story; see WXQ 15.3; HKCS 15/72/1–7; K II.228–29.
- 78.
E.g., Yan Kejun 1883: 3/3b. See below.
- 79.
See, e.g., SJ 96.2675–76, for the term shu 數 (“regularities”). HS 88.3620 shows the close ties between the late Western Han reformers and students of Zhang Cang .
- 80.
- 81.
HS 73.3101.
- 82.
See fn. 77 for the Han treatment of Xunzi’s association with Li Si , Han Fei , and the First Emperor of Qin.
- 83.
This continues in Six Dynasties, as we see from Dominik Declercq 1998, writing on she lun 設論 (“hypothetical discourses”), which tend to air grievances.
- 84.
Nylan 2008.
- 85.
Nylan 2005.
- 86.
Fukui 1988, focuses particularly on several court appointments thought to lead to high office.
- 87.
Fukui 1988: 275.
- 88.
- 89.
Hence the organization of an imperial library under Chengdi and the later placement of several altars in the capital area. The first is the subject of Nylan 2011; the second, that of Tian Tian 2015. One can see Liu Xin’s harsh “Letter about the Academicians” in this light as well. The standard view doubtless is based on Yantie lun’s depiction of the wenxue, as opposed to the strong reach of the centralized state. Loewe has queried the reliability and dating of the Yantie lun, calling it an “exercise” in rhetoric, rather than a transcription of the debates.
- 90.
However, the vast majority of the archaeological evidence dates to those two centuries.
- 91.
Ma Jigao 2002: 181–82, suggests that all the parts of the Lüshi chunqiu that concerned cultivation of one’s physical person, employment of the worthy, musical education came from Xunzi, whereas calls for frugality came from the Mohists , and other separate strands from others. I do not think the ideas in the text can be sourced so neatly.
- 92.
Probably this was true in Qin as well, given the six stele inscriptions erected by Qin Shihuang, but for Qin we have only a few tantalizing bits of evidence. What is abundantly clear from the evidence, literary and archaeological: the most forceful backlash against the Qin did not happen under Han Gaozu (r. 206–195 BCE), but in late Western Han, as a way of indirectly criticizing policies associated with Han Wudi (r. 141–87 BCE).
- 93.
Cai Yong’s 蔡邕 Duduan 獨斷 (title meaning disputed, comp. ca. 175) shows the importance of court conference and court advisors. Giele 2006a explicates the text, paying special attention to the particular forms the necessary channels of communications took in Han: petitions, memorials, presentations, the findings of court conferences, and dissents were duly registered with the throne, which, in return, publicized its wishes through edicts, instructions, appointment letters, and formal admonitions. The opening paragraphs of the HHS “Ru lin zhuan,” also show Guangwu and Mingdi performing for their court the role of “true king ” in charge of the propagation of culture and moral reform.
- 94.
See SJ 78.2396; 87.2539, the biographies of Li Si and Lord Chunshen, which credit Xunzi with knowing the diwang zhi shu 帝王之術 (“arts of true emperors and kings”). That Xunzi had a large group of disciples is also implied in Yantie lun 4.3/25/14.
- 95.
I regret to say that Wu Hung, Martin Powers, and Anthony Barbieri-Low all refuse to accept the evidence that sumptuary regulations were routinely enforced, at least in urban centers.
- 96.
Zhang Xiangyu, Wang Xiaomeng, and others (personal communications); for one example of an outlying kingdom, see the Eastern Han tomb of a prince near Ji’nan (Rencheng). The term for jue 爵 is now translated “orders of honor,” rather than “noble ranks,” though it includes two noble ranks.
- 97.
Giele 2005.
- 98.
Generally speaking, according to Crone 1989: 45, early empires sought only to (1) collect taxes; (2) maintain internal security; (3) maintain external defense. In Crone’s view, it is typically only industrial societies that aim to (4) educate subjects; (5) assign jobs; (6) give out money; (7) protect the environment; (8) organize sport and entertainment; (9) maintain public health; and (10) provide some services to the weak, orphaned, and old. Crone (ibid.) says, “The ideology that depicted him as an autocrat more often than not was designed to compensate for his lack of power.”
- 99.
See concluding section of WXQ 21.10 (pp. 409–10); HKCS 21/107/14–16; K III.111–12.
- 100.
Adshead 2004: 47 (said of Tang but applicable to Han). Adshead knows that many constitutions are unwritten.
- 101.
Fukui 1988 gives one of the best accounts of this system of recruitment and promotion.
- 102.
- 103.
Hsing I-t’ien 1987: 333–409, has done extensive work on precedents; Hulsewé and Loewe have been the leading scholars for the laws, including those mentioned in the newly excavated Shuihudi and Zhangjiashan finds. Wudi was known for his autocratic behavior, however.
- 104.
Fukui 1988.
- 105.
WXQ 9.17 (p. 171); HKCS 9/40/15–16; K II.108; cf. WXQ 9.19d (p. 174); HKCS 9/42/6–7; K II.111.
- 106.
HS 23.1102. See Hulsewé 1955: fns. 5–6, 11, 62–63, 65, 67, 74, 76, 316, 318, 320–22. The HS biography of Lu Wenshu 路溫舒 (dubbed by Hulsewé a virtual “Appendix” to HS 23) continues the citations from Xunzi, in describing the people’s inclinations. See Hulsewé 1955: 425. Hutton 2006 explains the necessity in Xunzi’s ideal world for wise rulers to set up good institutions, so as to form people’s characters.
- 107.
See, for example, the memorial by Gu Yong 谷永, dated to 12 BCE, which is discussed in Nylan and Vankeerberghen 2015: 293–322.
- 108.
WXQ 27.52 (pp. 498–99); HKCS 27/130/24 – 27/131/1; K III.219. NB: the local community ritual centers (xiang 庠 and xu 序) mentioned in Mencius 3A5 are not “schools” in the modern sense, contra centuries of Neo-Confucian teaching.
- 109.
Xunzi, like others of his age, had no conception of an abstract “economy ,” let alone “the market”—a point made long ago by M.I. Finley for classical Greece and Rome, but which tends to be ignored by modern economists in China (e.g., Ye Shichang 2004), who conflate Xunzi’s ideas with those of the modern [construction of] “economic man” bent on the pursuit of profit above all.
- 110.
Chao Cuo, cited in HS 24A: 1130. It is doubtful, however, that Xunzi would have approved of Chao’s solution to the problem (the selling of orders of honor in return for grain, possession of which would allow the possessor to use his rank to redeem his crimes).
- 111.
Sima Qian as a historian certainly follows Xunzi in his relentless focus on the human, rather than the cosmic. For further information, see Marsili 2011; SJ 129.3253–54.
- 112.
For Wudi, see HS 24B/10b; for Wang Mang, see HS 24A/19b; Swann trans. 208; cf. HS 24B/6b, 8a (Swann trans. 245, 253).
- 113.
HS 24B/11b; Swann trans. 275. WXQ 9.17 (pp. 106–8); HKCS 9/40/1–16; K II.106, specifically allows for the people to use the products of these places to supplement their incomes. The excuse for an emperor to appropriate the products is that otherwise those shifty merchants will control resources and use them to “enslave and make profits from the humble folk.” Some may argue that Xunzi, in the beginning of chapter 24, cites the Odes ’ lines “There is no land but the Kings’ land . . . and no subjects not the king’s subjects,” taking this to permit an overlord to take any action, but that is not how the Odes’ line is read in any early citations.
- 114.
Xunzi’s term for “conscious activity” is wei 偽 , which also means “artifice.”
- 115.
See Xunzi WXQ 12.3 (pp. 232–33); HKCS 12/57/26; K II.178, for cong 從 (“obedience,” “conformity”). The beginning sections of chapter 29 also provide a good illustration of this.
- 116.
- 117.
HS 23.1079. The phrase is 時唯孫卿明於王道.
- 118.
See Hulsewé 1955: 311, who notes that there are both direct and indirect quotations of Xunzi’s writings, as well as extracts and summaries. Aside from the Xunzi, most citations come from the Zhouli (8 identified by H.), Documents (6 identified), Analects (12 identified), and Zuozhuan (4 identified). Granet 1934: 462–63, believed that the Hanshu “Treatise on Penal Laws,” in combining the two topics of punitive campaigns against outside parties and domestic punishments, saw both as the hegemon’s prerogatives. For the “Confucianization” of the law, see Dull 1978; Elvin 1984. (The term is more aptly applied to late imperial China, however.)
- 119.
Compare the opening passage in HS 23 with WXQ 9.16a (pp. 164–65); HKCS 9/39/9–18; K II.103–5, which gives the chief reasons why people are superior to the birds and beasts , despite lacking sharp claws and teeth: their ability to form groups, to apportion scarce goods in order to avoid pitched battles, and to entrust certain tasks to their appointed rulers. Mention of a well-field system ( Mencius 3A3) is tied to the institution of a military tax. HS 23.1085 likens the people’s love for the ruler to the “fragrance of orchids” (a metaphor from the Xunzi), before repeating a long passage from WXQ 15.1d (pp. 271–74); HKCS 15/69/21 – 15/70/10; K II.222–23. According to Liu Xiang’s authoritative Bielu, Dong Zhongshu supposedly “praised Minister Sun (i.e., Xunzi) in the books he compiled,” but this is not clear from the writings we have ascribed to Dong today, aside from Dong’s legal judgments.
- 120.
HS 23.1099; HS 42.2093.
- 121.
Jia Yi also put much stock in selecting proper tutors for the imperial heir, while mandating elite ritual performances (two policies consonant with Xunzi’s teachings). Jia Yi’s account in Xinshu 8.5/60/10–12 of the relation between qi 氣, godlike perspicacity, and decorous form sounds very much like that found in the Xunzi. Jia Yi apparently borrowed the phrase li bu ji shuren, xing bu zhi junzi 禮不及庶人, 刑不至君子 (“The rites do not go down to the commoners, nor the punishments up to gentlemen”) from Xunzi, whose chapter 10 (“Fuguo”) has parallels in Jia</Emphasis> Yi’s Xinshu chapter 2.5 (“Jieji”); cf. Liji , chapter 1 (“Quli,” A).
- 122.
Xunzi is cited in Qian Hanji, chapter 24 (for Chengdi’s reign, year 33 BCE), as decrying as falsehoods the old legends that deny the use of mutilating punishments by the sage-rulers of the halcyon Three Dynasties (Xia-Shang-Zhou) periods.
- 123.
HS 23.22a.
- 124.
On these, see McKnight 1981.
- 125.
A CHANT search of all Han and pre-Han texts (excluding Chunqiu fanlu, since most of it postdates Han, in my view) shows that while specific people are described (not often) as having either good or bad natures, and some texts describe how to improve people’s basic natures (e.g., HNZ 8), no text accepts Mencius’ basic portrait of human nature. I regard Chunqiu fanlu, chapter 10.1 (“Shen cha minghao” section) as probably post-Han; for Han, see Wang Chong’s Lunheng, chapter 13 (“Ben xing”), and Xun Yue’s Shen jian, chapter 5 (“Zayan, xia”). In making this point, I depart from the main thrust of Xu Pingzhang’s 1988 work, devoted to discussions of human nature.
- 126.
As when the Hanshi waizhuan 5/17 specifically refutes Mencius’ contention, arguing that even those with the best natures need an arduous course of study , whereby they are gradually led, via the helpful intervention of sage kings and teachers , “to become a person.”
- 127.
See Zhao 2014.
- 128.
Morley 2010: 32 ff.
- 129.
The editor and I (along with some others) must agree to disagree regarding both the implications and the possibility of developing a second nature (also called xing) in Xunzi’s thought, when that second nature has fundamentally different inclinations than the original nature. See Arbuckle 2003, on the phrase huaxing qi wei 化性起偽 (which A. translates as “transform the natural tendency and inspire conscious effort ”). In addition, WXQ 22.1a–b (p. 412); HKCS 22/107/22–23; K III.127 gives two definitions for xing, the first being “the endowment at birth,” and the second: “the xing’s harmonious accord with that endowment at birth; the perceptive sympathetic responses, at which it does not work, but which are so of itself.” The commentary emphasizes the positive associations of the second type of xing; moreover, it is hard to see how the inborn nature can be in accord with itself (as would be true if both definitions of xing refer to the same “inborn nature”), in descriptions of the good person or sage. Nor does it seem likely that the second xing can refer to the original nature, if it describes something that “without working at it” chooses to act in appropriate ways. (Trans. differs from K III.127.) [Editor’s note: contrast Tang Siufu’s account of these definitions in his contribution to this volume.]
- 130.
See fn. 125.
- 131.
Even Yang Xiong , Mencius’ self-proclaimed champion, calls Xunzi a door. See Fayan 2.19, 6.4, 12.5, or Fengsu tongyi, chapter 7; and Xu Gan 徐幹 , in Makeham 2002: xxx. (Xu clearly prefers Xunzi to Mencius , as shown by Makeham 2002: xxxiii.) SJ 121.3116 couples their names, and they are, of course, put into the same biographical chapter in that work; HS 88.3591 repeats it. Ban Gu ’s “Treatise on Men, Past and Present” (“Gu jin ren biao”) lists in chronological order a total of fifteen worthies from the time of Kongzi (the only person ranked a sage in the period from 771–221 BCE) and both Mencius and Xunzi are included in the list (HS 20.942, 950). Cf. HS 30.1725.
- 132.
The Yantie lun, chapter 4.3 (“Hui xue”), for example, seems intent on disassociating Xunzi from famous Qin figures, as is ibid. 2.5 (“Lun Ru”). Another exception is the Lienü zhuan, but its portrait of Mencius is far from flattering.
- 133.
In no case are whole paragraphs lifted from the Mencius in Han treatments of ritual or law, as was done with the Xunzi. So far as I know, neither Mencius nor Xunzi is explicitly cited as authority in court discussions, e.g., White Tiger Discussions (Bohu tong 白虎通 ), presumably because neither master penned a Classic, but the most famous of the three rites Classics, the Rites Record or Liji is said to derive from Xunzi’s followers (see above). Moreover, the Bohu tong invokes Xunzi’s teachings in specific statements (e.g., Xunzi’s statement [mod.] about applying the rituals to improve those of superior status, but punishments for the commoners 由士以上則必以禮樂節之, 眾庶百姓則必以法數制之, WXQ 10.3a (p. 178); HKCS 10/43/2–3, K II.123), and its treatment of certain topics, including sumptuary regulations.
- 134.
Mencius’ mother is a popular theme in Han literature, and such stories register criticism of Mencius -the-child as a less-than-eager learner, and of Mencius -the-adult for being a less-than-ideal husband. Wang Chong devotes a whole chapter to criticizing Mencius ; see Lunheng, chapter 30 (“Ci Meng”), though some might regard that as a sign of Mencius’ influence ca. CE 100.
- 135.
For the “baby and the well,” see Mencius 2A6; for Ox Mountain, see ibid. 6A8. Hao ran zhi qi 浩然之氣 ( Mencius 2A2) is cited by Ban Gu in his postface to the Hanshu, and also in Xu Gan’s Preface to the Zhonglun (see Makeham 2002: xxx). I can find no reference to Ox Mountain or the “baby and the well” in the extant Han texts. Jing Fang’s Yijing commentary uses the phrase hao ran zhi Dao 浩然之道 (the “ever-flowing Dao”) in somewhat dissimilar terms.
- 136.
HS 30: 1747–56 testifies to the great loss of the fu written during Han.
- 137.
See Wang Qicai 2009: 32, 195, 246.
- 138.
See Han Yu’s praise of Yang in 14/25a; 11/21a (for championing Mencius ); 14/24b (for keeping free of Huang-Lao thought); for the elegance of his prose and fu (18/7a–7b); etc. Han Yu calls Yang Xiong a “great classicist” (da Ru), one of the few besides Mencius and Xunzi (31/7b).
- 139.
See Wing-Tsit Chan 1967: 289.
- 140.
Michael Loewe 2004: 90.
- 141.
ECT, p. 182, adopts the conventional view. But Xunzi is cited as often as Mencius in many Tang-Song works, e.g., the Jiu Tang shu, where both are mentioned 5 times. Interestingly enough, in some of these quotations, Xunzi’s name continues to precede that of Mencius .
- 142.
Drège 1991, passim.
- 143.
Liu Xiang’s Bie lu, cited in Ma Jigao 2002: 207.
- 144.
At least two synopses of the Xunzi’s main points were made in Tang, the first by Wei</Emphasis Zheng and the second by M<Emphasis Type="SmallCaps">a Zong, as noted in the earliest extant commentary to the Xunzi, that by Yang Liang 楊倞 (dated 818). See Yan Lingfeng 1993 , vol. 3: 31–39. We do have Wei’s comments recorded in the Suishu he compiled 629–36, i.e., after Han Yu ’s death, which explicitly place Xunzi in the main line of transmission for classical learning (ibid. 34.999, 75.1705, 77.1752). A welcome addition is the essay on Xu Gan 徐干 by Liu Youming (2014).
- 145.
McMullen 1989: 644.
- 146.
Moreover, no fewer than eleven commentaries and major studies devoted to Xunzi have survived from Northern and Southern Song.
- 147.
Schneider 2012: 157, builds the case that Xunzi’s “world turned topsy-turvy” is the inspiration for poets like Du Fu, cf. Declercq 1998, on the widespread use of Xunzian language in the “hypothetical discourses” favored by the most accomplished men of letters in Six Dynasties, Sui, and Tang. Cf. Taiping Yulan 390, for one example of a poem whose source is given as Sun Qingzi 孫卿子 [Xunzi]. See the Jiu Tang shu, “Treatise on Rites and Ceremonies” (“Li yi zhi” 禮儀志), 25.943, 945, for examples of treatises borrowing from Xunzi. Li Quan 李筌 (fl. 8th c.) discusses Xunzi’s all-important theories of human nature in his military classic, the Venus Yang Classic (Taibai yang jing 太白陽經); see Ma Jigao 2002: 231–32. Besides essays that explicitly mention Xunzi, there are others that presume a “Xunzian view of moral education,” e.g., Li E’s 李諤 [d. 591] petition to Sui Wendi’s court (“Petition Regarding the Recommendation of Literary Style” or “Shang shu zeng wen ti”上書正文體); see Chen 2010: 124–31.
- 148.
- 149.
Liu invoked Xunzi over 100 times in his writings. With regard to Liu’s rhetoric: in the letters Han had contrasted “unfeeling” vegetation with fully conscious human qi , in order to prove that only humans had “original qi ,” which conferred special powers of discernment. See Han’s “Letter to Cui Qun” (“Yu Cui Qun shu” 與崔群書) and his “Letter to Wei Zhonghang” (“Yu Wei Zhonghang shu” 與衛中行書) in Han Changli wenji, 3.108–10, 3.113. Liu turned Han’s phrases upside down.
- 150.
Liu Hedong ji, 5.80, 26.442–43; 16.296–97. Note that for Liu, the “Five Constants” referred to forms of social behavior in social relations, not inborn capacities to do good.
- 151.
See Liu Hedong ji, 16.285–92. Cf. Liu’s “On Heaven’s Honors” (“Tian jue lun” 天爵論, comp. ca. 808) essay (ibid. 3.49–51). Unfortunately, only half of Liu’s “On Decisive Punishments” (“Duanxing lun” 斷刑論) survives. Liu Yuxi 劉禹錫, a close friend of Liu Zongyuan, admired Xunzi’s notions also, and so he modeled his own essay “On Heaven ” (“Tian lun” 天論) on the chapter by Xunzi under the same name and also on Liu Zongyuan’s essays, though his essay was less systematic. Lü Wen 呂溫 (d. 811), Liu Zongyuan’s cousin, and Niu Sengru 牛僧孺 are two other famous contemporaries known to approve Xunzi’s “separation of heaven and man.” Lü famously expresses these ideas in his “Inscription on the Ancient Eastern Zhou City” (“Gu Dong Zhou cheng ming” 古東周城銘) and his writings about the Guoyu 國語; Niu, in two essays “In Praise of Loyalty” (“Song zhong” 訟忠) and “No More Talk about Fine or Ugly” (“Shan e wu yu lun” 善惡無餘論). Du Mu’s 杜牧 (803–52) works on human nature also took up the same topic a generation or so later, and Du’s essay against physiognomy recalls that of Xunzi, whom Du called a “great classicist.” Liu Yuxi praised Lü Wen as being like Xunzi; see Lamont 1973–1974: 200 for details.
- 152.
- 153.
WXQ 17.2b (p. 309); HKCS 17/80/7, K III.15. Lamont 1973–1974: 193 says his calculations tend to confirm a decline in interest in omenology long before the “coup de grâce was delivered” by Ouyang Xiu’s Xin Tang shu (comp. 1060). Ibid, pp. 195ff. gives many examples of skeptics, though it does not discount the popularity of fate-calculation literature.
- 154.
McMullen 1989: 604, 623, 652. Han Changli ji, 1.11–13. Du’s systematizing impulses shape his Comprehensive Standards (Tongdian 通典) and Zuozhuan commentary. Besides the Neo-Confucians of the True Way Learning school, Xunzi came under fire from the Sus and from Wang Anshi 王安石 (d. 1086), always for his view of human nature.
- 155.
“Du Xun” 讀荀 is in Han Changli ji 1.20. They also forget that Han Yu said “no one in later generations” could compare with the Duke of Zhou, implying that Kongzi was a lesser sage himself (ibid., 1.14).
- 156.
WXQ, p. 51. Yang further claims that it is thanks to Mencius and Xunzi that the way of Kongzi “ultimately did not fall,” despite the onslaughts against it (ibid.).
- 157.
See “Xin dao tang ji” 信道堂記 in Sun 2002: 1/35a–36a.
- 158.
Li Hua mentioned the Erya, the Zuozhuan , and the Guoyu as important props for the Classics.
- 159.
[Editor’s note: here “this culture” means something more than just any culture, but is rather a “precious and superior” culture.]
- 160.
Cf. Declercq 1998: 321, citing Jinshu 92.2369–70, which says Xunzi was faithful “to a distant past.”
- 161.
Yang Liang , Preface, cited in WXQ, p. 51. The term yi duan 異端 in this period seldom means “unorthodox” or “heretical” teachings, though that is the standard definition for the term in late imperial China.
- 162.
During Han and later periods, the problem of the pre-Qin “archaic script” looked large, when the reconstruction of early texts was at issue; see Nylan 2011; Hanke 2002. Throughout Yang ’s commentary there are numerous references to the manuscripts he worked from, some of which had chuan xie 傳寫 (“copyist errors”). See, e.g., WXQ, juan 1, p. 9. Thus one can hardly believe that the Xunzi text had virtually disappeared by Yang’s time. In addition, the term haoshi zhe 好事者 would probably have constituted no small number of people at court, judging from the term’s use in earlier eras.
- 163.
Xunzi 1, Yang Liang , in WXQ, p. 7. I am currently writing a paper discussing the term shen ming, having given an unpublished paper on that topic (“What is God For? An essay in the constitutive imagination of pre-Buddhist China”) for the Yale conference on “Materiality and Transcendence” (April 2013).
- 164.
See CHANT/ICS Concordance series for the phrase xing e 性惡 . For example, several people say of themselves that their own nature is flawed, but they do not describe general human nature in these terms.
- 165.
Liang Qichao 1989: 57.
- 166.
Nylan 2008.
- 167.
Li Zehou 2010 rpt. of earlier work. At the same time, Li’s understanding of Xunzi, as a thinker who merely wants to “rein in and govern sensuous human desires and natural instincts” (p. 65), misses an important part of Xunzi’s argument relating to aesthetic satisfaction. Li ties Xunzi to Dong Zhongshu, though Xunzi did not argue for a “correspondence between heaven and humans (the similarity and affinity of nature, the seasons, politics, the body, society, the emotions, and so on)” (p. 71).
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Nylan, M. (2016). Xunzi: An Early Reception History, Han Through Tang. In: Hutton, E. (eds) Dao Companion to the Philosophy of Xunzi. Dao Companions to Chinese Philosophy, vol 7. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-7745-2_14
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