Xunzi - Xunzi: Basic Writings

Xunzi

TRANSLATIONS FROM THE ASIAN CLASSICS

Translations from the Asian Classics

EDITORIAL BOARD

Wm. Theodore de Bary, Chair

Paul Anderer

Irene Bloom

Donald Keene

George A. Saliba

Haruo Shirane

David D.W. Wang

Burton Watson

Xunzi BASIC WRITINGS

Translated by

BURTON WATSON

Columbia University Press New York

Contents

(Dates and entries before 841 B.C. are traditional)

Where does human goodnessinsofar as there is such a commoditycome from? Is it inborn in the individual, only waiting to shine forth when the occasion presents itself? Or is it something artificially instilled from outside, the product of rigorous training and discipline?

Among Chinese philosophers, Xunzi is perhaps remembered primarily for the latter view, dourly asserting that human nature is basically evil. His fellow countrymen, who despite severe buffeting at the hands of history have over the centuries maintained a surprisingly optimistic outlook on life, have never really gone along with him in this. They prefer instead the opinion of his eminent predecessor, Mencius, that people are intrinsically good, or Buddhist assurances that all living beings have latent within them the seeds or potential for moral and spiritual perfection.

In Xunzis philosophical system as a whole, his bleak assessment of human nature is probably of less interest today than are the highly sanguine hopes he holds out for the improvement of that nature through education and moral training, and particularly through the civilizing influence of rites and music. And, it should be noted, like many other Chinese thinkers, he believes that the rulers of the nationgovernment, in other wordsshould play a crucial role in this process of educating and uplifting the population.

Our own society is very much alive with debate over how big or how little government ought to be, what its role should be in the lives of citizens, what the aim and content of education should be and through what channels it is best administered. The particular terms in which Xunzis arguments are presented may in some cases seem odd or irrelevant to readers today. But many of the questions he addresseshow to ensure the sane use of language, to deploy military power effectively, to bring about order and safety in societyand those pertaining to education and the role of government mentioned earlier are surprisingly close to the concerns of our own age. Though the solutions he proposes may not strike us as entirely feasible, we can still learn much by observing the process of reasoning and analysis that leads to them. I am gratified that this translation of the more important of Xunzis writings continues to be made available to readers.

What little is known of the life of Xunzi, or Master Xun, is culled from evidence in his own writings and from the brief biography of him written by the historian Sima Qian some hundred years or so after his death, which forms part of Chapter 74 of the Shiji. His personal name was Kuang, and he was a native of Zhao, a state situated in the central part of northern China. The date of his birth is unknown, but it was probably around 312 B.C., when his famous predecessor in the Confucian school, Mencius, was already well along in years. Nothing whatever is known of his early life; we hear of him first at the age of fifty, journeying to the court of the state of Qi to study and teach.

In 386 B.C. the Tians, who for generations had served as ministers to the royal family of Qi, usurped the throne of Qi and set themselves up as its new rulers. In order to consolidate their power and prove their fitness for so lofty a station, these new rulers of the Tian family, particularly the second major one, King Xuan (reigned 342324 B.C.), encouraged scholars from other regions to come to the court of Qi by offering them honorary titles, stipends, living quarters, and complete leisure to pursue their studies and expound their various doctrines. Before long Qi had become the leading center of intellectual activity in China; Mencius visited the state during the reign of King Xuan and many other well known philosophers resided there permanently.

By the time Xunzi arrived in Qi, probably around 264 B.C., the ranks of government-supported scholars attracted by King Xuan and his successors had been thinned by death, and Xunzi was welcomed as an eminent elder and honored with titles and marks of esteem. Because of slanderous talk against him, however, he eventually left Qi and went south to the state of Chu, where the lord of Chunshen, nominally the prime minister of Chu but virtually its ruler, appointed him to the post of magistrate of Lanling, a region in southern Shandong. The Lord of Chunshen was assassinated by a court rival in 238 B.C. (the only date in Xunzis life that can be fixed with certainty), and Xunzi lost his post as magistrate, but remained in Lanling the rest of his life and was buried there. The date of his death is unknown, so it is impossible to say whether he lived to witness the final unification of China under the First Emperor of the Qin, which was completed in 221 B.C.

The book which bears his name indicates that Xunzi visited the state of Qin, probably during the period 266255 B.C., and that he debated military affairs in the presence of King Xiaocheng (reigned 265245 B.C.) of his native state of Zhao. He undoubtedly had many disciples, and it is unfortunate for his reputation as a Confucian that the two most famous of them should have been Han Feizi, who became the leading exponent of the Legalist school, and Li Si, the statesman who assisted the First Emperor of the Qin in the unification of the empire, both men whose names are inseparably linked with the ridicule and persecution of Confucianism.

Xunzis life, then, or what can be known of it, was a long and rather quiet one of teaching and study, with a minor excursion into local political administration. Later scholars have marveled that his worth, like that of Confucius and Mencius, should have been so little recognized by the political leaders of his time, and that he should have been allowed to live and die in relative obscurity. But the rulers of China, it seems, were not yet ready to give serious ear to the teachings of the Confucian school.

In Xunzis day China was dominated by three powerful states: Qi in the east, Chu in the south, and Qin in the west. In the northwest and northeast four or five smaller states, among them Xunzis native state of Zhao, maintained a precarious existence by allying themselves with one or another of the major powers. The old ruling house of Zhou, which once claimed sovereignty over all these so-called feudal states, had dwindled into utter insignificance, its territory shrunken to a tiny area in the center of China, its ancient ritual vessels and emblems of authority eyed with greed by its neighbors, and in 249 B.C. the dynasty finally passed out of existence altogether. For the first time in history, if traditional accounts are to be believed, China was left without even a nominal Son of Heaven, and no one knew where to turn his eyes in the hope of peace and unity. Known as the era of the Warring States, this period was an age of political instability and ferment, of incessant intrigue and strife.