“To honor rites and seek to achieve merit is the highest order of action”.
I discovered the Xunzi as a student in university during a course that I shall never forget entitled "Introduction to East Asia 101". That professor, god bless his soul wherever he may be, gave the most memorable lecture about how an obscure Chinese thinker was able to turn Confucianism on its head, strip the supernatural out of it, and produce a rock solid unifying theory about human nature and the organization of human societies which to this day, in my humble opinion, remains unrivaled. It was then that we had this most delightful conversation: talking about the meaning of the word "thing".
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Xunzi was a Chinese philosopher who lived towards the end of the Warring States period (453-221 BCE). He famously rejected the prevailing notion that man was good by nature and instead argued that man's behavior should be molded by training, learning and discipline (which he calls rites) in order to overcome animalistic urges and make him righteous and to produce well ordered and prosperous societies led by enlightened and benevolent rulers.
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Importance of rituals as a roadmap to discipline for day-to-day activities.
What things are called:
To make use of good | to lead others | education |
To make use of bad | betrayal | |
To make use of good | To achieve harmony with others | amenity |
To make use of bad | sycophancy | |
To treat right/wrong | As right/wrong | wisdom |
As wrong/right | stupidity | |
To speak ill of good men | slander | |
To do harm to good men | brigandage | |
To call right right and wrong wrong | honesty | |
To steal goods | robbery | |
To act on the sly | deceit | |
To go back on your word | perfidy | |
To be without a fixed standard | inconstancy | |
To cling to profit and cast aside righteousness | the height of depravity | |
To have heard much | broad | |
To have heard little | shallow | |
To have seen much | practiced | |
To have seen little | uncouth | |
To have difficulty advancing | laggard | |
To forget easily | leaky brain | |
Actions are few and well principled | orderly | |
Actions are many and disorderly | chaotic | |
What to do if:
Temperament too strong and stubborn | soften it with harmony |
Intellect too deep and withdrawn | unify it with mild sincerity |
Too courageous and fierce | orderly compliance |
Too hasty and flippant | restraint |
Too constrained and petty | liberality |
Low minded, lethargic and petty | high ambition |
Mediocre, dull and diffuse | teachers and friends |
Stupidly sincere and ploddingly honest | Rites and music |
Reflections upon inner wealth vs outer disposition.
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Promote righteous men to positions of leadership.
Encourage filial piety and brotherly love.
Look out for the weak and the defenseless: the orphans, the widows, the poor.
To achieve safety | Govern fairly and love the people |
To achieve glory | Honor ritual and treat men of breeding with respect |
To achieve fame and merit | Promote the worthy and employ men of ability. |
A king | Enriches his people | Acquires men | Wins the allegiance of the feudal lords |
A dictator | Enriches his soldiers | Acquires allies | Wins the friendship of the feudal lords. |
A state that is barely managing to survive | Enriches its high officers |
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A doomed state | Enriches only its coffers (the peril of too much taxes) |
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A ruler who relies on force |
| Acquires territories | Incurs the enmity of the feudal lords (the dangers of becoming overextended) |
“One who truly understands how to use force does not rely upon force.”
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How to evaluate a opposing sides:
Strong | Weak |
Ordered | Disordered |
Superiors command respect | etc. |
Treats officers well |
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Loves his people |
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Issues government decrees which are trusted |
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Unified people |
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Generous rewards |
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Awesome punishments |
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Supplies and armament well stocked |
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Using soldiers sparingly |
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Coherent strategy |
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Enumerate states which terrorize their population. A better way is to imbue the people with a sense of moral obligation (duty) through education. Anything else is behaving like bandits.
How to become a good general
The six arts:
In knowledge | Discard what is doubtful |
In regulations and command | Strive for strictness and authority |
In action | Avoid mistakes |
In undertakings | Be without regrets |
In regulations and commands | Strive for strictness and authority |
In rewards and punishments | Strive for consistency |
In establishing encampments and depots | Make them well guarded and secure |
Troop movements | Gravity and deliberateness yet alert and rapid |
Intelligence | Seek out high quality of information and verify |
In battle | Operate based on what you know, not what you doubt |
The five expedients:
Do not fear loosing your job
Do loose sight of defeat
Do not be too stern with your men and despise your enemy
Be aware of both gains and losses
Seek ripeness in your plans and liberality in your supplies (don’t proceed with a half baked plan, don’t hesitate to invest in significant upgrades)
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He lays on soft mattresses for comfort
Perfumes and moldings satisfy the senses
The sound of bells and music satisfy his ear. Different themes for different paces
The banners flapping in the wind provide symbolism
Paintings of epic scenes provide a dramatic effect
The horses are of utmost pedigree and upbringing providing safety
Action | Satisfies | Reversal | Result |
To advance in the face of death and to value honor | the desire for life | To preserve life at all cost | death |
To spend and supply according to needs | a desire for wealth | Profit at all cost | loss |
To have respect and humility | safety | Indolence and idleness | Danger |
To obey the rules | emotions | Gratifying emotions | destruction |
Three vectors:
Heaven and earth: basis of life
Ancestors: basis of family
Rulers and teachers: basis for order
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“Rites trim what is too long and stretch out what is too short, eliminate surplus and repair deficiency, extend the forms of love and reverence, and step by step bring to fulfillment the beauties of proper conduct”.
The middle state
What | To what purpose | But not |
Beauty music and joy | To induce tranquility | Sensuousness or seductiveness |
Ugliness, weeping and sorrow | To induce distress | Starvation and self injury |
Facial expressions, body language
Songs, laughter, weeping, lamentation
The food
The clothes
The interiors
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“Music is joy […] Man must have his joy, and joy must have its expression, but if that expression is not guided by the principles of the way, then it will inevitably become disordered. The former kings hated that disorder, and therefore they created the musical forms of the odes and hymns in order to guide it. In this way they made certain that the voice would fully express the feelings of joy without becoming wild and abandoned, that the form would be well ordered but not unduly restrictive, that the directness, complexity, intensity, and tempo of the musical performance would be the proper degree to arouse the best in man’s nature, and that evil and improper sentiments would find no opening to enter by”.
When music is performed in | The crowd | Feels |
The ancestral temple of the ruler | The ruler, his ministers, superiors, inferiors | Harmonious reverence |
The household | Father, sons, siblings | Harmonious kinship |
The community | Old and young people | Harmonious obedience |
Music as an opportunity to learn how to walk in military formation. Also as an opportunity to get along with each other.
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Music is very potent, therefore:
When music is | People will be | Then |
Moderate and tranquil | Harmonious and shun excess | Troops will be keen on striking power
Cities well guarded Common pple will dwell in safety Take delight in their communities Look up to their superiors with satisfaction |
Stern and majestic | Well behaved and shun disorder | |
Seductive and depraved | Abandoned and ill mannered and will resort to disorder and quarrelling | Troops will be weak
Cities will revolt Common pple will feel no safety Will be resentful of their superiors |
Different types of music:
Sound | Causes |
Fasting and mourning garments and laments | The heart to be sad |
Buckling on armors and helmets, military marching songs | The heart to be stirred to valor |
Seductive looks and the songs of Zheng and Wei | The heart to grow licentious |
The Shao dance, the Wu song | The heart to feel brave and majestic |
Three things to avoid:
Listen to licentious sounds
To look at seductive beauty
To speak evil words
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Various examples of historical figures consumed by obsession.
Who | Obsession | missed |
Mozi | Utilitarian considerations | The beauty of form |
Songzi | Lessen desires | Satisfaction |
Shenzi | Law | The role played by worthy men |
Shen Buhai | Power of circumstances | Human intelligence |
Zhuangzi | Heaven | The importance of man |
| Utilitarian concerns | Everything except material profit |
| Desires | Everything but physical satisfaction |
| Law | Everything but policy |
| Circumstances | Everything but expedience |
| Words | Everything but logic |
| Heaven | Everything but harmonizing with natural forces |
Those things only encompass but a small corner of the Way. A man who has embraced the Way is immune to obsession, whereas a man who has rejected it will sink further and further in denial, by associating with men who are also in denial for example.
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This is the culmination of Xunzi’s philosophy. Throughout he has been describing how the world in its raw nature was random and unpredictable (uncontrolled emotions/impulses, Heaven and Earth) and that enlightenment can be achieved through discipline, process and learning (rites, form, names etc.). The logical corollary to that reasoning is that man himself is feral and unkempt in its original form, and that he needs reformation to fulfill his potential.
Man is born with | Which leads to |
A fondness for profits | Wrangling and strife, loss of sense of courtesy and humility. |
Feelings of envy and hate | Violence and crime, loss of sense of loyalty and good faith. |
Desires of the eyes and ears | License and wantonness, loss of ritual principles and form. |
Examples of raw material becoming finished products.
Most of this chapter consists of Xunzi methodically tearing down Mencius’ assertion that man is good by nature and that evil arises when he looses his primordial goodness (Mencius is the second most important philosopher of Confucianism, after Confucius himself).
Emotional nature | Conscious activity |
innate behavior | must be worked for |
cannot be acquired (sight, hearing cannot be learned) |
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Wanting to eat when feeling hungry | Letting the elders eat first |
Seeking warmth when feeling cold |
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Resting when feeling tired | Relieving others of the burden of work |
| Respecting seniority (Filial piety) |
| Ritual principles |
| Courtesy and humility |
| These things actually run against human nature. |
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The eye’s fondness for beautiful forms |
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The mouth’s fondness for delicious flavors |
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Love of profit and gain |
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The body’s fondness for pleasure and ease |
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Instinctive spontaneous |
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No effort required |
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Squabbling over division of wealth | Yielding even to a stranger |
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The clay | The pot (not inherent to the clay, result of an external intervention) |
The wood is knotty and crooked by nature | Tools are required to straighten it. If the wood was straight by nature why would there be a need for such tools? |
The strong prey on the weak, extortion, terrorism, chaos and destruction | Government, hierarchies, disciplinary measures. If man was good by nature why do they exist at all? |
If man’s nature is evil then where do ritual principles come from? Are ritual principles not themselves part of human nature? No. Otherwise we would all be equally enlightened. The pot is not the automatic outcome of the clay. It is not because it is in his nature that the potter molds clay.
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After that glorious rebuttal of Mencius’ philosophy, Xunzi concludes with a recap of what makes a man good and what doesn’t, with a special emphasis on people he loathes, the logicians.
The understanding of the sage | Speaks graceful and well ordered words, all his reasons are united around a single principle. |
The understanding of the gentleman | Speaks little but when does he is brief and to the point. |
The understanding of the petty man | Flattery, irresponsible actions, prone to mistakes. |
The understanding of the menial man (the logicians) | Words are rapid and shrill but never to the point. Many talents but none with practical use. Full of subtle distinctions and eloquent without serving any practical purpose. Does not think right and wrong is important or worth discussing. Only seeks to win arguments. |
Superior valor | Middle type of valor | Inferior valor |
To bring one’s conduct in accordance with the Way | To be humble and well intentioned. | To act recklessly in the pursuit of wealth. |
To refuse to obey if needed. | To value integrity over material possessions. | To talk your way out of situations. |
To accept poverty and hardships if needed. | To honor the worthy and cast away the unworthy. | To count on luck. |
To reject wealth and celebrity if needed. |
| To ignore right and wrong, and seek only to win an argument. |
To not seek external validation. |
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Nothing was ever born great, greatness is the result of craftsmanship.
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