Xunzi was a native of the Zhao state in the late Warring States period. Because he was extremely highly educated, people at the time honored him as "Xun Qing". Unfortunately, it was this honorific title that caused him trouble: the later Emperor Xuan of Han was named Liu Qing, and in order to avoid secrecy, the Han changed "Xun Qing" to "Sun Qing".
Later generations changed the name of their predecessors in order to avoid it, which is indeed laughable. But Xunzi was not only more unlucky in the future, but his ancestors were not very lucky.
During the Spring and Autumn Period, the Xun clan was originally a noble family of the Jin Dynasty. In the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, the Xun clan gave birth to two major giants, the Zhongxing clan and the Zhi clan, which were very prosperous. Helplessly, in the bloody power struggle of the Jin Guoqing clan, the Zhonghang clan and the Zhi clan were defeated successively, and the Xun clan also went into decline. Xunzi is said to be a descendant of the Zhongxing clan left over from the Zhao kingdom.
At the age of fifteen, because of the fame of the Minoru Gakuen Palace, Xunzi went to the State of Qi to study. By the time King Xiang of Qi came to power, Xun Zi was already the most senior scholar, and had served as a sacrificial wine for the State of Qi three times. Later, because of suspicion, Xunzi was forced to leave and came to the Chu state. Huang Xie, the ruler of Chunshen at the time, valued Xunzi more and appointed him as the county commander of Lanling (蘭陵, in present-day Linyi, Shandong). However, after Huang Xie died in civil unrest, Xunzi was implicated and dismissed from the post of county commander. Because Lanling is not far from the Qi country where Xunzi has lived for many years, Xunzi no longer wanders, and settles down here until the last moment of his life.
Throughout Xun Zi's life, he was born in the Zhao Kingdom and studied in the State of Qi; he traveled around, but he never did anything, and finally died in the Chu State. Academically, Xunzi greatly admired Confucius, but he was quite disdainful of Mencius and many of Confucius's disciples; he vigorously advocated the rule of law, but denied the representative figures of the Legalists, Shen Zhi and Tian Biao; he absorbed the Taoist view that "heaven is constant, not for Yao survival, not for the sake of death", but he also criticized the Taoist figures He Hu and Wei Mu as human beings; on the one hand, he agreed with the Mo family ideas such as "YiMin", "Pan Li and Ed Shi Jun", and on the other hand, he openly belittled Mo Zhai, Song Ju (xíng) and other Mo school figures...
It can be seen that xunzi does appear to be somewhat "outlier" in academics. What is even more remarkable is that although Xunzi claimed to be a disciple of Confucius, among the students he taught were two legal figures who denied Confucianism—Han Fei and Li Si. Han Fei openly belittled Confucianism, saying that "Confucianism violates the law with literature, and chivalry violates the prohibition by force"; after Li Si became the minister of the Qin State, he even advocated the prohibition of private study and the abolition of "Poems" and "Books". In this regard, should Xunzi be classified as a Confucian or a Dharma?
Xunzi highly admired Confucius, not only frequently quoting Kong Qiu's words, but also highly affirming Confucius's achievements in ruling the Lu state. However, Xunzi not only defamed Zi Zhang, Zi Xia, Zi You, and other disciples of Confucius as "lowly Confucians", but also disdained the two representative figures of Confucianism, Zi Si and "Ya Sheng" Mencius, believing that they "skimmed the first kings of the Fa but did not know their unity", confusing the teachings of Confucius and confusing the thinking of future generations.
However, it is somewhat ironic that Xunzi ostensibly admired Confucius, but his academic views were mostly contrary to Confucius.
Confucius advocated the way of Zhou Gong and took benevolence and righteousness as the core of his thinking. Overall, Confucius's academic thought is conservative and less like change.
Once, lu guo wanted to rebuild the changfu (that is, the treasury for storing goods). After hearing this, Confucius student Min Ziqian subconsciously expressed his opposition: "How about still following the old system?" Why remodel? ”
Confucius sighed at the disciple's move: "This person either does not say it, and as soon as he says it, he grasps the key point!" ”
Another student of Confucius, Youruo, was recognized by many disciples as "resembling Confucius." After Confucius's death, Youruo was recommended by his disciples as a teacher to replace Confucius. In his academic thinking, there is "the use of etiquette, and the precious, the way of the first king, the beauty of Si". The elderly Confucius once lamented: "Even if I am decaying!" For a long time, I no longer dream of seeing Zhou Gong! The "way of the first king" in Ruo's mouth is the way of the Zhou Gong in Confucius's mind. The Lu Guoji clan wanted to increase the number of fields, but Confucius objected in disgust on the grounds that it did not conform to the "Zhou Gong's Canon" (Zuo Chuan, The Eleventh Year of the Duke of Lai). Advocating the way of the first king and not willing to change is a long-term label attached to Confucian scholars.
However, Xun Zi was quite critical of the "way of the first king". He declared that "the system of kings is not more than three generations, and the law is not the queen", which means "the system of the king governing the country, the use of governance methods cannot exceed three dynasties, and the law of governance cannot violate the contemporary emperors." Xun Zi believes that if the method of governing the country is used for more than three dynasties, it will become broad and absurd because of the many drawbacks, and it will no longer be able to adapt to the latest developments of the country. Therefore, Xunzi did not blindly promote the law of the first king, like most Confucians.
The idea of "lawless kings" was Xunzi learning from the Qin people or influencing the Qin people? Later, Lü Buwei presided over the compilation of the "Spring and Autumn of the Lü Dynasty", and discussed in detail in the "Investigation of the Present" chapter, "The Law of the Former King of Shanghu Lawlessness?" "This topic. The text points out that it is not that the law of the first king is not good, but that the old law can no longer adapt to the present, and also uses many examples such as "carving a boat and seeking a sword" to vividly illustrate this truth.
Not only was xunzi opposed to blindly obeying the law of the previous kings, but xunzi's attitude toward the "law" was also significantly different from that of most Confucians.
The Chu state ordered Yin Yegong to tell Confucius about one thing: "We have a frank and straightforward man, and his father stole a sheep, and he directly reported it to the government. Confucius was very dismissive of this and replied, "Unlike you, our frank and straightforward people, the father has to hide it for his son, and the son hides it for his father - the bluntness is among them!" ”
Ye Gong believed that governing the country requires abiding by the law; Confucius believed that "law" is nothing more than human feelings, and even if the country is governed by law, it cannot violate the human feelings of fathers, kindness and filial piety.
There was a Lu man who escaped from the battlefield many times. The ruling Confucius arrested the Lu man and asked him why he wanted to become a deserter, and the man replied: "My old father is still here, and once I die, no one can support him!" Hearing this, Confucius not only did not punish him, but also promoted him to become an official! Han Fei criticized Confucius for this: It was precisely because he rewarded deserters that it was easier for Lu soldiers to surrender to the enemy and flee from the battlefield!
Xunzi's attitude toward the "Fa" was obviously different from that of Confucius. First of all, he proposed that "the dharma, the end of the rule." Although Xun Zi also said that "a gentleman, the origin of the law" and stressed that the rule of law needs to be enforced by people with good moral character, he is not like Confucius, who can tolerate human feelings to arbitrarily interfere with law enforcement. Xun Zi pointed out that filial piety at home is only a small character of man, and "from the tao not to the king, from righteousness not to the father" is the great virtue of man. As a result, Xunzi theoretically denied that "law is nothing more than human feelings." Not only that, when formulating and enforcing laws, Xunzi also agreed with the legalist view that "if the rule is the case, the punishment is heavy, and if it is chaotic, the punishment is light."
So advocating the rule of law, is Xunzi a lawyer or a Confucian?
Not only that, Xun Zi also held a negative attitude toward the patriarchal system: "Although the descendants of princes and scholars cannot belong to the etiquette, they belong to the Shu people; although the descendants of the Shu people also accumulate literature and righteousness, and can belong to the liyi, they belong to the secretary, the xiang, and the scholar." Although Confucius also proposed that "there is no class in teaching", this is only his principle of recruiting disciples. Confucius admired the canon of the Zhou Dynasty, and his attitude towards the patriarchal system was self-evident. Therefore, even when he was the ruling secretary of the Lu state, in the face of the "Three Constants" forces that clearly threatened the office, Confucius only tried to suppress it, but never thought of completely changing the patriarchal system. Later, Confucius was unable to exert his fists and feet in the country of Lu and was forced to travel around the world, which was also a matter of course.
Not only is there much discrepancy with the concept of "sage" Confucius, but the contradiction between Xunzi and "Yasheng" Mencius is also extremely prominent.
Mencius, the "yasheng", advocated the inherent goodness of human nature: "From the perspective of human nature and qualifications, it can be good, which is what I call 'human nature inherently good'. As for some people doing bad things, it is not the fault of natural qualifications. Compassion is for everyone; shame is for everyone; respect is for everyone; for right and wrong, for everyone. Compassion is benevolence; shame is righteousness; reverence is courtesy; the heart of right and wrong is wisdom. Therefore, benevolence, righteousness, etiquette, and wisdom are not taught to me by outsiders, but I originally have them. ”
But Xunzi was in complete opposition to Mencius: "Man's nature is evil, and his good one is false." Xun Zi believed that people are born greedy and profitable, obedient to human nature, and that competition will inevitably arise and humility will be lost; people will be born jealous and hateful, and obedience to this nature will hurt loyalty and faithfulness will disappear; when born to covet beauty and beauty, obedience to this desire, fornication will arise and courtesy and righteousness will inevitably disappear. Therefore, it is necessary to have the guidance of the monarch and the legal system, and the guidance of etiquette and righteousness, so that people can not take the evil road and social stability can be realized. Therefore, Xunzi believes that human nature is inherently evil.
Xunzi advocated that human nature is inherently evil, believing that external guidance and laws were needed to promote people to be good; in law enforcement, Xunzi also emphasized the need for "heavy law", so Xunzi rarely mentioned the "benevolence" that Kong and Meng could not say. Ren is one of the core concepts of Confucianism; Xunzi rarely even mentions "benevolence", so why do you think that you are a disciple of Confucius?
In fact, the reason why Xunzi considered himself a disciple of Confucius was that he agreed with the Confucian teachings of liturgy.
Why "etiquette"?
In this regard, Xunzi has a deep understanding that goes beyond that of ordinary Confucians.
People are born with all kinds of desires; when desires are not satisfied, they are bound to pursue; the pursuit of desires has no limit and end, and there is bound to be struggle. As there is more fighting, chaos ensues; more chaos leads to the plight of the whole society. The previous emperors hated this chaos, so they formulated rituals to distinguish the hierarchical differences between people, to reconcile people's desires, and to meet people's needs. Satisfying people's desires without exhausting the materials, so that the world's materials and human desires will be sustained for a long time and grow steadily, which is the origin of etiquette.
It can be seen that Xunzi's understanding of the religion of liturgy is highly consistent with Confucianism. However, Confucius and Mencius pinned their hopes on the ruler's own "benevolence" in maintaining the teachings of liturgy, while Xunzi placed his hopes on the ruler's "law" teaching.
The controversy of the Hundred Schools of Thought in the Spring and Autumn Warring States is essentially an outstanding person from different classes who are speaking for their own class. Most of the Confucian, Taoist, Dharma, and famous families were born into the scholar-doctor class. Most of the enterprising people in the scholar-doctor class have entered the three schools of Confucianism, Law, and Fame; most of them have gone into Taoism. The Mo family was mostly from the middle and lower classes, and most of their propositions reflected the vital interests of the middle and lower classes of society at that time.
Xun Zi's ancestors were from the Jin Dynasty, and although the family declined in the late Spring and Autumn Period, his sense of superiority over the family origin never disappeared. This may be the ideological root of Xunzi's approval of the Confucian teachings of liturgy.
However, in the era of Xunzi, the Qin state was dominant after the Shang martingale transformation method, and the six kingdoms of Shandong successively went into decline. The harsh reality made Xunzi realize the many deficiencies in Confucianism, so he constantly absorbed the essence of the Hundred Schools of Thought, and gradually formed a unique "Neo-Confucianism" that mixed the ideas of various schools. The objectivity of the "Tao" in The Taoists, the Confucian teachings of liturgy, the "rule of law" and anti-patriarchal thinking of the Legalists, and the Mo family's concepts of "Shang Tong" and "Non-Life" were all incorporated into Xunzi's own ideological system. Therefore, Xunzi has almost become the master of a hundred schools of thought, not only absorbing the strengths of each school of thought, but also mercilessly denounceing the shortcomings of each school of thought. In this sense, even if Xunzi considered himself a disciple of Confucius, could he simply be classified as a Confucian, a Dharma, a Taoist, or a Mo family?
It is precisely because Xunzi is so different that he is regarded by posterity as an "outlier" of Confucianism, and some of them are marginalized.
However, among the students taught by Xun Zi, Han Fei was the master of the theory of the Fa, Li Si served as the minister of qin, and Zhang Cang was the minister of Han Wendi. Can it be proved that the Xunzi theory was not originally an "outlier", but stood at the forefront of the times?
——End——
The author | Desire Cloud: a science and engineering man who likes history and now lives in Shenzhen
Pictures | from the network,
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