Xunzi's name, ziqing, was revered as "XunQing", a Zhao guoren during the Warring States period, Xunzi's early life experience is unknown, according to Sima Qian's "Historical Records", he probably lived for more than a hundred years.
Xun Zi was born in the Warring States period, when the Qi, Chu, Yan, Han, Zhao, Wei, Qin, and Qi states were relatively strong. In order to expand his influence and achieve hegemony, king Qi hired many famous scholars to give lectures at the Jixia Xuegong in the capital City of Linzi.
When Xun Zi was young, he traveled to Jixia to study and expounded to xiangguo of the State of Qi a good strategy for governing the country. In 286 BC, the State of Qi destroyed the State of Song. The military victory made king Qi very proud and complacent. At this time, Xun Zi pointed out to the State of Qi that the current situation facing the State of Qi was: "The State of Chu is in front, the State of Yan is in the rear, and the powerful State of Wei is on the right. If the three countries unite to take advantage of the opportunity to invade, the country of Qi will inevitably fall apart, and the country will be in danger of perishing! However, this opinion did not attract the attention of Qi Guoxiang, and Xun Zi had to leave Qi Guo disappointed.
After a while, he returned to the Qi capital Linzi, and the older generation of prestige elders had died, and Xunzi's fame in teaching outside the country gradually grew, so he was quickly appreciated by the King of Qi, who made him the position of "sacrificial wine", that is, the highest administrator who presided over the ceremonial academy.
When he was lecturing in the State of Qi, Xunzi returned to the State of Zhao, served as a high official of the State of Zhao, and discussed military affairs in front of King Xiaocheng of Zhao; he also went to the State of Qin and met Fan Ju and King Zhao of Qin. Like Confucius and Mencius, he held the ideal of governing the country well and making the world peaceful. He also traveled around the world to show his ambitions politically, but failed, and eventually had to return to the Country of Qi to give a lecture. Later, Xunzi came to the Chu Kingdom. Chun Shenjun, one of the "Four Princes of the Warring States", was a native of the Chu state.
He admired Xunzi very much, and when he heard that Xunzi had arrived in the Chu Kingdom, Chun Shenjun was very happy and immediately sent emissaries to greet him respectfully, from eating, dressing to going out, Chun Shenjun personally inquired, and often asked Xunzi for advice and good strategies and strategies for governing the country. Xun Zi agreed to stay in the Chu state at the warm invitation of Chun Shenjun, and he not only discussed state affairs with the ministers of the Chu state, but also had his own fiefdom.
Xunzi had a fiefdom, and after a long time, some people could not avoid being jealous, so they said bad things about Xunzi in front of Chun Shenjun.
A man named Lu Dun said to Chun Shenjun: "In ancient times, the Tang merchants established themselves in a place less than a hundred miles, and the King of Wu, based on the small pickaxe capital, could gradually develop his own power, and they were able to destroy the Xia and Shang dynasties successively. Xun Zi is a well-known scholar in the world, he has the love of the king and the fiefdom of the people in the Chu kingdom, once he has two hearts, it is bound to be a scourge, and we have to guard against it! Chun Shenjun, after listening to Lu Dun's words, he was shocked. If Xunzi rebelled, his introducer would definitely be a sinner of the Chu state, so he sent one of his cronies to talk to Xunzi and euphemistically expressed the meaning of the Chu state to thank Xunzi.
The insulted Xunzi angrily left the Chu kingdom, and Chun Shenjun felt guilty and wanted to send him off personally, and by the time he arrived at Xunzi's residence, the man was already gone. Xun Zi left the Chu state to join the Zhao state, and soon became a high official there.
After a while, someone said to Chun Shenjun: "Yi Yin left because he was snubbed by Xia Jie, went to Yin to do the work, and also helped Shang Tang unify the world; Guan Zhong was not respected in the state of Lu, was despised, and resolutely defected to the state of Qi, the Duke of Qi Huan admired his talent, Guan Zhong became the minister of state, and also achieved the hegemony of the Duke of Qi Huan, while the state of Lu was depressed and fell."
It can be seen from this that where the wise men are, where the kings can be virtuous, the country can be glorified. The reuse of the virtuous state is bound to be strong, and the snubbed virtuous state is bound to decline. Today's people know Xun Zi's talent, he came here, chu not only can not treat him sincerely, but suspects that he will rebel and drive him away, what kind of consequences will be brought to the chu state, you still have to think about it! ”。
Chun Shenjun immediately felt that his original decision was wrong, so he immediately sent someone to Zhao Guo to ask Xun Zi to come back. At this time, Xun Zi wrote a letter of thanks, and attached a poem "To the blind as the light, to the deaf as the deaf" reprimanded Chun Shenjun for not distinguishing between good and bad.
Chun Shenjun knew that he had wrongly treated Xunzi, so he repeatedly sent people to please, and apologized to Xunzi many times, and Xunzi was impressed by Chun Shenjun's sincerity, and finally returned to the Chu state and did the Lanling Order. Later, Chun Shenjun was assassinated, and Xunzi's Lanling Order could not be done. Since then, he has been living in Lanling, writing books while preaching his teachings and teaching them to students.
Xunzi had two famous students, one was han fei, an outstanding representative of the Dharma, and the other was Li Si, the chancellor of Qin Shi Huang.
Mencius honored Confucius, and Xunzi also honored Confucius.
Xunzi, who was knowledgeable, inherited Confucianism and developed, but many of his views were not the same as those of Confucius and Meng, and some were even completely opposite, such as Mencius advocating "sexual goodness," human nature is good, while Xunzi advocated "sexual evil theory", he believed that human nature is naturally generated, people are born evil have all kinds of bad desires, and noble character needs to be formed by continuous education the day after tomorrow.
In addition, he also paid great attention to the relationship between the king and the people, proposing that "the king, the boat; the common man, the water also." The water carries the boat, and the water overturns the boat." This means that the monarch is the boat and the people are the water. Water can safely float the boat to carry it, and it can also sink the ship. This sentence has played a wake-up call for rulers of successive dynasties and has become a famous saying throughout the ages.
Xunzi inherited and developed the teachings of Confucius and was a sage who inherited the Confucian classics. His ideas provided an important theoretical basis for the establishment and consolidation and development of absolute monarchy during the Qin and Han dynasties. One of Xunzi's disciples, Li Si, the Chancellor of the Qin Dynasty, directly put Xunzi's ideas into practice, which had a huge impact on future generations.