In Chinese history, there are three teachers who are very magical, even more powerful than Confucius, and the disciples who are taught are extremely unique, the first is Ghost Guzi, teaching Wizards such as Sun Zhi and Pang Juan, and the second is Wang Yangming of the Ming Dynasty.
This person's name was Xunzi, and he criticized all the sons of each family, but only admired Confucius thought, believing that this was the best concept of governing the country, so Xunzi regarded himself as the heir of Confucius. However, what is puzzling is that Xunzi, represented by Confucianism, had three well-known disciples in his lifetime, and the two most famous of them were famous scholars of the Fa, namely Li Si and Han Feizi.
Xunzi's full name was Xun Quan, but the ancestors were not surnamed Xun, "Jin Qu Wo destroyed Xun, and gave the Original Clan of Dafu with his land, which was for Uncle Xun", after the Jin State destroyed the Xun Kingdom, the Xun State was given to the Former Land of the Dafu Yuan Clan, and the descendants were given the surname Xun. Therefore, Xunzi was of aristocratic origin, which was different from the only cloth-clothed Mozi in the Hundred Sons of Zhuzi.
Like many scholars of the Spring and Autumn Warring States, Xunzi also traveled around the world and successively traveled to Qi Chu and Zhao Qin. In the State of Qi, Xun Zi was the "most teacher" and "three for the sake of wine" in the Jixia Xuegong, the oldest member of the clan room, and served as a sacrificial wine three times, and later someone in the State of Qi slandered Xun Qing, and Xun Qing went to the Chu State. In the Chu state, Xunzi was valued by Chunshen Jun Huang Xie and made him the commander of Lanling (Linyi, Shandong), where Han Fei and Li Si became his disciples. In the State of Zhao, he and Linwu Jun discussed the army in front of King Xiaocheng of Zhao. In the State of Qin, the politics of the State of Qin were affirmed, saying that "the Fourth Qin Dynasty has a victory, and the number is also not fortunate", and at the same time, he does not take it seriously with the strategy of the Qin State to attach importance to the rule of criminal law officials and despise the strategy of the rende shi junzi, saying that "if the county is in the name of the king's merit, it is not far behind."
Especially when traveling to the Qin State, Xunzi did not think much of the Qin State's strategy of "governing the country according to law and despising morality", which was related to Xunzi's idea of advocating Confucius's benevolent and moral governance.
However, the three well-known disciples taught by Xunzi—Li Si, Han Feizi, Zhang Cang, Li Si, and Han Feizi—needless to say, and Zhang Cang (who helped Liu Bang conquer the world, later became the Western Han Dynasty Minister) could not be regarded as authentic Confucian descendants, in other words, the three most famous disciples under Xunzi were not all Confucian descendants. This is difficult to understand, why xunzi, represented by Confucianism, has taught a group of "anti-bone boys". Moreover, it is still the great enemy of Confucianism!
In fact, it was Xunzi Thought that gave Li Si and Han Feizi the soil and courage to become Fa masters!
First, what is the relationship between "heavenly people"? We are most familiar with the "unity of heaven and man", and the disaster is that the heavens are dissatisfied with the emperor and the like, but Xunzi believes that "heaven and man are separated", heaven is heaven, man is man, the two do not interfere with each other, there is no "mandate of heaven" theory. Xun Zi's "Treatise on Heaven" believes that heaven is natural, there is no reason, will, good and evil likes and evil hearts, and the heavenly path has its own laws of operation, not for yao survival, not for death.
Second, is sex good or sexual evil? Mencius believed that "nature is inherently good", but Xunzi advocated "nature is inherently evil", pointing out that anything that has not been cultivated will not be good, but through the indoctrination of "its etiquette and righteousness, the degree of dharma", it can transform people's "evil" nature, then "tu people can be Yu", that is, indoctrination makes everyone transform into good. In Xunzi Thought, in addition to "ruling the country with ethics," it also contains the indoctrination of "making the law", the construction of morality on the one hand, and the construction of the rule of law on the other.
Third, the Fa jin or the fa gu? This is another important point of debate between later generations of Confucians and Legalists, who believe that Fagu is imitating the rule of three generations of holy kings, but The Fa believes that it is the Fa that advances with the times. Xun Zi put forward the "Queen of the Law" who is thick and thin, saying that the "first king" has a long time, and the deeds are simple and difficult to imitate, and they are not as reliable as the later kings of the recent world (the most recent saint king Mingjun), and the so-called "those who want to see the traces of the holy kings are in their possession, and the later kings are also."
It can be seen that in Xunzi thought, there is the soil of the legal family, especially in the chaotic world, if you want to govern the country and strengthen the country, the idea of "ruling the country by courtesy" advocated by Xunzi is difficult to be welcomed by the emperor, but the "rule of law" extended along the basis of Xunzi thought can realize the dream of the emperor.
Nowadays, it seems that The advanced nature of Xunzi Thought, but in the era at that time, Xunzi Thought could only be out of place. One step ahead of the times is a genius, but two steps ahead of the times, three steps ahead of the madman, and even Xunzi is ahead of the entire feudal era, which coincides with many ideas in modern times. As a result, Xunzi was tragic and was ignored among Confucians.
In the ranks of the Five Sages of Confucianism and the Ten Philosophers of Confucius, there was no figure of Xun Zi, who was known as the master of Confucianism in the history books, and suffered a rare snub. The reason for this is that Xunzi's above ideas are too frightening, seriously opposed to Mencius's scholarship, and even enough to shake the foundation of traditional Confucianism.
It should also be noted that Han Feizi and Li Si have a revered historical status, Han Feizi has softly thought about the Fa and formed a complete theoretical system of The Fa, Li Si is the minister of the Violent Qin Empire, and one person is above ten thousand people........ These two people should have become the glory of Xunzi and Confucianism, but the problem is that these two people are representatives of the Fa, and the Fajia is the enemy of life and death of Confucianism, and if the Confucians in later generations highlight Xunzi, then they must mention Han Feizi and Li Si, which makes Confucianism feel bad!
As an alternative among Confucians, Xunzi thought was too advanced and could not be accepted by most Confucians throughout the feudal era. It was not until modern times that the academic community began to truly study Xunzi and Xunxue, and found that this much-snubbed Representative of Confucianism was in line with modern times in terms of governing strategy, and the status of Xunzi began to rise.
Compared with the many famous people of the Spring and Autumn Warring States, Xunzi can be said to be the most underrated scholar, but unfortunately history has buried this genius, and if Confucianism attaches importance to Xunzi, Chinese history may take another path.
References: Xunzi, The Philosophical Thought of Xunzi