xun zi (Hsun Tzu)
By now we have not only covered several different schools of thought apart from the Confucian one, but also the variations and developments of the Confucian school: including the school of Mencius, and now, of Xun Zi (Hsun Tzu) (c.298?-237? BC) (like Confucius/Kong Zi, Mencius/Meng Zi, the Zi/Tzu in Xun Zi is a reverential reference to ancient sages). The difference between Hsun Tzu, who believed in the evilness of human nature (although intelligence that enabled learning could overcome that) and Mencius, who believed human nature is good, according to de Bary, partly lies in their different circumstances. Hsun Tzu, who was born even closer to the end of the Zhou Dynasty, witnessed greater social chaos and disintegration, as well as the brutality of the warring states. Hsun Tzu, however, followed the fundamental Confucian optimism that humans could make a difference, and that improvements were possible, in his emphasis on education and learning.
Xun Zi and Self-Cultivation
Like other Confucians, Xun Zi emphasized the importance of self-cultivation, although his rationale differed from, say, that of Mencius. For Mencius, human nature was good and in it lay the four beginnings of human moral sentiments. Since Xun Zi believed that humans were "deficient" so to speak, in these moral sentiments, (de Bary, 179-180, Fung, 144-147), it added to the importance of learning. Xun Zi's chapter on "Encouraging Learning," in Chinese reads more like "persuading" or "pleading" one to learn. The many metaphors Xun Zi gives in that chapter to illustrate how learning, like an external prop or support, can enable one to reach levels one cannot scale on one's own, has made that chapter a classic. It is on the basis of learning that one can strive to be a sage. Through learning, one could adopt a second nature of refinement and moral uprightness, so that the moral requirements become internalized and the noble person becomes complete. (de Bary, 164)
Because moral nature comes by learning, Xun Zi spends more time discussing the steps of learning than Mencius or Confucius, who relied more on an intuitive understanding on their students or listeners. Among the ways of cultivation, Xun Zi talks about receptiveness to criticism, balancing the extremes of one's temperament, and guiding oneself with ritual. (Fung, 164-166, de Bary, 161-166)
Social order, rulership, and the "rectification of names"
Hsun Tzu/Xun Zi realizes the importance of good administrative skills in a ruler, and the importance of authority in a state. He believes in social distinctions, and the importance of a ruler to maintain those distinctions--the "rectification of names" and prevent disputes over them (Fung, 151-154). Good administrative skills and strong leadership are neutral, if not positive qualities, and can exist apart from moral virtue. Xun Zi makes a distinction between an able king (lord-protector) and a morally virtuous king (de Bary, 168-169): it seems the difference lies largely in degree. Both protect the weak and maintain peace. The morally virtuous kings seem to pay more attention to the minute details of government, such as how much tax from where and when, and more painstakingly try to benefit their people. To de Bary, Xun Zi has a more realistic approach to government than Mencius. For Mencius, "rectification of names" allowed him only to talk of moral kings because they display qualities that kings ought to have. For Xun Zi, the universe is not a moral one, heaven and earth follow their separate rules from the human world, and there are basic rules governing leadership. Moral kings simply exercise these rules to their maximum and acquire a stronger appeal that able kings without those moral qualities may not have.
That Xun Zi believes in the need for rulers to master the skills of leadership can also be seen in his discussion of heaven. Xun Zi's heaven is one with constant laws, which we could call "laws of nature" that humans need to conform to in order to be good rulers. Thus rulers need to pay attention to when to collect farm produce or tax/how much, otherwise they defy the rules of heaven/laws of nature. (de Bary, 170-174. You could imagine that instead of the moral mandate of heaven, Xun Zi talked about natural heavenly rules). The noble person who possesses the Confucian Way is one who is able to put the myriad things in perspective and give them a fair assessment. (de Bary, 179) Knowledge of the external world is essential to Xun Zi and an integral part of his discussion of morality and humaneness (a humane ruler must possess it.)
A human centered society
Xun Zi continues the Confucian emphasis on a human centered society. This is shown in many places, such as in his avoidance of discussing ghosts and superhuman forces. It is also reflected in his discussion of rituals. (de Bary, 174-177, Fung, 145-150) Rituals reflect fundamental rules governing human society and help maintain social order. The enactments of rituals enables the expressions of deep human sentiments that accord with the mores of social order. The social order, on the other hand, was man-made, a human product. Human rituals are also man-made, instead of naturally given by heaven. The worship of ancestors or the mourning of the dead, therefore, is a ritual to commemorate the dead, rather than belief that the dead continued to live on. It was, in other words, a poetic rather than religious act, a self-conscious act that both served to express human emotions and reinforce the social order.
Xun Zi and proverbs
Many sentences in Xun Zi's "Encouraging Learning" (de Bary, pp.161-164) have become proverbs in the Chinese language, such as "Blue comes from the indigo plant, yet it is bluer than indigo. Ice is made of water, yet it is colder than water." (de Bary, 161) Today this proverb is often used to indicate how improvements can be made, often indicating generational differences, such as between parent and children, or between teacher and students. (We have also encountered proverbs in the other classics we have covered this semester, such as Mencius. When Mencius criticized the king of Qi for trying to expand his territory through conquest [instead of the sagely ways of moral influence and improvement of the people's livelihood], he said it was "like climbing a tree to look for fish." (de Bary, 123) This proverb today means doing something totally irrelevant or counterproductive to one's goal.)