Xunzi - A Translation and Study of the Complete Works by John Knoblock (1988).pdf

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A Translation and Study
of the Complete Works
VOLUME I
BOOKS 1-6
Jo/zn
Knoblock
STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
Stanford, California
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Preface
Though scarcely known in the West, Xunzi
r
n\ f
occupies a place of
importance in classical Chinese philosophy comparable to that of Aristotle
in Greek thought. Standing near the end of a great tradition of philoso-
phy, he is a systematic figure whose works sum up, criticize, and extend
the traditional analysis of the perennial problems of Chinese philosophy.
His works encompass virtually the whole range of topics discussed by
Chinese scholars.
Like Aristotle, he molded successive ages. During the Han dynasty,
his philosophy shaped learning and scholarship not only because of the
pervasive influence of his thought but also because of his remarkable
successes as a teacher. Xunzi taught a whole generation of scholars whose
traditions of learning dominated the intellectual world of the Han dy-
nasty. Through the filiation of master and student, he determined the
Han interpretation of ritual and its role in government, of the Classic of
Poetry, of the role of music, of the nature of education, and of the lessons
of history. More important still, the classical texts, understood within
the framework of his philosophy, were the source of inspiration for
countless thinkers, government officials, and scholars. Thus, his thought
was absorbed into the whole Weltanschauung that then shaped the
Chinese world, and through its incorporation into the structure of Han
dynasty institutions, it persisted for many centuries thereafter.
His influence first began to decline when Buddhism introduced alien
patterns of thinking to the Chinese world and added dimensions of
thought undeveloped during the classical period. Later in the Song dy-
nasty, the reemergence of Mencius as a major thinker caused Xunzi's
reputation to suffer an eclipse. Interest in him revived only during the
florescence of scholarship during the Qing dynasty. With the advent of
the modern period, and especially since the Communist Revolution, he
has again been recognized as a thinker of great importance.
The world of Xunzi, like that of Aristotle, was undergoing a rapid
and radical transformation. Aristotle witnessed irrevocable changes in
viii •
Preface
the fundamental character of the ancient world—Greek, Egyptian, and
Persian—wrought by the conquests of his student Alexander. Xunzi
saw the end of the Zhou dynasty that had ruled for more than 700 years.
He observed the annihilation of the feudal states and the unification of
the Chinese world by the invincible military power of the First Emperor
of Qin SipSl'Sf. Finally, he witnessed the emergence of a new world
order crafted by his brilliant student Li Si $WT.
Xunzi was deeply affected by these events. They made impossible the
optimistic and idealistic views advocated by Mencius, and they molded
his philosophy in ways later generations of Chinese would find unattrac-
tive. At the end of his life, Xunzi believed that the collapse of the world
he had known had resulted in the renunciation of all the values he
thought fundamental to civilized life. He concluded that left to follow its
course, man's nature would inevitably lead to conflict and evil and that
only through man's conscious effort is good possible. Idealists of later
centuries abhorred this doctrine and excoriated Xunzi for advocating it.
They never considered seriously the hope that his doctrine nonetheless
permitted and did not notice that he himself had never despaired that
the vision of society he shared with Confucius and Mencius could be
realized.
Xunzi's works have generally been neglected in the West. They never
enjoyed imperial patronage like the
Analects
and
Mencius.
They contain
no doctrines that could be construed to anticipate Christian doctrines like
Mo Di's US "universal love." They were not written in fluent and evo-
cative language like the
Daode jing WtSM
and
Zhuangzi
ffirf.The
Xunzi
has accordingly not proved attractive to translators. Xunzi's earnest in-
tensity and careful precision in argumentation led to a clear but unattrac-
tive style. To the lay reader, his thought seems insufficiently "Chinese."
It does not intrigue with esoteric mysteries known only in the inscrutable
Orient, and it is too systematic and rigorous to allow boundless specula-
tions on the ultimate.
In English, there are at present only the partial translations of H. H.
Dubs and Burton Watson, which present the text with only the barest of
discussion. Both are inadequate for scholarly research. More recently,
Herman Koster translated Xunzi's complete works, again with only
brief discussion, into German. My translation attempts to rectify this
by examining virtually every available critical study in Chinese and
Japanese and taking into account recent developments in the study of
Chinese philosophy both on the mainland and in the West. My aim has
been to produce a literate English translation that conveys the full mean-
ing of Xunzi's philosophical arguments. My translation differs from
most recent efforts in several respects.
Preface m
ix
1. It includes substantial explanatory material identifying technical
terms, persons, and events so that the English reader is provided the same
level of information routinely provided in such Chinese and Japanese
editions of the text as Fujii Sen'ei
B)\'-M%,
the Beijing University student
edition, and Liang Qixiong
W&W-,
for audiences much better informed
about China than are Americans.
2. It provides a detailed introduction to each book that summarizes
the philosophical points made and their relation to the thought of other
philosophers.
3. It indicates in extensive annotations, with characters when desir-
able, the basis of my renderings when alternatives exist either in the
textual tradition or when the text is variously emended by important
scholars.
To present Xunzi in a fashion that is easily understood and provides
all the material necessary to grasp his argument, I have provided a gen-
eral introduction with chapters devoted to: (1) the biography of Xunzi
set in the history of his times, particularly as it directly affected his works;
(2) the influence he had on later times through his thought, his students,
and the institutional structure of learning in ancient China; (3) the intel-
lectual world in which Xunzi lived and the controversies and figures
that then thrived; and (4) the basic terms that the Chinese use to discuss
the structure and pattern of nature and the origins and ideal nature of
society.
Much of this is obvious to sinologists, but these facts are quite un-
known even to the educated, who find themselves confronted with an
impossible task in trying to locate a convenient explanation of some
mystery. Such information would doubtless be superfluous in a work on
Greek philosophy since there are standard references in English and other
European languages that address virtually every problem that might be
encountered in Greek philosophic texts. This is not true of philosophy or
of any other discipline in China. My aim in doing this is to present an
edition useful to scholars without requiring constant reference to the
Chinese original, but providing the necessary apparatus to do so when
desired, and a translation accessible to a general, educated public inter-
ested in Chinese philosophy.
I provide extensive historical information so that the reader will have
some sense of the setting of philosophical controversies and the historical
background they assumed. Whereas the translator of Aristotle can as-
sume that an educated reader knows that Alexander came after Perikles
or that the Trojan War was described in the
Iliad,
the educated public
recognizes only two ancient Chinese names: Confucius and Mencius.
More recently the First Emperor has become known, but it is the rare
Prefa,
Western reader who can place these figures in their correct chronological
order.
The reader's task is greatly complicated by the confusion created by
different systems of romanization. Distinguishing between the older
Wade-Giles system and the newer
pinyin
makes every name problematic
even for a devoted reader. I have chosen to adopt the
pinyin
because it
eliminates the constant problem posed by the apostrophes of the Wade-
Giles system, it allows people to pronounce correctly many important
names and concepts, and it is quite likely that it will become universal
during the next decade.
Xunzi's works can be divided into four groups. Books i—6 discuss
self-cultivation, learning, and education. Books 7—16 discuss political
theory, ethics, the ideal man (the
junzi
•
f
or "gentleman"), and the
&
lessons to be drawn from history. Books 17—24 discuss problems of
knowledge, language, and logic, the fundamental nature of the world,
the significance of music and ritual, and the nature of man. Books 25-32
contain Xunzi's poetry, short passages collected together in one book,
and various anecdotes about historical events and persons. Some of these
last books have often been regarded as compilations made by his stu-
dents. I present these materials in three volumes: (1) General Introduc-
tion and Books 1—6; (2) Books 7-16; and (3) Books 17—32. Materials
specific to each book and to each volume can be found in the introduc-
tions to each book and to each volume. Thus, materials on Xunzi's inter-
pretation of history and his political philosophy are in the introductory
materials to Volume 2, and those on logic, epistemology, and language
are in Volume 3. Each volume contains an appendix dealing with the
problems of composition of each book, as well as a glossary defining the
more important technical terms that Xunzi uses.
This translation is based on the texts of Wang Xianqian
\:9c$k
(1842—
1918) and Kubo Ai Xfft
7
* (1759-1832) with reference to the basic schol-
arship published since. The speculations of commentators are sometimes
very tedious, and I have accordingly omitted most of them, but I occa-
sionally cite specific examples to give the reader a feel for the intellect of
the commentator and a basis for independent judgment. By observing
how a commentator's understanding of a variety of passages differs from
mine, the reader can determine whether there is some merit to another
interpretation of certain critical passages. Although it is possible to check
a Chinese edition of the text, unfortunately no edition, Chinese or Japa-
nese, contains all the commentaries that I consulted and that are cited in
the notes. The most comprehensive are those of Wang Xianqian and
Kubo Ai, but they reflect only nineteenth-century scholarship. The work
of twentieth-century scholars is scattered in articles (many in obscure

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