a pre-Qin philosopher

a pre-Qin philosopher

Xunzi (about 313-238 B.C.), named Kuang and named Qing, was born in the state of Zhao in the late Warring States period. During the Han Dynasty, he was called "Sunqing" because he avoided emperor Xuandi's name. He was a famous thinker, philosopher and educator, a representative of the Confucian school, and a master of all schools of thought in the pre Qin period.

Xunzi once served as the sacrificial wine of Jixia Academy of Qi State three times, and twice served as the order of Chu Lanling. In his later years, he lived in Lanling County, wrote books, accepted apprentices, and eventually became an old man. He was known as the "empress saint". Xunzi critically accepted and creatively developed the Confucian orthodox thought and theory, advocated "the combination of etiquette and law"; put forward the thought of "controlling the destiny of heaven and using it"; opposed the superstition of ghosts and gods; put forward the theory of evil nature, attached importance to the influence of customs and education on people, and emphasized learning for practical use; his thought was mainly reflected in Xunzi. Xunzi also collated and inherited the book of songs, Shangshu, Li, Le, Yi, Chunqiu and other Confucian classics, making great contributions to the dissemination and preservation of Confucian culture.

Xunzi summed up the theoretical achievements and his own academic thoughts, and established a complete system of simple materialism philosophy in the pre Qin period. His thoughts had a subtle influence on the development of feudal society in the next two thousand years.

Life of the characters

Lineage

It is recorded in Yuanhe surname Zuan that Xun Lin's father was born to Xun of Geng descent in Jin Dynasty, while the records of Xun's family in spring and Autumn period can be found in the 13th year of (King Huan) (678 BC), "Jin Quwo destroyed Xun, and gave the official yuan's family the title of" Uncle Xun ". In Zuozhuan, there is a text of "xunxi", also known as "xunzhu", in Zhuan of the ninth year of Yugong. Therefore, the original surname "en" is xunxi, and was granted the name of "Di" in xunzuo's hometown.

Xunxi's inheritance is that xunxi gave birth to Shiao, and Shiao gave birth to xunlin's father. Xunlin's father was Zhongxing General of Jin State, so his descendants are Zhongxing's. Linfu gave birth to xunge, Geng gave birth to xunyan, Yan gave birth to Xunwu, and Wu gave birth to xunyin. After the failure of xunyin's struggle with Zhao Yang, the Zhongxing clan changed back to xunyin one after another in order to avoid disaster. This is the origin of xunyin's clan in Zhao state.

Study tour

Sima Qian's biography of Mencius and Xunqing in historical records records records his life. Xunzi was fifty years old. He first came to study in the state of Qi, and was "the most teacher" in the Xiangwang era. Later, he was released to Chu. Chunshen thought that the order of Lanling was made. Chunshen died and Xunqing abandoned him. He lived in Lanling. Han Fei and Lisi were his disciples. Because his two disciples were representatives of legalism, some scholars doubted whether Xunzi was a Confucian scholar. Xunzi was also severely criticized by many scholars in Chinese history for his disciples.

Xunzi was the first one to use the name of Fu and write Fu in question and answer style. Together with Qu Yuan, Xunzi was known as "the ancestor of Ci Fu".

Entering Qin Dynasty

He once entered the Qin Dynasty and affirmed the politics of the state of Qin, saying that "the fourth generation of the Qin Dynasty has won, and the number is not lucky". At the same time, he didn't think much of the strategy that the state of Qin attached importance to the administration of criminal law officials and despised the benevolent and virtuous scholars and gentlemen, saying that "the county's reputation as a king is not far away.".

Xunzi went to the state of Zhao again and discussed with Linwu Jun in front of King Xiaocheng of Zhao. Finally, he died in Lanling of Chu state. Han Fei and Li Si, the two most famous thinkers and statesmen in the late Warring States period, and Zhang Cang, the statesman and scientist in the early Han Dynasty, were his followers. The collection of works is Xunzi (annotated by Yang Xie in Tang Dynasty). Because Xunzi was attacked by scholars of all ages, few of them annotated it. It was not until the prosperity of textual research in the Qing Dynasty that the number of annotations was increased. There are more scholars studying Xunzi in modern times than in ancient times, including Wang Xianqian in Qing Dynasty and Liang Qixiong in Republic of China. Tan Sitong, a scholar in the late Qing Dynasty, commented in his benevolence study that the study of Xunzi in China over the past two thousand years is a local wish. His representative work in his later years is persuasion.

Imperial skill

According to the records of the historian, Li Si "learned the skills of emperors from Xunqing" and Xunzi's "skills of Emperors" were embodied in his later practice. Su Shi of the Northern Song Dynasty said in Xunqing Lun: "Xunqing enlightened the king's way and described rites and music, while Lisi confused the world with his learning."

Historical records

Xun Qing is a native of Zhao. At the age of 50, he came to Qi to lobby for lectures. Zou Yan's theory is tortuous, exaggerated and full of empty arguments; Zou Xun's articles are complete and thorough, but difficult to implement; Chunyu Kun, if he gets along with him for a long time, often learns some incisive remarks. So the people of Qi praised them and said, "it's Zou Yan who talks highly, it's Zou Xun who works meticulously, it's Chunyu Kun who is resourceful and eloquent Tian Pian and others had already died in the reign of King Xiang of Qi. Xun Qing was the oldest and most experienced master at that time. At that time, the state of Qi was still making up for the shortage of Liefu. Xunqing served as a master of Jixia three times. Later, someone in the state of Qi slandered Xunqing. Xunqing came to the state of Chu, and Chunshen asked him to serve as the order of Lanling. After Chunshen's death, Xunqing was dismissed from office and settled down in Lanling. Li Si was his student and later became prime minister in the Qin Dynasty. Xunqing abhorred the dark politics in troubled times, and the despotic and disordered monarchs appeared one after another. They were not familiar with the common sense and the right way, but they were bewildered by the witches who pretended to be gods and ghosts. They believed in praying for God's blessing to avoid disasters. The vulgar and vulgar Confucian students were constrained by trivial etiquette. In addition, Zhuang Zhou and others were cunning and debating, and corrupted customs. Therefore, they studied the success and failure of the activities of Confucianism, Mohism and Taoism The article of tens of thousands of words died. He died and was buried in Lanling.

At that time, there was a Gongsun long in the state of Zhao, who argued with Huishi's "contract difference" theory with the theory of "lijianbai"; in addition, there were works of dramatists; in the state of Wei, there was Li Zhen, who proposed to encourage farming to do his best; in the state of Chu, there were corpses and Changlu, and in the state of Qi, there was a Xuzi. From Mencius to Xuzi, many of their works have been circulated in the world, so the content of these works is not detailed.

Mo Zhai, a doctor of the Song Dynasty, was good at guarding and defending tactics, and advocated cost saving. Some say that he is the same as Confucius, others say that he is after Confucius.

"Fengshitongyi · qiongtong" records: "at the time of King Wei of Qi, he gathered all the sages in Jixia Sun Qing, a scholar, came to study in the 15th year. " In 286 BC, when the Song Dynasty was destroyed by the Qi Dynasty, the book on salt and iron, on Confucianism, talked about the arrogance of King min of the Qi Dynasty At this time, Xunqing said to Qi Xiangjin, "the way to win over others is to win over others." he pointed out: today, Ju Chu is tied in front of me, Da Yan is threatening behind me, Jin Wei is taking the hook on my right side One country's strategy, the three countries will inevitably take the opportunity to invade. In this way, Qi will inevitably lead to fragmentation, and the country will be in danger of extinction. (Xunzi · powerful nation, cited below, only noted the title) opinions were not adopted, so sun Qing went to the state of Chu. During the reign of King Xiang of Qi (283-265 BC), Xunzi returned to Qi for the second time, "Xunqing was the most teacher." Three times he was promoted as a sacrificial wine. (biographies of Mencius and Xunqing in historical records) during fan Ju's visit to Qin (266-255 BC), Xunzi came to the state of Qin and met King Zhao of Qin. King Zhao asked, "is Confucianism not beneficial to the country of man?" Xunzi replied: "in this dynasty, Confucianism is the beauty of politics, and in the lower position, it is the beauty of vulgarity. This is what Confucianism is for people." "Ying Hou (fan Ju) asked sun Qingzi," what's the point of entering Qin Dynasty? " Xunzi replied that "Xing Sheng", "common people's simplicity", "hundred officials' solemnity", literati and bureaucrats are "clear and public", the imperial court "listen to all things and don't stay" and "rule them to the utmost"; however, "almost no Confucianism" is "short of Qin". Because of the rule of law in the state of Qin, Xunzi's idea of ruling the country by Confucianism was not feasible.

Some people in Qi slandered Xunzi, so Xunzi left Qi and came to Chu. In 255 BC, he was appointed the magistrate of Lanling county. But some people think that Xunzi is a danger to Chu. So Xunzi left Chu and came to the state of Zhao, who worshipped him as the prime minister. Later, someone in the state of Chu proposed to Chunshen, the Prime Minister of Chu, to ask Xunzi to return to Chu. So Chunshen sent people back to Xunzi to be the magistrate of Lanling county. In 238 BC, Chunshenjun was killed by Liyuan, and Xunzi was just an official. He died in a few years.

There are more than 300 Xunzi's works in the Han Dynasty. After Liu Xiang's editing, 32 of them were deleted.

Xunzi traveled to Qi in his early years. Because of his extensive knowledge, he was "the most teacher". He once served as the "sacrificial wine" of the "Jixia Academy" three times. In about 264 BC, he was invited by King Zhao of Qin Dynasty to travel to the west of Qin. He called the state of Qin "simple people" and "solemn officials" and nearly "the best way to govern". Later, he returned to the state of Zhao and discussed with Linwu Jun. before King Xiaocheng of Zhao, he thought that "the root of using troops to attack is the people" and "those who are good at attaching to the people are also good at using troops" (Xunzi · Yibing). Later, Xunzi was used by Chunshen king of Chu and ordered by Lanling county (now Lanling Town, Cangshan County, Shandong Province). He was engaged in teaching and writing in his later years.

Main achievements

Ideas and viewpoints

Xunzi criticized all the schools except Confucius, who thought it was the best idea of governing the country. Xunzi regarded himself as the successor of Confucius, and especially inherited Confucius's "external king learning". From the standpoint of epistemology, he critically summed up and absorbed the theoretical propositions of various schools of thought, and formed a distinctive view of nature, morality and social history, which is "clear in the distinction between heaven and man", and "the rule of etiquette". On this basis, he summarized the philosophy of pre Qin Dynasty.

The meaning of "being clear in the separation of heaven and man"

naturalism

The view of heaven

The problem of heaven, destiny and the way of heaven has always been the concern of various schools in the pre Qin period. In the Yin, Shang and Western Zhou dynasties, "heaven" and "destiny" were regarded as personality gods. When Confucius arrived, his personality and spirit were weakened. Confucius mainly discussed benevolence and virtue through the affection of relatives,

Chinese PinYin : Xun Zi