The idea of shan 善 (goodness): A neglected philosophical relation between Guodian’s ‘Wu xing’ and Xunzi

ABSTRACT

The ‘Wu xing’ belongs to Guodian bamboo slips texts, which were buried around 300 BCE and excavated in 1993. Its relation with Mengzi is widely investigated. Yet how it is philosophically related to Xunzi receives little attention. In this article, I illustrate a neglected relation between ‘Wu xing’ and Xunzi, by elucidating how shan 善 (goodness) is first raised in ‘Wu xing’ and developed by Xunzi into a concrete idea. Both ‘Wu xing’ and Xunzi propose that shan exists in action, which boils down to the harmonious unity of the mind and body, and to secure the ideal relation between the mind and body requires constant learning and practicing, particularly, of rituals. Learning and practicing not only lead one to realize shan, but eventually to become a consummate practitioner of rituals, to use Xunzi’s words, to become a sage.

KEYWORDS:

• Xunzi
• Wu xing
• shan
• ritual
• unity

Acknowledgement

I am grateful to Professor Indira Carr for her coordinating and expediting the reviewing process. I also thank Chew Sihao, Liang Yuhan, Lu Pengjie, as well as the attendees of the talk that I gave in Philosophy Department of Sichuan University in 2022 for “Logic, Cognition, and Intecaction Lecture Series.”

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. For a detailed discussion of different distinctions between de and shan, see Liang (2008, p. 187) and Perkins (2014, pp. 504–510).

2. For discussions of WX’s connection with Mengzi, see Csikszntmihalyi (2004, pp. 103–113), Jiang (2021, p. 99), and Ding (2000, pp. 160–163). For discussions of the connection to Mengzi, see Perkins (2014) and Liang (2008).

3. Tao Liang suggests that WX represents the transitional stage for early Confucian philosophy that would lead up to two different Confucian streams, which are represented by Mengzi and Xunzi, respectively (Liang, 2008, p. 206). Paul Goldin suggests that Xunzi’s positions may be more systematically argued than anything that is found in the Guodian manuscripts, but there can be little question that he descends from the same doctrinal sects (Goldin, 2005, pp. 36–57). Kuanyun Huang also contends that Xunzi had available to him a certain version of WX (Huang, 2014, pp. 291–325). Franklin Perkins is cautious in concluding that Xunzi had access to a version of the WX text, but admits that it is possible and suggests that if Xunzi had access to the text, it was already through something like the commentary from Mawangdui 馬王堆 (Perkins, 2014, p. 517).

4. The received Xunzi probably contains writings of followers of Xunzi and other materials that are believed to belong to the tradition of Xunzi. For convenience, I use Xunzi to refer to authors or editors of the received text.

5. Mengzi also mentions shan and particularly argues ‘human nature is shan’. Nonetheless, shan is used by Mengzi in a general sense, and never considered as an idea with a concrete sense. It is in WX and the Xunzi that shan has been developed into a concrete idea.

6. Through this article, I follow Harold Roth’s translation of the Chinese term xin 心 as mind, which represents ‘the physical organ of the heart and is the source of feelings, desires, thoughts, and intuitions’ (Roth, 1991, p. 600). I also use ‘body’ for convenience to refer to the physical organs of a person. The word ‘body’ is often used to, yet not accurately, correspond to the Chinese term shen 身 and ti體. However, the meanings of shen and ti are quite complicated, which can be used to refer to the concrete physical body, the physical form generally, the person, and others. For discussions of shen and ti, see Sivin (1995, p. 14) and Sommer (2008, pp. 293–299). In the following discussion, I do not use ‘body’ to express these complicated senses, but simply use it in contrast to the mind to represent physical organs such as ears, eyes, and mouth.

7. Such an ascription of WX is prevalent among present scholars such as Ding (2000, pp. 160–168), Liang (2008, p. 184), and Liu (2003, p. 69). Mark Csikszntmihalyi doubts the claim that WX is associated with Zisi (Csikszntmihalyi, 2004, pp. 86–100). I am also cautious in using the word ‘school’ to define philosophies in the Warring States. Mark Csikszentmihalyi and Michael Nylan carry out a comprehensive study to argue against the idea that there are discrete schools of thought contending in the Warring States and Han periods (Csikszentmihalyi & Nylan, 2003, pp. 59–99). Christoph Harbsmeier also contends that there is never one organized and unified Kong jia 孔家 or ‘school of Confucianism’ in the Warring States Period (Harbsmeier, 2013, p. 18).

8. For the composite nature of early texts, William Boltz argues that ‘the practice of compiling texts from a reservoir of preexisting materials, combined with whatever newly composed material was called for, was not just widespread but perhaps the norm’ (Boltz, 2005, p. 70). Martin Kern’s account of the poetic repertoires in early China is also conducive to reflection on the nature of early Chinese philosophical texts, see Kern (2019).

9. The first part of this sentence is translated by some scholars as ‘benevolence is that from which rightness and propriety are born’. Scott Cook makes an argument for translating it as ‘benevolence and rightness are that from which propriety is born’ (Cook, 2012, p. 506). I adopt Cook’s understanding.

10. There are different translations of the last sentence, which will be discussed in section 2.2.

11. The translation of unity or sameness does not accurately correspond to tong. To retain the complexity of tong, I keep this term untranslated. I shall give a nuance account of tong soon.

12. In this sense, I disagree with a comment of Mawangdui manuscripts (probably buried around 200 BCE and excavated in 1973) on WX, which interprets ‘benevolence and rightness’ as the mind (Pang, 2000, p. 77).

13. For a detailed account of tong in early China, see He (2019).

14. Lai Chen also remarks that every action necessarily involves the mind and the body (2009, p. 140), but does not give a detailed account how shan can be reached through the mind, the body, and the four conducts.

15. The commentary in the Mawangdui manuscript on the phrase he ze tong echoes my account, explaining tong as ‘to be with the mind as one’ (Pang, 2000, p. 68).

16. For a detailed discussion of the usage of ze in classical Chinese, see Yang (1982, pp. 324–328).

17. Some scholars consider the relation between harmony, tong, and shan as progressive, and translate ze as ‘results in’ (Perkins, 2014, p. 508) or ‘will be’ (Meyer, 2012, p. 114).

18. Cook’s translation echoes this gloss (Cook, 2012, p. 507).

19. Pang comments the phrase ‘舍夫四’ as ‘the four conducts are in harmony and become as one’, implying that the four conducts can be united in one action (Pang, 2000, pp. 68–69). Liang remarks that ‘regarding tong, there is no difference for appearance between the four conducts’ (Liang, 2008, p. 410), also hinting that the four conducts would be performed in one action. However, both scholars do not analyze how the four conducts are performed in one action.

20. It should be noted that in Mawangdui’s comment on the term shen qi du慎其獨, it is the mind that unites the five conducts as one that can be taken as one’s personal identity. See Pang (1980, p. 31). I thank one reviewer for informing me of this point. Yet, my argument is that, rather than merely the mind, it is the mind and the body that the five conducts are united as one.

21. This point can be inferred from the following two passages, ‘the ears and eyes are pivots of the mind, so hearing must be in harmony and sight must be straight. When hearing is in harmony, the ears will be acute; when sight is straight, the eyes will be clear. With acute ears, helpful words will be heard; with sharp eyes, the virtuous action will be distinguished. Hearing helpful words and distinguishing virtuous action will make the mind clear and firm’, and ‘when harmonious sounds through the ears enter into the mind, beautiful words of the mind accordingly come out through the mouth’ (Zuo, 1978, p. 125).

22. This can be inferred from expressions, such as ‘the former kings adjust the five flavors and harmonize the five notes, in order to compose their minds’, ‘junzis hear such music to compose their mind and so the mind is in calm and the virtue in harmony’, and ‘harmonious sounds are entering into the ears and stored in the mind. In comfort, the mind will be in gratification’ (Li, 2000, pp. 1614, 1619, 1626).

23. This point is made by the ‘Yu cong’ 語叢, another Guodian text, which suggests that every physical organ is responsible for a particular function (Liu, 2003, p. 192).

24. Edward Slingerland argues that early Chinese embrace a quite vigorous form of mind-body dualism and opposes the strong ‘holist’ position on the mind-body relation (Slingerland, 2012, pp. 6–55). Lisa Raphals also conducts comprehensive investigations of the mind-body relation in early China, for the mind-body relation in Guodian manuscripts, the mind-body relation in early Chinese medicine, and mind-body metaphors, see Raphals (2019, 2020, 2021), respectively.

25. The Mangwangdui manuscript comments on this line that it is the body from the beginning to the end that carries out the action of shan. Pang explains that ‘carrying out shan hinges on one’s own actions’ (Pang, 2000, pp. 42–43). Both the Mawangdui’s comment and Pang’s explanation directly associate shan with actions.

26. David Wong focuses on the effortful effortlessness in early Confucian philosophy, and provides an account of how the mind, the body, and action are spontaneously united (Wong, 2015, pp. 185–187).

27. It should be noted that both de and shan involve the unity of the mind and body. Nonetheless, the unity that leads to de is essentially guided by inherent virtues, while the unity that leads to shan is only secured by practices.

28. The expression ‘shan relies on deliberate action’ (shanzhe weiye善者偽也) appears nine times in the chapter ‘Human nature is bad’. It should be noted that wei 偽 can be literally translated as rectification (jiao 矯). However, Qing dynasty scholars such as Hao Yixing and Wang Xianqian argues that in Pre-Qin texts the graph偽 is interchangeable to為, and that in the same chapter, 偽in the phrase ‘wares are produced from workers’ deliberate action’ (qishengyu gongren zhi wei 器生於工人之偽) should not be translated as rectification but as deliberate action, and so wei 偽 in the Xunzi should be consistently read as deliberate action (wei 為). For their detailed arguments, see Wang (1988, p. 434).

29. It should be noted that Xunzi’s shen should not be considered as the body, but as a locus where one’s mental and bodily activities take place. In this sense, it must comprise both the mind and the body.

30. All the translations of the Xunzi in the article consult Knobolck (1994) and Hutton (2014).

31. The metaphor of the lord and officials perhaps had been prevalent at the time of Xunzi. The Guanzi管子, for example, suggests that in the operation of the whole body, the mind as the lord at the center rules the body, while organs as officials play their due roles in serving the mind (Li, 2004, p. 759).

32. The mind’s fluctuation can also be observed in phrases such as (the mind is) ‘not at times not-in-twofold’ and ‘not at times not-in-movement’ (Wang, 1988, p. 395).

33. For a detailed discussion of the essential role of ritual in society, see He (2020, pp. 326–330).

34. In another place, Xunzi suggests that ritual and teachers can be used to regulate and rectify temperaments and personalities, thereby fundamentally transforming the mind (Wang, 1988, p. 26).

35. Michael Ing observes ritual’s role in aligning the outer dimensions of the body with the inner dimensions of the mind (Ing, 2012, p. 19).

36. Herbert Fingarette’s account of ‘magic’ is apposite to be used to describe Xunzi’s sage. He says that ‘magic’ represents the ‘power of a specific person to accomplish his will directly and effortlessly through ritual, gesture and incantation. The user of magic does not work by strategies and devices as a means toward an end; he does not use coercion or physical force’ (Fingarette, 1972, p. 3). Hagop Sarkissian also depicts a sage’s social magic (Sarkissian, 2010, pp. 10–11).

37. Cheng Chungying argues that WX has revealed that it is ritual that guides the mind and the four conducts to be in shan, and that the actions of shan must be judged according to outer rules of the ritual (Cheng, 2010, p. 150). However, there is no textual evidence to support Cheng’s point, which, I believe, is more germane to the Xunzi rather than WX.

38. It should be noted that, in the bronzes and the small seal script, the graph shan is written with at least two and occasionally three ‘speech’ (yan 言) radicals. In light of this, Kwan Tze-wan suggests that when the ancients talked about shan, they were not referring to ‘good’ in itself, but ‘good’ as it obtains in the relations among people. I thank one reviewer for alerting me to Kwan’s comment. For Kwan’s detailed comment, see the Research Centre for Humanities Computing of CUHK (Ed.), Multi-function Chinese Character Database: With Archaic Script Forms. https://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E5%96%84.

39. Xunzi’s sage is completely different from the two models of sages that are explicated by Susan Wolf as unattractive, namely sages out of love and sages out of duty (Wolf, 1982, pp. 419–439).

40. I borrow this expression from Christine Korsgaard. Korsgaard’s account of ‘objective goodness’ is akin to the shan of WX and Xunzi, particularly for she associates objective goodness with ‘the physiological, psychological, economic, historical, symbolic and other conditions under which human beings live’ (Korsgaard, 1983, p. 195). It is worth noting that Harbsmeier argues that Chinese norms ‘were not conceived as out-of-this-worldly absolutely mandatory imperative’; they are ‘always remain context-sensitive’ (Harbsmeier, 2015, p. 540), which is in line with my discussion of shan.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Social Science Fund of China [22BZX044].