Abstract
Interpreters of Xunzi have disagreed about whether there is a religious element to be found in his thought, and if there is such an element, where it is to be found. Much of the debate has focused on the notion of tian 天 (commonly translated as “Heaven”). This essay reviews some of these debates and the challenges that are involved in seeing Xunzi as a religious thinker. I situate Xunzi’s thought against the broader background of Confucian religiousness and propose that although it is not unreasonable to see a religious attitude in his discussions of tian, the primary locus of Xunzi’s religious element is better found in his views about the human realm. Using Frederick Streng’s conception of religion as “a means to ultimate transformation,” we can see Xunzi’s religiosity in the path to sagehood that he articulates. The essay traces out some of the major elements of his program of self-cultivation, as a way of sketching the religious dimension of the Xunzi.
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Notes
- 1.
I am following Goldin ’s dating (1999) here not because I am convinced that these are the precise dates, and Goldin certainly does not make that claim. What Goldin does point out is that there is a consensus that Xunzi probably did live a long time and that these dates are inclusive of the time frame of his possible life. Goldin , Hagen (2007), Sato (2003) and of course Knoblock (1988–1994) among others have fine bibliographies that include the most current Western, Chinese and Japanese sources to document their careful interpretations.
- 2.
While Xunzi’s relationship to the religious world of his day is as complex as any other question about his work, many scholars maintain that there is a religious dimension to his thought. However, most hold that Xunzi made a clear distinction between a proper piety towards religion per se and a disdainful rejection of what he took to be the superstitious misuse of religious tropes.
- 3.
Streng defines the religious process as “(1) personal apprehension of a Holy Presence, (2) creation of community through sacred symbols, (3) living in harmony with the cosmic law, and (4) attaining freedom through spiritual discipline” (Streng 1985: 22). It is the phrasing of (1) that would give the greatest pause to scholars of the Confucian Way. But if it were rephrased as apprehension of the Dao, tian or the sage then it would make more sense. It simply goes to show how even a vague general category of interpretation always bears the marks of its birth within a specific culture in time and space.
- 4.
For another succinct statement about this issue from a New Confucian philosophical vantage point, see Liu Shuxian (Liu, Berthrong, and Swidler 2004: 59–73). Liu has been engaged in Confucian-Christian dialogue from its formal beginnings in 1988, 1991 and 1994. He has written numerous books and articles in both Chinese and English about intercultural and interfaith dialogue and defends the notion of religious dimensions of the Confucian Way.
- 5.
Paulos Huang (2006: 158–62) suggests that in his definition of being religious in a Confucian fashion Tu Weiming has been “clearly influenced” by process theology. It is very much the case that Tu has seriously engaged Western theology and theologians such as John Cobb and Gordon Kaufman. Both Cobb and Kaufman would affirm the creative and processive nature of the cosmos and would hence be in agreement with many Neo-Confucian and New Confucian thinkers.
- 6.
I highly recommend Huang’s (2006) study. Published in Finland, it may not be widely known, but is a very detailed study of two theological themes, the nature of God and the Christian doctrine of salvation. In doing so, Huang spends time talking about how the immanent/transcendent debate has shaped Confucian-Christian Dialogue concerns over the years.
- 7.
See the essay by Lin Tongqi 林同奇 on Mou Zongsan in Tu and Tucker (2004) 2: 323–52 and the companion essay by William Yau-nang Ng 吳有能 on Tang Junyi in Tu and Tucker (2004) 2: 377–98. Mou and Tang are recognized as two of the most important New Confucians of the previous generation. Moreover, both of them are crystal clear that Confucianism is both a spiritual and philosophical tradition.
- 8.
Nor is this a viewpoint confined to China. As Edward Y. J. Chung in an essay on Yi T’oegye (Tu and Tucker 2004, 2: 204–25) and Young-Chan Ro on Yi Yulgok (Tu and Tucker 2004, 2: 226–46) point out in their studies of two of the greatest Korean Neo-Confucian scholars, the Koreans affirmed the same kind of immanent transcendence and relational holism reconfirmed centuries later by Mou Zongsan and Tang Junyi. Metzger (2005), in broad strokes, is probably correct that there is a strong, almost unbreakable, Confucian sensibility that sees the cosmos as holistic, relational, spiritual and processive in nature.
- 9.
Cheng asserts that the Yijing and its commentaries are the common property of many different schools of thought, most prominently Daoism and Confucianism. It has struck me that in fact many modern Chinese philosophers, when they are seeking some kind of urgrund for the distinctive sensibilities of Chinese philosophy and spiritual almost automatically pay homage to the Yijing and its commentary tradition.
- 10.
I fully realize that this is just the kind of list that claims to enfold all of Chinese philosophical thought and is difficult for many critical scholars to digest whole or even in parts. Lists of essential characteristics of an entire philosophical tradition have very much gone out of style. Yet I suspect that most scholars do carry around such lists, tacit if not explicit, when they think about any tradition over the long haul. What is hermeneutically useful about Cheng’s list is that is so clearly states what a historian like Metzger (2005) lists as a typical contemporary Chinese (and Confucian) worldview for China’s indigenous religious and philosophical traditions.
- 11.
The locus classicus of this phrase shengsheng is the “Xici” commentary on the Yijing .
- 12.
E 惡 has often been translated as “evil.” The problem is that the notion of evil carries such a heavy freight of Christian theological discourse linked to the doctrine of original sin and human depravity that it gives the wrong signal in Xunzi’s case. That is why translations like “odious,” “crude,” “problematic,” or “coarse” are better.
- 13.
Sato (2003) has an excellent discussion of the current history of the interpretation of Xunzi along with a meticulous examination of Master Xun’s political theories in particular and Xunzi’s philosophical disposition in general.
- 14.
The use of “human nature ” for xing, however, makes more sense as a warranted translation of how the term was understood by many Song and post-Song Neo-Confucian philosophers.
- 15.
[Editor’s note: readers are invited to see Martin Kern’s contribution to this volume for further discussion of some of these issues.]
- 16.
Understanding the binome of liyi is a fascinating exercise in Xunzi. Is it really a binome or does he mean for us to reflect this usage as one term or two terms inextricably intertwined? Both are critical elements in his thought. Li is variously translated as “ritual,” “rites,” “civility” and a host of other shades of meaning and yi is likewise translated as “justice ,” “righteousness” or “appropriateness.”
- 17.
Zhang Dainian 張岱年 has a summary of the history of qi in Chinese thought (Zhang 2002: 45–63). Zhang is always useful to consult because his favorite Confucians are late Qing thinkers like Dai Zhen 戴震 and not philosophers like Zhu Xi or Wang Yangming 王陽明, though Zhang , of course, does cite Zhu and Wang frequently.
- 18.
Stalnaker (2006) has the most exhaustive discussion of Xunzi’s self-cultivation as a spiritual exercise in English. His book is also one of the most sophisticated models of comparative philosophy and religious studies through his comparison of Augustine and Xunzi as they both sought to overcome the evil that human beings do. He also concurs with many other contemporary scholars that there is indeed a spiritual dimension to Xunzi, though it is not always found where we might think to look for it.
- 19.
It is interesting to note that The Annals of Lü Buwei (Knoblock and Riegel 2000), composed roughly at the same time Xunzi was flourishing, has whole sections devoted to the crucial role of music in self-cultivation and social governance.
- 20.
[Editor’s note: readers are invited to consult the account of Xunzi’s view of ghosts and spirits given in Mark Berkson’s contribution to this volume.]
- 21.
Hagen (2007: 160) in his useful glossary of Xunzi’s lexicon lists “righteousness,” “rightness,” “appropriate,” and “sense of appropriateness” as possible warranted renderings of yi . Kwan (2011: 422) has an interesting comment about the meaning of yi based on a reading of the Oracle Bone and Bronze scripts. Kwan calls it righteousness but a special kind of righteousness as “action for the sake of the good backed by power.” Kwan believes that there is sense of awe to the earliest meaning of yi. Whereas ren tends toward gentleness and empathy, yi represents firmness and stringency. These two virtues are seen to be the sides of a single coin and depend on each other to help form a harmonious society of ethical persons.
- 22.
Goldin (1999), Lee (2005), Hagen (2007), and Sato (2003), among many other excellent contemporary critical studies, all have exemplary and even complementary discussions of Xunzi’s theory of xin. Kline and Ivanhoe (2000) also include a set of fine articles that touch on various aspects of Xunzi’s reflections on xin.
- 23.
Lee’s discussion of xin in Lee 2005: 33–56 is extremely rich and summarizes a great deal of what contemporary scholars think about this important concept.
- 24.
While it is not a major metaphor for Xunzi, the idea of a ji 極 (“pivot”) becomes of great import to the later Song philosophers and is enshrined in the notion of taiji 太極 (“the Supreme Polarity”).
- 25.
See Kant 1970 [1784]: 46.
- 26.
Goldin (1999: 39–54) has an excellent summary of the semantics of tian in the pan-Sinitic and Confucian traditions.
- 27.
See footnote 3 above. As any scholar of religious studies knows, there is no consensus definition of religion. Yet Streng’s version has the virtue of being able to affirm the religious nature of a tradition such as the Confucian Way. Streng , as an influential and respected Buddhologist, was sensitive to the need to have a working definition of religion capacious enough to include all the religions of Eurasia.
- 28.
Yet Machle pays Eno the highest complement one philosopher can do for another, namely to take his argument seriously. Actually whether you agree or not with Machle’s interpretations and translations you cannot but be impressed with the careful and sophisticated textual and philosophical defense he provides for his interpretation of Xunzi’s thought.
- 29.
In fact, Sato (2003, 286ff.) has a typically careful analysis of Xunzi’s use of cheng . He argues that the term has both an active and a static dimension. This is one of the few places where I would disagree with Sato , namely about the “static” nature of cheng , although my uneasiness might be more semantic than substantive. As I read Sato what he is getting at is the concentrated, focused nature of the heart/mind when it can discern the real patterns of the world. Such a discernment is static in the sense that it stands fosters the ability of the sage to understand the proper/appropriate rites and ways of knowing needed to form an effective part of the cosmic triad of heaven, earth, and humanity. When a person has proper self-cultivation then she or he can truly discern the dali 大理 of the world. These patterns can be deemed static if we read them as the ideals to which the passionate human heart/mind must conform itself. It is the confirmation that is set, as it were.
- 30.
In their introduction to the translation of the Zhongyong Ames and Hall (2001) provide a philosophical defense on their translation of cheng as “creativity.” They note, as did Chen Chun in the Southern Song, that the conventional early meaning of cheng was either integrity or sincerity. Ames and Hall derive the notion of creativity from an interpretation of integrity. “In a world of changing events, ‘integrity’ suggests an active process of bringing circumstances together in a meaningful way to achieve the coherence that meaningfulness implies. As such, ‘integrity’ suggests a creative process” (Ames and Hall 2001: 61).
In fact, Ames and Hall defend the radical thesis that if “the Chinese world is better characterized in terms of process understandings than in substantive concepts, then one must reckon that in such a world, ‘things’ (wu 物) are to be understood as processes (happenings) and events (happenings that have achieved some relative consummation)” (Ames and Hall 2001: 32). They quote section 25 of the Zhongyong to the effect that “Creativity is self-consummating (zicheng 自誠), and its way (dao 道) is self-directing (zidao 自道). Creativity is a process (wu 物) taken from its beginning to its end, and without this creativity, there are no events (wu 物)” (Ames and Hall 2001: 32). According to Ames and Hall , building on their previous three books on the early Confucian tradition, all of this process takes place within a field and focus model of the world. In the case of the sage, “Creativity involves both the realization of the focal self and of the field of there are no events (wu 物), the realization of both particular and context. Self-actualization is a focal process that draws upon an aggregate field of human experience. And field and focus are reciprocally realized” (Ames and Hall 2001: 32).
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Berthrong, J.H. (2016). Religion in the Xunzi: What Does Tian 天 Have to Do with It?. In: Hutton, E. (eds) Dao Companion to the Philosophy of Xunzi. Dao Companions to Chinese Philosophy, vol 7. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-7745-2_11
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