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1. Zhuangzi (庄子) 2. Xunzi (荀子) 3. Han Feizi (韩非子) 4. Sun Zi (孙子) 5. Advice to Rulers (Summary) <- Go BackUniversity of Michigan at Ann Arbor
Last Edit Date: 04/01/2023
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An anthology compiled by many people, who do not belong to a "school" of thought (such as Daoism) and who probably do not follow a particular master (such as Zhuangzi).
Style: Stories, dialougues, fables, allegories
Tone: Humorous, satirical (mocks tradition), not taking itself seriously
Dominant themes: awareness of one's situatedness (or positionality), not trying to manage and master a situation, flexibility with labels.
Giant bird flies bigher (p.209). The cicada and the little dove laugh at her.
The morning mushroom does not know the waxing and waning of the moon, and the Hui-cricket does not know spring and fall. That is because they are short lived (p.209).
A man of Song invested in caps and took them to Yue. But the Yue people cut their hair and tattoo their bodies and had no use for them.
Huizi and Zhuangzi talk about a giant ground (p.212 - 213).
Huizi and Zhuangzi talk about his words being like a big but useless tree (p.213).
Decentering the Human:
Pipes of earth (pipes of humans) $\rightarrow$ Parallel between sounds of nature (ex: wind) and huamn speech.
Heaven is not a seperate source of sounds, allows all sounds to find expression (ziran 自然； spontaneity, self-so).
Heaven connotes with allowing of differences, letting all the "ten thousand things" do their own things.
Inducing skepticism through double rhetorical questions.
Discussion about distinction-making:
Shi (是) / Fei (非) (right / wrong; so / not-so; approving / disapproving)
No neutral standpoint. No judgment except from a fixed perspective.
No judgment except from an already well-formed vantage point.
Two main skeptical arguments:
Your distinctions and value judgments are informed by various values your heart had already absorbed.
Presence of a debate about anything shows that what you are trying to show is not obvious.
Solution to skeptical arguments:
"Harmonize them by means of Heaven's relativity." (p.223-224)
Heaven and Dao associated with equalizing and leveling things (instead of ranking them or approaching them with fixed "rights" and "wrongs").
Better to be flexible with your labels, distinctions
Monkey story (p.218)
Lady Li (p.222-223)
Fixed judgments are made by formed / completed heart ("made-up mind").
The goal is to mae the heart flexible, tenuous (xu 虚 empty, tenuous).
Heart is not the obvious ruler.
Cannot know anything for certain, cannot give a final answer to anything
Different perspectives (situatedness), different contexts
Our rankings and values are conventional, context-dependent
The fact that we argue on a topic shows that neither position is obviously right
You could be dreaming
Mockery of tradition, power
Sageliness: effortlessness, spontaneity, joy
Accept whatever happens $\rightarrow$ entends to death itself
Lady Li (p.222-223): Perhaps death isn't that bad
Master Chariot (p.247): It is all change, transformation
Zhuangzi's wife dying (p.247): It is all change, transformation
Zhuangzi's burial (p.250)
"How do I know that what I call 'Heaven' is not really human and what I call 'human' is not really Heaven" (p.230)
Critique of categories of "normalcy".
Also lived during the Warring States period
Also identified as a follower of Kongzi / Confucius
Different from Mengzi in his emphasis on learning, effort. His view of "human nature" is also different.
Overlapping ideas with "Legalist" thinkers (but, remember, he still identifies as a follower of Kongzi / Confucius)
In learning, nothing is more expedient than to draw near to the right person ... The Odes and History contain ancient stories but no explanation of their present application. (p.259)
Theory and practice are both very important.
Not supressing, but tansforming desires
The gentleman "makes his eyes not want to see what is not right, makes his ears not want to hear what is not right, makes his mouth not want to speak what is not right, and makes his heart not want to deliberate over what is not right." (p.260)
Ideally, your desires align with what fis right. It is the difference between "forcing oneself" and "true sublimeness."
"All those who say that good order must await the elimination of desires are people who lack the means to guide desire and cannot cope with the mere having of desires." (p.296)
"Having desires and lacking desires fall under different categories, namely being alive and being dead." (p.296)
"The desires are the responses of the dispositions to things." (p.297)
Music is unavoidable human disposition (p.285)
People listen to it together, experience harmonious joy, feelings of cooperation together (p.285)
Not responsible for misery
"If your means of nurture are prepared and your actions are timely, then Heaven cannot make you ill. If you cultivate the Way and do not deviate from it, then Heaven cannot ruin you. Thus, floods and drought cannot make you go hungry or thirsty, cold and heat cannot make you sick, and aberrations and anomalies cannot cause you misfortune." (pp.269-270)
Forms a triad with earth and humans
"When Heaven has its proper seasons, earth has its proper resources, and humans have their proper order, this is called being able to form a triad." (p.270)
Social distinctions (p.266)
Righteousness (p.267)
Ability to form complex communities and overcome other animals (p.267)
Ability to mourn for their dead (p.283) (this seems to be acquired as well)
People seek goodness because the lack it, because they are not born good. (p.301)
Perhaps you seek what you desire and what you value.
Perhaps you desire goodness, because you have certain moral impulses that makes you desire and value goodness.
Names have no predetermined appropriateness. One forms agreement in order to name things. Once the agreement is set and has become custom, then the names are called "appropriate." (p.294)
Agrees that names should be rectified, but also suggests that all names / titles are conventional (which makes it all the more imporatnt to rectify them.)
People respond to power more than benevolence. (p.327)
Power could be abused by evil people, but, most rulers are somewhere in the middle, not too good and not too evil. (p.330)
Rulers should hide their likes and disllikes, so that ministers won't manipulate them.
A ruler should never reveal what he desires. For if he reveals what he desires, the ministers will cut and polish themselves accordingly.
Rulers shouldn't let ministers gain too much power
Ministers shuts off his ruler from others
Minister controlling the wealth of the state
Minister issues commands
Minister carries out righteousness (acts as distributer of duties proer to each)
Minister plants his men in positions of power
Laws and standards should be applied to the claims and actions of ministers, so that "the ruler will not deceived by trickery and falsehood."
When promoting people, follow laws and standards, don't rely on political factions (if you do, ministers will develop "instrumental relationships")
Eliminate "private" conduct and promote "public law"
Eliminate reputation-based promotion, follow laws and standards instead. Thay way, ministers won't be too arrogant and form alliances with foreign forces.
The ruler should hand out rewards and give punishments. And, they should be the ones distributing justice.
Worthy miniters and subjects (people with moral / practical and intellectual superiority 贤智) are potential sources of danger.
If a ruler employs the worthy, the minister will use worthiness as a pretext to rob their rulers of his power.
Using rewards and punishments and make sure people don't think little of titles and stipends
The titles and actions of people should match $\rightarrow$ the steward of caps covered the sleeping nobleman, when the steward of cloaks should have done that.
Matching promises with achievements:
If someone among the assembled ministers proposes something great but the actual achievement is small, he should be penalized.
But the opposite too should be penalized.
When selecting men, do not rely on first impressions. Even Kongzi is deceivable by first impressions
When a sage governs a state, he does not wait for people to be good in deference to him. Instead, he creates a situation in which people find it impossible to do wrong
Ensure equal opportunities, but do not redistribute wealth by taxing the rich. Taxing the rich stealing from the industrious and giving to the lazy
Reporting the crimes of your father is being a good subject
Filial sons can turn out to be traitors
Don’t form alliances with greater or smaller states, either case there’s too much unpredictability (pp.348-350).
"But the strength and good order cannot be brought about by anything outside the state, they belong to the realm of internal government" (p.350)
Against replying on tradition
Times have changed
Old methods maybe worked in the past by accident (ex: man of Song watching a stump awaiting a rabbit)
Everyone claims they follow the Way of Yao, Shum, and so on (i.e. we don't know much about ancient sage kings)
Book: Art of War (孙子兵法)
Seven Assessments
Which side's ruler possesses the Way?
Which side's general is more capable?
Which side possesses the advantages of Heaven and Earth?
Which side exercises its rules and methods more rigorously?
Which side has the stronger army?
Which side has officers and troops that are more highly trained?
Which side is more transparent in dispensing rewards and punishments?
Resource-Consciousness, Possibility of Winning is Important
Quick victory
Do no supply the army at distance
War as last resort
Acts of care for the people
Protect the common people from inflation
Protect the common people and the soldiers from exhaustion
Treat prisoners of war well
Issues of Knowledge & Self-Knowledge
Overcome your anger
Know yourself, know your enemy
Take the country intact
Themes of invisibility of the leader
Being vistorious in battle and having all under heaven acknowledge one's skill is not the most excellent approach.
Therefore, the victories of one who is skilled in battle do not evince a reputation for wisdom and do not bespeak of brave merit.
Context-dependent power
The victor directing his men in battle is like releasing a thousand fathoms of water that have been dammed up in a chasm. It is all a matter of positioning (势 shi, power of position)
The swiftness of a raging torrent can sweep away boulders; this is due to it configurative momentum
When he who takes advantage of configuration send his subordinates into battle, it it like turning over a log or a boulder
It is common to join battle with conventional tactics and to achieve victory through unconventional tactics
The conventional and the unconventional give rise to each other, like a cricle that has neither beginning nor end. Who ever exhaust their potential
Chaos may rise out of order; cowardice may be born out of bravery; weakness may come from strength ... eliciting braver from cwardice depends upon configuration
Cause the enemy not know where to defend
Sustain asymmetry of information (make enemy reveal his position, hide your own position)
Unity more important than numbers $\rightarrow$ divide the enemy to weaken it
Be "formless" $\rightarrow$ "The form of a body of soldiers resembles that of water... Water produces currents in accordance with the terrain; soldiers produce victory in accordance with the enemy"
"The five phases have no constant victor; the four seasons have no constant status."
Do not intercept an army that is returning home; be sure to leave an opening for an army that is surrounded; do not press a desperate foe.
If one punishes his troops before he has gained their fealty, they will nto submit to him, and if they do not submit to him it will be difficult to use them in battle; if one has already gained the fealty of troops but does not carry out appropriate punishments, he cannot use them in battle either.
In cultivate my solders with civility (故令之以文) and treat them evenhandedly according to military regulations... The reason I can ensure that my orders are carried out all along is that there is mutual trust between me and my multitutes.
Look upon the troops as infants (婴儿). Therefore you will be able to lead them through deep ravines.
Look upon the troops as beloved sons (爱子). Therefore you will be able to have them follow you to the death.
But do not spoil them too much.
When advancing do not seek fame, when retreating do not shun culpability. Strive to protect the people and to do what is compatible with the best interests of one's sovereign. A general like this is state treasure.
Throw your forces into desperate positions, so they will fight better and they will act in unison.
Keep your troops, officers, people ignorant about your plans, strategies.
Command them via rewards, extraordinary orders.
If in spite of the outbreak of fire, the enemy's troops remain calm, bide your time and do not attack. Let the fire reach its height, and if you can follow through, do so.
It is said that the perspicacious ruler is concerned about what to with the spoils of war; the excellent general takes steps to build on them.
The ruler should not, in a moment of anger, raise his armies; the general should not, in a burst of ire, embark upon battle.
If they were to get hired as an advisor to an ancient Chinese ruler, what would they advise?
| Kongzi (孔子) | Mozi (墨子) | Mengzi (孟子) | Laozi (老子) | Zhuangzi (庄子) | Xunzi (荀子) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Instead of rewards and punishments, act in accordance with ritual to set an example to the people (gentleman is like the wind, masses are like the grass) | Hire the best/worthy person on merit rather than nepotism | Cultivate your sense of compassion, develop it into the virtue of benevolence and extend it to your people | Follow the nature, non-striving action (wuwei) $\rightarrow$ Not force his own view/way to other people, things will come about naturally/spontaneously | Adapt to one’s time – do not strictly stick to tradition (past) | Good education to transform people’s desires so that they become proper individuals |
| Emphasize filial piety $\rightarrow$ family is the root so if the family is good, the society will be good (rectifying names: sons be sons, fathers be fathers, rulers be rulers) | Against rituals that spend too many resources like mourning rituals and musical performances $\rightarrow$ redistribute resources instead | Fulfill people’s basic needs and create a good environment so that they are able to flourish | Anti-anthropocentric $\rightarrow$ do not put people in the center of things | Be aware of different vantage perspectives and be open to wisdom from unlikely beings | Give people their basic needs at least $\rightarrow$ Beware of conflicting and competing desires or else they will result in chaos |
| Keep and maintain the ritual because we saw that they succeeded in the past | Model emulation – masses imitate what the ruler does $\rightarrow$ if you implement impartial care, others will follow you | Rectifying names $\rightarrow$ act like a ruler (you should cultivate four sprouts into virtues $\rightarrow$ if you don’ t live up to the name of king, masses will have the right to kill you) | Seeking balance - yin yang - bring harmony within the individual and community | Do what you think/feel is the right things to do because there is not a predetermined right and wrong | Maintain social division and social hierarchy $\rightarrow$ Clarify hierarchy with ritual |
| Ritual for managing emotions | Reward the good and punish the bad | When trying to reach to the people, do not force your way (like the man from Song forcing plants to grow) | Advocate simplicity $\rightarrow$ don’t fill them with misguided desire | Accept circumstances of misfortune and think of them from a positive perspective | The occurrence of disasters cannot be stopped but you can be prepared for them |
| Keep the belief in ghosts so that people will behave properly | Reflect with your heart, do not be pulled by your sensory organs | A solution might be good for one but not for everybody so do not impose your perspective on others | Ritual for managing feelings (ex: burying people with expensive goods will not benefit the dead but the person who mourns them) | ||
| Implement impartial care | Body politic $\rightarrow$ hierarchy of organs $\rightarrow$ ruler is the heart (making decisions), masses are other organs $\rightarrow$ division of labor (people who reflect with their hearts rule, those who labor with their bodies are rules) | Against division of labor $\rightarrow$ equalize things (why is the heart ruling organ? $\rightarrow$ questioning authority) | |||
| Establish a single standard/norm for people |