Xunzi: Discourse on Heaven PDF

Xunzi Discourse on Heaven Chinese Philosophical Schools Confucians (Confucius) Daoists (Laozi) Mohists (Mozi) Xunzi (“Shun-see”) or Master Xun Birth and death dates unclear Died sometime after 238 BCE Xunzi is a Confucian But a bit rogue Confucius (551-479 BCE) More focused on e...

Xunzi Discourse on Heaven Chinese Philosophical Schools Confucians (Confucius) Daoists (Laozi) Mohists (Mozi) Xunzi (“Shun-see”) or Master Xun Birth and death dates unclear Died sometime after 238 BCE Xunzi is a Confucian But a bit rogue Confucius (551-479 BCE) More focused on earthly life, institutions, and rituals We need virtuous rulers to bring peace The Analects Compassion Golden Rule Filial Piety Ritual Heaven Conventional Confucians thought of Heaven or tian as a kind of impersonal force watching over human affairs and dealing out punishment and reward for deeds Some Confucians see tian as associated with a particular god, and identical, others not Can be personal or impersonal Xunzi will offer a unique perspective that deemphasizes the role of heaven What Heaven Can’t Do If you don’t spend too much money and you support agriculture and textile production, then Heaven can’t make you poor If you are sensible and prepared, then Heaven cannot touch you If you prepare for natural disasters, then they can’t harm you But if you don’t act sensibly, and have no agriculture or textile production, then Heaven can’t help you It makes no sense to complain about what happens That’s just how things are Don’t Try to Understand Heaven Things that happen that aren’t the result of human effort are said to come from Heaven Even as the sage will try hard to know how to take care of earthly affairs, he will not bother to “ponder it” (line 30) “Only the sage does not seek to understand Heaven.” (lines 48-49) Happiness? “To be in accordance with what is proper for one’s kind is called happiness, and to go against what is proper for one’s kind is called disaster…” (lines 59-60) We are to live an orderly life in accordance with our reasoning Otherwise we will live in disorder and be unhappy Don’t Think About It Don’t seek to understand reality Just attend to what knowledge is useful for day to day affairs Xunzi speaks of two different rulers Yu was a sage who brought order Jie was a tyrant who brought disorder Order and disorder then are due to human choices Not to Heaven Both the sage and the tyrant endured the same seasons, experienced the same passage of time, the same calendar They did different things with them You Can’t Control Things “Heaven does not stop producing winter because humans dislike cold, Earth does not stop being broad because humans dislike huge distances, and the gentleman does not cease his conduct because of the chatter of petty men.” There are some things you can’t control so it makes no sense to worry about them The gentleman, the sage, doesn’t long for what is in Heaven He works on himself and what is within him Cultivate earthly affairs, don’t long for Heaven Sometimes alarming things happen, but these too are part of the natural order They are not something to fear Focus On Human Relationships “As for unnecessary debates and unimportant investigations, abandon them and do not study them.” (lines 171-172) “As for the yi [morality] of lord and minister, the intimate relations of father and son, and the differentiation of husband and wife, polish and refine them daily and do not let them go.” (173-175) Rituals Help Us, They Aren’t Supernatural “One performs the rain sacrifice and it rains. Why? I say: there is no special reason why. It is the same as when one does not perform the rain sacrifice and it rains anyway. When the sun and moon suffer eclipse, one tries to save them. When Heaven sends drought, one performs the rain sacrifice. One performs divination and only then decides on important affairs. But this is not to be regarded as bringing one what one seeks, but rather is done to give things proper form. Thus, the gentleman regards this as proper form, but the common people regard it as connecting with spirits. If one regards it as proper form, one will have good fortune. If one regards it as connecting with spirits, one will have misfortune.” (176-186) Rituals don’t give us supernatural power That you prayed for something doesn’t matter, sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t They are just to help us be orderly, they are just human practices But We Still Need Ritual “To reject ritual is to bemuddle the world, and to bemuddle the world is to create great chaos.” (241-242) Xunzi thinks previous philosophers had one-sided approaches We need to follow the Way differently from they did The Way refers to the right path to lead a stable and orderly life And to avoid being at odds with Heaven, nature Discussion Questions Should we reject belief in anything supernatural and just focus on human affairs? Is prayer effective at influencing the course of events? If we reject the supernatural, should there still be a role for ritual in our lives? Should we ignore knowledge of things that aren’t practical? Would Xunzi think that Socrates was a sage? How do we tell what will be practical or important and what won’t be? Is Xunzi’s attitude toward nature too yielding? Shouldn’t we try to alter nature to make our lives more comfortable?