Xunzi Xunzi 荀子 the complete text Translated and with an Introduction by Eric L. Hutton Princeton University Press Princeton and Oxford Copyright © 2014 by Princeton University Press Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 6 Oxford Street, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1TW press.princeton.edu Traditional hand-bound book © Eric Von Seggern/Shutterstock. Jacket design by Carmina Alvarez. All Rights Reserved ISBN 978-0-691-16104-4 Library of Congress Control Number: 2014933937 British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available This book has been composed in Baskerille 10 Pro Printed on acid-free paper. ∞ Printed in the United States of America 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 弟子通利則思師 When the disciple has achieved success and profit, then he gratefully thinks of his teacher. —Xunzi, chap. 14 This book is dedicated to P. J. Ivanhoe, my mentor and friend. Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction xi A Traditional Timeline of Early Chinese History xxxi Chapter 1: An Exhortation to Learning 1 Chapter 2: Cultivating Oneself 9 Chapter 3: Nothing Improper 16 Chapter 4: On Honor and Disgrace 23 Chapter 5: Against Physiognomy 32 Chapter 6: Against the Twelve Masters 40 Chapter 7: On Confucius 47 Chapter 8: The Achievements of the Ru 52 Chapter 9: The Rule of a True King 68 Chapter 10: Enriching the State 83 Chapter 11: The True King and the Hegemon 99 Chapter 12: The Way to Be a Lord 117 Chapter 13: The Way to Be a Minister 133 Chapter 14: On Attracting Men of Worth 141 Chapter 15: A Debate on Military Affairs 145 Chapter 16: The Strong State 163 Chapter 17: Discourse on Heaven 175 Chapter 18: Correct Judgments 183 Chapter 19: Discourse on Ritual 201 Chapter 20: Discourse on Music 218 Chapter 21: Undoing Fixation 224 Chapter 22: Correct Naming 236 Chapter 23: Human Nature Is Bad 248 Chapter 24: The Gentleman 258 viii • Contents Chapter 25: Working Songs 262 Chapter 26: Fu 277 Chapter 27: The Grand Digest 288 Chapter 28: The Right-Hand Vessel 318 Chapter 29: The Way to Be a Son 325 Chapter 30: The Proper Model and Proper Conduct 330 Chapter 31: Duke Ai 333 Chapter 32: Yao Asked 339 Appendix 1: Important Terms and Names 344 Appendix 2: Cross-Reference List 347 Textual Notes 359 Bibliography 385 Index 387 Acknowledgments I began this translation project in 1996. Over the eighteen years that I have worked on it, it has benefited from the insights and sugges- tions of a tremendous number of people, including my teachers, stu- dents, classmates, colleagues, friends, and fellow scholars. I hereby most gratefully acknowledge their help and hope that they will be pleased with the final product. I would like to extend special recognition to the following indi- viduals and institutions. Early on, significant portions of this work were published as part of Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy (Hackett, 2003), and the manuscript was greatly improved by com- ments from the editors, Bryan Van Norden and P. J. Ivanhoe. In the time since then, P. J. has also given me invaluable feedback on every portion of this text, and to him I owe gratitude beyond all words. At points along the way, I have spent many enjoyable hours dissecting the Chinese text in the company of Jack Kline, Michael Nylan, Hui- chieh Loy, and Eirik Harris, hours that have contributed immensely to my understanding of the Xunzi and to this translation. Also, discus- sions with Aaron Stalnaker, Miranda Brown, David Elstein, Eric Schwitzgebel, Mark Csikszentmihalyi, Ted Slingerland, Justin Ti- wald, Erin Cline, and Bryan Van Norden have likewise enriched this work. When a substantial portion of the translation had been com- pleted, Gordon Mower read through the lengthy draft and identified many places where it could be improved. In 2008, Stephen Angle and Michael Slote used selected chapters from the manuscript in their NEH summer seminar on Confucianism and contemporary virtue ethics, and I received very helpful suggestions from them and the seminar participants. During the 2009–10 academic year, I was able to make significant progress toward finishing the manuscript thanks to support from the University of Utah in the form of a Virgil C. Al- drich Research Fellowship from the Tanner Humanities Center and a Faculty Fellow Award from the University Research Committee. I also wish to express my gratitude to a number of people involved in the last stages leading to this publication. In particular, I thank Rob Tempio at Princeton University Press for his tremendous sup- port, as well as three anonymous reviewers for the press who offered encouraging and helpful feedback. Deborah Mower and Rochelle Beiersdorfer enthusiastically advocated for this translation, which I appreciated very much. I visited Berkeley in the summer of 2013, and Mark Csikszentmihalyi provided some crucial research assistance during that period. Toni Lee Capossela read through the whole man-