Abstract
Zisi 子思 was a grandson of Confucius (552–479 BCE). According to QIAN Mu錢穆 (Qian 1935: 161), he was born in the thirty-seventh year of the reign of the Zhou Dynasty’s King Jing and lived to the ripe old age of 82 sui歲 (483–402 BCE). Despite Zisi’s exalted ancestry, gaps in the historical record have made it extremely difficult for scholars to obtain an understanding of his thought with any certainty. The following two sections will briefly review some of the issues surrounding Zisi’s works and the school of thought to which he belonged as a preface to further discussion of him in the context of Chinese intellectual history.
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Notes
- 1.
Feng Youlan 馮友蘭 argues that the second section through the first part of the nineteenth section were written by Zisi, while the opening section and everything after the phrase “when those in inferior positions do not obtain the confidence of their superiors” (dao qian ding ze bu qiong 道前定則不窮) was written by Mencius. See Feng (1961: 447–8). Xu Fuguan 徐復觀 takes a slightly different position, arguing that Zisi wrote the first section and that the second half was written by either Zisi or students of his writing prior to Mencius. See Xu (1969: 105–6). TAKEUICHI Yoshio held that the second through nineteenth sections were penned by Zisi, with the first section and everything after the nineteenth section being written by students of Zisi. See Takeuchi (1931: 121–23).
- 2.
Takeuchi thought that the first half of the Doctrine of the Mean contained portions of the Zisizi and was written during the early portion of the Warring States period, while the second half was composed towards the end of the Qin dynasty. The basis for the later dating of the second half came from the reference in Sect. 26 “it carries the Hua and Yue mountains without feeling their weight” (Takeuchi argued that a person from Lu would not have considered those two mountains to be large) and another reference in Sect. 28 to “Today under the Heavens the same wheels are used for carriages, the same characters are used for writing, and the same rules are used for conduct”.
- 3.
The silk manuscript of the Wuxing can be divided into two parts, the first part containing a discussion of the five virtues, and the second part containing a running commentary on the first part. Pang Pu refers to the first part as the “classic” (jing 經) and the second part as the “commentary” (shuo 說). See Pang (2000: 100).
- 4.
According to Zhuzi, the Way was passed from Confucius to Zengzi to Zisi and finally to Mencius. See Zhu Xi’s Zhongyung jijie xu.
- 5.
Based on the results of recent research, it would appear that the Tang dynasty view that Zisi’s thought can be traced to Zengzi should be understood not as saying that Zisi was a student of Zengzi, but rather that their thought was similar in a number of respects.
- 6.
Scholars who have viewed Zisi and Mencius as belonging to the same school include Zhang Taiyan 章太炎,Guo Muoruo 郭沫若, and Hou Wailu 侯外廬. Ren Jiyu 任繼愈 argues that there was no such school of thought during the pre-Qin period (Ren 1983: 290–9).
- 7.
The Southern Song dynasty scholar Wang Yinglin 王應麟 argued that this criticism was falsely attributed to Xunzi by students of his like Han Fei and Li Si interested in defaming the sages and worthies. More recently, Chen Jing argues that the criticism was added by Liu Xiang and Liu Xin (Chen 2008: 159–80).
- 8.
Translations of the Guodian Wuxing manuscript are based on the text arranged and edited by Li Ling (2002).
- 9.
The concepts of the natural good and the moral good have been adopted from Kant. For a relevant discussion, see Lin (1994).
- 10.
For an explanation of these metaphors in terms of a beginning and ending, see Jiao Xun 焦循, Mengzi zhengyi 孟子正義 10.397.
- 11.
Chen Lai 陳來 reads this sentence as “Sagacity and wisdom gives birth to ritual and music.” This reading is apparently motivated by a desire to emphasize that sagacity and wisdom are critical for the harmonization of the five actions and that benevolence is critical for the harmonization of the four kinds of action. Our reading differs from Chen’s, but seems to be equally acceptable. Rites and music can include benevolence, righteousness and ritual propriety, in which case the entire sentence can be read as meaning that the four actions are born from sagacity. Sects. 5 and 6 of the Wuxing discuss three kinds of thought: that of benevolence, that of wisdom, and that of sagacity. Chen takes this to mean that the five actions are grouped into two sets: one of sagacity and wisdom and the other of the remaining three. However, the introduction of these three kinds of thought does not seem to necessitate grouping the actions into two sets. It is our view that sagacity is the highest of the five kinds of action and that for this reason it is a virtuous action regardless of whether it has been formed internally. Wisdom and benevolence form a second tier of concepts, with wisdom being related to intellectual capacities and benevolence standing in for benevolence, righteousness and ritual propriety and being related to moral capabilities. See Chen (2008b).
- 12.
This part of Sect. 2 can further be seen in light of the discussion of the caution of the Gentleman when in solitude in Sects. 8 and 9.
- 13.
This strategy is reminiscent of Youzi’s 有子 claim in Chap. 1 of the Analects that “filial piety and brotherly respect are the essence of benevolence.”
- 14.
This passage appears in the Zhuzi yulei 朱子語類, juan 60.
- 15.
Pang Pu 龐樸 understands “Virtue is the Way of Heaven” to mean that virtue is conferred by Heaven. Chen Lai offers a different explanation, arguing that this sentence should be understood as meaning: “The nature of the Way of Heaven is that is has a beginning and no end; the formation of the five actions internally and their harmonization is an articulation of the harmony of the Way of Heaven; sages know the Way of Heaven and for this reason their actions harmonize with it.” Therefore, the sentence “Virtue is the Way of Heaven” here indicates a harmonization of virtue with the Way of Heaven and not that virtue is received from Heaven.” We are in agreement with Chen’s interpretation. See Pang (2000: 159) and Chen (2008b: 17).
- 16.
Feng Youlan 馮友蘭 (Feng 1982: 184) divides the Doctrine of the Mean into three sections and argues that the first and final sections were later additions. Jiang Boqian (Jiang 1984: 337–338) sees a connection between the Doctrine of the Mean and the Xunzi, while Qian Mu (Qian 1935: 459) claims that the text of the Zi yi is very similar to the Xunzi.
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Tsai, CF. (2014). Zisi and the Thought of Zisi and Mencius School. In: Shen, V. (eds) Dao Companion to Classical Confucian Philosophy. Dao Companions to Chinese Philosophy, vol 3. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2936-2_5
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