The Coherence Study Of Confucius And Xunzi

Traditional Chinese Confucianism is a thought system with a long history. As a pioneer and representative of Confucian thought system, Confucius consciously followed the steps of the predecessors. Confucius inherited the cultural tradition since ancient times and totally accepted the music culture of Zhou dynasty, during which process, he switched work style creatively. He especially focused on the combination of personal cultivation and governing a state. Confucius created a thought system including cultivating, raising a family, governance and flatting the world, which is not only the original developing way of Confucian thought system, but also the real spirit of Confucian thought we are still sticking to.It is believed according to the text that Xunzi consciously inherited the Confucian thought. Xunzi followed the book Confucius all the way. They had similar titles and themes. Besides, the book Xunzi makes some direct quotation from Confucius. What’s more, Xunzi illustrates the key thought of Confucius, and thus establishes the principles of piety, king and instructor. The book also sets a standard for officials, gentlemen and saints. The way of cultivating one’s morality from ordinary people to saint is described as well.Seen from the aspect of thought, Xunzi consciously undertakes the responsibility of inheriting Confucian thought, seeing himself as the disciple of Confucius. He illustrates and describes the key concept of Confucian thought, that is, kindness, righteous, manners, intelligence and honesty. Gentlemen`s character is advocated and the importance of personal cultivation is also stressed. A series of actionable political measurements is put forward according to the situation of the Warring States Period. Xunzi has developed Confucian thought to a high level with its original thought followed tightly. When he differs from Confucius, he is pursuing the true meaning of Confucius and trying to follow the development of society, which gives the Confucian thought new strength and makes it lively.The article is divided into six parts, introduction, overview, cause of topic and meaning, analyzing the research situation of Xunzi and Academic work since recent years, as well as the comparison between Confucius and Xunzi. In the first chapter, they are put together behind the background of the early Confucian development to show their relationship, telling the meaning for Xunzi to inherit and develop Confucian thought. Chapter two to chapter four is mainly based on the books of Confucius and Xunzi, making some comparison in the main topics, like xunzi`s statement of Confucius, the imitation in titles to Confucius, the contrast between their sentences, and so on. Xunzi makes obvious contribution to the forming of the principles of piety, king and instructor which develops the meaning of cultivating, raising a family, governance and flatting the world. A brief summary is made in the last part and objectively positions the inheriting relationship of their thought. Here, I make it clear that Xunzi is an essential part of pre-Qin Confucian thought.On the whole, the article focuses on the inheriting relationship of Confucius and Xunzi. The texts of Confucius and Xunzi, as well as the first-hand academic work is the basis of the article. Through the accurate interpretation of the texts, I`m trying to show that the study of Xunzi has developed that of Confucius, being the model of the early study of Confucius. Together with the study of Mencius, it lays the direction of the study of Confucius.