Reflections Of Xunzi In ZHU Xi’s Thoughts

Although Song scholars represented by ZHU Xi excluded Xunzi from the tradition of Confucianism and refuted his judgment that human nature is evil.Their unique opinions on dual human nature theory is hardly to say not related to Xunzi’s ideas at all.Therefore,from the perspective of learning and deepening Xunzi’s reflections in ZHU Xi’s thoughts,could not only help to relieve the mystery of Xunzi’s absenteeism in Song academic,but also facilitates a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of both Xunzi and ZHU Xi’s philosophical systems.ZHU Xi was sure that people could learn to be sages although it’s difficult.He attached importance on learning ritual and accumulating good deeds to become the sages who have achieved both internal and external cultivation,extensive knowledge and moral deeds.This kind of empirical self-cultivation is the same as that of Xunzi,but different from the way that Mencius and LU Jiuyuan took by attaching importance to the inner moral development.For ZHU Xi and Xunzi,learning is the only way to become a sage,which points out the goal of learning and the methodology of moral cultivation.Although ZHU Xi’s statement that principle is originally involved in the mind and emphasis on the morality of human nature is similar to Mencius’ s opinions on mind.From the perspective of moral cultivation,his emphasis on the cognitive function of heart and advocacy of the controlling role of principle could explain that in the specific practice,in the discussion of the relationship between mind and nature,ZHU Xi and Mencius are different.He inherited the trail of Xunzi to understand the mind from the perspective of epistemology,to understand the nature from the perspective of realistic humanity,to pay attention to the dominance of the heart and the variability of human nature.On the one hand,the heart dominates the body and its practice by mastering the organs and human deeds;on the other hand,the dominance of heart is limited,and it is necessary to rely on the moral standards when making judgments.In addition,Xunzi was not able to answer why it is necessary for the mind to choose morality while ZHU Xi was sure of the transcendental nature of moral mind by admitting that principle is originally involved in the mind.As for the methodology of learning,ZHU Xi and Xunzi showed similarities owing to their emphasis on accumulation of knowledge and experience,paying attention to the study of rituals and advocating gradual accumulation.But people are easy to be lazy for their minds are mixed with desires,it is therefore necessary to emulate sages and attach importance to the guide of teachers.In addition,there are two groups of similar concepts about learning in ZHU Xi and Xun Zi’s theory.One is Gezhi格致and Jishan积善characterized by accumulation.The other is Zhuyi主一and Zhuanyi专一characterized by concentration.Both of them value the role of knowledge in the achievement of morality,but compared to the single-line approach of Xunzi,ZHU Xi emphasized the interaction between the two is undoubtedly a more subtle study.