1. The dates of Xunzi are somewhat unclear. Qian Mu 錢穆 in his Xian Qin zhuzi xinian 先秦諸子繫年 reviews the key events in Xunzi's life and suggests that they fall within the general period of 340–245 b.c.e.; see Qian Binsi xiansheng quanji 錢賓四先生全集 (Taibei: Lianjing, 1994)Google Scholar, vol. 5, nos. 103, 136, 140, 143, 149, 151.

2. For the collection of writings associated with Xunzi, see Xianqian, Wang 王先謙, Ai, Kubo 久保愛, Hikohiro, Ikai 猪飼彥博, and Unokichi, Hattori 服部宇之吉, Junshi 荀子 (Kanbun taikei 漢文大系, vol. 15; Tōkyō: Fuzanbō, 1913)Google Scholar. The standard translation into English is Knoblock, John, Xunzi: A Translation and Study of the Complete Works (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1988–94)CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Throughout this study, I refer to Xunzi the thinker as the author of all the writings now found in Xunzi the text, but this is merely a measure of convenience. In fact, the text likely also contains writings prepared by followers of Xunzi as well as other materials regarded as important within that scholarly tradition. In the sense that these writings all center on Xunzi the thinker, they can be referred to by Xunzi's name. Important textual scholarship on Xunzi the text includes Osamu, Kanaya 金谷治, “Junshi no bunkengaku teki kenkyū” 荀子の文献学的研究, in Kanaya Osamu Chūgoku shisō ronshū 金谷治中国思想論集 (Tōkyō: Hirakawa Shuppansha, 1997), vol. 2, 79–112Google Scholar; Mutsumi, Toyoshima 豊島睦, “Junshi bunken hihan no ichi hōhō” 荀子文獻批判の一方法, Tetsugaku 哲学 5 (1955), 59–71Google Scholar; and Ryūtarō, Tomoeda 友枝竜太郎, “Junshi sakui setsu no keisei” 荀子作為說の形成, Tōhōgaku 東方學 4 (1952), 21–27Google Scholar. For a summary of these works, see Masayuki, Satō 佐藤将之, “Ershi shiji Riben Xunzi yanjiu zhi huigu” 二十世紀日本荀子研究之回顧, Guoli Zhengzhi daxue zhexue xuebao 國立政治大學哲學學報 11 (2003), 42–49Google Scholar.

3. Although the dates of Zisi are uncertain, he is frequently mentioned in the literary record with Lu Mugong 魯穆公, and the latter figure's reign dates are 415–383 b.c.e.; see Qian Mu, Xian Qin zhuzi xinian, in Qian Binsi xiansheng quanji, vol. 5, nos. 47, 58. For an overview of the various problems in these sources on Zisi, see Csikszentmihalyi, Mark, Material Virtue: Ethics and the Body in Early China (Leiden: Brill, 2004), 86–100CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

4. Kametarō, Takigawa 瀧川亀太郎 and Mizusawa Toshitada 水澤利忠, Shiji huizhu kaozheng fu jiaobu 史記會注考證附校補 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 1986), 47.90–91Google Scholar.

5. Suishu 隋書 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1973), 13.288Google Scholar.

6. For the excavation report of Mawangdui tomb no. 3, where this text was found, see Jiejun, He 何介均, ed., Changsha Mawangdui er, san hao Hanmu 長沙馬王堆二、三號漢墓 (Beijing: Wenwu, 2004)Google Scholar, vol. 1. Photographs of the manuscript, together with the transcription, can be found in Mawangdui Hanmu boshu 馬王堆漢墓帛書 (Beijing: Wenwu, 1980)Google Scholar, vol. 1. The tomb and the texts found in them can be dated around 168 b.c.e., since this date appears in one of the documents from the tomb.

7. For the excavation report of Guodian tomb no. 1, see “Jingmen Guodian yihao Chumu” 荊門郭店一號楚墓, Wenwu 文物 1997.7: 35–48Google Scholar. Photographs of the manuscript, together with the transcription, can be found in Guodian Chumu zhujian 郭店楚墓竹簡 (Beijing: Wenwu, 1998)Google Scholar. Based on archaeological evidence, scholars date this tomb to the late fourth century b.c.e. For a convenient summary of the arguments, see Xueqin, Li 李學勤, “Kong Meng zhi jian yu Lao Zhuang zhi jian” 孔孟之間與老莊之間, in Wenwu zhong de gu wenming 文物中的古文明 (Beijing: Shangwu, 2008), 400–407Google Scholar.

8. Based on the Guodian discoveries, a number of scholars now advocate or at least consider the possibility of a Zisi–Mencius scholarly lineage, as can be seen in two recent collections of papers: Weiming, Du 杜維明 (Weiming, Tu), ed., Sixiang, wenxian, lishi: Si Meng xuepai xintan 思想、文獻、歷史：思孟學派新探 (Beijing: Beijing daxue, 2008)Google Scholar, and Rujia Si Meng xuepai lunji 儒家思孟學派論集 (Ji'nan: Qi Lu, 2008)Google Scholar. For two monographs with expansive discussions of this topic, see Tao, Liang 梁濤, Guodian zhujian yu Si Meng xuepai 郭店竹簡與思孟學派 (Beijing: Zhongguo renmin daxue, 2008)Google Scholar, and Deli, Kong 孔德立, Zaoqi Rujia rendao sixiang de xingcheng yu yanbian: yi Zisi wei zhongxin 早期儒家人道思想的形成與演變：以子思為中心 (Chengdu: Ba Shu, 2010)Google Scholar.

9. For general accounts of Xunzi's thought, see Schwartz, Benjamin I., The World of Thought in Ancient China (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1985), 290–320CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Graham, A.C., Disputers of the Tao: Philosophical Argument in Ancient China (La Salle, IL: Open Court, 1989), 235–67Google Scholar; and Nivison, David Shepherd, “The Classical Philosophical Writings,” in The Cambridge History of Ancient China: From the Origins of Civilization to 221 B.C., ed. Shaughnessy, Edward L. and Loewe, Michael (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), 790–99Google Scholar. Also useful are Nivison's two articles: “Hsun Tzu and Chuang Tzu,” in Chinese Texts and Philosophical Contexts: Essays Dedicated to Angus C. Graham, ed. Rosemont, Henry Jr. (La Salle, IL: Open Court, 1991), 129–42Google Scholar; and “Xunzi on ‘Human Nature,’” in Nivison, The Ways of Confucianism (Chicago: Open Court, 1991), 203–13Google Scholar. The last item is now supplemented by the same author's “Response to James Behuniak,” Philosophy East and West 50.1 (2000), 110–15Google Scholar, and his comments in the preface of Dewei, Ni 倪德衛 (Nivison), Rujia zhi dao: Zhongguo zhexue zhi tantao 儒家之道：中國哲學之探討 (Nanjing: Jiangsu renmin, 2006), i–iiGoogle Scholar.

10. Wang Xianqian, Kubo Ai, Ikai Hikohiro, and Hattori Unokichi, Junshi, 15.20–22. As the commentators Guo Songtao 郭嵩燾 and Hao Yixing 郝懿行 point out, there is a section in the middle of the passage that seems to be corrupt, and I have followed their suggestions in emending it. These are the same emendations accepted by Knoblock in his Xunzi: A Translation and Study of the Complete Works, vol. 3, 108, which I have consulted for my translation.

11. Here it is possible to read jian 兼 as qie 慊 “to fulfill.” The reason will become clear in the discussion of the “Daxue” 大學 below.

12. This sentence is written as the following in the Mawangdui text: 仁之思也晴.

13. Weiyu, Xu 許維遹, Hanshi waizhuan jishi 韓詩外傳集釋 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1980), 9.322Google Scholar. The same story appears in Lienü zhuan 列女傳 “Muyi” 母儀, though this account leaves out the detail about the woman's sitting posture; see Gu Lienü zhuan zhuzi suoyin 古列女傳逐字索引, Institute for Chinese Studies Concordance (Hong Kong: Commercial Press, 1992)Google Scholar, 1.9. Other related discussions can be found in Xinshu 新書 “Taijiao” 胎教, where the wife of Wuwang 武王 of the Western Zhou is praised for duchu bu ju 獨處不倨 “when alone she does not squat”; see Zhenyi, Yan 閻振益 and Zhong Xia 鍾夏, Xinshu jiaozhu 新書校注 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 2000)Google Scholar, 391, and the close parallel in Huaixin, Huang 黃懷信, Da Dai liji huijiao jizhu 大戴禮記彙校集注 (Xi'an: San Qin, 2005), 417–19Google Scholar, where the same phrase is given as duchu er buju 獨處而不倨. Note that Liji 禮記 “Quli” 曲禮 has the prescription: 坐毋箕 “When sitting, do not squat”; see Xueqin, Li 李學勤, ed., Liji zhengyi 禮記正義 (traditional character edition; Beijing: Beijing daxue, 2000), 56Google Scholar.

14. This expression is written as the following in the Mawangdui text: 慎其獨.

15. Although the “Wuxing” does not elaborate on the meaning of this expression and seems to assume that it is already well known, a “commentary” of the “Wuxing,” seen only in the Mawangdui text, discusses it quite extensively. This is a subject that I take up in another article, “‘Liuti,’ ‘Liuxing’ yu zaoqi Rujia sixiang de yige zhuanzhe” 「流體」、「流形」與早期儒家思想的一個轉折, Jianbo 簡帛 6 (2011), 387–98Google Scholar. Here it suffices to point out that in both the “Wuxing” and its “commentary,” the expression is closely embedded in the reading of two poems now found in the Book of Odes, “Shijiu” 鳲鳩 and “Yanyan” 燕燕. For the latter, a related text in the Yilin 易林, found under the “Heng” 恆 hexagram, has the following: 燕雀衰老，悲鳴入海，憂在不飾，差池其羽，頡頏上下，寡位獨處 “The tiny swallow, weak and old, sadly crying, it enters the seas / Grieving, it thinks not of its plumage, in disarray are its feathers / It plummets and soars, up and down, a lonely place, a solitary home”; see Binghe, Shang 尚秉和, Jiaoshi Yilin zhu 焦氏易林注, in Shangshi Yixue cungao jiaoli 尚氏易學存稿校理 (Beijing: Zhongguo da baike quanshu, 2005), vol. 2, 561–62Google Scholar. The translation is from Riegel, Jeffrey, “Eros, Introversion, and the Beginnings of Shijing Commentary,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 57.1 (1997), 168–69CrossRefGoogle Scholar, which also contains a discussion of this passage.

16. When the “Jie bi” suggests that Youzi 有子 wu wo 惡臥 “hated lying down,” this draws one's attention to a passage in the “commentary” of the “Wuxing,” which cites the “Guanju” 關雎 from the Book of Odes in painting a vivid picture of a man lying alone at night, overwhelmed by his sexual desire. Perhaps Youzi disliked lying down because he was averse to the kind of sexual desire experienced by the protagonist of the “Guanju.” For a penetrating discussion of this passage from the “commentary” of the “Wuxing,” see Riegel, “Eros, Introversion, and the Beginnings of Shijing Commentary,” 149–59.

The “Guanju” is also relevant to the present study, because as so cogently argued by Riegel, the identity of the protagonist undergoes a shift from male to female between the “commentary” of the “Wuxing” and the interpretations of the early commentators Mao 毛 and Zheng Xuan 鄭玄. Here the emphasis on the female rather than male sex resonates with Mencius' disapproval of his wife, mentioned both in the “Jie bi” and the Hanshi waizhuan, and it hints at that thinker's involvement in the shift of attention from the male to the female in early self-cultivation.

17. For further discussion of the distinction between wei 危 and wei 微, see below.

18. For similar portrayals of the ideal person in the Xunzi, including analysis of a part of the “Jie bi” passage under consideration, see Slingerland, Edward, Effortless Action: Wu-wei as Conceptual Metaphor and Spiritual Ideal in Early China (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), 246–52CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

19. The identification of Ji as Zisi is, as far as I know, first made by the authors of Xunzi xinzhu 荀子新注 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1979)Google Scholar, 358n1, and it is more recently commented on by Liang Tao, who also notes the similarity in language between the “Jie bi” and “Wuxing”; see Guodian zhujian yu Si Meng xuepai, 229–30. These observations are the basis for my study, though I differ from previous scholars in suggesting that the notion of shen qi du, or the concern with oneself when alone, has a central place in the “Jie bi.” For previous discussions of this important notion, see the insightful study by Tetsuo, Shimamori 島森哲男, “Shindoku no shisō” 慎獨の思想, Bunka 文化 42.3–4 (1979), 1–14Google Scholar; Tomohisa, Ikeda 池田知久, Maōtai Kanbo hakusho gogyōhen kenkyū 馬王堆漢墓帛書五行篇研究 (Tōkyō: Kyūko Shoin, 1993), 136–51Google Scholar; and Riegel, “Eros, Introversion, and the Beginnings of Shijing Commentary,” 159–71. Among these, Ikeda's monograph is especially useful because it surveys the major scholarship in Chinese and Japanese up to 1991. Another noteworthy title is Tao, Liang, ed., Chutu wenxian yu junzi shendu 出土文獻与君子慎獨 (Guilin: Lijiang, 2011)Google Scholar, which brings together many recent studies on the topic of shen qi du. Two additional discussions are Qiyong, Guo 郭齊勇, “Guodian Chujian‘Wuxing’ de shenxin guan yu daode lun” 郭店楚簡《五行》的身心觀與道德論, in Zhongguo zhexue zhihui de tansuo 中國哲學智慧的探索 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 2008), 55–66Google Scholar, and Junzhi, Xie 謝君直, Guodian Chujian Rujia zhexue yanjiu 郭店楚簡儒家哲學硏究 (Taibei: Wanjuan lou, 2008), 65–71Google Scholar.

20. For the word xu 詡, this is glossed by Zheng Xuan as pu 普 or pian 徧, both meaning “to spread.”

21. For the phrase dali wubo 大理物博, Kong Yingda 孔穎達 paraphrases it as the following: 言王者大領理萬物之事，廣博如此 “This is saying that the king greatly puts in order the affairs of the myriad things, and it is vast in this way.” This suggests the following punctuation by Kong: *德發揚，詡萬物，大理物博如此, a decision that is somewhat implausible because it breaks the parallel with the second part of the passage.

22. Li Xueqin, ed., Liji zhengyi, 855–57.

23. Cf. Riegel, “Eros, Introversion, and the Beginnings of Shijing Commentary,” 167.

24. Yan Zhenyi and Zhong Xia, Xinshu jiaozhu, 361–62.

25. Old Chinese reconstructions are based on Baxter, William H., A Handbook of Old Chinese Phonology (Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 1992)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

26. Zuo Songchao 左松超, Shuoyuan jizheng 說苑集證 (Taibei: Guoli bianyi guan, 2000), 170–71. For a parallel to this passage, see Yashu, Fu 傅亞庶, Kongcongzi jiaoshi 孔叢子校釋 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 2011), 110–11Google Scholar.

27. Shude, Cheng 程樹德, Lun yu jishi 論語集釋 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1990), 1118–19Google Scholar. Of course, in Lun yu 2.15, one also reads the following: 學而不思則罔，思而不學則殆 “If one learns from others but does not think, one will be bewildered. If, on the other hand, one thinks but does not learn from others, one will be imperiled,” see pp. 103–4. Read together, what these two passages suggest is that Confucius does not advocate only learning or only thinking. All the translations are from Lau, D.C., The Analects (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1992)Google Scholar.

28. For the “Quan xue” passage that resembles the “Jian ben,” see Wang Xianqian, Kubo Ai, Ikai Hikohiro, and Hattori Unokichi, Junshi, 1.4.

29. Wang Xianqian, et al., Junshi, 2.11–14, and the translation in Knoblock, Xunzi: A Translation and Study of the Complete Works, vol. 1, 177–79. The relevance of the “Bugou” to the “Wuxing” is already noted in several previous studies on that excavated text; see Riegel, “Eros, Introversion, and the Beginnings of Shijing Commentary,” 165, and Cook, Scott, “Consummate Artistry and Moral Virtuosity: The ‘Wuxing’ Essay and Its Aesthetic Implications,” Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews 22 (2000)Google Scholar, 136n58. For an extensive treatment of this passage, see Masayuki, Sato, The Confucian Quest for Order: The Origin and Formation of the Political Thought of Xun Zi (Leiden: Brill, 2003), 286–302Google Scholar.

30. Riegel, “Eros, Introversion, and the Beginnings of Shijing Commentary,” 165.

31. The history of the term cheng is complex and is only indirectly related to the present discussion. It suffices to say that the term itself does not appear in the Guodian texts (though a closely related term, cheng 成 “to complete,” does appear in the “Cheng zhi wen zhi” 成之聞之). By the time of Mencius, the term seems to be fully established and has a usage consistent with the “Zhongyong” and “Daxue” 大學, i.e. “sincerity.” It would appear, then, that the term came into prominence sometime between the Guodian texts and Mencius, and in so doing drew on a pair of terms with generally the same meaning, zhong 忠 and xin 信, which are attested in the Guodian text “Zhongxin zhi dao” 忠信之道. If one is of the view that both the “Zhongyong” and “Daxue” have complex makeups, consisting of many layers, then it is perhaps to the earlier strata of those texts that one should trace the origin of cheng.

32. Related to this, note that Lüshi chunqiu 呂氏春秋 “Dayue” 大樂 contains the statement: 有知不見之見、不聞之聞、無狀之狀者，則幾於知之矣 “Whoever is aware of the visible in the invisible, the audible in the inaudible, and the form of the formless gets close to knowing it.” Here the usage of ji “to get close to” and its juxtaposition with zhi 知 “to know” resembles the “Wuxing.” Interestingly, the passage goes on to say the following: 能以一治其身者，免於災，終其壽，全其天 “A man capable of governing his own person with unity avoids calamity, lives out the full span of his life, keeps his natural endowment intact,” where the expression quan qi tian 全其天 “to keep one's natural endowment intact” is clearly related to ji shu in the “commentary” of the “Wuxing” as well as the expression ji er cai jin 濟而材盡 “brought to fulfillment, one's talents completely realized” in the “Bugou.” For the Lüshi chunqiu, see Qiyou, Chen 陳奇猷, Lüshi chunqiu xin jiaoshi 呂氏春秋新校釋 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 2002), 259–90Google Scholar. I have also consulted the translation in Knoblock, John and Riegel, Jeffrey, The Annals of Lü Buwei: A Complete Translation and Study (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000), 138–39Google Scholar.

33. Wang Xianqian, et al., Junshi, 2.11–14. The translation has consulted Knoblock, Xunzi: A Translation and Study of the Complete Works, vol. 1, 177–79.

34. Reading qian 謙 as qie 慊 “to be satisfied,” following Zheng Xuan.

35. Reading yan 厭 as yan 黶, which Zheng Xuan glosses as bicang mao 閉藏貌 “the appearance of being closed off and concealed.”

36. Li Xueqin, ed., Liji zhengyi, 1859–66.

37. The translation has consulted Chan, Wing-tsit, A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1963), 89–90Google Scholar.

38. Like the “Daxue,” a passage in Xinyu 新語 “Si wu” 思務 contrasts the gentleman and the petty person's behavior when each is alone: 君子行之於幽閒，小人厲之於士眾 “The gentleman puts himself to action in seclusion, and the petty person is made competent by the multitude”; see Liqi, Wang 王利器, Xinyu jiaozhu 新語校注 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1986), 167–70Google Scholar. What this suggests is once again that the gentleman acts properly even when he is alone, whereas the petty person, not to be trusted, must be trained and taught by being placed among other men.

39. Note that the expression is written as xianju 閑居 in the “Jie bi.”

40. Ning, He 何寧, Huainanzi jishi 淮南子集釋 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1998), 1344–47Google Scholar, and the translation in Major, John S., Queen, Sarah A., Meyer, Andrew Seth, and Roth, Harold D., Huainanzi: A Guide to the Theory and Practice of Government in Early Han China (New York: Columbia University Press, 2010), 779–80Google Scholar, which I have consulted.

41. For another example where xianju has a positive connotation, see Huainanzi “Quanyan” 詮言, which, in speaking of the unexpected but also inevitable nature of fortune and misfortune, suggests the following: 故閒居而樂，無為而治 “Thus, he is joyful living apart and governs through non-action”; see Ning, He 何寧, Huainanzi jishi 1001–4Google Scholar, and the translation in Major, John S., et al. , Huainanzi: A Guide to the Theory and Practice of Government in Early Han China 545Google Scholar, which I have consulted. Here the juxtaposition of xianju and wuwei “no action” resembles the “Jie bi,” though of course the “Jie bi” is different in its acceptance of only the latter and not the former. A parallel to the “Quanyan” passage can be found in Wenzi 文子 “Fuyan” 符言; see Liqi, Wang 王利器, Wenzi shuyi 文子疏義 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 2000), 184–85Google Scholar.

42. Zuo Songchao, Shuoyuan jizheng, 161–67. This is a different passage from the one considered earlier in this study, though my interpretations of the two are consistent with one another. In both cases, my understanding is that the teaching of Zisi or the description of one's solitude in the “Jian ben” is at some distance from materials closer or more favorable to Zisi.

43. These include Yuchun, Long 龍宇純, “Xun Qing fei Si Meng wuxing shuo Yang zhu shuzheng” 荀卿非思孟五行說楊注疏證, in Xunzi lunji 荀子論集 (Taibei: Xuesheng, 1987), 87–102Google Scholar; Rubin, Yang 楊儒賓, “De zhi xing yu de zhi qi—boshu ‘Wuxing pian,’ ‘Desheng pian’ lun daode, xinxing yu xingti de guanlian” 德之行與德之氣──帛書《五行篇》、《德聖篇》論道德、心性與形體的關聯, in Rujia shenti guan 儒家身體觀 (Taibei: Zhongyang yanjiu yuan Zhongguo wenzhe yanjiu suo, 1996), 253–92Google Scholar; Pu, Pang 龐樸, Zhubo Wuxing pian jiaozhu ji yanjiu 竹帛五行篇校注及研究 (Taibei: Wanjuan lou, 2000)Google Scholar; Goldin, Paul Rakita, “Xunzi in the Light of the Guodian Manuscripts,” Early China 25 (2000), 133–36CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Sixin, Ding 丁四新, Guodian Chumu zhujian sixiang yanjiu 郭店楚墓竹簡思想研究 (Beijing: Dongfang, 2000), 160–68Google Scholar; Bo, Wang 王博, Jianbo sixiang yanjiu lunji 簡帛思想研究論集 (Taibei: Taiwan guji, 2001), 51–57Google Scholar, 59–71, 131–49; Mingchun, Liao 廖明春, “Si Meng wuxing shuo xinjie” 思孟五行說新解, in Zhongguo xueshu shi xinzheng 中國學術史新證 (Chengdu: Sichuan daxue, 2005), 407–25Google Scholar; Wen, Xing 邢文, “Boshu Zhouyi zhuanwen suo jian wuxing shuo” 帛書周易傳文所見五行說, in Zhu hu zhubo: Zhongguo gudai sixiang yu xuepai 著乎竹帛：中國古代思想與學派 (Taibei: Lantai, 2005), 370–409Google Scholar; Qipeng, Wei 魏啓鵬, Jianbo wenxian “Wuxing” jianzheng 簡帛文獻《五行》箋證 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 2005), 151–61Google Scholar; Qiyong, Guo 郭齊勇, “Zailun ‘Wuxing’ yu ‘sheng zhi’” 再論《五行》與「聖智」, in Zhongguo zhexue zhihui de tansuo 中國哲學智慧的探索 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 2008), 67–78Google Scholar; Lihua, Guo 郭梨華, Chutu wenxian yu Xian Qin Ru Dao zhexue 出土文獻與先秦儒道哲學 (Taibei: Wanjuan lou, 2008), 213–40Google Scholar, 241–57; Lei, Tao 陶磊, Si Meng zhijian Ruxue yu zaoqi Yixue shi xintan 思孟之間儒學與早期易學史新探 (Tianjin: Tianjin guji, 2009), 76–103Google Scholar; and Rui, Li 李銳, “Ren yi li zhi sheng wuxing de sixiang yuanyuan” 仁義禮智聖五行的思想淵源, in Xinchu jianbo de xueshu tansuo 新出簡帛的學術探索 (Beijing: Beijing shifan daxue, 2010), 157–72Google Scholar.

44. Xianqian, Wang 王先謙, Ai, Kubo 久保愛, Hikohiro, Ikai 猪飼彥博, and Unokichi, Hattori 服部宇之吉, Junshi 荀子 (Kanbun taikei 漢文大系, vol. 15; Tōkyō: Fuzanbō, 1913), 4.26–33Google Scholar. The translation has consulted Knoblock, John, Xunzi: A Translation and Study of the Complete Works (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1988–94), vol. 2, 78–80CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also a close parallel to this passage in Weiyu, Xu 許維遹, Hanshi waizhuan jishi 韓詩外傳集釋 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1980)Google Scholar, juan 5.170–74.

45. Reading ju 舉 as yu 與, following Wang Niansun 王念孫.

46. Reading an 晻 as yan 弇, following Wang Yinzhi 王引之.

47. Interestingly, in the parallel of this passage in the Hanshi waizhuan, only the xianwang are mentioned, not the houwang. This does away with a distinction that might have been regarded as somewhat abstruse outside of Xunzi, but it has the effect of obscuring the difference between the yaru “cultivated scholars” and daru “great scholars” that is so clearly laid out by Xunzi.

48. For the “Ruxiao” to emphasize the importance of the classics, but to suggest that one should not depend on them, this has to do with Xunzi's response to criticisms of the classics during his time, which is a topic that calls for a separate treatment.

49. Knoblock, Xunzi: A Translation and Study of the Complete Works, vol. 1, 252.

50. Wang Xianqian, et al., Junshi, 3.26–28. The translation has consulted Knoblock, Xunzi: A Translation and Study of the Complete Works, vol. 1, 224. Note that in the parallel to this passage in the Hanshi waizhuan, the remarks about Zisi and Mencius are nowhere to be found. This has led some scholars to suggest that perhaps those remarks were interpolated into the “Fei shier zi,” though I believe this only shows that the Hanshi waizhuan is more sympathetic towards Zisi and Mencius.

51. For the suggestion that youran 猶然 means “at ease,” see Long Yuchun, “Du Xun Qingzi san ji” 讀荀卿子三記, in idem, Xunzi lunji, 243–44.

52. For further support of this, one can turn to the description of Confucius and Zigong 子弓, later in the “Fei shier zi,” which uses the phrase: 總方略，齊言行，壹統類 “to combine specific methods with general strategies, to make what one says equal to what one does, and to unite the guiding principle with the proper category”; see Wang Xianqian, et al., Junshi, 3.28, and the translation from Knoblock, Xunzi: A Translation and Study of the Complete Works, vol. 1, 225, on which my translation is based. Here the expression tonglei 統類 “the guiding principle and proper category” is the same as what is given in the “Ruxiao” and is a reminder of what Zisi and Mencius do not possess.

53. The importance of such terms as tong and lei is also noted by Jinglin, Li 李景林 in “Guanyu Si Meng xuepai de wenti” 關於思孟學派的問題, in Jiaoyang de benyuan: zhexue tupo qi de Rujia xinxing lun 教養的本原：哲學突破期的儒家心性論 (2nd edition; Beijing: Beijing shifan daxue, 2009), 110–23Google Scholar. Li comments insightfully that the target of Xunzi's criticism is Zisi and Mencius' view on the relation between heaven and the humans. This, though different from what I propose below, is helpful for understanding the general difference between Xunzi and Zisi-Mencius. Cf. also Csikszentmihalyi, Mark, Material Virtue: Ethics and the Body in Early China (Leiden: Brill, 2004), 86–100CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Both Csikszentmihalyi and Li cite the “Ruxiao” to shed light on the “Fei shier zi.”

54. To anticipate my discussion of the “Wuxing” later on, I believe that in his criticism of Zisi and Mencius, Xunzi refrains from challenging the figures to fa houwang “modeling themselves after the latter kings,” because the “Wuxing” already contains reference to King Wen of the Western Zhou, one of the “latter kings” for Xunzi. In the same way, the phrase long liyi “exalting the rites and moral principles” does not figure in Xunzi's criticism of the two figures, likely because the “Wuxing” in its discussion of ren, yi, li, zhi, and sheng, already “exalts li and yi.” Of course, the “Wuxing” discusses the li and yi in a different framework than Xunzi, and this is perhaps what Xunzi is critical of. Finally, Xunzi does not fault the two figures for not “giving lesser importance to the Odes and Documents,” or shai Shi Shu. The “Wuxing” is never explicit in how it regards the classics (even though it quotes from one of them a number of times), but if the “Xing zi ming chu” 性自命出 from Guodian is any indication, then its position might be that the classics should not be valued for their own sake, but for what they say and the actual persons they represent. Such a view would have been agreeable to Xunzi.

55. For other occurrences of the expression piwei in Xunzi (also written as biwei 辟違 and bihui 辟回), see Wang Xianqian, et al., Junshi, 1.23–26, 1.30–32, 2.4, and 18.12–13. The translation of “perverse” is based on Wang Niansun's gloss of xie 邪, literally “crooked,” under the second of these passages.

56. Wang Xianqian, et al., Junshi, 7.28–29. The translation has consulted Knoblock, Xunzi: A Translation and Study of the Complete Works, vol. 2, 165.

57. Here one might note an authoritarian strand in Xunzi's discussion and perhaps the notion of shen qi du more generally, but I should point out that this is one of the rare instances I have encountered in which the suggestion to watch over oneself when alone is made not to a person in a position of power, but to someone in a low position. In most of the early discussions of the notion of shen qi du, the concern is with morality; that is, a person has only heaven or his own conscience to answer to, not his superiors.

58. Qiyou, Chen 陳奇猷, Han Feizi xin jiaozhu 韓非子新校注 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 2000), 1008–9Google Scholar. See also Han Feizi 韓非子 “Nan san” 難三, where one finds a similar distrust of Zengzi and Shi You: 廣廷嚴居，眾人之所肅也；晏室獨處，曾、史之所也 “Situated sternly in an open court, that is where everyone is solemn; residing by oneself in a room of pleasure, that is where Zeng and Shi are disrespectful”; see Chen Qiyou, Han Feizi xin jiaozhu, 921–22.

59. Cf. Long Yuchun's discussion in “Du Xun Qingzi zhaji” 讀荀卿子札記, in Xunzi lunji, 185. The close connection between bi and yue can be seen in a passage from the Laozi 老子, chapter 27: 善閉者無關楗而不可開，善結者無繩約而不可解 “One who excels in shutting uses no bolt yet what he has shut cannot be opened; one who excels in tying uses no cord yet what he has tied cannot be undone”; see Kunio, Shima 島邦男, Rōshi kōsei 老子校正 (Tōkyō: Kyūko shoin, 1973)Google Scholar, and the translation from Lau, D.C., Tao Te Ching (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1989)Google Scholar. It is also possible to note the term yan 厭 in the above-mentioned discussion of the petty person in the “Daxue”: 見君子而后厭然，揜其不善，而著其善 “Upon seeing a gentleman, he becomes elusive, concealing the bad and showing off the good in him.” Yan is read yan 黶 by the commentator Zheng Xuan and glossed as bicang mao 閉藏貌 “the appearance of being closed off and concealed.”

60. Cheng Shude, Lun yu jishi, 228–30. The translation is from Lau, The Analects.

61. See the list of examples and analysis in Lihong, Jiang 蔣禮鴻, Yifu xudiao 義府續貂, in Jiang Lihong ji 蔣禮鴻集 (Hangzhou: Zhejiang jiaoyu, 2001), vol. 2, 169–70Google Scholar.

62. Songchao, Zuo 左松超, Shuoyuan jizheng 說苑集證 (Taibei: Guoli bianyi guan, 2000), 1054Google Scholar.

63. This is Knoblock's translation of piwei.

64. A second occurrence of the character du 獨 has been deleted, following the variant text noted by Yang Liang 楊倞.

65. Wang Xianqian, et al., Junshi, 18.12–13. The translation has consulted Knoblock, Xunzi: A Translation and Study of the Complete Works, vol. 3, 183.

66. Here the mentioning of Ziyou 子遊 is dubious, because he is cast in a negative light elsewhere in the “Fei shier zi,” and it is Zigong 子弓 that appears together with Confucius as paragons worthy of emulation. This leads some scholars to suggest that in the final sentence of the “Fei shier zi” passage, perhaps Ziyou is a mistake for Zigong.

67. Wang Xianqian, et al., Junshi, 15.17–18; see also the close parallel in the “Dalue” 大略 on 19.23. The translation has consulted Knoblock, Xunzi: A Translation and Study of the Complete Works, vol. 3, 106–7.

68. Wang Xianqian, et al., Junshi, 15.1–30.

69. In its discussion of the notion of heng “balance,” the “Jie bi” suggests the following: 無近無遠，無博無淺 “there is no close-at-hand and no distant, no extensive and no shallow,” which clearly echoes the discussion of the daru “great scholars” in the “Ruxiao”: 法先王，統禮義，一制度，以淺持博，以古持今，以一持萬 “They model themselves after the former kings, direct the rites and moral principles, and unify the rules and regulations. They use the shallow to handle the extensive, the ancient to handle the present, the one to handle the myriad.”

70. Note that the term lei can also be found in the “Jie bi,” as in the phrase lei buke liang 類不可兩 “there cannot be two proper categories”; see Wang Xianqian, et al., Junshi, 15.16.

71. For this sentence, the Mawangdui text writes the following: 能為一，然后能為君＝子＝慎其獨也. The ditto marks (＝) have evidently been left out of the Guodian text and can be reconstructed on the basis of the Mawangdui text. Note that the “commentary” writes for the word hou 後. In both texts, this statement is made in connection with a quotation from the “Shijiu” 鳲鳩 of the Book of Odes.

72. The Mawangdui text writes the following: 德之行五，和胃之德 … 不樂則无德. In both places, the “Wuxing” is drawing a distinction between de zhi xing 德之行 “the activity of virtue” and de 德 “virtue.” Whereas the former is the mere appearance of virtue, the latter refers to the internalization of de, accomplished through the unity of all five virtues, and thus is true virtue.

73. I take this up in my article, “‘Liuti,’ ‘Liuxing’ yu zaoqi Rujia sixiang de yige zhuanzhe,” cited above, n. 15.

74. Perhaps it is for the “Xing e” 性惡 that Xunzi reserves his direct engagement with Mencius' ideas.

75. More uncertain would be the claim that the Guodian corpus constitutes a kind of Zisizi 子思子, or a collection of writings all associated with Zisi in some way.