Paul R. Goldin

Xunzi in the Light of the Guodian Manuscripts

This article discusses the several previously unknown Confucian texts discovered in 1993 in a Warring States tomb at Guodian, near Jingmen, Hubei Province. I believe that these works should be understood as doctrinal material deriving from a single tradition of Confucianism and datable to around 300 B.C. Of the surviving literature from the same period, they are closer to the Xunzi than to any other text, and anticipate several characteristic themes in Xunzis philosophy. These are: the notion of human nature ( xing 性),and the controversy over whether the source of morality is internar or “external”; the role of learning ( xue 學)and habitual practice ( xi 習) in moral development; the content and origin of ritual ( li 禮), by which human beings accord with the Way; the conception of the ruler as the mind ( xin 心) of the state; and the psychological utility of music ( yue 樂) in inculcating proper values. It is especially important for scholars to take note of these connections with Xunzi, in view of the emerging trend to associate the Guodian manuscripts with Zisi, the famous grandson of Confucius, whom Xunzi bitterly criticized.

The Cultural and Religious Background of Sexual Vampirism in Ancient China

Abstract This paper considers sexual macrobiotic techniques of ancient China in their cultural and religious milieu, focusing on the text known as Secret Instructions of the Jade Bedchamber, which explains how the Spirit Mother of the West, originally an ordinary human being like anyone else, devoured the life force of numerous young boys by copulating with them, and thereby transformed herself into a famed goddess. Although many previous studies of Chinese sexuality have highlighted such methods (the noted historian R.H. van Gulik was the first to refer to them as ‘sexual vampirism’), it has rarely been asked why learned and intelligent people of the past took them seriously. The inquiry here, by considering some of the most common ancient criticisms of these practices, concludes that practitioners did not regard decay as an inescapable characteristic of matter; consequently it was widely believed that, if the cosmic processes were correctly understood, one could devise techniques that may forestall senectitude indefinitely.

Insidious syncretism in the political philosophy of Huai‐nan‐tzu 1

Abstract This is a study of the ninth chapter of the Huai‐nan‐tzu, a Chinese philosophical text compiled in the mid‐second century BC. The chapter (entitled Chu‐shu [The techniques of the ruler]) has been consistently interpreted as a proposal for a benign government that is rooted in the syncretic Taoist principles of the Huai‐nan‐tzu and is designed to serve the best interests of the people. I argue, on the contrary, that the text makes skilful (and deliberately deceptive) use of vocabulary from the major philosophical traditions of the day, in an attempt to subdue all philosophical sectarianism and wrench various antecedent philosophical ideas into the justification of a supreme political state. The best interests of the people are understood as nothing more than their material needs, since the text also denies that the rulers subjects are possessed of ‘minds’ in any philosophical sense. It is this process of systematically undermining other philosophical traditions that I call ‘insidious syncretism. ‘

On the meaning of the name Xi Wangmu, spirit-mother of the west

Xi wangmu, the famous Chinese divinity, is generally rendered in English as Queen Mother of the West. This is misleading for two reasons. First, Queen Mother in normal English refers to the mother of a king, and Xi wangmus name is usually not understood in that manner. More importantly, the term wang in this context probably does not carry its basic meaning of king, ruler. Wangmu is a cultic term referring specifically to the powerful spirit of a deceased paternal grand-mother. So Xi wangmu probably means Spirit-Mother of the West. This paper discusses occurrences of wang as spirit in ancient texts, and concludes with a consideration of some etymological reasons as to why wang is sometimes used in this less common sense.

Personal Names in Early China: A Research Note

This paper discusses several illustrative examples of ancient Chinese personal names that appear to impart information about the moral or physical characteristics of the people who bore them. Such epithets are likely to have been posthumous, or may have been acquired in adulthood, but in any case cannot be understood as regular names given at or soon after birth. Moreover, since these suspicious names appear in various kind of texts, including some that pretend to be historical, this phenomenon must affect our assessment of the sources that we use to interpret the ancient Chinese world.

Introduction: Han Fei and the Han Feizi

This introduction to the volume distinguishes between Han Fei, the man, and Han Feizi, the text purporting to contain his writings. While most modern scholars, including the contributors to this collection, accept the bulk of the Han Feizi as genuine, one cannot simply assume that Han Fei was the author of everything in its pages. Moreover, even if Han Fei is responsible for the lion’s share of the extant Han Feizi, a reader must be careful not to identify the philosophy of Han Fei himself with the philosophy (or philosophies) advanced in the Han Feizi, as though these were necessarily the same thing. What Han Fei said varied with his expected audience, a point that most scholarship on the Han Feizi—from the beginnings right down to the present day—has not taken seriously into account.

The Motif of the Woman in the Doorway and Related Imagery in Traditional Chinese Funerary Art

A mysterious image in traditional Chinese tomb art, that of a woman standing in an open or half-open doorway, has been inadequately treated by modern scholarship. This paper discusses the manifest sexual significance of the image. It was considered licentious for a woman to go to the gate of her household; she was expected to remain within the compound at all times, secluded and unseen. After an examination of relevant texts and tomb artifacts, the article concludes with a speculative account of the meaning and intended purpose of this motif.

The Consciousness of the Dead as a Philosophical Problem in Ancient China

Confucius’s dictum, “Revere the ghosts and spirits, but keep them at a distance” 敬鬼神而遠之 (Analects 6.20)1 is often cited as the supreme expression of his humanism.2 Instead of trying to descry how ghosts and spirits want us to behave – a science in its own right, with its proper techniques and professionals, throughout the Bronze Age – Confucius taught that it is incumbent on human beings to think through their own moral obligations and act accordingly. But the statement reveals another aspect of Confucius’s world view that is less often discussed: he must have believed that there are ghosts and spirits. For that matter, he believed that making sacrifices to ghosts and spirits is acceptable as long as the practice is kept within appropriate bounds. “To make sacrifices to a ghost that is not one’s own is toadying” 非其鬼而祭之,諂也 (Analects 2.24).3 Doubtless we are supposed to infer that it would be beyond reproach to make due sacrifices to a ghost that is one’s own. Confucius advised his disciples to keep ghosts and spirits at a distance not because he denied their existence, but because he thought they do not provide useful moral guidance. Morality is something that we must work out on our own.4

Those Who Don't Know Speak: Translations of the Daode jing by people who do not know Chinese

This essay discusses selected English translations of the Daode jing by people who do not know Chinese, and criticizes them on three counts: they rely heavily on earlier translations; they fail any basic test of accuracy; and they distort and simplify the philosophy of the original. The paper concludes by considering why publishers continue to market such works, and why readers consume them.

Some Shang Antecedents of Later Chinese Ideology and Culture

Although the Shang dynasty sometimes seems archaic and alien from the point of view of later periods, there are important elements of Shang culture that persevered in recognizable forms, even after allowing for adaptation to new historical realities, beyond the Zhou conquest in 1045 b.c. These points of continuity being generally underappreciated, five of the most salient are sketched below, in the hope of spurring renewed interest in China’s first historical dynasty: the ritual use of writing, particularly as a mode of communication with the spirit world; the status of Chinese as the sole written language; the notion that some days are auspicious and others inauspicious; a patrilocal and patrilineal family structure that nevertheless accommodated mothers within its ritual order; and “the Deity’s command” (di ling). In keeping with the genre of “brief communication,” the examples adduced are illustrative rather than exhaustive; a full study of these themes would require an entire monograph.