Xunzi in thirty-two chapters (received text)
Xunzi in thirty-two chapters (received text)
「天行有常，不為堯存，不為桀亡」 (“Heaven’s course is constant; it does not persist for Yao, nor perish for Jie.”)
「聖人化性而起偽」 (“The sage transforms nature and establishes deliberate effort.”)
「心知道，然後可道」 (“Only when the heart knows the Way can it approve the Way.”)
Note: the marks are all taken from the E evidence cards below; for their sources and levels see the corresponding cards. The overall structure is not inferred from isolated sentences here.
Xunzi argues how order comes about through the distinction between Heaven and humans, the distinction between nature and deliberate effort, social division with ritual and rightness, and correct naming; and in “Dispelling Obsession” he explains how the heart removes the obsession with one corner, becomes empty, unified and still, and through knowing the Way discerningly and knowing the Way in action embodies the Way. This “knowing the Way” bears strong cognitive-practical load, but the original text immediately connects it to “the essential of governing”, “examining order and disorder”, and the order of names and statuses; therefore the main position remains ④ (B), and the general term “Way” is not taken automatically as grounds for ②.
Current placement｜④｜“Explaining the World” (B); local C-grade disputes are kept in the ③ and ② directions
Central question｜When the whole thought is complete, what structure, relation and function cannot be deleted? For figures at ③ / ④, first judge their main task; for ② candidates, then test whether right cognition of the ground is a necessary relation of the complete ultimate structure.
This archive separates “how reliable a text is as evidence of thought” from “how certain a structural judgment drawn from the evidence is”. T1 = core, relatively early texts or texts with relatively strong authorial attribution; T2 = reliable texts with limitations of recording, transmission or editing; T3 = late texts, single transmissions, or texts with marked disputes over attribution or chapter layers; T4 = later commentary, biography or school development. The specific T-level definitions for each author are given in Section 3.
A = a fact stated directly in the text; B = a strong structural inference supported by several original passages; C = grounded in the sources, with an equally reasonable alternative reading; D = an opposing stress test / a hypothesis awaiting verification. An A-grade quotation does not by itself make its philosophical interpretation A.
Direction: supports = supports the current six-position placement; limits = reveals a functional mediation or a boundary of analysis; disputed = two opposing readings must still be weighed; neutral = the text is meaningful but does not directly decide the main class. The direction label does not replace interpretation.
The received Xunzi consists of many essays, traditionally arranged by Liu Xiang, and current editions are often accompanied by Yang Liang’s commentary. This archive takes the main text of the core chapters of Xun Qing’s thought as T1; no chapter-by-chapter study of style or excavated documents has been done on attribution, and the layer of particular chapters such as “Human Nature Is Bad” should continue to be tested in research on textual levels. Yang Liang’s commentary and modern synthetic interpretations are not used as Xunzi’s own direct argument.
All classical texts are located by the online received texts listed in “Sources and Edition Notes”; some quotations keep traditional character forms. The online base text is used for searchable checking and is not a word-by-word collation against images of manuscripts, stone inscriptions or old printed editions. If a reliable critical edition reveals substantive variants, they should be listed explicitly and the affected structural judgments re-examined.
Treated separately: ① the relation of the ground to the world / humans; ② the final load-bearing point and the counterfactual of deletion; ③ whether the thought’s own propounding, debating and being understood are included in its structure; ④ the decisive effect of the most delicate point on the six positions.
1｜The course of nature and Heaven must be distinguished from the human results of order and disorder (E-07—08)
2｜Original nature, feelings and desires lack the guarantee of ritual and rightness; nature must be transformed and deliberate effort established (E-04—06)
3｜The group obtains stable order through division and ritual (E-09—11)
4｜Learning, nourishing the heart and dispelling obsession provide the mechanism of knowing—acting—embodying the Way (E-01—03, E-12—17, E-20)
5｜Correct naming brings the thought’s speech into social convention and the uses of governance (E-18—19)
The chain only states this archive’s current reconstruction; if the material across chapters admits other, equally reasonable organizations, the dispute should be kept open, and fluent narration should not replace textual evidence.
This evidence bank again distinguishes two sets of grades: T1 is core evidence that is relatively early, has relatively strong authorial attribution or is stable across texts;
T2 is reliable evidence limited in transmission, authorship or recording; T3 is late, singly transmitted, or evidence with marked disputes over attribution or edition; T4 is later commentary, biography and school development. The T-level limits for specific chapters are given in Section 3.
A = the original text says it directly (proving only that the text says so); B = a strong structural inference supported by several original passages; C = grounded, but with an equally reasonable alternative reading; D = an opposing stress test or a hypothesis awaiting verification. An A-grade quotation does not automatically give its interpretation A. Supports = supports the current six-position judgment; limits = shows that a functional mediation or boundary remains; disputed = the direction of the text is not unique; neutral = the quotation exists but does not for now constitute a core limit in the deletion test.
The E cards list the original text, edition, level, direction, structural role and limits of interpretation; any excerpt must be read together with its context and the thought of the whole text, and a single sentence cannot replace the overall structure.
Original excerpt: 「學不可以已。」“Learning must never stop.”
Role in this archive: Learning continually transforms a person’s virtue and cognition, and is a cause of ethical order.
What it does not prove: “Must never stop” does not automatically mean that the ending requires an event of seeing the ground.
Original excerpt: 「君子博學而日參省乎己，則知明而行無過矣。」
“If the gentleman learns broadly and daily examines himself, his knowledge will be clear and his conduct without fault.”
Role in this archive: Clarity of cognition is realized as normative action, not as isolated contemplation.
What it does not prove: “Knowledge will be clear” has functional weight, but completion points to conduct without fault.
Original excerpt: 「積善成德，而神明自得，聖心備焉。」“Accumulate goodness to form virtue, and spirit-like clarity is attained of itself, and the sage’s heart is complete.”
Role in this archive: From accumulated practice to spirit-like clarity and the sage’s heart, there is interpretive room supporting ② in reverse.
What it does not prove: The poetic “spirit-like clarity” is not automatically the same as a direct realization of a transcendent object.
Original excerpt: 「人之性惡，其善者偽也。」“Human nature is bad; its goodness is deliberate effort.”
Role in this archive: It holds that ethical goodness cannot come merely from following natural feelings and desires.
What it does not prove: The doctrine of “badness” does not assert that every person is entirely unable to turn toward the good.
Original excerpt: 「聖人化性而起偽，偽起而生禮義。」“The sage transforms nature and establishes deliberate effort; when deliberate effort is established, ritual and rightness are produced.”
Role in this archive: Nature—deliberate effort—ritual and rightness is an explicit chain of the generation and completion of norms.
What it does not prove: “Deliberate effort” (wei) is human action, and should not be translated as deceit or falsehood.
Original excerpt: 「性不知禮義，故思慮而求知之也。」“Nature does not know ritual and rightness, therefore one reflects and seeks to know them.”
Role in this archive: Knowing ritual and rightness is a necessary relation of cultural learning, not innate omniscience.
What it does not prove: Knowing ritual and rightness may not be equated with knowing a transcendent ground.
Original excerpt: 「天行有常，不為堯存，不為桀亡。」“Heaven’s course is constant; it does not persist for Yao, nor perish for Jie.”
Role in this archive: The order of nature does not depend on human cognition of it or human virtue.
What it does not prove: This can only prove that the course of nature is independent; it does not mean that the whole is classed at ①.
Original excerpt: 「故明於天人之分，則可謂至人矣。」“Thus one who is clear about the distinction between Heaven and humans may be called a perfected person.”
Role in this archive: “Clear about the distinction between Heaven and humans”, although a cognitive relation, serves how humans should act.
What it does not prove: “Perfected person” does not automatically put it at ②; the main task of the thought must be tested.
Original excerpt: 「禮起於何也？曰：人生而有欲。」
“Where does ritual arise from? I say: humans are born with desires.”
Role in this archive: It explains the necessity of institutions from desires, material goods and social conflict.
What it does not prove: It does not deny human natural life, but regulates its relations.
Original excerpt: 「故禮者養也。」“Thus ritual is nourishment.”
Role in this archive: Ritual has both a dividing and a nourishing function, not merely the suppression of desire.
What it does not prove: Detached from the preceding context of desire / seeking / strife / division, the argument is diminished.
Original excerpt: 「人何以能群？曰分。」“How are humans able to form groups? I say: by division.”
Role in this archive: Human groups become organizable societies through division of labour, names and statuses and their norms.
What it does not prove: “Division” is not only occupational division of labour; it also involves a hierarchical system.
Original excerpt: 「凡人之患，蔽於一曲，而闇於大理。」“The trouble of all people is that they are obsessed with one corner and blind to the great pattern.”
Role in this archive: “Obsession” and “pattern” make the critique of cognition a fundamental question of the thought.
What it does not prove: Breaking obsession is a function leading to judgment and governance, and does not automatically belong to ②.
Original excerpt: 「心知道，然後可道；可道然後守道以禁非道。」“Only when the heart knows the Way can it approve the Way; only when it approves the Way can it keep to the Way and prohibit what is not the Way.”
Role in this archive: In the anti-obsession context of “taking the Way as the balance”, only when the heart knows the Way can it approve and keep to the Way, so as to prohibit what is not the Way; the same passage concludes explicitly, “thus the essential of governing lies in knowing the Way”. This is a non-deletable structural chain between the way of governing and the arts of the heart, not ordinary knowledge or mere exhortation to read.
What it does not prove: The “Way” here has the broad sense of a measure for discriminating right and wrong, choosing people and discussing governance, and cannot be simplified into narrow administrative technique; but the context is indeed oriented by “the essential of governing”, and is not enough to prove that it is first of all an independent seeing of ultimate reality.
Original excerpt: 「人何以知道？曰心。心何以知？曰虛壹而靜。」“How do humans know the Way? I say: by the heart. How does the heart know? I say: by being empty, unified and still.”
Role in this archive: It gives an account of the cognitive conditions for knowing the Way, going beyond ordinary exhortation to learning.
What it does not prove: Being empty, unified and still is not a mystical entity, nor does it say that cognition itself can be deleted.
Original excerpt: 「知道察，知道行，體道者也。」“One who knows the Way and discerns it, knows the Way and practises it, is one who embodies the Way.”
Role in this archive: “One who knows the Way and discerns it, knows the Way and practises it, is one who embodies the Way” states explicitly that discernment of the Way and practice of it together constitute embodying the Way; this is the positive structure of completion in “Dispelling Obsession”; the preceding passage is connected with “the essential of governing lies in knowing the Way”, and the following passage with “examining order and disorder and penetrating their measures”, and they cannot be stripped away arbitrarily.
What it does not prove: Embodying the Way in “Dispelling Obsession” is a real cognitive-practical achievement, but whether it goes beyond the way of governing, ritual and rightness and the judgment of cosmic order, and becomes “rightly recognizing the ultimate ground” as defined for ②, still needs positive proof from the whole book.
Original excerpt: 「虛壹而靜，謂之大清明。」“Being empty, unified and still is called great pure clarity.”
Role in this archive: “Empty, unified and still—great pure clarity” is an important epistemological achievement of “Dispelling Obsession”;
the original text then extends the unobstructed field of vision to the myriad things, Heaven and earth and “examining order and disorder”, and it should not be treated as an ordinary sensory technique.
What it does not prove: “Great pure clarity” is not the sole conclusion at the end of “Dispelling Obsession”: after it the chapter still discusses the heart’s mastery and its choosing, and returns to the question of obsession and non-obsession. Hence it is important but cannot be automatically raised to ② on the mistaken positional judgment that it is the “end point of the chapter”.
Original excerpt: 「聖人知心術之患，見蔽塞之禍。」“The sage knows the troubles of the arts of the heart and sees the disasters of obsession and blockage.”
Role in this archive: The thought’s own judgment and speech are understood as an activity of overcoming obsession and blockage.
What it does not prove: Speaking of the troubles of the arts of the heart does not completely explain the position of the text itself within everything.
Original excerpt: 「名無固宜，約之以命，約定俗成謂之宜。」“Names have no intrinsic appropriateness; they are fixed by agreement in naming; when the agreement is settled and custom established, they are called appropriate.”
Role in this archive: The system of names holds by convention and social effectiveness, not by fixed intrinsic nature.
What it does not prove: The conventionality of names does not automatically imply that all norms can be changed at will.
Original excerpt: 「制名以指實。」“Names are instituted to point to realities.”
Role in this archive: Language’s pointing to realities maintains a functional relation with social order.
What it does not prove: That language is explained by institutions does not mean that final cognition can be deleted.
Original excerpt: 「君子養心莫善於誠。」“For the gentleman, nothing is better for nourishing the heart than sincerity.”
Role in this archive: “Sincerity” constrains the cultivation of the heart and conduct, not merely external ritual and law.
What it does not prove: A single sentence is not enough to determine that sincerity is the highest metaphysical entity.
Badness of nature｜if natural desires are followed without cultivation, strife and the collapse of order easily arise; it does not mean being unable to do good
Deliberate effort (wei)｜human making and the cultivation of ritual and rightness, not simple deception
Transforming nature｜changing original tendencies through learning, ritual and rightness, and the organization of conduct
Ritual｜maintaining human social relations through limits, restraint and nourishment
Distinction between Heaven and humans｜the difference between the workings of nature and the order of human response
Obsession｜overall judgment obscured by what is seen partially
Empty, unified and still｜the condition for the heart to reach right judgment; not a substantialized empty mind
Embodying the Way｜knowing, discerning and acting in succession; the way of governing must be distinguished from transcendent realization of the ground
Positive evidence｜the constancy of Heaven’s course / the distinction between Heaven and humans in E-07 and E-08, the transformation of nature into deliberate effort in E-04—06, and emptiness, unity and stillness, knowing the Way and embodying the Way in E-13—16 form one broad structure of knowledge and action. Xunzi does not speak only of techniques of governing the state; his epistemology has a deep universality.
Limiting evidence｜ritual, division, names and institutions in E-09—11 and E-18—19, and the explicit text of “the essential of governing” and “examining order and disorder” in “Dispelling Obsession”, make clarity of cognition continue to bear the functions of discerning pattern, settling the group and governing; it cannot, without textual grounds, be renamed an independent awakened seeing of the ultimate ground.
Disputed reading｜if it were further proven that the “Way” of “Dispelling Obsession” is the highest ground transcending the way of governing and normative order, and that “embodying the Way” constitutes a necessary final relation for the whole book, then the pressure from ② / ③ would increase; at present the counter-reading is C.
Safest conclusion at present｜④ (B) is maintained.
“The heart knows the Way—approves the Way—keeps to the Way—embodies the Way” itself bears load at the structural level within this chapter (B), but the direct explanatory targets of the Way include “the essential of governing” and “examining order and disorder”, and it cannot be read in isolation as ②.
Already withdrawn / de-substantialized｜the direct teleology of Heaven rewarding and punishing rulers by disasters and portents; the intuition that ritual and rightness are innately self-sufficient; the cognitive obsession of deciding the whole by the view of one corner.
Core structural load-bearing point｜nature—deliberate effort—ritual and rightness—institutional order; desire—division—governance; the arts of the heart dispelling obsession, discerning and keeping to the Way and embodying the Way are inner necessary conditions for the orderly completion of these relations, not teaching appendages that can be deleted at will.
Disputed functional load-bearing point｜“empty, unified and still—the heart knows the Way—knowing the Way discerningly / in action—embodying the Way” in this chapter bears structural load at the level of knowledge and action;
whether across the whole book it turns into the main six-position condition of “rightly recognizing the ultimate ground” remains C.
Nature of the load-bearing point｜normative, social and cognitive-practical functions interlock; it does not acknowledge an independent immortal knower.
What still holds after deletion｜if a transcendent event of “seeing the ground” is deleted, ritual and law are still explained by the conflict of desires and the need for division, and the constancy of Heaven’s course still holds.
Where it breaks after deletion｜delete the making of ritual and rightness and social division, and Xunzi’s basic structure from the conflict of desires to political order breaks; delete knowing the Way, discerning, acting and embodying the Way, and the account in “Dispelling Obsession” of “the essential of governing”, dispelling obsession and reaching the Way likewise breaks (B). But there is no clear evidence of a whole-book necessary condition for “recognizing a transcendent ultimate reality” as an event.
Level of the break｜ritual and rightness / transforming nature: structural level B; knowing the Way / embodying the Way in “Dispelling Obsession”: structural level within this chapter B; the “right recognition of the ultimate ground” required for ② is a separate C-grade cross-chapter interpretation.
Complete ultimate structure and mode of existence after completion｜the completion of the sage and the gentleman appears as good virtue, clear knowledge and social action, not just a flash of awareness.
Position of the thought itself｜self-reflexivity: E-12 criticizes obsession with one corner, E-18 dismantles the intrinsic appropriateness of names. Self-inclusion: E-18—19 bring naming, language and pointing to realities into human institutions; E-16 brings the thought’s cognition into the order of the heart and the Way. But whether it positively places its own speech within a more basic whole is still not a complete proof of the ① type.
Return｜the concrete world of institutions, ritual, music, groups, desires, names and statuses and the seasons of Heaven can always be returned to for explanation (E-07—11, 18—19).
Another reasonable reading｜with “embodying the Way” and “great pure clarity”, “Dispelling Obsession” pushes knowing and acting toward the complete life of the great person, possibly beyond the way of governing; but the text explicitly puts this capacity into “the essential of governing” and “examining order and disorder”, and in the absence of new evidence one cannot by this alone change the judgment to ②.
Safest boundary at present｜④ (B); local C in the ③ / ② directions.
Xunzi also has rational cognition of “Heaven”, but no completion chain isomorphic with Mengzi’s “fully realizing the heart—knowing one’s nature—knowing Heaven—serving Heaven and establishing destiny”; one cannot say in general terms that “Xunzi does not speak of knowing Heaven”.
Grade of judgment｜core textual assertions A; the main cross-chapter structure is at present a working inference at B; alternative interpretations that cannot yet be excluded by equal evidence are C.
Positive evidence｜self-reflexivity: E-12 criticizes obsession with one corner, E-18 dismantles the intrinsic appropriateness of names. Self-inclusion: E-18—19 bring naming, language and pointing to realities into human institutions; E-16 brings the thought’s cognition into the order of the heart and the Way. But whether it positively places its own speech within a more basic whole is still not a complete proof of the ① type.
Limiting evidence｜negating a word, acknowledging that language is limited, or declaring the heart and the Way the same does not automatically prove that this argument itself and its being understood have achieved positive internal placement.
Disputed reading｜an author’s account of speech, reflection, names or the heart can be read as a structure in which the thought is internally placed in the whole, or merely as a self-limitation of explanation / teaching; one must see whether it runs through the core relations.
Safest conclusion at present｜self-reflexivity and self-inclusion are recorded as separate matters; judging ① requires the additional double proof of positive internal placement and deletion of the cognitive function, and cannot be upgraded merely because of a candidate for self-inclusion.
Most delicate point｜“great pure clarity” and “embodying the Way” are by no means trivial techniques: they constitute the cognitive-practical completion of “Dispelling Obsession”. The key is that the text explicitly connects them with the way of governing, choosing people, ritual and law, and discerning the patterns of Heaven, earth and the myriad things;
one cannot therefore say that the whole book takes another cognitive relation of “seeing the ultimate ground” as its highest completion.
Positive evidence｜the “disputed” E cards marked in this archive and their surrounding text are the core; word frequency itself cannot be taken as a necessary condition.
Limiting evidence｜the normative, practical and cognitive vocabulary of the same author may cut across the layers of expression, teaching, path, structure and ending.
Disputed reading｜the same word can be a naming permission, a mode of entry, a functional completion or a definition of the structure of existence; this must still be discriminated within the text.
Safest conclusion at present｜④ (B); the knowledge-action chain of “Dispelling Obsession” B, raising it to a ② / ③ ultimate structure still C.
Current conclusion｜④｜“Explaining the World” (B); “embodying the Way” in “Dispelling Obsession” bears load within the chapter at B, and as a ② / ③ boundary inference remains C
Derived from the chain of argument｜the core issues across many chapters are nature and deliberate effort, ritual, social division, correct naming and the division of labour between Heaven and humans. “Dispelling Obsession” is not an irrelevant tool, but the cognitive-practical link on which the above order must rely; but its “Way” functions within “thus the essential of governing lies in knowing the Way” and “examining order and disorder”, and has not been proven to be an object of ultimate awakening detached from human order.
Limits and grade｜This is the current research placement, not a ranking of the six positions, still less a judgment of the value of human thought. A local C does not automatically change the main class to C; if the core deciding condition itself is only C, the boundary must be declared open.
With “Heaven’s course is constant” he removed the mechanical dependence of human success and failure on the will of Heaven; with “transforming nature and establishing deliberate effort” he argued the human possibility of public norms; and with correct naming and dispelling obsession he linked institutions and cognition.
The “highest achievement” here is this figure’s structural contribution on the path of his own thought, not a ranking of status;
nor can later systems be used to supply all the premises the original text does not state explicitly.
Counter-question: “Dispelling Obsession” speaks directly of knowing the Way and embodying the Way, so it must be judged ②
Current reply: There is indeed a positive chain of completion, which cannot be reduced to “mere teaching”. But one would need to argue that the priority task of this Way in the whole book goes beyond ethics and the way of governing; for now there is insufficient evidence to change the main class.
Counter-question: Xunzi’s doctrine that nature is bad shows that humans have no inner capacity to do good
Current reply: E-05 on the contrary stipulates that goodness can be formed through deliberate effort and ritual and rightness; “nature is bad” is not a doctrine of the impossibility of doing good.
Counter-question: Heaven’s course is constant and does not await knowing, so it is classed at ①
Current reply: The independence of the course of nature and Heaven does not mean that the social order and cognitive practice of the whole system of thought need no human mediation.
Counter-question: Transforming nature and establishing deliberate effort is purely external reshaping, with no position for the thought itself
Current reply: The cognition, names and institutions of language in E-12—19 show that it is not only external compulsion, but “complete self-inclusion” must still be treated with caution.
Counter-question: Ritual restrains desire, which contradicts “ritual is nourishment”
Current reply: Ritual at once stipulates limits and the reasonable nourishment of desire;
this is a double function, not a logical conflict.
Counter-question: The commentated editions of Xunzi are Xunzi’s own words, so all commentary can be cited directly as T1
Current reply｜The text of the Xunzi must be separated from the Tang commentary of Yang Liang; the quotations in this archive are from the main text only, and the commentary is not used as independent evidence of the author.
No.26 Mengzi: both discuss how ritual, rightness and governance are possible. Mengzi explains virtue from the good sprouts and extending; Xunzi organizes public order from desires, ritual and rightness and acquired making. Both are for now comparative hypotheses awaiting verification.
No.25 Confucius: Xunzi extended the systematic account of ritual, names and statuses, the division of labour between Heaven and humans, and the conditions of cognition. Comparison must use the reliable current version of the No.25 archive.
Limits of comparison｜Figures for whom current archives exist are read against each other at the same level of primary texts; researchers not yet independently completed are only compared as hypotheses awaiting verification.
With the constancy of Heaven’s course and the distinction between Heaven and humans, Xunzi rejects the simple correspondence of Heaven’s will with reward and punishment; with the distinction between nature and deliberate effort, social division with ritual and rightness, and correct naming, he stipulates human order; “Dispelling Obsession” uses “empty, unified and still—knowing the Way discerningly—knowing the Way in action—embodying the Way” to explain the conditions of the arts of the heart that make it possible to practise the way of governing, and clear cognition cannot be deleted from this structure. But this does not yet mean that his highest task of thought is an independent right recognition of the ground;
currently ④ (B).
What it dismantles｜the direct teleology of Heaven rewarding and punishing rulers by disasters and portents; the intuition that ritual and rightness are innately self-sufficient; the cognitive obsession of deciding the whole by the view of one corner.
What finally cannot be deleted｜nature—deliberate effort—ritual and rightness—institutional order, and the knowledge-practice load of empty, unified and still—knowing the Way—discerning, acting and embodying the Way in “Dispelling Obsession”. Delete the former and social order breaks; delete the latter and the relation of dispelling obsession—reaching the Way breaks.
Whether the thought itself is within the whole｜self-reflexivity: E-12 criticizes obsession with one corner, E-18 dismantles the intrinsic appropriateness of names. Self-inclusion: E-18—19 bring naming, language and pointing to realities into human institutions; E-16 brings the thought’s cognition into the order of the heart and the Way. But whether it positively places its own speech within a more basic whole is still not a complete proof of the ① type.
To what grade the most delicate point can be judged｜clarity and embodying the Way in “Dispelling Obsession” bear B-grade load within the chapter; whether they change the main task of the whole book remains C; current judgment ④ (B).
Main text of Xunzi, “Human Nature Is Bad”｜https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/荀子/性惡篇
Main text of Xunzi, “Dispelling Obsession”｜https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/荀子/解蔽篇
Main text of Xunzi, “Discourse on Heaven”｜https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/荀子/天論篇
Main text of Xunzi, “Discourse on Ritual”｜https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/荀子/禮論篇
Main text of Xunzi, “Encouraging Learning”｜https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/荀子/勸學篇
Note on evidence levels｜The received Xunzi consists of many essays, traditionally arranged by Liu Xiang, and current editions are often accompanied by Yang Liang’s commentary. This archive takes the main text of the core chapters of Xun Qing’s thought as T1; no chapter-by-chapter study of style or excavated documents has been done on attribution, and the layer of particular chapters such as “Human Nature Is Bad” should continue to be tested in research on textual levels. Yang Liang’s commentary and modern synthetic interpretations are not used as Xunzi’s own direct argument.
Verification not completed｜Collation against images of the original editions of the received texts, finer division of authorship of some chapters, and correction of variants in all the short quotations have not been completed.
Systematic collation of the quotations in the searchable online transcription against authoritative critical editions remains outside the completed scope; this archive does not claim to have collated against facsimiles.
Missing evidence is not resolved evidence｜classics, histories, the teaching background and the author’s other writings not yet listed may change the boundaries of the argument; one cannot therefore say that the author never answered.