Guōdiàn Chǔmù Zhúshū‧Yǔ Cóng Èr 郭店楚墓竹書‧語叢二
Chu Tomb Bamboo Books from Guōdiàn — “Yǔ Cóng Èr” (Sayings Collection 2)
(anonymous; early Confucian miscellany)
About the work
The second of four Yǔ Cóng 語叢 (“Sayings Collections”) in the Guōdiàn 郭店 Chu Tomb 1 corpus (sealed ca. 300 BCE), labeled in the source file “郭店楚簡十六《語叢二》” (text 16). A dense collection of aphorisms tracing chains of derivation — psychological, social, and moral — from the fundamental human nature (xìng 性). The text is formally distinctive for its use of a single repeated formula: “X 生於 Y” (“X arises from Y”), generating an extended genealogy of human psychological states.
Abstract
Provenance. Guōdiàn Tomb 1, Jīngmén, Húběi, ca. 300 BCE. For archaeological background see KR2p0148.
Content. The opening passage of Yǔ Cóng 2 is structurally unlike any other Guōdiàn text: it consists almost entirely of chained statements of the form “X 生於 Y” (“X arises from Y”), generating interlocking genealogies of psychological and moral states originating in human nature (xìng 性) or desire (yù 欲):
From xìng 性 (nature): emotion (qíng 情) arises from nature; ritual (lǐ 禮) arises from emotion; awe (yán 嚴) from ritual; respect (jìng 敬) from awe; longing (wàng 望) from respect; shame (chǐ 恥) from longing; restraint (lì 悡) from shame; integrity (lián 廉) from restraint. In parallel: measurement (dù 度) arises from ritual; distinction (bó 尃) from measurement; excess (dà 大) from desire; anxiety (yōu 憂) from excess; resentment (yùn 慍) from anxiety.
Further chains: love (ài 愛) from nature → intimacy (qīn 親) from love → loyalty (zhōng 忠) from intimacy. Desire (yù 欲) from nature → deliberation (lǜ 慮) from desire → deviation (bèi 背) from deliberation → contention (zhēng 爭) → factionalism (dǎng 黨). Desire → greed (tān 貪) → doubling/betrayal (bèi 倍) → injury (cǎn 忓). Desire → deceit (xuān 諼) → empty words (xǔ 訏) → forgetting (wàng 忘). Desire → shame (kuì 愧) → embarrassment (nǜ 恧) → fickleness (tiāo 佻). Intelligence (zhì 智) from nature → transformation (huà 化) → pleasure (yuè 悅) → fondness (hào 好) → compliance (cóng 從). Kindness (cí 慈) from nature → ease (yì 易) → abandon (sì 肆) → accommodating (róng 容). Aversion (wù 惡) from nature → anger (nù 怒) → triumph (shèng 勝) → animosity (jì 惎) → destructiveness (zéi 賊). Joy (xǐ 喜) from nature → pleasure (lè 樂) → sorrow (bēi 悲). Resentment (yùn 慍) from nature → anxiety (yōu 憂) → grief (āi 哀). Fear (jù 懼) from nature → vigilance (jiàn 監) → grievance (yuàn 怨). Strength (qiáng 強) from nature → resolve (lì 立) → decisiveness (duàn 斷). Weakness (ruò 弱) from nature → doubt (yí 疑) → flight (bèi 北, retreat).
The text then appends a series of shorter aphorisms: “凡悔，已道者也” (“All regret concerns matters already decided”). “知命者亡咎” (“The one who knows fate incurs no blame”). “有德者不移” (“The person of virtue does not shift”). “小不忍，敗大勢” (“Inability to endure small things defeats the great momentum”).
Significance. The Yǔ Cóng 2 chain-of-generation format is unique in the Guōdiàn corpus and unusual in the early Chinese philosophical literature generally. It represents a systematic attempt to derive the entire range of human moral and psychological states from a small set of original sources (xìng 性, yù 欲), prefiguring later cosmological and psychological systematization in the Lǐjì chapter “Yuèjì” 樂記 and in Xúnzǐ’s 荀子 treatment of human nature. The identification of loyalty (zhōng 忠) as arising from nature through intimacy, and of factionalism (dǎng 黨) and destructiveness (zéi 賊) as arising from desire through deviation and greed, reflects the broader Confucian ethical project of the Guōdiàn corpus.
Dating. Manuscript copied ca. 300 BCE; composition probably fourth century BCE. Bracket notBefore: −400, notAfter: −300.
Translations and research
- 荊門市博物館, 《郭店楚墓竹書》, 文物出版社, 1998 — editio princeps.
- Cook, Scott. The Bamboo Texts of Guodian: A Study and Complete Translation. 2 vols. Cornell East Asia Series, 2012.
- Holloway, Kenneth. Guodian: The Newly Discovered Seeds of Chinese Religious and Political Philosophy. Oxford University Press, 2009.
- Shaughnessy, Edward L. Rewriting Early Chinese Texts. SUNY Press, 2006.
Other points of interest
The four Yǔ Cóng texts (of which this is the second) form a group of aphoristic collections within the Guōdiàn corpus. Their informal, miscellaneous character distinguishes them from the more structured treatises like Liù Dé (KR2p0156) and Táng Yú Zhī Dào (KR2p0153). They may represent compilation notes, teaching materials, or short collections of maxims used in instruction, rather than finished treatises.
Links
- Wikipedia (Guodian Chu Slips): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guodian_Chu_Slips