A Study On Xunzi's Inheritance And Transformation Of Confucius' View Of Sage

Confucianism is the ideological main vein of Chinese excellent traditional culture.Duke of Zhou,Confucius,Mencius and Xunzi were the most important historical figures in the history of the development of pre-Qin Confucianism.After the Song Dynasty,with the promotion of Mencius’ status,people’s understanding of the core of Confucianism gradually gave way from "the Thoughts of Duke of Zhou and Confucius" to "the Thoughts of Confucius and Mencius".It affects the understanding of the ideological connection between Confucius and Xunzi to a certain extent.Taking the view of sages as the object of investigation,we find that the ideological continuity between Confucius and Xunzi is very obvious,so if "The Thoughts of Confucius and Mencius" is established,Confucianism can undoubtedly be defined as "The Thoughts of Confucius and Xunzi".As far as the development of early Confucianism is concerned,Confucianism in the pre-Qin period was initiated by Confucius and summarized by Xunzi in the late Warring States period,taking the sage concept as the entry point,we can outline the basic clue of its evolution and change between Confucius and Xunzi.This is reflected in:First of all,Xunzi inherited the sage concept of Confucius.First,he inherited the ideal personality of sages from "Yao and Shun failed to become sages" to "all the qualities of sages are perfect" : Confucius said that saint was the highest personality,"Saint is higher than benevolence,Yao and Shun were not able to become saints",Xunzi said that saint is "all the qualities of saints are perfect,is the standard to measure the people of the world".The second is the inheritance from "improving oneself and the people" to "moral and institutional perfection" :Confucius advocates the sage king’s way of improving oneself to secure the people,while Xunzi advocates the sage king’s way of moral perfection and institutional perfection.Secondly,Xunzi reformed Confucius’ concept of saint.First,it improved the reality from "I can’t see a saint" to "everyone can be a saint" : Confucius said that sage was the ideal personality of transcendence that "I cannot see",while Xunzi said that sage was the realistic goal of life that "all people can become saints",thus completing the reconstruction of the Confucian social order of "matching man with heaven and changing from mortal to saint".The second is the political transformation from the "virtue" of saints to the "system" of Kings: Confucius emphasized the "morality" of saints and the granting of favors and aid to the masses,while Xunzi emphasized the "system" of saints and Kings and the rules and regulations of the right way to make the society stable and orderly,thus completing the reconstruction of the internal saints and external Kings of Confucianism.At this point,Xunzi reconstructed the Confucian sage view of unity of ideal and reality,unity of moral cultivation and achievement,which not only highlights the emergence of the Confucian sage thought of lofty morality but also pays attention to the political effect,and established his spiritual characteristics of unity of moral idealism and political realism.Based on the above inheritance and transformation of Confucius’ sage view,there are two reasons for Xunzi to inherit Confucius’ sage view: one is the connotation stipulation that Confucianism shapes the highest ideal personality "the purpose is to govern the world",the other is the essential requirement of Confucianism to construct the ethical and political order "transform politics with morality".There are also two reasons for Xunzi to reform Confucius’ sage view:one is the external historical reason that the world is about to "complete unification" with the evolution of times,and the other is the internal logical reason that the doctrine of harmony gives a political orientation to the ethics and highlights the sage’s institutional governing effectiveness.To sum up the above four reasons,Xunzi’s view of sage not only continues Confucianism,but also realizes the great transformation of Confucian view of sage based on this.The Confucian sage view inherited and reformed by Xunzi had a profound influence on the birth of "political Confucianism" in the early Han Dynasty and the development of Confucianism in later generations,and still has a reference significance for the governance of modern society.Xunzi’s view of sage reduced the lofty moral idealism of Confucius’ view of sage to a certain extent,strengthened its realistic connotation of confronting objective political problems,changed the "tragic fate" of previous Confucianism,and made ideological preparation for the politicalization and official development of Confucianism in the early Han Dynasty.Viewed from the modern perspective,the pre-Qin Confucian sage view still has a certain theoretical reference value for modern state governance,especially for politician to strengthen moral cultivation and make a difference in the construction of system norms and so on.