On Xunzi’s Rule Of Courtesy Thought And Modern Enlightment

Chinese society was influenced by Confucian culture for thousands of years.Now China is constructing a harmonious society. Confucian culture also plays animportant role in the society. Many experts and scholars pay high attention toresearch the thought of Confucius and Mencius, however, the author thinks thatthe third master’s thought of Confucianism is more suitable for us to learn anduse for reference.Xunzi’s rite which is based on his Conception of heaven and man that hasthe character of native materialism and his evil human nature. He proposed thatrite was the key, the class should use rite and law at the same time.Xunzi’s conception of heaven and man changed people’s view about therelationship between the heaven and people. He thinks there is a differencebetween heaven and man. In his eyes, the heaven is no longer the God whocontrols human’s life, death, and fate, but the existence which is natural and hashis own development law. It will not be changed by the will of people. Knowingthe natural law and using it in a proper way one of his views shows that theindividual has characteristics of activeness. He hences the individual shouldobserve and control the rules of agricultural, using it in the development of theagricultural production. His thought has a good reference in arousing activenessand the relationship between people and nature.Xunzi’s evil human nature is the cornerstone of all thoughts. He thinks thatpeople was born with kinds of desires. The desires he said is animal’s naturaldesire. If we don’t control it, people will follow and produce chaos. So he thinksthat human nature is evil.Although human nature is evil, Xunzi believes that this kind of evil can betaught and changed. So he comes up with ritual. The writer analyses his opinion and considers that his ritual has rich meanings. Ritual is not only the traditionalsense of moral demand, but also the country’s basic laws, grade system, propertydistribution system, and so on. Whether the national order is stable or not andwhether the customer is honest or not all are mattered by ritual. So Xunzi asks toenrich ritual.At the same time, Xunzi pays high attention to the legal system. He believesthat human can be taught, but there are also some people who can’t be changedby teaching existing. In order to maintain human’s interests, they will bepunished and forced to transform themselves. In the article the writer alsoanalyses the meaning of law. The writer believed that the law of Xunzi has twobranches which are broad sense and narrow sense. Broad sense includes ritualand punishment, while narrow sense refers to the punishment which is made byritual. Actually, using ritual to control the country is Xunzi’s thought.Xunzi’s rite required the sages especially the monarchs to consummatethemselves constantly. At the same time they should learn and imitate othermonarchs’ way to control their country. Xunzi’s rite also required the monarchsto take people seriously, admire the sages and make the useful serve the court,which can make the people live happily, the government officials take their fullresponsibility. So the custom is pure and the country is peaceful.Nowadays, the society phenomenon is complex. In recent years, there hashad many problems. Such as moral retrogression; the mainstream ideology hasnot being fixed; so it requests us to strengthen that using virtue control thecountry and according the law to control the country. His thought is a goodexample which we can learn from it. In this article, the writer has some ideasabout the rite for us to use: nowadays, in the aspect of harmonious theory, itenlightens us to lay stress on guiding personality correctly. Every field of thesociety should be developed harmoniously; in college education, it enlightens usthat we establish educational subject and foster practical ability; in theconstruction of Rule by Law, it enlightens us that we establish system, absorb thetalented person, and use the new technology instruments; and so on.