On The Somaesthetics About Accomplished People Of Xunzi

Somaesthetics is not just the aesthetics about the body,but also the aesthetics starting from the body.In essence,the body in Xunzi’ thought is different from the Western metaphysical tradition existing binary opposition between body and mind.According to Xunzi,body is a combination of body and mind,it is composed of body,air and heart.The body has two distinct characteristics:On the one hand,the human body is a natural existence.Naturally,people have a variety of sensory desires,including desires for material possessions and material comforts,and desire for power.Xunzi affirms the rationality of human ’s natural desires.On the other hand,people not only exists as a separated individual,he is still in society,no one can live without the group.Accordingly,the human body is the body in society.Xunzi thinks that if we obey human nature,it is possible that the whole society will be lead to fighting,chaos and poverty by satisfying individual desires.Thus,Xunzi proposes to regulate the desire of people by ritual,so that everyone could satisfy their desires within a reasonable range.Because of the ritual,natural body becomes social and cultural existence,thus realizing the perfection of human life.Xunzi believes that the body that accords with propriety is beautiful,it shows as the beauty of clothing,food,live,behavior,speech,appearance and the inherent spirit.The physical beauty as Xunzi says manifests in the process of forming the ideal personality.Man advanced from scholar to gentleman and finally sage.The process go through a series of self-cultivation effort which can change innate human nature.It includes two aspects:learning from the outside and learning by introspection.Learning from outside is to learn ritual from the teachers,and then practice them in their daily life,in order to transform them into specific physical behaviors;Introspection is constantly reflecting on your actions to see if they are appropriate or not,while focusing on nourishing heart.After these series of self-cultivation practice,everyone can be the accomplished people who have the beauty of "wholeness" and "pure".Unlike Confucius and Mencius,Xunzi advocates the process of self-cultivation through the way from outside to inside,focusing on external learning to change human nature.In addition,Xunzi’s advocacy is more than the requirement of Confucius for virtue,he emphasized the composition of intellectuality.The accomplished people of Xunzi is both moral and intellectual,this is a breakthrough and transcendence to the Confucian theory of self-actualization.Xunzi’s thinking about the physical beauty,raises people’s awareness of the phenomenon of the "artificial beauty".