A Dialectical Analysis of the Tripartite Qualities of 'Dao' in the Guanzi: Intricacy, Expansion, and Solidity

I. The Nature of the Guanzi

To study this passage, we must first clarify its textual origin—the nature of the Guanzi itself.

The Guanzi is traditionally attributed to Guan Zhong, but pre-Qin scholars already recognized that it was not the work of a single person or period. Han Fei stated in his Five Vermin (五蠹): "Now, all the people in the realm speak of governance; those who store the methods of Shang [Yang) and Guan Zhong have them in their homes." This indicates that during the Warring States period, Guan Zhong's teachings were widely disseminated, forming a school of thought that rallied around his name. The Guanzi is, in fact, a compilation accumulated over generations by the Guan Zhong school of thought (scholars in the Jixia Academy who centered their work on Guan Zhong's ideas).

The Jixia Academy, established outside the Jixia Gate of the capital city of Qi, Linzi, was founded during the reign of Duke Huan of Qi (or perhaps King Wei of Qi, according to some accounts) and declined during the reign of King Jian of Qi, lasting for over a hundred years. Records of the Grand Historian (史記), in the "Hereditary House of Tian Jingzhong Wan" (田敬仲完世家), states: "King Xuan delighted in scholars and rhetoricians such as Zou Yan, Chunyu Kun, Tian Pian, Jie Yu, Shen Dao, and Huan Yuan—seventy-six individuals in total—all of whom were granted aristocratic ranks and served as Grand Officers, though they did not administer affairs but engaged in debate." The Jixia Academy gathered the most outstanding thinkers of the Warring States period, and the chapters Xinshu Shang (心術上), Xinshu Xia (心術下), Baixin (白心), and Neiye (內業) within the Guanzi are known by scholars as the "Four Chapters of Guanzi" or core texts of the "Jixia Daoists."