The Core of Xunzi's Discourse on Ritual: The Origin, Structural Pattern, and Gradations of Ritual
This article offers an in-depth reading of the opening core text of Xunzi's Discourse on Ritual (Lilun), systematically analyzing the logical chain by which ritual arises from human desire and social conflict, elucidating the structural vision of 'honoring the root is called pattern; cleaving to function is called order,' and exploring the graduated levels of abundance, reduction, and the middle course in ritual, together with the Way of the noble person.
Chapter Eleven: General Conclusion -- Ritual as the Way, from Human Desire to the Way of Heaven
Section 1: The Inner Logic of the Four Passages on Ritual
First Paragraph -- The theory of ritual's origin: from human desire through contention, disorder, and impoverishment to the former kings' institution of ritual and the symbiotic growth of desire and resources.
Second Paragraph -- The theory of ritual's structure: the inner dimensions of root (pattern) and function (order), unified in the Great Unity (Grand Abundance).
Third Paragraph -- The theory of ritual's process and gradation: the developmental sequence (plainness --> pattern --> harmonious accord) and the three grades of quality (both feeling and pattern brought to their fullest; feeling and pattern alternately prevailing; returning to feeling and rejoining the Great Unity).