The Image of Music and Sound in Xunzi's 'On Music': A Study of Character, Cosmos, and the Cultivation of Rites and Music

Section 3: Regulating Bending, Rising, Advancing, and Hastening ($\text{zhì fǔ yǎng, qū xìn, jìn tuì, chí sù}$) — The Order of the Body

"Yet, they regulate (govern) the bending and stretching, rising and falling, advancing and retreating, slowing and hastening" ($\text{rán ér zhì fǔ yǎng, qū xìn, jìn tuì, chí sù}$)—Yet, they are able to govern (control, normalize) the actions of rising and falling, bending and stretching, advancing and retreating, and slowing and hastening.

The character "govern" ($\text{zhì}$) is crucial. In pre-Qin usage, $\text{zhì}$ means to rectify, control, or standardize, contrasting with "chaos" ($\text{luàn}$). This governance ($\text{zhì}$) is the human effort to transform chaotic, natural states into orderly, cultural ones. The dancer's "governance" ($\text{zhì}$) of these bodily movements means bringing all possible human movements under the control of prescribed order, transforming the chaotic natural state into an orderly cultural state.

The four pairs of terms—fǔ yǎng (down/up), qū xìn (bend/stretch), jìn tuì (advance/retreat), chí sù (slow/fast)—exhaust the fundamental dimensions of human motion:

• Fǔ Yǎng: Vertical dimension.
• Qū Xìn: Articulation dimension (opening/closing of joints).
• Jìn Tuì: Anterior/Posterior dimension.
• Chí Sù: Temporal dimension (speed).

By covering these four opposing categories, Xunzi logically encompasses all possible bodily movements. The dancer "governs" ($\text{zhì}$) these four pairs—incorporating all potential human motion into an ordered regulation.

We must ask: Why use four pairs of "opposing categories" to describe bodily movement$34 Up vs. Down, Bend vs. Stretch, Retreat vs. Advance, Slow vs. Fast—all are complementary pairs.

This strongly resonates with the pre-Qin concept of Yin and Yang. The Yijing, Great Treatise states:

"One Yin and one Yang is called the Dao."

All things can be described by the dualistic framework of Yin and Yang. Rising is Yang, falling is Yin; stretching is Yang, bending is Yin; advancing is Yang, retreating is Yin; hastening is Yang, slowing is Yin. The dancer’s body constantly alternates between Yin and Yang, just as the Dao of Heaven alternates between Yin and Yang—an unceasing cycle.

The "Dao of Heaven" ($\text{tiān dào}$) mentioned in "Dance combines the intent of the Dao of Heaven" gains a concrete meaning here—the core of the Dao of Heaven is the alternation of Yin and Yang, and the bodily actions of the dancer are likewise an alternation of Yin and Yang. The dancer uses the body’s rising/falling, bending/stretching, advancing/retreating, and slowing/hastening to simulate the ebb and flow of the Dao of Heaven. This is the profound meaning of "combining the intent of the Dao of Heaven" ($\text{yì tiān dào jiān}$)—dance interprets the entirety of the Dao's intention through bodily movement.