Chapter Six: The Confucian Perspective -- Music and Ritual Governance

Section 1: The Intellectual Sources of Master Xun's Music Theory

The Master loved music all his life. Key passages from the Lunyu illuminate the roots of Master Xun's theory:

"The Master heard the Shao music in Qi and for three months did not notice the taste of meat." (Lunyu, "Shu Er")

"He said of the Shao that it was perfectly beautiful and also perfectly good." (Lunyu, "Ba Yi")

"Be inspired by the Odes, take your stand in ritual, achieve completion in music." (Lunyu, "Tai Bo")

"Ritual, ritual -- is it merely jade and silk$6 Music, music -- is it merely bells and drums$7" (Lunyu, "Yang Huo")

Section 2: "Music Unifies; Ritual Differentiates" -- The Social Function of Music

"Music is the unchangeable principle of harmony. Ritual is the unchangeable principle of order. Music unifies; ritual differentiates. The guiding thread of ritual and music governs the human heart."

Each instrumental character symbolizes an aspect of the ideal society: the drum is the sublime ruler, the bell the solid minister, the chime-stone the clear law, the wind instruments are collective harmony and individual initiative, and dance is universal peace. The entire ensemble is a microcosm of the ideal polity.

Section 3: The Yueji and Master Xun's Music Theory -- Mutual Resonance

The Yueji declares: "Music is the harmony of heaven and earth." And: "Great music shares the same harmony as heaven and earth." This is the governing thesis of Master Xun's cosmology of "the imagery of music."

Section 4: Musical Education and the Transformation of the People

"Music enters deeply into people; it transforms them swiftly." (Xunzi, "Discourse on Music")

Each of the twelve characters serves as a distinct mode of moral cultivation: the drum's "grandeur" teaches awe; the bell's "substantiality" teaches fullness; the chime-stone's "incorruptness" teaches restraint; and so on through all twelve.

Section 5: "The Imagery of Music" and the "Rectification of Names"

"The imagery of music" can be seen as the application of Master Xun's "rectification of names" doctrine to music. Each character-description both describes and prescribes -- naming the character of an instrument simultaneously establishes its standard.