A Modest Discourse on "Li" (Ritual Propriety) — Part 1
Approaching the subject from the standpoint of pre-Qin Confucianism, this article examines the origin, essence, and civilizational foundations of ritual propriety (li), seeking to understand the profound meaning it carries between human ethical order and the Way of Heaven.
A Word at the Outset
This article takes as its main thread the "Discourse on Ritual Propriety" (Lilun) of Master Xun (Xunzi, c. 313–238 BCE), and attempts to unfold the concept of li ("ritual propriety") in as much detail as possible. Master Xun is chosen because, among all the pre-Qin thinkers (that is, before the First Emperor of Qin unified China in 221 BCE), his treatment of li is the most systematic and complete. He not only inquired into the origin of li, but also probed deeply into its cosmological foundations, its operating principles, and its civilizational significance. At the same time, this article draws broadly on other important pre-Qin texts — including Confucius's Analects (Lunyu), Mencius's Mencius (Mengzi), Laozi's Daodejing, Zhuangzi's Zhuangzi, and the "Great Treatise" (Xici zhuan) of the Book of Changes (Zhouyi) system — in order to present the full countenance of this concept within the pre-Qin intellectual world.