IX. Cutting the Long to Mend the Short: The Way of "Li" in Reconciling Extremes

9.1 The Principle of Cutting the Long and Mending the Short

Li is that which cuts the long and mends the short, diminishes what is excessive, and supplements what is insufficient, giving full expression to the pattern of love and reverence, and nurturing and perfecting the beauty of righteous conduct.

— Xunzi, "Discourse on Ritual Propriety," Passage 24

"Li is that which cuts what is too long and joins on what is too short, diminishes what is in excess and supplements what is lacking, gives full expression to the ornamented form of love and reverence, and nurtures and brings to completion the beauty of conduct in accordance with righteousness."

This passage describes the function of li as a force of regulation and balance. It does not simply add rules, but makes precise adjustments between excess and deficiency.

• Cutting the long, mending the short: whatever is excessive is trimmed away; whatever is deficient is supplemented.
• Diminishing what is excessive, supplementing what is insufficient: reducing what is surplus, adding to what is lacking.

This principle accords closely with Laozi's saying, discussed earlier: "The Way of Heaven diminishes what is excessive and supplements what is insufficient" (Daodejing, Ch. 77). Indeed, this may well be among the most widely shared convictions in pre-Qin thought — Confucians and Daoists alike hold that the fundamental law of the cosmos tends toward balance.

The difference lies here: Laozi holds that "the Way of Heaven" operates automatically, and that human intervention only disrupts this natural balancing force ("the way of humankind is not so: it diminishes what is insufficient in order to enrich what is already excessive" — the tendency of human society runs contrary to nature). Master Xun, by contrast, holds that it is precisely through li that human beings are able to actively organize society according to the principle of "the Way of Heaven" — enabling "diminishing what is excessive, supplementing what is insufficient" to be realized among human beings.

9.2 The Alternating Use of Auspicious and Inauspicious Rites

Master Xun goes on to develop a more concrete argument:

Thus ornamentation and plainness, music and weeping, ease and sorrow — these stand opposed to one another; yet li employs both together, taking each up in turn as the occasion requires. Ornamentation, music, and ease are the means by which one maintains calm and carries out auspicious occasions; plainness, weeping, and sorrow are the means by which one meets difficulty and carries out inauspicious occasions.

"Ornamentation and plainness, music and weeping, ease and sorrow — these are opposites; yet li employs both together, taking each up as the moment requires, alternating which prevails. Ornamentation, music, and ease serve to sustain calm and carry out auspicious matters; plainness, weeping, and sorrow serve to meet peril and carry out inauspicious matters."

Here lies an exceedingly important insight: li does not govern only joyful occasions, nor only sorrowful ones — it governs both together. Life contains fortune and misfortune, joy and grief, favorable turns and adverse ones. Li provides a fitting response for every such circumstance:

• Auspicious occasions (celebration, good fortune) → expressed through ornamentation, music, and ease
• Inauspicious occasions (death, calamity) → expressed through plainness (simple, unadorned objects), weeping, and sorrow

But the crucial point lies in what Master Xun says next:

Thus in establishing ornamentation, li does not go so far as excessive elegance and seductive display; in establishing plainness, it does not go so far as crude neglect and abandonment; in establishing music and ease, it does not go so far as dissolute excess and idle indulgence; in establishing weeping and sorrow, it does not go so far as distress that overwhelms and injures life — this is the central current of li.

"Thus, in establishing ornamentation, li does not go so far as excessive elegance and seductive display; in establishing plainness, it does not go so far as crude neglect and abandonment; in establishing music and ease, it does not go so far as dissolute excess and idle indulgence; in establishing weeping and grief, it does not go so far as distress severe enough to injure life — this is the central current of li."

9.3 "The Central Current of Li": Neither Excess nor Deficiency

This passage once again embodies the core wisdom of li: neither excess nor deficiency.

• Ornamentation (embellishment) is good — but it must not reach the point of "excessive elegance and seductive display."
• Plainness (simplicity) is good — but it must not reach the point of "crude neglect and abandonment."
• Music and joyful ease are good — but they must not reach the point of "dissolute excess and idle indulgence."
• Weeping and sorrow are good — but they must not reach the point of "distress that injures life and health."

This "central current" is not indifferent mediocrity, but rather a high form of wisdom and art. It requires a person, in every particular circumstance, to judge precisely what is "just right" — fully expressing feeling, while never losing control of it.

Let us illustrate this with a modern example: suppose a person has lost a close family member. Li requires that they express sorrow — weeping, wearing plain garments, curtailing social activity. But li also requires that they not grieve to the point of harming themselves — they must not, for this reason, refuse food unto death, must not utterly abandon life. Sorrow is real, and ought to be expressed, but it must have a limit, for the living still have life to continue living.

This balance both respects the authenticity of feeling and protects the continuation of life — this is "the central current of li."

Confucius expressed a similar view. In evaluating his students Zizhang and Zixia, he said: "Going too far is as bad as not going far enough" (Analects 11.16) — excess and deficiency are equally undesirable. To be able to find the fitting point between excess and deficiency is true wisdom.