XII. "Li" and the Dao: A Deep Dialogue Between the Two Great Pre-Qin Traditions

12.1 A Surface-Level Opposition

In the history of pre-Qin thought, the attitudes of Confucianism and Daoism toward li appear starkly opposed:

Confucianism (represented by Confucius and Master Xun): affirms li to the highest degree, holding it to be the cornerstone of civilization, the utmost of the human way.

Daoism (represented by Laozi and Zhuangzi): takes a critical stance toward li, holding it to be a sign of the decline of civilization, a distortion of natural disposition.

Laozi's criticism in Chapter 38 of the Daodejing is the most famous:

"The highest virtue does not strive to be virtuous, and therefore truly has virtue; the lowest virtue never lets go of being virtuous, and therefore lacks true virtue. The highest virtue acts through non-action, and has no ulterior purpose in acting; the lowest virtue acts, and has an ulterior purpose in acting. The highest benevolence acts, and has no ulterior purpose in acting; the highest righteousness acts, and has an ulterior purpose in acting. The highest li acts, and meets with no response, and so it rolls up its sleeves and drags people to it by force. Thus, when the Dao is lost, only then is there virtue; when virtue is lost, only then is there benevolence; when benevolence is lost, only then is there righteousness; when righteousness is lost, only then is there li. Now li is the thinning of loyalty and good faith, and the beginning of disorder."

This is a descending sequence:

Dao → Virtue → Benevolence → Righteousness → Li

Each step downward marks the loss of some inner quality. The "Dao" is the most fundamental, the most natural state. Once the "Dao" is lost, people require "virtue" to compensate. Once "virtue," too, is lost, "benevolence" is required. And so on, until finally, when even "righteousness" no longer suffices, "li" becomes necessary. In Laozi's view, then, li is the last resort, and also the most superficial — it means that loyalty and good faith have already grown extremely thin, and that disorder is about to begin.

Zhuangzi's criticism is expressed in still more vivid imagery:

"Fish forget one another in the rivers and lakes; human beings forget one another in the arts of the Dao." (Zhuangzi, "The Great and Venerable Teacher")

Fish swim freely, each in their own way, within the rivers and lakes, "forgetting" one another — such "forgetting" is not indifference, but arises because the environment is good, requiring no deliberate attention to one another. In the same way, were people to live entirely within the Dao, there would be no need whatsoever for li to sustain their relationships — people would naturally and spontaneously live in harmony.

"Li is what the vulgar world produces; the genuine (zhen) is what is received from Heaven, spontaneous and unalterable. Thus the sage takes Heaven as his model and prizes the genuine, and is not bound by the vulgar world." (Zhuangzi, "The Old Fisherman")

Li is merely a product of worldly convention; "the genuine" (authenticity, naturalness) is what is bestowed by Heaven, and cannot be altered. The sage takes Heaven as his model and prizes what is genuine, and is not confined by worldly convention.

12.2 A Deeper Consensus

Yet if we move past this surface-level opposition and probe into the core of the two traditions, we find some surprising points of consensus.

First point of consensus: continuity between Heaven and humanity

Both Confucianism and Daoism hold that there exists a profound connection between natural order (the Way of Heaven) and human conduct.

• Master Xun: "By li, Heaven and Earth are joined in harmony; by li, the sun and moon shine bright; by li, the four seasons proceed in sequence; by li, the stars move in their courses" — the operation of Heaven and Earth and the myriad things embodies the principle of li.
• Laozi: "Humanity models itself on Earth; Earth models itself on Heaven; Heaven models itself on the Dao; the Dao models itself on what is spontaneously so" (Ch. 25) — human beings ought to model themselves on the way Heaven and Earth operate.

Both hold that humanity ought to learn from nature. The disagreement lies in what is to be learned: Master Xun holds that what is learned from nature is order and differentiation ("the noble and the base have their places," "the firm and the yielding are distinguished"); Laozi holds that what is learned is spontaneity, accomplishment through non-action.

Second point of consensus: the balancing principle of "going too far is as bad as not going far enough"

Master Xun: "cutting the long to mend the short, diminishing what is excessive, and supplementing what is insufficient" Laozi: "the Way of Heaven diminishes what is excessive and supplements what is insufficient"

Both, quite independently, hold that the best state is one of balance — that both excess and deficiency are harmful.

Third point of consensus: opposition to hollow formalism

This point is perhaps the most surprising. Although Master Xun holds li in the very highest regard, he by no means endorses a li that possesses form without substance. He explicitly identifies "feeling and pattern both fully realized" as the highest state, and "returning to bare feeling in order to rejoin the Great Unity" as the minimum baseline — under any circumstance, genuine feeling remains an indispensable foundation of li.

What Laozi criticizes — "the highest li acts, and meets with no response, and so it rolls up its sleeves and drags people to it by force," that is, li coercively imposed, with no inner assent — is likewise rejected within Master Xun's own framework. Master Xun would say: that is not true li at all; that is li corrupted.

Confucius, too, states this explicitly: "When we speak of li, li, do we simply mean jade and silk$3 When we speak of music, music, do we simply mean bells and drums$4" (Analects 17.11) — "If you constantly speak of 'li, li,' do you mean nothing more than offerings of jade and silk$5 If you constantly speak of 'music, music,' do you mean nothing more than bells and drums$6"

Confucius's meaning is clear: if you believe that li consists merely in outward forms and objects, then you have not understood li at all.

Fourth point of consensus: reverence for the "unhewn"

In his discourse on sacrifice, Master Xun repeatedly stresses "honoring the root" — using dark wine (plain water), raw fish, and the great broth (plain, unseasoned soup) to express reverence for the original condition of things. This reverence for "simplicity" and "the original" resonates deeply with Laozi's exaltation of "pu" (朴, the unhewn log, the original, unworked condition of a thing).

Laozi says: "Manifest plainness and hold fast to the unhewn; lessen self-interest and diminish desire" (Daodejing, Ch. 19) — manifest what is plain, embrace what is unhewn.

Although Master Xun's "honoring the root" operates within the framework of li (setting out plain water first, before proceeding to fine wine), the spirit it expresses — never forgetting the fundamental origin of things — accords with Laozi's "embracing the unhewn."

12.3 The Fundamental Point of Divergence: The Value of the Humanly Made (Wei)

Despite the points of consensus outlined above, Confucianism and Daoism differ irreconcilably on one fundamental question: is humanly made cultural creation ("conscious activity," wei) necessary at all$7

Master Xun's position is unambiguous: "without conscious activity, nature cannot beautify itself" — without human cultivation, human nature cannot perfect itself. Heaven and Earth can give birth to the myriad things, but cannot distinguish and organize them; human nature supplies the raw material, but this material requires human labor upon it before it can become a fine work. Li is the most essential tool in this process of shaping.

The position of Laozi and Zhuangzi is the opposite. Laozi says: "When the great Dao was abandoned, only then did benevolence and righteousness appear" (Ch. 18) — it is precisely because the great Dao was abandoned that these humanly made concepts of "benevolence and righteousness" came to appear. The implication is: had the great Dao never been abandoned, there would have been no need for "benevolence and righteousness" at all, still less for li.

Zhuangzi tells a famous parable: Hundun (Chaos) was a gentle and kindly spirit-lord who had no seven openings (eyes, ears, mouth, and nose). Other spirit-lords, wishing to repay his kindness, bored one opening into him each day. On the seventh day, the seven openings were complete — and Hundun died. (Zhuangzi, "Fit for Emperors and Kings")

The moral of this parable is: humanly wrought "improvement" (boring openings into Hundun, just as li is instituted for humankind) may in fact destroy the natural disposition of a thing. Hundun had no need of the seven openings in order to exist perfectly well — just as, perhaps, human beings might live perfectly well without li.

This is a profound philosophical dispute, and one not easily resolved once and for all. In this dispute there is no simple right or wrong — each side sees an important facet of the problem.

What Master Xun sees is this: in a world of limited resources and unlimited desire, without institutional constraint and guidance (li), human society will inevitably fall into contention and disorder. Though li is humanly made, it is what makes social cooperation possible, and what allows both individual and collective to benefit.

What Laozi and Zhuangzi see is this: any humanly made institution carries the risk of becoming alienated from its purpose — li, originally created to promote harmony, may turn into an instrument of oppression, a mask of hypocrisy, or a rigid dogma. The more complex the institution, the greater the risk of such alienation.

Perhaps the best attitude is this: to acknowledge the necessity of li (human society genuinely requires some form of order), while remaining ever watchful of the risk that li might become alienated from its purpose (constantly examining whether li still retains its connection to "feeling" and to "the Dao"). And this is precisely the state that Master Xun's ideal of "feeling and pattern both fully realized" seeks to attain.