XIV. A Concluding Synthesis: "Li" as Living Wisdom

14.1 "Li" Is Not a Dead Set of Rules

Through the discussion above, we can see that the li understood by the pre-Qin Confucians (Master Xun above all) is by no means a rigid rulebook. It is a living system, possessing the following characteristics:

1. It is rooted: li is not invented out of nothing; it takes the natural order of Heaven and Earth as its model ("Heaven and Earth are joined in harmony, the sun and moon shine bright"), and takes a person's genuine feeling as its foundation ("begins in simplicity").
2. It is elastic: li can flexibly adjust between "exaltation" and "diminution," adapting to different occasions and needs ("above, attains the fullest exaltation; below, exhausts the fullest diminution; and in between, dwells in the center").
3. It is balancing: the core function of li is "cutting the long to mend the short, diminishing what is excessive, and supplementing what is insufficient" — maintaining dynamic balance.
4. It is unified: though the concrete rules of li differ enormously, they all point toward one and the same underlying principle — "it is all one," "returning to the Great Unity."
5. It is developmental: li is the union of "nature" and "conscious activity" — it both respects a person's natural disposition and perfects it through deliberate human effort.

14.2 The Fundamental Question That "Li" Answers

Why does li occupy such a central place in pre-Qin thought$11 Because it answers the most fundamental question of human civilization:

How can human beings live together as a group$12

Human beings are not solitary creatures. A person must cooperate with others in order to survive. But cooperation requires order — who does what$13 Who possesses what$14 How is it to be distributed$15 How is respect and care to be expressed$16 How is conflict to be handled$17 How is one to face life and death$18

Li is the most comprehensive answer that the pre-Qin thinkers offered to these questions. It does not merely say, "you should do this" or "you should not do that" — it provides a complete worldview (how the order of Heaven and Earth operates), a view of human nature (what human desire and feeling consist of), a view of society (how a population ought to be organized), and a methodology (how all of this is to be realized through concrete ritual and conduct).

14.3 The Contemporary Significance of "Li"

Although this article confines itself strictly to pre-Qin sources, the question that li addresses — how to live properly within a group — is a perennial one. The insights of the pre-Qin thinkers remain deeply instructive even today, more than two thousand years later:

• Master Xun's "the two sustaining and increasing each other" reminds us: a good institution does not suppress desire, but allows both desire and resources to grow.
• The ideal of "feeling and pattern both fully realized" reminds us: form cannot be divorced from content, nor can content exist without form.
• "Cutting the long to mend the short, diminishing what is excessive, supplementing what is insufficient" reminds us: balance is an eternal task.
• "The union of nature and conscious activity" reminds us: nature and culture are not opposites, but complements.
• "Amid ten thousand transformations, there is no disorder" reminds us: to seek order within change, and to allow change within order.

And the criticisms of Laozi and Zhuangzi likewise remind us, at every turn, that any institution — however reasonable and well-intentioned it may have been at its founding — carries the risk of degenerating into hollow form or an instrument of oppression. To remain vigilant against this risk, to keep li always connected to "feeling" and to "the Dao," never allowing it to become a rootless, empty shell — this may be one of the most important lessons that pre-Qin thought has left us.

14.4 "Li" and "Lü": From Knowing to Doing

It is worth noting that "li" (礼) and "lü" (履) were, in ancient pronunciation, extremely close, and the two are profoundly connected. The original meaning of "lü" is to walk, to tread, to travel a road. Li was, from the very outset, never merely theoretical knowledge, but rather wisdom in practice — not "knowing" what is proper, but doing what is proper.

As Master Xun says: "To be able to deliberate, to be able to hold fast, and to add to this a love of the good — such a one is a sage." Deliberation, steadfastness, and love — this, perhaps, is what li asks of us at the deepest level.

This article is developed on the basis of Passages 1, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 24, and 26 of Master Xun's "Discourse on Ritual Propriety," drawing broadly on the Analects, the Mencius, the Daodejing, the Zhuangzi, the "Great Treatise," the Book of Songs, and other pre-Qin texts.

Xuanji Editorial Board