VI. "Li" Moving in Concert with Heaven and Earth: "Li" within Cosmology

6.1 A Startling Cosmological Proclamation

Within the "Discourse on Ritual Propriety" there is a passage that ranks among the most magnificent cosmological proclamations in the whole of pre-Qin thought:

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; by li, the rivers flow; by li, the myriad things flourish. By li, likes and dislikes are moderated; by li, joy and anger are made fitting. Applied below, it brings compliance; applied above, it brings enlightened rule. Amid ten thousand transformations, there is no disorder — but depart from it, and all is lost.

— Xunzi, "Discourse on Ritual Propriety," Passage 17

Rendered into continuous prose: "Heaven and Earth are joined in harmony because of li; the sun and moon shine because of li; the four seasons proceed in order because of li; the stars move in their courses because of li; the rivers flow because of li; the myriad things flourish because of li. Human likes and dislikes are moderated because of li; joy and anger are made fitting because of li. Dwelling below, one is compliant; dwelling above, one is enlightened. Amid ten thousand transformations there is no disorder — depart from li, and everything is lost."

6.2 "Li" as the Principle of Cosmic Order

What is most striking about this passage is that it extends li from the domain of human society to the entire cosmos.

In modern thinking, we are accustomed to distinguishing "natural law" from "social norms." Why does the sun rise$19 Because the earth rotates — this is a law of nature. Why do people form a queue$20 Because of social convention — this is a social norm. These two things seem, to us, entirely different in kind.

But in pre-Qin thought, no such distinction exists. The patterns by which Heaven and Earth operate and the norms of human society are seen as different aspects of one and the same order. The sun follows a fixed course, the four seasons alternate in a fixed rhythm, the rivers flow along fixed channels — the "regularity" and "sense of order" found in these natural phenomena are, in the eyes of the pre-Qin thinkers, the same thing, differently expressed, as the "regularity" and "sense of order" found in a human society where the noble and the base have their ranks and the elder and younger have their proper sequence.

The "Great Treatise" contains a passage that resonates strongly with this:

"Heaven is exalted, Earth is lowly; thus Qian and Kun are fixed. The lowly and the high are set out; thus the noble and the base have their places. Motion and stillness have their constancy; thus the firm and the yielding are distinguished."

— Heaven is exalted, Earth is lowly, and thus Qian and Kun (the pure yang and pure yin) are established. The lowly and the high are arrayed, and thus the positions of noble and base are set. Motion and stillness follow their constant patterns, and thus the firm and the yielding are distinguished.

It is worth noting: the order described in the "Great Treatise" is not "a structure imposed from without," but an order that unfolds of itself — the "are fixed" of "thus Qian and Kun are fixed" and the "have their places" of "the noble and the base have their places" both occur spontaneously, requiring no external intervention.

Master Xun's "Heaven and Earth are joined in harmony, the sun and moon shine bright, the four seasons proceed in sequence" and the "Great Treatise's" "Heaven is exalted, Earth is lowly; thus Qian and Kun are fixed" express one and the same cosmology, cast in identical form. Both hold that there exists, within the cosmos, an inherent order — an order that is not imposed by external force, but is simply the way things themselves operate.

6.3 "Amid Ten Thousand Transformations There Is No Disorder": Preserving Order Within Change

The phrase "amid ten thousand transformations there is no disorder" (wan bian bu luan) distills, in four characters, the core function of li: to maintain order amid boundless change.

These four characters accord entirely with the fundamental spirit of the Book of Changes. The original meaning of yi (易, "change") is precisely "change." The entire system of the Book of Changes — its sixty-four hexagrams, its three hundred and eighty-four lines — describes the various patterns of change. But the Book of Changes does not describe change in order to display disorder; rather, it does so in order to reveal the regularity and order within change.

In the worldview of the "Great Treatise," change is eternal and unstoppable. A thing unwilling to change will first create blockage, until the counter-force accumulates to such a degree that the thing is forced to reverse. Yet such change does not mean disorder; on the contrary, change itself follows regular patterns — "bian" (变, gradual change) and "hua" (化, sudden transformation) alternate with each other, much as water heats gradually and then suddenly turns to steam.

This is exactly the meaning of Master Xun's "amid ten thousand transformations there is no disorder": Heaven and Earth are, at every moment, in a state of change — the seasons succeed one another, the myriad things are born and perish, and human affairs rise and fall — yet so long as li remains as the principle of order, these changes will not degenerate into disorder. Change is the norm, but order, too, is the norm. The two are not in contradiction.

This also resonates with Laozi's thought. Laozi says:

"Reversal is the movement of the Dao; yielding is the function of the Dao." (Daodejing, Ch. 40)

"Reversal" (cyclical return) is the manner in which the Dao moves, and "yielding" (rather than force) is the manner in which the Dao operates. The movement of the Dao is cyclical — proceeding from one extreme toward the other, and then returning from that extreme back again — and this itself is a way of preserving order amid change.

6.4 "To Depart From It Is to Lose All": The Consequence of Deviation

"Depart from it, and all is lost" (er zhi ze sang) — deviate from li, and everything is lost.

Here, "er" (贰) means "to deviate from, to violate." This sentence issues a grave warning: should the order of the cosmos be broken, the consequences would be catastrophic. Were Heaven and Earth no longer joined in harmony, were the sun and moon no longer to alternate, were the four seasons no longer to succeed one another — this would mean the collapse of the entire world. In the same way, if human likes and dislikes lost their moderation, and joy and anger their proper expression, then social order too would collapse.

This is not merely a theoretical deduction; it also reflects a profound conviction held by the people of the pre-Qin era: natural order and social order are mutually interconnected. Disorder among human beings can affect Heaven and Earth (tyranny, for instance, might bring on natural disaster), and conversely, anomalies in Heaven and Earth foreshadow problems among human beings. This conviction was widespread throughout the pre-Qin period — found in Confucian, Daoist, and Yin-Yang thought alike.