SINO-PLATONIC PAPERS Number 199 March, 2010 Other Laozi Parallels in the Hanfeizi: An Alternative Approach to the Textual History of the Laozi and Early Chinese Thought by Tae Hyun KIM Victor H. Mair, Editor Sino-Platonic Papers Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305 USA [email protected] www.sino-platonic.org SINO-PLATONIC PAPERS FOUNDED 1986 Editor-in-Chief VICTOR H. MAIR Associate Editors PAULA ROBERTS MARK SWOFFORD SINO-PLATONIC PAPERS is an occasional series dedicated to making available to specialists and the interested public the results of research that, because of its unconventional or controversial nature, might otherwise go unpublished. The editor-in-chief actively encourages younger, not yet well established, scholars and independent authors to submit manuscripts for consideration. 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You should also check our Web site at www.sino-platonic.org, as back issues are regularly rereleased for free as PDF editions. Sino-Platonic Papers is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- NoDerivs 2.5 License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 543 Howard Street, 5th Floor, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA. Other Laozi Parallels in the Hanfeizi: An Alternative Approach to the Textual History of the Laozi and Early Chinese Thought by Tae Hyun KIM 金泰炫 [email protected] Abstract This article deals with the textual history of the Laozi, focusing on quotations by the authors of the Jie Lao and Yu Lao (JYL) chapters of the extant Hanfeizi. Comparing them with early Laozi parallels (PL) of the Guodian (GD) and the Mawangdui (MWD), I analyze some significant textual differences among the three and attempt to find what the differences imply with regard to philological and philosophical concerns. Claiming that, at the end of the Warring States and the very early Western Han period, the Laozi had not yet been completed and that it underwent several further processes toward becoming a unified and established 5,000-word Laozi, I analyze the way in which the text was evolving from the GD PL to the JYL PL, and to the MWD PL. Based on text analysis comparing the early Laozi PLs, this paper explores not only what the early PLs variously testify, but also, who, in what philosophical, cultural and political circumstances, and with what intention, contributed to the gradual, multi-layered textual evolution of the early PLs toward one complete text, later entitled “Laozi.” This textual study of the Laozi helps to reexamine conventional categories for early Chinese philosophical schools such as Confucianism or Daoism. Furthermore, this attempt also validates the view that the establishment of the Laozi is associated with that of other texts that have been classified separately in philosophy. Tae Hyun KIM, “Other Laozi Parallels in the Hanfeizi” Sino-Platonic Papers, 199 (March 2010) Contents 1. Historicizing the text 1-1. The cases of the Mengzi, Xunzi, and Zhuangzi 1-2. The Laozi and its text formation process 2. Two chapters of the Hanfeizi and newly excavated Laozi parallels 2-1. The question of the authorship of two chapters 2-2. The question of the date of creation 2-2-1. The date relationship among two new finds and the Jie Yu Lao 2-2-2. Two questions on the Guodian: the textual characteristics and date of creation 2-2-3. The Mawangdui finds: the date of creation and the textual characteristics 2-2-4. What makes the Guodian and Mawangdui finds intriguing 3. Textual Characteristics of the Laozi parallels quoted in the Jie Lao and Yu Lao chapters 3-1. Table comparing characteristics of the Laozi parallels found in the Jie Lao, Yu Lao, Mawangdui, and Guodian texts 3-2. Preliminary reflections 3-2-1. Neither from the same parallels nor by the same author 3-2-2. The meaning of the argument 3-3. Regarding the possibility of arbitrarily selected quotations and commentaries 3-3-1. Complete sections 3-3-2. Maintaining the section order of the Mawangdui parallels 3-3-3. Beginning with the 38th section of the received text 3-3-4. The case of the Yu Lao 3-3-5. Conclusion 3-4. Textual differences between the Laozi parallels of Jie Yu Lao and of Mawangdui 3-4-1. Arbitrary arrangement of sections and chapters 3-4-2. Non-existent lines in the Mawangdui 2 Tae Hyun KIM, “Other Laozi Parallels in the Hanfeizi” Sino-Platonic Papers, 199 (March 2010) 3-4-3. Different words or arrangements 3-4-3-1. The case of Jie Lao 1 3-4-3-2. Jie Lao 8: Transposition case I 3-4-3-3. Yu Lao 4: Transposition case II 3-4-3-4. Yu Lao 5: Transposition case III 3-4-3-5. Conclusion 3-4-4. Non-existent lines in the Jie Yu Lao Laozi parallels: The case of Jie Lao 6 3-5. Philosophical characteristics of the Laozi parallels in the Jie Yu Lao: Summary 4. Conclusion 3 Tae Hyun KIM, “Other Laozi Parallels in the Hanfeizi” Sino-Platonic Papers, 199 (March 2010) 1. Historicizing the text1 Before examining various questions concerning the textual history of the Laozi, I attempt to explain a tacitly assumed but too often carelessly ignored or insufficiently examined question in the study of early Chinese texts and history: that many early texts may have undergone multiple text formation processes before their establishment as the sole extant version, that there remains even in extant texts some convincing evidence to attest to this complexity, and that this complexity seriously asks to reconstruct how to read an early Chinese text. Beginning with a textual examination of three well-known cases, I attempt to formularize my intellectual concerns regarding the Laozi, and, eventually, early Chinese philosophical texts in general. 1.1 The cases of the Mengzi, Xunzi, and Zhuangzi Mengzi witnessed some of Kongzi’s sayings in the book named after him, Mengzi: Kongzi said, “Humanness cannot be regarded in the same way as other ordinary values. If the king of a state were in favor of humanness, there would be no more enemies under heaven.” 孔子曰: 仁, 不可爲衆也, 夫國君好仁, 天下無敵. (離婁 上) 1 I would like to express my deep gratitude to Professor Mattias Ludwig Richter of the University of Colorado at Boulder, who has helped me to newly understand the question of the title of the Mawangdui texts and their physical and internal relatedness. Without many helpful discussions with Prof. Richter via dozens of emails, and his extremely kind intellectual explanations responding to my questions on the Guodian and the Mawangdui Laozi parallels, I would not have gained the insight necessary to explain the material characteristics in the Mawangdui PL, which have led me to offer this explanation of the text formation process of the Laozi in the early Han. I also sincerely and warmly thank Professor Victor H. Mair of the University of Pennsylvania. He has been the first reader and the important reviewer for all of the papers that I have written. Had it not been for his warm-hearted encouragement of my work, this paper as well as others could never have materialized and been published. Finally, I am grateful to Paula Roberts, Associate Director for the Center for East Asian Studies, University of Pennsylvania, who carefully edited the drafts and added polish and consistency to the finished work, and to Mark Swofford, whose careful attention to technical details ensured that the appearance of this paper correctly presents my intentions. 4 Tae Hyun KIM, “Other Laozi Parallels in the Hanfeizi” Sino-Platonic Papers, 199 (March 2010) Kongzi said, “Young men, listen to this song. If it (the water of Canglang 滄浪之 水) is clean, one tends to wash the string of his bamboo hat. If unclean, one washes his feet. The water itself brings about the circumstance.” 孔子曰: 小子聽之, 淸斯濯纓, 濁斯濯足矣, 自取之也.