Other Sources of the Outer Chapters

Most sections in the outer chapters are borrowed from the Huáinánzǐ; others are in all likelihood based on the Ancient Wénzǐ. Some passages in the outer chapters are based on other sources: (1) the Lǎozǐ and the Zhōnghuángzǐ; (2) the Mencius and the Guǎnzǐ; (3) the Remnants of Zhōu Writings; and (4) the Book of Changes.

(1) Many Lǎozǐ quotations occur in passages inspired by the Ancient Wénzǐ. The Received Wénzǐ also adds Lǎozǐ quotations to passages borrowed from the

Huáinánzǐ. The Huáinánzǐ often quotes the Lǎozǐ, but not in passages related to these particular Wénzǐ sections. It appears that the Wénzǐ editor added Lǎozǐ sayings to material borrowed from the Huáinánzǐ. In addition to Lǎozǐ sayings, there is one long quotation in the Received Wénzǐ from another Daoist text, the Zhōnghuángzǐ. The inclusion of additional Daoist material in the Received Wénzǐ requires special attention and will be discussed in more detail in Chapter 8.

(2) Of Wénzǐ 2.21, only the first part corresponds to the Huáinánzǐ. The latter part of this section includes the following passage:

夫憂民之憂者，民亦憂其憂，樂民之樂者，民亦樂其樂，故憂以天下， 樂以天下，然而不王者，未之有也。聖人之法，始於不可見，終於不可 及，處於不傾之地，積於不盡之倉，載於不竭之府。出令如流水之原，

使民於不爭之官，開必得之門，不為不可成，不求不可得，不處不可

久，不行不可復。208

Now, as for those who worry about the worries of the people, the people also worry about their worries; and as for those who enjoy the enjoyments of the people, the people also enjoy their enjoyments. It has never happened that someone who shares the worries and joys of All under Heaven did not become king.209

The laws of the sages start with what is beyond vision and end at what is beyond reach. Place them on an unshakable foundation, accumulate them in inexhaustible granaries; stock them in bottomless storehouses. Hand down orders like the wellspring of a flowing stream; place people in offices where they are not at cross-purposes. Open the gates to certain gain. Do not undertake what cannot be completed; do not seek what cannot be obtained; do not assume positions that cannot be maintained; do not do what cannot be undone.210

The first paragraph, which urges rulers to worry about the worries of the people, paraphrases advice of Mencius to King Xuān of Qí 齊宣王 in Mencius 2.4. The second paragraph, describing the laws of the sages, appears with minor variations in

Guǎnzǐ 管子 chapter 1. The link between these two paragraphs and their respective sources is hard to overlook. As early as the Táng dynasty, Liǔ Zōngyuán 柳宗元

(773-819), an important Wénzǐ critic, mentions the Mencius and the Guǎnzǐ, in this order, as two sources of the Received Wénzǐ. Given that no other passage in the Received Wénzǐ directly quotes the Mencius or the Guǎnzǐ, it seems that this very passage in Wénzǐ 2.21 led Liǔ Zōngyuán to brand the Wénzǐ as a “composite work” 駁 書.

(3) The Received Wénzǐ also contains passages related to the Remnants of Zhōu Writings 逸周書, a collection of texts that Confucius allegedly did not include in the Book of Documents書經. In the Remnants, we find this passage:

時之行也，勤以徙，不知道者福為禍。時之徙也，勤以行，不知道者以 福亡。故，天為蓋，地為軫，善用道者終無盡，地為軫，天為蓋，善用 道者終無害。天地之間有滄熱，善用道者終無竭。陳彼五行必有勝，天

之所覆盡可稱。211

The advancement of time, one must change along with diligence; for those who fail to understand this principle, fortune becomes misfortune. The change

208_{Wénzǐ 2.21 (excerpt).}

209 _{Translation based on Lau [1970: 63].} 210 _{Translation based on Rickett [1985: 55].} 211_{Remnants of Zhōu Writings 67.}

of time, one must advance along with diligence; those who fail to understand this principle perish because of fortune. […]

Therefore, with Heaven as a canopy and Earth as a carriage, the end of those who skillfully practice this principle is inexhaustible.212 With Earth as a carriage and Heaven as a canopy, the end of those who skillfully practice this principle is without pain. Between Heaven and Earth, there is cold and heat; the end of those who skillfully practice this principle is boundless. Whoever can explain these five ways of conduct shall be victorious, because whatever Heaven covers can be explained by it.

One short section in the Received Wénzǐ paraphrases this passage from the Remnants of Zhōu Writings and adds a saying from Lǎozǐ 71:

老子曰：時之行動以從，不知道者福為禍。天為蓋，地為軫，善用道者 終無盡，地為軫，天為蓋，善用道者終無害。陳彼五行必有勝，天之所

覆無不稱，故知不知，上，不知知，病也。213

Lǎozǐ said: “As for the advancement of time, if there is some movement, one should follow it; for those who fail to understand this principle, fortune becomes misfortune. As for the following of time, if there is movement, one should advance along with it; those who fail to understand this principle perish because of fortune. With Heaven as a canopy and Earth as a carriage, the end of those who skillfully practice this principle is inexhaustible. With Earth as a carriage and Heaven as a canopy, the end of those who skillfully practice this principle is without pain. Whoever can explain these five ways of conduct shall be victorious, because there is nothing that Heaven covers that cannot be explained by it. Therefore, to know when one does not know is best; to think one knows when one does not know is a disease.”

The Lǎozǐ saying does not appear in the Remnants. The Wénzǐ editor must have borrowed this passage from the Remnants to explain the Lǎozǐ.

(4) One section in the Received Wénzǐ contains explanations of 16 hexagrams from the Book of Changes 易經. In a detailed analysis of Wénzǐ 6.4, Chén Gǔyìng 陳 鼓應 [1996] compares this section’s elucidation of all 16 hexagrams to the Tuàn 彖

and Xiàng 象 explanations that usually accompany the Book of Changes. Here is the

Wénzǐ’s comment on the first hexagram of the famous oracle text, which consists of six non-broken lines:

212 _{The graph 軫zhěn ‘bumper’ here refers to the entire carriage.} 213_{Wénzǐ 4.4.}

乾qián

The Creative Principle

Tuàn 彖 : 大哉乾元，萬物資始，乃統天。

Vast indeed is the Creative Principle, the Source, the beginning of all things, that controls Heaven!

Xiàng 象 : 天行健，君子以自強不息。

The movement of Heaven is constant and regular. The superior man unceasingly makes himself strong.

Wénzǐ 6.4214 : 天覆萬物，施其德而養之，與而不取，故精神歸焉，

與而不取者，上德也，是以有德。

Heaven covers all things and spreads its virtue to nourish them. It gives without taking. Therefore, the pure spirit returns to it. Those who give without taking are of the highest virtue. For that reason, they posses virtue.215

This statement in the Received Wénzǐ serves three purposes. First, it illustrates the

Book of Changes hexagram. It interprets the “Creative Principle” 乾 as “Heaven” 天

and characterizes the latter as always giving and never taking. Second, it concludes its comment on the hexagram with a quotation from the Lǎozǐ. It thereby explains the paradoxical Lǎozǐ claim that “the highest virtue is not virtuous” 上德不德. In the

Wénzǐ, the “highest virtue” is a quality of people, who, like Heaven, unconditionally give without demanding anything in return. Third, it justifies the title of Wénzǐ 6, the chapter that contains these Book of Changes explanations: “The highest Virtue” 上德. Here is yet another example in which the editor can be seen to homogenize the text by establishing a connection between the chapter title and its content.

Chén Gǔyìng indicates that the Wénzǐ’s explanations are more refined than those of the Tuàn and Xiàng and therefore probably date to the late Warring States period or early Hàn dynasty. The Wénzǐ’s explanations may have been part of a commentary on the Book of Changes that was copied into the Received Wénzǐ during its revision, and ceased to be transmitted as an independent commentary afterwards.216

214_{Wénzǐ 6.4 (excerpt).}

215_{Lǎozǐ 38.}

216 _{Chén Gǔyìng shows that Huáinánzǐ 10 also contains explanations of Book of Changes hexagrams.}

Interestingly, the five Changes explanations in the Huáinánzǐ do not appear in the Wénzǐ, nor are the sixteen Changes explanations of the Wénzǐ found in the Huáinánzǐ.