Guanzi (text)

This article is about the ancient Chinese text. For its

traditional author, see Guan Zhong.

myriad disturbances.
You will see prot and not be enticed by it,
You will see harm and not be frightened by it.
Relaxed and unwound, yet acutely sensitive,
In solitude you delight in your own person.
This is called revolving the vital breath":

The Guanzi (Chinese: ) is an ancient Chinese political and philosophical text that is named for and traditionally attributed to the 7th century BCE philosopher Guan
Zhong, who served as Prime Minister to Duke Huan
of Qi.* [1] At over 135,000 characters long, the Guanzi
is one of the longest early Chinese philosophical texts.
The Han Dynasty scholar Liu Xiang edited the received
Guanzi text circa 26 BCE, containing a wide variety of
material from many dierent authors over several successive centuries, largely associated with the 4th century
BCE Jixia Academy in the Qi capital of Linzi.* [1]* [2]

Your thoughts and deeds seem heavenly.

(24, tr. Roth 1999:92)
Such divergence resulted in the changing aliation of the
text in the ancient library lists: it has been characterised
as Legalist since Sui dynasty (581-617), while before that
it was listed as Taoist.

Most Guanzi chapters deal with government and the art of

rulership. A number of chapters also express what may be
considered a blend of Legalistic, Confucian, and Daoistic
philosophy that has been termed "Huang-Lao".* [1]* [3]
The rst reference to the collection appears in another
such text, the more Taoistic Huainanzi of the early Han
dynasty.* [4] Considering their tone generally less strident
than in the classic Legalist work, the Book of Lord Shang
(Shang jun shu ), translator Allyn Rickett dissents
from the traditional Confucian view of the texts as Legalist, judging them to present a point of view much
closer to that of the realistic Confucian, Xunzi than either
the highly idealistic Confucianism of Mencius or the Draconian Legalism advocated by Shang Yang.* [5] Many
include Confucian values as a necessity for the state.* [6]

2 Structure
As typical of an ancient Chinese text, structure of Guanzi
should have changed over time. Presently it contains 72
pian (chapters), arranged in 24 juan (books). It
is also subdivided into 8 sections of varying length. The
signicance and chronology of the division are not clear.

3 See also
Shen Dao
Zou Yan

Content

Although most Guanzi chapters philosophically char- 4 References

acterize Legalism, other sections blend doctrines from
Confucianism and Taoism. For example, the Niy ( Footnotes
Inner Enterprise/Training) chapter has some of the
oldest recorded descriptions of Daoist meditation tech- [1] Rickett (1993), p. 244.
niques. There are also essays on a wide variety of other
subjects, ranging from detailed economic discussions to [2] Ricket, Guanzi (1985) p.3
overviews of local soil topography.
[3] Ricket, Guanzi (1985) p.3

When you enlarge your mind and let go of

[4] Ricket, Guanzi (1985) p.3

it,

[5] Rickett, Guanzi.(1985) p3

When you relax your [qi ] vital breath

and expand it,
When your body is calm and unmoving:
And you can maintain the One and discard the

[6] Rickett (1933), p. 244.

Works cited
1

5
Rickett, W. Allyn (1993). "Kuan tzu ". In
Loewe, Michael. Early Chinese Texts: A Bibliographical Guide. Berkeley: Society for the Study
of Early China; Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California Berkeley. pp. 24451. ISBN
1-55729-043-1.
Roth, Harold. Original Tao: inward training
(nei-yeh) and the foundations of Taoist mysticism.
Columbia University Press. 1999.

External links
Guanzi , Ulrich Theobald
Legalism, Qin Empire and Han Dynasty, Sanderson
Beck
Guanzi (Full text in Chinese)
Nei Ye, translation of Bram den Hond
Sixteen Chapters on Weighing and Balancing Economic Factors (): Chaps. 72
- 73 The New Legalist

EXTERNAL LINKS

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