DBQ Sources: Early Chinese Philosophies
WORLD HISTORY PROJECTORIGINS / LESSON 4.2 ACTIVITYDBQ SOURCES: EARLY CHINESE PHILOSOPHIESUnless otherwise noted, this work is licensed under CC BY 4.0. Credit: “DBQ Sources:Early Chinese Philosophies”, OER Project, https://www.oerproject.com/1PurposeUse a variety of primary and secondary sources to deepen your understanding ofthe similarities and differences between early Chinese philosophies.ProcessAnalyze the following sources. If you are using these sources to respond to an essay prompt, you should underlineor highlightany evidence that will support your claim. You can also use theQuick Sourcing Tool.Document 1The greater the number of laws and enactments, the more thieves and robbers there will be. Therefore, the Sage says: “So long as I do nothing, the people will work out their own reformation. So long as I love calm, the people will right themselves. If onlyI keep from meddling, the people will grow rich. If only I am free from desire, the people will come naturally back to simplicity.”If the government is sluggish and tolerant, the people will be honest. If the government is prying and meddling, there will be constant infraction of the law. Is the government corrupt? Then uprightness becomes rare, and goodness becomes strange.Govern a great nation as you would cook a small fish. Don’t overdo it.Source: This translation of the Daodejing is by Lionel Giles (1905) in The Sayings of Lao-Tzu (38). Text has been edited for clarity and brevity. These excerpts are taken from the Daodejing (Tao Te Ching) attributed to the Daoist philosopher Laozi (Lao-tzu, sixth century BCE).
WORLD HISTORY PROJECT ORIGINS / LESSON 4.2 ACTIVITYDBQ SOURCES: EARLY CHINESE PHILOSOPHIES2Document 2The Master [Confucius] said, “To rule a country of a thousand chariots, there must be reverent attention to business, and sincerity; economy in expenditure, and love for men; and the employment of the people at the proper seasons.”The Master said, “He who exercises government by means of his virtue may be compared to the north polar star, which keeps its place and all the stars turn towards it.”The Master said, “If the people be led by laws, and uniformity sought to be given them by punishments, they will try to avoid the punishment, but have no sense of shame. If they be led by virtue, and uniformity sought to be given them by the rules of propriety, they will have the sense of shame, and moreover will become good.”Confucius said, “Sir, in carrying on your government, why should you use killing at all? Let your desires be for what is good, and the people will be good. The relation between superiors and inferiors is like that between the wind and the grass. The grass must bend, when the wind blows across it.”Source: The Analects of Confucius, translated by James Legge and reproduced here: https://ctext.org/analects. Text has been edited for brevity.
WORLD HISTORY PROJECT ORIGINS / LESSON 4.2 ACTIVITYDBQ SOURCES: EARLY CHINESE PHILOSOPHIES3Document 3Han Feizi has said, “The affectionate mother has spoiled children, but the stern household has no rebellious servants.” And the purpose for saying so is to make certain that punishments are applied.Only the intelligent ruler is capable of applying heavy punishment against a light offense. If a light offense is punished harshly, one can imagine what will be done against a serious offense! Thus the people will not dare to violate the laws.Intelligent rulers and sage kings occupied their exalted positions due to nothing other than being able to exercise censure without neglect and to apply severe punishments without fail. It was for this reason that none in the empire dared to be rebellious.Thus is the way of the emperor made complete, and thus may the ruler be said really to understand the craft between ruler and subject.Source: Li Si, “Memorial on Exercising Heavy Censure,” reprinted in Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom, Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1, Second edition (Columbia University Press, 1999), 210–11. Text has been edited for brevity. These are excerpts from writings by imperial adviser and prime minister, Li Si (280–208 BCE).
WORLD HISTORY PROJECT ORIGINS / LESSON 4.2 ACTIVITYDBQ SOURCES: EARLY CHINESE PHILOSOPHIES4Document 4Heaven and Earth, though they are great because they give life to living beings, cannot cause a living being not to die. Kings and princes, though they have the power of preserving existence, cannot cause a preserved creature to be without sadness. Therefore we have said, “He who has left the household understands that woes and impediments come from simply having a body. He knows that continuing life comes from undergoing change.” Herein lay our meaning.This is why the monk refuses homage and does not bow to the emperor, the Lord of the Thousand Chariots. The monk keeps his work sublime. He is not ranked with kings or princes, and yet he basks in their kindness.Source: Huiyuan, “A Monk Does Not Bow Before A King,” reprinted in Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom, Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1, Second edition (Columbia University Press, 1999), 428–429. Text has been edited for clarity and brevity. This is an excerpt from the Buddhist text “A Monk Does Not Bow to a King,” by the Buddhist monk Huiyuan (334–426 CE).
WORLD HISTORY PROJECT ORIGINS / LESSON 4.2 ACTIVITYDBQ SOURCES: EARLY CHINESE PHILOSOPHIES5Document 5Master Zhuang was fishing in the Pu River. The King of Chu sent two high-ranking officials to say that the King wished to employ Zhuang as a high minister in the kingdom.Without turning around, Master Zhuang just kept holding his fishing rod and said, “I have heard that in Chu there is a sacred tortoise that has been dead for three thousand years. The King stores it in his ancestral temple in a hamper wrapped in cloth. Do you think this tortoise would rather be dead and have its bones preserved as an object of worship, or rather be alive and dragging its tail through the mud?”“It would rather be alive and dragging its tail through the mud,” said the two officials. “Begone!” said Master Zhuang. “I’d rather be dragging my tail in the mud.”Source: Excerpt from the Zhuangzi, by Zhuangzi (Chuang-tzu), and translated in Victor H. Mair, Wandering on the Way: Early Taoist Tales and Parables of Chuang Tzu (University of Hawai’i Press, 1994), 164. Text has been edited for brevity. These excerpts are from a Daoist text by Zhuangzi (Chuang-tzu).
WORLD HISTORY PROJECT ORIGINS / LESSON 4.2 ACTIVITYDBQ SOURCES: EARLY CHINESE PHILOSOPHIES6Document 6In earlier times, the empire disintegrated and fell into disorder. Everyone cherished his own favorite school of learning. Today, these independent schools of thought criticize your majesty’s codes of laws and instructions. It would be well to prohibit this.I suggest that all books, save the memoirs of your majesty, be burned. Those who dare to talk to each other about the classical texts should be executed and their bodies exposed in the marketplace. Anyone referring to the past to criticize the present should, together with all members of his family, be put to death. After thirty days from the time of the issuing of this decree, those who have not destroyed their books are to be branded and sent to build the Great Wall.Source: Li Si, “Memorial on the Burning of the Books,” reprinted in Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom, Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1, Second edition (Columbia University Press, 1999), 209–210. Text has been edited for brevity. This is another excerpt from a Legalist text by Li Si, imperial adviser and prime minister of the brief Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE).
WORLD HISTORY PROJECT ORIGINS / LESSON 4.2 ACTIVITYDBQ SOURCES: EARLY CHINESE PHILOSOPHIES7Document 7There are many services one must perform, but the serving of one’s parents is the root of all of them. There are many kinds of vigilance that one must exercise, but vigilance over one’s own person is the root of all of them.When scholars are put to death though they are guilty of no crime, the great officers may leave; when the people are slaughtered though they are guilty of no crime, the scholars may depart.If the ruler is humane, everyone will be humane. If the ruler keeps to rightness, everyone will keep to rightness.I have not heard of one who bent himself and in so doing straightened others. How much less could one disgrace himself, and in so doing correct the world!The goodness of human nature is like the downward course of water. There is no human being lacking in the tendency to do good, just as there is no water lacking in the tendency to flow downward.Source: Mencius, collected teachings of Mencius, reprinted in Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom, Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1, Second edition (Columbia University Press, 1999), 139, 141, 145, 147. Text has been edited for brevity. These are excerpts from the writings of Mencius (372–289 BCE), the most prominent Confucian philosopher after Confucius himself.