"The present volume plunges the reader head-on into one of the most exciting recent findings in the field of Chinese cultural history ... . The current companion, which is an outstanding collaborative enterprise made by expert contributors coming from diverse fields of Sinology ... . Since the bamboo slips date back to the philosophically extremely rich Warring States period of Chinese history, it uniquely displays the important philosophical and religious disputes of the era ... ." (Lehel Balogh, Religious Studies Review, Vol. 46 (1), March, 2020)
Chapter 1. Introduction: The Excavated Guodian 郭店 Bamboo Manuscripts (Shirley Chan).- Part 1. A Philological Reading of the Guodian Manuscripts: The Texts and Textual Formation.- Chapter 2. The Guodian Laozi 老子 Materials (Franklin Perkins).- Chapter 3. On Citation Practices in the Guodian Manuscripts (HE Ruyue and Michael Nylan).- Chapter 4. Shu 書 (Documents) Repertoire in Argument-Based Texts from Guodian: The Case of Cheng zhi 成之 (Things Brought to Completion) (Dirk Meyer).- Chapter 5. How to Achieve Good Governance—Arguments in the Tang Yu zhi dao 唐虞之道 (The Ways of Yao and Shun) and the Zhong xin zhi dao 忠信之道 (The Ways of Uprightness and Reliability) (Michael Schimmelpfennig).- Chapter 6. Which Comes First? Dao 道 or De 德: Evidence from Guodian Manuscripts (Constance A. Cook).- Chapter 7. Reading heng cheng 恆稱 in the Guodian Bamboo Text Lu Mu Gong wen Zisi 魯穆公問子思 (Duke Mu of Lu Asked Zisi) (LIAO Mingchun).- Part 2. Philosophical Concepts and Arguments in the Guodian Manuscripts.- Chapter 8. The Taiyi shengshui 太一生水 Cosmogony and Its Role in Early Chinese Thought (Erica Brindley).- Chapter 9. Daoist Philosophy as Viewed from the Guodian Manuscripts (Barbara Hendrischke).- Chapter 10. “Sagacity” and the Heaven–Human Relationship in the Wuxing 五行 (Erica Brindley).- Chapter 11. The Qiong da yi shi 窮達以時 (Poverty or Success Is a Matter of Timing) and the Concept of Heaven and Humans in Early Confucianism (LIANG Tao).- Chapter 12. Xing 性 and Qing 情: Human Nature and Moral Cultivation in the Guodian Text Xing zi ming chu 性自命出 (Nature Derives from Endowment) (Shirley Chan).- Chapter 13. Body and Mind in the Guodian Manuscripts (Lisa Raphals).- Chapter 14. Daoist Nature or Confucian Nurture: Moral Development in the Yucong 語叢 (Thicket of Sayings) (Shirley Chan).- Chapter 15. The Debate over Coercive Rulership and the “Human Way” in Light of Recently Excavated Warring States Texts (Updated) (Scott Cook).- Chapter 16. The Guodian Confucian Texts and the Xunzi 荀子 (TANG Siufu).- Chapter 17. From the Liu wei 六位 (Six Positions) Discussed in the Liu de 六德 (Six Virtues) to the San gang 三綱 (Three Principles of Social Order) (LI Rui).- Chapter 18. Guodian: A New Window for Understanding the Introduction of Buddhism into China (Kenneth W. Holloway).
Shirley Chan is Associate Professor and Head of Chinese Studies of Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. She specializes in researches on ancient Chinese culture covering philosophy, textual studies, intellectual history, and excavated bamboo manuscripts, on which she has published extensively in both English and Chinese. She has been invited to appear in programs produced by the BBC, ABC and SBS on traditional Chinese thought and culture. Professor Chan has served as President of Chinese Studies Association of Australia and member of Editorial Board of several international journals including the Bamboo and Silk (Brill) and the Journal of Oriental Society of Australia.
This volume covers the philosophical, historical, religious, and interpretative aspects of the ancient Guodian bamboo manuscripts (郭店楚簡) which were disentombed in the Guodian Village in Hubei Province, China, in 1993. Considered to be the Chinese equivalent of the Dead Sea Scrolls, these manuscripts are archaeological finds whose importance cannot be underestimated. Many of the texts are without counterparts in the transmitted tradition, and they provide unique insights into the developments of Chinese philosophy in the period between the death of Confucius (551-479 BCE) and the writings of Mencius (c.372-289 BCE), and beyond.
Divided into two parts, the book first provides inter-textual contexts and backgrounds of the Guodian manuscripts. The second part covers the main concepts and arguments in the Guodian texts, including cosmology and metaphysics, political philosophy, moral psychology, and theory of human nature. The thematic essays serve as an introduction to the philosophical significance and the key philosophical concepts/thought of each text contained in the Guodian corpus. Each chapter has a section on the implications of the texts for the received tradition, or for the purpose of comparing some of the text(s) with the received tradition in terms of the key philosophical concepts as well as the reading and interpretation of the texts. The volume covers most of the texts inscribed on the 800-odd slips of the Guodian corpus dated to the fourth century BCE.