Human Mind,the Way Mind and the Counsels of Great Yu——An Academic Inquiry Based on the Misplaced Slips in Xunzi

Abstract: This paper re-examines Xunzi's concepts of the “human mind”(“人心”) and the “Way mind”(“道心”) by correcting textual displacements in the Jie Bi chapter.It argues that the human mind is primarily a faculty for seeking the Way,which evolves into the “Way mind” upon attaining moral truth.The study further demonstrates that the Counsels of Great Yu (“大禹谟”) in the Book of Documents is a later compilation that borrowed from the Xunzi,rather than being its source.Consequently,the Song Neo-Confucian “sixteen-word transmission” lacks historical and textual basis.The author concludes by affirming the unique theoretical value of Xunzi's philosophy of the mind.