Self-Transformation and the Ruler’s Handle in the Huashu
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.67148/fahss-2026-259Keywords:
Huashu; Tan Qiao; self-transformation; frugality; rulership; wuweiAbstract
The Huashu commends the people’s self-transformation while declaring that the “handle” of transformation rests with the ruler. Frugality explains how these claims belong together: the ruler can influence popular life by restraining his own demands and conduct. His example affects popular desires, while his expenditure draws upon the means available for livelihood. Humility and contentment, however, must arise through the people’s own responses. Close readings of the political essays show how criticism of appropriation and resentment directs the ruler toward correcting his contribution to disorder. “Jiehuo,” “Huabing,” and “Rutong” connect this self-restraint with transformation, while “Diaolong” specifies its effects on labor, resources, and time. Dialogue with scholarship on Daoist cultivation and authority, together with a comparison of selected Han Feizi passages, places these arguments within broader discussions of effective rule. The Huashu gives the ruler a task he can perform himself: reducing the burdens and changing the example through which he shapes the conditions of popular response.
References
[1] Tan Qiao 譚峭. 2022. Huashu (Han Ying duizhao) 化書（漢英對照） [Of Transformation]. Annotated and translated by Zhu Yumin 朱玉敏. Guangzhou 廣州: Shijie Tushu Chuban Guangdong Youxian Gongsi 世界圖書出版廣東有限公司.
[2] Didier, John. 1998. “Messrs. T’an, Chancellor Sung, and the ‘Book of Transformation (Hua Shu)’: Texts and the Transformations of Traditions.” Asia Major, third series, 11 (1): 99–150. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41645536.
[3] Kohn, Livia. 1993. The Taoist Experience: An Anthology. Albany: State University of New York Press.
[4] Ames, Roger T., and David L. Hall. 2003. Daodejing: Making This Life Significant: A Philosophical Translation. New York: Ballantine Books.
[5] Michael, Thomas. 2018. “Explorations in Authority in the Daodejing: A Daoist Engagement with Hannah Arendt.” Religions 9 (12): 378. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel9120378.
[6] Slingerland, Edward. 2000. “Effortless Action: The Chinese Spiritual Ideal of Wu-wei.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 68 (2): 293–328. https://www.edwardslingerland.com/s/effortless_action.pdf.
[7] Stamatov, Aleksandar. 2017. “The Laozi’s Criticism of Government and Society and a Daoist Criticism of the Modern State.” Asian Philosophy 27 (2): 127–149. https://doi.org/10.1080/09552367.2017.1319782.
[8] Goldin, Paul R. 2013. “Introduction: Han Fei and the Han Feizi.” In Dao Companion to the Philosophy of Han Fei, edited by Paul R. Goldin, 1–21. Dordrecht: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4318-2_1.
[9] Pines, Yuri. 2013. “Submerged by Absolute Power: The Ruler’s Predicament in the Han Feizi.” In Dao Companion to the Philosophy of Han Fei, edited by Paul R. Goldin, 67–86. Dordrecht: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4318-2_4.
[10] Galvany, Albert. 2013. “Beyond the Rule of Rules: The Foundations of Sovereign Power in the Han Feizi.” In Dao Companion to the Philosophy of Han Fei, edited by Paul R. Goldin, 87–106. Dordrecht: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4318-2_5.
[11] Queen, Sarah A. 2013. “Han Feizi and the Old Master: A Comparative Analysis and Translation of Han Feizi Chapter 20, ‘Jie Lao,’ and Chapter 21, ‘Yu Lao.’” In Dao Companion to the Philosophy of Han Fei, edited by Paul R. Goldin, 197–256. Dordrecht: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4318-2_10.
Notes
1: The analysis concerns the received Huashu. For attribution, transmission, and organization, see Didier [2, 99–105, 142–145]. Huashu quotations are translated here from the Chinese in Zhu Yumin’s bilingual edition [1]; Zhu’s translations have also been consulted. Self-translations are located by essay title and printed Chinese-text page. Characters are normalized to traditional forms, punctuation is adjusted, and interpretive supplements appear in square brackets. The title “Taihe” follows the essay’s closing phrase 太和; Zhu’s heading prints 大和 [1, 150].
2: The Chinese reads 心不可安而自安之，道不可守而自守之，民不可化而自化之 [1, 237]. The repeated er 而 links each negative clause to a clause containing zi 自. “Made to” and “through imposition” explicate the contrast with the preceding account of instruction. The rendering with “let” follows the passage’s practical orientation toward governing and the recommendations that ensue.
3: The Chinese reads 迫之飲愈不飲，恕之飲愈欲飲 [1, 133]. Zhu’s modern Chinese paraphrase and English translation understand the second clause as preventing someone from drinking [1, 133–134]. The present rendering takes shu 恕 as forbearance. The ensuing contrast between 抑 and 容 supports this reading without making 恕 and 容 exact equivalents. The argument rests on those explicit paired actions and the political examples that follow.
4: In “Jiuli,” “returning responses” describes the pattern illustrated by 抑人者人抑之，容人者人容之 [1, 133]. It is a contextual explanation of fanfu, not a fixed equivalent throughout the Huashu: “Zhuanzhou” 轉舟 uses the word of overturning heaven and earth [1, 76].
5: Zhu glosses dao 盜 as borrowing (借用; [1, 133 n. 3]). “Drawing upon” follows the paired dependence illustrated by remission and service; de denotes beneficial treatment in this setting. The explicit criticism of appropriation in “Junmin” and “Yangmin” is examined separately below.
6: The paired clauses read 張儉之機，民自不欺；用儉之私，我自不疑 [1, 226]. “Apply frugality to private concerns” reads the second clause in light of the preceding 有私于己，不得不防, which connects private interests with the need for defensive measures.
7: The two short Han Feizi quotations reproduce Goldin’s English translations [8, 5, 16]. The account of “Jie Lao” below paraphrases Queen’s translation [11, 243]. References are to particular chapters of the received collection; neither shared terminology nor thematic resemblance is taken as evidence that the Huashu directly depends on them.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
For all articles published in Axon Academic Publishing Institute journals, copyright is retained by the authors. Articles are licensed under an open-access Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license, meaning that anyone may download, read, reuse, and quote the paper for free, provided that the original published version is cited. This ensures that the work receives maximum use and exposure, while giving proper credit to the authors.
In exceptional circumstances, articles may be licensed differently. If you have specific conditions (such as those related to funding) that prevent using this license, please notify the journal’s editorial office during submission. Exceptions will be considered at the publisher's discretion.
