Background
Some have named the Wenzi the fourth most important Daoist text after the Dao De Jing, Zhuangzi, and Liezi. It is believed to be at least two thousand years old and is attributed to a student of Laozi named Master Wen.
Official Recognition
The Wenzi was given official recognition by the Chinese Emperor centuries ago and was very influential in Chinese society. It was divided into 12 Chapters and included Daoist themes such as the Way, leadership, flexibility, and virtue. One of the only English translations was completed by Thomas Cleary who divided it into 180 sections (Wen-Tzu, introduction).
Authenticity
Early on scholars questioned its authenticity because it contained Confucian, Legalist, and Mohist philosophies. In fact, approximately 75% of its comes from the Huainanzi an ancient court text on leadership. In addition, it has undergone major revisions over the centuries. For these reasons some scholars have rejected it as a Daoist text (Creativity and Intertextuality, pages 2-3, 113).
In the following summaries, I focus on the Daoist influences in the text. There is a large amount found in Chapter 1, but the other chapters also contain Daoist teachings as well.
- Chapter 1: The Origin of the Way
- Chapter 2: Sincerity and Virtue
- Chapter 3: The Nine Principles of Governance
- Chapter 4: Symbolic Sayings
- Chapter 5: The Virtue of the Way
- Chapters 6-12: Supreme Virtue
Dingzhou Wenzi
The Dingzhou Wenzi was discovered in 1973 in Dingzhou, China. It included 277 bamboo fragments, had at least two parts, and was divided into nine chapters including “Sageness and Wisdom” and “The Enlightened King.” It was organized around a series of questions between King Ping and his advisor Wenzi. It included themes such as the way, flexibility, effortless action, leadership, and virtue (Creativity, pages 5, 23).
Scholars believe it has had less revisions than the previous version, now known as the Received Wenzi, and did not include material from the Huaininanzi. While 94 of its bamboo fragments have parallels in the Received Wenzi it was heavily influenced by the Liezi (Creativity and Intertextuality, pages 8, 32, 61-65, 81, and 84; Creation and Manipulation, pages 23 and 25).
In the following summaries I focus on its Daoist themes of the Way, compassion, flexibility, wu wei, and leadership. I will also address that its writing on virtue has inconsistencies with Daoist teachings.
Resources
The Wenzi: Creativity and Intertextuality in Early Chinese Philosophy (Studies in the History of Chinese Texts, 9), Paul Van Els, Brill Academic Publisher, 2018.
Els, P. van. (2006, May 29). The Wenzi: creation and manipulation of a Chinese
philosophical text, Paul Van Els, 2006.
Wen-Tzu, Understanding the Mysteries, Thomas Cleary, Translator. 1991.
