Compiling in one volume the basic writings of these three seminal thinkers of ancient China, each from a different philosophical school, this book reveals the richness and diversity of the ancient Chinese intellectual world.

Various passages of the "Huainanzi" (ca. 139 B.C.) that bear upon the topic of emotions are brought together and the connections among these are demonstrated. There is a special focus on anger and desire. Emotions are analyzed as motions of qi that arise almost inevitably from a person's interactions with his environment. The "Huainanzi" adopts two models to describe the sagely way of dealing with these "motions": an active model in which the heart is seen as the faculty in control, (...) and a passive model in which the heart is described as a mirror. (shrink)