Righteous War in Early Daoist Classics

This paper examines the concept of "righteous warfare" as employed in three early Chinese texts associated with Daoist philosophy: the excavated manuscript Huangdi sijing 黃帝四經 (The Yellow Emperor's Four Classics), the Wenzi 文子 (Book of Master Wen), and the Huainanzi 淮南子 (Book of the Master of Huainan). At first glance, their promulgation of offensive righteous warfare seems at odds both with the Laozi's 老子 (Book of the Old Master) condemnations of war and its rejection of "righteousness." However, a closer analysis suggests that, despite differences in terminology and emphasis, there is a common thread in how political treatises belonging to the different branches of Daoist thought, as well as different stages in its development, treated warfare and its ethical dimensions.