A reflection on a quote by Xunzi

 By Andrew Talidong

"好一则博，以一行万。

[Love the One, and you will encompass everything; act from the One, and ten thousand things are moved.]"

- Xunzi (c. 313–238 BC), Xunzi Chapter 21

Seeking knowledge and skills is an impormant goal throughout my life: from childhood and to my adulthood. In fact, throughout my years in school I have many interests: from reading history, science, and mathematics. I learned so many trivial facts yet retained so little. In college, despite "reading" a full textbook, most of the information would be lost in a single week, worse, less than three days. Even outside academia, I struggle to manage my finances despite me watching finance gurus on the internet. Why is that? Why do I struggle every single time in my attempt to acquire knowledge and skills?

Xunzi's vision of concentrated understanding talks about having deep mastery of the core principle, "the One" (一, yi), to handle many complex situations more effectively. In addition, the phrase “using One to move ten thousand” is that if you grasp the central rule, principle, or framework, the many specific cases become much easier to interpret. Consider for example in mathematics, it might be the logical structure instead of memorizing hundreds of formulas; in writing, it might be the clarity of thought, instead of adopting numerous writing techniques or "tips" from different authors. 

If I truly "love" and internalize that core principle, I don't need to memorize every exception or formula separately. I "encompass everything" because the principle generates countless specific applications.

Xunzi's idea of understanding helps me realize that there's something wrong in the way I learn. Whenever I tried to study I tried to sift through a book, note the "important" terms, and memorize. Realizing this isn't working for me, I started to sit down and contemplate. I picked up a textbook, the one I didn't understand despite "reading" it fully. First, I tried to understand a page then another one, until I reach at the end of one chapter. And let me tell you, it made a difference. I did not know that understanding that very first chapter would introduce me the core idea of the whole book. The next chapters were a breeze as I get the gist of the theories and concepts like butter.

We live in an age that worships the ten thousand. We mistake breadth for depth, quantity for quality.

But Xunzi told me I cannot hold "ten thousand" things. But I can love one thing so truly that the ten thousand gather around it on their own, just like how one core chapter illuminated my understanding of a whole book.