Wenzi - Author

Author

Very little is known about Master Wen or whether he wrote the Wenzi. Even the name Wenzi 文子 can denote "Cultured" or "Literate", comparable with King Wen of Zhou 周文王 or Kong Wenzi 孔文子 (Analects 5.15, tr. Ames and Rosemont 1998:98-99).

The early Wenzi commentary by Li Xian 李暹 (fl. 516 CE) records that Wenzi's surname was Xin辛 and his sobriquet (hao 號) was Jiran 計然, he served under Fan Li 范蠡 (fl. 517 BCE), and studied with Laozi.

Du Daojian's commentary notes Wenzi was a nobleman from the Spring and Autumn Period state of Jin, his surname was Xin 辛 and courtesy name (zi 字) was Xing 銒. He was also called Song Xing 宋銒 referring to his home of Kuiqiu 葵丘, which was in Song (state).

The dates of Wenzi's birth and date are unknown. The Book of Han (above) contradictorily places the lifetime of Wenzi in the 8th century BCE (King Ping of Zhou) and the 6th-5th centuries BCE (Confucius, Laozi). Some commentators explain this two century difference by proposing there were two philosophers called Wenzi, others suggest a mistake for King Ping 平王 of Chu (r. 528-516 BCE).