Individual Autonomy and Responsibility in Late Imperial China By ...

are identified with personal autonomy, what people like and dislike in everyday life.³⁶ Li Zhi notes that while people like to discuss rites, these are ultimately personal opinions (yiji dingjian 一己定見), neither directly related to self-cultivation nor necessarily selfish expressions of improper desires. As the orthodox rules do not fit the individual requirements of people, they cannot be universalized. Li Zhi further argues that true rites are neither established rules for everybody nor artificial norms imposed by others or by government law. They are also not cultural and conventional instructions to be learned (由不學、不慮、不思、不勉、不識、不知而至者). They are the good habits corresponding to the expectations and needs of everyday life of common people; they come from the inner personality (由中而出), spontaneously follow personal natural tendencies (從天降者謂之禮): they are the true and concrete Way for each person. Therefore, rites do not come from the will of one, the ruler, but rather correspond to habits and expectations of common people, their shared desires.

In Li Zhi’s argumentation, his starting point is that “sages do not blame people for duties to impose on them, because every human being can become a sage” (聖人不責人之必能。是以人人皆可以為聖). The original independence of humans is a natural endowment: “From birth, every human being already has their complete lifestyle” 天生一人，自有一人之用.³⁷ The first statement concerns the moral, aesthetic, and personal autonomy of every human being. Then, “practicing humaneness comes from yourself and not from others’ [teachings]” 為仁由己，而不由人也.³⁸ Wisdom is not a secret knowledge owned by a few experts from whom one must learn; it is at everyone’s disposal—there is no need to wait for the teaching of sages. The consequence is that

Sages do not blame people for duties to impose on them; every human being can be a sage. Therefore, according to Master Wang Yangming streets are full of sages, and according to Buddha mind is Buddha and everybody is Buddha. If everybody is a sage, sages do not possess any special truth to teach people. This is the reason why Confucius said, “I would prefer not speaking.”³⁹