Lüshi Chunqiu
呂氏春秋 (Lüshi Chunqiu)
No single school has a monopoly on truth, so the wise ruler assembles the best insight from Confucian ethics, Daoist cosmology, Legalist administration, and Mohist economy alike, organizing them around the seasonal structure of the natural year rather than around loyalty to one faction.
- eclectic synthesis of rival philosophical schools
- governance organized around the seasonal calendar
- commissioned by the Qin chancellor Lü Buwei
- model for the later Huainanzi
An encyclopedic compendium commissioned by Lü Buwei, the powerful chancellor of Qin who briefly guided the young king who would become the First Emperor, and assembled by scholars he retained at his court. Organized into twelve 'almanacs' keyed to the months of the year, eight 'examinations,' and six 'discourses,' it deliberately synthesizes material from Confucian, Daoist, Legalist, Mohist, and Yin-Yang cosmological traditions rather than advocating a single school, on the theory that a ruler needs the seasonally appropriate policy for each moment rather than one fixed doctrine. Legend holds Lü Buwei offered gold to anyone who could improve a single character, a claim to definitive completeness undercut by his fall from power soon after.
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