There was once a man of southern Xia Shou by the name of Juan Shuliang who was both slow-witted and cowardly.
Walking along a road one moonlit night, he saw his own shadow on the ground in front of him.
“It’s a ghost crouching there!” he thought to himself.
Looking up, he saw a strand of hair dangling in front of his eyes.
“Ooh! It’s standing up now!” he thought.
He was so frightened he turned around and began to shuffle backwards.
As soon as he reached his home, he dropped to the ground and died from sheer fright.
Allegorical Meaning
This ancient parable from Xunzi explores the psychology of self-deception through the story of Juan Shuliang, a man who mistakes his own shadow for a ghost and dies of fright. The allegory reveals three profound insights:
The Cognitive Basis of Superstition
Juan’s terror stems from misinterpreting sensory data, demonstrating how unexamined perceptions become “evidence” for false beliefs. Xunzi uses this to argue that human cognition inherently distorts reality.
The Fatal Power of Confirmation Bias
The protagonist’s prior belief in ghosts primes him to interpret ambiguous stimuli as supernatural. This mirrors modern psychology’s “perceptual readiness” theory — we see what we’re conditioned to expect. His eventual death symbolizes how irrational fears become self-fulfilling prophecies.
Epistemological Warning
Xunzi used this story to question our sensory reliability — serves as a proto-scientific critique of relying on subjective experience over rational investigation.
The fable’s genius lies in showing how fear + ignorance = self-destruction. Its antidote — Xunzi’s emphasis on “dispelling obscuration” — remains vital for our post-truth era.
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