Output: It is to be noticed that two kinds of statement occur in the "Appendices." The first consists of statements about the universe and the concrete things in it; the other consists of statements about the system of abstract symbols of the Yi itself. In "Appendix III it is said: "In the Yi there is the Supreme Ultimate which produces the Two Forms. The Two Forms produce the Four Emblems, and these Four Emblems produce the eight trigrams. Although this saying later became the foundation of the metaphysics and cosmology of the Neo-Confucianists, it does not refer to the actual universe, but rather to the system of symbols in the Yi. According to the "Appendices, " however, these symbols and formulas have their exact counterparts in the universe itself. Hence the two kinds of statement are really interchangeable. Thus the saying,"one Yang and one Yin: this is called Too," is a statement about the universe. Yet it is interchangeable with the other saying that "in the Yi there is the Supreme Ultimate which produces


Output: Yi there is the Supreme Ultimate which produces the Two Forms. The Too is equivalent to the Supreme Ultimate, while the Yin and Yang correspond to the Two Forms.


Output:
"Appendix III" also states: "The supreme virtue of Heaven is to produce." Again: "To produce and to reproduce is the function of the Yi." Here again are two kinds of statement. The former relates to the universe, and the latter to the Yi. Yet they are at the same time interchangeable.

 The Tao of the Transformation of Things

 One meaning of the name Yi, as we have seen, is transformation and change. The "Appendices"

 emphasize that all things in the universe are ever in a process of change. The comment on the third line of the eleventh hexa—

 278 CONFUCIANIST METAPHYSICS

 gram states: "There is no level place without a bank, and no departure without a return." This saying is considered by the "Appendices" as the formula according to which things undergo change. This is the Too of the transformation of all things.


Output: If a thing is to reach its completion and the state of completion is to be maintained, its operation must occur at the right place, in the right way, and at the right time. In the comments of the Yi, this Tightness is usually indicated by the words cheng (correct, proper) and chung (the mean, center, middle). As to cheng Appendix I states: The woman has her correct place within, and the man has his correct place without. The correctness of position of man and woman is the great principle of Heaven and Earth....When the father is father, and the son son; when the elder brother is elder brother, and the younger brother younger brother; when husband is husband, and wife wife: then the way of the family is correct. When it is correct, all under Heaven will be established.


Output:
Chung means neither too much nor too little. The natural inclination of man is to take too much. Hence both the "Appendices" and the Lao-tzu consider excess a great evil. The Lao-tzu speaks about fan (reversal, ch. 40) and fu (returning, ch. 16), and the Appendices also speak about fu. Among the hexagrams, indeed, there is one titled Fu (the 24th hexagram). "Appendix I" says about this hexagram: "In Fu we see the mind of Heaven and Earth."

 Using this concept of fu, "Appendix VI" interprets the order of arrangement of the sixty-four hexagrams.

 The Yi was originally divided into two books. This "Appendix" considers the first of these as dealing with the world of nature, and the second as dealing with that ot man. Concerning the first book, it says: "Following the existence of Heaven and Earth, there is the production of all things. The space between Heaven and Earth is full of all these things. Hence [.the hexagram] Ch'ien LHeavenJ and Lthe hexagram]


Output:
K'un [Earth] are followed by the hexagram Tun, which means fullness." Then tne "Appendix" tries to show how each hexagram is usually followed by another which is opposite in character.

 About the second book, this same "Appendix' says: "Following the existence of Heaven and Earth, there is the existence of all things. Following the existence of all things, there is the distinction of male and female. Following this distinction, there is the distinction between husband and wife. Following this distinction, there is the distinction between father and son. Following this distinction, there is the distinction between sovereign and subject. Following ihis distinction, there is the distinction between superiority and inferiority. Following this distinction, there are social order and justice. "Then, as in the case of the first part of the Yi, the "Appendix" tries to show how one hexagram is usually followed by another which is opposite in character.


Output:
The sixty-third hexagram is Chi-chi, which means something accom-28O CONFUCIANIST METAPHYSICS

 plished. At this point this "Appendix says: "But there can never be an end of things. Hence Chi—chi is followed by Wei—chi I the sixty-fourth hexagram, meaning something not yet accomplishedJ. With this hexagram, [the Yi\ comes to a close.

 According to this interpretation, the arrangement of the hexagrams implies at least three ideas: (I) that all that happens in the universe, natural and human alike, forms a continuous chain of natural sequence; (2.) that in the process of evolution, everything involves its own negation; and (3) that in the process of evolution, "there can never be an end of things.


Output:
The "Appendices' agree with the Lao-tzu that in order to do something with success, one must be careful not to be too successful; and that in order to avoid losing something, one must complement it with something of its opposite. Thus Appendix III says: The man who keeps danger in mind is one who retains his position. The man who keeps ruin in mind is one who survives. The man who has disorder in mind is one who has peace. Therefore, the superior man, when all is peaceful, does not forget danger.

 When he is acting, he does not forget about ruin. When he has society under control, he does not forget disorder. Hence it is possible, with his own person secure, for him to protect the state."

 The "Appendices also agree with the Lao-tzu that modesty and humbleness are the great virtues.


Output:
Appendix I remarks: It is the way of Heaven to diminish the swollen and augment the modest. It is the way of Earth to subvert the swollen and give free course to the modest....It is the way of man to hate the swollen and love the modest. Modesty, in a high position, sheds luster on it; in a low position it cannot be passed by unobserved. This is the final goal of the superior man.

 The Mean and Harmony


Output:
The Mean and Harmony

 The idea of chung is fully developed in the Chung Yung or Doctrine of the Mean. Chung is like the Aristotelian idea of the "golden mean." Some would understand it as simply doing things no more than halfway, but this is quite wrong. The real meaning of chung is neither too much nor too little, that is, just right. Suppose that one is going from Washington lo New York. It will then be just right to stop at New York, but to go right through to Boston, will be to do too much, and to stop at Philadelphia, will be to do too little. In a prose poem by Sung Yii of the third century B.C., he describes a beautiful girl with the words: If she were one inch taller, she would be too tall. If she were one inch shorter, she would be too short. If she used powder, her face would be too white. If she used rouge, her face would be too red."

 (Wen Hsiian, chiUm I9)The description means that her figure and complexion were just right, "just right"

 is what the Confucianists call chung.


Output:
is what the Confucianists call chung.

 Time is an important factor in the idea of being just right. It is just right 282. CONFUCIANIST METAPHYSICS

 to wear a fur coat in winter, but it is not just right to wear it in summer. Hence the Confucianists often use the word shih (time or timely) in conjunction with the word chung, as in the term shih chung or timely mean. Men-cms, for example, says of Confucius: When it was proper to go into office, then to go into it; when it was proper to remain out of office, then to remain out of it; when it was proper to continue in it long, then to continue in it long; when it was proper to withdraw from it quickly, then to withdraw from it quickly: such was Confucius.' (Mencius, Ila, 2.2..) Hence "among the sages, Confucius was the timely one. (Ibid., Vb, I.)


Output: The Chung Yung says: "To have no emotions of pleasure or anger, sorrow or joy, welling up: this is to be described as the state of chung. To have these emotions welling up but in due proportion: this is to be described as the state of ho [harmony]. Chung is the chief foundation of the world. Ho is the great highway for the world. Once chung and ho are established, Heaven and Earth maintain their proper position, and all creatures are nourished." (Ch. I.) When the emotions do not come forth at all, the mind neither goes too far nor falls short. It is just right. This is an illustration of the state of chung. And when the emotions do come forth, but in due proportion, this is also the state of chung for harmony results from chung, and chung serves to harmonize what might otherwise be discordant.


Output:
What is said about the emotions also applies to the desires. In personal conduct as well as in social relations, there are medium points which serve as right limits for the satisfaction of the desires and the expression of the emotions. When all desires and emotions of a person are satisfied and expressed to the right degree, the person achieves a harmony within his person which results in good mental health.

 Likewise, when all the desires and feelings of the various types of people who comprise a society are satisfied and expressed to the right degree, the society achieves harmony within itself which results in peace and order.


Output:
Harmony is the reconciling of differences into a harmonious unity. The Tso Chuan reports a speech by the statesman Yen Tzu (died 493 B.C.), in which he makes a distinction between harmony and uniformity or identity. Harmony, he says, may be illustrated by cooking. Water, vinegar, pickles, salt, and plums are used to cook fish. From these ingredjents there results a new taste which is neither that of the vinegar nor of the pickles. Uniformity or identity, on the other hand, may be likened to the attempt to flavor water with water, or to confine a piece of music to one note. In both cases there is nothing new.* Herein lies the distinction between the Chinese words t ung and ho. T ung means uniformity or identity, which is incompatible with difference. Ho means harmony, which is not incompatible with difference; on the contrary, it results when differences are brought together to form a unity.

 • See the 7so Chuan, twentieth year of Duke Chao, 522 B.C.

 2.84 CONFUCIANIST METAPHYSICS


Output:
2.84 CONFUCIANIST METAPHYSICS

 But in order to achieve harmony, the differences must each be present in precisely their proper proportion, which is chung. Thus the function of chung is to achieve harmony.

 A well-organized society is a harmonious unity in which people of differing talents and professions occupy their proper places, perform their proper functions, and are all equally satisfied and not in conflict with one another. An ideal world is also a harmonious unity. The Chung Yung says: All things are nurtured together without injuring one another. All courses are pursued without collision. This is what makes Heaven and Earth great." (Ch. 30.)

 Harmony of this sort, which includes not only human society, hut permeates the entire universe, is called the Supreme Harmony, In "Appendix I" of the Yi, it is said: "How vast is the originating power of [the hexagram] Ch' ien.... Unitedly to protect the Supreme Harmony: this is indeed profitable and auspicious."


Output:
The Common and the Ordinary

 The Chung Yung says: "What Heaven confers is called the nature. The following of this nature is called the Way [ Too ]. The cultivation of this Way is called spiritual culture. The Way is that which no man for a moment can do without. What a man can do without is not the Way. (Ch. I.) Here we touch upon the idea of the importance of the common and the ordinary, which is another important concept in the Chung Yung. This concept is expressed by the word yung, in the title of this work, which means common or ordinary.


Output:
Everyone finds it necessary to eat and drink every day. Hence eating and drinking are the common and ordinary activities of mankind. They are common and ordinary just because they are so important that no man can possibly do without them. The same is true of human relations and moral virtues. They appear to some people as so common and ordinary as to be ol little value. Yet they are so simply because they are so important that no man can do without them. To eat and drink, and to maintain human relations and moral virtues, is to follow the nature of man. It is nothing else but the Way or Too. What is called spiritual culture or moral instruction is nothing more than the cultivation of this Way.

 Since the Way is that which no man in actual fact can do without, what is the need of spiritual culture?


Output:
The answer is that although all men are, to some extent, really following the Way, not all men are sufficiently enlightened to be conscious of this fact. The Chung Yung says: Amongst men there are none who do not eat and drink, but there are few who really appreciate the taste." (Ch. 4.) The function of spiritual culture is to give people an understanding that they are all, more or less, actually following the Way, so as to cause them to be conscious of what they are doing.

 286 CONFUCIANIST METAPHYSICS

 Furthermore, although all men are, as a matter of necessity, compelled to follow the Way to some extent, not all can follow it to perfection. Thus no one can live in a society utterly devoid of human relationships; at the same time there are few who can meet with perfection all the requirements made by these human relationships. The function of spiritual culture is to perfect what man is, as a matter of fact, already doing to a greater or lesser degree.


Output:
Thus the Chung Yung says: The Way of the superior man is obvious and yet obscure. The ordinary man and ordinary woman in all their ignorance can yet have knowledge of it, yet in its perfection even a sage finds in it something which he does not know. The ordinary man and ordinary woman with all their stupidity can yet practice it, yet in its perfection even a sage finds in it something which he cannot practice....Thus the Way of the superior man begins with the relationship between husband and wife, but in its fullest extent reaches to all that is in Heaven and Earth." (Ch. 12..) Thus though all men, even in their ignorance and stupidity, are following the Way to some extent, spiritual cultivation is nevertheless required to bring them to enlightenment and perfection.

 Enlightenment and Perfection


Output:
Enlightenment and Perfection

 In the Chung Yung, this perfection is described as ch eng (sincerity, realness) and goes together with enlightenment. The Chung Yung says: "Progress from perfection to enlightenment is called the nature.

 From enlightenment to perfection it is called spiritual culture. When there is perfection, there is enlightenment. When there is enlightenment, there is perfection." (Ch. ii.) That is to say, once one understands all the significance of the ordinary and common acts of daily life, such as eating, drinking, and the human relationships, one is already a sage. The same is true when one practices to perfection what one understands. One cannot fully understand the significance of these things unless one practices them. Nor can one practice them to perfection, unless one fully understands their significance.


Output:
The Chung Yung says again: "The quality of ch'eng does not simply consist in perfecting oneself. It is that whereby one perfects all other things. The perfection of the self lies in the quality of yen [ humanheartedness]. The perfection of other things lies in wisdom. In this is the virtue of the nature. It is the way through which comes the union between inner and outer." (Ch. 25.) The meaning of this passage seems clear, yet I wonder whether the words, humanheartedness and wisdom, should not be interchanged.

 The Chung Yung says also: "it is only he who has the most ch'eng who can develop his nature to the utmost. Able to do this, he is able to do the same to the nature of other men. Able to do this, he is able to do the same to the nature of things. Able to do this, he can assist the transforming and nourishing operations of Heaven and Earth. Being able to do this, he can

 288 CONFUCIANIST METAPHYSICS

 form a trinity with Heaven and Earth. (Ch. 22.)


Output: While perfecting oneself, one must also see that others are likewise perfected. One cannot perfect oneself while disregarding the perfection of others. The reason is that one can develop one's nature to the utmost only through the human relationships, that is, within the sphere of society. This goes back to the tradition of Confucius and Mencius, that for self-perfection one must practice chung, shu, and humanheartedness; that is, it consists in helping others. To perfect oneself is to develop to the utmost what one has received from Heaven. And to help others is to assist the transforming and nourishing operations of Heaven and Earth. By fully understanding the significance of these things, one is enabled to form a trinity with Heaven and Earth. Such understanding is what the Chung Yung calls enlightenment, and forming a trinity in this way is what it calls perfection.


Output: Is anything extraordinary needed in order to achieve this trinity? No, nothing more is needed than to do the common and ordinary things and to do them just right, with understanding of their full significance. By so doing, one can gain the union of inner and outer, which is not only a trinity of Heaven, Earth, and man, but means a unity of man with Heaven and Earth. In this way one can achieve other-worldliness, yet at the same time not lose this-worldliness. It is with the development of this idea that the later Neo-Confucianists attacked the other—worldly philosophy of Buddhism.


Output:
Such is the Confucianist way of elevating ihe mind to a state in which the individual becomes one with the universe. It differs from the Taoist method, which is, through the negation of knowledge, to elevate the mind above the mundane distinctions between the "this and the "other.' The Confucianist method, on the other hand, is, through the extension of love, to elevate the mind above the usual distinctions between the self and other things.

 1QO

 CONFUCIANIST METAPHYSICS

 CHAPTER 16

 WORLD POLITICS AND WORLD PHILOSOPHY

 IT is said that "history never repeats itself," yet also that "there is nothing new under the sun.' Perhaps the whole truth lies in a combination of these two sayings. From a Chinese point of view, so far as international politics is concerned, the history of our world in the present and immediately preceding centuries looks like a repetition of the Chinese history of the Ch'un Ch'iu and Chan Kuo periods.


Output:
Political Conditions Preceding the Unification by Ch' in

 The Ch un Ch iu period (722-479 B.C.) is so named because it is the period covered by the Ch'un Ch'iu or Spring and Autumn Annals. And the Chan Kuo period (480-220 B.C.) derives its name, which means Warring States, from the fact that it was a period of intensified warfare between the feudal states.

 As we have seen, men's conduct during the feudal age was governed by li (ceremonies, rituals, rules of proper conduct). Not only were there li governing the conduct of the individual, but also those for the state as well. Some of these were to be practiced in time of peace, but others were designed for use in war. These peacetime and wartime li, as observed by one state in its relations to another, were equivalent to what we now would call international law.


Output:
We see that in recent times international law has become more and more ineffective. In late years there have been many instances in which one nation has attacked another without first sending an ultimatum and declaring war, or the airplanes of one nation have bombed the hospitals of another, while pretending that they did not see the red cross. And in the periods of Chinese history mentioned above, we see a similar decline in the effectiveness of the li.

 In the Ch'un Ch'iu period, there were still people who respected the international li. The Tso Chuan reports a famous battle of Hung that took place in 638 B.C. between the states of Ch'u and Sung. The old-fashioned Duke Hsiang of Sung personally directed the Sung forces. At a certain moment, the 292 WORLD POLITICS AND WORLD PHILOSOPHY


Output: Ch u army was crossing a river to form its lines, whereupon the commander under Duke Hsiang immediately asked for permission to attack the army during its crossing. To this the Duke replied, however, that he would not attack an army before it had formed its lines. The result was a disastrous defeat of the Sung army, in which the Duke himself was wounded. In spite of this, however, he defended his original decision, saying: "A superior man does not inflict a second wound on one who has already been wounded, nor does he take prisoner any one who has gray hair." This infuriated one of his commanders, who told the Duke: If it is good to refrain from inflicting a second wound, why not refrain from inflicting any wound at all? If it is good to refrain from taking prisoner any one who has gray hair, why not surrender to your enemy? (Tso Chuan, twenty—second year of Duke Hsi.) What the Duke said accorded with the traditional li, which represented the chivalrous spirit of the feudal knights. What the commander said


Output: of the feudal knights. What the commander said represented the practice of a changing age.


Output: It is interesting though discouraging to note that all the known methods which statesmen of today use in an effort to keep peace among nations are much the same as those which the statesmen of these early periods of Chinese history attempted without success. For example, a conference for the limitation of armaments was held in 551 B.C. (Tso Chuan, twenty-seventh year of Duke Hsiang.) Some time later a proposal was made to divide the "world" of that time into two "spheres of influence"; one in the east, to be controlled by the King of Ch' i with the title of Eastern Emperor; the other in the west, to be controlled by the King of Ch in with the title of Western Emperor. (Historical Records, ch. 46.) There were also various alliances of states with one another. During the Chan Kuo period these fell into two general patterns: the "vertical,' which ran from north to south, and the horizontal," which ran from west to east.


Output: At that time there were seven major states, of which Ch in was the most aggressive. The vertical type of alliance was one directed against Ch in by the other six states, and was so called because Ch'in lay in the extreme west, while the other six states were scattered to the east of it, ranging from north to south. The horizontal type of alliance, on the other hand, was one in which Ch'in combined with one or more of the other six states in order to attack the remainder, and therefore was extended from the west toward the east.


Output:
Ch'in's policy was "to make alliance with distant states, but attack the ones that were near." In this way it always eventually succeeded in breaking up the vertical alliances that opposed it. By its superiority in 'agriculture and war" and extensive use of "fifth column' techniques among the other states, Ch'in, after a series of bloody campaigns, succeeded in conquering the other six stales one by one, and finally unified the whole of China in 2.2.1 B.C. Thereupon the King of Ch in gave to himself the grandiose title of First Emperor of Ch in (Ch in Shih—huang—ti) by which he is known to history. At the same time he abolished feudalism and thus for the first time in histo—

 2.94 WORLD POLITICS AND WORLD PHILOSOPHY

 ry created a centralized Chinese empire under the Ch in dynasty. The Unification of China


Output: Though the First Emperor was thus the first to achieve actual unity, the desire for such unity had been cherished by all people for a long time previous. In the Mencius we are told that King Hui of Liang asked: How may the world be at peace? To which Meneius replied: "When there is unity, there will be peace." "But who can unify the world?" asked the King. "He who does not delight in killing men can unify it, answered Mencius. (la, 6.) This statement clearly expresses the aspiration of the time.


Output: The word "world" used here is a translation of the Chinese term t'ien-hsia, which literally means "all beneath the sky." Some translators render it as empire, because, so they maintain, what the Chinese in ancient times called the t ien-hsia was confined to the limits of the Chinese feudal states. This is (juite true. But we should not confuse the intension of a term with its extension as it was understood by the people of a particular time. The latter usage is limited by the knowledge of facts possessed by these people, but the former is a matter of definition. For instance, we cannot say that the word jen (persons) should be translated as "Chinese, simply because in ancient times what the Chinese meant by the word was confined to people of Chinese blood. When the ancient Chinese spoke about yen, what they meant was really human beings, even though at that time their knowledge of human beings was limited to those of China. In the same way, when they spoke about the t ien -hsia, they meant the world, even


Output: about the t ien -hsia, they meant the world, even though in early times their knowledge of the world did not extend beyond the Chinese states.


Output: From the age of Confucius onward, the Chinese people in general and their political thinkers in particular began to think about political matters in terms of the world. Hence the unification of China by Ch'in seemed, to the people of that time, very much as the unification of the whole world would seem to us today. Since the unification of 2.2.1 B.C., for more than two thousand years, with the exception of certain periods which the Chinese have considered as abnormal, they have lived under one government in one world. They have thus been accustomed to a centralized organization that would operate for world peace. But in recent times they have been plunged into a world with international political conditions similar to those of the remote periods of the Ch un Ch iu and Chan Kuo. In the process they have been compelled to change their habits of thinking and acting. In this respect, in the eyes of the Chinese, there has been a repetition of history, which has contributed much to their present suffering.


Output:
(See note at the end of the chapter.)

 The Great Learning

 To illustrate the internationalistic character of Chinese philosophy, let us 296 WORLD POLITICS AND WORLD PHILOSOPHY

 turn now to some of the ideas of the Ta Hsiieh, or Great Learning. The Ta Hsiieh, like the Chung Yung, is a chapter in the Li Chi (Book of Rites), and like the Chung Yung, it was, during the Sung dynasty (960-1279), grouped by the Neo-Confucianists with the Confucian Analects and the Mencius, to form the Four Books which comprised the primary texts for Neo-Confucian philosophy.

 The Great Learning was attributed by the Neo-Confucianists, though with no real proof, to Tseng Tzu, one of the chief disciples of Confucius. It was considered by them to be an important manual for the learning of Too. Its opening section reads:


Output: "The teaching of the Great Learning is to manifest one' s illustrious virtue, love the people, and rest in the highest good....The ancients who wished to manifest illustrious virtue throughout the world, first ordered well their own states. Wishing to order well their own states, they first regulated their own families. Wishing to regulate their own families, they first cultivated their own selves. Wishing to cultivate their own selves, they first rectified their own minds. Wishing to rectify their own minds, they first sought for absolute sincerity in their thoughts. Wishing for absolute sincerity in their thoughts, they first extended their knowledge. This extension of knowledge consists in the investigation of things.


Output:
"Things being investigated, only then did their knowledge become extended. Their knowledge being extended, only then did their thought become sincere. Their thought being sincere, only then did their mind become rectified. Their mind being rectified, only then did their selves become cultivated. Their selves being cultivated, only then did their families become regulated. Their families being regulated, only then did their states become rightly governed. Their states being rightly governed, only then could the world be at peace."

 These statements have been known as the three "main cords" and eight minor wires of the Ta Hsiieh.

 According to later Confuciarnsts, the three eords really comprise only one cord, which is to manifest one s illustrious virtue." "To love the people" is the way "to manifest one s illustrious virtue, while to rest in the highest good is to manifest one s illustrious virtue" in the highest perfection.


Output:
The "eight wires" are likewise really only one wire, which is the cultivation of one' s own self. In the above quotation, the steps preceding the cultivation of the self, such as the investigation of things, extension of knowledge, etc., are the ways and means for cultivating the self. And the steps following the cultivation of the self, such as the regulation of the family, etc., are the ways and means for cultivating the self to its highest perfection, or as the text says, for "resting in the highest good." Man cannot develop his nature to perfection unless he tries his best to do his duties in society. He cannot perfect himself without at the same time perfecting others.

 "To manifest one's illustrious virtue ' is the same as "to cultivate one s self. The former is merely the content of the latter. Thus several ideas are

 198 WORLD POLITICS AND WORLD PHILOSOPHY

 reduced to a single idea, which is central in Confucianism.


Output:
It is unnecessary that one should be head of a state or of some world organization, before one can do something to bring good order to the state and peace to the world. One should merely do one s best to do good for the state as a member of the state, and do good for the world as a member of the world. One is then doing one s full share of bringing good order to the state and peace to the world. By thus sincerely trying to do one's best, one is resting in the highest good.

 For the purpose of the present chapter, it is enough to point out that the author of the Ta Hsileh was thinking in terms of world politics and world peace. He was not the first to think in this way, but it is significant that he did it so systematically. For him, the good order of one' s own state is neither the final goal in terms of politics nor in terms of the spiritual cultivation of the self.


Output:
Here we need not discuss the problem of how the investigation of things can be the ways and means for the spiritual cultivation of the self. This problem will return to us when we take up Neo-Confucianism later.

 Eclectic Tendency in the Hstin—tzu

 In the world of Chinese philosophy, the latter part of the third century B. C. saw a strong tendency towards syncretism and eclecticism. The major work of the School of Eclectics, the Lu-shih Ch'un-ch'iu, was composed at that time. But, although this work devoted chapters to most of the schools of its time, it failed to give a theoretical justification for the idea of eclecticism as such. Both Confucianist and Taoist writers, however, did present such a theory, which shows how, despite their other differences, they both reflected the eclectic spirit of the time.


Output: These writers agreed that there is a single absolute Truth which they called the Too. Most of the different schools have seen some one particular aspect of the Too, and in this sense have made some contribution to its manifestation. The Confucianist writers, however, maintained that it was Confucius who had seen the whole Truth, and so the other schools were subordinate to the Confucian school, though in a sense complementary to it. The Taoist writers, on the contrary, maintained that it was Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu who had seen the whole Truth, and therefore that Taoism was superior to all other schools.


Output:
In the Hsiin-tzu there is a chapter titled On Freedom from Blindness,' in which we read: In the past, the traveling scholars were blinded, so they had different schools of thought. Mo Tzu was blinded by utility and did not know the value of culture. Sung Tzu [a contemporary of Mencius, who maintained that the desires of men are really very fewj was blinded by desire, but did not know [that men seek for] gain. Shen Tzu [Shen Tao, a member of the Le—

 3OO WORLD POLITICS AND WORLD PHILOSOPHY

 galist school] was blinded by law but did not know [the value ofj talent. Shen Tzu LShen Puhai, another member of the Leyalist school] was blinded by authority but did not know wisdom. Hui Tzu [Hui Shih of the shool of Names] was blinded by words but did not know facts. Chuang Tzu was blinded by what is of nature but did not know what is of man.


Output:
From the point oi view of utility, the Tao is nothing more than seeking for profit. From the point of view of L fewness of] desires, the Tao is nothing more than satisfaction. From the point of view of law, the Too is nothing more than regulations. From the point of view of authority, the Tao is nothing more than caprice. From the point of view of what is of nature, the Tao is nothing more than laissez-faire.

 From the point of view of words, the Tao is nothing more than argumentation.

 These different views are single aspects of the Tao. The essence of the Too is constant and includes all changes. It cannot be grasped by a single corner. Those with perverted knowledge who see only a single aspect of the Tao will not be able to comprehend its totality....Confucius was human — hearted and wise and was not blinded. Therefore he comprehended the Tao and was sufficient to be ranked with the early rulers." (Ch. II.)


Output:
In another chapter Hsiin Tzu says: Lao Tzu had vision regarding acquiescence, but did not see exertion. Mo Tzu had vision regarding uniformity, but did not see individuality. Sung Tzu had vision regarding [the fact that the desires of some men are] few, but did not see [the fact that those of other men are] many." (Ch. 17.) According to Hsiin Tzu, the vision and blindness of a philosopher go together. He has vision, yet usually at the same time is blinded by his vision. Hence the excellence of his philosophy is at the same time its shortcoming.

 Eclectic Tendency in the Chuang—tzu

 The author of the last chapter of the Chuang-tzu, T ien Hsia or "The World," gives the Taoist view of syncretism. This chapter is really a summarized account of ancient Chinese philosophy. We are not sure who the author was, but he was certainly one of the best historians and critics of early Chinese philosophy.


Output:
This chapter first makes a distinction between the whole Truth and partial truth. The whole Truth is the Tao of "sageliness within and kingliness without," the study of which is called "the Tao method.'

 Partial truth is a particular aspect of the whole Truth, the study of which is called the art method." This chapter says: "In the world there are many who use the art method. Each one considers his own L

 thought J as perfect without need of any addition. Where is there then what the ancients called the Tao method?...There is that by which the sage flourishes; there is that through which the king completes his achievement. Both originate in the One."

 The One is the "7< without.? kingliness and within sageliness of> 302. WORLD POLITICS AND WORLD PHILOSOPHY


Output:
chapter goes on to make a distinction between the fundamental and the branch, the fine and the coarse, in the Tao. It says: How perfect were the men of old....They understood the fundamental principles and connected them with minute regulations reaching to all points of the compass, embracing the great and the small, the fine and the coarse; their influence was everywhere.

 "Some of their teachings which were correctly embodied in measures and institutions are still preserved in ancient laws and the records of historians. Those teachings that were recorded in the books of Poetry; History, Rites, and Music were known to most of the gentlemen and teachers of [the states of]

 Tsou and Lu [i.e., the Confucianists]. The Book of Poetry describes aims; the Book of History describes events; the Rites direct conduct; Music secures harmony. The Yi [ Book of Changes J shows the principles of the Yin and Yang. The Ch'un Ch'iu [Spring and Autumn Annals] shows names and duties."


Output: Thus the T'ien Hsia chapter maintains that the Confucianists had some connection with the Tao. But what they knew is confined to "measures and institutions. They knew nothing about the underlying principle. That is to say, they knew only the coarser aspects and lesser branches of the Tao, but not what is fine and fundamental in it.


Output: The T ien Hsia chapter continues by saying: Now the world is in great disorder. The virtuous and the sage are obscured. Tao and virtue lose their unity and many in the world get hold of some one aspect of the whole to enjoy for themselves. The case is like the senses of hearing, sight, smell, and taste, which have specific functions, but cannot be interchanged. Or like the skill of the various artisans, which are each excellent in its kind and useful in its turn, yet are not comprehensive. Each is a student of some one aspect....Thus the Tan of sageliness within and kingliness without becomes obscured and loses its clearness; it becomes repressed and loses its development.


Output:
Then the same treatise makes a classification of the different schools, granting to each that it has "heard" of some one aspect of the Tao, but at the same time making sharp criticisms of the school s shortcomings. Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu are greatly admired. Yet, remarkably enough, these two leaders of Taoism, like the other schools, are by implication criticized by the remark that they, too, have merely "heard some one aspect of the Too."

 It thus seems to be the implication of the T ien Hsia chapter that the Confucianists knew the concrete "measures and institutions" but not their underlying principle, whereas the Taoisls knew the principle but not the measures and institutions. In other words, the Confucianists knew the "branches" of the Tao, but not its fundamental aspect, while the Taoists knew its fundamental aspect, but not its branches. Only a combination of the two constitutes the whole Truth.

 304 WORLD POLITICS AND WOKLD PHILOSOPHY


Output:
Eclecticism of Ssu—Ma T an and Liu Hsin

 This eclectic tendency was continued in the Han dynasty. The Huai—nan-tzu or Book of the Prince of Huai—nan is a book of the same nature as the Ltt-shih Ch'un-ch'iu, though with a stronger tendency towards Taoism. In addition to this book, the two historians, Ssu-ma Tan (died IIO B.C.) and Liu Hsin (ca. 46 B.C-A.D. 23), who have been quoted in chapter three, also display eclectic tendencies. Of them, Ssu-ma T a n was a Taoist. In the essay quoted in chapter three,"On the Essentials of the Six Schools,"

 he says: "In the Great Appendix [_ 'Appendix III J of the Yi, there is the statement: 'In the world there is one purpose, but there are a hundred ideas about it; there is a single goal, but the paths toward it differ.' This is just the case with the different schools of thought,...all of which seek social order but follow widely different paths in their words of explanation, some of which are clear and others not."


Output: (Historical Records, ch. 130.) He then goes on to mention the excellencies and shortcomings of the six philosophic schools, but concludes by considering Taoism as combining all the best points of the other schools, and therefore as being superior to all.


Output: Liu Hsin, on the other hand, was a Confucianist. In his Seven Summaries, as quoted in the chapter on literature contained in the History of the Former Han Dynasty, he lists ten schools of thought, and quotes the same passage from "Appendix 111" of the Book of Changes as does Ssu-ma Tan. Then he concludes: Each of the schools developed its strong points; and each developed knowledge and investigation to the utmost in order to sel forth clearly its main purposes. Although they had prejudices and shortcomings, still a summary of their teachings shows that they were branches and descendants of the Liu Yi (Six Classics)....If one were able to cultivate the Liu Yi and observe the sayings of the nine schools [omitting that of the Story Tellers as of no philosophical importance J, discarding their errors and gathering their good points, it would be possible to master the manifold aspects of thought. (History of the Former Han Dynasty, ch. 30.)


Output:
All these statements reflect the strong desire for unity that existed even in the world of thought. The people of the third century B.C., discouraged by centuries of inter -state warfare, longed for a political unification; their philosophers, consequently, also tried to bring about a unification in thought. Electicism was the first attempt. Eclecticism in itself, however, cannot build a unified system. The eclectics believed in the whole Truth, and hoped by selecting from the various schools their "strong points," tn attain to this Truth or Too. What they called the Too, however, was, it is to be feared, simply a patch-work of many disparate elements, unconnected by any underlying organic principle, and hence unworthy of the high title they attached to it.

 3Ofj WORLD POLITICS AND WORLD PHILOSOPHY

 Note on the Chinese concept of Nationalism(seezp.2.cfj)


Output: Dr. Derk Bodde writes: I would question this statement. The Six Dynasties (third through sixth century), Yuan (12.80-1367) and Ch'ing (1644-1911) periods, for example, were in actual fact of so long duration as to accustom the Chinese to the idea of disunity or foreign domination, even though such a situation was in theory regarded as abnormal. Moreover, even in the normal periods of unity, there was often extensive political maneuvering and military action against a succession of outside peoples, such as the Hsiung-nu, as well as against occasional rebels within the empire. 1 would hardly regard the present conditions as presenting an unfamiliar situation to the Chinese, therefore, even though their effects are accentuated by the fact that they operate on a truly worldwide scale.


Output:
The historical facts which Dr. Bodde mention are no doubt correct, but what concerns me in this paragraph is not these historical facts themselves, but what the Chinese people up to the end of the last century, or even the beginning of this century, have felt about them. The emphasis upon the foreign domination of the Yuan and Ch ing dynasties is one made from the point of view of modern nationalism.

 It is true that from early limes the Chinese have made a sharp distinction between Chung Kuo or hua hsia (Chinese) and yi ti (barbarian), but the emphasis of this distinction is more cultural than racial. The Chinese have traditionally considered that there are three kinds of living beings: Chinese, barbarians, and beasts. Of these, the Chinese are most cultured, the barbarians come next, and the beasts are completely uncultured.


Output: When the Mongols and Manchus conquered China, they had already to a considerable extent adopted the culture of the Chinese. They dominated the Chinese politically, but the Chinese dominated them culturally. They therefore did not create a marked break or change in the continuity and unity of Chinese culture and civilization, with which the Chinese were most concerned. Hence traditionally the Chinese have considered the Yuan and Ch' ing as simply two of the many dynasties that have followed each other in Chinese history. This can be seen from the official arrangement of the dynastic histories. The Ming dynasty, for instance, in one sense represented a nationalistic revolution against the Yuan; nevertheless, the official History of the Yilan Dynasty, compiled under the Ming, treated the Yuan as the normal successor of the purely Chinese Sung dynasty. Likewise Huang Tsung-hsi ?O8 WORLD POLITICS AND WORLD PHILOSOPHY


Output: (1610-1695), one of the nationalistic scholars who opposed the Manchus, in his Sung Yilan Hsiieh-an or Biographical History of Confucanist Philosophers of the Sung and Yilan Dynasties, found no moral fault in such scholars as HstiHeng (12.09-12.81) and Wu Ch'eng (1249-1333), who though Chinese had served under the Yilan with high official rank.


Output: The Chinese Republic has similarly compiled an official History of the Ch ing Dynasty, in which this dynasty is treated as the normal successor of the Ming. This history was later banned by the present government, because the treatment of certain events connected with the revolution of 1911 was regarded as unsatisfactory. Hence it is possible that the new official History of the Ch'ing Dynasty will eventually be written in a quite different way. What I am here concerned with, however, is the traditional view. So far as tradition is concerned, the Yuan and Ch ing were just as "normal" as other dynasties. One may say that the Chinese lack nationalism, but that is precisely my point. They lack nationalism because they have been accustomed to think in terms of t ien hsia, the world.


Output:
As to the fact that the Chinese have had to fight such non-Chinese groups as the Hsiurig—nu, etc., traditionally what the Chinese have felt is that sometimes it was necessary for them to fight the barbarians, just as sometimes it was necessary to fight the beasts. They did not feel that such people as the Hsiung-nu were in a position to divide the world with China, just as the American people do not feel that the red Indians are in a position to divide America with them.

 Because the Chinese did not greatly emphasize racial distinctions, it resulted that during the third and fourth centuries A.D. various non-Chinese peoples were allowed to move freely into China. This movement constituted what is called the "inner colonization," and was a primary cause for the political troubles of the Six Dynasties period. Such inner colonization is precisely what Hitler, in his Mein Kampf criticized from a super-nationalistic point of view.


Output:
The introduction of Buddhism seems to have given many Chinese the realization that civilized people other than the Chinese existed, but traditionally there have been two kinds of opinion regarding India.

 Those Chinese who opposed Buddhism believed that the Indians were simply another tribe of barbarians. Those who believed in Buddhism, on the other hand, regarded India as the "pure land of the West." Their praise of India was that of a realm transcending this world. Hence even the introduction of Buddhism, de—

 310 WORLD POLITICS AND WORLD PHILOSOPHY

 spite its enormous effect upon Chinese life, did not change the belief of ihe Chinese that they were the only civilized people in the human world.


Output: As a result of these concepts, when the Chinese first came in contact with Europeans in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, they thought that they were simply barbarians like preceding barbarians, and so they spoke of them as barbarians. As a consequence they did not feel greatly disturbed, even though they suffered many defeats in fighting with them. They began to be disturbed, however, when they found that the Europeans possessed a civilization equal to, though different from, that of the Chinese. What was novel in the situation was not that peoples other than the Chinese existed, but that their civilization was one of equal power and importance. In Chinese history one can find a parallel for such a situation only in the Chun Ch'iu and Chan Kuo periods, when different but equally civilized states existed that fought with one another. That is why the Chinese now feel that there is a repetition in hislory.


Output:
If one reads the writings of the great statesmen of the last century, such as Tseng Kuo-fan (1811-1872) and Li Hung-chang (1823-1901), there is much evidence that they felt about the impact of the West precisely in this way. This note attempts to describe the reasons for their feeling.

 WORLD POLITICS AND WORLD PHILOSOPHY

 CHAPTER 17

 ZER OF THE HAN EMPIRE: TUNG CHUNG-SHU

 MENCIUS once said that those who do not delight in killing men would unify the world. (Mejicius, la, 6.) It would seem that he was wrong, because, some hundred years later, it was the state of Ch in that unified the whole of China. Ch'in was superior to the other states in the arts of both "agriculture and war," that is, it was superior both economically and militarily. It was known at the time as "llie state of tigers and wolves. By sheer force of arms, coupled with the ruthless ideology of the Legalists, it succeeded in conquering all its rivals.


Output: The Amalgamation of the. Yin-Yang and Confucianist Schools Yet Mencius was not wholly wrong, for the Ch in dynasty, which was established after the unification of 2.21 B.C., lasted only about fifteen years. Soon after the death of the First Emperor his empire disintegrated in a series of rebellions against the harsh Ch in rule, and was succeeded by the Han dynasty (io6 B.C.-A.D. 2.2.0). The Han inherited the concept of political u-nity of the Ch'in, and continued its unfinished work, that is, the building up of a new political and social order.


Output:
Tung Chung-shu (c. I7°-c. 104 B.C.) was the great theorizcr in such an attempt. A native of the southern part of the present Hopei province, he was largely instrumental in making Confucianism the orthodox belief of the Han dynasty, at the expense of the other schools of thought. He was also prominent in the creation of the institutional basis for this Confucian orthodoxy: the famed Chinese examination system, which began to take form during his time. Under this system, entry into the ranks of the government officials who ruled the country was not dependent upon noble birth or wealth, but rather upon success in a series of periodic examinations which were conducted by the government simultaneously throughout the country, and were open to all members of society with but trifling exceptions. These examinations, to be sure, were still embryonic in the Han dynasty and did not become really

 314 THEORIZER OF THE HAN EMPIRE:TUNG CHUNG-SHU


Output: universal until several centuries later. It is to Tung Chung —shu s credit, however, that he was one of the first to propose them, and it is also significant that in so doing he insisted upon the Confucian classics as the ideological basis for their operation.


Output: It is said of Tung Chung-shu that he was so devoted to his literary studies that once for three years he did not even look out into his garden. As a result, he wrote a lengthy work known as the Ch an ch iu Fan—la, or Luxuriant Dew from the Spring and Autumn Annals. It is also said that he used to expound his teachings from behind a curtain, and that these were transmitted by his disciples, one to another, to a remote distance, so that there were some who never had the privilege of seeing his countenance. (See his biography in the History of the Former Han Dynasty, ch. 56.) What Tung Chung—shu tried to do was to give a sort of theoretical justification to the new political and social order of his time. According to him, since man is a part of Heaven, the justification of the behavior of the former must be found in the behavior of the latter. He thought with the Yin—Yang school that a close interconnection exists between Heaven and man. Starting with this premise, he combined a metaphysical justification,


Output: he combined a metaphysical justification, which derives chiefly from the Yin-Yang school, with a political and social philosophy which is chiefly Confucianist.


Output: The word Heaven is a translation of ihe Chinese word T ien, which is sometimes rendered as Heaven and sometimes as nature. Neither translation is quite adequate, however, especially in Tung Chung-shu s philosophy. My colleague Professor Y. L. Chin has said: "Perhaps if we mean by T ien both nature and the divinity which presides over nature, with emphasis sometimes on the one and sometimes on the other, we have something approaching the Chinese term." (Unpublished manuscript.) This statement is not true in certain cases, for instance, in those of I^o Tzu and Chuang Tzu, but it is certainly so in the case of Tung Chung—shu. In this chapter, when the word Heaven occurs, 1 ask the reader to recall this statement of Professor Chin as the definition of the word T' ien in Tung Chung-shu's philosophy.


Output:
In chapter twelve it was pointed out thai lliere were two distinct lines of thought in ancient China, those of the Yin and Yang and of the Five Elements, each of which provided a positive interpretation for the structure and origin of the universe. Later, however, these two lines became amalgamated, and in Tung Chung-shu this amalgamation is particularly conspicuous. Thus in his philosophy we find both the theory of the Yin and Yang and that of the Five Elements.

 Cosmological Theory

 According to Tung Chung-shu, the universe has ten constituents: Heaven, Earth, the Yin and Yang, the Five Elements of Wood, Fire, Soil, Metal, and Water, and finally man.* His idea of the Yin and Yang is very concrete. He

 3l6 THEORIZER OF THE HAN EMPIRE: TUNG CHUNG-SHU


Output: says: Within the universe there exist the ethers of the Yin and Yang. Men are constantly immersed in them, just as fish are constantly immersed in water. The difference between the Yin and Yang ethers and water is that water is visible, whereas the ethers are invisible. (Ch. 8l.) The order of the Five Elements given by Tung Chung-shu differs from that given by the "Grand Norm." (See ch. 12. of this book.) According to him, the first is Wood, the second, Fire, the third Soil, the fourth Metal, and the fifth Water. These Five Elements "each in turn produces the next and is overcome by the next but one in turn." (Ch. 42-) Thus Wood produces Fire, Fire produces Soil, Soil produces Metal, Metal produces Water, and Water produces Wood. This is the process of their mutual production. But Wood overcomes Soil, Soil overcomes Water, Water overcomes Fire, Fire overcomes Metal, and Metal overcomes Wood. This is the process of their mutual overcoming.


Output: For Tung Chung-shu, as for the Yin-Yang school, Wood, Fire, Metal, and Water each presides over one of the four seasons as well as one of the four directions of the compass. Wood presides over the east and spring, Fire over the south and summer, Metal over the west and autumn, and Water over the north and winter. Soil presides over the center and gives assistance to all the other elements. The alternation of the four seasons is explained by the operations of the Yin and Yang. (Ch. 4^-) The Yin and Yang wax and wane and follow fixed circuits which take them through all the four directions. When the Yang first waxes, it moves to assist Wood in the east, and then there comes spring. As it grows in strength, it moves to the south where it assists Fire, and then there comes summer. But according to the universal law of "reversal" as maintained by the Lao-tzu and the Yi "Appendices," growth must be followed by decay. Hence the Yang, having reached its extreme height, begins to wane, while at the same time the Yin


Output: begins to wane, while at the same time the Yin begins to wax in turn. The Yin, as it does this, moves east to assist Metal,** and then there comes autumn. As it gains more strength, it moves north to assist Water, and then there comes winter. But having there reached its climax, it begins to wane, while at the same time the Yang starts a new cycle of growth.


Output:
Thus the changes of the four seasons result from the waxing and waning movements of the Yin and Yang, and their succession is really a succession of the Yin, arid Yang. Tung Chung-shu says: "The constant principle of the universe is the succession of the Yin and Yang. The Yang is Heaven's beneficent force, while the Yin is its chastising force....In the course of Heaven, there are three seasons L spring, summer, and autumn j of formation

 * See the Ch'nn-fh'iu h'an-la. ch. 81. All quotations in the present chapter, unless otherwise stated, are from this

 work.

 ** Not west, though west is the direction for autumn. The reason for this is, according to Tung, that "Heaven has trust in the Yang, hut not in the Yin.

 318

 THEORIZER OF THE HAN EMPIRE:TUNG CHUNG-SHU

 and growth, and one season [winter] of mourning and death." (Ch. 49.)


Output:
This shows, according to Tung, that "Heaven has trust in the Yang but not in the Yin; it likes beneficence but not chastisement. (Ch. 47.) It also shows that "Heaven has its own feelings of joy and anger, and a mind which experiences sadness and pleasure, analogous to those of man. Thus if a grouping is made according to kind, Heaven and man are one." (Ch. 49-) Man, therefore, both in his physiological and mental aspects, is a replica or duplicate of Heaven. (Ch.

 41.) As such, he is far superior to all other things of the world. Man, Heaven, and Earth are "the origins of all things." "Heaven gives them birth, Earth gives them nourishment, and man gives them perfection.


Output: (Ch. 19.) As to how man accomplishes this perfection, Tung says that it is done through li (ritual) and yitieh (music), that is to say, through civilization and culture. If there were no civilization and culture, the world would be like an unfinished work, and the universe itself would suffer imperfection. Thus of Heaven, Earth, and man, he says: "These three are related to each other like the hands and feet; united they give the finished physical form, so that no one of them may be dispensed with. (Ch. 19.) Theory of Human Nature


Output: Since Heaven has its Yin and Yang, and man is a replica of Heaven, the human mind consequently also contains two elements: hsing (man s nature) and ch ing (the emotions or feelings). The word hsing is used by Tung Chung-shu sometimes in a broader and sometimes a narrower sense. In the narrow sense, it is something that exists separate from and in opposition to ch ing, whereas in the broader sense it embraces ch ing. In this latter meaning, Tung sometimes refers to hsing as the "basic stuff. (Ch. 35-) This basic stuff of man, therefore, consists both of hsing (used in the narrow sense) and ch ing. From hsing comes the virtue of human —heartedness, whereas from ch ing comes the vice of covetousness. This hsing, in the narrow sense, is equivalent to Heaven' s Yang, and ch' ing to its Yin. (Ch. 35.) In this connection Tung Chung—shu takes up the old controversy as to whether human nature, that is, the basic stuff of man, is good or bad. He cannot agree with Mcncius that the nature is good, for he says: Goodness


Output: that the nature is good, for he says: Goodness is like a kernel of grain, and the nature is like the growing plant of the grain. Though the plant produces the kernel, it cannot itself be called a kernel. [Similarly] though the lining [here used in its broader sense, i.e., the basic stuff] produces goodness, it cannot itself be called goodness. The kernel and goodness are both brought to completion through man's continuation of Heaven s work, and are external Lto the latterj. They do not lie within Lthe scope of] what Heaven itself does. What Heaven does extends to a certain point and then stops. What lies within this stopping point pertains to Heaven. What lies outside of it pertains to the chiao Lteaching, culture j of the [sage-] kings. The chiau of the [sage-] kings lies outside the hsing [basic


Output:
32.0 THEORIZER OF THF, HAN EMPIRE:TUNG CHUNG-SHU

 stuff], yet without it the hsing cannot be fully developed." (Ch. 36.)

 Thus Tung Chung-shu emphasizes the value of culture, which is indeed that which makes man equal to Heaven and Earth. In this respect he approaches Hsiin Tzu. He differs from him, however, in that he does not consider the basic stuff of man to be actually evil. Goodness is a continuation of nature, not a reversal of it.

 Inasmuch as culture, for Tung, is a continuation of nature, he also approaches Mencius. Thus he writes: "It is said by some that since the nature [of man] contains the beginning of goodness and the mind contains the basic stuff of goodness, how, then, can it be that [the nature itself] is not good? But I reply that this is not so. For the silk cocoon contains silk fibers and yet is not itself silk, and the egg contains the chicken, yet is not itself a chicken. If we follow these analogies, what doubt can there be?


Output:
(Ch. 5-) The question raised here represents the view of Mencius. In answering it, Tung Chung-shu makes clear the difference between Mencius and himself.

 But the difference between these two philosophers is really not much more than verbal. Tung Chung-shu himself says: "Mencius evaluates [the basic stuff of man] in comparison with the doings of the birds and beasts below, and therefore says that human nature is itself already good. I evaluate it in comparison with the sages above, and therefore say that human nature is not yet good. (Ch. 15-) Thus the difference between Mencius and Tung Chung— shu is reduced to that between two phrases: "already good" and "not yet good."

 Social Ethics


Output: According to Tung Chung-shu, the theory of the Yin and Yang is also a metaphysical justification of the social order. He writes: In all things there must be correlates. Thus if there is the upper, there must be the lower. If there is the left, there must be the right....If there is cold, there must be heat. If there is day, there must be night. These are all correlates. The Yin is the correlate of the Yang, the wife of the husband, the subject of the sovereign. There is nothing that does not have a correlate, and in each correlation there is the Yin and Yang. Thus the relationships between sovereign and subject, father and son, and husband and wife, are all derived from the principles of the Yin and Yang. The sovereign is Yang, the subject is Yin; the father is Yang, the son is Yin; the husband is Yang, the wife is Yin.... The three cords [kang]a{ the Way of the [true] King may be sought in Heaven." (Ch. 53.) According to the Conlucianists before this period, there are in society five major human


Output: period, there are in society five major human relationships, namely, those between sovereign and subject, father and son, husband and wife, elder and younger brother, and friend and friend. Out of these, Tung selects three and calls them the three kang. The literal meaning of kang is a major cord in a net, to which all the other


Output:
322.

 THEORIZER OF THE HAN EMPIRE:TUNG CHUNG-SHU

 L

 strings are attached. Thus the sovereign is the kang of his subjects, that is, he is their master. Likewise the husband is the kang of the wife, and the father is the kang of the son.

 Besides the three kang there exist the five ch ang, which were upheld by all Confucianiats. Ch'ang means a norm or constant, and the five ch'ang are the five constant virtues of Confucianism, namely, jen (human—heartedness), yi (righteousness), li (propriety, rituals, rules of proper conduct), chih (wisdom) and hsin (good faith). Although Tung Chung-shu did not especially emphasize this point himself, it was commonly held by all the Han scholars that the five virtues have their correlations in the Five Elements. Thus humanheartedness is correlated with Wood in the east; righteousness with Metal in the west; propriety with Fire in the south; wisdom with Water in the north; and good faith with Soil in the center.*


Output:
The five ch ang are the virtues of an individual, and the three kang are the ethics of society. The compound word kang—ch ang meant, in olden times, morality or moral laws in general. Man must develop his nature in the direction of the moral laws, which are the essentials of cullure and civilization.

 Political Philosophy


Output:
Political Philosophy

 Not all men, however, can do this by themselves. Hence it is the funclion of government to help them in their development. Tung Chung—shu writes: "Heaven has produced men with natures that contain the basic stuff of goodness but are not able to be good in themselves. Therefore Heaven has established for them [the institution of] the king to make them good. This is the purpose of Heaven." (Ch. 35-) The king governs with beneficence, rewards, punishments, and executions. These four ways of government are modeled on the four seasons. Tung says: Beneficence, rewards, punishments, and executions, match spring, summer, autumn, and winter respectively, like the fitting together of Lthe two parts ofj a tally. Therefore T say that the king is co-equal with Heaven, meaning that Heaven has four seasons, while the king has four ways of government. Such are what Heaven and man share in common." (Ch. 55.)


Output:
The organization of government is also modeled on the pattern of the four seasons. According to Tung, the fact that government officials are graded into four ranks is modeled on the fact that a year has four seasons. Likewise, the fact that each official in each rank has three assistants under him, is modeled on the fact that each season has three months. The officials are thus graded, because men naturally fall into four grades in regard to their ability and virtue. Hence the government selects all men who deserve to be selected, and employs them according to these natural grades of virtue and ability.

 • See the Pai Hu T'ung Yi or General Principles from the White rhllan 8.

 [Litlge], a work compiled in A.D. 79,

 324

 THE0R1ZER OF THE HAN EMPIRE:TUNG CHUNG-SHU


Output:
Thus Heaven selects the four seasons, and hrings them to completion with the twelve [months]; in this way the transformations of Heaven are completely expressed. And it is only the sage who can similarly give complete expression to the changes of man and harmonize them with those of Heaven." (Ch. 2.4.) Since the relation between Heaven and man is so close and intimate, hence, Tung maintains, all wrongdoings in human government must result in the manifestation of abnormal phenomena in the world of nature. As had already been done by the Yin — Yang school, he supplies both a teleological and a mechanistic explanation for this theory.

 Teleologically speaking, when there is something wrong in human government, this necessarily causes displeasure and anger on the part of Heaven. Such displeasure or anger is expressed through natural visitations or prodigies, such as earthquakes, eclipses of the sun or moon, droughts or floods.


Output:
These are Heaven s way of warning the ruler to correct his mistakes.

 Mechanistically speaking, however, according to Tung Chung-shu, "all things avoid that from which they differ and cleave to that to which they are similar, and things definitely call to themselves their own kind. Hence abnormalities on the part of man necessarily call forth abnormalities on the part of nature.

 Tung Chung-shu, contradicting his teleological theory expressed elsewhere, maintains that this is the law of nature and that in it there is nothing supernatural. (Ch. 57. ) Philosophy of History


Output:
In chapter twelve we saw how Tsou Yen maintained the theory that the changes of dynasties in history are influenced by the movements of the Five Powers. A certain dynasty, because it is associated with a certain Power, must conduct its government in a manner appropriate to thai Power. Tung Chung—shu modifies this theory by maintaining that the succession of dynasties does not accord with the movement of the Jive Powers, but with a sequence of what he calls the "Three Reigns." These are the Black, White, and Red Reigns. Each has its own system of government and each dynasty represents one Reign. (Ch. 23.)

 In actual history, according to Tung, the Hsia dynasty (traditionally 22.05-1766 B.C.) represented the Black Reign; the Shang dynasty (1766?-1122? B.C.) the White Reign; and the Chou dynasty (1122?

 -256 B.C.) the Red Reign. This constituted one cycle in the evolution of history. After the Chou dynasty, the new dynasty would again represent the Black Reign, and the same sequence would recur.


Output:
It is interesting to note that in modern times, colors have also been used to denote varying systems of social organization, and that they are the same three as those of Tung Chung—shu. Thus, following his theory, we might say that Fascism represents the Black Reign, Capitalism the White Reign, and 326 THEORIZER OF THE HAN EMPIRE:TUNG CHUNG-SHU

 Communism the Red Reign.


Output: Of course, this is only coincidence. According to Tung Chung-shu, the three Reigns do not differ fundamentally. He maintains that when a new king founds a dynasty, he does so because he has received a special Mandate from Heaven. Hence he must effect certain external changes to make apparent that he has received the new Mandate. These include the shifting of his capital to a new place, assumption of a new title, changing the beginning of the year, and altering the color of clothing worn on official occasions. As to the great bonds of human relationships," says Tung, "and as to morality, government, moral instruction, customs and the meaning of words, these remain wholly as they were before. For why, indeed, should they be changed? Therefore, the king of a new dynasty has the reputation of changing his institutions, but does not as a matter of fact alter the basic principles." (Ch. I.) These basic principles are what Tung calls the Too. His biography in the History of the Former Han Dynasty (ch. 56) quotes


Output: History of the Former Han Dynasty (ch. 56) quotes him as saying: "The great source of Tan derives from Heaven; Heaven does not change, nor does the Too.


Output:
The theory that the ruler rules through the Mandate of Heaven is not a new one. In the Book of History we find sayings implying this theory, and Mencius made it already sufficiently clear. But Tung Chung-shu made it the more articulate by incorporating it into his whole philosophy of nature and man.

 In the feudal age, all rulers inherited their authority from their ancestors. Even the First Emperor of the Ch'in dynasty was no exception. But the founder of the Han dynasty was different. Rising from the common people, he succeeded in becoming Emperor of the (to the Chinese) entire civilized world. This needed some justification, and Tung Chung-shu provided Lhat justification.


Output:
His theory that a ruler rules through the Mandate of Heaven justified the exercise of imperial authority and at the same time set certain limits on it. The Emperor had to be watchful for manifestations of Heaven's pleasure or displeasure, and to act accordingly. It was the practice of the Han Emperors, and, to a greater or lesser extent, of the Emperors of later dynasties, to examine themselves and the policies of their government, and to try to reform them when abnormal natural phenomena gave them cause to be uneasy.

 Tung's theory of the succession of the Reigns also set a certain limit to the tenure of a given dynasty.

 No matter how good an imperial house may be, the length of its rule is limited. When the end comes, it must give way to another dynasty, the founder of which has received a new Mandate. Such are the measures through which the Confucianists tried to lay restraints upon the power of an absolute monarchy.

 Interpretation of the Ch un Ch iu


Output:
Interpretation of the Ch un Ch iu

 According to Tung Chung-shu, neither the Ch'in nor the Han was the direct successor of the Chou dynasty. In actual fact, he asserted, it was Confu—

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 L

 cius who received the Mandate of Heaven to succeed the Chou and to represent the Black Reign. He was not a king de facto, but one de jure.


Output: This is a strange theory, but it was actually maintained and believed by Tung Chung-shu and his school. The Ch'un Ch iu, or Spring and Autumn Annals, which was originally a chronicle of Confucius native state of Lu, was supposed by them (incorrectly) to be a very important political work of Confucius in which he exercised his right as the new king. He represented the Black Reign and instituted all the changes that go with this Reign. Tung Chung—shu was famous for his interpretation of the Ch un Ch iu, and could justify all aspects of his philosophy by quotations from it. As a matter of fact, he commonly quoted the Ch un Ch iu as the main source of his authority. That is why his work is titled the Ch un—ch iu Fan—lu or Luxuriant Dew from the Ch un Ch iu.


Output:
Tung divides the centuries covered by the Ch'un Ch iu (72.2.-479 B.C.) into three periods, which he calls the three ages. These are: (1) the age that was personally witnessed by Confucius; (2.) that which he heard of through the oral testimony of elder living contemporaries; (3) that which he heard of through transmitted records. According to Tung Chung—shu, Confucius, when writing the Ch'un Ch'iu, used differing words or phrases to record the events occurring in these three periods. It is by studying the way in which these words or phrases are used that one may discover the esoteric meaning of the Ch'

 un Ch iu.

 Three Stages of Social Progress


Output:
Three Stages of Social Progress

 There have been three important commentaries written on the Ch un Ch' iu, and since the Han dynasty these have become classics themselves. They are the Tso Commentary, known as the Tso Chuan (which probably was originally not written in toto as a commentary on the Ch un Ch iu, but was later attached to that work), and the Kung Yang and Ku Liang Commentaries. All three are supposedly named after the authors who composed them. Among the three, the Kung Yang Commentary, in particular, interprets the Ch un Ch iu in agreement with the theories of Tung Chung-shu. Thus in this Commentary we find the same theory of the three ages. During the latter part of the Han dynasty, Ho Hsiu (12.9-182.) wrote a commentary on the Kung Yang Commentary, in which he still further elaborated this theory.


Output:
According to Ho Hsiu, the Ch un Ch iu is a record of the process through which Confucius ideally transformed the age of decay and disorder into that of "approaching peace," and finally into that of "universal peace." He identifies the earliest of the three ages, "the age of which Confucius heard through transmitted records, as one of decay and disorder. In this period Confucius devoted his whole attention to his own state of Lu, and took Lu as the center of his reforms. The next period, the age of which Confucius heard through oral testimony, is identified by Ho Hsiu as that of "ap-330

 THEORIZER OF THE HAN EMPIRE:TUNG CHUNG-SHU


Output: preaching peace. It was an age in which Confucius, having given good government to his own state, next brought peace and order to all the other Chinese states lying within the "Middle Kingdom. Finally, the last of the three periods, "the age which Confucius personally witnessed, is identified by Ho Hsiu as that of "universal peace." It was an age in which Confucius, having brought all the Chinese states to peace and order, also civilized all the surrounding barbarian tribes. In this period, Ho Hsiu said: The whole world, far and near, great and small, was like one. * Of course Ho Hsiu did not mean that these things were actually accomplished by Confucius. He meant that they were what Confucius would have accomplished if he had actually had the power and authority. Even so, however, the theory remains fantastic, since Confucius himself was alive only during the latter part of the three supposed ages of the Ch un Ch iu.


Output:
Ho Hsiu s account of the way in which Confucius, working out from his own state, ideally brought the entire world to peace and order, is similar to the stages in acquiring world peace that are expounded in the Great Learning. In this respect, therefore, the Ch'un Ch iu becomes an exemplification of the Great Learning.

 This theory of the three stages of social progress is also found in the Li Yiin or "Evolution of Rites,"


Output: one of the chapters in the Li Chi. According to this treatise, the first stage was a world of disorder, the second was that of small tranquility, and the third that of great unity. The Li Yiln describes this final age as follows: When the great Too was in practice, the world was common to all; men of talents, virtue and ability were selected; sincerity was emphasized and friendship was cultivated. Therefore, men did not love only their own parents, nor did they treat as children only their own sons. A competent provision was secured for the aged till their death, employment was given to the able-bodied, and a means was provided for the upbringing of the young. Kindness and compassion were shown to widows, orphans, childless men, and those who were disabled by disease, so that they all had the wherewithal for support.


Output:
Men had their proper work and women had their homes. They hated to see the wealth of natural resources undeveloped, L so they developed it, but this development] was not for their own use. They hated not to exert themselves, [ so they worked, but their work ] was not for their own profit....This was called the great unity. (Li Chi, ch. 7-)

 Though the author of the Li Yiin put this great unity into a golden age of the past, it certainly represented a current dream of the Han people, who would surely have liked to see something more than simply the political unity of the empire.

 * See Ho Hsiu's Commentary un ikn hung Yang CtmimenUiry to the Ch'un Ch'in. I st year of Duke Yin. 722. B.C.

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 CHAPTER 18

 THE ASCENDANCY OF

 CONFUCIANISM AND REVIVAL

 OF TAOISM


Output:
OF TAOISM

 1 HE Han dynasty was not only the chronological successor of the Ch' in, but in many ways was its continnator as well. It stabilized the unification which the Ch'in had first achieved.

 The Unification of Thought


Output: Among the many policies adopted by Ch'in for this purpose, one of the most important had been that for the unification of thought. After it had conquered all the rival states, Li Ssu, its Prime Minister, submitted a memorial to the Ch'in First Emperor (Ch'in Shih-huang-ti) which said: "Of old, the world was scattered and in confusion....Men valued what they had themselves privately studied, thus casting into disrepute what their superiors had established. At present, Your Majesty has united the world....Yet there are those who with their private teachings mutually abet each other, and discredit the institutions of laws and instructions....If such conditions are not prohibited, the imperial power will decline above and partizanships will form below. {Historical Records, ch. 87.) Then he made a most drastic recommendation: All historical records, save those of Ch' in, all writings of the "hundred schools " of thought, and all other literature, save that kept in custody of the official Erudites, and save works


Output: custody of the official Erudites, and save works on medicine, pharmacy, divination, agriculture, and arboriculture, should be delivered to the government and burned. As for any individuals who might want to study, they should "lake the officials as their teachers. (Ibid., ch. 6.)


Output:
The First Emperor approved this recommendation and ordered it carried out in 213 B.C. Actually, sweeping though it was, it was nothing more than the logical application of an idea that had long existed in Legalist circles. Thus Han Fei Tzu had already said: "In the state of the intelligent ruler, there is no literature of books and records, but the laws serve as teachings. There are no sayings of the former kings, but the offcials act as teachers. (Han-fei-tzu, ch. 49.)

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 I

 The purpose of Li Ssu s recommendation is apparent. He wanted to be sure that there should be but one world, one government, one history, and one way of thought. Books on medicine and other practical subjects were therefore exempted from the general destruction because, as we should say now, they were technical works and so had nothing to do with "ideology."


Output: The very violence of the Ch in dynasty, however, led to its speedy downfall, and following the rise of the Han dynasty,^ good deal of the ancient literature and the writings of the "hundred schools'came to light again. Yet though they disapproved of the extreme measures of their predecessors, the Han rulers came to feel that a second attempt along different lines should be made to unify the thought of the empire, if political unity were to be long maintained. This new attempt was made by Emperor Wu (140-87 B.C.), who in so doing was following a recommendation made by Tung Chung-shu.


Output: In a memorial presented to the Emperor around the year 136 B.C., Tung wrote: The principle of Great Unification in the Ch un Ch iu is a permanent warp passing through the universe, and an expression of what is proper extending from the past to the present. But the teachers of today have diverse Ways, men have diverse doctrines, and each of the philosophic schools has its own particular position and differs in the ideas which it teaches. Hence it is that the rulers possess nothing whereby they may effect general unification. And he concluded his memorial by recommending: All not within the field of the Liu Yi [Six Classics] should be cut short and not allowed to progress further." (History of the Former Han Dynasty, ch. 56.)


Output: Emperor Wu approved this recommendation and formally announced that Confucianism, in which these Six Classics held a dominant place, was to be the official state teaching. A considerable time was needed, to be sure, before the Confucianists consolidated their newly gained position, and in the process they adopted many ideas from the other rival schools, thus making of Confucianism something very different from the early Confucianism of the Chou dynasty. We have seen in the last chapter how this process of eclectic amalgamation operated. Nevertheless, from the time of Emperor Wu onward, the Confucianists were given a belter chance by the government to expound their teachings than were the other schools.


Output:
The principle of Great Unification referred to by Tung Chung-shu is also discussed in the Kung Yang Commentary on the Ch'un Ch iu. Thus the opening sentence of the Ch un Ch iu is: "First year |_of Duke YinJ, spring, the King's first month.' And on this the Commentary remarks: "Why does [the Ch'un Ch'iu] speak of 'the King's first month'? It has reference to the Great Unification." According to Tung Chung-shu and the Kung Yang school, this Great Unification was one of the programs that Confucius set up for his ideally established new dynasty when he wrote the Ch un Ch iu.

 The measure carried out by Emperor Wu at Tung Chung-shu s recommendation was more positive and yet more moderate than that suggested by Li Ssu to the First Emperor of Ch in, even though both equally aimed at an

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 intellectual unification of the entire empire. Instead of rejecting all schools of philosophy [ffi


Output:
indiscriminately, as did the Ch in measure, thus leaving a vacuum in the world of thought, the Han measure selected one of them, Confucianism, from among the "hundred schools," and gave it pre-eminence as the state teaching. Another difference is that the Han measure decreed no punishment for the private teaching of the ideas of the other schools. It only provided that persons who wished to be candidates for official positions should study the Six Classics and Confucianism.

 By thus making Confucianism the basis of government education, it laid the foundation for China's famed examination system used to recruit government officials. In this way the Han measure was in fact a compromise between the Ch in measure and the previous practice of private teaching, which had become general after the time of Confucius. It is interesting to see that China's first private teacher now became her first state teacher.

 The Position of Confucius in Han Thought


Output:
The Position of Confucius in Han Thought

 As a result, the position of Confucius became very high by the middle of the first century B.C.

 Aboul this time, a new type of literature came into existence known as the wei shu or apocrypha. Shu means book or writing, and wei literally means the woof of a fabric, and is used in apposition to ching, a word which is usually translated as classic, but literally means warp. It was believed by many people of the Han period that Confucius, after writing the Six Classics, that is, the six warps of his teaching, had still left something unexpressed. Hence, they thought, he then wrote the six woofs, corresponding to the six warps, by way of supplement. Thus the combination of the six warps and six woofs would constitute the entire teaching of Confucius. Actually, of course, the apocrypha are Han forgeries.


Output: In the apocrypha the position of Confucius reached the highest level it has ever had in China. In one of them, for example, the Ch un Ch iu Wei: Han Han Tzu, or Apocryphal Treatise on the Spring and Autumn Annals: Guarded Shoots of the Han Dynasty, it is written: Confucius said: I have examined the historical records, drawn upon ancient charts, and investigated and collected cases of anomalies, so as to institute laws for the emperors of the Han dynasty.'" And another apocryphal treatise on the Spring and A utumn Annals, known as the Expository Charts on Confucius, states that Confucius was actually the son of a god, the Black Emperor, and recounts many supposed miracles in his life. Thus in these apocrypha we find Confucius being regarded as a super—human being, a god among men who could foretell the future. If these views had prevailed, Confucius would have held in China a position similar to that of Jesus Christ, and Confucianism would have become a religion in the proper sense of the term.


Output:
Soon afterwards, however, Confucianists of a more realistic or rationalistic way of thinking protested against these "extraordinary and strange views"

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 m

 about Confucius and Confucianism. According to them, Confucius was neither a god nor a king, but simply a sage. He neither foresaw the coming of the Han Dynasty, nor did he institute laws for any dynasty. He simply inherited the cultural legacy of the great tradition of the past, to which he gave a new spirit and transmitted for all ages.

 The Controversy of the Old and New Text Schools


Output: These Confucianists formed a group known as the Old Text school. This school was so called, because it claimed to possess texts of the Classics which went back before the fires of Ch in, that is, the burning of the books of 2.13 B.C., and hence were written in a form of script that had already become archaic by the time of their recovery. In opposition to this group, Tung Chung -shu and others belonged to the New Text school, so called because its versions of the Classics were written in the form of script that was generally current during the Han dynasty.


Output: The controversy between these two schools has been one of the greatest in the history of Chinese scholarship. It is not necessary here to go into its details. All that need be said is that the Old Text school arose as a reaction or revolution against the New Text school. Al the end of the Former Han dynasty, it received backing from Liu Hsin (ca. 46 B.C.-A.D. 2.3), one of the greatest scholars of the time. Indeed, so great was his enthusiasm that at a much later time he was accused, quite falsely, by followers of the New Texl school, of having single-handedly forged all ihe classics written in the old script.


Output:
In recent years it has occurred to me that the origin of these two schools may perhaps go back to the two wings of Confucianism that existed before the C h i n dynasty. The New Text school would ihus be a continuation of the idealistic wing in early Confucianism, and the Old Text of the realistic wing. In other words, the one would derive from the group headed by Mcneius and the other from that headed by Hsiin Tzu.

 In the Hsun-tzu, there is a chapter titled "Against the Twelve Philosophers," one passage of which says: "There were some who in a general way followed the former kings but did not know their fundamentals....Basing themselves on ancient traditions, they developed theories which were called those of the Five Elements. Their views were peculiar, contradictory, and without standards; dark and without illustrations; confined and without explanations. Tzu-ssu [grandson of Confucius] began these and Meng K'o [Mencius] followed." (Ch. 4.)


Output:
This passage has long puzzled modern scholars, because both in the Chung Yung, supposedly the work of Tzu-ssu, and in the Mencius, there is no mention of the Five Elements. Nevertheless, we do find in the Chung Yung one passage which reads: "When a nation is about to flourish, there are sure to be happy omens; when it is about to perish, there are sure to be

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 unlucky omens." Likewise the Mencius states at one point: "In the course of five hundred years, it is inevitable that a LtrueJ king will arise. (Vllb, 13.) These passages would seem to indicate that both Mencius and the author of the Chung Yung (who, if not Tzu—ssu himself, must have been one of his followers) did believe to some extent that an interaction exists between Heaven and man and that history operates in cycles. These doctrines, it will be remembered, were prominent in the Yin—Yang or Five Elements school.


Output: If, then, we consider Tung Chung—shu as being in some way connected with Mencius' wing of Confucianism, Hsiin Tzu's accusations against this wing assume added significance. For if Tung Chung-shu s views actually go back in embryonic form to those of the followers of Mencius, then the latter, judging from their later development by Tung Chung-shu, could indeed be characterized as peculiar and dark.


Output:
This hypothesis is further strengthened by the fact that Mencius, like Tung Chung—shu, attached particular value to the Ch un Ch IU as the work of Confucius. Thus he said: Confucius was alarmed [by the disorder of the world] and made the Ch'un Ch'iu. The Ch'un Ch'iu should be the work of the Son of Heaven. Therefore Confucius said: 'Those who understand me, will do so because of the Ch un Ch iu, and those who blame me, will do so also because of the Ch'un Ch'iu. " (Mencius, Illb, 9-) Mencius theory that Confucius, in composing the Ch un Ch iu, was doing work that pertains to the Son of Heaven, could, if further developed, easily lead to Tung Chung— shu's theory that Confucius had actually received a Mandate from Heaven to become the Son of Heaven.

 Tung Chung—shu, furthermore, in expounding his theory of human nature, explicitly compared it with that of Mencius. As we have seen in the last chapter, the differences between the two theories are actually only nominal.


Output:
If we accept the hypothesis that the New Text school is the continuation of the idealistic wing of Confucianism headed by Mencius, it is only reasonable to suppose that the Old Text school likewise stems from the realistic wing of Hsiin Tzu. Thus it is noticeable that the thinkers of the first century A.D., who were followers of the Old Text school, all took a naturalistic view of the universe similar to that of Hsiin Tzu and the Taoists. (Hsiin Tzu himself, as we have seen earlier, was influenced by the Taoists in this respect.)

 Yang Hsiung and Wang Ch ung

 An example of this point of view is provided by Yang Hsiung (53 B.C-A.D. 18), one of the members of the Old Text school. His T ai Hsiian or Supreme Mystery is to a considerable extent permeated with the concept that "reversal is the movement of the Too" —a concept basic both in the Lao-tzu and Book of Changes.


Output:
He also wrote a treatise known as the Fa Yen or Model Speeches, in which he attacked the Yin-Yang school. In this same work, to be sure, he

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 expresses praise for Meneius. This in itself, however, does not invalidate my theory, because even though Meneius may have had some inclination toward the Yin-Yang school, he certainly never reached the extremes that characterized the New Text school in the Han Dynasty.


Output: The greatest thinker of the Old Text school is undoubtedly Wang Ch'ung (A.D. 2.7—ca. 100), an iconoclast with a remarkable spirit of scientific skepticism, whose chief work is the Lun Heng or Critical Essays. Writing of the spirit which characterizes this work, he says: "Though the Shih [ Rook of Odes] numbered three hundred, one phrase can cover them all, namely, 'With undepraved thoughts' [a saying of Confucius in the Analects]. And though the chapters of my Lun Heng may be numbered in the tens, one phrase covers them all, namely, Hatred of fictions and falsehoods. (Lun Heng, ch. 61.) Again he says: "in things there is nothing more manifest than having results, and in argument there is nothing more decisive than having evidence. (Ch. 6j.)


Output: Using this spirit, he vigorously attacks the theories of the Yin -Yang school, and especially its doctrine that an interaction exists between Heaven and man, either ideologically or mechanistically. As to its teleological aspect, he writes: The Way of Heaven is that of spontaneity, which consists of non -activity. But if Heaven were to reprimand men, that would constitute action and would not be spontaneous. The school of Huang [the legendary Yellow Emperor] and Lao [Lao Tzu], in its discussion on the Way of Heaven, has found the truth." (Ch. 41.) As to the mechanistic aspect of the theory, Wang Ch ung says: Man holds a place in the universe like that of a flea or louse under a jacket or robe.... Can the flea or louse, by conducting themselves either properly or improperly, affect the changes or movements in the ether under the jacket?...They are not capable of this, and to suppose that man alone is thus capable is to misconceive of the principle of things and of the ether. (Ch. 43-)


Output:
Taoism and Buddhism

 Thus Wang Ch'ung prepared the way for the revival of Taoism that came one century later. In speaking about Taoism, I must emphasize again the distinction between Too chia and Too chiao, that is, between Taoism as a philosophy and Taoism as a religion. By the revival of Taoism, I here mean that of Taoist philosophy. This revived Taoist philosophy I will call Neo—Taoism.

 It is interesting to note that Taoism as a religion also had its beginnings toward the end of the Han dynasty, and there are some who refer to this popular form of Taoism as new Taoism. The Old Text school purged Confucianism of its Yin-Yang elements, and the latter later mingled with Taoism to form a new kind of eclecticism known as the Taoist religion. In this way, while the position of Confucius was being reduced from that of a divinity to one of a teacher, Lao Tzu was becoming the founder of a religion which ulti-

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 i


Output:
i

 mately, in imitation of Buddhism, developed temples, a priesthood, and a liturgy. In this way it became an organized religion almost totally unrecognizable to early Taoist philosophy, which is why it is known as the Taoist religion.

 In the first century A.D., already before this was happening, Buddhism was introduced into China from India via Central Asia. In the case of Buddhism as of Taoism, I must emphasize the distinction between Fo chiao and Fo hstteh, that is, between Buddhism as a religion and Buddhism as a philosophy.

 As just stated, Buddhism as a religion did much to inspire the institutional organization of religious Taoism. The latter, as an indigenous faith, was greatly stimulated in its development by the nationalistic sentiments of people who watched with resentment the successful invasion of China by the foreign religion of Buddhism. By some, indeed, Buddhism was considered as a religion of the barbarians.


Output:
Religious Taoism, to some extent, thus grew as an indigenous substitute for Buddhism, and in the process it borrowed a great deal, including institutions, rituals, and even the form of much of its scriptures, from its foreign rival.

 But besides Buddhism as an institutionalized religion, there also existed Buddhism as a philosophy.

 And whereas the Taoist religion was almost invariably opposed to the Buddhist religion, Taoist philosophy took Buddhist philosophy as its ally. Taoism, to be sure, is less other-worldly than Buddhism. Nevertheless, some similarity exists between their forms of mysticism. Thus the Too of the Taoists is described as unnamable, and the real such-ness' or ultimate reality of the Buddhists is also described as something that cannot be spoken of. It is neither one, nor is it many; it is neither not-one, nor is it not not-many. Such terminology represents what is called in Chinese "thinking into the not-not."


Output:
In the third and fourth centuries A.D., famous scholars, who were usually Taoists, were often intimate friends of famous Buddhist monks. The scholars were usually well-versed in Buddhist sutras, and the monks in Taoist texts, especially the Chuang—tzu. When they met together, they talked in what was known at that time as ch'ing t an, or "pure conversation." When they reached the subject of the not—not, they stopped talking and just silently understood each other with a smile.

 In this kind of situation, one finds the spirit of Ch an (commonly known in the West under its Japanese name of Zen). The Ch an school is a brunch of Chinese Buddhism which is really a combination of the most subtle and delicate aspects of both the Buddhist and Taoist philosophies. It exercised a greal influence later on in Chinese philosophy, poetry and painting, as we shall see in chapter twenty-two, where it will be discussed in detail.

 Political and Social. Background