A Short History of Chinese Philosophy (45 page)

Method of Spiritual Cultivation

The ultimate purpose of Buddhism is to teach men how to achieve Bud— dhahood—a problem that was one of the most vital to the people of that time. Likewise, the ultimate purpose of Neo—Confucianism is to teach men how to achieve Confucian Sagehood. The difference between the Buddha of Buddhism and the Sage of Neo-Confucianism is that while the Buddha must promote his spiritual cultivation outside of society and the human world, the Sage must do so within these human bonds. The most important development in Chinese Buddhism was its attempt to depreciate the other-worldliness of original Buddhism. This attempt came close to success when the Ch' an Masters stated that in carrying water and chopping firewood, therein lies the wonderful Too." But, as I said in the last chapter, they did not push this idea to its logical conclusion by saying that in serving one's family and the state therein also lies the wonderful Too. The reason, of course, is that, once they had said this, their teaching would have ceased to be Buddhism.

For the Neo-Confucianists, too, how to achieve Sagehood is one of the main problems, and Chou Tun—yi s answer is that one should be quiescent, which he further defines as a state of wu—yil or having no desires. In his second major treatise, the T'ung Shu or General Principles of the Book of Changes, we find that by wu-yil he means much the same as the wu-wei (having no effort) and wu-hsin (having no mind) of Taoism and Ch' anism. The fact that he uses wu—yil, however, instead of these other two terms, shows how he attempts to move away from the other-worldliness of Buddhism. So far as the terms are concerned, the wu in wu—yil is not so all inclusive as that in wu hsin.

In the T'ung Shu Chou Tun-yi writes: "Wu-yil results in vacuity when in quiescence, and straightforwardness when in movement. Vacuity in quiescence leads to enlightenment, and enlightenment leads to comprehension. [Likewise] straightforwardness in movement leads to impartiality, and impartiality leads to universality. One is almost [a sage when one has] such enlightenment, comprehension, impartiality, and universality. (Collected Works, chilan 5.) The word yil used by the Neo—Confucianists always means selfish desire or simply selfishness.

Sometimes they prefix it by the word ssu (selfish), in order to make their meaning clearer. Chou Tun—yi s idea in this passage may be illustrated by a passage from the Mencius, often quoted by the Neo-Confucianists: "if today men suddenly see a child about to fall into a well, they will without exception experience a feeling of alarm and distress. This will not be as a way whereby to gain the favor of the child's parents, nor whereby they may seek the praise of their neighbors and friends, nor are 444 - , NEO-CONFUCIANISM:THECOSMOLOGISTS

they so because they dislike the reputation [of being unvirtuous]." (Mencius, Ha, 6.)

According to the Neo-Confucianists, what Mencius here describes is the natural and spontaneous response of any man when placed in such a situation. Man is by nature fundamentally good. Therefore his innate state is one in which he has no selfish desires in his mind, or as Chou expresses it, one of vacuity in quiescence. As applied to conduct, it will lead to an immediate impulse to try to save the child, and this sort of intuitive conduct is what Chou calls "straightforwardness in movement." If, however, the man does not act on his first impulse, but pauses instead to think the matter over, he may then consider that the child in distress is a son of his enemy, and therefore he should not save it, or that it is the son of his friend and therefore he should save it. In either case, he is motivated by secondary selfish thoughts and thereby loses both his original state of vacuity in quiescence and the corollary state of straightforwardness in movement.

When the mind lacks all selfish desires it becomes, according to the Neo-Confucianists, like a brilliant mirror, which is always ready to reflect objectively any object that comes before it. The brilliancy of the mirror is compared with the mind s "enlightenment," and its readiness to reflect with the mind's "comprehension." When the mind lacks any selfish desires, its natural response to external stimuli results in actions that are straightforward. Being straightforward, they are impartial, and being impartial, they are carried out without discrimination. Such is their nature of universality.

This is Chou Tun-yi's method of achieving Sagehood, and consists, like that of the Ch an monks, of living naturally and acting naturally.

Cosmology of Shao Yung

Another cosmological philosopher to be mentioned in this chapter is Shao Yung, known as the Master of Pai-ch' flan (IOII-77). He was a native of the present Ilonan province. Though in a way somewhat different from that of Chou Tun—yi, he too developed his cosmological theory from the Book of Changes, and, like Chou, made use of diagrams to illustrate his theory.

In chapter eighteen we have seen that the Han dynasty saw the appearance of a number of wei shu or apocrypha, which were supposed to complement the original Six Classics. In the Yi Wei, or Apocryphal Treatise on the Book of Changes, the theory is developed of the influence of each of the sixty-four hexagrams upon a certain period of the year. According to this theory, each of the twelve months is under the jurisdiction of several of the hexagrams, one of which plays a leading role in the affairs of that month and is hence known as its "sovereign hexagram. These sovereign hexagrams are Fu II , Lin jjj, T'ai M, Ta Chuang M, Chileh H, Ch'ien S,Kou m,Tun S, P\ K,Kuan H» Po it, and K'un H. The reason for their importance is that they graphically represent the waxing and waning of the Yang and Yin prin-446 ' NEO-CONFUCIANISM:THE COSMOLOGISTS

ciples throughout the year.

In these hexagrams, as we have seen in chapter twelve, the unbroken lines represent the Yang, which is associated with heat, while the broken lines represent the Yin, which is associated with cold. The hexagram Fu i|» with five broken lines above and one unbroken line below, is the "sovereign hexagram"

of that month in which the Yin (cold) has reached its apogee and the Yang (heat) then begins to reappear.

That is the eleventh month of the traditional Chinese calendar, the month in which the winter solstice occurs. The hexagram Ch'ienW, with its six unbroken lines, is the "sovereign hexagram" of the fourth month, in which the Yang is at its apogee. The hexagram Kou H , with five unbroken lines above and one broken line below, is the "sovereign hexagram" of the fifth month, in which the summer solstice is followed by the rebirth of the Yin. And the hexagram K'unii, with its six broken lines, is the sovereign hexagram of the tenth month, in which the Yin is at its apogee, just before the rebirth of the Yang which follows the winter solstice. The other hexagrams indicate the intermediate stages in the waxing and waning of the Yin and Yang.

The twelve hexagrams in toto constitute a cycle. After the influence of the Yin has reached its apogee, that of the Yang appears at the very bottom of the following hexagram. Rising upward, it becomes steadily greater month by month and hexagram by hexagram, until it reaches its apogee. Then the Yin again appears at the bottom of the following hexagram, and grows in its turn until it too reigns supreme.

It is followed in turn by the reborn Yang, and thus the cycle of the year and of the hexagrams begins again. Such is the inevitable course of nature.

It is to be noticed that Shao Yung s theory of the universe gives further illumination to the theory of the twelve sovereign hexagrams. As in the case of Chou Tun-yi, he deduces his system from a statement in "Appendix III" of the Book of Changes which reads: "In the Yi there is the Supreme Ultimate. The Supreme Ultimate produces the Two Forms. The Two Forms produce the Four Emblems, and the Four Emblems produce the eight trigrams." To illustrate this process, Shao Yung made a diagram as follows: Greater Greater Lesser Lesser Lesser Lesser Greater Creater, Softness Hardness Softness Hardness Yin Yang Yin Yang

Softness Hardness Yin Yang Quiescence Movement The first or lower tier of this diagram shows the Two Forms, which, in Shao Yung s system, are not the Yin and Yang but Movement and Quiescence. The second tier, looked at in conjunction with the first, shows the Four Emblems. For instance, by combining the unbroken line beneath Yang 4 4 8 NEO-CONFUCIANISM:THE COSMOLOGISTS

in the middle tier, with the unbroken line beneath Movement below, we obtain two unbroken lines which are the emblem of the Yang. That is to say, the Yang is not, for Shao Yung, represented by a single unbroken line —, but by two unbroken lines =. Likewise, by combining the broken line beneath Yin in the central tier with the unbroken line beneath Movement below, we obtain one broken line above and one unbroken line below, which are the emblem of Yin. That is to say, the emblem of the Yin is not --. but ~.

In the same way, the third or highest tier looked at in conjunction with both the central and lower tier, represents the eight trigrams. For instance, by combining the unbroken line beneath Greater Yang above with the unbroken line beneath Yang in the middle and the unbroken line beneath Movement below, we obtain a combination of three unbroken lines, which is the trigram for Ch'ien, E=. Likewise, by combining the broken line beneath Greater Yin above with the unbroken line beneath Yang in the middle and the unbroken line beneath Movement below, we obtain the combination of one broken line above and two unbroken lines below, which is the trigram for Tui, E£. And still again, by combining the unbroken line beneath Lesser Yang above with the broken line beneath Yin in the middle and the unbroken line beneath Movement below, we obtain the trigram for Li, EZ. By following the same process through the other combinations, we obtain the entire eight trigrams in the following sequence: Ch'ieh !=, Tuiz£, /iEr, Chenzl, SUTITZ, K'anz-z, Kenzz, and K'unzz. Each of these trigrams represents a certain principle or influence.

The materialization of these principles results in Heaven, Earth, and all things of the universe. As Shao Yung says: "Heaven is produced from Movement and Earth from Quiescence. The alternating interplay of Movement and Quiescence gives utmost development to the course of Heaven and Earth. At the first appearance of Movement, the Yang is produced, and this Movement having reached its apogee, the Yin is then produced. The alternating interplay of the Yang and Yin gives utmost development to the functioning aspect of Heaven. With the first appearance of Quiescence, Softness is produced, and this Quiescence having reached its apogee, Hardness is then produced. The alternating interplay of Hardness and Softness gives utmost development to the functioning aspect of Earth." *The terms Hardness and Softness are, like the others, borrowed by Shao Yung from "Appendix III" of the Book of Changes, which says: "The Way of Heaven is established with the Yin and Yang. The Way of Earth is established with Softness and Hardness. The Way of Man is established with humanheartedness and righteousness.

Shao Yung writes further: "The Greater Yang constitutes the sun, the Greater Yin the moon, the Lesser Yang the stars, the Lesser Yin the zodiacal spaces. The interplay of the sun, moon, stars, and zodiacal spaces gives ut-

* Kuuri-wu P ien. or "Observation of Tilings. Inner Chapter, in the Huang-chi Ching-shih or Cvsinological Chronology, ch. Ha.

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most development to the substance of Heaven. The Greater Softness constitutes water, the Greater Hardness fire, the Lesser Softness soil, and the Lesser Hardness stone. The interplay of water, fire, soil, and stone gives utmost development to the substance of Earth. (Ibid.) This is Shao Yung s theory of the origin of the universe, deduced strictly from his diagram. In this diagram, the Supreme Ultimate itself is not actually shown, but it is understood as being symbolized by the empty space beneath the first tier of the diagram. Shao Yung writes: "The Supreme Ultimate is a Unity which does not move. It produces a Duality, and this Duality is spirituality....Spirituality produces numbers, the numbers produce emblems, and the emblems produce implements [i.e., individual things]."

(Ibid., ch. lib.) These numbers and emblems are illustrated in the diagram.

Law of the Evolution of Things

By adding a fourth, fifth, and sixth tier to the above diagram, and following the same procedure of combination that was used there, we arrive at a diagram in which all the sixty-four hexagrams (derived from combination of the eight primary trigrams) are shown. If this diagram is then cut into two equal halves, each of which is bent into a half circle, and if the two half circles are then joined together, we have another of Shao' s diagrams, known as "the circular diagram of the sixty-four hexagrams."

Upon examining this diagram (here, for the sake of simplicity, reduced from sixty-four to the twelve "sovereign hexagrams ), we see that these twelve appear in it in their proper sequence as follows (looking from the center, and progressing clockwise from above):

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This sequence is automatically arrived at by what is called the method of doubling," because, as we have seen, the number of emblems in each tier in the diagram is always double that of the tier immediately below, so that combination of all six tiers results in the sixty—four hexagrams at the top.

This simple progression makes the diagram appear as both something natural and at the same time mysterious. As a result, it was hailed by most of the Neo—Confucianists as one of the greatest discoveries of Shao Yung, in which could be found the universal law governing ihe evolution of all things, and the key to the mystery of the universe.