A Short History of Chinese Philosophy (46 page)

This law not only applies to the alternation of the seasons throughout the year, but also to the alternation of day and night every twenty—four hours. According to Shao Yung and the other Neo-Confucianists, the Yin can be interpreted as merely the negation of the Yang. Hence, if the Yang is the constructive force of the universe, the Yin is its destructive principle. Interpreting the Yin and Yang in this sense, the law represented by the diagram indicates the way in which all things of the universe go through phases of construction and destruction. Thus, the first or lowest line of the hexagram Fu U

shows the beginning of the phase of construction, and in hexagram Ch' ien ii we find the completion of this phase. The first line of the hexagram KouS shows the beginning of the phase of destruction, and in hexagram K' un 11 this phase is completed. In this way the diagram graphically illustrates the universal law that everything involves its own negation, a principle that was stressed both by Lao Tzu and the "Appendices" of the Book of Changes.

The world as a whole is no exception to this universal law. Thus Shao Yung maintains that with the first line of the hexagram Fu, the world comes into existence. With the hexagram T ai, the individual things that belong to it begin to be produced. Mankind then appears, and with the hexagram Ch' ien the golden age of civilization is reached. There follows a process of continuous decay, until with the hexagram Po all individual things disintegrate, and with the hexagram K un the whole world ceases to be. Thereupon another world begins with the first line of the recurring hexagram Fu, and the whole process is repeated. Each world which is thus created and destroyed has a duration of 12.9,600 years.

Shao Yung s major work is the Huang-chi Ching-shih, which is an elaborate chronological diagram of our existing world. According to its chronology, the golden age of our world has already passed away. It was the age of Yao, the traditional philosopher king of China who reputedly ruled in the twenty-fourth century B.C. We today are now in an age corresponding to the hexagram Po, the time of the beginning of decline of all things. As we have seen in chapter fourteen, most Chinese philosophers have considered the process of history to be one of continuous degeneration, in which everything of the present falls short of the ideal past. Shao Yung's theory gives this view a metaphysical justification.

The theory that everything involves its own negation sounds Hegelian. But

454

NEO-C0NFUCIANISM:THE COSMOLOGISTS

according to Hegel, when a thing is negated, a new thing commences on a higher level, whereas according to Lao Tzu and the "Appendices" of the Book of Changes, when a thing is negated, the new thing simply repeats the old. This is a philosophy characteristic of an agrarian people, as I pointed out in chapter two.

Cosmology of Chang Tsai

The third cosmological philosopher to be mentioned in this chapter is Chang Tsai, known as the Master of Heng-ch'u (1020-77). He was a native of the present Shensi province. He too, though from yet another point of view, d evel oped a cos molo gical theor y bas ed on th e "Appendices of th e Book of Changes. In this he especially emphasized the idea of Ch i, a concept which became more and more important in the cosmological and metaphysical theories of the later Neo -Confucianists. The word ch i literally means gas or ether. In Neo-Confucianism its meaning is sometimes more abstract and sometimes more concrete, according to the different systems of the particular philosophers. When its meaning is more abstract, it approaches the concept of matter, as found in the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle, in contrast to the Platonic Idea or the Aristotelian Form. In this sense, it means the primary undifferentiated material out of which all individual things are formed. When, however, its meaning is concrete, it means the physical matter that makes up all existing individual things. It is in this concrete sense that Chang Tsai speaks of Ch i.

Chang Tsai, like his predecessors, bases his cosmological theory on the p as s ag e i n " Ap p en d i x I I I o f t h e Bo o k o f Ch a n g es t h at s t at e s : " I n t h e Yi there is the Supreme Ultimate which produces the Two Forms [i.e., the Yin and Yang] ." For him, however, the Supreme Ultimate is nothing other than the Ch'i.

In his main work, the Cheng Meng or Correct Discipline for Beginners, he writes: "The Great Htarmony is known as the Too [by which he here means the Supreme Ultimate]. Because in it there are interacting qualities of floating and sinking, rising and falling, movement and quiescence, therefore there appear in it the beginnings of the emanating forces which agitate one another, overcome or are overcome by one another, and contract or expand, one with regard to the other. {Chang—tzu Ch iian—shu or Collected Works of the Master Chang, chilan 1.)

The Great Harmony is a name for the Ch i in its entirety, which Chang Tsai also describes as "wandering air." (Ibid.) The qualities of floating, rising, and movement are those of the Yang, while those of sinking, falling, and quiescence are those of the Yin. The Ch'i, when influenced by the Yang qualities, floats and rises, while when influenced by the Yin qualities, it sinks and falls. As a result the Ch i is constantly either condensing or dispersing. Its condensation results in the formation of concrete things; its dispersion results in the dissolution of these same things.

456 NEO-CONFUCIANISM:THE COSMOLOGISTS

In the Cheng Meng, Chang Tsai writes: "When the Ch'i condenses, its visibility

becomes apparent so that there are then the shapes [of individual things]. When it disperses, its visibility is no longer apparent and there are no shapes. At the time of its condensation, can one say otherwise than that this is but temporary? But at the time of its dispersing, can one hastily say that it is then non-existent? (Ibid.) Thus Chang Tsai
1

tries to get away from the Taoist and Buddhist idea of Wu (Non-being). He says: "If one

knows the Void is the Ch''i, one knows that there is no Wu." The Void is not really an absolute vacuum; it is simply the Ch'i in its state of dispersion in which it is no longer visible.

One particularly famous passage of the Cheng Meng has become known as the Hsi Ming or "Western Inscription," because it was separately inscribed on the western wall of Chang Tsai s study. In this passage Chang maintains that since all things in the universe are consliluted of one and the same Ch' i, therefore men and all other things are but part of one great body. We should serve Ch'ien and K'un (by which Chang means Heaven and Earth) as we do our own parents, and regard all men as we do our brothers. We should extend the virtue of filial piety and practice it through service to the universal parents. Yet, no extraordinary acts are needed for this service. Every moral activity, if one can understand it, is an activity that serves the universal parents. If, for instance, one loves other men simply because they are members of the same society as one's own, then one is doing his social duty and is serving society. But if one loves them not merely because they are members of the same society, but also because they are children of the universal parents, then by loving them one not only serves society, but at the same time serves the parents of the universe as a whole. The passage concludes with the saying: "In life I follow and serve [the universal parents], and when death comes, I rest.' (Ibid)

This essay has been greatly admired by later Neo-Confucianists, because it clearly distinguished the Confucian attitude towards life from that of Buddhism and of Taoist philosophy and religion. Chang Tsai writes elsewhere: "The Great Void Li.e., the Great Harmony, the Tool cannot but consist of Ch'i; this Ch'i cannot but condense to form all things; and these things cannot but become dispersed so as to form [once more] the Great Void. The perpetuation of these movements in a cycle is inevitable and thus spontaneous." (Ibid, chtian 2..) The sage is one who fully understands this course.

Therefore, he neither tries to be outside it, as do the Buddhists, who seek to break the chain of causation and thus bring life to an end; nor does he try to prolong his life, as do the religious Taoists, who seek to nurture their hody and thus remain as long as possible within the human sphere. The sage, because he understands the nature of the universe, therefore knows that life entails no gain nor death any loss. (Ibid.) Hence he simply tries to live a normal life. In life he does what his duty as a member of society and as a member of the universe requires him to do, and when death comes, he

458.

NEO-CONFUCIANISM:THECOSMOLOGISTS

rests.

He does what every man should do, but because of his understanding, what he does acquires new significance. The Neo-Confucianists developed a point of view from which all the moral activities valued by the Confucianists acquire a further value that is super-moral. They all have in them that quality that the Ch anists called the wonderful Tao. It is in this sense that Neo—Confucianism is actually a further development of Ch anism.

460

NEO-CONFUCIANISM:THE COSMOLOGISTS

CHAFFER 24

NEO-CONFUCIANISM:

THE BEGINNING OF THE

TWO SCHOOLS

JNEO -CONFUCIANISM came to be divided into two main schools, which, by happy coincidence, were initiated by two brothers, known as the two Ch eng Masters. Ch eng Yi (IO33-IIO8), the younger brother, initiated a school which was completed by Chu Hsi (1130-1200) and was known as the Ch'eng-Chu school or Li hsiieh (School of Laws or Principles). Ch'eng Hao (1032.-1085), the elder brother, initiated another school which was continued by Lu Chiu— yiian(H39-n93) and completed by Wang Shou-jen (1472-152.8), and was known as the Lu-Wang school or Hsin hstteh(School of Mind).

The full significance of the difference between the two schools was not recognized at the time of the two Ch eng Masters themselves, but Chu Hsi and Lu Chiu—yuan began a great controversy which has been carried on until the present day.

As we shall see in the following chapters, the main issue between the two groups was really one of fundamental philosophical importance. In terms of Western philosophy, it was one as to whether the laws of nature are or are not legislated by the mind or Mind. That has been the issue between Platonic realism and Kantian idealism,and may be said to be the issue in metaphysics. If it were solved,there would not be much other controversy left. In this chapter I am not going to discuss this issue in detail, but only to suggest its beginnings in the history of Chinese philosophy.

Ch' eng Hao' s Idea of Jen

The Ch' eng brothers were natives of the present Honan province. The elder of them, Ch eng Hao, was known as Master Ming—tao, and the younger, Ch'eng Yi, as the Master of Yi-ch'uan. Their father was a friend of Chou Tun-yi and the cousin of Chang Tsai. Hence in their youth the Ch'eng brothers received some teaching from Chou Tun-yi, and later they constantly held discussions with Chang Tsai.

Furthermore, they lived not far from Shao Yung, with whom they often met. The close contact between these five philosophers was certainly a very happy incident in the history of Chinese 462. NEO-CONFUCIANISM:THE BEGINNING OF THE TWO SCHOOLS

philosophy.

Ch eng Hao greatly admired Chang Tsai s Hsi Ming or Western Inscription, " because its central theme of the oneness of all things is also the main idea in his philosophy. According to him, oneness with all things is the main characteristic of the virtue of jen (humanheartedness). He says: The learner needs first to comprehend yen/The man of jen is undifferentiably one with all things. Righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and good faith, all these are jen. Get to comprehend this truth and cultivate it with sincerity and attentive — ness, that is all that is required.... The Too has nothing that stands in contrast to it; even the word great is inadequate to express it. The function of Heaven and Earth is our function.

Mencius said that all things arc complete within us. We must reflect and realize that this is really so.

Then it is a source of immense joy. If we reflect and do not realize that it is really so, then there are still two things [the self and not-self] that stand in contrast with each other. Even if we try to unite the self and not—self, we still do not form a unity, and so how can there then be joy? In the Correcting of the Ignorant' [another name for Chang Tsai's Hsi Ming] there is a perfect statement of this unity. If we cultivate ourselves with this idea, there is nothing further required to be done. We must do something, and never stop and never forget, yet never help to grow, doing it without the slightest effort. This is the way of spiritual cultivation. " (Erh Ch'eng Yi-shu or Literary Remains of the Two Ch engs, chiian 2.4.) In chapter seven I have fully discussed the statement of Mencius referred to by Ch'eng Hao in the above quotation. One must do something, but never help to grow ; this is Mencius method for cultivating the Great Morale, a method which was greatly admired by the INeo-Confucianists. According to Ch'eng Hao, one must first understand the principle that one is originally one with all things.Then all one needs to do is to keep this in mind and act in accordance with it sincerely and attentively. Through the accumulation of such practices, one will really come to feel that one is one with all things. The statement that one must act in accordance with this principle sincerely and attentively means that there is something one must do. There must, however, be no artificial striving to achieve the unity. In this sense, one must be "without the slightest effort."