A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy

by Wing-Tsit Chan

  Aside from these significant impacts, the yin yang theory has also put Chinese ethical and social teachings on a cosmological basis. It has helped to develop the view that things are related and that reality is a process of constant transformation. The harmony of yin and yang accounts for much of the central emphasis on harmony in Chinese life and thought, and it has reinforced the doctrine of the Mean common to Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. It formed the backbone of Neo-Confucian metaphysics.

  The importance of the yin yang theory is indeed incalculable. Paradoxically, there is not a single ancient treatise on it or even a good passage embodying its essence. Consequently we have to resort to an account of Tsou Yen’s life and thought and passages from the Book of Changes,9 the Book of History,10 and the Lü-shih ch’un-ch’iu (Mr. Lü’s Spring and Autumn Annals)11 in which the doctrines of yin yang and the Five Agents are stated in simple outline.

  1. TSOU YEN

  In the state of Ch’i there were three scholars named Tsou. . . . The second of these was Tsou Yen, who came after Mencius. He saw that the rulers were ever more unrestrained and were unable to exalt virtue, as does a real gentleman,12 who correctly practices it himself and applies it in dealing with the common people. He therefore examined deeply into the increase and decrease of yin and yang and wrote essays totaling more than one hundred thousand words about the phenomenon of extraordinary change and the rise and fall of great sages. His words were exaggerating and unorthodox. He invariably examined small objects and extended this to larger and larger ones until infinity. He first described the present and then traced back to the Yellow Emperor,13 all of which has been recorded by scholars. Then following the general outline14 of the rise and fall of the ages he [observed the times and explained the events]. Thereupon he recorded their good and evil fortunes and institutions. He extended his survey way backward to the time before heaven and earth came into existence, to what was obscure and abstruse, and on which no more inquiry was possible.

  He first made a list of China’s famous mountains, great rivers, deep valleys, birds and animals, things produced on land and sea, and select objects. On the basis of these he extended his survey to what is beyond the seas, to what men are unable to see. He mentioned and cited the fact that ever since the separation of heaven and earth the Five Powers (Five Agents) have been in rotation. The reign of each power was quite appropriate and how has it corresponded to fact!

  He maintained that what scholars called the Middle Kingdom (China) constituted only one eighty-first of the world. He called the Middle Kingdom the Divine Continent of the Red Region within which are nine districts. These are the nine districts with which Yü had formed a system [by controlling floods and directing the flow of water].15 But these are not to be counted among the continents.

  Besides the Middle Kingdom there are continents similar to the Divine Continent of the Red Region totaling nine, which are the so-called Nine Continents. Around each of these is a small encircling sea. People and beasts cannot pass from one to another, thus making each a separate district, which makes a continent. There are nine of these. Around them is a large encircling sea, and this sea is where heaven and earth meet.

  His methods and system were all of this sort. But in the final analysis they all end up in the virtues of humanity, righteousness, restraint, frugality, and the practice of the proper relations of ruler and minister, superior and inferior, and the six family relations.16 It is only at the beginning that his [theories] exceeded the proper bounds.17

  When the rulers and great officials first saw his system, they were struck with awe, reflected on it, and followed it, but eventually they were unable to practice it. . . . (Shih chi, sptk, 74:1 a-b)

  Comment. This is the first attempt in Chinese history to put government, society, history, astronomy, and geography under one definite formula based on practical observation. Tsou Yen’s “extension” may be an imagination rather than a logical inference, but his general theory is the result of postulation, however crude it may be. His use of the here and now as the starting point sharply distinguishes him from his predecessors or contemporaries who used the past as the standard.

  2. YIN AND YANG

  Heaven is high, the earth is low, and thus ch’ien (Heaven) and k’un (Earth) are fixed. As high and low are thus made clear, the honorable and the humble have their places accordingly. As activity and tranquillity have their constancy, the strong and the weak are thus differentiated. Ways come together according to their kinds, and things are divided according to their classes. Hence good fortune and evil fortune emerge. In the heavens, forms (heavenly bodies) appear and on earth shapes (creatures) occur. In them change and transformation can be seen. Therefore the strong and the weak interact and the Eight Trigrams activate each other. Things are stimulated by thunder and lightning and enriched by the influence of wind and rain. Sun and moon revolve on their course and cold and hot seasons take their turn. The way of ch’ien constitutes the male, while the way of k’un constitutes the female. Ch’ien knows the great beginning, and k’un acts to bring things to completion. Ch’ien knows through the easy, and k’un accomplishes through the simple. (Book of Changes, “Appended Remarks,” pt. 1, ch. 1)

  The Master (Confucius) said, “Ch’ien and k’un are indeed the gate of Change! Ch’ien is yang and k’un is yin. When yin and yang are united in their character, the weak and the strong attain their substance. In this way the products of Heaven and Earth are given substance and the character of spiritual intelligence can be penetrated. . . . (ibid., pt. 2, ch. 6)

  Ch’ien is heaven. It is round, it is the ruler, the father, jade, metal, cold, ice, deep red, a good horse, an old horse, a lean horse, a piebald horse, tree fruit. K’un is the earth, the mother, cloth, kettle, frugality, the level, a young heifer, a large carriage, fiber, multitude, a handle, and black soil among the various kinds of soil. . . . (ibid., “Remarks on Certain Trigrams,” ch. 11)

  3. THE FIVE AGENTS

  Heaven gave him (Great Yü) with its Nine Categories. And the various virtues and their relations were regulated. . . .

  The first category is the Five Agents; namely, Water, Fire, Wood, Metal, and Earth. The nature of Water is to moisten and descend; of Fire, to burn and ascend; of Wood, to be crooked and straight; of Metal, to yield and to be modified; of Earth, to provide for sowing and reaping. That which moistens and descends produces saltiness; that which burns and ascends produces bitterness; that which is crooked and straight produces sourness; that which yields and is modified produces acridity; that which provides for sowing and reaping produces sweetness.

  The second category is the Five Activities; namely, appearance, speech, seeing, hearing, and thinking. The virtue of appearance is respectfulness; that of speech is accordance [with reason]; that of seeing is clearness; that of hearing is distinctness; and that of thinking is penetration and profundity. Respectfulness leads to gravity; accordance with reason, to orderliness; clearness, to wisdom; distinctness, to deliberation; and penetration and profundity, to sageness [all of which should be cultivated by the ruler]. . . .

  The fourth category is the Five Arrangements of Time; namely, the year, the month, the day, the stars and planets and the zodiacal signs, and the calendarie calculations. . . . The ninth category is the Five Blessings; namely, longevity, wealth, physical and mental health, love of virtue, and an end crowning life [which will be bestowed by Heaven if the ruler is good.] (Book of History, “Great Norm”)18

  Comment. These are but a few correlations of the Five Agents. Almost all possible sets of five things—the five directions, five musical notes, five colors, five grains, five sense organs, five atmospheric conditions, five metals, five ancient emperors, five virtues, five feelings, five social relations—have been equated with them.

  Whenever an emperor or king is about to rise, Heaven will always first manifest some good omen to the common people. In the time of the Yellow Emperor, Heaven made a large number of earthworms and mole crickets appear. The Yello
w Emperor said, “The force of Earth is dominant.” As the force of Earth was dominant, he chose yellow as his color and Earth as the model for his activities.

  When it came to the time of Yü, Heaven first made grass and trees appear which did not die in the autumn and winter. Yü said, “The force of Wood is dominant.” As the force of Wood was dominant, he chose green as his color and Wood as the model for his activities.

  When it came to the time of T’ang19 (r. 1751–1739 b.c.?), Heaven first made some metal blades appear in the water. T’ang said, “The force of Metal is dominant.” As the force of Metal was dominant, he chose white as his color and Metal as the model for his activities.

  When it came to the time of King Wen,20 Heaven first made fire appear, while red birds holding a red book in their bills gathered on the altar of the soil of the House of Chou. King Wen said, “The force of Fire is dominant.” As the force of Fire was dominant, he chose red as his color and Fire as the model for his activities.

  Water will inevitably replace Fire. Now Heaven will first make the dominance of Water manifest. As the force of water is dominant, black will be chosen as the color and Water the model for activities. The force of Water reaches its limit without people realizing it. The course is now completed, and the process will revert to Earth. (Lü-shih ch’un-ch’iu, ch. 13, sec. 2, sppy, 13:4a)

  Comment. Under the influence of Lü, who was a prime minister of Ch’in, the First Emperor (r. 246–210 b.c.) of the dynasty actually used the black color for his costumes, banners, and the like, and claimed Water to be the model for his activities. If he had respected water’s qualities of softness and weakness, he would not have established the most severe and ruthless dictatorship in Chinese history. But the Warring States period (403–222 b.c.) of the Chou dynasty was certainly characterized by Fire, and the First Emperor needed a rationalization for his conquest of the Chou.

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  LEGALISM

  The Legalist School was the most radical of all ancient Chinese schools. It rejected the moral standards of the Confucianists and the religious sanction of the Moists in favor of power. It accepted no authority except that of the ruler and looked for no precedent. Its aim was political control of the state and the population, a control to be achieved through an intensive set of laws, backed up by generous rewards and severe punishments. According to their theory, aggression, war, and regimentation would be used without hesitation so long as they contributed to the power of the ruler.

  It can be readily seen that Legalism is entirely incompatible with other schools, especially Confucianism, which it bitterly attacked. The Confucianists were dedicated to the cultivation of virtue, the development of individual personality, government for the people, social harmony, and the use of moral principles, moral examples, and moral persuasion. On the contrary, the Legalists were primarily interested in the accumulation of power, the subjugation of the individual to the state, uniformity of thought, and the use of force. It is not surprising that they were instrumental in setting up the dictatorship of Ch’in (221–206 b.c.), in unifying China in 221 b.c., and in instituting the tightest regimentation of life and thought in Chinese history.

  The brutality and violence of the Ch’in brought its early downfall in 206 b.c., and the Chinese, fearful of the ruthlessness of the Legalists, have ever since that time rejected them. There has been no Legalist School in China in the last two thousand years, or even any Legalist scholar of any prominence. When the Ssu-k’u ch’üan-shu (Four Libraries) was compiled late in the eighteenth century, of the 3,457 works included, only eight were Legalist. The totalitarian goal and authoritarian methods promoted by the Legalists have been revived periodically by despots, of course. But there has been no continuous Legalist tradition comparable to that of the Confucianists and Taoists. It might seem, therefore, that Legalist philosophy was entirely negative. Such however, is not the case, for it has its positive aspects. It was the only ancient school that was consistently and vigorously anti-ancient. It worshiped no sage-emperors like Yao and Shun1 of the Confucianists or Great Yü2 of the Moists. It looked to the present rather than the past, and to changing circumstances rather than any prescribed condition. It denounced moral platitudes and vain talks. Instead, it demanded actual accomplishments and concrete results. It was strongly objective and realistic. In place of vague moral doctrines it advocated the novel idea that law must be written, uniform, and publicly proclaimed to the people. While it shared the Confucian concept that ranks and duties must be clearly differentiated, it insisted that laws must be applicable to all. Thus in spite of their suppression of the rights and desires of the people, they unwittingly promoted the doctrine of equality in which close or distant relationships are overlooked and high or low stations are ignored.

  The term “Legalist School” (Fa-chia) did not appear until 90 b.c.3 but the Legalist movement had been going on for some five hundred years. The first prominent Legalist was Kuan Chung (d. 645 b.c.), prime minister of Ch’i, whom Confucius greatly admired. The work Kuan Tzu attributed to him is spurious but contains unmistakable Legalist ideas. The movement took on great momentum in Shang Yang (Kung-sun Yang) or Lord Shang (d. 338 b.c.), prime minister of Ch’in who made Ch’in a strong state and who stressed the importance of law. The Book of Lord Shang4 may or may not have been his. The momentum was enhanced in Shen Pu-hai (d. 337 b.c.), prime minister of the state of Han, who emphasized statecraft, techniques, methods, and the like, summed up in the word shu, and in Shen Tao (Shen Tzu, 350–275 b.c?), who emphasized power, circumstances, and natural tendencies, all summed up in the word shih. Only fragments of their works have survived. The three tendencies—law, statecraft, and power—were synthesized in Han Fei Tzu (d. 233 b.c.), prince of Han. He offered his services to the powerful king of Ch’in, but through intrigue by his schoolmate Li Ssu (d. 208 b.c.), he had to commit suicide. The following selections are from his work, the Han Fei Tzu, in which Legalist doctrines are synthesized. In addition, there is also a selection on Han Fei’s interpretation of Tao. In it he took the Taoist philosophy to new heights.

  THE HAN FEI TZU5

  1. The Synthesis of Legalistic Doctrine

  The dominant systems of learning of our time are Confucianism and Moism. . . . Both Confucius and Mo Tzu transmitted the doctrines of (sage-emperors) Yao and Shun. Although they differed in what they accepted or rejected, they each claimed to represent the true teachings of Yao and Shun. Now Yao and Shun cannot come to life again. Who is going to determine the truth of Confucianism or Moism? It has been more than seven hundred years from the Yin and Chou times, and more than two thousand years from the times of Yao and Shun.6 If we are unable to determine the truth of Confucianism or Moism and yet wish to determine the doctrines of Yao and Shun of three thousand years ago, I believe it is impossible to be sure of anything. To be sure of anything without corroborating evidences is stupidity, and to base one’s argument on anything about which one cannot be sure is perjury. Therefore those who openly base their arguments on the authority of the ancient kings and who are dogmatically certain of Yao and Shun are men either of stupidity or perjury. Such learning, characterized by stupidity and perjury, and such an unrefined and conflicting [doctrine] practiced [by the Confucianists and Moists] are unacceptable to an enlightened ruler. . . .

  The severe household has no fierce slaves, but it is the affectionate mother who has spoiled sons. From this I know that awe-inspiring power can prohibit violence and that virtue and kindness are insufficient to end disorder. When the sage rules the state, he does not depend on people to do good for him, but utilizes their inability to do wrong. If he depends on people to do good for him, we cannot even count ten within the state, but if he utilizes the people’s inability to do wrong, the whole country may be regulated. A ruler makes use of the majority and neglects the minority, and so he does not devote himself to virtue but to law.

  If we had to depend7 on an arrow being absolutely straight by nature, there would be no arrow
in a hundred generations. If we had to depend on a piece of wood being perfectly round by nature, there would not be any wheel in a thousand generations. There is not one naturally straight arrow or naturally round piece of wood in a hundred generations, and yet in every generation people ride carriages and shoot birds. Why? Because of the application of the methods of straightening and bending. Although there is a naturally straight arrow or a naturally round piece of wood [once in a hundred generations] which does not depend on any straightening or bending, the skilled workman does not value it. Why? Because it is not just one person who wishes to ride and not just one shot that the archer wishes to shoot. Similarly, the enlightened ruler does not value people who are naturally good and who do not depend on reward and punishment. Why? Because the laws of the state must not be neglected and government is not for only one man. Therefore the ruler who has the technique does not follow the good that happens by chance but practices the way of necessity. . . . (Han Fei Tzu, ch. 50, sptk, 19:7b-8a, 9b-10a)

  Comment. In the necessity of straightening and bending, note the similarity to Hsün Tzu (fl. 298–238 b.c.).8 The theory of the originally evil nature of man is a basic assumption of the Legalists. But whereas the straightening and bending in Hsün Tzu consist of ceremonies and music, education, and the rectification of names, those of the Legalists consist of reward and punishment. Hsün Tzu had a firm faith in man’s moral reform but the Legalists had no such faith. Although both Han Fei and Li Ssu were pupils of Hsün Tzu, master and pupils were utterly different in their attitudes toward man as a moral being. It is misleading, at least, to say, as Fung does, that Han Fei Tzu based his doctrines on the teachings of Hsün Tzu.9