A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy

by Wing-Tsit Chan

  2. The Great Vacuity (Hsü)27 has no physical form. It is the original substance of material force. Its integration and disintegration are but objectifications caused by Change. Human nature at its source is absolutely tranquil and unaffected by externality. When it is affected by contact with the external world, consciousness and knowledge emerge. Only those who fully develop their nature can unify the state of formlessness and unaffectedness, and the state of objectification and affectedness.

  3. Although material force in the universe integrates and disintegrates, and attracts and repulses in a hundred ways, nevertheless the principle (li) according to which it operates has an order and is unerring.

  As an entity, material force simply reverts to its original substance when it disintegrates and becomes formless. When it integrates and assumes form, it does not lose the eternal principle (of Change).

  The Great Vacuity of necessity consists of material force. Material force of necessity integrates to become the myriad things. Things of necessity disintegrate and return to the Great Vacuity. Appearance and disappearance following this cycle are a matter of necessity. When, in the midst [of this universal operation] the sage fulfills the Way to the utmost, and identifies himself [with the universal processes of appearance and disappearance] without partiality (i.e., lives the best life and takes life and death objectively), his spirit is preserved in the highest degree. Those (the Buddhists) who believe in annihilation expect departure without returning, and those (the Taoists) who cling to everlasting life and are attached to existence expect things not to change. While they differ, they are the same in failing to understand the Way. Whether integrated or disintegrated, it is my body just the same. One is qualified to discuss the nature of man when he realizes that death is not annihilation.

  Comment. As Chang Po-hsing (1651-1725) has noted, to say that death is not annihilation is dangerously close to Buddhist transmigration. He quickly points out, however, that what Chang meant is neither Buddhist transmigration nor Taoist immortality on earth but the indestructibility of material force whether it is integrated or disintegrated. What is not annihilated, then, is not the person but principle, according to which material force operates.28

  4. When it is understood that the Vacuity, the Void, is nothing but material force, then existence and nonexistence, the hidden and the manifested, spirit and eternal transformation, and human nature and destiny are all one and not a duality. He who apprehends integration and disintegration, appearance and disappearance, form and absence of form, and trace them to their source, penetrates the secret of Change.

  If it is argued that material force is produced from the Vacuity, then because the two are completely different, the Vacuity being infinite while material force is finite, the one being substance and the other function, such an argument would fall into the naturalism of Lao Tzu who claimed that being comes from non-being and failed to understand the eternal principle of the undifferentiated unity of being and non-being. If it is argued that all phenomena are but things perceived in the Great Vacuity, then since things and the Vacuity would not be mutually conditioned, since the physical form and the nature of things would be self-contained, and since these, as well as Heaven and man, would not be interdependent, such an argument would fall into the doctrine of the Buddha who taught that mountains, rivers, and the total stretch of land are all subjective illusions. This principle of unity is not understood because ignorant people know superficially that the substance of the nature of things is the Vacuity, the Void, but do not know that function is based on the Way of Heaven (Law of Nature). Instead, they try to explain the universe with limited human knowledge. Since their undertaking is not thorough, they falsely assert that the universal operation of the principles of Heaven and Earth is but illusory. They do not know the essentials of the hidden and the manifest, and jump to erroneous conclusions. They do not understand that the successive movements of the yin and the yang (passive and active cosmic forces) cover the entire universe, penetrate day and night,29 and form the central standard of Heaven, Earth, and man. Consequently they confuse Confucianism with Buddhism and Taoism. When they discuss the problems of the nature (of man and things) and their destiny or the Way of Heaven, they either fall into the trap of illusionism or are determined that being comes from non-being, and regard these doctrines as the summit of philosophical insight as well as the way to enter into virtue. They do not know how to choose the proper method for their investigation. This clearly shows they are obscured by one-sided doctrines and fall into extremes.

  5. As the Great Vacuity, material force is extensive and vague. Yet it ascends and descends and moves in all ways without ever ceasing. This is what is called in the Book of Changes “fusion and intermingling”30 and in the Chuang Tzu “fleeting forces moving in all directions while all living beings blow against one another with their breath.”31 Here lies the subtle, incipient activation of reality and unreality, of motion and rest, and the beginning of yin and yang, as well as the elements of strength and weakness. Yang that is clear ascends upward, whereas yin that is turbid sinks downward. As a result of their contact and influence and of their integration and disintegration, winds and rains, snow and frost come into being. Whether it be the countless variety of things in their changing configurations or the mountains and rivers in their fixed forms, the dregs of wine or the ashes of fire, there is nothing (in which the principle) is not revealed.

  6. If material force integrates, its visibility becomes effective and physical form appears. If material force does not integrate, its visibility is not effective and there is no physical form. While material force is integrated, how can one not say that it is temporary? While it is disintegrated, how can one hastily say that it is non-being? For this reason, the sage, having observed phenomena and examined above and below, only claims to know the causes of what is hidden and what is manifest but does not claim to know the causes of being and non-being.

  What fills the universe is but molds and forms (copies). With our insight (or clarity of mind), the system and principles of the universe cannot be examined. When there are physical forms, one may trace back to the causes of that which is hidden, and when there is no physical form, one may trace back to the cause of that which is manifested.

  7. The integration and disintegration of material force is to the Great Vacuity as the freezing and melting of ice is to water. If we realize that the Great Vacuity is identical with material force, we know that there is no such thing as non-being. Therefore, when discussing the ultimate problems of the nature of things and the Way of Heaven, the sage limits himself to the marvelous changes and transformations of yin and yang and the Five Agents (of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth). The doctrine of those superficial and mistaken philosophers who draw the distinction between being and non-being is not the way to investigate principle to the utmost.

  Comment. Chang’s theory of material force exercised considerable influence on Wang Fu-chih (Wang Ch’uan-shan, 1619-1692), whose philosophy of principle as inherent in material force is as materialistic as the philosophy of Chang. It is easily understandable why Wang was an admirer of Chang but a severe critic of Chu Hsi and Ch’eng I, who contrasted principle and material force too sharply to suit him. As to Chang’s own theory of material force, he has never explained why some is clear and some is turbid. Neither has he made his idea of the nature clear. For these, we have to wait till Ch’eng and Chu.

  8. The Great Vacuity is clear. Being clear, it cannot be obstructed. Not being obstructed, it is therefore spirit. The opposite of clearness is turbidity. Turbidity leads to obstruction. And obstruction leads to physical form. When material force is clear, it penetrates; and when it is turbid, it obstructs. When clearness reaches its limit, there is spirit. When spirit concentrates, it penetrates like the breeze going through the holes (of musical instruments), producing tones and carrying them to great distances. This is the evidence of clearness. As if arriving at the destination without the necessity of going there, p
enetration reaches the highest degree.

  9. From the Great Vacuity, there is Heaven. From the transformation of material force, there is the Way. In the unity of the Great Vacuity and material force, there is the nature (of man and things). And in the unity of the nature and consciousness, there is the mind.32

  Comment. Although Chang made it quite clear that the Great Vacuity is identical with material force (before its integration) and is nothing like the Taoist non-being, still the concept is too Taoistic to be acceptable to Neo-Confucianists, for vacuity is a typical and prominent Taoist concept.33 Ch’eng I thought that reality should not be described simply as clear and vacuous, but should also be considered turbid and substantial.34 Chu Hsi thought that to describe reality purely as integration and disintegration of material force would be to view it as a great process of transmigration.35 These criticisms are by no means unfair. There is no doubt that Chang’s materialistic philosophy tends to be one-sided and mechanical. At any rate, his philosophy of vacuity has never been propagated by any later Neo-Confucianist.

  10. The negative and positive spiritual forces (kuei-shen)36 are the spontaneous activity of the two material forces (yin and yang). Sage-hood means absolute sincerity37 forming a unity with Heaven, and spirit means the Great Vacuity in its wondrous operation and response. All molds and forms in the universe are but dregs of this spiritual transformation.

  Comment. This is a completely new interpretation of kuei and shen. The rationalistic approach to kuei-shen, which had meant spiritual beings, is evident in the Book of Changes,38 but no one before Chang had understood kuei-shen as the spontaneous activity of material force and incorporated the concept into a coherent metaphysical system.

  11. The Way of Heaven is infinite but does not go beyond the succession of summer and winter [for example]. The activities of things are infinite but do not go beyond expansion and contraction. The reality of the negative and positive spiritual forces does not go beyond these two fundamental elements (of yin and yang).

  12. If yin and yang do not exist, the One (the Great Ultimate)39 cannot be revealed. If the One cannot be revealed, then the function of the two forces will cease. Reality and unreality, motion and rest, integration and disintegration, and clearness and turbidity are two different substances. In the final analysis, however, they are one.

  13. Only after [the One] is acted upon will it begin to penetrate [through yin and yang]. Without the two forces there cannot be the One. Hence the sage establishes the two principles of strength and weakness as the foundation of things. “If ch’ien and k’un are obliterated, there would be no means of seeing the system of Change.”40

  14. Material force moves and flows in all directions and in all manners. Its two elements unite and give rise to the concrete. Thus the multiplicity of things and human beings is produced. In their ceaseless successions the two elements of yin and yang constitute the great principles of the universe.

  15. “The sun and moon push each other in their course and thus light appears. The winter and summer push each other and thus the year is completed.”41 Spirit has no spatial restrictions and Change has no physical form.42 “The successive movement of yin and yang” and “unfathomable is the movement of yin and yang.”43 These describe the way in which day and night are penetrated.

  16. Day and night are but a moment of the universe, and winter and summer but its day and night. According to the Way of Heaven, material force changes as spring and autumn succeed each other, just as man’s soul exists in different states between waking and sleeping hours. In such alternating states, dreams are completed and a great variety of feelings are expressed in utter confusion. This and the contrasting waking hours constitute the day and night of a person. Material force enters into a new state in the spring and the myriad things flourish in profusion. This and its contrasting autumn constitute the day and night of Heaven. In its original state of Great Vacuity, material force is absolutely tranquil and formless. As it is acted upon, it engenders the two fundamental elements of yin and yang, and through integration gives rise to forms.44 As there are forms, there are their opposites. These opposites necessarily stand in opposition to what they do. Opposition leads to conflict, which will necessarily be reconciled and resolved. Thus the feelings of love and hate are both derived from the Great Vacuity, and they ultimately result in material desires. Suddenly to bring into existence and promptly to bring to completion without a moment’s interruption—this is indeed the wonderful operation of spirit.

  17. No two of the products of creation are alike. From this we know that although the number of things is infinite, at bottom there is nothing without yin or yang [which differentiate them]. From this we know also that the transformations and changes in the universe are due to these two fundamental forces.

  18. The multiple forms and appearances of the myriad things are the dregs of spirit. The nature and the Way of Heaven are but Change. The mind varies and differs in a thousand ways because it is acted on by the external world in various ways. Heaven is vast and there is nothing outside of it. What acts on the mind are the two fundamental processes of fusion and intermingling.

  19. In the mutual interaction of things, it is impossible to know the directions of their operation and of their appearance and disappearance. This is the wonder that lies in all things. These are principles by which material force and the will, as well as Heaven and man, overcome each other. When the sage-ruler reigns above, all his subjects follow his good example. This demonstrates the principle that when material force is concentrated and acts, it moves the will. When the male and female phoenix arrive and perform their ceremonial dance (peace and order prevail).45 This demonstrates the principle that when the will concentrates and acts, it moves material force, (sppy, 2:1b-5b)

  2. Enlightenment Resulting from Sincerity (ch. 6)

  20. Knowledge gained through enlightenment which is the result of sincerity46 is the innate knowledge47 of one’s natural character. It is not the small knowledge of what is heard or what is seen.48

  21. When the Way of Heaven [or principle] and the nature of man [or desires]49 function separately, there cannot be sincerity. When there is a difference between the knowledge obtained by following (the Way of) Heaven and that obtained by following (the nature of) man, there cannot be perfect enlightenment. What is meant by enlightenment resulting from sincerity is that in which there is no distinction between the Way of Heaven as being great and the nature of man as being small.

  22. When moral principles and human destiny are united in harmony, they will be preserved and abide in principle. When humanity and wisdom are united in harmony, they will be preserved and abide in the sage. When activity and tranquillity are united in harmony, they will be preserved and abide in spirit. When yin and yang are united in harmony they will be preserved and abide in the Way. And when the nature of man and the Way of Heaven are united in harmony, they will be preserved and abide in sincerity.

  23. Sincerity is the way according to which heaven can last for long and is unceasing. The reason why the man of humanity and the filial son can serve Heaven and be sincere with himself is simply that they are unceasing in their humanity and filial piety. Therefore for the superior man sincerity is valuable.

  24. Sincerity implies reality.50 Therefore it has a beginning and an end. Insincerity implies absence of reality. How can it have a beginning or end? Therefore it is said, “Without sincerity, there will be nothing.”51

  25. By “sincerity resulting from enlightenment”52 is meant to develop one’s nature fully through the investigation of things to the utmost, and by “enlightenment resulting from sincerity”53 is meant to investigate things to the utmost through fully developing one’s nature.

  26. One’s nature is the one source of all things and is not one’s own private possession. It is only the great man who is able to know and practice its principle to the utmost. Therefore, when he establishes himself, he will help others to establish themselves. He will share his knowledge
with all. He will love universally. When he achieves something, he wants others to achieve the same. As for those who are so obstructed themselves [by selfishness]54 as not to understand this principle of mine, nothing can be done.

  27. Nature connotes what one can do by natural endowment. Ability connotes what one can do through his own planning. In fully developing his nature, the great man does not consider the ability endowed by Heaven to be ability but considers man’s planning to be ability. This is why it is said, “Heaven and earth have their fixed positions and the sages are able to carry out and complete their abilities.”55

  28. Only through fully developing one’s nature can one realize that he possesses nothing in life and loses nothing at death.

  29. There has never been any substance which is nonexistent. Nature means examining and practicing the substance.

  30. Nature endowed by Heaven completely permeates the Way. It cannot be obscured by the material force (one’s physical nature) whether it is clear or dark. What has been decreed by Heaven (ming, destiny, fate) completely permeates one’s nature. It cannot be destroyed by one’s fortune, whether it is good or evil. If they are obscured or destroyed, it is because one has neglected to learn. Nature permeates beyond the material force and destiny operates within the material force. But the material force is neither internal nor external. We speak in this way only because it temporarily assumes physical form. Therefore those who wish to know [the way of] man must know [the nature endowed by] Heaven. Only when one has fully developed his nature can one fulfill his destiny.

  31. If one knows his nature and Heaven, then [all the operations] of yin and yang and negative and positive spiritual forces are all part of my lot.