A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy

by Wing-Tsit Chan

  Comment. Much discussion has taken place on the question whether Chu Hsi is a dualist. No one can doubt that principle is a universal, that there is a distinction between what exists before physical form and is therefore without it and what exists after form and is therefore with it, and that principle and material are different in many respects. As already suggested, Ch’eng Hao tended more to the monistic view while Ch’eng I tended more to the dualistic view, but it was also noted that whatever dualism there was, was superficial.166 What Chu Hsi did was to harmonize the two trends of the Ch’eng brothers. In his system, principle has not only a logical priority. It actually exists before physical form and is without it because it is the principle of being. But it is not something outside of material force that imparts a principle of being into it. This is the reason why he said that principle has never been separate from material force. Thus principle is both immanent and transcendent. In other words, he is neither a monist nor a dualist, or he is both a monist and a dualist. Perhaps one may say that with respect to ultimate reality, he is a monist but with respect to phenomena he is a dualist. But since principle and material force are never separate, they do not exist independently of each other, much less in opposition. The fact is that any contrast of monism and dualism does not apply to his philosophy.

  103. Question about the relation between principle and material force.

  Answer: I-ch’uan (Ch’eng I) expressed it very well when he said that principle is one but its manifestations are many.167 When heaven, earth, and the myriad things are spoken of together, there is only one principle. As applied to man, however, there is in each individual a particular principle. (49:1b)

  104. Question: What are the evidences that principle is in material force?

  Answer: For example, there is order in the complicated interfusion of the yin and the yang and of the Five Agents. Principle is there. If material force does not consolidate and integrate, principle would have nothing to attach itself to. (49:2b)

  105. Question: May we say that before heaven and earth existed there was first of all principle?

  Answer: Before heaven and earth existed, there was after all only principle. As there is this principle, therefore there are heaven and earth. If there were no principle, there would also be no heaven and earth, no man, no things, and in fact, no containing or sustaining (of things by heaven and earth) to speak of. As there is principle, there is therefore material force to operate everywhere and nourish and develop all things.

  Question: Is it principle that nourishes and develops all things?

  Answer: As there is this principle, therefore there is this material force operating, nourishing, and developing. Principle itself has neither physical form nor body. (49:3a-b)

  106. K’o-chi168 asked: When the creative process disposes of things, is it the end once a thing is gone, or is there a principle by which a thing that is gone may return?

  Answer: It is the end once a thing is gone. How can there be material force that has disintegrated and yet integrates once more? (49:3b-4a)

  107. Question: “The Lord on High has conferred even on the inferior people a moral sense.”169 “When Heaven is about to confer a great responsibility on any man. . .”170 “Heaven, to protect the common people, made for them rulers.”171 “Heaven, in the production of things, is sure to be bountiful to them, according to their natural capacity.”172 “On the good-doer, the Lord on High sends down all blessings, and on the evildoer, He sends down all miseries.”173 “When Heaven is about to send calamities to the world, it will always first produce abnormal people as a measure of their magnitude.”174 In passages like these, does it mean that Heaven has no personal consciousness and the passages are merely deductions from principle?

  Answer: These passages have the same meaning. It is simply that principle operates this way. (49:4a)

  108. Principle attaches to material force and thus operates. (49:4b)

  109. Throughout the universe there are both principle and material force. Principle refers to the Way, which exists before physical form [and is without it] and is the root from which all things are produced. Material force refers to material objects, which exists after physical form [and is with it]; it is the instrument by which things are produced. Therefore in the production of man and things, they must be endowed with principle before they have their nature, and they must be endowed with material force before they have physical form. (49:5b)

  Comment. Needham correctly understands Neo-Confucian philosophy, especially as developed by Chu Hsi, as essentially organic. As he aptly summarizes it: “The Neo-Confucians arrive at essentially an organic view of the universe. Composed of matter-energy [material force] and ordered by the universal principle of organization [principle], it was a universe which, though neither created nor governed by any personal deity, was entirely real, and possessed the property of manifesting the highest human values (love, righteousness, sacrifice, etc.) when beings of an integrative level sufficiently high to allow of their appearance, had come into existence.”175 Surely the Neo-Confucian conception of the universe is that of a single organism. All things exist in relations, and all relations follow a definite pattern according to which things are organized on various levels. That the universe is a set of relations goes far back to the Book of Changes, for Change itself is but relation. Tao as the principle of being is basically a principle of relationship. Impressed with this relational character of Chinese philosophy, Needham saw a striking similarity between Chinese organism and that of Whitehead. He also has made a most illuminating study of Chu Hsi’s influence on Leibniz and the philosophy of organism.176 We must remember, however, that in Chu Hsi’s philosophy, the world is more than just an organism, for principle is metaphysical. Moreover, while the many similarities between Neo-Confucianism and Whitehead’s organism as pointed out by Needham are surprising, there is absent in Neo-Confucianism Whitehead’s God, who, as the principle of concretion, is ultimate irrationality.

  110. What are called principle and material force are certainly two different entities. But considered from the standpoint of things, the two entities are merged one with the other and cannot be separated with each in a different place. However, this does not destroy the fact that the two entities are each an entity in itself. When considered from the standpoint of principle, before things existed, their principles of being had already existed. Only their principles existed, however, but not yet the things themselves. Whenever one studies these aspects, one should clearly recognize and distinguish them, and consider both principle and material force from the beginning to the end, and then one will be free from error. (49:5b-6a)

  111. There is principle before there can be material force. But it is only when there is material force that principle finds a place to settle. This is the process by which all things are produced, whether large as heaven and earth or small as ants. Why should we worry that in the creative process of Heaven and Earth, endowment may be wanting? Fundamentally, principle cannot be interpreted in the senses of existence or nonexistence. Before Heaven and Earth came into being, it already was as it is. (49:6a)

  112. Considering the fact that all things come from one source, we see that their principle is the same but their material force different. Looking at their various substances, we see that their material force is similar but their principle utterly different. The difference in material force is due to the inequality of its purity or impurity, whereas the difference in principle is due to its completeness or partiality. If you will please examine thoroughly, there should be no further doubt. (49:7a)

  113. The nature of man and things is nothing but principle and cannot be spoken of in terms of integration and disintegration. That which integrates to produce life and disintegrates to produce death is only material force.177 What we called the spirit, the heavenly and earthly aspects of the soul (hun-p’o),178 and consciousness are all effects of material force. Therefore when material force is integrated, there are these effects. When it is disinte
grated, there are no more. As to principle, fundamentally it does not exist or cease to exist because of such integration or disintegration. As there is a certain principle, there is the material force corresponding to it, and as this material force integrates in a particular instance, its principle is also endowed in that instance. (49:8a)

  11. The Great Ultimate

  114. The Great Ultimate is nothing other than principle. (49:8b)

  Comment. This is the central idea in Chu Hsi’s philosophy.179 He considered Chou Tun-i’s doctrine of the Great Ultimate as based on principle instead of material force, as was the case before Chou’s time. The concept was implied in Chou but firmly established in Chu Hsi.

  115. Question: The Great Ultimate is not a thing existing in a chaotic state before the formation of heaven and earth, but a general name for the principles of heaven and earth and the myriad things. Is that correct?

  Answer: The Great Ultimate is merely the principle of heaven and earth and the myriad things. With respect to heaven and earth, there is the Great Ultimate in them. With respect to the myriad things, there is the Great Ultimate in each and every one of them. Before heaven and earth existed, there was assuredly this principle. It is the principle that “through movement generates the yang.” It is also this principle that “through tranquillity generates the yin.”180 (49:8b-9a)

  116. Question: [You said,] “Principle is a single, concrete entity, and the myriad things partake it as their substance. Hence each of the myriad things possesses in it a Great Ultimate.”181 According to this theory, does the Great Ultimate not split up into parts?

  Answer: Fundamentally there is only one Great Ultimate, yet each of the myriad things has been endowed with it and each in itself possesses the Great Ultimate in its entirety. This is similar to the fact that there is only one moon in the sky but when its light is scattered upon rivers and lakes, it can be seen everywhere. It cannot be said that the moon has been split. (49:10b-11a)

  Comment. The idea that principle is one but its manifestations are many is derived from Ch’eng but the doctrine was not fully developed until Chu Hsi. Its similarity with the doctrine of one and many in the Hua-yen School of Buddhism has been noted. Chu’s analogy of the moon is a specific, though indirect, borrowing of the Hua-yen analogy of the moon and its many reflections.182 According to Fung Yu-lan, it is similar to the Hua-yen metaphor of “the realm of Indra’s net” which contains many jewels each of which reflects not only the image of every other jewel but also all the multiple images reflected in each of those other jewels. However, Fung correctly adds that while according to the Hua-yen School within any given individual concrete object all other concrete objects are actually present, to Chu Hsi, each concrete object has within it the Great Ultimate, that is, the principles of all things but not the physical objects themselves.183

  117. The Great Ultimate has neither spatial restriction nor physical form or body. There is no spot where it may be placed. When it is considered in the state before activity begins, this state is nothing but tranquillity. Now activity, tranquillity, yin, and yang all exist only after physical form [and are with it]. However, activity is after all the activity of the Great Ultimate and tranquillity is also its tranquillity, although activity and tranquillity themselves are not the Great Ultimate. This is why Master Chou Tun-i only spoke of that state as Non-ultimate.184 While the state before activity begins cannot be spoken of as the Great Ultimate, nevertheless the principles of pleasure, anger, sorrow, and joy are already inherent in it. Pleasure and joy belong to yang and anger and sorrow belong to yin. In the initial stage the four are not manifested, but their principles are already there. As contrasted with the state after activity begins, it may be called the Great Ultimate. But still it is difficult to say. All this is but a vague description. The truth must be personally realized by each individual himself. (49:11a-b)

  Comment. The difference between Chou Tun-i and Chu Hsi is that for Chou the Great Ultimate involves activity and tranquillity, whereas for Chu, it has only the principle of activity and tranquillity, for the Great Ultimate is absolute and is therefore above phenomenal manifestations. Actually, Chou’s Great Ultimate is identical with material force, whereas Chu’s Great Ultimate is identical with principle. As to how the Great Ultimate can produce the two material forces (yin and yang), Chu’s answer is vague.

  118. Someone asked about the Great Ultimate. Reply: The Great Ultimate is simply the principle of the highest good. Each and every person has in him the Great Ultimate and each and every thing has in it the Great Ultimate. What Master Chou calls the Great Ultimate is a name to express all the virtues and the highest good in Heaven and Earth, man, and things. (49:11b)

  Comment. Commenting on this passage, Fung Yu-lan said, “The Supreme Ultimate is very much like what Plato called the Idea of the Good, or what Aristotle called God.”185 Previously, Bruce had asserted that Chou Tun-i’s doctrine of the Supreme Ultimate was expanded and interpreted by the Ch’eng brothers and Chu Hsi along lines suggestive of Plato and Aristotle.186 Recently, Carsun Chang compared Chu Hsi and Aristotle in the greatest detail so far. He pointed out that Chu Hsi agrees with Aristotle that Ideas do not exist for themselves, that the Idea as the one does not exist apart from the many, that matter exists in the sense of possibility or capacity, that matter and form exist together, that there is an eternal principle, that it is at once form, end, and moving cause, that matter is the ultimate source of the imperfection in things and that it is the principle of individuation and plurality, that an entity (God or Heaven) exists which imparts motion but is itself unmoved, and that it is pure energy, eternal, and good per se. However, he added that although Chu Hsi is an Aristotelian in the field of nature, he is a Platonist in the field of moral values, recognizing that there exists an eternal, unchanging truth.187

  Needham, however, rejects any comparison with Aristotle. He says: “It is true that form was the factor of individuation, that which gave rise to the unity of any organism and its purposes; so was Li. But there the resemblance ceases. The form of the body was the soul; but the great tradition of Chinese philosophy had no place for souls. . . Again, Aristotelian form actually conferred substantiality on things, but. . . the ch’i [material force] was not brought into being by Li, and Li had only a logical priority. Ch’i did not depend upon Li in any way. Form was the ‘essence’ and ‘primary substance’ of things, but Li was not itself substantial or any form of ch’i. . . . I believe that Li was not in any strict sense metaphysical, as were Platonic ideas and Aristotelian forms, but rather the invisible organizing fields or forces existing at all levels within the natural world. Pure form and pure actuality was God, but in the world of Li and ch’i there was no Chu-Tsai [Director] whatsoever.”188

  These comparisons show that in any comparative study similarities are usually accompanied by dissimilarities. The important point to note is that Chu Hsi is neither Platonic nor Aristotelian. The usual Western polarities do not apply in Chinese philosophy.

  119. The Great Ultimate is similar to the top of a house or the zenith of the sky, beyond which point there is no more. It is the ultimate of principle. Yang is active and yin is tranquil. In these it is not the Great Ultimate that acts or remains tranquil. It is simply that there are the principles of activity and tranquillity. Principle is not visible; it becomes visible through yin and yang. Principle attaches itself to yin and yang as a man sits astride a horse. As soon as yin and yang produce the Five Agents, they are confined and fixed by physical nature and are thus differentiated into individual things each with its nature. But the Great Ultimate is in all of them. (49:14a)

  120. The Great Ultimate contains all principles of the Five Agents and yin and yang. It is not an empty thing. If it were a void, it would approach the Buddhist theory of dharma-nature (which maintains that the nature of dharmas, that is, elements of existence, are void). (49:14a)

  121. Question: Is the Great Ultimate the highest principle of the human mind?

  Answer: The
re is an ultimate in every thing or event. That is the ultimate of principle.

  Someone asked: Like humanity on the part of the ruler and respect on the part of ministers. These are ultimates.

  Answer: These are ultimates of a particular thing or event. When all principles of heaven and earth and the myriad things are put together, that is the Great Ultimate. The Great Ultimate originally has no such name. It is merely a name to express its character. (49:14b-15a)

  122. There is no other event in the universe except yin and yang succeeding each other in an unceasing cycle. This is called Change. However, for these activity and tranquillity, there must be the principles which make them possible. This is the Great Ultimate. (49:16a)

  12. Heaven and Earth

  123. In the beginning of the universe there was only material force consisting of yin and yang. This force moved and circulated, turning this way and that. As this movement gained speed, a mass of sediment was compressed (pushed together), and since there is no outlet for this, it consolidated to form the earth in the center of the universe. The clear part of material force formed the sky, the sun, and moon, and the stars and zodiacal spaces. It is only on the outside that the encircling movement perpetually goes on. The earth exists motionless in the center of the system, not at the bottom. (49:19a)

  124. In the beginning of the universe, when it was still in a state of undifferentiated chaos, I imagine there were only water and fire. The sediment from water formed the earth. If today we climb the high mountains and look around, we will see ranges of mountains in the shape of waves. This is because the water formed them like this, though we do not know in what period they solidified. The solidification was at first very soft, but in time it became hard.