2. The “original substance” of all things in mysterious learning is so vast that there is nothing outside of it (this vastness is not contrasted with smallness); it is void (the so-called void does not mean “empty"; it is not meaningless, for, as lasting existence, it does not have visible traces), all-encompassing, complete, in possession of the tiniest and absolutely inexhaustible functions. In Confucian philosophy, the original substance of all things is referred to as the Great Change, which has no visible forms or traces. (The so-called Great Change is originally changeless, but it entails transformations and changes; since the changeless is seen through transformations and changes, it is called the Great Change.) If we say that the tiniest is a real thing and that since it is the tiniest it is the original source of everything (such as the heterodox teaching of “following the world” in India), then we only acknowledge matter as real; there is nothing that can be called the original substance. Many materialists claim that what we refer to as substance is a mystic idea, but it is not mystic. Truth presents itself in front of us. If there is some blockage in our heart-and-minds, we will not be able to recognize it. Some also criticize us as departing from the objective, independent real world in order to construct through random imagination a lofty, wondrous original substance, like the floating clouds in aerospace. Actually, while what we call original substance is not like the mundane real world clung to by false consciousness, we do not mean to say that the original substance is outside of all things. If it is indeed outside of all things, how can it be the original substance of all things? It should be noted that all things are manifestations of the original substance. It should not be perceived as a thing. Analogously, the waves are all manifestations of the ocean. We should not perceive waves separately as if they are discretely isolated waves. If we understand this, we can know that we and all things are intertwined inseparably into an undifferentiated whole. How can we draw a major rupture between our inner heart- and-minds and the outside realms? The materialists, without any basis, imagine an objective independent material world. This is a form of self-deception. I should note, however, that I am in full agreement with the Mahayana’s successful critique of the theory of the tiniest matter. In summary, I deny the existence of the outer realm departing from the heart-and-mind. This is not to deny the existence of [objective] realms. Indeed, the heart-and-mind is manifest through encountering the [objective] realm. As soon as we refer to the heart- and-mind, we already posit the existence of an [objective] realm. If the [objective] realm is absent, the name of the heart-and-mind will not exist. Actually, the heart-and-mind and the [objective] realm is a developing totality laden with internal contradictions. From the perspective of mysterious learning, the totality in itself is not real, it is merely the manifestation of absolute functions.
[Xin weishilun, yudi ed., 1: 3b–4a, 19b–20a—TWM]
3. The reason that the “original substance” is so constituted, in short, entails the following meanings: (1) The original substance provides myriad principles, contains myriad virtues, initiates myriad transformations, and is itself dharma- like pure and originally so. (The term dharma-like connotes the idea of self-completion without dependence; pure means no defilement, which suggests that evil is totally absent. Originally so means it is original and as such. It should be noted that the original substance is not that which originally did not exist and has come into being now and that, more emphatically, it is not put into a proper place out of conjecture. This is the reason that it is referred to as original. Since it can never be altered, it is depicted in such terms.) (2) The original substance is absolute. If it were dependent, it would not be named as the original substance of all phases of existence. (3) The original substance is imperceptible, formless, which means it is not spatial. (4) The original substance is everlasting, beginningless, and endless, which means it is not temporal. (The term everlasting does not carry temporal significance; we reluctantly employ the word everlasting.) (5) The original substance is complete, fully complacent without deficiency, and indivisible. (6) When we say that the original substance is changeless, the implication is that it entails transformations and changes; when we say that the original substance is changing and transforming, the implication is that it is changeless. It is extremely difficult to describe the original substance. Since the original substance manifests itself in immeasurable and boundless functions, which means that it is all phases of existence, it is changing. However, even though the original substance manifests itself in a multiplicity of functions or all phases of existence, its own nature is, in the last analysis, never altered. Its nature is always pure, steadfast, enduring; therefore it is said that it is changeless.
Someone may ask, What meanings does the original substance entail? The answer is, In short, there are four meanings: (1) The original substance is the source of myriad principles, the beginning of myriad virtues, and the initiator of myriad transformations. (Initiator means the root.) (2) The original substance is without opposites and, at the same time, with opposites; it is with opposites and, at the same time, without opposites. (3) The original substance is beginningless and endless. (4) The original substance manifests itself in limitless and inexhaustible great functions, thus it should be noted as changing. Yet, since the flowing of the great functions ultimately does not alter in the slightest the vitality, steadfastness, and other qualities of the original substance, it should be said to be changeless.
[Tiyonglun, p. 5]
4. I firmly believe that the cosmos is a cosmos of life. We should not say that the cosmos is just a bundle of matter. Human life is a life force. We should not say that life and heart-and-mind are derived from matter. Matter and life are the two natures of the same originality. Life guides and moves matter; matter contains and supports life. However, matter as a thing is originally light, tiny and fluid. When it becomes crystallized into each real thing, it is often coarse and gigantic to the extreme, such as the immeasurable heavenly bodies in aerospace. The development of matter is extremely easy, extremely coarse and gigantic, clearly visible. It contains the qualities of consolidation and enclosure. This is the reason that although the great life force silently moves in the midst of all material universes, it does not easily reveal itself. Furthermore, we should know that it is necessary for the emergence of the great life force to transform matter into organism and to give rise to biological realities. Only then can life guide and move [its own dynamism] in the biological organisms so that it can express its superbly lofty and rich virtue. There is, however, something we cannot afford to ignore. We cannot measure and determine how many of the immeasurable material universes that fill aerospace, such as the countless heavenly bodies, seen from its various internal degrees of heat and the multifarious external relations, can provide the wholesome conditions for the birth and flourishing of biological beings. The most critical factors are the temperance of heat and weather and the production of nutrients. All these are difficult to obtain—the biological beings on earth that lead to the development of the highest human species. Must we search for such a marvelous thing in other heavenly bodies and discover beings that are comparable to the human species of the great earth? I emphatically will not lightly doubt that there is absolutely no chance of finding a comparable species elsewhere, but I do not feel the need to fantasize that we will find many cases of comparable species. If we search for the conditions necessary for biological beings among the countless heavenly bodies of the aerospace, they are probably difficult to find. Yet the question of a life force hidden in matter without visibly revealing itself belongs to a different domain. The countless heavenly bodies in aerospace are definitely not separate and isolated entities. Rather, they are interconnected into a great complete whole. Our great earth, among them, is ultimately the home of the great life force, which is vastly sufficient and real, dynamic and vital; it can also break through the consolidated and enclosed matter, shake the great void, radiate its light, enable numerous material universes to transform themselves i
nto life universes with overflowing vitality, ceaseless self-renewal, and inexhaustible great beings. It is indeed wondrously beautiful!
[Cunzhai suibi, pp. 194–195—TWM]
MANIFESTO FOR A REAPPRAISAL OF SINOLOGY AND THE RECONSTRUCTION OF CHINESE CULTURE
This manifesto, a reaffirmation of the enduring values of Chinese culture in a time of extreme trial for the Chinese people, was the joint work of four leading intellectuals who went into exile in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and America in advance of the Communist takeover of the mainland. It was produced, on the initiative of Dr. Zhang Junmai (Carsun Chang) (see chapter 33), on the basis of an initial draft by Tang Junyi (known as T’ang Chün-i), dean of New Asia College in Hong Kong, and revised in consultation with the other subscribers to it, including Mou Zongsan and Xu Fuguan, as well as Zhang and Tang.
The manifesto begins with a strong rejoinder to certain Western critiques of Chinese civilization (here referred to as “Sinology") and proceeds to defend a Chinese spirituality embracing elements of Daoism and Buddhism along with a Confucian core, which have enabled the Chinese people to survive repeated challenges and catastrophes of the kind they were experiencing when the manifesto was drawn up in the 1950s. The statement gives an analysis of the weaknesses of modern Western civilization, including its obsession with rapid progress and unlimited expansion. Rejecting Mao’s communism as un-Chinese, it proposes as an alternative and as a remedy for the excesses of the West, the perennial values of Chinese tradition.
Reproduced below is a much abridged version of this lengthy manifesto as rendered in English and published under the name of Carsun Chang.
The Permanence of China’s History and Culture
Why have China’s history and culture endured? It cannot be explained away by Spengler’s hypothesis that they have become stagnant since the Han dynasty. The fact is that they did not stop progressing. Some say it is due chiefly to the people’s emphasis on the maintenance of the concrete daily life, and not like the West, devoting much time to idealism and utopias. Others attribute it to conservatism, the performance of activities in accordance with habitual procedures so that the national vitality is preserved on account of frugality. Yet others have the opinion that the reason may be found in the importance traditionally attached to having a large number of offspring, because of which the nation survived numerous catastrophes. These explanations, and many others, cannot, no doubt, be dismissed as entirely trivial. Yet, holding that a nation’s culture is the expression of its spiritual life, we believe that the answer is to be sought for in its ideologies.
The aspiration for the eternal took shape very early in Chinese thought. In ancient religious teaching there was the saying that the “decree of heaven is not immovable”—in other words, that heaven, or God, is impartial, the decree falling on the virtuous. The Duke of Zhou understood this impermanencefrom the examples of Xia (1818–1766 B.C.E.) and Yin (1751–1111 B.C.E.),1 and hence incessantly admonished the people to preserve and prolong its sociopolitical heritage. For this very reason, the Zhou dynasty lasted for some eight hundred years, the longest in Chinese history. The philosophical presentation of this concept is first found in the Classic of Changes, the Mean, and the writings of Laozi. These might have been compiled during the period of the Warring States, when social and political conditions were most unstable. The later dynasties of Han, Tang, and Song all lasted for centuries because of this desire to attain permanence, which also explains why China’s entire civilization has endured. Briefly speaking, this concept of seeking the permanent, as expounded in Daoism, is utilitarian, or “advancing by retreating.” As Laozi put it, “That Heaven and Earth are lasting is because they do not last for themselves.” Also, “The sage keeps himself behind and yet is in front; he forgets himself, and yet is preserved.” It enjoins one to rise above subjective prejudices and extraneous exertions so as to preserve one’s vitality in order to attain longevity. It also urges one to abate selfishness and desires, to embrace what is simple and natural, to attain the idea of the “void” so as to be quiescent, and to keep one’s energy within limits in order to be able to come back to oneself constantly. This is the way to attain the origin of the vitality of life and at the same time to help preserve one’s natural strength.
Confucians also taught man to control this vitality. However, in this case the motive is initially the establishment of li (rites) between man and man. Following [the Rites of] Zhou’s “Li Regulations,” they compared the virtues of a superior man with the qualities of jade. The characteristics of jade are its polished appearance and its firmness and solidity inside. With moral strength, one can accumulate all the vital energy of life. This is similar to what the Mean (Zhongyong) called the “strength of the South,” which stressed “forbearance and gentleness in teaching others and even not to recompense for trespasses,” thus preserving the vitality. Both of these point to the moral virtuousness a man should possess. This kind of virtuousness is able not only to preserve man’s vitality within himself but also to manifest itself by penetrating through his body. That is, this virtuousness has also the function of keeping one in good health; as the saying goes, “Virtue nurtures the body.” In Western ethical studies, discussion of morality is usually devoted to consideration of the regulations of human behavior, or the social or religious values of moral codes. Few writers have particularly stressed this thorough transformation of man’s natural life by moral practices, so that his attitudes and manners manifest his inner virtues and enrich and illuminate this life. On the other hand, it is precisely what traditional Confucianism has greatly emphasized.
With regard to the conservation of China’s national life, the emphasis on having many offspring should not be interpreted as a mere instinct of race preservation. Even during the Zhou dynasty, this emphasis was on self-consciousness motivated by the desire to perpetuate the ancestral lineage—a motivation that had religious, moral, and political connotations as well. Psychologically, this natural instinct is limited to the love between husband and wife and between parents and children. People need to rise above this natural tendency in order to acquire respect for parents and ancestors from whom they receive their life, and with it the fear that they might not receive ceremonial worship should they have no issue. This gave rise to the desire to perpetuate one’s life down to thousands of generations, and also to the saying that “There are three unfilial things; of them the worst is lack of posterity.” The explanation is to be sought in the pervading conception that in its unfathomable vastness xin (mind-and-heart) ought to reach up to thousands of epochs that had passed and down to myriads of generations to come.
Similarly, the desire of the Chinese people to preserve their civilization should not be understood as mere conservatism. In early Confucian thought, it was already considered unrighteous to destroy another state or to terminate another man’s ancestral lineage. Confucians worked not only to keep intact the culture handed down by the Duke of Zhou but also to safeguard the varied traditions of the Xia and Yin dynasties. The dictum in the Spring and Autumn Annals, “to revive the perished state and restore the broken family,” applied to all states, and not only to Lu, the native land of Confucius. At the same time, the purpose of the sage’s extensive travels was clearly that the entire world might embrace the ways of Dao. Such is certainly neither provincial nor merely conservative. . . .
It is now clear why we can never accept the explanation of the Chinese emphasis on the preservation of their culture by means of racial instinct or conservatism. The real reason behind the discrimination against the barbarian tribes was simply that objectively China’s culture was more advanced than theirs. For the same reason, the cream of the cultures of other nations has always been received and preserved by the Chinese. This is corroborated by their persistence in affirming the value of Buddhism, Christianity, and other Western doctrines despite the Communist denial. . . .
Science and the Development of Chinese Culture
According to our understanding,
the direction of progress to be taken should extend the attainment of moral self-realization to the fields of politics, of knowledge and of technology. In other words, China needs a genuine democratic reconstruction and scientific and technological skills. For this reason, China must embrace the civilization of the world; for this will enable her national character to reach higher planes of perfection and her spiritual life to achieve a more comprehensive development. . . .
Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 2 Page 82