At the earliest stages of my studies, I recited and modeled myself upon the established sayings of earlier scholars, always then going further to infer the meanings of their words. After proceeding for a long time in this way, it seemed as if I had attained some insights. However, I found that my contemporaries did not agree with my views. My doubts accumulated and my frustrations grew. I went back to search for answers among the ancients and often discovered that earlier scholars had had similar insights and that their contemporaries also did not agree with them. I began to realize that the task of learning is to seek for what satisfies “this heart-mind.”2 As long as one’s views do not contradict what the ancients have said, then the praise or blame of those who follow the current fashions of study are not worth worrying about.
Since the end of the Three Dynasties,3 scholars have not had a regular source of livelihood. The contemporary task of studying for the official examinations is (a rite of passage), akin to the way the ancients would present an offering whenever they returned from beyond the borders of their states.4 Had Kongzi or Mengzi been born in the present age, even if they wanted to put an end to the examination system, they could not do so. But though the point of the examination system is to become known by others, the way of true learning cannot be equated with winning the praise or blame of one’s age. Your fear is that these two goals—worldly renown and true learning—cannot be realized at the same time. As for me, I have nothing to say to those who study without seeking personal insight. But if one is able to gain some personal insight, then it doesn’t matter whether one is studying the classics or history. Accomplished masters in any field of specialization not only do not regard studying for the examinations as an impediment or harm (to true learning) but in fact believe the two tasks can mutually support and benefit one another. Problems arise when people fail to reflect for themselves and mistakenly separate these two projects. Now the task of true learning is not for the purpose of becoming famous. The classics are its warp; the histories are its weft. It passes in and out of the various schools of philosophy leaving different paths and tracks, but they are the same in that they all lead to making clear the dao.
The dao does not require conformity to any set of fixed ideas—such as the Heavenly and the human, nature and destiny, making the will sincere and correcting the mind, ordering the state and bringing peace to the family, which Song Confucians distinguished with the name “the learning of the Way” (daoxue )—in order to be the dao.5 Whether one applies oneself to literary art or to scholarship, regardless of whether these are specialized or comprehensive, ordinary or unusual, as long as one pursues what is proper and in addition understands why these things are as they are (suoyiran),6 then whatever one studies will be the dao.
The Book of Changes says, “What is above form is called the dao; what is within form is called actual things and affairs.”7 The dao can never be found apart from actual things, just as a physical thing can never be found apart from the shadow that it casts. The sun and moon have illuminated the Heavens unchanged since most ancient times. And yet the myriad creatures and other things each receive the light of the sun and moon through the particular physical form with which it was endowed. To say that each thing receives a greater or lesser or a larger or smaller reflection of light is perfectly acceptable. But if one says that one must separate oneself completely from any and all physical forms before one can find the light of the sun and moon, then I don’t see what such illumination ever can shine upon. If one wants to draw inferences about the light of the sun and moon based upon the various greater or lesser, larger or smaller reflections of light, this is perfectly acceptable. But if one says that the light of the sun and moon consists of these greater or lesser, larger or smaller reflections and that there are not, above and beyond this, the sun and the moon in the Heavens, then I don’t see any possible point to arguing over which are the greater or lesser, larger or smaller reflections. Looked at in this way, among the various methods of true learning, there is no greater or lesser; they all lead to the dao. If one locates one’s method of learning outside the dao and distinguishes it with the name “the learning of the Way” (daoxue) before one calls it the dao, this is to have the dao but to lack any actual things. The respective standards of various methods of study all concern the lower learning of actual things. But within these are the reasons why things are as they are (suoyiran), and so they all concern the highest understanding of the dao. Actual things are stuck in their individual physical traces and tracks and cannot penetrate into one another; only the dao penetrates into all things. And so cultivated individuals use things in order to make clear the dao, in order to “take their stand in what is great.”8
Looking back over the various methods of learning from the past to the present, different ones have successively flourished and declined, replacing one another as the proper standard. If we were to discuss things from the perspective of the fashion in vogue at a given time, then anyone who by nature was close to that particular fashion would be prejudiced in its favor. This is simply the result of circumstances. The aspirations of students are bounded by the tendencies of their age. Students exhaust their energies and fully apply their heart-minds, committing themselves to their studies with every ounce of strength they have. They all believe that they have vastly surpassed those who went before them and that, “were a sage again to arise, he would not alter (a word I say).”9 But when the fashion that is in vogue fades and practices change, people of later times will then employ the regnant ideas of their own age to reflect upon and evaluate their predecessors. Inevitably, they will come to look upon their predecessors just as their predecessors looked upon the men of old.
During the Han, Tang, Song, and Ming dynasties and on down to the present dynasty, writers have alternated between respectfully handing down each other’s teachings and biting each other’s backs. They have ended their days skulking within these two activities, unaware that they were simply preserving the “actual things and affairs” (qi) but missing the dao. How could they ever arrive at what is correct? Only truly courageous scholars find for themselves teachers among the ancients and select from these teachers only what genuinely resonates with their own thoughts—what is truly irrepressible within them. They then exert their energies to develop these ideas completely. This is what is meant by [the phrase], “Cultivated people seek it within themselves.”10
If the age greatly values something but it is not something toward which one’s thoughts incline, though it is as great as Mount Tai, one must waste no time upon it. If the age takes something lightly but it is something toward which one’s thoughts incline, though it be as fine as autumn hair, one must not neglect it.
If one tends toward a specialization, one will achieve success easily. If one disregards both praise and blame, one’s personal understanding will be profound. One who attends to one’s natural gifts and holds up as a standard those among the ancients who are near to him (in terms of inclination and specialty), who “neither forgets nor helps,”11 over time will naturally come to understand [the dao]. This is what I meant when I said that there are many different paths and tracks, but they are all the same in that they all lead to the dao.
Now you realize that the root of true learning does not range beyond the classics and history, but you also realize how difficult it was for the ancients to fully understand the classics. Your heart longs for the study of history, but you are concerned over the quantity and complexity of historical writings. Moreover, you suspect that the reason why earlier scholars who discussed the topic of history were not in agreement is that their abilities and strengths were limited, and you hope to attain a complete understanding of their various methods. Truly you are an example of one who is “few in years but overflowing with purpose and unequaled in vigorous spirit.” Compared to those in the world today—who busily work to gain emolument, fearing only that they will not find employment, and who fail to realize that there is anything beyond this—their difference fro
m you is like the distance between Heaven and earth. Nevertheless, from among the various paths of learning, you seem to have discovered your calling. If you follow these disciplines to their ultimate ends you will be able to attain broad erudition and ample elegance, enough to gain renown in the present age. If you apply yourself for some time, you will realize enough success to ensure that your name will be handed down and your reputation will continue through the coming dynasty. But you still will not have reached the point of attaining a personal understanding that penetrates above to the dao, where the subtle insights of the ancients open before you, where the attainments of later scholars unfold from within you, and where you work in the present age but have no desire to have your name passed on to later generations by improper means.
The ancients were not distressed if their names were not passed on; they were distressed if their names were passed on but they failed to achieve anything worthwhile in the human world. They were not distressed if their studies were incomplete; they were distressed if their studies were complete but they failed to gain any personal insight in their own heart-minds. And so they anxiously and earnestly applied all their energies to learning in an effort to make clear the dao.
The classics and histories are mediums or materials through which the ancients sought the dao, not names that they attached to their different disciplines of learning. The lineages of masters of the classics and the great schools of history are all the result of people exerting concerted effort at what they were capable of doing in a medium with which they were familiar and well-attuned. They produced their works by exhausting every ounce of their energies throughout the entire course of their lives. In this way, their writings could not but express ideas in accord with the dao. It is akin to the way in which some understand more and some understand less but no one is without some understanding of the dao of kings Wen and Wu.12 Were this not the case, how could any of these works accord with what the sages made clear? But if one begins by raising up the classics and histories as absolute standards—looking up and expecting help from them, bowing down and rushing toward them—and with such thoroughgoing deference believes that if one can just master some small part of their teachings, one will gain a name for oneself—this amounts to seeking to absorb their intelligence and insights while only looking for what the people of the world revere. This is far from according with the dao!
Confucius said, “In a village of ten households, one is sure to find someone as loyal and trustworthy as I.”13 His point is that it is not difficult to find people who possess basic ability and talent. But in terms of their fundamental natures and capacities, people will always have particular inclinations and tendencies. When children first attend school, their intellects begin to develop. Since they often grasp an idea or carry out a task without thinking about it, their intelligence is not always evident. Later on when they read books, write compositions and give rein to far-reaching thoughts and reflections, from time to time they will seem to have some insight but will return to their studies without further investigating the matter. This is where one sees the beginnings or sprouts of the dao, which if developed and filled out can extend to everywhere under Heaven.14 But if there is no one to come forward and clearly point out these sprouts, then often these children will struggle throughout their lives, now advancing, now falling back, without ever understanding that they, like so many others, are squandering their natural talents and abilities. This is something you too must reflect upon! If you reflect upon this, then it will not matter whether you study the classics or work at history, they will both offer you opportunities to attain a personal understanding.
If an age happens to esteem the study of classics, most will consequently delve deeply into the works of people like Fu Qian and Zheng Xuan.15 If an age happens to honor history, most will apply themselves assiduously to the study of Ban Gu and Sima Qian.16 If an age gives pride of place to evidential textual studies, most will think that being broadly educated means that one has dug through a huge pile of documents. Among those who work at cultivating literary style, most think that hunting up an elegant allusion is the way to make a composition wonderful and distinctive. But what a given age esteems may not necessarily accord with what I, by nature, am most comfortable doing. Why would one think that the trend of a given time is necessarily close to my particular talents? It is very difficult to set aside what one is good at and take up what one lacks talent in. But the influences of praise and blame bedazzle one from without and opposing thoughts about where one’s true strengths and weaknesses lie confuse one from within. Even if one were endowed with ten times the strength and wisdom of the ancients, it would be difficult to achieve even half of what they accomplished. How much worse off are those of middling or lesser talent, who lack the ability to see things for themselves!
Students look down on the task of preparing for the examinations because they engage in this work out of an ulterior motive and not from some irrepressible urge arising from within. Renown in the examinations then becomes thought of as a way to gain profit, and learning a way to gain fame. Both profit and fame simply track whatever trend happens to be in vogue at a given time and do not come forth from some irrepressible urge from within. These are things that yield no real benefit, and yet people are compelled to talk about them as the stuff of “real learning.” Consequently, people come to look upon success in the examinations as a minor skill and those who understand simply look on from the sidelines, but is this any different from the case of the soldiers who ran only fifty paces laughing at those who ran one hundred?17
Now, it is certainly the case that preparing for the examinations cannot be equated with learning. But one cannot say that preparing for the examinations is necessarily an impediment to learning. Even though the examinations are no more than proxies for the teachings of the sages and worthies, if one selects from among the things they cover, one can follow this as true learning and take as one’s ultimate goal the task of making the dao more clear. Then as the roots grow deeper, the buds will increasingly flourish. As one matures and grows, one’s voice naturally becomes louder and clearer. I have never heard of a case of someone who had attained real understanding in his learning but whose insights in the examinations did not pile up and grow in brilliance.
As for the paths of learning, they start off in different directions and proceed in numerous ways, but their subsequent paths and tracks diverge only slightly. Since no other perspective or goal [apart from attaining the dao] can be considered good and the examinations work against this end, how can I say that learning and the examinations are not antithetical to one another?
Now learning is the basic stuff, while the official examinations are simply one particular way to embellish [this basic stuff].18 And so, people can study different things. As long as they attain some true understanding, they can draw upon and learn from one another. The original intent and purpose of the official examinations was to use this one particular embellishment (i.e., the form of the exams) as a way to see into the basic stuff of those taking it (i.e., as a way to gauge their true character). But most people just want to succeed at the examinations; they lack the basic stuff and allow themselves to be beguiled by this one particular embellishment. This is a problem with the examinations. Now if one recognizes that the examinations are simply one particular embellishment, and on their own lack any of the basic stuff, but one’s learning is not true to the dao, then one’s learning still will not be firmly rooted or well grounded. This is a problem with certain students. These two kinds of shortcomings have no necessary connection to one another. You have set your heart on true learning but worry that it is difficult to realize this goal along with success in the examinations. But is this not because you have not distinguished these two types of shortcomings?
Be that as it may, I have been engaged in learning for more than forty years now. When I began, I did not have my own independent point of view, I only loved to learn. And so I made mistakes in an effort to gain th
e approval of others. When I had reached the age of thirty, it seemed as if I had made some real progress toward gaining a personal understanding. It was then that others began to doubt my views. And now, I proceed unselfconsciously in the way that I have since reaching the age of thirty. But aside from one or two intimate friends, my ideas either are denigrated and laughed at by four or five out of every ten people or provoke the anger and curses of twice that number! “Those who set their heart-minds upon the ancients will be neglected in their own age”—how noble and fine are Han Yu’s words!19 Earlier, I would tend to doubt such rousing words; now I trust that they are good and in no way deceptive.
You have the talent of two men and in your youth developed a commitment to attain an immortal reputation. Not one in a million possesses either of these virtues; you do not turn away from the long and difficult journey but instead readily ask me for advice regarding learning. How could I dare to hold anything back from you! And yet I have not responded to your inquiry but instead all along have talked about how important it is to have a good beginning and proper foundation in one’s learning. It is just like [the saying], “preparing the plain silk before adding the ornamentation.”20 If one seeks to add the various colored patterns before the plain silk background is properly prepared, it will not form a beautiful design. As for proceeding from the beginning and reaching the end, starting out with what is crude and arriving at what is refined, passing through each and every step and stage and taking note of every detail, no matter how great or small, as one continues and builds upon the little that I have achieved—only someone of elevated and lofty discernment would be able to do that!
On Ethics and History Page 13