A Short History of Chinese Philosophy (32 page)

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spite its enormous effect upon Chinese life, did not change the belief of ihe Chinese that they were the only civilized people in the human world.

As a result of these concepts, when the Chinese first came in contact with Europeans in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, they thought that they were simply barbarians like preceding barbarians, and so they spoke of them as barbarians. As a consequence they did not feel greatly disturbed, even though they suffered many defeats in fighting with them. They began to be disturbed, however, when they found that the Europeans possessed a civilization equal to, though different from, that of the Chinese. What was novel in the situation was not that peoples other than the Chinese existed, but that their civilization was one of equal power and importance. In Chinese history one can find a parallel for such a situation only in the Chun Ch'iu and Chan Kuo periods, when different but equally civilized states existed that fought with one another. That is why the Chinese now feel that there is a repetition in hislory.

If one reads the writings of the great statesmen of the last century, such as Tseng Kuo-fan (1811-1872) and Li Hung-chang (1823-1901), there is much evidence that they felt about the impact of the West precisely in this way. This note attempts to describe the reasons for their feeling.

WORLD POLITICS AND WORLD PHILOSOPHY

CHAPTER 17

ZER OF THE HAN EMPIRE: TUNG CHUNG-SHU

MENCIUS once said that those who do not delight in killing men would unify the world. (Mejicius, la, 6.) It would seem that he was wrong, because, some hundred years later, it was the state of Ch in that unified the whole of China. Ch'in was superior to the other states in the arts of both "agriculture and war," that is, it was superior both economically and militarily. It was known at the time as "llie state of tigers and wolves. By sheer force of arms, coupled with the ruthless ideology of the Legalists, it succeeded in conquering all its rivals.

The Amalgamation of the. Yin-Yang and Confucianist Schools Yet Mencius was not wholly wrong, for the Ch in dynasty, which was established after the unification of 2.21 B.C., lasted only about fifteen years. Soon after the death of the First Emperor his empire disintegrated in a series of rebellions against the harsh Ch in rule, and was succeeded by the Han dynasty (io6 B.C.-A.D. 2.2.0). The Han inherited the concept of political u-nity of the Ch'in, and continued its unfinished work, that is, the building up of a new political and social order.

Tung Chung-shu (c. I7°-c. 104 B.C.) was the great theorizcr in such an attempt. A native of the southern part of the present Hopei province, he was largely instrumental in making Confucianism the orthodox belief of the Han dynasty, at the expense of the other schools of thought. He was also prominent in the creation of the institutional basis for this Confucian orthodoxy: the famed Chinese examination system, which began to take form during his time. Under this system, entry into the ranks of the government officials who ruled the country was not dependent upon noble birth or wealth, but rather upon success in a series of periodic examinations which were conducted by the government simultaneously throughout the country, and were open to all members of society with but trifling exceptions. These examinations, to be sure, were still embryonic in the Han dynasty and did not become really

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universal until several centuries later. It is to Tung Chung —shu s credit, however, that he was one of the first to propose them, and it is also significant that in so doing he insisted upon the Confucian classics as the ideological basis for their operation.

It is said of Tung Chung-shu that he was so devoted to his literary studies that once for three years he did not even look out into his garden. As a result, he wrote a lengthy work known as the Ch an ch iu Fan—la, or Luxuriant Dew from the Spring and Autumn Annals. It is also said that he used to expound his teachings from behind a curtain, and that these were transmitted by his disciples, one to another, to a remote distance, so that there were some who never had the privilege of seeing his countenance. (See his biography in the History of the Former Han Dynasty, ch. 56.) What Tung Chung—shu tried to do was to give a sort of theoretical justification to the new political and social order of his time. According to him, since man is a part of Heaven, the justification of the behavior of the former must be found in the behavior of the latter. He thought with the Yin—Yang school that a close interconnection exists between Heaven and man. Starting with this premise, he combined a metaphysical justification, which derives chiefly from the Yin-Yang school, with a political and social philosophy which is chiefly Confucianist.

The word Heaven is a translation of ihe Chinese word T ien, which is sometimes rendered as Heaven and sometimes as nature. Neither translation is quite adequate, however, especially in Tung Chung-shu s philosophy. My colleague Professor Y. L. Chin has said: "Perhaps if we mean by T ien both nature and the divinity which presides over nature, with emphasis sometimes on the one and sometimes on the other, we have something approaching the Chinese term." (Unpublished manuscript.) This statement is not true in certain cases, for instance, in those of I^o Tzu and Chuang Tzu, but it is certainly so in the case of Tung Chung—shu. In this chapter, when the word Heaven occurs, 1 ask the reader to recall this statement of Professor Chin as the definition of the word T' ien in Tung Chung-shu's philosophy.

In chapter twelve it was pointed out thai lliere were two distinct lines of thought in ancient China, those of the Yin and Yang and of the Five Elements, each of which provided a positive interpretation for the structure and origin of the universe. Later, however, these two lines became amalgamated, and in Tung Chung-shu this amalgamation is particularly conspicuous. Thus in his philosophy we find both the theory of the Yin and Yang and that of the Five Elements.

Cosmological Theory

According to Tung Chung-shu, the universe has ten constituents: Heaven, Earth, the Yin and Yang, the Five Elements of Wood, Fire, Soil, Metal, and Water, and finally man.* His idea of the Yin and Yang is very concrete. He

3l6 THEORIZER OF THE HAN EMPIRE: TUNG CHUNG-SHU

says: Within the universe there exist the ethers of the Yin and Yang. Men are constantly immersed in them, just as fish are constantly immersed in water. The difference between the Yin and Yang ethers and water is that water is visible, whereas the ethers are invisible. (Ch. 8l.) The order of the Five Elements given by Tung Chung-shu differs from that given by the "Grand Norm." (See ch. 12. of this book.) According to him, the first is Wood, the second, Fire, the third Soil, the fourth Metal, and the fifth Water. These Five Elements "each in turn produces the next and is overcome by the next but one in turn." (Ch. 42-) Thus Wood produces Fire, Fire produces Soil, Soil produces Metal, Metal produces Water, and Water produces Wood. This is the process of their mutual production. But Wood overcomes Soil, Soil overcomes Water, Water overcomes Fire, Fire overcomes Metal, and Metal overcomes Wood. This is the process of their mutual overcoming.

For Tung Chung-shu, as for the Yin-Yang school, Wood, Fire, Metal, and Water each presides over one of the four seasons as well as one of the four directions of the compass. Wood presides over the east and spring, Fire over the south and summer, Metal over the west and autumn, and Water over the north and winter. Soil presides over the center and gives assistance to all the other elements. The alternation of the four seasons is explained by the operations of the Yin and Yang. (Ch. 4^-) The Yin and Yang wax and wane and follow fixed circuits which take them through all the four directions. When the Yang first waxes, it moves to assist Wood in the east, and then there comes spring. As it grows in strength, it moves to the south where it assists Fire, and then there comes summer. But according to the universal law of "reversal" as maintained by the Lao-tzu and the Yi "Appendices," growth must be followed by decay. Hence the Yang, having reached its extreme height, begins to wane, while at the same time the Yin begins to wax in turn. The Yin, as it does this, moves east to assist Metal,** and then there comes autumn. As it gains more strength, it moves north to assist Water, and then there comes winter. But having there reached its climax, it begins to wane, while at the same time the Yang starts a new cycle of growth.

Thus the changes of the four seasons result from the waxing and waning movements of the Yin and Yang, and their succession is really a succession of the Yin, arid Yang. Tung Chung-shu says: "The constant principle of the universe is the succession of the Yin and Yang. The Yang is Heaven's beneficent force, while the Yin is its chastising force....In the course of Heaven, there are three seasons L spring, summer, and autumn j of formation

* See the Ch'nn-fh'iu h'an-la. ch. 81. All quotations in the present chapter, unless otherwise stated, are from this

work.

** Not west, though west is the direction for autumn. The reason for this is, according to Tung, that "Heaven has trust in the Yang, hut not in the Yin.

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THEORIZER OF THE HAN EMPIRE:TUNG CHUNG-SHU

and growth, and one season [winter] of mourning and death." (Ch. 49.)

This shows, according to Tung, that "Heaven has trust in the Yang but not in the Yin; it likes beneficence but not chastisement. (Ch. 47.) It also shows that "Heaven has its own feelings of joy and anger, and a mind which experiences sadness and pleasure, analogous to those of man. Thus if a grouping is made according to kind, Heaven and man are one." (Ch. 49-) Man, therefore, both in his physiological and mental aspects, is a replica or duplicate of Heaven. (Ch.

41.) As such, he is far superior to all other things of the world. Man, Heaven, and Earth are "the origins of all things." "Heaven gives them birth, Earth gives them nourishment, and man gives them perfection.

(Ch. 19.) As to how man accomplishes this perfection, Tung says that it is done through li (ritual) and yitieh (music), that is to say, through civilization and culture. If there were no civilization and culture, the world would be like an unfinished work, and the universe itself would suffer imperfection. Thus of Heaven, Earth, and man, he says: "These three are related to each other like the hands and feet; united they give the finished physical form, so that no one of them may be dispensed with. (Ch. 19.) Theory of Human Nature

Since Heaven has its Yin and Yang, and man is a replica of Heaven, the human mind consequently also contains two elements: hsing (man s nature) and ch ing (the emotions or feelings). The word hsing is used by Tung Chung-shu sometimes in a broader and sometimes a narrower sense. In the narrow sense, it is something that exists separate from and in opposition to ch ing, whereas in the broader sense it embraces ch ing. In this latter meaning, Tung sometimes refers to hsing as the "basic stuff. (Ch. 35-) This basic stuff of man, therefore, consists both of hsing (used in the narrow sense) and ch ing. From hsing comes the virtue of human —heartedness, whereas from ch ing comes the vice of covetousness. This hsing, in the narrow sense, is equivalent to Heaven' s Yang, and ch' ing to its Yin. (Ch. 35.) In this connection Tung Chung—shu takes up the old controversy as to whether human nature, that is, the basic stuff of man, is good or bad. He cannot agree with Mcncius that the nature is good, for he says: Goodness is like a kernel of grain, and the nature is like the growing plant of the grain. Though the plant produces the kernel, it cannot itself be called a kernel. [Similarly] though the lining [here used in its broader sense, i.e., the basic stuff] produces goodness, it cannot itself be called goodness. The kernel and goodness are both brought to completion through man's continuation of Heaven s work, and are external Lto the latterj. They do not lie within Lthe scope of] what Heaven itself does. What Heaven does extends to a certain point and then stops. What lies within this stopping point pertains to Heaven. What lies outside of it pertains to the chiao Lteaching, culture j of the [sage-] kings. The chiau of the [sage-] kings lies outside the hsing [basic

32.0 THEORIZER OF THF, HAN EMPIRE:TUNG CHUNG-SHU

stuff], yet without it the hsing cannot be fully developed." (Ch. 36.)

Thus Tung Chung-shu emphasizes the value of culture, which is indeed that which makes man equal to Heaven and Earth. In this respect he approaches Hsiin Tzu. He differs from him, however, in that he does not consider the basic stuff of man to be actually evil. Goodness is a continuation of nature, not a reversal of it.

Inasmuch as culture, for Tung, is a continuation of nature, he also approaches Mencius. Thus he writes: "It is said by some that since the nature [of man] contains the beginning of goodness and the mind contains the basic stuff of goodness, how, then, can it be that [the nature itself] is not good? But I reply that this is not so. For the silk cocoon contains silk fibers and yet is not itself silk, and the egg contains the chicken, yet is not itself a chicken. If we follow these analogies, what doubt can there be?

(Ch. 5-) The question raised here represents the view of Mencius. In answering it, Tung Chung-shu makes clear the difference between Mencius and himself.

But the difference between these two philosophers is really not much more than verbal. Tung Chung-shu himself says: "Mencius evaluates [the basic stuff of man] in comparison with the doings of the birds and beasts below, and therefore says that human nature is itself already good. I evaluate it in comparison with the sages above, and therefore say that human nature is not yet good. (Ch. 15-) Thus the difference between Mencius and Tung Chung— shu is reduced to that between two phrases: "already good" and "not yet good."