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Neo-Confucianism (Rujiao 儒教)
The Renaissance of Confucianism During Late Tang Dynasty
The renaissance of Confucianism was a direct reaction against the long prevailing of philosophical Daoism since the end of the Han Dynasty and the power of Buddhism during the time of North-South division and early Tang Dynasty. Tang scholars saw not only their own position as state advisors endangered, but they were afraid the influence of the foreign religion of Buddhism on Chinese government and the social traditions. Buddhism is a religion with a very complex metaphysical philosophy, an aspect that the old Confucianism totally ignores. The aim of Tang and Song time Confucian writers was to find a system that was able to explain the universe and the position and behaviour of man in a way that could cope with the sophisticated Buddhist philosophy.
The most important Tang scholars defending Confucianism against the influence of Daoism and Buddhism were Han Yu 韩愈 (768-824) and Li Ao 李翱 (772-841). Han Yu, a great essayist of his time, vehemently argued against Buddhism and proposed to go back to the roots of human ethics, studying and interpreting the Confucian Classics. His main concern about Buddhism was that the foreign religion was egalitarian and did not observe the proper relation between senior and junior persons, and thereby destroyed the social order. In his essay "Sourcing the Way" 原道 (Yuandao), he wrote that humanity (ren 仁) and righteousness (yi 义) are the source of an overall social way under Heaven, unlike the "Way" of Daoism and Buddhism where everybody is seeking his own salvation. Human nature, Han Yu wrote in his essay "Sourcing human nature" 原性 (Yuanxing), can be divided into three classes: good, bad, and middle. The middle nature can move to both sides, being formed by humanity, rites, trust, righteousness and knowledge. Human nature (xing 性) is being laid into a person during his/her birth, while the seven emotions (qing 情) are produced according to the environment. Han Yu was a great protagonist of the Old Literature Movement (guwen yundong 古文运动) whose representants wrote in the old simple and highly expressive style rather than in the complicated, rhymed and obscure style that has become popular during the time of North-South division.
Li Ao himself studied the Buddhist philosophy in order to be able to attack it. His most important writing is the book "Revival of the human nature" 复性书 (Fuxingshu), with the implicit meaning of "Revival (fusheng 复生) of Confucianism", as in Li Ao's eyes, the human nature (xing 性) is given us by birth (sheng 生). Every human nature is of equal quality, that means that everybody has the potential to become a saint like the mythical emperors Yao and Shun. It is only the emotions (qing 情) that mislead the true good nature of man. Both Han Yu and Li Ao have adopted the teachings of Mengzi 孟子, but they developed the thinking of the old philosopher to a more complex view of human behaviour.
Early Song Time Neo-Confucianists and their World View
It took time for the early reinterpreters of Confucianism to gain ground. It was the early Song Dynasty writer and politician Ouyang Xiu 欧阳修 (1007-1072) who stressed that the traditional Confucian cultural norms and education of the rulers by means of teaching them the old books and presenting them new writings, especially historiographical writings, all serve to practise a better policy. For that reason, he renounced the histories of Tang and Five Dynasties and instead wrote a new History of Tang (Xin Tangshu or Xintangshu 新唐书) and a new History of Five Dynasties (Xin Wudaishi 新五代史), both books in an educating style to teach an imperial reader. A similar view had Sima Guang 司马光 (1019-1086) who wrote the "Comprehensive Mirror Providing Material for Government" 资治通鉴 Zizhi Tongjian, a historiography with a style highly oriented at the classical "Spring and Autumn" Annals (Chunqiu 春秋).
Also going back to the old classics, Zhou Dunyi 周敦颐 (1017-1073) was highly interested in the interpretation of the Book of Changes (Yijing 易经). Basing on this divination classic that is deeply influenced by Daoist thinking, Zhou Dunyi wrote his short "Explanation of the Diagram of Highest Motion" Taiji Tu Shuo (or Taijitu Shuo or Taiji Tushuo) 太极图说 and traced back all existing phenomena like seasons, the Five Elements, the active and inactive principles yin 阴 and yang 阳, and even the highest extreme, to be born out of a deep silence and motionlessness (wuji 无极). More important for Confucian thinking is his book "Comprehensive (Explanations) of the Book of Changes" (Yitong 易通, also called "Comprehensive Book" Tongshu 通书). Motionlessness being the source of everything, it is also the basis for acheiving sincerity (cheng 诚) which is the condition of becoming a perfect man or a saint (shengren 圣人). Sincerity, although being non-acting (wuwei 无为), is determining good (shan 善) or bad (e 恶). Virtue (de 德) is expressed as love or humanity (ai 爱, ren 仁), properness or righteousness (yi 宜, yi 义), order or ritus (li 理, li 礼), comprehending or knowing (tong 通, zhi 智), keeping or trusting (shou 守, xin 信). With the luminant principle yang, Heaven creates the beings and gives them a natural sense for human relationship, by the dark principle yin, Heaven accomplishes all beings, giving them righteousness. Heaven directly influences man, and the holy rulers as representants educated their subject by humanity and righteousness, by rites (li 礼) to bring order (li 理) to people, and by music (yue 乐) to bring harmony (he 和) to the empire.
Zhang Zai 张载 (1020-1077) further developed the metaphysical background for the Confucian revival. He concentrated on the Book of Changes (Yijing 易经) and the Doctrine of the Mean Zhongyong 中庸. In his book "Correcting the Ignorant" Zhengmeng 正蒙, Zhang Zai postulated that the basic elementary component of the universe and all beings is odem or breath (qi 气) which he called "Great Emptiness" (taixu 太虚) - that is in fact not empty, but is a substance to give shape to all things, from lowest to highest density. All phenomena within the universe are made from the Great Emptiness, only with different densities. The Great Emptiness bears the potential for movement and for a good and virtuous character, and every being possesses these potentials. "Western Inscriptions" Ximing 西铭 is another theoretical work of Zhang Zai, by that he stresses the unity of Heaven (Tian 天), Earth (Di 地) and all beings. All people are brothers and sisters because everybody is being born by Heaven. The ruler is the oldest son of Heaven, and the sage man possesses the right virtue produced by Heaven. The human nature also finds its source in Heaven and is therefore equally good in every man. The different character of people is expressed by the "quality of his/her substantiation" (qizhi 气质), and even a bad substantiation can be lead back to its good origin by proper education and self-control.
The mathematician Shao Yong 邵雍 (1011-1077) tried to explain the universal metaphysics with Daoist number speculations, basing on the Book of Changes (Yijing 易经). All different beings in the universe, he states in his book "Generic Canon of the Imperial Extreme" Huangji Jingshi 皇极经世 , find their source in the "Highest Extreme" (taiji 太极), which is nothing else than Heaven. He discriminates between the Primary Heaven (Xiantian 先天), consisting of sun, moon, stars and the elements on earth, and the Secondary Heaven (Houtian 后天) that is responsible for the universal coherence according to the Five Phases. If the moving character and the silent character of the elements is mixed up in a right way, the universal way is properly founded. The beings are created by a division of one into two, two into four and four into eight, a relation reflected in the Eight Hexagrams in the Book of Changes. Everything is born by the Highest Extreme, the center, heart or mind (xin 心) of the universe. The nature of every man and every being is therefore the same. Concerning the life cycle of history and dynasties, Shao Yong speculates that there exist four different stages, like there are four different qualities in the kind of rule and exert the Heavenly mandate. Unfortunately, he does not create a scenario for the future.
The brothers Cheng Hao 程颢 (1032-1085) and Cheng Yi 程颐 (1033-1107; also called Master Yichuan 伊川先生) further developed these Proto-Neo-Confucian thoughts by getting rid of the Daoist influence in the cosmological theories. They concentrated on explaining and commenting important Confucian Classics like the Mengzi 孟子, the Analects Lunyu 论语, the Great Learning Daxue 大学 and the Doctrine of the Mean Zhongyong 中庸. The never changing base of the universe is the universal order (li 理). It is this order that causes everything to come into being by providing it with breath (qi 气) that is ranging somewhere between a positive (yang 阳) and a negative side (yin 阴). Everything can be traced back to the universal order and can not be without it. Each person depends on it, each social relation and every personal character is determined by the universal order. Human nature (xing 性) should be good because it is given by the universal order. But the transformation into a being with the help of breath (qi 气) can make a man either good or bad. But even bad character is an expression of the human ability (cai 才). To become a good person, one has to keep away from extremes and to follow a middle path. The good man has to observe the Heavenly path of universal order.
Zhu Xi and his Philosophy of Universal Order and Human Nature
The greatest person of Neo-Confucianism is Zhu Xi 朱熹 (1130-1200), also called "Master Zhu" (Zhuzi 朱子). Because Neo-Confucian philosophers laid stress on an existing single-source of all universal phenomena, the universal order (li 理), Neo-Confucianism is called in Chinese the "Teachings of the Order" (Lixue 理学). Zhu Xi's teachings are the essence of the former philosophers and became orthodox under the Yuan dynasty. Zhu Xi explained that the unique source of the whole universe is the Heavenly Order (Tianli 天理), also called the Highest Extreme (Taiji 太极). This order and the universal breath (qi 气) of dense or scattered matter are able to give shape to every beings. There does not exist Order without the shaping Breath, and no Breath without the Order. Every being has the same amount and character of Order, but every being is characterized by a different amount and character of Breath, thus making different elements, different beings, appearances and distinguishable people with different character, good or bad. Therefore, everybody seems to have a different order or character, what is in fact only the same order: One basis, different shapes (li yi fen shu 理一分殊), or with Zhu Xi's words, "taking water out of a river with a bowl or a bucket, you obtain different measures of water", but it is still water, only in different amounts and in a different environment. The human nature is determined by the environment, like "a pearl lying in water or in mud". But while the human nature is good in every man, the passions can be good or bad. Human nature is the universal order in the heart of man, that can be influenced by the environment.
Zhu Xi is the most important person of Confucianism after Confucius and Mengzi. He has not only been an important commentator of the classical and canonical texts, but his interpretations are undertaken as an explanation of the whole corpus of classical texts. His interpretations have been the orthodox exegesis of Confucian texts until the end of the Chinese empire. Secondly, Zhu Xi has accumulated the whole new cosmological and metaphysical interpretations of the Song Dynasty and has incorporated them into a new school, later known to us as Neo-Confucianism.
Zhu Xi's disciples further developed the theories of the universal order. The most important are the Song scholar Zhang Shi 张栻 (1133-1180), and the Qing scholars Gu Yanwu 顾炎武 (1613-1682) and Wang Fuzhi 王夫之 (1619-1692).
The most famous collection of Zhu Xi's philosophy is the Zhuzi Yulei 朱子语类. But "Master Zhu" has written a large treasury of interpretations and exegeses of many different philosophical matters (e.g. Family Rituals Zhuzi Jiali 朱子家礼, or the interpretation of the Yijing Hexagrams Yixue Qimeng 易学启蒙). And, like most Chinese scholars, Zhu Xi also engaged in calligraphy and poetry.
Lu Jiuyuan and his Philosophy of the Mind
Lu Jiuyuan 陆九渊 (1139-1191) hat a somewhat different approach to the metaphysical theories of Zhu Xi and his forerunners. Still equally to these people, Lu and his brothers saw the cosm as bound by one single constant, the universal order (li 理 or dao 道 "way"). This order reached down to the social division between upper and lower, as granted by nature. People following this order are rewareded, disobedient people are punished by Heaven. The old rulers and sage emperors recognized the patterns of this order in all natural phenomena. Or, as Lu Jiuyuan said, they enlighened their heart or mind (xin 心). The heart of man is therefore equal to the universal order, it is a reflection of the natural patterns. The heart of the sage man is naturally equal to the heart of a mean man. In this point, Lu contradicts Zhu Xi who taught that the will and temperament of man (qing 情, yu 欲) destroys this natural order in the human nature (xing 性). If Heaven is order and man only wishes, they cannot be equal, is the argument of Lu Jiuyuan. While Zhu Xi stresses that spirit or mind is an objective reality, a composition of universal order and breath or matter, Lu Jiuyuan sees the spirit as dependent of sensual perception. Lu's philosophical school was called "Philosophy of the Mind" (Xinxue 心学 ). There came up severe struggles between the disciples of Zhu Xi and that of Lu Jiuyuan, but Zhu Xi's school had lost its strength and was overtopped by the great Ming philosopher Wang Shouren 王守仁 (Wang Yangming 王阳明), a representant of the Philosophy of the Mind.
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