A Short History of Chinese Philosophy (19 page)

The Finite Point of View

The question that remains is this: How can a person become such a perfect man? To answer it, we must make an analysis of the second chapter of the Chuang-tzu, the Ch i Wu Lun, or "On the Equality of Things. In the "Happy Excursion Chuang Tzu discusses two levels of happiness, and in On the E— quality of Things he discusses two levels of knowledge. Let us start our analysis with the first or lower level. In our chapter on the School of Names, we have said that there is some similarity between Hui Shih and Chuang Tzu. Thus in the Ch i Wu Lun, Chuang Tzu discusses knowledge of a lower level which is similar to that found in Hui Shih's ten so-called paradoxes.

The chapter Ch'i Wu Lun begins with a description of the wind. When the wind blows, there are different kinds of sound, each with its own peculiarity. These this chapter calls the sounds of earth. But in addition there are other sounds that are known as "the sounds of man. The sounds of earth and the sounds of man together constitute "the sounds of Heaven.

The sounds of man consist of the words (yen) that are spoken in the human world. They differ from such "sounds of earth" as those caused by the wind, inasmuch as when words are said, they represent human ideas. They represent affirmations and denials, and the opinions that are made by each individual from his own particular finite point of view. Being thus finite, these opinions are necessarily one—sided. Yet most men, not knowing that their opinions are based on finite points of view, invariably consider their own opinions as righl and those of others as wrong. The resull, as the Ch i Wu Lun says, "is the affirmations and denials of the Confucianists and Mohists, the one regarding as right what the other regards as wrong, and regarding as wrong what the other regards as right.

When people thus argue each according to his own one—sided view, there is no way either to reach a final conclusion, or to determine which side is really right or really wrong. The Ch i Wu Lun says "Suppose that you argue

I78 THE THIRD PHASE OF TAOISM:CHUANG TZU

with me. If you beat me, instead of my beating you, are you necessarily right and am I

necessarily wrong? Or, if I beat you, and not you me, am I necessarily right and are you necessarily wrong? Is one of us right and the other wrong? Or are both of us right or both of
L

us wrong? Neither you nor I can know, and others are all the more in the dark. Whom shall we ask to produce the right decision? We may ask someone who agrees with you; but since he agrees with you, how can he make the decision? We may ask someone who agrees with me; but since he agrees with me, how can he make the decision? We may ask someone who agrees with both you and me; but since he agrees with both you and me, how can he make the decision? We may ask some one who differs from both you and me; but since he differs from both you and me, how can he make the decision? '

This passage is reminiscent of the manner of argument followed by the School of Names.

But whereas the members of that school argue thus in order to contradict the common sense of ordinary people, the Ch'i Wu Lun's purpose is to contradict the followers of the School of Names. For this school did actually believe that argument could decide what is really right and really wrong.

Chuang Tzu, on the other hand, maintains that concepts of right and wrong are built up by each man on the basis of his own finite point of view. All these views are relative. As the Ch'i Wu Lun says: "When there is life, there is death, and when there is death, there is life.

When there is possibility, there is impossibility, and when there is impossibility, there is possibility. Because there is right, there is wrong. Because there is wrong, there is right.

Things are ever subject to change and have many aspects. Therefore many views can be held about one and the same thing. Once we say this, we assume that a higher standpoint exists. If we accept this assumption, there is no need to make a decision ourselves about what is right and what is wrong. The argument explains itself.

The Higher Point of View

To accept this premise is to see things from a higher point of view, or, as the Ch'i Wu Lun calls it, to see things "in the light of Heaven." "To see things in the light of Heaven" means to see things from the point of view of that which transcends the finite, which is the Too. It is said in the Ch'i Wu Lun: "The 'this' is also 'that.' The 'that' is also 'this.' The 'that' has a system of right and wrong. The this also has a system of right and wrong. Is there really a distinction between 'that' and this ? Or is there really no distinction be tween that and this ? That the that and the this cease to be opposites is the very essence of Too. Only the essence, an axis as it were, is the center of the circle responding to the endless changes.

The right is an endless change. The wrong is also an endless change. Therefore it is said that there is nothing better than to use the light. ' In other words, the

l8o. THE THIRD PHASE OF TAOISM:CHUANG TZU

that and the this, in their mutual opposition of right and wrong, are like an endlessly revolving circle.

But the man who sees things from the point of view of the Tao stands, as it were, at the center of the circle. He understands all that is going on in the movements of the circle, hut does not himself take part in these movements. This is not owing to his inactivity or resignation, but because he has transcended the finite and sees things from a higher point of view. In the Chuang-tzu, the finite point of view is compared with the view of the well—frog. The frog in the well can see only a little sky, and so thinks that the sky is only so big.

From the point of view of the Tao, everything is just what it is. It is said in the Ch i Wu Lun: The possible is possible. The impossible is impossible. The Tao makes things and they are what they are.

What are they? They are what they are. What are they not? They are not what they are not. Everything is something and is good for something. There is nothing which is not something or is not good for something. Thus it is that there are roof-slats and pillars, ugliness and beauty, the peculiar and the extraordinary. All these by means of the Tan are united and become one. ' Although all things difier, they are alike in that they all constitute something and are good for something. They all equally come from the Tao. Therefore from the viewpoint of the Tan, things, though different, yet are united and become one.

The Ch i Wu Lun says again: To make a distinction is to make some construction. But construction is the same as destruction. For things us a whole there is neither construction nor destruction, but they turn to unity and become one. For example, when a table is made out of wood, from the viewpoint of that table, this is an act of construction. But from the viewpoint of the wood or the tree, it is one of destruction. Such construction or destruction are so, however, only from a finite point of view. From the viewpoint of the Tan, there is neither construction nor destruction. These distinctions are all relative.

The distinction between the "me" and the "non-me" is also relative. From the viewpoint of the Tao, the "me" and the "non-me" are also united and become one. The Ch i Wu Lun says: "There is nothing larger in the world than the point of a hair, yet Mount T'ai is small. There is nothing older than a dead child, yet Peng Tsu La legendary Chinese Methuselah J had an untimely death. Heaven and Earth and 1

came into existence together, and all things with me are one." Here we again have Hui Shih's dictum: "Love all things equally, Heaven and Earth are one body.

Knowledge of the Higher Level

This passage in the Ch i Wu Lun, however, is immediately followed by another statement: Since all things arc one, what room is there for speech? But since I have already spoken of the one, is this not already speech? One plus speech make two. Two plus one make three. Going on from this, even l 8 l THE THIRD PHASE OF TAOISM:CHUANG TZU

the most skillful reckoner will not be able to reach the end, and how much less able to do so are ordinary people! If proceeding from nothing to something we can reach three, how much further shall we reach, if we proceed from something to something! Let us not proceed. Let us stop here. It is in this statement that the Ch i Wu Lun goes a step further than Hui Shih, and begins to discuss a higher kind of knowledge. This higher knowledge is 'knowledge which is not knowledge.

What is really one can neither be discussed nor even conceived. For as soon as it is thought of and discussed, it becomes something that exists externally to the person who is doing the thinking and speaking. So since its all-embracing unity is thus lost, it is actually not the real one at all. Hui Shih said: "The greatest has nothing beyond itself and is called the Great One." By these words he described the Great One very well indeed, yet he remained unaware of the fact that since the Great One has nothing beyond itself, it is impossible either to think or speak of it. For anything that can be thought or spoken of has something beyond itself, namely, the thought and the speaking. The Taoists, on the contrary, realized that the "one" is unthinkable and inexpressible. Thereby, they had a true understanding of the one and advanced a step further than did the School of Names.

In the Ch'i Wu Lun it is also said: "Referring to the right and the wrong, the being so and not being so : if the right is really right, we need not dispute about how it is different from the wrong; if the being so is really being so, we need not dispute about how it is different fro m 'not being so. ...Let us forget life. Let us forget the distinction between right and wrong. Let us take our joy in the realm of the infinite and remain there.' The realm of the infinite is the realm wherein lives the man who has attained to the Tao. Such a man not only has knowledge of the one, but also has actually experienced it. This experience is the experience of living in the realm of the infinite.

He has forgotten all the distinctions of things, even those involved in his own life. In his experience there remains only the undifferentiable one, in the midst of which he lives.

Described in poetical language, such a man is he who chariots on the normality of the universe, rides on the transformations of the six elements, and thus makes excursion into the infinite. He is really the independent man, so his happiness is absolute.

Here we see how Chuang Tzu reached a final resolution of the original problem of the early Taoists. That problem is how to preserve life and avoid harm and danger. But, to the real sage, it ceases to be a problem. As is said in the Chuang—tzu: The universe is the unity of all things. If we attain this unity and identify ourselves with it, then the members of our body are but so much dust and dirt, while life and death, end and beginning, are but as the succession of day and night, which cannot disturb our inner peace. How much less shall we be troubled by worldly gain and loss, good-luck and bad-luck! " (Ch. 2.O.) Thus Chuang Tzu solved the original problem of the 184 THE THIRD PHASE OF TAOISM:CHUANG TZU

early Taoists simply by abolishing it. This is really the philosophical way of solving problems.

Philosophy gives no information about matters of fact, and so cannot solve any problem in a concrete and physical way. It cannot, for example, help man either to gain longevity or defy death, nor can it help him to gain riches and avoid poverty. What it can do, however, is to give man a point of view, from which he can see that life is no more than death and loss is equal to gain. From the "practical"

point of view, philosophy is useless, yet it can give us a point of view which is very useful. To use an expression of the Chuang—tzu, this is the usefulness of the useless. (Ch. 4-) Spinoza has said that in a certain sense, the wise man "never ceases to be. This is also what Chuang Tzu means. The sage or perfect man is one with the Great One, that is, the universe. Since the universe never ceases to be, therefore the sage also never ceases to be. In the sixth chapter of the Chuang—tzu, we read: A boat may be stored in a creek; a net may be stored in a lake; these may be said to be sale enough. l?ul at midnight a strong man may come and carry them away on his back. The ignorant do not see that no matter how well you store things, smaller ones in larger ones, there will always lie a chance for them lo be lost. Bui if you store the universe in the universe, there will be no room left for it to be lost. This is the great truth of things. Therefore the sage makes excursions into that which cannot be lost, and together with it he remains.' ll is in this sense that the sage never ceases to be.

Methodology of Mysticism

In order to be one with the Great One, the sage has lo transcend and forget the distinctions between things. The way lo do t h i s is lo discard knowledge, and is the method used by the Taoists for achieving sageliness within. The task of knowledge in the ordinary sense is to make distinctions; lo know a thing is to know the difference between it and other things. Therefore lo discard knowledge means to forget these distinctions. Once all distinctions are forgotten, there remains only [he iindifferentiable one, which is the great whole. By achieving this condition, the sage may be said to have knowledge of another and higher level, which is called by the Taoists knowledge which is nut knowledge.

In the Chuang-tzu there are many passages about ihe method of forgetting distinctions. In the sixth chapter, for example, a report is given of an imaginary conversation between Confucius and his favorite disciple, Yen Hui. The story reads: "Yen Hui said: 'I have made some progress.' 'What do you mean? asked Confucius. 1 have forgotten human -heartedness and righteousness,' replied Yen Hui. 'Very well, but that is not enough,' said Confucius. Another day Yen Hui again saw Confucius and said: 'I have made so me progress. What do you mean? asked Confucius. I have forgotten rituals and music, replied Yen Hui. Very well, but that is not enough,'