A Short History of Chinese Philosophy (28 page)

2.68

HAN FEI TZU AND THE LEGALIST SCHOOL

L

CHAFrER 15

CONFUCIANIST METAPHYSICS

IN chapter twelve we have seen that the Yi Ching or Book of Changes (also known simply as the Yi) was originally a book of divination. Later the Confucianists gave it cosmological, metaphysical, and ethical interpretations, which constitute the "Appendices" now found in the Book of Change,s.

The cosmological theory contained in the "Appendices" has already been considered in chapter twelve, and we shall revert to it again in chapter twenty-three. In the present chapter we shall confine ourselves to the metaphysical and ethical theories found in the "Appendices" and in the Chung Yung.

The Chung Yung or Doctrine of the Mean is one of the chapters in the Li Chi (Book of Rites). According to tradition, it was written by Tzu—ssu, the grandson of Confucius, but in actual fact a large part of it seems to have been written at a somewhat later date. The "Appendices" and the Chung Yung represent the last phase in the metaphysical development of ancient Confucianism. So great is their metaphysical interest, indeed, that the NeoTaoists of the third and fourth centuries A.D. considered the Yi as one of the three major classics of speculative philosophy, the others being the Lao-tzu and Chitting—tzu. Similarly, Emperor Wu (501-549) of the Liang dynasty, himself a Buddhist, wrote commentaries on the Chung Yung, and in the tenth and eleventh centuries, monks of the Ch an sect of Buddhism also wrote such commentaries, which marked the beginning of Neo—Confucianism.

The Principles of Things

The most important metaphysical idea in the "Appendices," as in Taoism, is that of Too. Yet it is quite different from the concept of Too of the Taoists. For the latter, Too is nameless, unnamable.

But for the authors of the "Appendices, not only is Too namable, but, strictly speaking, it is Too and Too only that is thus namable.

We may distinguish between the two concepts by referring to the Too of 2.72 CONFUCIANIST METAPHYSICS

Taoism as the Too, and to that of the "Appendices" as too. The Too of Taoism is the unitary "that" from which springs the production and change of all things in the universe. The too of the "Appendices, on the contrary, are multiple, and are the principles which govern each separate category of things in the universe. As such, they are somewhat analogous to the concept of the "universal" in Western philosophy.

Kung-sun Lung, as we have seen, regarded hardness as a universal of this kind, since it is this hardness that enables concrete objects in our physical universe to be hard. Likewise, in the terminology of the "Appendices," that by which hard things are hard would be called the too of hardness. This too of hardness is separable from the hardness of individual physical objects, and constitutes a namable metaphysical principle.

There are many such too, such as the too of sovereignship and ol minister-ship, or of fatherhood and sonhood. They are what a sovereign, a minister, a father, and a son ought to be. Each of them is represented by a name, and an individual should ideally act according to these various names. Here we find the old theory of the rectification of names of Confucius. In him, however, this was only an ethical theory, whereas in the Appendices it becomes metaphysical as well.

The Yi, as we have seen, was originally a book of divination. By the manipulation of the stalks of the milfoil plant, one is led to a certain line of a certain hexagram, the comments on which in the Yi are supposed to provide the information one is seeking. Hence these comments are to be applied to the various specific cases in actual life. This procedure led the authors of the "Appendices" to the concept of the formula. Seeing the Yi from this point of view, they considered the comments on the hexagrams and the individual lines of these hexagrams as formulas, each representing one or more tav or universal principles. The comments on the entire sixty-four hexagrams and their 384 individual lines are thus supposed to represent all the too in the universe.

The hexagrams and their individual lines are looked upon as graphic symbols of these universal tan.

Appendix III says: The Yi consists of symbols." Such symbols are similar to what in symbolic logic are called variables. A variable functions as a substitute for a class or a number of classes of concrete objects.

An object belonging to a certain class and satisfying certain conditions can fit into a certain formula with a certain variable; that is, it can fit into the comment made on a certain hexagram or a certain line within a hexagram, these hexagrams or lines being taken as symbols. This formula represents the too which the objects of this class ought to obey. From the point of view of divination, if they obey it, they will enjoy good luck, but if not, they will suffer bad fortune. From the point of view of moral teaching, if they obey it, they are right, but if not, they are wrong.

The first of the sixty-four hexagrams, Ch ien, for example, is supposed to 2 7 4 CONFUCIANIST METAPHYSICS

be the symbol of virility, while the second hexagram, K' un, is that of docility. Everything that satisfies the condition of being virile can fit into a formula in which the symbol of Ch'ien occurs, and everything that satisfies the condition of being docile can fit into one in which the symbol of K un occurs. Hence the comments on the hexagram Ch ien and its individual lines are supposed to represent the tao for all things in the universe that are virile; those on the hexagram K un and its individual lines represent the tao for all things that are docile.

Thus in "Appendix I," the section dealing with the hexagram K'un says: "If it takes the initiative, it will become confused and lose the way. If it follows, it will docilely gain the regular [way]." And in "Appendix IV": "Although the Yin has its beauties, it keeps them under restraint in its service of the king, and does not dare to claim success for itself. This is the tao of Earth, of a wife, of a subject. The tao of Earth is, not to claim the merit of achievement, but on another s behalf to bring things to their proper issue.

Quite the opposite is the hexagram of Ch ien, the symbol of Heaven, of a husband, of a sovereign. The judgements made on this hexagram and its individual lines represent the tao of Heaven, of a husband, of a sovereign.

Hence if one wants to know how to be a ruler or a husband, one should look up what is said in the Yi under the hexagram Ch'ien, but if one wants to know how to be a subject or a wife, one should look under the hexagram K'un. Thus in "Appendix III" it is said: "With the expansion of the use of the hexagrams, and the application of them to new classes, everything that man can do in the world is there.

Again: What does the Yi accomplish? The Yi opens the door to the myriad things in nature and brings man's task to completion. It embraces all the governing principles of the world. This, and no more or less, is what the Yi accomplishes."

It is said that the name of the Yi has three meanings: (i) easiness and simpleness, (2.) transformation and change, and (3) invariability.* Transformation and change refers to the individual things of the universe. Simpleness and invariability refers to their tao or underlying principles. Things ever change, but tao are invariable. Things are complex, but tao are easy and simple.

The Tao of the Production of Things

Besides the tao of every class of things, there is another Tao for all things as a whole. In other words, besides the specific multiple tao, there is a general unitary Tao which governs the production and transformation of all things. "Appendix III" says: "One Yang and one Yin: this is called the Tao. That which ensues from this is goodness, and that which is completed there-

* See Cheng HsUan (A.D. 12.7-200), Discussion of the Yi, quoted by
K'ung Ying-ta
(574-648),
in the
Preface to his sub-commentary on Wang Pi's (226-49) Commentary on the Yi 2.76 CONFUCIANIST METAPHYSICS

by is the nature [of man and things]." This is the Too of the production of things, and such production is the major achievement of the universe. In "Appendix III' it is said: ' The supreme virtue of Heaven is to produce.

When a thing is produced, there must be that which is able to produce it, and there must also be that which constitutes the material from which this production is made. The former is the active element and the latter the passive one. The active element is virile and is the Yang; the passive element is docile and is the Yin. The production of things needs the cooperation of these two elements. Hence the words: "One Yang and one Yin: this is the Too."

Everything can in one sense be Yang and in another sense Yin, according to its relation with other things. For instance, a man is Yang in relation to his wife, but Yin in relation to his father. The metaphysical Yang which produces all things, however, can only be Yang, and the metaphysical Yin out of which everything is produced can only be Yin. Hence in the metaphysical statement: One Yang and one Yin: this is called the Too, the Yin and Yang thus spoken of are Yin and Yang in the absolute sense.

It is to be noticed that two kinds of statement occur in the "Appendices." The first consists of statements about the universe and the concrete things in it; the other consists of statements about the system of abstract symbols of the Yi itself. In "Appendix III it is said: "In the Yi there is the Supreme Ultimate which produces the Two Forms. The Two Forms produce the Four Emblems, and these Four Emblems produce the eight trigrams. Although this saying later became the foundation of the metaphysics and cosmology of the Neo-Confucianists, it does not refer to the actual universe, but rather to the system of symbols in the Yi. According to the "Appendices, " however, these symbols and formulas have their exact counterparts in the universe itself. Hence the two kinds of statement are really interchangeable. Thus the saying,"one Yang and one Yin: this is called Too," is a statement about the universe. Yet it is interchangeable with the other saying that "in the Yi there is the Supreme Ultimate which produces the Two Forms. The Too is equivalent to the Supreme Ultimate, while the Yin and Yang correspond to the Two Forms.

"Appendix III" also states: "The supreme virtue of Heaven is to produce." Again: "To produce and to reproduce is the function of the Yi." Here again are two kinds of statement. The former relates to the universe, and the latter to the Yi. Yet they are at the same time interchangeable.

The Tao of the Transformation of Things

One meaning of the name Yi, as we have seen, is transformation and change. The "Appendices"

emphasize that all things in the universe are ever in a process of change. The comment on the third line of the eleventh hexa—

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gram states: "There is no level place without a bank, and no departure without a return." This saying is considered by the "Appendices" as the formula according to which things undergo change. This is the Too of the transformation of all things.

If a thing is to reach its completion and the state of completion is to be maintained, its operation must occur at the right place, in the right way, and at the right time. In the comments of the Yi, this Tightness is usually indicated by the words cheng (correct, proper) and chung (the mean, center, middle). As to cheng Appendix I states: The woman has her correct place within, and the man has his correct place without. The correctness of position of man and woman is the great principle of Heaven and Earth....When the father is father, and the son son; when the elder brother is elder brother, and the younger brother younger brother; when husband is husband, and wife wife: then the way of the family is correct. When it is correct, all under Heaven will be established.

Chung means neither too much nor too little. The natural inclination of man is to take too much. Hence both the "Appendices" and the Lao-tzu consider excess a great evil. The Lao-tzu speaks about fan (reversal, ch. 40) and fu (returning, ch. 16), and the Appendices also speak about fu. Among the hexagrams, indeed, there is one titled Fu (the 24th hexagram). "Appendix I" says about this hexagram: "In Fu we see the mind of Heaven and Earth."

Using this concept of fu, "Appendix VI" interprets the order of arrangement of the sixty-four hexagrams.

The Yi was originally divided into two books. This "Appendix" considers the first of these as dealing with the world of nature, and the second as dealing with that ot man. Concerning the first book, it says: "Following the existence of Heaven and Earth, there is the production of all things. The space between Heaven and Earth is full of all these things. Hence [.the hexagram] Ch'ien LHeavenJ and Lthe hexagram]

K'un [Earth] are followed by the hexagram Tun, which means fullness." Then tne "Appendix" tries to show how each hexagram is usually followed by another which is opposite in character.

About the second book, this same "Appendix' says: "Following the existence of Heaven and Earth, there is the existence of all things. Following the existence of all things, there is the distinction of male and female. Following this distinction, there is the distinction between husband and wife. Following this distinction, there is the distinction between father and son. Following this distinction, there is the distinction between sovereign and subject. Following ihis distinction, there is the distinction between superiority and inferiority. Following this distinction, there are social order and justice. "Then, as in the case of the first part of the Yi, the "Appendix" tries to show how one hexagram is usually followed by another which is opposite in character.