A Short History of Chinese Philosophy (48 page)

But the anger of the sage operates only in accordance with the nature of things; it is never he himself who possesses the anger. The superior man is the master of things; the small man is their slave. (Literary Remains of the Two Ch engs, chiian 18.)

Thus according to the Neo-Confucianists, the reason why Yen Hui did not transfer his anger is because his emotion was not connected with the self. A thing might act to produce some emotion in his mind, just as an object may appear in a mirror, but his self was not connected with the emotion. Therefore there was nothing to be transferred to other objects. He responded to the thing that produced the emotion in his mind, but he himself was not ensnared by it. He was considered to be a happy man, and for that, was greatly admired by the Neo—Confucianists.

The Search for Happiness

In chapter twenty I have said that Neo-Confucianism attempted to find happiness in ming—chiao (morals, institutions). The search for happiness, indeed, is one of the professed aims of the Neo-Confucianists. Ch eng Hao says, for example: "When we studied under Chou [Tun-yi], he always asked us to find out wherein lay the happiness of K ung LConfucius] and Yen LHuiJ, and what they found enjoyable." (Literary Remains of the Two Ch' engs, chiian 2a.) There are, in fact, many passages in the Analects recording the happiness of Confucius and his disciple. Those commonly quoted by the Neo—Confucianists include the following:

"Confucius said:' With coarse rice to eat, with only water to drink, and my bended arm for a pillow, T

am happy in the midst of these things. Riches and honor acquired by means that 1 know to be wrong are to me as a floating cloud.'" (Analects, VII, 15.)

About Yen Hui, Confucius said: "incomparable indeed was Hui. A handful 4 7 4 NEO-CONFUCJANISM:THE BEGINNING OF THE TWO SCHOOLS

L

of rice to eat, a gourdful of water to drink, and living in a mean street: these, others would have found unbearably depressing, but for Hui s happiness they made no difference at all. Incomparable indeed was Hui." (Ibid., VI, 9-)

Another passage says that once when Confucius was sitting with several of his disciples, he asked each of them to express his desires. One replied that he would like to be minister of war in a certain state, another to be minister of finance, and still another to be master of ceremonies. But the fourth, Tseng Tien, paid no attention to what others were saying, but continued to strum his lute. When the others had finished, Confucius asked him to speak. He replied: "[My desire would be], in the last month of spring, with the dress of the season all complete, along with five or six young men, and six or seven boys, to go to wash in the river Yi, enjoy the breezes among the rain altars, and return home singing.'

Whereupon Confucius said: "I am with Tien." (XI, 2.5.)

Commenting on the first two passages, Ch eng Yi says that there is nothing to be enjoyed in eating coarse rice and drinking water per se. What the passages mean is simply that Confucius and Yen Hui remained happy, despite the fact that ihey had only this meager fare. (See Ch eng—shih Ching— shuo or Notes on the Classics by the Ch engs, chtitm 6.) This comment is correct in itself, but the question remains what it was that did constitute their happiness.

A certain man once asked Ch eng Yi: Why is it that the happiness of Yen Hui remained unaffected [by external hardships]? "Ch'eng Yi answered: "[Do you know] what it was that Yen Hui enjoyed?" The man replied: He enjoyed the Too. To which Ch eng Yi said: If Yen Hui enjoyed the Too, he was not Yen Hui.'

(Erh-Ch eng Wai-shu or External Collection of Sayings of the Two Ch'engs, chikm 7.) This statement is very much like that of the Ch'an Masters, which is why Chu Hsi, editor of the Literary Remains of the Two Ch engs, did not include it there but placed it instead into the subsidiary work known as the External Collection.Neverlhe- less, the saying contains some truth. The happiness of the sage is a natural outcome of his state of mind, described by Chou Tun—yi as vacuous in quiescence and straightforward in movement, "and by Ch'eng Hao as "impersonal, impartial, and responding to things spontaneously. "

He does not enjoy the Too; he simply enjoys what he himself is.

This view of the Neo-Confueianists can be seen by their interpretation of the third passage from the Analects quoted above. Chu Hsi s comment on this passage reads: "The learning of Tseng Tien would seem to have attained to the complete elimination of selfish desires, and to the Heavenly Laws in their pervasiveness, which are Lo be found everywhere without the slightest deficiency. This is why, both in activity and at rest, he was so simple and at ease. Speaking about his intention, he simply based himself on his existing station [in society and the universe] and enjoyed the ordinary state of affairs. He did not have the slightest idea of living according to [the views of] oth—

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ers, but lived according to himself. His mind was so vast thai it lay in a single stream with Heaven and Earth, in which all things enjoy themselves. This mysterious sense is behind his words and can be dimly seen [by us]. The other three disciples only paid attention to the lesser branches of affairs, so that they could beat no comparison with the mood of Tseng Tien. That is why the Master [ Confucius J

deeply approved of him. (Lun—ytt Chi—chu or Collected Comments on the Analects, chtian 6.) In chapter twenty I have said that the essential quality of feng liu is to have a mind that transcends the distinctions of things and lives in accord with itself, rather than with others. According to Chu Hsi s interpretation, Tseng Tien was precisely a person of this kind. He was happy, because he wan feng liu.

In this statement of Chu Hsi we also see the romantic element in Neo—Confucianism.The Neo—Confucianists, as I have said, tried to seek happiness in ming chiao, but at the same time, according to them, ming chiuo is not the opposite of tzu jan (nature, natural), but rather its development. This, the Neo—Confucianists maintained, was the main thesis of Confucius and Mencius.

Did the Neo-Confucianists themselves succeed in carrying out this idea? They did, and their success can be seen in the following translation of two poems, one by Shao Yung and the other by Ch eng Hao.

Shao Yung was a very happy man and was referred to by Ch eng Hao as a feng liu hero. He named his house the An Lo Wo or Happy Nest, and called himself the Master of Happiness. His poem, titled Song on Happiness, reads:

The name of the Master of Happiness is not known. For thirty years he has lived on the bank of the Lo river. His feelings are those of ihe wind and moon; His spirit is on the river and lake.

(To him there is no distinction)

Between low position and high rank,

Between poverty and riches.

He does not move with things nor anticipate them.

He has no restraints and no taboos.

He is poor but has no sorrow,

He drinks, but never to intoxication.

He gathers the springtime of the world into his mind.

He has a small pond on which to read poems,

He has a small window under which to sleep;

He has a small carriage with which to divert his mind,

He has a greal pen with which lo enjoy his will.

He sometimes wears a sun hat;

He sometimes wears a sleeveless shirt;

He sometimes sits in the forests;

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He sometimes walks on the river bank. He enjoys seeing good men; He enjoys hearing about good conduct; He enjoys speaking good words; He enjoys carrying out a good will.

He does not flatter the Ch' an Masters; He does not praise the man of occult arts. He does not leave his home, Yet he is one with Heaven and Earth. He cannot be conquered by a great army; He cannot be induced by a great salary. Thus he has been a happy man, For sixty-five years.*

Cheng Hao's poem, titled "Autumn Days," reads:

In these late years there is nothing that comes

That is not easy and simple; Each morning through my window shines the sun, As I awake. All creatures run their course in true content,

As I calmly observe. The pleasure of each season through the year,

I enjoy with others. Beyond Heaven and Earth and all that has shape,

The Too is there. The winds and clouds about me shift and change, My thought is there.

By riches and high estate, I am not to be polluted; Neither poverty nor low rank can affect my happiness. A man like this is a hero indeed! **

Men such as these are heroes in the sense that they cannot be conquered. Yet they are not such in the ordinary sense. They are what is known as the feng liu hero.

Among the Neo-Confucianists there were some who criticized Shao Yung to the effect that he made too much display of his happiness. But no such criticism is ever made about Ch eng Hao.In any case we find here a combination of Chinese romanticism^ng liu) and classicism (ming chiao) at its best.

* Yi-ch'uan Chi-jang Chi, chUtin 14. **Colkcted Writings of Ch'eng Hao, chiian I.

4 8 0 NEO-CONFUCIAN1SM:THE BEGINNING OF THE TWO SCHOOLS

CHAPTER 25

NEO-CONFUCIANISM: THE SCHOOL OF PLATONIC

IDEAS

ONLY twenty-two years after the death of Ch'eng Yi (1033-1108), Chu Hsi (113O-12OO) was born in the present Fukien province. The political change that took place during these twenty years is tremendous. The Sung dynasty, although culturally outstanding, was militarily never as strong as the Han and T ang dynasties, and was under constant threat from outside tribes in the north and northwest. Its greatest catastrophe came when it lost its capital, the present city of Kaifeng, to the Jurchen, a Tungusic tribe Irom the northeast, and was compelled to reestablish itself south of the Yangtze River in 1117. This event marked the division of the Sung dynasty into two lesser parts: the Northern Sung (960-1127) and the Southern Sung (1127-1279).

Position of Chu Hsi in Chinese History

Chu Hsi, better known simply as Chu Tzu or the Master Chu, was a philosopher of subtle argument, clear thinking, wide knowledge and voluminous literary output. His Recorded Sayings alone amount to 140 chiian or books. With him, the philosophic system of the Ch'eng-Chu school, also known as the Li hsiieh or School of Li, reached its culmination. Though the supremacy of this school was several times to be disputed, notably by the Lu—Wang school and by certain scholars of the Ch ing dynasty, it remained the most influential single system of philosophy until the introduction of Western philosophy in China in recent decades.

In chapter seventeen I have said that the dynastic governments of China ensured the supremacy of their official ideology through the examination system. Persons who took the state examinations were required to write essays based on the official versions and commentaries of the Confucian Classics. In chapter twenty-three I also said that one of the major acts of Emperor T'ai-tsung of the T'ang dynasty was to determine the official version and "correct meaning" of the Classics. During the Sung dynasty, the great statesman and reformer, Wang An-shih (IO2I-IO86), prepared "new interpre—

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tations to some of these Classics, and in 1075 Emperor Shen-tsung ordered that Wang s interpretations should be made official. This order, however, was soon cancelled when the political rivals of Wang An—shih gained control of the government.

It is to be remembered that the Neo-Confucianists considered the Confucian Analects, the Mencius, the Chung Yung or Doctrine of the Mean, and the Ta Hsiieh or Great Learning, as the most important texts, which they grouped together, giving to them the collective title of the Four Books. For these Chu Hsi wrote a Commentary; which he considered to be the most important of his writings. It is said that even on the day before his death, he was still working on a revision of this Commentary. He also wrote Commentaries on the Book of Changes and the Shih Ching or Book of Odes. In 1313 Emperor Jen -tsung of the Yuan, the Mongol dynasty that succeeded the Sung, ordered that the Four Books should be the main texts used in the state examinations, and that their official interpretation should follow Chu Hsi's commentaries. The same governmental indorsement was given to Chu Hsi s commentaries on the other Classics; persons hoping for success in the examinations had to interpret these works in accordance with Chu s commentaries. This practice was continued throughout the Ming and Ch ing dynasties, until the abolition of the state examination system in 1905, when the government tried to introduce a modern educational system.

As pointed out in chapter eighteen, one of the main reasons why Confucianism gained supremacy in the Han dynasty was its success in combining speculative thought with scholarship. In Chu Hsi himself these two aspects of Confucianism are outstandingly exemplified. His wide knowledge and learning made him a notable scholar, and his deep insight and clear thinking made him a philosopher of the first rank. It is no accident that he has been the dominant figure in Chinese thought during the last several centuries.