A Short History of Chinese Philosophy (52 page)

The Chinese term for the "investigation of things" is ko wu, and it is Ch' eng Yi and Chu Hsi who interpret it as having this meaning. According to Wang Shou—jen, however, ko means to rectify and wu means affairs. Ko wu, therefore, does not mean "investigation of things, but "rectification of affairs." The intuitive knowledge, he maintains, cannot be extended through the techniques of contemplation and meditation taught by the Buddhists. It must be extended through our daily experience in dealing with ordinary affairs. Thus he says: The activity of the mind is called yi Lwill, thought], and the objects toward which yi is directed are called wu Lthings, affairs]. For instance, when the object of one' s yi is the serving of one' s parents,then this serving of one s parents is the wu. And when the object of one s yi is the serving of the sovereign, then this serving of the sovereign is the wu. {Record of Instructions, pt.

I.) The wu may be right or wrong, but as soon as this can be determined, our intuitive knowledge will immediately know it. When our intuitive knowledge knows a thing to be right, we must sincerely do it, and when our intuitive knowledge knows it to be wrong, we must sin—

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cerely stop doing it. In this manner we rectify our affairs and at the same time extend our intuitive knowledge. There is no other means of extending our intuitive knowledge except through the rectification of our affairs. That is why the Great Learning says: "The extension of knowledge consists in the rectification of affairs."

The next two steps of the "eight wires" are "sincerity of thought [yi] and rectification of the mind."

According to Wang Shou-jen, sincerity of thought is nothing more than the rectification of affairs and the extension of intuitive knowledge, both being carried out with the utmost sincerity. When we try to find excuses for not following the dictates of our intuitive knowledge, we are insincere in thought, and this insincerity is the same as what Ch'eng Hao and Wang Shou-jen call selfishness and rationalization.

When our thought is sincere, our mind is rectified; the rectification of the mind is no other than sincerity in thought.

The next four steps of the "eight wires" are the cultivation of the self, regulation of the family, setting in order of the state and bringing of peace to the world. According to Wang Shou-jen, the cultivation of the self is the same as the extension of the intuitive knowledge. For how can we cultivate ourselves without extending our intuitive knowledge? And in cultivating ourselves what should we do besides extending our intuitive knowledge? In extending our intuitive knowledge, we must love people, and in loving people, how can we do otherwise than regulate our family, and contribute our best to creating order in our state, and bringing peace to the world? Thus all the "eight wires" may after all be reduced to a single "wire," which is the extension of the intuitive knowledge.

What is the intuitive knowledge? It is simply the inner light of our mind, the original unity of the universe, or, as the Great Learning calls it, the illustrious virtue. Hence the extension of the intuitive knowledge is nothing else than the manifestation of the illustrious virtue. Thus all the ideas of the Great Learning are reduced to the one idea expressed in the key words, the extension of the intuitive knowledge.

To quote Wang Shou—jeii again: The mind of man is Heaven. There is nothing that is not included in the mind of man. All of us are this single Heaven, but because of the obscurings caused by selfishness, the original state of Heaven is not made manifest. Every time we extend our intuitive knowledge, we clear away the obscurings, and when all of them are cleared away, our original nature is restored, and we again become part of this Heaven. The intuitive knowledge of the part is the intuitive knowledge of the whole. The intuitive knowledge of the whole is the intuitive knowledge of the part. Everything is the single whole." (Record of Instructions, pi. I.)

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Attentiveness of the Mind

Thus Wang Shou-jen's system follows the same lines as those of Chou Tun—yi, Ch eng Hao and Lu Chiu—yiian, but he expresses it in more systematic and precise terms. The fact that the "cords" and "wires" of the Great Learning fit so well into his system brings both conviction to himself and authority to others.

The system and its method of spiritual cultivation are simple and direct— qualities which themselves give it a powerful appeal. What we need is first of all the understanding that each and every one of us possesses the original mind, which is one with the universe. This understanding is referred to by Lu Chiu-yilan as "first establishing the most important," a phrase he borrows from Mencius. On one occasion he said: Recently there have been people who have criticized me by saying that apart from the single statement in which 1 lay emphasis upon first establishing the most important, I have no other tricks to offer. When I heard this, 1 exclaimed: ' Quite so! '" ( Collected Works, chiian 34-) In chapter twenty-four it was pointed out that, according to the Neo-Con-fucianists, spiritual cultivation requires that one should be attentive; but attentive to what? According to the Lu—Wang school,one must firsl establish the most important,' and then be attentive to it. And it is the criticism of this school that the Ch'eng-Chu school, without "first establishing the most important, starts immediately and haphazardly with the task of investigating things. Under these conditions, even attentiveness of mind cannot lead to any results in spiritual cultivation. This procedure is compared by the Lu-Wang school to starting a fire for cooking, without having any rice in the pot.

To this, however, the Ch eng-Chu school would reply that unless one begins with the investigation of things, how can anything be definitely established? If one excludes this investigation of things, the only way left of establishing the most important" is through instantaneous Enlightenment. And this the Ch'eng-Chu school regarded as more Ch'anist than Confucianist.

In chapter twenty-four, we have seen that Ch'eng Hao also says that the student must first understand jen (human—heartedness), which is the unity of all things, and then cultivate it with sincerity and attentiveness. Nothing else requires to be done. We merely need have confidence in ourselves and go straight forward. Lu Chiu-yiian remarks in similar strain: "Be courageous, be zealous, break open the net, burn the thorns in your path, and wash away the mire.' (ftifi.)When so doing, even the authority of Confucius need no longer necessarily be respected. As Lu states again: If in learning one gains a comprehension of what is fundamental, then the Six Classics become but one s footnotes. (Ibid.) In this respect we see clearly that the Lu—Wang school is a continuation of Ch'anism.

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Critic is m of Buddhis m

Yet both the Lu-Wang and Ch'eng-Chu schools strongly criticize Buddhism. In this criticism, the difference between the two is again revealed. Thus Chu Hsi says: "When the Buddhists speak of 'emptiness,' this does not mean that they are [entirely] incorrect. But they must know that in this emptiness there are the Li. For if we are merely to say that we are 'empty,' without understanding that there are still the real Li, what is the use [of such a doctrine J? The case is like that of a pool of clear water, the cold clearness of which extends to the very bottom. When it is first seen, it will appear to have no water in it at all, and a person will then say that this pool is only empty. If this person does not put in his hand to feel whether there is coldness or warmth, he will not know that there is water within.And such, precisely, is the view of the Buddhists. ' (Recorded Sayings, chiian 12.6.) Again he says: The Confucianists consider Li as without birth and indestructible. The Buddhists consider spirituality and consciousness as without birth and indestructible. ' (Ibid.) According to Chu Hsi, the Buddhists are not without justification in saying that the concrete world is empty, because things in the concrete world do change and are impermanent. But there are also the Li, which are eternal and not subiect to change. In this sense, then, the universe is not empty. The Buddhists do not know that the Li are real, because they are abstract, just as some men do not see the water in the pool, because it is colorless.

Wang Shou-jen also criticizes Buddhism, but from quite a different point of view: "When the Taoists [i.e., the religious Taoistsjspeak of hsli[ vacuity, unrealnessj, can the Confucian sage add to it a hair of shih Lactualness, re— alness]? And when the Buddhists speak of wu Lnon-being, non-existence], can the Confucian sage add to it a hair of yu [being, existence]? But when the Taoists speak of hsii, their motive is to preserve life, whereas when the Buddhists speak of wu, their motive is to escape the suffering of life and death. When they add these ideas to the original nature of the mind, their original meaning of hsii and wu is somewhat lost, and thereby the original nature of the mind is not free from obstruction. The Confucian sage simply restores the original condition of the intuitive knowledge and adds to it no idea whatsoever....Heaven, Earth, and all things all lie within the function and activity of our intuitive knowledge. How, then, can there be anything outside it to hinder or obstruct it?" (Record of Instructions, pt. 3)

Again he says: "The claim of the Buddhists that they have no attachment to phenomena shows that they do have attachment to them. And the fact that we Confucianists do not claim to have no attachment to phenomena, shows that we do not have attachment to them....The Buddhists are afraid of the troubles involved in human relationships, and therefore escape from them. They are forced to escape because they are already attached to them. But we Confucianists are different. There being the relationship between father and

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son, we respond to it with love. There being the relationship between sovereign and subject, we respond to it with righteousness. And there being the relationship between husband and wife, we respond to it with mutual respect. We have no attachment to phenomena." (Ibid.) If we follow this argument, we can say that the Neo—Confucianists more consistently adhere to the fundamental ideas of Taoism and Buddhism than do the Taoists and Buddhists themselves. They are more Taoistic than the Taoists, and more Buddhistic than the Buddhists.

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CHAPTER 27

THE INTRODUCTION OF WESTERN PHILOSOPHY

EVERY system of philosophy is likely to be misunderstood and misused, and so it was with the two schools of Neo-Confucianism.According to Chu Hsi, one must in principle start with the investigation of things in order to understand the eternal Li or Laws, but this principle Chu Hsi himself did not strictly cany out. In the record of his sayings, we see that he did make certain observations on natural and social phenomena, but most of his time was devoted to the study of, and comment on, the Classics. He not only believed that there are eternal Li, but also that the utterances of the ancient sages are these eternal Li. So in his system there is an element of authoritarianism and conservatism, which became more and more apparent as the tradition of the Ch eng—Chu school went on. And the fact that this school became the official state teaching did much to increase this tendency.

Reaction Against Neo-Cunfucirmism

The Lu—Wang school is a revolution against this conservatism, and in the time of Wang Shou-jen, the revolutionary movement was at its highest. In a very simple way, it appealed directly to the intuitive knowledge of every man, which is the inner light of his "original mind. Though never recognized by the government, as was the Ch'eng-Chu school, the Lu-Wang school became as influential as the former.

But the philosophy of Wang Shou-jen was also misunderstood and misused. According to Wang, what the intuitive knowledge immediately knows is the ethical aspect of our will or thought. It can only tell us what we ought to do, but not how to do it. It lacks what Americans would now call "know-how. In order to know how to do what we ought to do in certain situations, Wang said that we have to study practical methods of action in relation to the existing state of affairs. Later on, however, his followers seemed to come

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to the belief that the intuitive knowledge can itself tell us everything, including the know-how." This is absurd, and the followers of the Lu-Wang school have certainly suffered the consequences of this absurdity.

At the end of the last chapter we have seen that Wang Shou—jen used the Ch an method of argument to criticize Buddhism. This is precisely the sort of argument that is most likely to be misused. A satiric story tells us that when a scholar once paid a visit to a certain Buddhist temple, he was treated with only scant respect by the monk in charge. While he was there, however, the temple was also visited by a prominent official, to whom the monk showed the greatest respect. After the official had gone, the scholar asked the monk the reason for this difference. The monk answered: "To respect is not to respect, and not to respect is to respect. The scholar immediately gave him a hearty blow on the face. The monk protested angrily: "Why do you beat me?" To which the scholar replied: "To beat is not to beat, and not to beat is to beat. This story became current after the lime of Wang Shou— jen, and no doubt was intended to criticize him and the Ch anists.