Modern science gives us the freedom to study the specific, but it deprives us of the ability to see life in its entirety. Human life is not compartmentalized. In dividing it into units, we miss much that is significant. In Chinese culture, we can discern a unity of spirit of which we find no parallel in Western culture. Chinese art, literature, philosophy and religious life are each of them not confined to its own circle of ideas, but are closely associated with another. This is the fundamental spirit of Chinese culture which may be looked at from two points of view: that of cosmic conception and that of life attitude. In the former, the spirit of Chinese culture is manifested as a continuous whole like a chain of natural sequences. In the latter, the spirit of Chinese culture is manifested in the union of the individual with the whole.
I. Characteristics of Chinese Cosmogony
Let us take a brief glance at the salient characteristics of the Chinese cosmic conception. Philosophic thinking is no exception to the general rule that the distinctive characteristics of many domains of thought are determined by their first assumptions. The Chinese cosmic conception is based on the assumption that all that happens in the universe, natural and human, is a continuous whole like a chain of natural sequences. This is in fact what has been illustrated in the Yi Ching, the Book of Ching (Appendices VI, Chaps. 31-32):
"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 sex. Following the distinction of sex, there is the relation between husband and wife. Following the relation between husband and wife, there is the relation between father and son. Following the relation between father and son, there is the relation between king and subject. Following the relation between king and subject, there is the distinction of superiority. Following the distinction of superiority and inferiority, there are social order and justice."
This basic assumption, which conceives of the universe as a continuous whole, leads in evitably to the following characteristics of the Chinese cosmic conception.
First, in the Chinese mind, the universe is regarded as a current or "the great void filled with fluids;" all in the universe is but a transitional process in which there is no fixed sub stance for its substratum. Here we apply the word "substance" to material things, such as metal, wood, water or earth. The universe is supposed to have no reality of its own, outside and independent of its phenomena. In Chinese writings, the universe is often used interchangeably with Yi or Tao. In the Yi Ching (Sec. 1, Chap. 62), we read:
"Yi has no thought, no action. It is in itself still and calm. Yet in its function, it embraces all phenomena and events in the universe. Is not this the great mystery?"
In the works of Lao Tze (Sec. 25), we read:
"There is something evolved from chaos which was born before heaven and earth. It is inaudible and invisible. It is independent and immutable. It is all-pervasive and ceaseless. It may be regarded as the mother of heaven and earth.
"I do not know its name and call it Tao. If I must describe it, I shall say it is great, active, far-reaching and cyclical in its motion."
So Confucius, looking at a running stream, exclaimed: "Ah! That which is passing is just like this, never ceasing day and night." This is to show that the universe has no substance, but is a transitional process.
This conception of the universe as a transitional process originates in the fundamental spirit of Chinese culture, that is, the whole is not to be severed into units. From the stand point of Yi and Tao, there is no separation of things; there are only phases of the same thing, such as the distinction between positive and negative, between subjective and objective. So in this state of experience, there is nothing but the One. A propos of this, Chuang Tze said: "The possible is possible, the impossible is impossible. Tao evolves and sequences follow ... The common and the ordinary are the natural function of all things, which expresses the common nature of the whole (Tao)." By ignoring the distinctions of contraries, such as "possible and impossible," "construction and destruction," "we are embraced in the unity of the One," in which all things produce themselves, naturally and spontaneously. Yi or Tao is the totality of the spontaneity of all things in the universe.
Secondly, in the Chinese mind, the universe does not proceed onward, but revolves itself, without beginning, without end. All phenomena in the universe evolve not in a bourne whence nothing returns, but in a circular process. The entire universe is one continuous chain in which nothing is absolutely completed or finished. This may be illustrated by quoting a passage from Yi Ching (Appendices VI, Chaps. 62-64):
"Those that are better than the existing things are certainly accomplishments; hence the hexagram 'Hsiao Kwo' (a little better) is followed by the hexagram 'Chi Zi' (something accomplished). But there cannot be an end of things. Hence, the hexagram 'Chi Zi' is followed by the hexagram 'Wei Zi' (something not yet accomplished). With this hexagram, the Yi Ching comes to a close."
This passage represents the grand idea of evolution in its widest extent as a progress from the imperfect to the perfect in the universe. This view is prominent in the writings of many of the ancient philosophers. Here is a statement from the works of Lao Tze (Sec. 5) which shows the evolution of the universe:
"The whole universe may be compared to a bellows. It is hollow, but not empty. It is moving and renewing, without cease."
Elsewhere (Sec. 77), he says:
"The way of Heaven is like the drawing of a bow, The bulge is levelled; the depression is raised; the excess is diminished; the deficiency is replenished."
And it is for this reason that he finally asks:
"Who knows the end of this cycle?" So Chuang Tze says: "Tao is without beginning, without end."
Thinkers of the Sung Period were great authorities on natural phenomena which presented examples of the circular process in the succession of day and night, the periodic ebb and flow of the tide, the disappearance and return of planets and the other sequential phenomena. They deduced the explanation of natural phenomena from principles found in the Yi Ching. For instance, Chou Tung-i (1017. D.) is known as the author of a diagram of cosmogony, to elucidate the mysteries of the Yi Ching. He began with a ring or circle of uniform whiteness, representing Tai Chi or Grand Terminus. Then follows a circle partly dark which showed the primordial essence, differentiated into a static and a dynamic force, called Yin and Yang. Speaking of this diagram, (1130. D.) said: "The two forces, Yin and Yang, grind back and forth like mill stones, in opposite directions, and the detritus resulting from their friction is what we call Chi, essence," Another philosopher of the Sung Dynasty, Cheng I (1033. D.), who published a valuable commentary on the Yi Ching, said: "Body in motion is force; its contact with another produces a reaction or effect. This effect in turn acts as force producing another effect, and so on without end." This is to show that things in the universe revolve in a circular process. So the perfection of the universe is not that it will produce a perfect end in its process of evolution, but that it will produce an endless evolution.
This conception of the universe as a circular process originates in the fundamental spirit of Chinese culture, that is, the whole is not to be severed into units. The universe is composed of pairs of opposites such as good and evil, right and wrong, subjective and objective, positive and negative, etc. In the process of evolution, every phenomenon involves its own negation. One and its negation are necessary parts making up the whole. We cannot have, for instance, a positive without a negative or vice versa. They are correlatives which involve each other. So the universe proceeds in cyclic recurrence, without beginning, without encl. This is why Lao Tze says: "Facing it (Tao), one cannot see its head; pursuing it, one cannot see its tail."
Again, there is no divine power which controls the motion of the universe. Lao Tze says that within the universe, there are four great ones-Tao, heaven, earth and king. Confucius considered man as the center of heaven and earth and spoke of heaven as being on the side of righteousness. Mencius identified human nature with heaven. Hsun Tze even ventured to argue that heaven could be controlled for human purposes. Mo Tze was a notable exception for he preached the principle of universal love and embodied the principle in a personalized God. He says: "Those who desire wealth and honor must obey the will of God." But he says elsewhere: "I do what God wills while God endows me with what I deserve." Thus the relationship between God and man is one of reciprocity, and, indeed, God helps those who help themselves. Further, Mo Tze has only an inconclusive argument to prove the existence of God and His power. He says: "All people are the subjects of God. Why does he not love them? Besides, I say that he who kills the innocent must have bad fortune. Who kills the innocent? Man. Who imposes the bad fortune? God." This inconclusive argument has been refuted by later philosophers.
Then, in the Han School of thought, we are told that heaven punishes the unjust with bad fortune and rewards the just with good fortune. But the concept "heaven" as conceived here is not personalized, so it is no longer the center of power, but simply a way in which the good or evil of man is given reward or punishment. It is so because of the design of man, not the will of heaven. Consequently, reward and punishment by heaven are the results of man's own efforts. During the Sung-Ming period, there was another influential type of Chinese philosophy usually known as Neo-Confucianism which identified Tien Li or divine righteousness, with the conscience of man. There can be little doubt that this philosophy of identifying divine righteousness with the conscience of man must have helped to confirm and perpetuate the fusion and intermixture of the authority of God with the power of man, and of the decree of heaven with the laws of government.
Further, we may illustrate this characteristic by reference to Chinese mythical legends and fables. In the mythical and legendary period of Chinese history, we encounter the figure of Queen Nu Kua who repaired heaven with colored stones, that of King Hou Yi who shot at the sun with an arrow, and that of K'ua Fu who chased after the sun. However, we have never encountered any legedary figure who created heaven and earth. The Chinese lack a poetic mythology to advance a practical conception of the creation of the universe. Even P'an Ku, the "Chaos Man", seemed to have come into being endowed with perfect knowledge and his function was to set the economy of the universe in order, but not to create it. He is often depicted as wielding a huge adze and engaged in constructing the world. With his death, the details of creation began. His tears became rivers and seas; his breath, wind; his voice, thunder; his pupils, lightning; while parasites infesting his body were the progenitors of the human race. Thus P'an Ku had never created the universe, but the universe came into existense after his death.
Lack of a conception of divine supremacy in the universe also characterized the fundamental spirit of Chinese culture, that is, the whole is not to be severed into units. Divine power or Creator owes its existence to the unit which is detracted from the whole. The Chinese cosmos is a united whole, undivided and indivisible. Anything divisible must be divided by something other than itself. As there is nothing other than the whole, there cannot be units apart from the whole. Consequently the idea of supreme power or Creator cannot be conceived.
To return to our initial assumption, the universe is conceived as a continuous whole. This basic assumption fixes the character of Chinese cosmic conception. There is a spirit of general elevation and enlightenment in which all alike communicate and to which Chinese culture owes much of its dignity and influence.
II. Characteristics of Chinese Life Attitude
Now let us turn to a consideration of the characteristics of Chinese life attitude from which we shall see that the fundamental spirit of Chinese culture is based on the continuity of the whole with the unit. Chinese philosophy of life is originally impressed, not by antagonism, but by the continuity of the world. The following characteristics of Chinese life attitude offer good illustrations of this line of thought.
First, the Chinese appreciate the good of life. The Hindus conceive the present world as "a sea of bitterness." To them, life is like a dream. According to Christianity, after the fall of man, endless evils emerged from life. The Chinese, so far as their literature is concerned, are not pessimistic in their outlook on life. In Chinese philosophy, the expression of a distinctly pessimistic type of thought is wanting. Even in the works of Lieh Tze, we find that Yang Chu's view of life is only slightly tinged with pessimism. According to his view, life is short, and a great part of it, strictly speaking, is not life. Therefore he said, "We ought to hasten to enjoy life and pay no attention to death." In his basic outlook on life, Yang Chu was a hedonist rat her than a pessimist.
Nearly all the philosophers of the appreciated the good of life. In the Yi Ching, (Appendices IV, Sec. II, Chap 10), Confucius says:
"For the universe, the most essential is life. For the sages, the most important is state. That which maintains the state is love. That which maintains the people is wealth. The production of wealth, the education of the people and the prohibition of wrongdoing constitute justice."
Nature is life; state, wealth, education and law are means to make life better. Confucius' own life is certainly a good example of this aspect of his teaching. Disapproving of the degeneracy of his own times he took up at an early age the vocation of a reformer. He travelled everywhere and talked with everybody. Although his efforts were in vain, he was not disappointed.
There is one desirable feature about the life of the Chinese that has furnished an important steadying influence on the nation. They are imbued at least with one great ideal which touches their common life in every direction. Every man, rich or poor, learned or unlearned, has a passionate love of life. They may lament over their human ills, but they never curse life as such. Whatever may be their innermost thoughts, they bear their crushing burdens and desperate privations with extraordinary fortitude and little complaint. What they insist on is simply the idea that in order to live well, one must live. It is just for the continuity of the whole with the unit that the Chinese do not seek for the "happy land" outside this world, because man cannot be totally excluded from this world.
Secondly, the Chinese propound benevolent love. Love is an emotion common to mankind, but benevolent love is peculiar to the Chinese. If I were asked for a definition of benevolent love, I would confess that I could not give any precise answer. Perhaps the same purpose will be served, if I present some of the leading traits of benevolent love which will distinguish it from Buddhist love, Christian love and Platonic love. Buddhist love is charitable love; it is motivated by charity as exemplified in the life of Buddha. Usually, it takes the form of compassion. Is it not charity to men that our abbot expressed when he said: "My desire is to pluck every creature that is endowed with feeling out of this sea of bitterness"? Thus the lover and the loved live in two different spheres of existence. Christian love is a cosmopolitan love. Jesus Christ offered a faultless example of a life dominated by love. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son," so that "the world through Him might be saved." It is the will of God that man should love his neighbor as himself. Platonic love is an abstract love. The phrase "Platonic love" is on the lips of many, but, in fact, these people mean something quite different from Plato's own conception of love. According to Plato, love is always concerned with beauty. Having learned to love one beautiful object, the soul passes on to the love of other beautiful objects. Platonic love lays stress on the idea of beauty.
According to Chinese benevolent love, the lover and the loved live in the same world for each other and with each other. Benevolence is fundamental in Chinese love, just as compassion is dominant in Buddhist love. But "benevolence," says Mencius, "is the love due to man ... One who loves men will certainly be loved by men." This is the first point. The second point is that Chinese benevolent love is based on fairness. It is not equal and universal love. It manifests itself in different degrees of intensity; it is consistent with the exercise in due degree of relative affections, such as filial piety, fraternal feelings, conjugal love, etc. This fact serves to distinguish it from Christian love. The third point is that Platonic love is found to be too subtle an idea for popular contemplation. Ancient Chinese thinkers considered beauty as one of the virtues. Moreover, virtues are cultivated by man. Hence Chinese benevolent love is based not on the idea of beauty, but on humanity.
We may then conclude that Chinese benevolent love is love of mankind. The Chinese do not follow God or Buddha in loving others; nor do they conform to any abstract ideal of loving others. They do not divide the universe into two different spheres of existence, for they live in the same world and pass on to the love of others. This is the continuity of the whole with the unit.
Thirdly, the Chinese advance the idea of rational happiness. They attempt no separation of happiness and virtue. As to the characterization of the Superior Man, Confucius point out in the Analects that the way of the Superior Man has three essentials-benevolence without anxiety, wisdom without perplexity, and courage without fear. Thus Confucius made happiness the first requisite of the way of the Superior Man. Mencius maintained that his mind appreciated "rites" and "righteousness" as much as his taste enjoyed pork and beef. Wang Hsin-chai, a scholar of the Ming Dynasty, wrote a song to "Learning and Happiness," in which he said: "Happiness is to enjoy learning; learning is to study happiness." This quotation suffices to show the close relationship between happiness and virtue. In this connection, some Chinese sayings may be cited as relevant examples: "Happiness follows in the footsteps of virtue, as shadow follows substance," "Those who have not tasted the bitterness of life can never appreciate the sweetness of life." The last of these sayings has taken so strong a hold on the mind of the Chinese people as to have molded their mentality and temperament. The theory of virtue as its own reward is too abstract for the mass of mankind. The great majority of people are so utilitarian that virtue has not charms for them when it is totally dissociated from happiness.
The Chinese mind regards rational happiness as far more important than physical pleasure, for the former is enduring and the latter ephemeral. A man must depend for his happiness not upon externals, but upon his own virtue. Chinese philosophers, like the Stoics, maintained that external circumstances are wholly beyond our control. Confucius says: "Living on coarse rice and water, with my bent arm for a pillow, I am still happy. Wealth and honors not properly come by are to me but passing clouds." Thus happiness must not be divorced from virtue. Happiness and virtue are correlatives which are complementary to each other. The fundamental principle underlying the combination of happiness and virtue is the continuity of the universe. In the Doctrine of the Mean, it is said, "All things live together without injuring one another; all courses are pursued without collision with one another." Similarly, happiness and virtue are not antagonistic to each other; they are simply two phases of a continuous whole.
Fourthly, the Chinese are in favor of the enjoyment of the present without regard for the future. Westerners attempt to secure rewards in another world by working and suffering in this one. For instance, the Greek "Spiritual World," Plato's "Intellectual World," or the Christian "City of " took shape from the hope for a “paradise." Their life always looks outward towards the external world; they strive for a future world in which all that is bad and ugly in the present world will be metamorphosed into the good and beautiful. So their life tends to sever the world into units and separate man from heaven. It is just this fact that determines the character of the life attitude of the Greco-Roman-Christian world.
The Hindus are impressed by the transitory nature of things and lament over the endless ills of life. They profess to draw man away from the world and its vanities, in order to reach the freedom and peace of Nirvana, that is, to attain the extinction of consciousness by ascetic exercises. So they need not sever the whole into units, for both of them do not exist; nor do they need to separate man from heaven, for both of them have passed beyond the sphere of sensory perception. It is just this fact that determines the character of the life attitude of the Indians.
But to the Chinese, the problem of life is different. They understand that men are prone by nature to look for pleasure and avoid pain. By far the most potent pleasures and pains are those of life and death. This is what Confucius says in the Book of Rites: "The strongest desires of man are for food and sex; the strongest aversions of man are poverty and death." Unlike the Christians, the Chinese have no "lost paradise" in the past and hold no promise of an after-life. They can only look for the betterment of life in the present world. Of the four objects on which Confucius would not speak, "spiritual beings" was one. This does not imply that Confucius denied the existence of a spiritual world; it means that he attached paramount importance to the world or humanity. If we study his writings and records, we shall know that in the mind of Confucius, the universe is a united whole. For the universe, there is no end of evolution, and for man, there is no end of activity. The union of the universe and man is called "perfection." In the Book of Change, we read: "Perfection is the beginning and end of things. Without perfection there can be nothing. Therefore the Superior Man considers the attainment of perfection as the most excellent." It is for this reason that the Chinese do not look for another "happy land" on which depends the hope of immortality; nor do they believe in a former state of existence to which the fate of present life is attributable; their constant endeavor is to maintain the continuity of the present in which all things are in harmony and in accord.
And lastly, the Chinese are possessed of a sense of moderation. The Westerner lays emphasis on the hope of entering the "" which means the creation of a new world. The Hindus place stress on the hope of reaching Nirvana which means the renunciation of the world. Being too extreme, both fail to maintain the balance of the universe. But the Chinese hold the position of the mean. In the Book of Change, we read: "When things are carried to their extremes, calamity ensues." "The term 'extreme' refers to one who knows progression, but does not know that progression involves regression. He knows life, but does not know that life involves death. He knows possession, but does not know that possession involves loss." This is the doctrine of the Book of Change and i. also the doctrine of Lao Tze. Lao Tze says: "What one calls calamity is often good fortune under disguise. What one calls good fortune is often a cause of calamity. Who knows what the final outcome will be? How can there be absolute right? The right may turn out to be wrong. How can there be absolute good? The good may turn out to be evil. Indeed, men have been under a delusion for such a long time."
This is the doctrine of the mean. Confucius often talked about it in his teachings and said that it is rather difficult to attain. To secure the mean is not to pursue a middle course; it means to maintain the balance of the universe. This is a state of harmony and a doctrine of equality. In other words, this is a way of action which avoids going to extremes, or a state of mind in which human reasoning and feeling reach perfect harmony. This is why the ancient sages and philosophers taught the Chinese to be "upright but mild, gentle but firm, strong but without tyranny, and direct but without arrogance," that is, not to be one-sided and extreme, but to secure the mean in order that the balance of the universe may be maintained.
III Conclusion
From the comprehensive views discussed in connection with the Chinese cosmogony and life attitude, we may conclude that in the mind of the Chinese, the universe is a continuous whole in which all that happens is in harmony and orderliness. In fact, the various forms of intellectual activity which make up the fabric of Chinese culture embrace and rest upon the concept of harmony and orderliness.
Harmony and orderliness, so far as they appear to be Chinese, are omnipresent in both natural phenomena and human relations. Nature presents examples of harmony and orderliness in the succession of day and night, the periodic ebb and flow of the tide, the disappearance and return of planets, and other observable sequential phenomena. The principal relations of the individual to society are copiously illustrated in the Chinese classics. They are the "five relations" of sovereign and subject, parent and child, husband and wife, brother and brother, friend and friend, which, according to the Chinese, contain the entire structure of the social fabric. So the ancient sages and philosophers instituted rites to maintain orderliness and music to establish harmony. In the Book of Rites, we read: "Music imitates the harmony of the universe; rites imitate the orderliness of the universe. There are heaven above and earth below, and between them there are the various things with different ranks and dignity. This gives man the pattern of rites. There is the unceasing stream of evolution in which all things are in harmony and in accord. This gives man the model of music. In the spring all things burst forth with life; in the summer all things grow. This is benevolence. In the autumn all things mature; in the winter all things rest. This is justice. Benevolence is akin to music; justice is akin to rite." This is the Chinese "Utopia;" this is the great principle of harmony and orderliness which underlies the spirit of Chinese culture.