Among the most important figures of the neo-Confucian school of philosophy were the Ch'eng brothers-Ch'eng Yi (1033-1107), founder of the School of Principle, and his older brother, Ch'eng Hao (1032-1085), who is less well known. Some of the writings of Ch'eng Yi have already been considered in this series of articles. Ch'eng Hao, who died 22 years before his brother, didn't leave many works in his own name. Many of the Ch'eng writings are jointly attributed. Nevertheless, there was a difference of emphasis between the Ch'engs that was to have an important bearing on the subsequent development of neo-Confucian thought.
The Ch'engs are in agreement on the eternal and unchanging li or principles inherent in all creation. These were made manifest in ch'i or material-force. Ch'eng Hao then went on to stress the unity of the human mind, which is the embodiment of principle in man, and the universal mind. Such unity of Heaven and man is a part of the Confucian heritage and came to play a major role in the development of neo-Confucianism.
In his essay on "Understanding the Nature of Humanity", Ch'eng Hao finds the great virtue (jen) of Heaven and earth to be the fact that they are life-giving. Man receives his nature from Heaven and it must therefore be in a state of balance and harmony with all things. This is the Mean. Good and evil and emotional reactions may be present in actual nature as embodied in material-force. However, the Mean is lost and the identity of man and things is destroyed only when selfish desire dominates and an excess of human feelings is aroused. Spiritual cultivation consists of stabilizing human nature and restoring the original unity of man's mind with all things. This is accomplished by understanding the identity of internal and external existence and through impartiality and unselfishness. Ch'eng Hao's ideas were based on the Book of Changes and Great Learning. He was thoroughly rooted in Confucianism. Yet he had also studied Taoism and Buddhism and these influences are reflected in subjectivism and his concept of mental composure. It is from Ch'eng Hao that neo-Confucianism derives its second great division, the School of the Mind.
These are selections from Ch'eng Hao:
"On Understanding the Nature of Humanity" -
"The student must first of all understand the nature of humanity (jen). The humane man forms one body with all things comprehensively. Righteousness, decorum, wisdom and good faith are all expressions of humanity. It is necessary to understand this truth and preserve humanity with sincerity (ch'eng) and seriousness (ching). There is no need to avoid things or restrict oneself. Nor is there any need for exhaustive search. It is necessary to avoid things when one is mentally negligent, but if one is not negligent, what is the necessity for avoidance? Exhaustive search is necessary when one has not found the truth, but if one preserves humanity long enough, the truth will automatically dawn on him. Why should he have to wait for exhaustive search?
"Nothing can be equal to this Way (humanity). It is so vast that nothing can adequately explain it. All operations of the universe are our operations. Mencius said that 'all things are already complete in us', that 'we must examine ourselves and be sincere and that as a result we will experience great joy'. If we examine ourselves but find ourselves to be insincere, there is still an equality and opposition between the two (self and nonself). Even if we try to identify the self with the nonself, we still do not achieve unity. How can we have joy? The purpose of Chang Tsai's 'Western Inscription' is to explain this reality (of complete unity) fully. If we preserve humanity with this idea, what more is to be done? Mencius said, 'There must be endeavor but let there be no anxious expectation. Let the mind not forget its objective, but let there be no artificial effort to help it grow.' Not the slightest effort is exerted! This is the way to preserve humanity. As humanity is preserved, the self and the other are then identified. For our innate knowledge of good and innate ability to do good are part of our original nature and cannot be lost. However, because we have not gotten rid of the mind dominated by old habits, we must preserve and exercise our original mind, and in time old habits will be overcome. This truth is extremely simple; the only danger is that people will not be able to hold to it. But if we practice and enjoy it, there need be no worry of our being unable to hold to it."
"Reply to Chang Tsai's Letter on the Stabilizing of Human Nature"--
"I have received your letter in which you said that nature in the state of stability cannot be without activity but must still suffer from the influence of external things. This problem has been ardently pondered by virtuous men. What need is there for a humble person like myself to say anything? However, I have gone over the matter in my mind, and dare present my ideas to you. By the stabilizing of nature we mean that the nature is stabilized whether it is in a state of activity or in a state of tranquillity. One does not lean forward or backward to accommodate things, nor does one make any distinction of the internal and external. To regard things outside the self as external, and drag oneself to conform to them, is to regard one's nature as divided into the internal and external. If one's nature is conceived to be following external things, then while it is outside what is it that is within the self? One may indeed have the intention of getting rid of external temptations, but he fails to realize that human nature does not possess the two aspects of internal and external. As long as one holds that things internal and things external form two different bases, how can one speak of the stabilizing of human nature?
"The constant principle of Heaven and earth is that their mind is in all things, yet of themselves they have no mind; and the constant principle of the sage is that his feelings are in accord with all creation, yet of himself he has not feelings. Therefore, for the training of the gentleman there is nothing better than to become broad and impartial and to respond spontaneously to all things as they come. The Book of Changes says: 'Firm correctness brings good fortune and prevents all occasions for repentance. If he is settled in his movements, only his friends will follow his purpose.' If, feeling at a loss, one attempts to remove external temptations, then no sooner do some disappear than others will arise. Not only is one's time limited, but the sources of temptation are inexhaustible and therefore cannot be removed.
"Everyone's nature is obscured in some way and as a consequence one cannot follow truth. In general the trouble lies in selfishness and intellectual cleverness. Being selfish, one cannot take purposive action to respond to things, and being intellectually clever, one cannot conceive of enlightenment as spontaneous. For a mind that hates external things to seek illumination in a realm where nothing exists is to look for a reflection on the back of a mirror. Mencius said: 'What I dislike in your wise men is their forced conclusions.' Instead of looking upon the internal as right and the external as wrong, it is better to forget the distinction. When such a distinction is forgotten, the state of quietness and peace is attained. Peace leads to stability, and stability leads to enlightenment. When one is enlightened, how can the response to things become a burden? The sage is joyous because according to the nature of things before him he should be joyous, and he is angry because according to the nature of things before him he should be angry. Thus the joy and anger of the sage do not depend on his own mind but on things. Does the sage in this way respond to things? Why should it be regarded as wrong to follow external things and right to seek what is within? Compare the joy and anger of the selfish and clever man to the correctness of joy and anger of the sage. What a difference! Among human emotions the easiest to arouse but most difficult to control is anger. But if in time of anger one can immediately forget his anger and look at the right and wrong of the matter according to truth, it will be seen that external temptations need not be hated, and he has gone a long way toward the Way."
"Principle and the Nature"-
"Everything has its principle. It is easy (for a thing to function) if it is in accord with its own principle but difficult if it violates it. When everything follows its own principles, What is the necessity for the hard toil of man?
"It would be incomplete to talk about the nature of man and things without including material-force and unintelligible to talk about material-force without including the nature.
"What is inborn is called the nature. Nature is the same as material-force and material-force is the same as nature. They are both inborn. In principle, there are both good and evil in the material-force with which man is endowed at birth. However, man is not born with these two opposing elements in his nature. Due to the material-force with which men are endowed some become good from childhood and others become evil. It is true that human nature is originally good, but it cannot be said that evil is not due to human nature. For what is inborn in man is called his nature. By nature man is tranquil at birth. The state preceding this cannot be discussed. As soon as we talk about human nature, it is already no, longer human nature. Actually in our discussion of nature we only talk about 'What issues from the Way is good'. This is what Mencius meant by the original goodness of human nature.
"The fact that whatever issues from the Way is good may be compared to the fact that water always flows downward. Water as such is the same In all cases. Yet without any effort on the part of man, some water flows onward to the sea without becoming dirty, while some flows only a short distance and already becomes turbid. Some travels a long distance before becoming turbid, some becomes extremely turbid, some only slightly so. But though they differ in being turbid or clear, we cannot say that the turbid water (evil) ceases to be water (nature). This being the case, man must make increasing effort to purify the water, as it were. With diligent and vigorous effort, water will quickly become clear. With slow and lazy effort, water will become clear slowly. When it is clear, it is then the original water. Not that clearness has substituted for turbidity, or that turbidity has been taken out and laid in a corner. The original goodness of human nature is like the original clearness of water. It is not true that two distinct and opposing elements of good and evil exist in human nature and that each issues from it."
"The Mean, Sincerity and Seriousness"-
"The Mean is the great basis of the universe. It is the concrete, obvious, self-evident law of all under Heaven. Any deviation from it will result in error. Only the man of seriousness will not fail but will succeed to the utmost.
"Mencius said: 'All things are already complete in oneself. There is no greater joy than to examine oneself and be sincere.' If one lacks sincerity, one will violate the principle of things and will not be in harmony with them.
"To be sincere is the way of Heaven. To be serious is the basis of human affairs. One who is serious will be sincere.
"Seriousness is to straighten one's internal life and righteousness is to square one's external life. This is the way to unify the internal and external life."
Chu Hsi synthesized and made explicit the ideas of Ch'eng Yi. Lu Hsiang-shan (Lu Chiu-yuan, 1139-1192) did the same for Ch'eng Hao. Out of these syntheses came the cleavage between the School of Principle or Reason and the School of Mind or Intuition. To explain the existence of ignorance and evil among men (who are essentially good), Chu Hsi distinguished between the original nature of man and his actual nature as found in material-force. He differentiated between the principle of Heaven and human desire and between "moral mind" and "human mind". Lu Hsiang-shan held that this approach concealed the essential unity of man and the universe. "Feelings, human nature, the mind, capacity--these are all the same thing expressed in different words," he said. For him, mind is identical with principle, nature and the universe itself.
If the mind of man is self-sufficient, all-embracing and originally good, then it follows that men have an innate awareness of the good and an innate ability to do good. There is no reason to investigate the principles of things as Chu Hsi demanded. Chu Hsi wanted a study of the external world, especially as set forth in the Classics. Lu Hsiang-shan held this to be useless and divisive, a departing from what is fundamental for what is nonessential. He wanted to "re-establish the nobler part of one's nature"- the moral sense of man. In their own words, Chu Hsi's method is that of "following the path of study and inquiry", while Lu's is that of "honoring the moral nature".
These are selections from Lu Hsiang-shan:
"Mind Is Principle"-
"Mencius said: 'That whereby man differs from the lower animals is but small. The ordinary people cast it away, while the gentleman preserves it.' What is cast away is the mind. That is why Mencius said that some people 'cast their original mind away'. What is preserved is the mind. That is why Mencius said that 'The great man is he who does not lose his childmind'. What Mencius referred to as the four beginnings (humanity, righteousness, decorum and wisdom) are this mind. It is what Heaven has endowed us with. All men have this mind and all minds are endowed with this principle. The mind is principle.
"The affairs of the universe are my own affairs; my own affairs are the affairs of the universe.
"The human mind is most intelligent and principle is most clear. All people have this in mind and all minds contain this principle in full.
"The four directions and upward and downward constitute the spatial continuum. What has gone by in the past and what is to come in the future constitute the temporal continuum. These continua, or the universe, are my mind, and my mind is the universe. Sages appeared tens of thousands of generations ago. They shared this mind; they shared this principle. Sages will appear tens of thousands of generations to come. They will share this mind; they will share this principle. Over the four seas sages appear. They share this mind; they share this principle.
"The mind is one and principle is one. Perfect truth is reduced to unity; the essential principle is never a duality. The mind and principle can never be separated into two. That is why Confucius said, 'There is one central thread running through my doctrines', and Mencius said, 'The Way is one and only one'. Quoting Confucius, he also said, 'There are but two courses to be pursued, that of humanity and that of its opposite'. To act in a certain way is humanity. Not to act in a certain way is the opposite of humanity. Humanity is the mind, the principle. Seek and you find means to find this principle. Those who know beforehand know this principle and those who are awakened beforehand are awakened to this principle. It is this principle that constitutes love for parents, reverence for elders and the sense of alarm and commiseration when one sees a child about to fall into a well. It is this principle that makes people ashamed of shameful things and hate what should be hated. It is this principle that enables people to know what is right to be right and what is wrong to be wrong. It is this principle that makes people deferential when deference is due and humble when humility is called for. Seriousness (ching) is this principle; righteousness is this principle. And what is internal and what is external are all this principle. Mencius said, 'The ability possessed by men without having been acquired by learning is innate ability, and the knowledge possessed by them without deliberation is innate knowledge'. These are endowed in us by Heaven. We are originally provided with them; they are not drilled into us from outside. Therefore Mencius said, 'All things are already complete in oneself. There is no greater joy than to examine oneself and be sincere.'
"The teacher said that the myriad things exist luxuriantly in the mind. What permeates the mind and, pouring forth, extends to fill the universe, is nothing but principle.
"The teacher always said that outside of the Way there are no events and outside of events there is no Way.
"The theory that principle is due to Heaven whereas desire is due to man is, without saying, not the best doctrine. If principle is due to Heaven and desire due to man, then Heaven and man must be different. This theory can be traced to Lao Tzu. In the 'Record of Music' it is said, 'By nature man is tranquil at birth. When influenced by external things, he begins to be active, which is desire arising from his nature. As one becomes conscious of things resulting from this impact, one begins to have likes and dislikes. When as a result of these likes and dislikes one is unable to return to his original mind, the principle of Heaven is destroyed.' Here is the origin of the theory that principle is from Heaven whereas desire is from man. And the words of the 'Record of Music' are based on Lao Tzu. If it be said that only tranquillity is inborn nature, is activity not inborn nature also? It is said in the Book of Rites that 'the human mind is precarious, the moral mind is subtle'. Most interpreters have explained the human mind (which is liable to make mistakes) and the moral mind (which follows moral law) as equivalent to the principle of Heaven. This interpretation is wrong. The mind is one. How can man have two minds?"
"Methods of Cultivation"-
"Principle exists in the universe without arty obstruction. It is only that you sink from it, hide yourself in darkness as in a trap and lose all sense of what is high and far beyond. It is imperative that this trap be decisively broken and the confining net be pierced and destroyed.
"There is concrete principle in the universe. The value of study lies in understanding this principle. If it is understood, concrete behavior and concrete accomplishment will result.
"The moral law (Tao) in the universe cannot be augmented or diminished. Neither can it be given or taken away. Man must find this out for himself.
"The universe never separates itself from man; man separates himself from the universe.
"Students of today pay attention only to details and do not search for what is fundamental. Mencius said, 'He who exerts his mind to the utmost knows his nature. He who knows his nature knows Heaven.' There is only one mind. My friend's mind, the minds of the sages thousands of years ago and the mind of the sages thousands of years to come are all the same. The substance of the mind is infinite. If one can completely develop his mind, he will become identified with Heaven. To acquire learning is to appreciate this fact.
"Establish yourself and respect yourself. Do not follow the other people's footsteps nor repeat their words. When the teacher resided in Hsiang-shan, he often said to his pupils, 'Your hearing is by nature keen and your vision is 'by nature clear. By natural endowment you are capable of serving your father with filial piety and your elder brother with respect. Fundamentally there is nothing wanting in you. There is no need to seek elsewhere. All depends on your establishing yourself.'
"My learning is different from that of others in the fact that with me every word comes spontaneously. Although I have uttered tens of thousands of words, they are all expressions of what is within me, and nothing more has been added. Recently someone has commented of me that aside from Mencius' one saying, 'First build up the nobler part of your nature', I had nothing clever to add. When I heard this, I said, 'Very true indeed'.
"Mencius said, 'First build up the nobler part of our nature and then the inferior part cannot overcome it.' It is because people fail to build up the nobler part of their nature that it is overcome by the inferior part. In consequence they violate principle and become different from Heaven and earth.
"Principle is endowed in me by Heaven, not drilled into me from the outside. If one understands that principle is the same as master and really makes it his master, one cannot be influenced by external things or fooled by perverse doctrines.
"Gather your spirit. Be your own master. 'All things are already complete in oneself.' What is it that is lacking? When I should be commiserative, I am naturally commiserative. When I should be ashamed, liberal, generous, affectionate, tender or strong and firm, I am naturally so.
"The moral principle inherent in the human mind is endowed by Heaven and cannot be wiped out. Those who are clouded by material desires so as to pervert principles and violate righteousness have become so because they do not think, that is all. If they can truly return to their true selves and think, their sense of right and wrong and their ability to choose right and wrong will have the qualities of quiet alertness, clear-cut intelligence and firm conviction."
"Differences between Lu Hsiang-shan and Chu Hsi"-
"Chu Hsi once wrote to one of his students, saying, 'Lu Hsiang-shan teaches people only the doctrine of honoring the moral nature. Therefore those who have studied under him are mostly concerned with putting their beliefs into practice. But he has neglected to follow the path of study and inquiry. In my teaching is it not true that I have put somewhat more emphasis on following the path of study and inquiry? As a consequence, my pupils often do not approach his in putting beliefs into practice.' From this it is clear that Chu Hsi wanted to avoid two defects (failure to honor the moral nature and failure to practice) and combine two merits (following the path of study and inquiry and practicing one's belief). I do not believe this to be possible. If one does not know how to honor his moral nature, how can he talk about following the path of study and inquiry?
"Lu Tsu-ch'ien arranged a meeting at the Goose Lake Temple. My elder brother Fu-chai said to me, 'Tsu-ch'ien has invited Chu Hsi to meet us particularly because we differ from him in doctrine' ... Chu Hsi was debating with my brother. I said, 'On the way I wrote a poem: Work that is simple and easy will in the end be lasting and great. Understanding that is devoted to fragmentary and isolated details will end up in aimless drifting'. When I recited my poem up to these lines, Chu Hsi's face turned pale."