Ku Yen-wu (1613-1682) was 31 years old when the Ming capital of Peking fell to the Manchus. A Ming patriot, he had already acquired a reputation for scholarship. His stepmother hated the Manchus and on her deathbed urged him never to serve the Ch'ing. He promised and kept his word. He traveled through North China and worked at odd jobs for the rest of his life. He also continued to grow as a scholarly researcher.
Why should the cultured Ming have fallen before the barbarians from the north? Ku thought the answer ought to be found in study of government, economics and military science. His researches led him to attach a large measure of blame to the intuitional philosophy of the neo-Confucian Wang Yang-ming school. As an antidote to subjectivity and the dismissal of formal learning, Ku urged scholars to undertake wide, varied and practical studies. He also recommended that they return to the simple ethical standards of earlier times and discard literary elegance and belles-lettres. A friend wrote a poem praising him. Ku was not pleased. This was no endeavor for a gentleman and scholar, he said, urging that "men lose themselves and each other in higher principles".
Ku Yen-wu wrote importantly on phonetics, historical geography and epigraphy. In his Record of Daily Knowledge, he commented on the Chinese classics, government, economics, the examination system, literature, history and philology. This was a reworking of old material but also included much that was new and down to earth. Ku read and researched widely and added to this the personal experience of his own travels.
As he saw it, the Ming had overconcentrated power and authority. He believed in decentralization and increased authority for local governments. His thinking had strong influence in his own time and was to lead to the movement of critical research and evaluation that brought Ch'ing scholarship to its highest level.
These are selections from Ku Yen-wu:
True Learning: Broad Knowledge and a Sense of Shame
"It is a matter of great regret to me that for the past hundred odd years, scholars have devoted so much discussion to the mind and human nature, all of it vague and quite incomprehensible. We know from the Analects that 'fate and humanity (jen) were things which Confucius seldom spoke of' and that Tzu-kung 'had never heard him speak on man's nature and the way of Heaven'. Though he mentioned the principle of human nature and fate in the appendices to the Book of Changes, he never discussed them with others. When asked about the qualities of a gentleman, Confucius said: 'In his conduct he must have a sense of shame', while with regard to learning he spoke of a 'love of antiquity' and 'diligent seeking', discussing and praising Yao and Shun and transmitting their tales to his disciples. But he never said so much as a word about the so-called theory of the 'precariousness of the human mind and the subtlety of the mind of the Tao and of the need for keeping one's mind refined and undivided', but only said 'sincerely hold fast to the Mean—if within the four seas there be distress and poverty, your Heaven-conferred revenues will come to a perpetual end'. Ah, this is the reason for the learning of the sage. How simple, how easy to follow! But gentlemen of today are not like this. They gather a hundred or so followers and disciples about them in their studies, and though as individuals they may be as different as grass and trees, they discourse with all of them on mind and nature. They set aside broad knowledge and concentrate upon the search for a single, all-inclusive method; they say not a word about the distress and poverty of the world within the four seas, but spend all their days lecturing on theories of 'the weak and subtle', the refined and the undivided'. I can only conclude that their doctrine is more lofty than that of Confucius and their disciples wiser than Tzu-kung, and that while they pay honor to the school of Eastern Lu (Confucius) they derive their teachings on the mind directly from the sage emperors Yao and Shun.
"What then do I consider to be the way of the sage? I would say 'extensively studying all learning' and 'in your conduct have a sense of shame'. Everything from your own body up to the whole nation should be a matter of study. In everything from your personal position as a son, a subject, a brother and a friend to all your comings and goings, your giving and taking, you should have things of which you would be ashamed. This sense of shame before others is a vital matter. It does not mean being ashamed of your clothing or the food you eat, but ashamed that there should be a single humble man or woman who does not enjoy the blessings that are his due. This is why Mencius said that 'all things are complete in me' if I 'examine myself and find sincerity'. Alas, if a scholar does not first define this sense of shame, he will have no basis as a person, and if he does not love antiquity and acquire broad knowledge, his learning will be in vain and hollow. These baseless men with their hollow learning day after day pursue the affairs of the sage, and yet I perceive that with each day they only depart further from them."
Preface to the Record of the Search for Antiquities
"Ever since I was young I have enjoyed wandering about looking for old inscriptions on metal or stone, although I could not understand them very well. When I read Ou-Yang Hsiu's Record of Collected Antiques, I realized that many of the events recorded in these inscriptions are verified by works of history so that, far from being merely bits of high-flown rhetoric, they are of actual use in supplementing and correcting the histories. For the past 20 years I have traveled widely about the country and whenever I visited some famous mountain or great commercial center, the site of an ancestral shrine or Buddhist temple, I never failed to clamber up to the steepest peak, to search the darkest valley, feeling out the toppled stone markers, tramping about the underbrush, cutting down the old tangled hedges and sifting through the rotten earth. Anything that was legible I made a copy of by hand, and when I came across an inscription that had not been seen by my predecessors I was so overjoyed I could not sleep. I never forgot that with each day that passes more of these remaining inscriptions of the men of ancient times disappear. Most men of later times will probably not share my interest in these things, yet even if they should, in the course of several centuries how many of these inscriptions will have vanished away.
"Being only a commoner, however, when I went on these expeditions I had neither groom nor horse to accompany me, so that often I found myself wetting the tip of my brush and hesitating in perplexity among the forest birds and monkeys. The men of the north can seldom decipher characters and have only scant information on such matters. I was hampered by lack of daylight, while the mountains were so high and the rivers so deep that there were many places I could not get to. Even in the places I visited there must be things that I missed. Thus it is my hope that other men who share my love will carryon my work and make further recording of their own."
On the Concentration of Authority at Court
"He who is called the Son of Heaven holds supreme authority in the world. What is the nature of this supreme authority? It is authority over all the world which is vested in the men of the world but which derives ultimately from the Son of Heaven. From the highest ministers and officials down to the regional magistrates and petty officers, each holds a share of this authority of the Son of Heaven and directs the affairs of his charge, and the authority of the Son of Heaven is thereby magnified in dignity. In later ages there appeared inept rulers who gathered all authority into their own hands. But the countless exigencies of government are so broad that it is quite impossible for one man to handle them all, so that authority then shifted to the laws. With this a great many laws were promulgated to prevent crimes and violation, so that even the greatest criminals could not get around them, nor the cleverest officials accomplish anything by evading them. People thereupon expended all their efforts in merely following the laws and trying to stay out of difficulty. Thus the authority of the Son of Heaven came to reside not in the officials appointed by the government but in their clerks and assistants (who were familiar with the laws). Now what the world needs most urgently are local officials who will personally look after the people, and yet today the men who possess least authority are precisely these local officials. If local officials are not made known to the higher authorities, how can we hope to achieve peace and prosperity and prolong the life of the nation?"
The Feudal System vs. the Prefectural System
"If we understand why the feudal system changed into the prefectural system, we will also understand that as the prefectural system in turn falls into decay it too must change. Does this mean that there will be a return to feudalism? No, this is impossible. But if some sage were to appear who could invest the prefectural system with the essential meaning of feudalism, then the world would attain order. Today the prefectural system has reached a point of extreme decay, but no such sage appears and people go on doing everything in the same old way. Therefore with each day the people become poorer, China grows weaker and we hasten down the road to ruin.
"Why is this? The fault of feudalism was its concentration of power at the local level, while the fault of the prefectural system is its concentration of power at the top. The sage rulers of antiquity were impartial and public-minded in their treatment of all men, parceling out land to them and dividing up their domains. But now the ruler considers all the territory within the four seas to be his own prefecture and is still unsatisfied. He suspects every person, he handles every affair that comes up, so that each day the directives and official documents pile higher than the day before. On top of this he sets up supervisors, provincial governors and governors-general, supposing that in this way he can keep the local officials from tyrannizing over and harming the people. He is unaware that these officials in charge are concerned only in moving with utmost caution so as to stay out of trouble until they have the good fortune to be relieved of their posts, and are quite unwilling to undertake anything of profit to the people. Under such circumstances how can the people avoid poverty and the nation escape debilitation? If this situation is allowed to continue unchanged, I am positive that it will lead only to chaos with trouble increasing day by day. If, however, the position of local officials is accorded its proper dignity, and such officials are granted fiscal and administrative authority, if the post of supervisor is discontinued, the enticement of hereditary office held out to officials, and a method whereby they may elect their own subordinates put into effect, this will achieve the goal of imbuing the prefectural system with the essential meaning of feudalism, and the decay that has come about in the last two thousand years can be remedied. Rulers hereafter will find that if they hope to improve the livelihood of the people and strengthen the power of the nation, they must heed my words."
As the Ch'ing dynasty established itself, the subjective idealism of Wang Yang-ming continued to lose ground. There was revival of the thought of Chu Hsi, which was perpetuated as the basis of the civil service examinations. However, a more important trend was that to which Ku Yen-wu pointed: the broadening of thought and the insistence on practicality. One scholarly group went back to Han learning to escape the metaphysics of Sung and Ming. Such scholarship made new contributions to knowledge and to assessment of the Confucian Classics. Hu Wei (1633-1714) demonstrated that the diagrams of the Book of Changes came from Taoism and were not part of the original work. Yen Jo-chu (1636-1704) proved that the Shang documents in the Book of History, used for centuries in the civil service examinations, were the fruits of forgery.
Scholarship of the Han Learning school of Ch'ing anticipated the scientific research of today. It was systematic and empirically verified knowledge. The weakness lay in its wholly critical character; there were no new contributions. Other schools recognized this failing in part. The Eastern Chekiang historical school stemming from Huang Tsung-hsi wanted recent history studied as well as that of ancient times. Its members hoped to influence government with their historical studies but were unable to do so. They did call attention to local histories and preserve records of Ming that might supplement or correct the authorized historical writing of Ch'ing.
Yen Yuan (1635-1704) and Li Kung (1659-1733) opposed both neo-Confucian metaphysics and the views of the Han Learning advocates. They were basically pragmatists and rejected the influences of Taoism and Buddhism. Yen Yuan said there could be no principles apart from reality. Moral perfection was to be attained only by man's development of his actual nature in everyday life.
Tai Chen (1724-1777), one of the greatest of Ch'ing scholars, was interested in how truth and principles were to be determined. He objected to the introspection and mysticism of the neo-Confucianists and wanted empiric tests of knowledge. He studied philology, phonology, historical geography and mathematical history in his search for the truth.
Li Kung wanted to return to studying the six arts of the Classics, including archery, ceremonials and music.
In a sense, these Ch'ing Confucianists were not so much different from the first neo-Confucianists of Sung. They didn't offer much that was new and wanted to go back the truth of pristine times. Although Ts'ui Shu (1740-1816) rejected even Han scholarship to go deeper into history, he was still a Confucian through and through. Only the teachings of Confucius were worth learning; the problem was to find the "true" teachings.
The Jesuits were bringing the new knowledge of Europe to China during this period but it made little impression. Science was regarded as suggesting a reexamination of China's traditional discoveries—in astronomy for example—and as reassurance that the Middle Kingdom had, after all, gotten there" first. Juan Yuan (1764-1849) contended that the Jesuits must have exaggerated the astronomy of Ptolemy because it was ahead of that of China in the same period. He also maintained that the revolution of the earth around the sun was fallacious because it wasn't in agreement with the Classics and the Way. The scholars of this period were more concerned with their old foes—Buddhism and Taoism—than with the ideas sweeping in from Europe.
The Jesuits considered that the Chinese were interested only in their own scholarship because that provided the guideline to success. Trigault wrote:
"It is evident to everyone here that no one will labor to attain proficiency in mathematics or in medicine who has any hope of becoming prominent in the field of (Confucian) philosophy. The result is that scarcely anyone devotes himself to these studies, unless he is deterred from the pursuit of what are considered to be the higher studies, either by reason of family affairs or by mediocrity of talent. The study of mathematics and that of medicine are held in low esteem, because they are not fostered by honors as is the study of philosophy, to which students are attracted by the hope of the glory and the rewards attached to it. This may be readily seen in the interest taken in the study of moral philosophy. The man who is promoted to the higher degrees in this field prides himself on the "fact that he has in truth attained to the pinnacle of Chinese happiness."
This was the view of Du Halde:
"The great and only Road to Riches, Honour and Employments is the study of the ching (or canonical books), History, the Laws and Morality; also to learn to do what they call wen-chang, that is, to write in a polite Manner, in Terms well chosen, and suitable to the Subject treated upon. By this means they become Doctors, and that Degree once obtained, they are possessed of such Honor and Credit that conveniences of life follow soon after, because they are sure to have a Government Post in a short time. Even those who return into their Provinces to wait for Posts are in great Consideration with the Mandarin of the Place; they protect their families against all vexations and there enjoy a great many privileges. But as nothing like this is to be hoped for by those who apply themselves to the speculative Sciences, and as the Study of them is not the Road to Honours and Riches, it is no wonder that those sorts of abstract Sciences should be neglected by the Chinese."
Du Halde was talking about the civil service examination (wen-chang is the examination essay). Confucian reformers had repeatedly pointed out that higher education and the capability of the educated class was controlled by the examination system, which provided the only portal to official life. In early Ch'ing times, the Manchus patronized Confucian scholarship to demonstrate their appreciation of Chinese culture. Large numbers of scholars and the literate were employed in projects to preserve, codify and explain the classical tradition. Also involved was the opportunity for the Manchus to get rid of works that were considered hostile to their rule. In the K'ang-hsi and Ch'ien-lung reigns, China was peaceful and prosperous. The population was growing and Chinese culture flourished. Why be concerned about the troublesome concepts the missionaries were introducing from the outside world?
Ts'ui Shu embodied his important research in the Record of Beliefs Investigated, a collection of essays written while living a life of hardship and poverty. A disciple said: "Since" his ideas were of no value in the examination halls, there were few who believed in him. On the contrary there were those who seized upon his most trustworthy conclusions and on his clearest elucidation to discredit him. Within the next century there will surely be some in this broad empire who will truly understand him."
This is a selection from Ts'ui Shu:
"Is it impossible to believe what other people have said? The world is very large and I cannot do and see everything in it. How much more so with the world of a thousand years ago! If I do not accept the accounts of other men, by what means can I find out about it? But is it possible to believe everything that others have said? Surely if one did he would end up like the man in the story who took Ma Yuan's lily seeds for pearls. Tongues will grow in people's mouths and there is nothing to restrain them; brushes will find their way into men's hands and there is nothing to hold them back. Whatever comes into a man's head to say he may say, and there is no limit to how far he can go.
"In our prefectural town there was a Liu family who had two meteorites. According to the story that was told by everyone around the village, some shooting stars had fallen long ago on the Liu mansion and changed into stones. I was still young when I heard of this but I already doubted it. When I was a little older I was playing once with the Liu boys and they showed me the stones and some inscriptions carved on them in seal and ordinary script. When I questioned them very closely they finally said: 'That story is not really true. One of our ancestors was an official in the south when he came across these stones. They were such an odd shape that he supposed there were no others like them in the world and so he just carved these inscriptions to give proof, and yet as you see the whole thing was a fake.' How then is one to go about ascertaining the truth of what people say?
"When the Chou had declined many strange doctrines sprang up. The various schools of Yang Tsu, Mo Tsu, the Logicians, the Legalists, the diplomatic alliances and the yin and yang all made up sayings and invented incidents to fool wise men and sages. The Han Confucianists were acquainted with the various teachings and accepting them as quite reliable without even examining them carefully, proceeded to note them down in their books and commentaries. After this there appeared the cults of the prophetic and apocryphal works whose theories were even more absurd, and yet Liu Hsin and Cheng Hsuan made use of them in expounding the Classics so that they have been handed down for ages now. Scholars avidly study all these without ever examining their origins. They suppose only that since the Han Confucianists were close to antiquity, their assertions must be based on older traditions and not irresponsibly selected at random. Even among the Sung Confucianists with all their diligence and purity there are many who accepted these theories without alteration. Mencius said: 'It would be better to be without the Book of History than to believe it all. In the Completion of War section, I select only two or three passages which I believe.' If a sage like Mencius is as cautious as this when reading the Classics, how much more so in the case of the commentaries on the Classics and even more so with the various philosophical works. Mencius also said: 'In learning extensively and discussing minutely what is learned, the object is to be able to go back and set forth in brief what is essential.' One desires a wide range of information not for the sake of extensive learning itself but only because one wishes by repeated comparisons and revisions of the data to arrive at a single truth. If one simply exhausts all learning without knowing what to select, then although he reads all the books in the world he is not so well off as a stupid and uneducated man who is yet free from serious error.
"The Han Confucianist Tung Chung-shu once wrote a book on disasters and portents. Emperor Wu submitted the book to the court officials for their opinion. Lu Pu-shu, one of Tung Chung-shu's disciples, having no idea that the book was written by his teacher, expressed the opinion that it was a work of gross stupidity. As a result Tung Chung-shu was put on trial for his life. To any book written by their own teachers men accord the fullest honor and belief; any book not by their teachers they disparage and revile, without ever inquiring into the merits of the works. When I read the Classics, I do not respect them blindly merely because they are Classics. Instead I try only to discover the intentions of the sages and thereby come to appreciate the loftiness and beauty of their writings so that I cannot be misled by forgeries.
"The ancients had a saying: 'Are you buying vegetables or looking for something worthwhile?' By this they meant that one should value quality and not quantity. The words and actions of Confucius recorded in the Analects are quite numerous. Men of ancient times could have ruled the kingdom with only half of them, much less all. Therefore if scholars wish to put Confucius' examples into practice in hopes of becoming sages themselves, they have only to study this one book. But the scholars feel that this is not sufficient and so in addition they consult the Sayings of the School of Confucius, a collection of forgeries by someone in the Chin dynasty. Still dissatisfied because the selections in the Sayings of the School are not comprehensive enough, they have selected passages from heterodox and purely fictional works to make up the Collected Sayings of Confucius and the Lesser Analects to supplement their studies. Without asking whether these stories are true or false they make quantity their only criterion of worth. Alas, is this not seeking something worthwhile in the same way one would buy vegetables?
"Neither in the past nor the present has there ever been any lack of people who read books. Among them have been scholars of keen intellect whose intentions were the loftiest. And yet they were led astray by the fashions of the times. As scholars who valued truth none can compare with the Sung Confucianists. Yet most of them concerned themselves with questions of the nature and principle of things and with moral philosophy. If one looks among them for men who devoted themselves to historical research he will find no more than two or three out of ten. By Ming times scholarship had grown increasingly heterodox and it became so that if one hoped to write anything important he had to be conversant with Ch'an (Zen) doctrines and interlard his library shelves with Buddhist books.
"In the past centuries there have been plenty of scholars who devoted their minds to the study of antiquity. Whenever I read works such as Chao Ming-ch'eng's Records of Inscriptions of Metal and Stone or Huang Po-ssu's Further Studies of the Tung-kuan, I never fail to remark with a sigh that the breadth of learning and diligence of research of these former scholars surpass mine a hundred times. By the detail on a plate or vase, some minute point about a goblet or ladle, they declare, 'This is Chou', 'This is Ch'in', 'This is Han'. The preface to the Orchid Pavilion Collection, written by Wang Hsi-chih, surely has no connection with the practical dos and don'ts of human affairs and yet scholars ask, 'Which is the genuine text?' 'Which is the forged text?' so thorough are they in their research and so discriminating in their judgments. Only when it comes to affairs of the rulers and sages of antiquity, which are directly concerned with morals and the human heart, will people listen to anything others say without discriminating between truth and falsehood. Why should this be?
"In order to repair some of the omissions of former scholars and supplement certain of their defects, I have written this book, which I hope will not be entirely useless."
Hung Liang-chi (1746-1809) expressed Malthusian ideas about population five years before Malthus' famous essay was published. A scholar-official, Hung held minor posts and studied the Han Learning of geography, local history and the Classics. He was exiled to Chinese Turkestan at one time for scolding the emperor in an overly candid memorial. Population was growing rapidly in his time. This is a sample of what he had to say about it:
"There has never been a people which did not delight in peaceful rule, nor a people who did not wish peaceful rule to endure for a long time. Peaceful rule having lasted now for more than 100 years, it may be considered of long duration. But if we consider the population, we can see that it has increased five times over what it was 30 years ago, 10 times over what it was 60 years ago and at least 20 times over what it was a hundred and some tens of years ago. Or consider it in terms of a single family. In great grandfather's time, he had a 10-room house and a field of one ch'ing (about 15 acres). There was himself, and after he took a wife, two persons. With two people occupying a 10-room house and a plot of one ch'ing, they had ample space and something to spare. Estimating that each man has three children, in the second generation there would be four people including father and sons, and with each taking a wife, there would be eight. Since they could not do without some help in the household, there would be no less than 10. With 10 people occupying a 10-room house and feeding themselves from a one-ch'ing plot, we can see that they would barely have space enough to live in and land enough to get food from. When the children beget grandchildren and the latter take wives, then even allowing for the dying off of a few, there would still be at least 20-odd people living in a 10-room house and feeding themselves from a one-ch'ing plot. Just reckoning the number of mouths to feed and the number of legs taking up room, we can see that there would not be enough space for them all. Carrying the process one generation farther and one more after that, then in comparison to great grandfather's time, the number of mouths would have multiplied at least 50 to 60 times (apparently four generations). What in great grandfather's time was one family would now have divided into at least 10 families. Among them some families would be much reduced in size and others would have many able-bodied men, yet the two factors would balance each other off.
"It may be argued: 'In great grandfather's time the wastelands had not been fully developed and the home sites were not fully occupied'. Nevertheless they could not be increased more than double the number, or at most perhaps three or five times what they were. Yet the population has increased 10 or 20 times, so that there is a shortage of houses and fields but a surplus of people. And how much worse is it with some families monopolizing land—with one man holding the houses of a hundred men and one household holding the lands of a hundred households! Who can be surprised at the frequency with which people die from exposure and starvation, exhaustion and despair?
"Does Heaven and earth have no way to take care of this? Flood, drought and pestilence—that is nature's way of regulating things. But the number of those who suffer misfortune from flood, drought and pestilence is only a few. Does the ruler and his government have no way to deal with it? To have all land utilized and the people exert themselves to the utmost; to move people into newly opened fields in the border lands; to reduce taxes, where they have increase in weight and number, so as to bring them into line with former levels; to prohibit extravagance and stop the monopolizing of land; to open the government granaries in times of flood, drought and pestilence and give the people food—these are about all that the ruler and his government can do to regulate and ameliorate things.
"To sum up, when there has been prolonged peace, Heaven and earth cannot but produce people, yet what Heaven and earth has to provide for these people is limited to a certain amount. When peace is prolonged, the ruler and his government cannot keep people from reproducing, yet the means by which they can hope to provide for the needs of the people are limited to these few just mentioned. Now if, out of one family that has 10 sons and brothers, there are always one or two who prove incorrigible, how much less, out of the vast number in the empire, can we expect that everyone will restrain himself and comply with the law? If one man's dwelling is insufficient for 10 men, how much less will it suffice for a hundred? If one man's food is insufficient to provide for 10, how much less will it provide for a hundred? This is why I consider peaceful rule a cause of anxiety for the people."
Li Chih-tsao (d. 1630) was a Christian convert of Matteo Ricci, the Jesuit missionary who became court astronomer and mathematician. This selection, an at tempt to reconcile Confucianism and Christianity, is from the preface that Li wrote to Ricci's True Meaning of God:
"In ancient times when our Master (Confucius) spoke of self-cultivation, he said that one should try first to serve his parents diligently and through this come to know Heaven. Then came Mencius, who rendered the doctrine of self-cultivation and service to Heaven complete. Now to know is to serve. Serving Heaven and serving parents are one and the same thing. But Heaven is the ultimate basis of all service. In explaining Heaven no book excels the Book of Changes, the source of our written characters. It says that the primal power which governs Heaven is the king and father of all. Furthermore, it says the Lord (Ti) appears in thunder and lightning, and the master of Tzu-yang (Chu Hsi) identified Ti as the ruler of Heaven. Thus the idea of the Lord of Heaven (God) did not begin with Mr. Li.
"The popular notion of Heaven is so unenlightened that it is not even worth discussing. The Buddhists, for their part, go too far in abandoning their homes and leaving their parents unattended; furthermore, they disregard Heaven and treat the Lord (Ti) with contempt, holding only their own selves as worthy of respect. Would-be Confucianists, on the other hand, are wont to discuss the mandate of Heaven, the principle of Heaven, the way of Heaven and the virtue of Heaven; but while they are wholly immersed in these conceptions, the ordinary man neither knows Heaven nor holds it in awe—and it is no wonder.
"The teaching of Mr. Li, which is based on serving and glorifying Heaven, explains Heaven quite clearly. Seeing that the world desecrates Heaven and venerates the Buddha, he has spoken out in repudiation of these errors. Basing his arguments on the teachings of the Master (Confucius), he has written a book in 10 chapters called The True Meaning of God wherewith to instruct men in the good and ward off evil.
"In this book he says that men know to serve their parents but do not know the Lord of Heaven is the parent of all. Men know that a nation must have a rightful ruler but do not know that the Lord (Ti), who alone governs Heaven, is the rightful ruler of all. A man who does not serve his parents cannot be a true son; a man who does not know the rightful ruler cannot be a true minister; a man who does not serve the Lord of Heaven cannot be a true man. This book gives particular attention to the question of good and evil and of retribution in the form of blessings and calamities. Now goodness that is not complete cannot be called perfectly good, and even of the slight imperfections in human nature we speak of 'rectifying evils'. To do good is like ascending, that is, ascending into Heaven; to do evil is like falling, that is, falling into Hell. The general purpose of the book is to make men repent their transgressions and pursue righteousness, curb their passions and be benevolent toward all. It reminds men of their origin from above so as to make them fear lest they fall down into the place of punishment; it makes them consider the awful consequences and hasten to cleanse themselves of all sin. Thus they might not be guilty of any offense against the Great Heavenly Lord Above.
"He (Ricci) crossed mountains and seas to bring precious gifts from a land that since ancient times has had no contact with China. At first he knew nothing of the teachings (of the ancient sages) Fu Hsi, King Wen, the Duke of Chou or Confucius, and what he said was not based on the commentaries of (neo-Confucius philosophers) Chou Tun-yi, the Ch'eng brothers, Chang Tsai and Chu Hsi. However, particularly in respect to his emphasis on the great importance of knowing and serving Heaven, what he says tallies with the Classics and commentaries. As regards Heaven and hell, obstinate men still refuse to believe in them. Yet Confucianists have always held that the rewarding of the good and the visiting of misfortune upon the wicked was a principle evident from the examination of Heaven and earth. To depart from good and pursue evil is like leaving the high road and plunging into steep mountains or heavy seas. Why is it that some people will not believe anything unless perhaps it concerns their most urgent duties to their rulers or parents, or unless it involves danger in the form of tigers, wolves, dragons or crocodiles? They insist on having personal experience of everything themselves. Is this not being too stupid and unreasonable? They do not appreciate the deep sincerity which moved him to come among us. To preach the truth, of course, one need not raise the question of reward and punishment, but if it serves to frighten fools and alarm the lazy, then it is right and proper that the good should be praised and rewarded while the wicked are berated and punished. Thus his deep and sole concern has been to instruct the people and preach sound doctrine.
"I have read some of his books and found that they differ from recent scholars on many points; but they have an underlying resemblance to such ancient works as the Su-wen (medicine), Chou-pi (astronomy), K'ao-kung (part of the Rites of Chou) and Ch'i-yuan (a reference to Chuang Tzu, who was said to have been an official of Ch'i-yuan). So, it seems to me, what is spoken in truth does not contradict the truth. In self-examination and obedience to conscience he is most careful and strict with himself. He is what the world calls a lofty teacher and none among the Confucian scholars is more worthy of credence than he.
"The mind and heart of man are the same in East and West, and reason is the same. What differs is only speech and writing. When this book appeared it was written in the same language as ours, refined and civilized, and thus could serve to open the mind for instruction. Since the purpose of the book was to promote peace and well being, to espouse sound doctrine and improve morals, it is certainly no trifling piece, nothing to be taken lightly or to be put in the same class as the works of earlier philosophers.
"My friend Wang Meng-pu has reprinted this book in Hangchow and I have presumed to write a few words for him. Not that I would care to publicize a foreign book in order to spread unheard-of ideas, but I am mindful that we are all under the Majesty of Heaven and owe Him homage. Perhaps, too, there are things in it which we have been accustomed to hearing but have failed to act upon, and which may now prompt us to reexamine ourselves. Moreover, it may make some contribution to our study and practice of self-cultivation."