The Spirit of Chinese Philosophy

in the Confucian Tradition

Prof. Zhiping Zhang (Normal State University, Shanghai)

Introductive remark on the chinese ideal of the sage

The place which philosophy has occupied in Chinese civilization has been comparable to that of religion in other civilizations. In China, philosophy has been every educated person’s concern. In antiquity, if a man were educated at all, the first education he received was in philosophy. When children went to school, the Four Books, which consist of Lunyu, Meng Zi, The great Learning, and the Doctrine of the Mean, were the high lights they were taught to read. The Four Books were the most important texts of Confucianist philosophy.

I would like to speak about the spirit of Chinese philosophy at its beginning. In order to understand this spirit, we must first make clear the problem that most Chinese philosophers have tried to solve, that is: what is the highest form of achievement of which a man as a man is capable? According to the Chinese philosophers, it is nothing less than being a sage, and the highest achievement of a sage is the identification of the individual with the universe. The problem is: if men want to achieve this identification, do they necessarily have to abandon society or even to negate life?

According to some philosophers, this is necessary. The Buddha said striving after life itself is the root and fountainhead of the misery of life. Likewise, Plato said that the body is the prison of the soul. Some of the Taoists said that life is full of desires and desires are the root of evil. All these ideas represent a view, that is, if the highest achievement of a sage is to be realized, the sage has to abandon society and even life itself. Only thus the final liberation can be attained. This kind of philosophy is what is generally known as “other-worldly philosophy”.

There is another kind of philosophy, which emphasizes what is in society, such as human relations and human affairs. This kind of philosophy speaks only about moral issues, and is unable to, or does not wish to speak of the super-moral ones. This kind of philosophy is generally described as “this-worldly philosophy”. From its point of view an other-worldly philosophy is too idealistic, too negative and of no practical use. From the point of view of an other-worldly philosophy, a this-worldly philosophy is too realistic, too superficial. It may be positive, but it is like the quick walking of a man who has taken the wrong road: the more quickly he walks the further he goes astray.

This-worldliness and other-worldliness stand in contrast to each other as do realism and idealism. The task of Chinese philosophy is to accomplish a synthesis out of these antitheses. That does not mean that they are to be abolished. They are still there, but they have to be brought into a synthetic whole. How can this be done? This is the problem which Chinese philosophy attempts to solve.

According to Chinese philosophy, the man who accomplishes this synthesis, not only in theory but also in deed, is the sage. He is both this-worldly and other-worldly. The spiritual achievement of the Chinese sage corresponds to the saint’s achievement in Buddhism, and in Western religion. But the Chinese sage is not one who does not concern himself with the business of the world. His character is described as one of “sageliness inside and kingliness outside”. That is to say, in his internal sageliness, he accomplishes spiritual cultivation; in his external kingliness he functions in society. It is not necessary that the sage should be the actual head of the government in his society. From the standpoint of practical politics, for the most part, the sage certainly has no chance of being the head of the State. The saying “sageliness inside and kingliness outside” means only that he who has the noblest spirit should, theoretically, be king, whether he actually has or has not the chance of being king.

Since the character of the sage is, according to Chinese tradition, one of sageliness inside and kingliness outside, the task of philosophy is to enable man to develop this king of character. Therefore, what philosophy discusses is what the Chinese philosophers describe as the basic principles of sageliness inside and kingliness outside.

This sounds like the Platonic theory of the philosopher-king. According to Plato, in an ideal State, the philosopher should be the king or the king should be a philosopher; and in order to become a philosopher, a man must undergo a long period of philosophical formation before his mind can be “converted” from the world of changing things to the world of eternal ideas. Thus, according to Plato, as according to the Chinese philosophers, the task of philosophy is to enable man to have the character of sageliness inside and kingliness outside.

According to Confucianism, the daily task of dealing with social affairs in human relations is not something alien to the sage. Carrying on this task is the very essence of the development of the perfection of his personality. He performs it not only as a citizen of society, but also as a citizen of the universe (tianmin, 天民). He must be conscious of his being a citizen of the universe; otherwise, his deeds would not have a super-moral issue. If he had the chance to become a king he would gladly serve to people, thus performing his duty both as a citizen of society, and as a citizen of the universe.

Since the subject matter of philosophy is the Tao of sageliness insiede and kingliness outside, the study of philosophy is not simple an attempt to acquire this kind of knowledge, but is also an attempt to develop this king of personality. Philosophy is not simply something to be known, but is also something to be experienced. It is not simply a sort of intellectual game, but something far more serious. As a famous Chinese philosopher has pointed out, of all Chinese philosophers everyone was a different grade of Socrates. This was so because ethics, politics, reflective thinking and knowledge were unified in the philosopher; in him knowledge and virtue were one and inseparable. His philosophy required that he lives it; he was himself his vehicle. With him, philosophy was hardly ever merely a pattern of ideas exhibited for human understanding, but was a system of precepts internal in the conduct of the philosopher; and in extreme cases his philosophy might even be said to be his biography.

According to Chinese tradition, the study of philosophy is not a profession. Everyone should study philosophy just as in the West, everyone should go to Church. The purpose of the study of philosophy is to enable a man, as a man, to be a man, not some particular kind of man. Other studies – not the study of philosophy – enable a man to be some special kind of man. So there were no professional philosophers; and non-professional philosophers did not have to produce formal philosophical writings. In China, there were far more philosophers who produced no formal philosophical writings than those who did. If one wishes to study the philosophy of these men, one has to go to the records of their sayings or the letters they wrote to disciples and friends. These letters did not belong to a period in the life of the person who wrote them, nor were the records written only by a single person. Hence there must not be expected a connection between them.

Besides the lack of this connection between the writings and sayings of some philosophers, there is another character of them, that is, they were accustomed to express themselves in the form of aphorisms (biyu 比喻), or allusions (anshi, 暗示), and illustrations (lizheng 例证). Aphorisms must be very brief; allusions and illustrations must be disconnected. However, it is because they are inarticulate that their suggestiveness is almost boundless. Suggestiveness, not articulateness, is the ideal of all Chinese art. For example, in poetry, what the poet intends to communicate is often not what is directly said in the poetry, but what was not said in it. According to Chinese literary tradition, in good poetry, “the number of words is limited, but the idea it suggests are limitless.” When we read these poetries, we should also no longer think about the words after we have got its idea. Here, the role of words is just as a ladder, which should be discarded after we have climbed the higher place.

Confucianism

Confucius

Confucius is a person who has been known in China as Kung Zi (孔子) or Master Kung (孔圣人). He was born in 551B.C. in the State of Lu, in the southern part of the present Shandong province in eastern China. His ancestors had been members of the Ducal (公爵的) house of the State of Song. However, because of political troubles, the family, before the birth of Confucius, had lost its noble position and emigrated to Lu.

Confucius was poor in his youth, but entered the government of Lu and when he was fifty had reached high official rank. As a result of political intrigue (诡计), however, he was soon forced to resign his post (辞职) and go into exile (流放). For the next thirteen years he traveled from one State to another, always hoping to find an opportunity to realize his ideal of political and social reform. Nowhere, however, did he succeed, and finally as an old man he returned to Lu, where he died three years later in 479 B.C.

Confucius was the founder of the Confucian school. He was also a great educator in Chinese history because he was the first person to teach large numbers of students.

The rectification of names

With regard to society, Confucius held that in order to have a well-ordered one, the most important thing is to carry out what he called the rectification of names. That is, things in actual fact should be made to accord with the implication attached to them by names. For example, if a ruler acts according to his duties and responsibilities defined by the name of ruler, he is then truly a ruler, in fact as well as in name. But if he does not, he is no ruler, even though he may popularly be regarded as such. Every name in the social relationships implies certain responsibilities and duties. Ruler, minister, father, and son are all the names of such relationships and the individual bearing these names must fulfill their responsibilities and duties accordingly. Such is the implication of Confucius’s theory of the rectification of names. Confucius says: “Let the ruler be ruler, the minister minister, the father father, and the son son”, in which the former is actual, and the later is ideal.

Human-heartedness and Righteousness

Concerning virtues of the individual, Confucius emphasized human-heartedness and righteousness, especially the former. Righteousness (义) means “oughtness” of a situation. It is a categorical imperative. Every one in society has certain things which he ought to do, and which must be done for their own sake, because they are the morally right things to do. If, however, he does them only because of other non-moral intentions, then even though he does what he ought to do, his action is no longer a righteous one. To use a word often disparaged (蔑视) by Confucius and later Confucianists, he is then acting for “profit”(利). Righteousness and profit are in Confucianism opposed terms. Confucius himself says: “the superior man comprehends righteousness; the small man comprehends profit.”(君子喻于义，小人喻于利).

The idea of righteousness is more rational, but that of human-heartedness is more affective. The rational side of the duties of man in society is their “oughtness”, because all these duties are what he ought to do. But the affective side of these duties is “loving others”, that is, human-heartedness. The father acts according to the way which a father should act when he loves his son; the son acts according to the way which a son should act when he loves his father. Confucius says: “human-heartedness consists in loving others”. The man who really loves others is able to perform his duties in society. So, man of human-heartedness is the man of all-round virtue. For this reason, human-heartedness can also be called “perfect in virtue.”

Chung (忠) and Shu (恕)

In the Analects (论语), Confucius says: “Do not do to others what you do not wish for yourself”; “The man of human-heartedness is one who, desiring to sustain himself, sustains others, and desiring to develop himself, he develops others. One must be able to draw from one’s own self a parallel to the treatment of others. That may be called the way to practice human-heartedness.” This is the positive aspect of the practice, which was called by Confucius Zhong (忠) or “conscientiousness to others.” And the negative aspect, which was called Shu (恕) or “altruism” (lita, 利他) is: “Do not do to others what you do not wish for yourself.” The principle of Chung and Shu is the way to practise human-heartedness.

For example, if you do not like to be hurt by others, you should not hurt others first, which was called by Confucius altruism; if you like to be respected by others, you should respect others first, which was called conscientiousness to others. This method of practising human-heartedness is so simple that Confucius says: “ Is human-heartedness indeed far off? I crave for human-heartedness, and it is at hand.”

Knowing Ming(知命)

From the idea of righteousness, Confucius derived the idea of “doing for nothing”. One does what one ought to do, simply because it is morally right to do it, and not for any intention which is external to this moral compulsion.

According to Confucianism, a man cannot do anything morally well if there is not something which he ought to do. Nevertheless, what he does is “for nothing”, because the value of doing what he ought to do relies on the deed itself, and not on the external result. Confucius’ own life is a good example of this teaching. Living in an age of great social and political disorder, he tried his best to reform the world. He traveled everywhere and, like Socrates, spoked to everybody. Although his efforts were in vain, he was never disappointed. He knew that he could not succeed, but kept on trying.

About himself, Confucius said: “If my principles are to prevail (tongxing, 通行) in the world, it is Ming; if they are to fall to the ground, it is also Ming.” He tried his best, but the issue he left to Ming. Ming is often translated as Fate, Destiny. To Confucius, it meant the will of heaven; in other words, it was conceived of as a purposeful force, which is always needed for the external success of our activity but wholly beyond our control. Hence, the best thing for us to do is simply to try to carry out what we know we ought to carry out, without caring whether in the process we succeed or fail. To act in this way is “to know the fate”. To know the fate is an important requirement for being a superior man (junzi, 君子) in the Confucian sense of the term, so that Confucius said: “He who does not know the fate cannot be a superior man.”

Thus to know Ming means to acknowledge the inevitability of the world as it exists, and so to disregard one’s external success or failure. If we can act in this way, we can, in a sense, never fail. For if we do our duty, the duty through our very act will be morally done (which is under our control), regardless of the external success or failure of our action (which is beyond our control).

As a result, we always shall be free from anxiety as to success or fear as to failure, and so shall be happy. This is why Confucius said: “The wise are free from doubts; the virtuous from anxiety; the brave from fear.” Or again: “The superior man is always happy; the small man sad.”

Confucius’ Spiritual Development

Speaking about his own spiritual development, Confucius said: “At fifteen I set my heart on learning. At thirty I could stand. At forty I had no doubts. At fifty I knew the Decree of Heaven (知命). At sixty I was already obedient (耳顺) to this Decree. At seventy, I could follow the desires of my mind without overstepping the boundaries of what is right. ”

The “learning” here is not what we now would call learning. That is to say, what we now call learning means the increase of our knowledge, but to Confucius it meant the Tao whereby we can elevate our mind. Confucius said: “To hear the Tao in the morning and then die at night, that would be all right.”

When Confucius says that at thirty he could “stand”, he means that he then understood social conventions of how to act properly in society and so could practice proper conduct.

When he says that at forty he had no doubts, he means that he had then become a wise man. For “The wise are free from doubts.”

When he says that at fifty he knew the Decree of Heaven, he means that he did what the Heaven required him to do on one hand, and he could disregard the success or failure in his life and keep a quiet mind, on the other hand.

When he says that at sixty he was already obedient to the Decree of Heaven, he also means that he had cared nothing about what others said about him, that is, others’ praises or calumniations, which were beyond his control.

At seventy, as has been told above, Confucius allowed his mind to follow whatever it desired, yet everything he did was naturally right of itself. That is to say, his actions no longer needed a conscious guide. He was acting without effort. This is just as in the case of a great pianist for whom it is freewheeling to play piano. This represents the last stage in the development of the sage(圣人).

Mo Zi (墨子)，The First Opponent of Confucius

In the history of Chinese philosophy, the next major philosopher after Confucius was Mo Zi. His family name was Mo and his personal name was Ti. About his life, we know almost nothing. His exact dates are uncertain, but probably he lived sometime within the years 479-381 B.C. The main source for the study of his thought is the book bearing his name, the Mo-Zi, which is a collection of writings by his followers as well as by himself.

Mo Zi was the founder of a school which was known after his name as the Mohist school (墨家). In ancient times his fame was as great as that of Confucius, and his teaching was no less influential. The contrast between the two men is interesting. Confucius felt a sympathetic understanding for the traditional institutions, rituals, music, and literature of the early Zhou Dynasty (周朝), and tried to rationalize and justify them in ethical terms. Mo Zi, on the contrary, questioned their validity and usefulness, and tried to replace them with something that was simpler but, in his view, more useful. In short, Confucius was the rationalizer and justifier of the ancient civilization, while Mo Zi was its critic. Confucius was a refined gentleman, while Mo Zi was a militant preacher (战斗的传教士). A major aim of his preaching was to oppose both the traditional institutions and practices, and the theories of Confucius and the Confucianists.

All-embracing Love

All-embracing love is a central concept in Mo Zi’s philosophy, which means that everyone in the world should love everyone else equally and without discrimination.

In the Mo-Zi, there are three chapters devoted to the subject of all embracing love. In them, Mo Zi first makes a distinction between what he calls the principle of “discrimination” and “all-embracing love”. The man who holds to the principle of discrimination says: it is absurd for me to care for friends as much as I would for myself, and to look after their parents as I would my own. As a result, such a man does not do very much for his friends. But the man who holds to the principle of all-embracing love, he says, on the contrary: I must care for my friends as much as I do for myself, and for their parents as I would for my own. As a result, he does everything he can for his friends. Having made this distinction, Mo Zi then asks the question: which of these two principles is the right one?

According to him, every principle must be examined by three tests, namely: “Its basis (本), its verifiability (原), and its applicability (有用性).” A sound and right principle should be based on the will of heaven and of the spirits and on the deeds of the ancient sage-kings (圣王). Then it is to be verified by the senses of hearing and sight of the common people. And finally, it is to be applied by adopting it in government and observing whether it is beneficial to the country and the people. Of these three tests, the last is the most important. “Being beneficial to the country and the people” is the standard by which Mo Zi determines all values.

Therefore, for Mo Zi, the task of the human-hearted man is to procure (获得) benefits for the world and to eliminate its disasters. Here we should make a difference between Confucianism and Mohism because they both have the concept of the human-hearted man, which means a person loving others. According to Mohist doctrine, love should have in it no gradations of greater or lesser love, whereas according to Confucianism, the reverse is true. In other words, the Mohists emphasized equality in loving others while the Confucianists emphasized gradation. For example, to a Confucianist, the love for a brother’s child is naturally greater than that for a neighbor’s and thus quite proper although men naturally love others out of their feelings of commiseration. On the contrary, to a Mohist, the love for a brother’s child should be totally on a par (同等的) with the love for a neighbor’s. Furthermore, the Confucianist type of graded love should be avoided at all costs. From this, it can be seen that Confucius' human-heartedness develops naturally from within the human nature whereas the Mohist all-embracing love is something artificially added to man.

The Will of God and Existence of Spirits

There remains, however, a basic question: Why should everyone personally act to benefit the world and why should he be a human-hearted man? Mo Zi says: “He who loves others, must also be loved by others. He who benefits others, must also be benefited by others. He who hates others, must also be hated by others”. Thus, to Mo Zi, the love of others is a sort of personal insurance or investment. However, most people are too shortsighted to see the value of a long-term investment of this sort, and there are a few instances in which such an investment does, indeed, fail to pay.

In order to persuade people to practice the principle of all-embracing love, Mo Zi, introduces a number of religious and political sanctions (支持), that is, the will of heaven and the existence of spirits. In Mo Zi’s opinion, God requires men to love one another. He constantly supervises the activities of men, especially those of the rulers of men. He punishes with calamities persons who disobey His will, and rewards with good fortune those who obey. Likewise, spirits also reward men who practice all-embracing love, and punish those who practice “discrimination”(有差别的爱).

However，there are only sufficient causes for one’s punishment or reward, but not necessary causes. In other words, God must punish those who don’t practice the principle of all-embracing love; but the calamities they have encountered don’t always come from God.

Besides religious sanctions, political ones are also needed if people are to practice all-embracing love. According to Mo Zi, the authority of the ruler of a state comes from two sources: the will of the people and the Will of God. The main task of the ruler is to supervise the activities of the people, rewarding those who practice all-embracing love and punishing those who do not. Furthermore, the state was created precisely in order to end the disorder. It had existed owing to the confused standards of right and wrong. Therefore, the function of the state is to unify them. In other words, within the state only one standard can exist, and it must be fixed by the state itself. To Mo Zi, the practice of mutual all-embracing love is right; the practice of mutual discrimination is wrong. This is the only one standard of right and wrong. Mo Zi’s ideal is to bring all people of the world to practice his principle of all-embracing love.

Mencius (Men Zi)

Mencius lived sometime within the years 371-289 B.C. He was a native of the State of Zou (邹人), in the present southern part of Shandong province in East China. He was linked with Confucius through his study under a disciple of Zisi (子思), who in turn was Confucius’ grandson. He is the second most important Confucianist in Chinese history.

The Goodness of Human Nature

We have seen that Confucius spoke very much about human-heartedness, and made a sharp distinction between righteousness and profit. Every man should, without thought of personal advantage, unconditionally do what he ought to do, and be what he ought to be. In other words, he should “extend himself so as to include others,” (推己及人) which, in essence, is the practice of human-heartedness. However, Confucius failed to explain why it is that a man should act this way. Mencius attempted to give an answer to this question, and in doing so, developed the theory of the original goodness of human nature for which he is most famed.

Mencius holds that human nature is good. However, he does not mean that every man is morally perfect just as a sage. In fact, he admits that there are also other elements, which are neither good nor bad in themselves, but which, if not duly controlled, can lead to evil. According to Mo Zi, however, these are elements which man shares in common with other living creatures, and which represent the “animal” aspect of man’s life. Therefore, strictly speaking, they are not parts of “human” nature.

To support his theory, Mencius represents numerous arguments, among them the following: If now men suddenly see a child about to fall into a well, they will without exception experience a feeling of alarm and distress. From this case, we may perceive that he who lacks the feeling of commiseration (恻隐) is not a man; that he who lacks a feeling of shame and dislike (羞恶) is not a man; that he who lacks a feeling of modesty and yielding（辞让）is not a man; and that he who lacks a sense of right and wrong 是非）is not a man. The feeling of commiseration is the beginning of human-heartedness. The feeling of shame and dislike is the beginning of righteousness (义). The feeling of modesty and yielding is the beginning of propriety (礼，适 当). The sense of right and wrong is the beginning of wisdom (智). Man has these four beginnings, just as he has four limbs. Since all men have these four beginnings in themselves, let them know how to give them full development and completion. The result will be like fire that begins to burn, or a spring，which has begun to find vent (出口,泉之始达). Let them have their completed development, and they will suffice to protect all within the four seas. If they deny that development, they will not suffice even to serve one’s parents.

All men in their original nature possess these “four beginnings,” which, if fully developed, become the four “constant virtues,” that is, human-heartedness, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom. To Mencius, it is these four beginnings that differentiate man from the beasts. In other words, they should be developed just because it is only through their development that man is truly a “man”. These virtues, if not hindered by external conditions, develop naturally from within, just as a tree grows by itself from the seed, or a flower from the bud. However, people’s attitudes towards this development are different. Mencius says: “ That whereby man differs from birds and beasts is but slight. The mass of the people cast it away, whereas the superior man preserves it.” Thus he answers a question which had not occurred to Confucius.

Xun Zi (荀子)

The three greatest figures of the Confucian School before Qin Dynasty were Confucius (551-479 B.C), Mencius (371-289? B. C) and Xun Zi (289-238? B.C ). Mencius represents the idealistic wing of Confucianism, and Xun Zi the realistic wing. That is to say, Xun Zi’s thought is the antithesis of that of Mencius.

Xun Zi’s personal name is Kuang. He was a native of the State of Zhao in the southern part of the present Hebei and Shannxi provinces. When he was fifty he went to the state of Qi, where he was probably the last great thinker of the academy of Jixia, the great centre of learning of that time. The book bearing his name contains thirty-two chapters. Many of them were detailed and logically developed essays. They probably came directly from Xun Zi’s pen.

Position of Man and Theory of Human Nature

Xun Zi is best known because of his theory that human nature is originally bad. This is directly opposed to that of Mencius, according to which human nature is originally good. Superficially, it may seem that Xun Zi had a very low opinion of man, yet the truth is quite contrary. Xun Zi’s doctrine may be called a philosophy of culture. His general thesis is that everything that is good and valuable is the product of human effort. Value comes from culture and culture is the achievement of man. It is in this that man has the same importance in the universe as Heaven and Earth. As Xun Zi says: “heaven has its seasons, Earth has its resources, man has his culture.”

According to Xun Zi, the three powers of the universe, Heaven, Earth and man, have their own particular vocations. The vocation of Heaven and Earth is to keep the stars making their rounds; the sun and moon alternately shining; the four seasons succeeding one another; wind and rain widely distributed; and to let all things acquire their harmony and have their lives. But the vocation of man is to utilize what is offered by Heaven and Earth and thus create his own culture. According to Xun Zi, if we dare to think about Heaven and try to do what only Heaven can do, we will fail to understand the nature of man and thus forget our own vocation. If we did so, we would fall into a great illusion.

According to Xun Zi, since the original nature of man is mainly evil, the first duty of man is to culture himself. This is because the evil nature of man could not become good and beautiful of itself without the acquired. In other words, human goodness is the acquired refinements brought about by culture, which is opposed to Mencius who maintains that man is born with the “four beginning” of the four constant virtues. Then, how can man become morally good? If every man is born evil, what is the origin of good? To answer these questions, Xun Zi offers two lines of argument.

In the first place, Xun Zi maintains that men cannot live without some kind of a social organization. The reason for this is that, in order to enjoy better living, men have need of cooperation and mutual support. In other words, only by doing so, they can conquer other creatures or survive the storm befalling them. Since men must have a social organization, they need rules of conduct or living in order to have it. These rules are social ethics, rites or ceremonies. The role of these rules is to set an end to social disorder. Whence does the social disorder arise? In Xun Zi’s opinion, it is because of man’s desires. According to him, man is born with desires. When these desires are not satisfied, he cannot remain without seeking their satisfaction. When this seeking for satisfaction is without measure or limit, there can only be contention. When there is contention, there will be disorder. When there is disorder, everything will be finished. From this, we can see that the function of these rules is to set this measure or limit for social life. In this sense, we can say that society is the origin of morality.

Xun Zi also employs another line of argument. In Xun Zi’ opinion, man is not truly man in the fact that he, uniquely, has two feet and no hair, but rather in the fact that he makes social distinctions, the function of which is to keep society in order. The rules, rites or social ceremonies are the very social distinctions.

The Intellectual And the Emotional

According to Xun Zi, human mind has two aspects, that is, the intellectual and the emotional. When our loved ones die, we know, through our intellect, that the dead are dead and that there is no rational ground for believing in the immortality. If we were to act only under the direction of our intellect, therefore, we would need no mourning rites. But since our mind also has its emotional aspect, this causes us, when our loved ones die, to hope that the dead may live again and that there may be a soul that will continue existing in the other world. Thus, there is a difference between what we know and what we hope. Knowledge is important, but we cannot live with knowledge only. We need emotional satisfaction as well. In this sense, we cannot treat the dead simply according to what we know or what we hope, but according to both of them. That is to say, we should treat them both as we know and as we hope them to be. This way consists in treating the dead as if they were living. This is also the answer of this question, that is, why sacrifice offered to ancestors has been so prevailing in China.

Confucianist Metaphysics

Confucianist metaphysics can be found mainly in the Appendices and in the Doctrine of the mean (中庸), which represent the last phase in the metaphysical development of ancient Confucianism. The Appendices (易传) are included in the Book of Changes (易经)，and is the metaphysical and ethical interpretations of it. The Doctrine of the mean was written by Zisi, the grandson of Confucius. However, as matter of fact, a large part of this work seems to have been written at a somewhat later date.

The principles of things

The most important metaphysical idea in Confucianism is that of Tao(道)，just as in Taoism. Yet it is quite different from the concept of Tao of the Taoists. For the latter, Tao is nameless and unnameable. But for the former, not only is Tao nameable, but strictly speaking, it is Tao and Tao only that is thus nameable. The Tao of Taoism is the unitary that from which springs the production and change of all things in the university. The Tao of Confucianism is, on the contrary, are multiple, and are the principles which govern each separate category of things in the universe.

There are many Such Taoes, such as the Tao of sovereignship, and ministership, or of fatherhood and sonhood. They are what a sovereign, a minister, a father, and a son ought to be. Each of them is represented by a name, and an individual should ideally act according to these various names. Here we find the old theory of the rectification of names of Confucius. In him, however, this was only an ethical theory, whereas in the “Appendices” it becomes metaphysical as well. In other words, things including men, belonging to different classes, should obey their own Tao. If they obey it, they will enjoy good luck, but if not, they will suffer bad fortune. From the point of view of moral teaching, if they obey it, they are right, but if not, they are wrong.

For Confucianism, things ever change, but Tao are invariable. Things are complex, but Tao are easy and simple. Then, how things should obey their own Tao? The answer is that they should be at the right place, in the right way, and at the right time. By doing so, they can reach their completion and maintain the state of completion. This rightness is usually indicated by the words correctitude (正) and the middle (or mean, 中). The middle means that one must act neither too much nor too little. For example, in order to do something with success, one must be careful not to be too successful; and in order to avoid losing something, one must complement it with something of its opposite. This is because that the man who keeps danger in mind is one who retains his position; the man who keeps ruin in mind is one who survives; the man who has disorder in mind is one who has peace. For this reason, the superior man (君子), when all is peaceful, does not forget danger; when he is acting, he does not forget about ruin; when he has society under control, he does not forget disorder. Only by doing so, it is possible for him to protect the state as well as himself.

Besides, the middle also means just right. For example, if a woman were one inch taller, she would be too tall; if she were one inch shorter, she would be too short. In other words, she is beautiful just because she is just right in stature. From the perspective of time, it is just right to wear a fur coat in winter, but it is not just right to wear it in summer. From the perspective of one’s emotions, if he can keep his emotion just right or in due proportion, he will feel peaceful and thus enjoy the harmony within his person which results in good mental health. A well-organized society is also a harmonious unity in which people of differing talents and professions occupy their proper places, perform their proper functions, and are all equally satisfied and not in conflict with one another. It is the harmonious unity that an ideal world should be. In this world, all things are nurtured together without injuring one another. All Taoes are pursued without collision (冲突). This is what makes Heaven and Earth great.

If one does things just right, and with understanding of their full significance, he can gain the union of inner and outer, which means a unity of man with Heaven and Earth. In this way, one can achieve other-worldliness, yet at the same time not lose this-worldliness.

Such is the Confucianist way of elevating the mind to a state in which the individual becomes one with the universe. It differs from the Taoist method, which is, through the negation of knowledge, to elevate the mind above the mundane(世俗的) distinctions between the “this” and the “other”. The Confucianist method, on the other hand, through the extension of love, can elevate the mind above the usual distinctions between the self and other things.