The Philosophy of Principle
As has been mentioned, Buddhism and Taoism, and what was
called "mysterious learning" were popular among intellectuals during
the Wei and Jin and the period of the Southern and Northern Dynas-
ties. After this period of division there was the Sui dynasty, which
lasted only 40 years before it was replaced by the Tang. Many Tang
official-scholars including the famous Han Yu and Li Ao were deter-
mined to restore the authority of Confucianism by attacking Bud-
dhism and Taoism. This effort was continued during the Northern
Song by important scholars like Ouyang Xiu and Fan Zhongyan.
After them, there emerged a number of outstanding philosophers,
among whom were Zhou Dunyi, Shao Yong, Zhang Zai, Cheng Hao
and Cheng Yi. They explored a series of fundamental problems re-
garding the universe and human life, such as principle (li) and
material-force ( qi ), the Way (dao ) and the instrument ( qi ), yin
and yang, human nature and human feelings, principle (li) and de-
sire, knowledge and practice, etc. Discussions of these categories
showed that they were concerned with more and newer questions
than earlier philosophers. The philosophy of this period, generally
called the philosophy of principle, was indeed more systematic, more
speculative, more subtle, larger in scope, and richer in content than
earlier philosophy. Its core was certainly Confucianism, but it con-
tained some Buddhist and Taoist .elements.
In the Southern Song, the philosophy of principle was further
developed. With Zhu Xi this philosophy reached its climax and com-
ptetion. Zhu may be regarded as the synthesizer not only of the phi-
losophy of principle, but of Chinese philosophy from Dong Zhongshu
to his. day.
Zhu(1130- 1200)was born into a scholar's family in Wuyuan,
Jiangxi. When young, he made an extensive study of Confucianism,
Buddhism, especially Zen. Buddhism, and Taoism. He also studied
history and literature. He was truly a learned scholar with a profound
knowledge in many fields. After he passed the imperial examina-
tions, he was a government official' for some time, but he spent the
greater part of his life as a teacher and author. He compiled a number
of books , the most popular being the Four Books, comprising The
Analects, The Mencius, The Great Learning, and The Doctrine of
the Mean. These four books and the notes and commentaries he
wrote for them were to become standard textbooks studied by all
scholars who intended to sit for the imperial examinations in later dy-
nasties. His conversations with his students on various philosophical
topics were recorded and edited, and made up a huge book. ealled
Ctasssi fied Conversations of Zhu Zi.
Below are some of the main points he discussed':
Principle and material-foree. Following the Cheng brothers
(Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi) Zhu Xi held that the principle was the
origin of the universe. In other words, there was first theprinciple
and then there was the urliverse and all tl~e things in it. But principle
and material-force cannot be separated. There is no material-force
without principle, nor is there principle without, material-force. Be-
fore there was a chair, he said, the principle of the chair was already
there. A chair has to have four legs--that is something determined
by the principle.
There are countless things in the world. Does it follow that
there are countless principles? Zhu Xi said that there is only one orig-
inal principle--the Supreme Ultimate. The countless principles em-
bodied in countless things are all derived from this original principle.
This is comparable to the fact that there is only one moon in the sky,
but in ten thousand rivers and lakes there are its reflections.
But Zhang Zai and some other philosophers of the time had a dif-
ferent view. They said that material-force is the basis of existence. It
is eternal, boundless, present everywhere at any time. Principle is an
attribute of material-force. It exists not before, but within material-
force.
Human nature. According to Zhu and some other Song philoso-
phers, human nature is principle embodied in human beings. It is
good, pure and virtuous. But not every person is virtuous. The rea-
son is that human beings are made of different types of material-
force, and this difference makes them different in moral qualities.
Sages are endowed with pure material-force; so their nature is like a
pearl in clear water. Evil people are endowed with dirty material-
force, and their nature is like a pearl in muddy water. In short, hu-
man nature as a reflection of principle is good, but personal qualities
affected by material-force may be evil.
Heavenly principle and selfish desire. According to Zhu and
other philosophers of the school of principle, human nature corre-
sponds to heavenly principle, and it finds expression in the four
virtues of humanity, rightness, propriety, and wisdom, and the eth-
ical code that governs the relations between father and son, brother
and brother, and husband and wife. But human desire may be bad,
selfish and dangerous. Therefore Zhu Xi called on people to "keep
heavenly principle and get rid of selfish desire."
So the ruler should be virtuous and just, and the common people
should be obedient, law-abiding and uphold the ethical code, All peo-
ple should behave according to the heavenly principle, which has nev-
er changed and will never change. But he did not say who was to en-
sure that the ruler behaved according to heavenly principle and re-
moved selfish desires.
The necessity of examining concrete objects. Zhu Xi said that to
understand the principle one should examine the manifestations of it
in concrete objects. The more objects one examines, the wider one's
knowledge will be. This is a process of the accumulation of knowl-
edge, and the result will be the thorough understanding of the princi-
ple, or enlightenment. Based on The Doctrine of the Mean, he held
that the correct study method should be to "learn extensively, inquire
carefully, think deeply, differentiate clearly, and practise faithful-
ly.''
According to Zhu Xi, not only nature, but also human society,
was governed or guided by the principle, which was eternal. It is
clear that he believed that the feudal system would not change and
could not be changed. For this reason, in the dynasties after the Song
his philosophy was highly acclaimed. His influence was once spread
to Japan, Korea and other East Asian countries.