Wang Yang-mings Philosophy in a Historical Perspective

·期刊原文
The Essence of Wang Yang-ming's Philosophy in a Historical Perspective
By Thome H. Fang
Philosophy East & West
V. 23 (1973)
pp. 73-90
Copyright 1973 by University of Hawaii Press
Hawaii, USA

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

p. 73

Some years ago I tried to characterize the predominant trends of Chinese philosophy by a form of thought centering around organicism which, as an expression of integrative wholes or architectonic unities, has been cherished by the best Chinese minds of the different schools of wisdom. It rejects neat bifurcation as a method; it disowns hard dualism as a truth. It further denounces the possibilities of (1) taking things and persons in isolated systems and of (2) squeezing the dynamical nature of Man and the Cosmos into closed systems of stagnancy and impoverishment. It aims at encompassing all aspects of richness and plentitude with respect to Being, Existence, Life, and Value in an intimate embracement of mutual relevance, essential interrelatedness, and reciprocal importance. [1]

This organismic conception of philosophy, which was often a final conclusion for earlier thinkers, served as a starting point of vantage for Wang Yang-ming (1472-1529). As the body, the mind, the intention, knowledge and its objects form a manifold scheme of inseparability, [2] organismic unity becomes a very complicated concept susceptible to different interpretations. The unity of Being, the unity of Existence, the unity of Life, and the unity of Value will call for different systems of ontology, cosmology, and philosophical anthropology to attempt an adequate theoretical elaboration. But here it is out of the question to take them all into consideration. One thing, however, must be brought to the focus, and that is the axiological unity.

Plato in the West, after having known the absolute nature of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty, was dreaming of the final ideal of the axiological unity for the solution of the problem of cwrismoV or separation but was greatly encumbered by its inscrutability. [3] Wang Yang-ming, however, with his firm belief in the validity of innate intuitive insight, definitely knew that, with him, the ideal of the axiological unity was most inward. Here he was speaking for the Sage who was spiritually free from any encumbrance in the execution of inborn intuitive insight. "The Sage only abides by the spontaneous function of intuitive knowledge and all things throughout the Universe naturally occur in the process wherein the intuition is fully functioning. How can there be anything which will encumber us by transgressing the range of intuitive awareness?" [4]

In this way Wang Yang-ming, though continuing the idealistic tradition of Lu Hsiang-shan (1139-1192), [5] has surpassed the latter's limitation. Lu

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Cf. Thome H. Fang, "The World and the Individual in Chinese Metaphysics," in Philosophy East and West 14, no. 2 (Jul., 1964): 101-102.

2. Cf. Chief Works of Wang Yang-ming, Shih Pang-yao ed., 1635. The original Chinese text was in three portions. Some forty years ago it was reissued by the Commercial Press in Shanghai. Portion I, Philosophical Volumes (hereafter cited as W:P), vol. 2, Sayings, p. 2.

3. Cf. Plato Republic VI 502c-509c; Epistle, VII, 341c.

4. W:P, vol. 2, Sayings, p. 15.

5. Cf. W:P, vol. 4, Preface to the Works of Lu Hsiang-shan, pp. 76-77; Letter in reply to Hsu Ch'eng-chih, pp. 36-42.

p. 74

Hsiang-shan maintained the Principle of Transcendental Ideality at odds with the ugly conventional world leaving behind him a kind of duality to be dissolved. Wang Yang-ming in Queries Concerning the Great Learning accomplished this task beautifully by changing the Principle of Transcendental Ideality into the Principle of Immanent Ideality, whereby the vision of the axiological unity becomes fully realized in his own mind and then in the universal Presence of Mind partaken by all. This presupposes two vital points: (1) the perfect concentration of human mind on the heavenly Reason without subjugation to the external objects [6] and (2) the absolute assurance that the Supreme Good is intrinsic in the substance of Mind, whose function is to enlighten the illuminant virtues to the utmost degree of unity and to the highest pitch of spirituality without any breach from all things, thus bringing about the coalescence of Existence and Value. [7]

This brings us to the intimacy of cosmic identification, which has been a point of convergence among Chinese philosophers in all epochs, regardless of the radical differences exhibited in the systems of Taoism, Confucianism, Mahaayaana Buddhism, as well as Neo-Confucianism. The cosmic feeling of being at one with each and all in the way of Tao is the first sign of sagehood. When this feeling ripens into full wisdom, it not only presages an ideal of sagehood, it directly presents a sage. "In the days of old, we wondered admiringly that only the supreme Sage in the world is capable of achieving enlightenment and wisdom. But now we come to realize that the light of wisdom is in every man's possession. His ears hear distinctly, his eyes see clearly, his mind thinks most wisely. The Sage is naturally capable of doing all of these and this capability of his is just intuitive insight." [8] "This intuitive knowledge is in the possession of every man; the Sage only keeps it fully intact." [9] By this it is implied that the Sage is putting forth his intuitive knowledge spontaneously while the multitude of people are practicing it with useful effort. Apart from the difference in effort, the Sage and the ordinary man equally can concentrate their spirit on the same pivot of mind. This is because Man and all things in the Universe primordially form a substantial unity in which the highest peak of development consists in the spiritual spark of the human mind whereby the natural phenomena -- the celestial bodies, the birds and animals, the grass and plants, the mountains and rivers, the plains and rocks -- are all seen to be clearly interwoven in the cosmic fellowship-in-unity. [10]

It is upon this basis that Wang Yang-ming awakened himself to the philosophical truth embodied in the Great Learning, which brings to light the illu-

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6. Cf. W:P, vol. 1, Record on Teachings [Chüan-hsi-lu], II:17.

7. Cf. W:P, vol. 1, Record on Teachings I:2, 4-5.

8. W:P, vol. 2, Sayings, p. 16.

9. Ibid., p. 6.

10. Cf. W:P, vol. 2, Sayings, pp. 14-16.

p. 75

minant virtues of the great men. "The Cosmos together with all beings is considered to be a substantial unity by the great men who look upon the world as if it were a single family and upon the Chinese nation as if it were a single man. It is only owing to the petty interest of the belittled man who will estrange himself from others along the material line of demarcation. The fact that great men can be at one with all things in the Universe is no whim of intention. It is in virtue of the essence of humanity (or the spiritual sentiment of loving kindness) that they are primarily unitive with all beings in the Universe." [11]

He went further in asserting that not only the great men but also the petty men equally would show pity to a child falling into the well and come to the rescue. This is natural, owing to the consciousness of humankind. Upon the wailing call of the helpless little birds or animals, all humans, whether great or small, instantaneously would treat them with kindness. This is only natural because of the animate feeling of consentient perceptions. All men, great or small, would feel pathetic when seeing the tree, plants, and flowers withering away their precious life, which is somehow akin to human life. Furthermore, when seeing tiles and earthenware being broken to pieces, all men would feel sorry in witnessing the destruction. All these cases of loving kindness or humanitarian sentiment are deeply rooted in the Heaven-bestowed Nature which has come to the fore in the awakening of Mind to what is known to us as the illuminant virtues.

Now Wang Yang-ming marked the difference between the great men and the little men by the presence or absence of selfish desires. When denuded of the ill-effect of selfish desires, the mind of the debased man would be transfigured into that of the great man who is well versed in the practice of loving kindness, while the mind of the great man, once contaminated by the selfish desires, would be degenerated into the mind of the petty man, far removed from the spirit of loving kindness. This fact led Wang Yang-ming to the conclusion that the moral endeavor of men, as great men, consists in the extirpation of selfish desires, bringing to light the illuminant virtues so that men may be restored to the primordial unity of intrinsic humanity befitting the practice of universal love. The coming to the clear consciousness of the illuminant virtues, besides substantiating the primordial unity in which all beings in the cosmos are really at one, necessitates the affectionate love for the people in different social relationships, which is the actual work or the effective function performed to substantiate real fellowship-in-unity. Hence the clear knowledge of the illuminant virtues must be corroborated by the affection for people, and, in turn, the love of people is the best proof of the importance of these illuminant virtues in actual practice. For example, my love for my father is sympathetically extended to others' fathers and then to all men's fathers to show that the essence of humanity in the spirit

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11. W:P, vol. 2, Queries Concerning the Great Learning, p. 27.

p. 76

of love will become affluent in the fellowship-in-unity in which my filial affection for all human and humane fathers will make me intimately one in spiritual being with all in the light of the illuminant virtues.

The same holds true in the cases of enlarged moral practices regarding other social and cosmic relationships. In the fulfillment of these relationships, there is the analogous affinity of people, or akinness of beings, vindicating the solidity of loving kindness in the fellowship-in-unity to prove that the awakening into the illuminant virtues will ascertain the reality of cosmic identification. All of this is designated by Wang Yang-ming as the illumination of the illuminant virtues in respect to the whole world, which gives best evidence to the achievement of the Supreme Good in the Mind as the axiological unity. It is fully exhibited in the Heaven-bestowed Nature as the spiritual light gleaming in the substance of Mind constitutive of intuitive knowledge. [12] Thus by reason of the self-awakening into the illuminant virtues, the ideality of the Supreme Good is inwardly realized in the depth of the human Mind. Whence is the necessity of looking for it somewhere else in the world of transcendence? It is owing to this fact that I have called it the Principle of Immanent Ideality, which is the same as the Principle of Immediate Reality.

On the basis of the Principle of Immanent Ideality there may be developed the Principle of Unity in Duality, which is discernible everywhere in the writings or utterances of Wang Yang-ming. There are many sets of opposite concepts which can be dissolved into inseparable oneness.

1. Ordinarily things and events are cognized as mere matters-of-fact, denuded of significance and value, which are superadded by the extra imposition of mind. There is the breach between the neutral mosaic of beings and the mental superposition of values on the frame of mere existence in space-time. But according to Wang Yang-ming, Existence and Value are interwoven into an inseparable unity on account of the fact that Mind is the fulcrum of Existence and Value, both of which are ascertained by the thinking activity of the Mind, which per se is the Supreme Good. There can be nothing conceivable outside of the Mind.

2. The problem of duality between the cognitive mind and the reason inherent in objects was brought to the attention of Wang Yang-ming by Hsu Ai (1487-1517). The definite answer to this was found in the statement that Mind is Reason. The Mind, stripped of the prejudice of selfish desires, is made up of the heavenly Reason which is not obtained from objects outside of the mind. For instance, the mind of pure reason, being exercised with respect to father, king, friends, and people, will manifest itself in filial love, loyalty, truthfulness, and benevolence. Reason is the function of Mind; it is not found in the supposed objects of the external world. Filial love pertains to the mind of the

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

12. Cf. Ibid., pp. 27-29.

p. 77

son; it is due from the son, not discovered in the father. This unity of mind in the cognitive situation comprising all sorts of objects is a principle of wide application, [13] although modern realism is likely to charge it with the egocentric predicament. [14] Once, upon visiting a mountain, a friend in Wang Yang-ming's company pointed to a tree, meaning to suggest that the flowers existed independently of the mind. Wang Yang-ming took the hint and said briskly: "The flowers, if unperceived, would remain in the silence like your own mind. Whenever you come to see them, they will open with beautiful tinge of colors. Hence the flowers are nowhere outside of your mind." [15] This pronouncement sounded exactly like what George Berkeley would say some two hundred years later.

3. Knowledge and action constitute one inseparable unity. Such a doctrine, once anticipated by Ch'eng I (1033-1107), waits for its articulate formulation in the system of Wang Yang-ming. "Knowledge is the chief plan for action and action is the actual work done in knowledge. Knowing is the beginning of acting and acting is the accomplishment of knowing." [16] Knowledge is action based upon clear consciousness and accurate observation, while action is knowledge relevant to reality and close to actuality. Action without the guidance of knowledge is blind impulse; knowledge apart from active verification or actual practice is capricious fancy. In each case, it is far from adequate truth. [17]

Such a theory has an especial significance for ethics. Nowadays, scholars, owing to the acceptance of the duality of knowledge and action, will not try to nip in the bud the idea of ill-intention just because of its being looked upon as a mere idea which, according to Wang Yang-ming, is already a scheme of action and has got to be uprooted from the very beginning before issuing in explicit evils. [18]

4. In the wider field and the deeper ground of metaphysical contemplation, there is unison of the human Mind with human Nature, and human Nature with Heaven, conducive first to the inseparable unity of Mind and Matter and then to the congruence of the investigation of objects with the inquiry into reason. As the metaphysical problem of unity is quite complicated, it is perhaps better for us to attack the epistemological problem first. When Wang Yang-ming enunciated his organismic theory by reducing the body, mind, intention, knowledge and the object thereof into an inseparable oneness, a student by the name of Chiu-chuan asked: How could it be possible since the object existed by itself in the external world? Wang disposed of this problem by a set of

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

13. Cf. W:P, vol. 1, Record on Teachings, I:3-4.

14. Cf. Ralph B. Perry, Present Philosophical Tendencies (New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1912), pp. 129-134.

15. W:P, vol. 2, Sayings, p. 16.

16. W:P, vol. 2, Record on Teachings, I:6.

17. Cf. W:P, vol. 3, Letter to a Friend, p. 39; Letter to Ku Tung-chiao, p. 50.

18. Cf. W:P, vol. 2, Sayings, p. 7.

p. 78

definitions. The body is that which occupies space. Mind is the dominance over the body. Intention is the motivation of mind. Knowledge is the spiritual light induced by the intention. The object is the relevant event incited by the intention. We must be aware that the body, mind, intention, knowledge and its object taken together make up an organismic unity explicable in terms of: (a) the correlation of mind and body, (b) the correlation of intention and knowledge, and (c) the correlation of knowledge and the cognitive event, which is taken for the object. [19] The pivotal point here is the intention which energizes the mind to get at the object of its own making. The external object existing in itself is a misnomer. The efficacy of knowledge is corroborated by the threefold correlation concentrated on the relational property, which is cognizance. Knowledge is focused on knowing, actively issuing in an event of cognizance expressing the noetic-noematic unity, which is further justified by the fact that mind is reason and that both mind and "matter" form a locus of cosmic sympathetic response. [20]

5. Before we come to the consideration of the second epistemological problem and its bearing upon the metaphysical contemplation of unity, a word must be said about the different sorts of language used to express the different philosophical thoughts. In the Sung dynasty, it was Ch'eng Hao (1032-1085), and Ch'eng I, who jointly distinguished between the language used by the men who possessed perfect virtue and the language of men who were on the way to the Tao. [21] The first is the language of the Sage speaking his own mind; the second is the language of the worthy who tries to express something on behalf of the Sage. In addition to these, there is the depletive language of factual statement adapted to the ordinary people. With regard to the second problem of epistemology, Wang Yang-ming, it seems to me, would think that Chu Hsi (1130-1200) had misused the language of factual depletion to speak the Mind of the Sage. Hence Chu Hsi was misrepresenting the true intention of the Sage.

Chu Hsi, beset with a realistic dualism, maintained that the investigation of objects and the inquiry into reason should go outside of the mind for the discovery of truth. This led Chu Hsi to commit three mistakes in epistemology when considered from the idealistic point of view of Wang. (a) In an attempt to look for truth in the neutral mosaic of Being whitewashed of Value, Chu Hsi was using the neutralistic factual language to depict the axiological state of affairs. He was mistaking the Sage for the ordinary people versed in the ordinary language, (b) The investigation of objects is the work done for the achievement of the Supreme Good, which, by definition, pertains to the Mind. And the inquiry into Reason should be the activity of the Mind ascertaining its own essence by virtue of unerring, inborn intuitive insight. Chu His, on

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

19. Cf. W:P, vol. 1, Record on Teachings, I:8; vol. 3, Letter to Ku Tung-ch'iao, p. 57.

20. Cf. W:P, vol. 2, Sayings, pp. 22, 24-25.

21. Cf. The Complete Works of Ch'eng Hao and Ch'eng I, vol. 11, p. 8; vol. 18, p.11.

p. 79

the ground of the "intentionality" of knowledge in the sense of outward-directedness, has misplaced the locus of the Supreme Good on the one hand and has slighted the spontaneous activity of Mind on the other. In a word, the pan-objectivist theory of truth has neglected the principle of subjectivity in the construction of knowledge, and the sheer neutralist theory of knowledge has undermined the foundation of axiology. (c) As an effect of the inverted theory of the investigation of objects, Chu Hsi has committed the greatest mistake by confounding a novice in ordinary knowledge with the Sage in his highest spiritual achievement in wisdom.

Regarding knowledge and action, three sorts of persons are especially concerned. (a) The Sage, with an inborn insight and a spontaneity of action, is to exercise his Mind to the utmost degree to know the unison of human Nature with Heaven. (b) The man of worthiness, skilled in the acquisition of knowledge and in the performance of action, would keep his mind intact in order to cultivate his Nature in subservience to Heaven. (c) The ordinary scholar, somewhat encumbered by the difficulty of knowledge and somehow weighed down by the burden of action, has yet to make a firm determination in the pursuance of knowledge and in the refinement of conduct at any cost with a view to waiting for the divine command. The ordinary scholar is evidently no more than a novice in the investigation of objects and in the inquiry into reason. Yet Chu Hsi has made the blunder of confounding him with the Sage, who knows for sure that his Mind is in unison with his Nature and that his Nature is in unison with Heaven. This, in the opinion of Wang Yang-ming, makes the domain of knowledge a topsy-turvy-dom. [22]

6. Wang Yang-ming was very resolute in an attempt to establish his system of idealistic monism in contrast with Chu Hsi's realistic dualism. Pitched on the truthful intention, the Mind starts to perform its function in the investigation of things with a view to attaining to the ultimate end of the Supreme Good, in virtue of which, the Mind imparts its own penetrative intuitive insight into the objects under investigation. It is then that knowledge is perfectly realized. By reason of rectification, the Mind comes to the awareness of its own substance; through the cultivation of personal integrity, the Mind manifests its own function. In respect to itself, it is called the illuminant virtue; in connection with others, it is called the affinity of people. With reference to the cosmic span of Heaven and Earth, the Mind is the all-comprehensive unitary system of perfection. "And, therefore, the process of realizing knowledge is the fundamentum of truthful intention; the procedure of investigating things furnishes knowledge in the actual making. Being through with the investigation of things, the realization of knowledge, as well as the execution of truthful intention, the Mind will come to the perfect awareness of its own infinite sub-

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

22. Cf. W:P, Record on Teachings, I:7-9; vol. 3, Letter to Ku Tung-ch'iao, pp. 51-53.

p. 80

stance which is the Supreme Good attained." [23] This is the Principle of Axiological Unity reaffirmed in terms of mental activity.

In another context, Wang Yang-ming elucidated this point further.

The task of the Great Learning consists in the illumination of illuminant virtue which is none other than the truthful intention whose function is to investigate things and to obtain knowledge. If, in virtue of the preeminent truthful intention, we are to do the work of investigating things and of realizing knowledge, we shall not be at a loss in doing good by shunning evils, as ordained by the truthful intention. Contrarily, if you first try to search for the reason supposedly inherent in the external objects in accordance with the revised text of the Great Learning, you will have to beat about the bush without getting at anywhere. And so until you have made an arbitrary appeal to the image of "Reverence," you can hardly show that the attempt has any bearing on your own mind and person. Even then the outward search would be groundless. ... This is why I have pitched upon the truthful intention as the pivotal point of philosophical contemplation. If no heed is taken of this important point, it is inevitable that the Herculean labors spent in the quest for truth will prove to be a great folly. In a word, the task vindicated in the Doctrine of the Mean consists in the true aim at personal integrity which will conduce to the final result of the highest Sincerity; the task endorsed in the Great Learning consists in the truthful intention the ultimate achievement of which will be the Supreme Good. [24]

At another juncture, Wang observed that the difference between himself and Chu Hsi lay not so much in the mentality as in the method of approach. [25] I think their difference is far greater than this. Chu Hsi was epistemologically a dualist and cosmologically an objectivist in that he admitted the independent existence of Heaven and earth and that his Mind of humanity only partook of the cosmic Mind of loving kindness in the bringing into existence of all beings. And as an epistemological dualist, Chu Hsi recognized a radical difference not only between mind and matter but also between the knowledge of sensory perception and the knowledge of rational thinking. All these points essential to Chu Hsi's dualistic realism are utterly refuted by Wang Yang-ming as a radical idealist, who in the eyes of a realist is equally refutable. In the history of East-West philosophy, the day of last judgment has not come.

7. In view of the organismic unity running through the body, mind, intention, knowledge, and its objects, it is clear that the mind and the objects known, the investigation of things and the inquiry into reason, the inquiry into reason, and the illumination of illuminant virtue are all brought to the inseparable unity. [26] But on the metaphysical ground, Wang Yang-ming went further in asserting the identity among the following paired concepts: Mind and Nature, Na-

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

23. W:P, vol. 4, Preface to the Original Text of the Great Learning, p. 105.

24. W:P, vol. 1, Record on Teachings, III:54-55. Consult also references in footnotes 23 and 25.

25. Cf. W:P, vol. 1, Record on Teachings, III:38-39.

26. Cf. W:P, vol. 1, Record on Teachings, I:8-9.

p. 81

ture and Reason, Nature and Heaven, the mind of men and the Mind of the Tao, Mediety and Harmony, [27] with reasons only explicable in the light of his theory of Mind, which is needed before further discussion.

At the age of forty, Wang Yang-ming set forth his theory of Mind, which betrayed the influence of Chang Tsai (1020-1077), Ch'eng Hao, and Lu Hsiang-shan on the one hand and the allurement of Ch'anism on the other. It is a kind of double-aspect theory in that the Mind is a unitive core of substance and function or of human nature and human emotion. As a substance, the Mind is in a state of immobility; but as a function, it is susceptible to giving sympathetic response. It is at the same time statical and dynamical in character -- statical insofar as it is embedded in the mediety of Heaven and Earth as the perennial Nature, and dynamical inasmuch as it is incited to activity, which gushes forth either as the stream of consciousness (perception or thought) or as the rush of volcanic emotion. The best conceivable state of Mind is when its statical repose always accords well with the mediety of perennial nature while its dynamical activity is forever tuned to the best of comprehensive harmony. Such a state of mind is called the substance and function in perfect unison. [28]

In agreement with the Neo-Confucians in the Sung dynasty, Wang Yang-ming tried to identify the Mind successively with Nature, Reason, Tao, and Heaven without much ado. [29] His aim was to make his thought congruent with the heritage of Mencius by asserting that Mind dominates over the body, that (human) Nature abides by the Mind, and that goodness originates in the (human) Nature. [30] Consciously or unconsciously, he widened the domain of Confucianism by bordering upon the camp of the Hua-yen Buddhism according to which all dharmas have their origination in the Mind only. Wang actually spoke about disposing of objects by Reason, dealing with objects for Righteousness, and treating of (human) Nature as Goodness: what is referred to in each case is actually the product of the Mind, with a difference only in name. "There can be no objects outside of mind, no events beyond the reach of mind, no Reason independent of mind, no righteousness apart from mind, and no goodness in the absence of mind." [31] In fact anything that is done in connection with the mind or its activities such as intention and cognition is nothing but a mental concernment. "Hence the investigation of things means investigating the objects in the mind, investigating the objects in intention, and investigating the objects in cognition." [32] And yet there is no egocentric predicament here.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

27. Cf. Ibid., I, II, pp. 3, 7, 10, 21-22, 27, 30, 33-34; W:P, vol. 2, Sayings, pp. 22.

28. Cf. W:P, vol. 4, Letter to Wang Shih-t'an, pp. 3-4.

29. Cf. W:P, vol. 1, pp. 3, 22, 24, 30, 33-34, 38-39, 51-52; vol. 2, pp. 6, 21.

30. Cf. W:P, vol. 4, Second Letter to Wang Shun-fu, p. 13.

31. W:P, vol. 4, p. 14. Also Cf. vol. 1, p. 8; vol. 2, p. 24; vol. 4, pp. 25-26.

32. W:P, vol. 4, Letter in reply to Lo Cheng-an, p. 26.

p. 82

For "the rectification of mind means rectifying the mind with respect to objects; the truthful intention means the testification of the intended objects; and the realization of knowledge means the verification of the cognitive objects. How can there be the cutting asunder of the interior and the exterior inasmuch as Reason is the all-pervasive unity." [33] All these statements were made by Wang to prove the noetic-noematic unity in the rational order of Mind. There are no events outside of mind. There is no reason outside of mind. Hence there is no learning outside of mind. "And, therefore, the man of virtue only aims at the attainment to the truth of Mind through learning. Even if the achievement is so great as to put the entire range of Heaven and Earth in perfect order wherein all beings come to the complete fulfillment of life, there can be no transcendence of my mind." [34] For such a reason as this, Wang was led to the acceptance and appreciation of Lu Hsiang-shan who asserted that the mind of mine (as well as of yours) is constitutive of the rational order of all things, after a systematic criticism of Chu Hsi's attempt to seek the truth of knowledge in and from the external world. [35]

It was at the same time of his philosophical flourishment that Wang Yang-ming tried to simplify his theory of Mind by likening it to a looking glass. It may be called the mirror-theory of Mind betraying the influence of both Shen-hsiu (606?-706) and Hui-neng (639-713). There are different sorts of looking glasses -- the perfectly polished, the partly polished, and the unpolished -- with different degrees of reflectiveness. The mind of a sage, as sheer spiritual light befitting any changing situation, mirrors everything as it is essentially, whether beautiful, ugly, or neutral. The mind of the ordinary people may look dusty with defiled elements waiting for wiping off in order to show traces of spiritual light. The mind of a dullard may be like a drab-colored speculum with patches of dirt impairing the reflection. It has to be thoroughly polished before it can be used to throw light upon things. [36] The final purpose of mental cultivation and spiritual refinement for everybody is to become a sage whose mind, like a perfectly polished mirror, made purely of the heavenly reason undefiled with evil desires, will cast its spiritual light upon all beings throughout the Universe. Such a spiritual light, by reason of its illumination, will reach the infinite height of Heaven and penetrate into the mysterious depths of the earth, deciphering the significance of all things that have their ways of being in the rational order. [37]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

33. Ibid.

34. Cf. W:P, vol. 4, Preface to the Collected Essays of Tzu-yang Academy, p. 94.

35. Cf. W:P, vol. 4, Preface to the Works of Lu Hsiang-shan, pp. 96-97.

36. Cf. W:P, vol. 4, Letter to Huang Tsung-hsien and Ying Yüan-chung, p. 5; vol. 3, Letter in Reply to Ou-yang Ch'iung-i, pp. 46-47.

37. Cf. W:P, vol. 1, Record on Teachings, II:18, 28-29, 33; vol. 2, Sayings, pp. 24-25; vol. 3, Letter to Lu Yuan-ching, p. 22.

p. 83

Wang Yang-ming's theory of Mind has an important bearing upon the last phase of his philosophical development, namely, the concept of liang-chih and the way of its realization. It is rather difficult to find the exact English equivalent for liang-chih. It is knowledge somehow connected with the sense and the intellect, but it is neither sensory perception, which is tied down to the body, nor merely intellectual knowledge. One may be extremely clever, and yet one's cleverness in intellectual knowledge may turn out to be another mode of foolery because of figuring out much too pragmatically. Wang Yang-ming defined it as the clear illumination and spiritual awareness of the Heavenly reason which is the substance of Mind issuing in the spontaneous function of thought generative of wisdom. [38] I should like to take it for conscientious wisdom. It is metaphysical, intuitive insight intent upon moral vision. It is penetrative insight, like a cat getting at the mouse with the concerted concentration of sight, hearing, muscular alertness, and mental assurance, swiftly combined to form a miraculous conductance of spiritual power that will become affluent in the whole sphere of action. When liang-chih displays its wondrous function, we are able to see that the Mind of man will coalesce with Heaven and earth into a substantial unity, with a flux of energy all-pervasive up and down in the cosmic sphere of life. And the Sage only goes by the spontaneous functioning of liang-chih in order to be aware that the universe, together with all things, will be embraced within the natural process of liang-chih with no possibility whatever of having anything lying outside of it to weigh down the freedom of the spirit. [39]

In the answer to the Queries Concerning the Great Learning, Wang identified the conscientious wisdom (liang-chih) with the substance of illuminant virtue, which is disclosed to us by the exuberant spiritual light as the Supreme Good embedded in the human Nature as given by the Divine. [40] It is in this light of the spirit that the Sage has come to the awareness of conscientious wisdom, in the virtue of which, he establishes the substantial unity with the Cosmos as a whole and performs the function of it by affiliating his mind and heart with the affinity of people as well as with the akinness of beings.

Thus it is the Sage who is capable of realizing the ideal of conscientious wisdom by applying the Heavenly reason in his Mind to all varieties of things and events, making them all rational in character. Whenever the ideal of conscientious wisdom is realized, in and by the sagacious mind, then all varieties of events and objects will be in perfect unison with reason, bringing about the final unity in the intelligible order of Mind. [41] The Mind of the Sage, piercing

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

38. Cf. W:P, vol. 3, Letter in Reply to Shu Kuo-yung, p. 25; Letter in Reply to Ou-yang Ch'iung-i, p. 45.

39. Cf. W:P, vol. 2, Sayings, pp. 14-15.

40. Cf. W:P, vol. 2, Sayings, pp. 27-29, 42.

41. Cf. W:P, vol. 3, Letter to Ku Tung-ch'iao, p. 54.

p. 84

through the rational order of the Universe as a whole, will look upon all men as being near and dear in the consanguinity of spiritual life and upon all existence as being akin in the magnificence of authentic value. All of this is clearly known for sure by the unerring conscientious wisdom in theory which must be carried out in a perfect scheme of noble action because of their inseparable unity. When this is finally achieved, Wang Yang-ming would sing of Joy as the essence of Mind, for he found the Mind of humanity was the inseparable bond of all things in the Cosmos, which is, as it were, a symphony of harmony gladdening all around. [42]

Having seen the essence of Wang Yang-ming's philosophy, I shall now try to explain some points in which his philosophy was actually or possibly connected with the previous trends of Chinese thought that have had considerable influence upon him. As a rule, he was considered by many as the greatest Neo-Confucian in the Ming dynasty. Wang Fu-chih (1619-1692), however, charged him to be a terrible heretic who mimicked Ch'anist Buddhism for Confucianism. [43] Contrarily, Huang Tsung-hsi (1610-1695) maintained that ever since Wang Yang-ming had pointed out the universal presence of conscientious wisdom in the Mind, the pathway to sagehood was opened up for every man, otherwise the classical Chinese heritage would have been dead long ago. [44]

Wang Yang-ming was neither a precocious child -- being unable to speak at the age of five -- nor a precocious thinker. In his twenties and even in his early thirties, he was still in the rockaway, loitering on the intellectual prairie -- now attracted by scholastic Confucianism, now indulging in Taoisoism [45] -- the self-styled Taoism, and now allured by Ch'anist Buddhism. It was only during the fatal and distressed years, 1508-1510, toward the end of his thirties that he awakened out of a life-and-death struggle into philosophical wisdom, by, first, expounding the theory of the unity of knowledge and action, and then, after a number of years, the monistic philosophy of Mind. And still later he found the sure ways of realizing conscientious wisdom as a proposed road to sagehood. He died at a rather young age, as a great victorious soldier, otherwise his philosophical achievement would have reached a far greater height.

In 1524 -- four years before his death -- he gave a musical dinner party to his disciples at the Heavenly Fountain Bridge; he was reported to express his thought in four aphorisms. [46] In 1527, the question about these aphorisms was still debated among the disciples in his presence.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

42. Cf. W:P, vol. 3, Letter to Huang Mien-chih, p. 29.

43. Cf. Wang Fu-chih, Commentary on Chang Tsai's Treatise on Edification, Introduction, pp. 1-2; vol. 3, p. 6; Expectation of Proper Understanding, pp. 8-9.

44. Cf. Huang Tsung-hsi, Doxographies on Philosophers in the Ming Dynasty, vol. 10, preface to section on Wang Yang-ming.

45. I have coined the term Taoisoism -- the self-styled Taoism -- to designate a theory of those who are practitioners in the esoteric art of longevity in contradistinction to the philosophical Taoism of Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu.

46. Cf. W:P, vol. 2, Sayings, pp. 20-22; The Sayings of Wang Lung-ch'i, vol. 1, pp. 1-2.

p. 85

(1) The substance of Mind is beyond good and evil.
(2) Intention is motivated by the consideration of good or evil.
(3) Conscientious wisdom consists in the distinctive awareness of what is good from what is evil.
(4) The investigation of things aims at doing the good by shunning the evil.

These four aphorisms, especially the first one, can be subject to at least three different interpretations: (1a) Being beyond good and evil may mean a sheer neutralism which washes away Value from all forms of existence; (1b) It may mean that there is the absolute Supreme Good surpassing the limitations of all relative values, positive or negative, designated by the good and the evil; (1c) It may mean that in the substance of Mind per se there is no defilement owing to attachment to the exterior idea of what is good and evil, as has been caused or conditioned by the environmental factors.

The possibility (1a) would have the effect of making him either fall into self-contradiction or alienate his philosophy from the classical Confucian heritage as embedded in the Book of Change (Wen-yen Chuan, Hsiang Chuan, and Hsi-tz'u Ch'uan), the Great Learning, and the Doctrine of the Mean, all of which urge us to aspire for the attainment to the Supreme Good in our conduct of life. Moreover, everywhere in his writings, he asserted that the substance of Mind is either in itself the Supreme Good or the locus in which the ideal of the Supreme Good is realized. If (1a) were still maintained in spite of these consequences, then Wang Fu-chih would be justified in accusing him a Confucian heretic.

Such an accusation could be avoided only if he were to change himself into a devotee of one version of Taoism by dint of which Confucius himself, in laying especial importance upon moral values, was ridiculed by many a Taoist. [47] This transforms the possibility (1a) into that of (1b). In the second chapter of Lao Tzu, there is the statement of which my reading is something like this: "People in the world, all claiming to know what is beautiful for the Beauty of it, will lapse into ugliness; all claiming to know what is good for the Goodness of it, they will lapse into evil." By this it is meant that the absolute Value such as the Good or the Beautiful is far above and beyond all relative values. It is beyond good and evil in that it transcends all limitations pertaining to what is good and evil. But this is Taoism rather than Confucianism, the latter emphasizing the continuous qualitative transformation of relative values into the absolute transcendental Value with no need of radical transcendence. If Wang Yang-ming were to hold fast to possibility (1b), he would be a Taoist and certainly not a Confucian.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

47. Cf. The Works of Chuang Tzu (Chinese Text and Collected Commentaries), ed. Kuo Ching-fang, vol. 5, On the Tao of Heaven, pp. 11-12, 14-15.

p. 86

It seems to me that Wang Yang-ming was in sympathy with Taoism concerning the following points:

1. His mirror-theory of the Mind was derived from Chuang Tzu, who asserted that "the supreme man used his mind as a mirror for the reflection of the images of things, freely letting them come and go with no attachment or distortion." [48]

2. The Taoists were typical ascetics by advocating the theory of no desires [49] for the ease and peace of life, while to the Confucians, like Mencius, the desire for the good is the essential thing in noble life. Wang evidently was unable to make a definite decision, but it seemed he had slid more toward the camp of Taoism by depicting the Ultimate Reality of the Mind as the locus of pure reason stripped of all selfish desires. No true Confucian would subscribe to the theory that the human mind is pure light without warmth and heat. I think the Confucian cosmic mindedness and cosmic heartedness is a valuable expression of affection, volition, as well as reason.

3. Lao Tzu drew a clear distinction between the work done in the advancement of scholarship and the work done in the diminution of earthly things for the uplift of Tao. [50] In this Wang Yang-ming entirely concurred with Lao Tzu by saying that the spiritual cultivation consists in daily diminution while the intellectual enterprise consists in daily augmentation; thus, the great difference between the Taoist and the Confucian. The former believes in the diminution of Tao which will conduce ultimately to the emphasis of Nothingness in meontology, while the latter is a votary of creative advance that will issue in the enrichment of Being as affirmed in ontology. For a Taoist, the upbuilding of spiritual character is a work of daily diminutiveness out of Being while the intellectual life is a business which is concerned with daily innovation out of Nothingness. There is here an unreconciled duality. But to a Confucian, intellectual advancement is, withal, an aid to the uplift of character; it is a blessing and should not be a curse. Regarding this, Wang Yang-ming and Lu Hsiang-shan, who preceded him, were more sympathetic with Taoism. They emphasized more the spiritual achievement based upon the Tao rather than the accomplishment in virtue of actual arts and artful events. What they lacked was the spirit of pervasive unity up and down as well exhibited in the noble and wholesome life of Confucius and Mencius. [51]

A few words must be said to show Wang Yang-ming's connection with Buddhism. Primordial Buddhism, as it was introduced from India and as it was further developed in the Sui and Tang dynasties, was practically dead after the Southern Sung dynasty. What was left alive was Ch'anism differentiated

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

48. The Works of Chuang Tzu, vol. 3b, p. 11.

49. Cf. The Works of Lao Tzu, ed. Chu Ch'ien-chih, chs. 37, 46, 57, pp. 95, 121, 149.

50. Cf. The Works of Lao Tzu, ch. 48, pp. 123-124.

51. Cf. W:P, vol. 1, Record on Teachings, III:46-47.

p. 87

into various schools. Most Neo-Confucians were prejudiced against Buddhism, of which they knew very little. It was Wang Yang-ming and Lu Hsiang-shan, exasperated with the pedantic interests in scholastic Confucianism, who began to show their appreciation for what was valuable in Buddhism by adopting some Ch'anist procedures in their contemplation, with a view to sharpening the wits of their disciples. Deep in their hearts, they did this to awaken, more quickly through contrast, their followers to the spirit of true Confucianism. In the opinion of Lu Hsiang-shan, there is the similarity of the Mind in the sages regardless where they lived. Wang Yang-ming would agree with Lu in this, with the reservation whereby he criticized that the "sages" of Buddhism were too much fancifully attached to the programs of escape from the constructive duties of life in the midst of vital, but natural human relationship, which is what makes the spirit of Confucianism near and dear to us who are the lovers of the ideal of humanity. [52]

In spite of such a criticism, certain traces of Buddhistic influence could be discerned in the utterances or writings of Wang Yang-ming. Earlier we have mentioned (1c) in connection with the four aphorisms. The substance of Mind per se is beyond good and evil, but it may come to be defiled owing to the exterior idea induced by the environmental conditions. [53] The Mind will come to its own purity once the defiled elements have been brushed off. Such a concept of mind, cherished by Wang, was evidently derived from the Mahaayaana-`sraddhotpaada-`saastra on the one hand and from the Ch'anism of Shen-hsiu on the other. In the field of Ch'anism, Hui-neng was generally admitted to have surpassed Shen-hsiu. Curiously, however, Wang Yang-ming endorsed the brushing-off theory of Shen-hsiu for the purification of the ordinary mind, while he criticized sharply the supposed higher wisdom of Hui-neng in not being bothered with the surmise of what is good or evil as another stigma of attachment to the `suunyataa of nihilism, which will weigh down the perfect freedom of the Sage's conscientious wisdom. [54]

This criticism directed at Hui-neng indicated that after the age of forty, his interest in Ch'anism was waning and his philosophical development had transcended the limitations of Buddhism. He explicitly said this in answering the queries of Lu Yuan-ching and Hsiao Hui concerning Buddhism and Taoisoism. [55] If there were still some interest in Buddhism during his early fifties, it would have been caused by the wisdom of Seng-chao (384-414) whose influence was felt by Wang, I think, through the medium of Ch'eng Hao. Seng-chao initiated the theory of (1) correlative motion and rest, (2) inseparable

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

52. Cf. W:P, vol. 2, Sayings, p. 10.

53. Cf. W:P, vol. 4, Letter in reply to Huang Tsung-hsien and Ying Yuan-chung, p. 5.

54. Cf. W:P, vol. 3, Third Letter to Lu Yuan-ching, pp. 17-18.

55. Cf. W:P, vol. 3, Letter to Lu Yuan-ching, pp. 5-6; vol. 1, Record on Teachings, III:51-52.

p. 88

substance and function, and (3) simultaneous nirvana (quiescent Reality) and illumination. All of these were coalesced by Ch'eng Hao into the primordial unity of Substance and Function to express the unperturbedness of human Nature in perfect unison with the human Mind. [56]

It was through the influence of Ch'eng Hao that Wang Yang-ming developed his theory of the unperturbedness of Mind which, as the substance and locus of conscientious wisdom, is immutable in its performing the spontaneous function of substantial illuminancy. The illuminative Mind is unperturbed because of its natural spread of light upon anything that comes into its embracement. Once perturbed, it will break into the illuminator and the illuminated, that is, the fanciful duality giving rise to the falsity of Mind seen in the quiver of disturbant emotions. The unperturbedness of Mind, through the spontaneous spirit of conscientious wisdom, is to dispense with this falsifying duality. [57] Hence, the highest form of knowledge is intuitive identity in virtue of which it is asserted that the substance of the unperturbed Mind is the sustenation of conscientious wisdom and that the function of the spiritual illumination is the culminating of conscientious wisdom.

At this point of the full bloom of Wang Yang-ming's philosophy in 1524, [58] the influence of Ch'eng Hao is most visible. In the light of this influence, his philosophical development reached a restoration to the true spirit of Confucianism, unerringly displayed in the following essential features:

1. Mind is the source of conscientious wisdom which, as a perennial light of the spirit, illuminates all that appear as they are without falsification. If there should be false appearance, the apparent falsehood could not escape the true illumination of conscientious wisdom.

2. As human Nature is essentially good, the knowledge based upon it must be equally good and must make conscientious wisdom what it really is. Conscientious wisdom, so deeply rooted in human Nature as the implicit form of mediety, is the spirit of absolute impartiality as well as the essence of the primal Being constitutive of the makeup of everybody. For this reason Wang is close to the spirit of Mencius.

3. The human Mind is unperturbed because the Reason inherent in it is immutable. The quiver of emotion and the attraction of desire can make some disturbance but cannot shake its foundation, for the practical taint owing to desire can be brushed off and the dynamical emotion regulated by reason can be properly satisfied. All that is due to the natural balance of Mind can be

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

56. The Complete Works of Ch'eng Hao and Ch'eng I, vol. 3, Letter to Chang Tsai on the Unperturbedness of Nature, p. 1.

57. Cf. W:P, vol. 3, Third Letter to Lu Yuan-ching, p. 15.

58. Cf. Ibid., pp. 10-22.

p. 89

guided by the conscientious wisdom into the right channel of edification into the Supreme Good.

4. Mind, in the implicit form of mediety, is conscientious wisdom which, upon the occasion of meeting with changing events, is dynamic, but which, reposing in itself by virtue of essential reason, is quiescent. Human Mind, being the same as human Nature, is the pervasive unity encompassing each and all, subject to no limitation that can be one-sidedly characterized as the primordial or the consequential, the inner or the outer, the dynamic or the static. The exclusive choice of either/or does not fit in with the comprehensive unity of Mind. In the language of the Book of Change [Hsi-tzu chuan], the Mind may be said to be "quiescent in a state of immutability. But in active response it will penetrate all changing situations under Heaven." Thus the Mind, penetrative into all situations, is dynamic in its function and yet is immutable as a substance. The Mind, in virtue of inherent reason, is quiescent, and yet it is dynamic in that its nature can be manifested in regulated emotion and purified desire. Hence the implicit form of mediety can come to accord very well with the explicit form of harmony. This trend of thought is in keeping with the Doctrine of the Mean.

5. Ever since Chou Tün-i (1017-1073) initiated the movement of Neo-Confucianism, the metaphysical drift of thought had been centering around the concept of quiescence, which induced many a philosopher to be intoxicated in the Ch'anist practice of quiescent sitting even if he did not subscribe to the Buddhist faith. In the opinion of Wang Yang-ming, this was a lamentable Neo-Confucian perversion waiting for immediate correction. He explicitly said this: "The principle of creative creativity based upon the Great Ultimate has endless wondrous function and yet there is the perennial substance which never changes itself." [59] By this it is meant that the cosmic Reality cannot be cut in two, namely, the state of rest in contradistinction to the state of motion. As a matter of fact, there is always an aesthetic balance between the dynamic creativity and the static repose, together constitutive of the fundamental cosmic order.

6. Neo-Confucianism first started as a philosophy of Reason, then modified itself into a philosophy of (human) Nature, and eventually transfigured itself into a philosophy of Mind. Since the Sung dynasty, there have been constant controversies between realism and idealism, dualism and monism, moralism and intellectualism. But there is a point of convergence among them all. The differently formulated theories should be a systematic metaphysics based upon philosophical anthropology. By this I mean that wisdom eventually consists of the fullest realization of human Nature or of the highest development of human Mind. As Nature and Mind are identified as inseparable oneness in virtue of

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

59. Ibid., p. 14.

p. 90

heavenly Reason, all the Neo-Confucian philosophers finally concur in the unitive system of radical Rationalism embedded in the perfect awareness of conscientious wisdom as advocated by Wang Yang-ming. The universal order of Mind is constituted by the exuberance of spiritual light outshining warmth and heat. Those who find it chilly and cold will revolt against it on some other ground.