The World and the Individual in Chinese Metaphysics

·期刊原文
The World and the Individual in Chinese Metaphysics.
By Thome H. Fang [a]
Philosophy East & West
V. 14 (1964)
pp. 101-130
Copyright 1964 by University of Hawaii Press

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p. 101

I

IN THIS PAPER it falls to me to speak of a type of metaphysics quite different from what may be called the praeternatural metaphysics according to which man and the world he lives in are, alike, shot through with two irreconcilables. Taken in its extreme form, it would set up a great divide between heaven and hell. Man as an individual has the make-up of a soul and a body at odds with each other.

I shall call transcendental metaphysics a characteristic Chinese doctrine of reality which, though deeply rooted in actuality, is not denuded of the importance for energizing ideality. It rejects neat bifurcation as a method; it disowns hard dualism as a truth. From its viewpoint, both the world and the individual therein are considered to be a sort of architectonic unity in which all the relevant basic facts are taken for a solid foundation on which to build up different layers of superstructure, ascending from below until the coping stone is set over them all. From what is given as actual, we can take ascending steps and look upward, aspiring to attain to the supreme ideal, And, at the same time, starting from the contemplated ideal, we are thereby enabled, through the potency of gradually clarified ideas, to explicate the great mystery involved in the existence of the world and the achievement of man.

With a mentality thus orientated, it is only natural for the Chinese philosophers of different schools to take a further step toward the establishment of a metaphysics according to which substance and function, noumenon and phenomenon, eternity and temporality, are all correlative terms conducive to the formation of integrative wholes.

Thus it is that Chinese philosophical ideas are centered around the integrative wholes explicable in terms of organism, which, as a form of thought, may be bilaterally characterized. Negatively, it denounces the possibilities (1) of taking things and persons in absolutely isolated systems, (2) of reducing the plenitude of reality into an impoverished mechanical order of merely juxtaposed constituents, and (3) of squeezing the dynamic universe into a tightly closed system of complete developedness, devoid of continual crea-

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tivity. Positively, it is an endeavor to encompass the integral universe in all aspects of its richness and plenitude without any indulgence in the most abstract form of an underlying unity which is never unearthed. In the midst of experiential multiplicities, there may be discerned a set of such organic wholes as the unity of being, the unity of existence, the unity of life, as well as the unity of value. But all the manifold unities are such that they can be woven and fused into an intimate embracement of mutual relevance, essential interrelatedness, and reciprocal importance.

The trends of Chinese metaphysical thought, taken in its entire range, may be roughly likened to the bar-lines across the stave. At regular or irregular intervals, different modes of speculation are marked out in bars, each running in compound triple time with beats in varying accentuation. From time immemorial to the middle of the twelfth century B.C., the metaphysical moods would be the chords sounded in the triads of myth, religion, and poetry. Thenceforward, until 246 B.C., for a creative period of more than nine hundred years, there came to be the articulation of primordial Taoism, Confucianism, and Moism. [b] This period was followed by a long epoch (246 B.C. -- A.D. 960) of fermentation and absorbent creation, tending to bring forth eventually a type of highly creative speculation in Chinese Mahaayaanic Buddhism. Beginning with A.D. 960 down to the present day, we have had a reawakening of metaphysical originality in the form of Neo-Confucianism somewhat imbued with the spirit of Taoism and Buddhism. In this period of regeneration, there have come into prominence three trends of metaphysics: (a) Neo-Confucianism of the realistic type; (b) Neo-Confucianism of the idealistic type; and (c) Neo-Confucianism of the naturalistic type.

Time is too limited for me to go into the details of all the movements in Chinese metaphysics. In this essay the emphasis will be laid upon primordial Confucianism, primordial Taoism, and Mahaayaanic Buddhism. I group these together inasmuch as their diversified systems possess in common three ostensive features: (a) the doctrine of pervasive unity, (b) the doctrine of the Tao, and (c) the exaltation of the individual.

Let us ask, what kind of man is he who bespeaks himself in Chinese philosophy? He is nothing less than what Professor F. M. Cornford has called "the combination prophet-poet-sage." [1] I shall not enumerate the historical reasons for the Chinese philosophers to be so. Suffice it to say that Chuang Tzu [c] had sung so much praise to the ancient philosophers [2] before their

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synoptic wisdom was in later times dispersed into detailed analytical knowledge to meet the needs of social changes. It is no wonder that the great system-builders in China should have bodied forth the awakened wisdom in the capacity of a poet and a sage and a prophet. Such as they were, they would, nevertheless, have at moments personal inclination toward one special character in the combination.

The Taoists have special aptitudes for poetic inspirations in the light of which the wayward man and the boisterous world are something to be transmuted before they can reach for the ideal and authentic existence as measured by the high standard of value. [3] In the eyes of Buddhists, this was quite akin to the doctrine of Nirvaa.na [d] which was, at the same time, an ideal depiction of the Tathataa. [e] So, Taoism had made way for the Mahaayaanic development of Chinese Buddhism in later times.

The Taoists turn everything within the cogwheels of special conditions into Nothing, a Nothing that is "really real reality" in the form of a dynamo generative of everything. Where the Taoists end, there the Confucians begin. As a sharp contrast, the Confucians confront Nothing at the wide open gate of the heavenly Tao, whose magic touch of creation has the mysterious power of transmuting it into everything, which is not once diminished but always augmented. Thus, a boundless horizon of creative advance is spread before man for his partaking of this infinitude, for his participation in the continuant creativity of creation, and for his assumption of a pivotal position in the universe of dynamic transformation. In short, the Confucians' world is a world of creative action, reaching out for infinite enlargement and for endless edification. As the meaning of the world is such, so is the magnificence of an ideal man who should be a sage.

Buddhism, in its early stage of development in China, found the Confucian conception of the homocentric universe too far-fetched and so it had to be allied with Taoism in drawing the human interest of life to the liberated world for an assured satisfaction. But, as time went on, it began to see anew the strong points in Confucianism and found in it a spiritual affinity in affirming the perfectibility of human nature in the form of buddha-nature. As Buddhism is a system of philosophy as well as a variety of religion, its exponents of high merits have the caliber of a prophet whose mind's eyes are to be fixed on the final destiny of mankind and the universal emancipation of all beings in the future.

From what has been said above, we can be brief, now, with another set of

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characterizations bearing out three types of individual that underlie the Chinese metaphysical contemplation. In the enterprise of theorizing, the Confucian thinks in the capacity of a time-man, the Taoist is a typical space-man, and the Buddhist is a space-time man with an alternative sense of forgetting.

Apropos of the systems of Chinese metaphysics, two essential points must be noted. (1) The world is not taken for what it is in natural regard; it awaits to be transmuted into a moral universe for the Confucians, into an aesthetic realm for the Taoists, and into a religious domain for the Buddhists. The world, philosophically considered, should be a transfigured world, taken in its ideal regard. The task of Chinese metaphysics is an analysis of facts issuing in an understanding of destiny. The transfigured world is nothing less than a teleological system of axiological importance. (2) The individual is a very complicated concept; its richness of meaning is not exhausted by a simplified unitary procedure of approach. The individual as such in the form of what Professor Guide de Ruggiero has designated as homo novus is a precious jewel of modern Western men who would take it for a term of praise in matters of religious, epistemological, and economic-political theorizing. [4] The status of the individual is not a problem to be simply posed once and for all; its answer is not to be found ready-made once and for all. The question about it has to be continually asked. In different epochs of time and in various contexts of thought, the answers to it would be radically different. Throughout the history of Chinese philosophy, Yang Chu [f] (521?-442? B.C.) was the only one who spoke audaciously for the actual individual. But all other thinkers have looked askance at him. To the Confucians, the individual should be ceaselessly edified; to the Taoist, he should be constantly liberated; and to the Buddhists, he should be perpetually purified before his status could be firmly established in the transfigured world of moral and aesthetic and religious perfection. In their eyes, any other way of affirming the status of the individual would be a premature mode of thought in an essential lack of wisdom.

II

Let us now proceed with the discussion of the three major systems of Chinese metaphysics in successive order.

Two important features may be discerned in the metaphysical system of Confucianism. The first asserts the creative power of the heavenly Tao where-

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by the dynamic world of all beings comes into existence; the second emphasizes the intrinsic value of human nature in congruence with the cosmic order. These two together constitute the architectonic structure of Confucianism from classical antiquity down to the present day. The most important embodiment of this mode of thought is found in the Book of Change, to be supplemented by the Works of Mencius and the Works of Hsun Tzu, which, apart from re-enforcing a set of original metaphysical ideas, elucidate the cardinal doctrine of a philosophical anthropology. [5]

The Book of Change is a formidable historical document. There are involved in it (1) a very complicated stratified historical frame, (2) a completed system of symbolic constructions based upon strict rules of logic, and (3) a set of interpretations making out the meanings of these symbolic constructions, expressible in the systematic syntax of language. All these three are the prelude to a theory of time conducive to the working out of a set of metaphysical principles explanatory of the cosmic order.

The technical problems involved in (1), (2), and (3) have been intensively studied by scholars from the second century B.C. down to the present day with elaborate results embodied in volumes upon volumes too complicated to be presented here.

With these results presupposed, we can come to see that the revolutionary philosophy of change, initiated by Confucius (551-479 B.C.) himself and, upon the evidences [6] of Ssu-ma T'an [g] and Ssu-ma Chien, [h] further elaborated by Shang Chu [i] (b. 522 B.C.) and others, was really a long evolutionary product. Its new features might be diversified into four different forms: (1) A new philosophy of enlivened Nature permeated with the dynamic confluence of Life. Nature is power or vital impetus creative in advance and conducive to the fulfillment and consummation of Life capable of being partaken by all beings. [7] (2) An exposition of intrinsic moral goodness in human life adorned with beauty. Such a moral-aesthetic perfection was characteristic of the unique human personality. [8] (3) A general theory of value in the form of the Supreme Good assimilating into it all the relative ranks of values

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prevalent in the entire universe. [9] (4) The final formulation of a value-centric ontology asserting the fullness of Being in its entirety.

Thus it is evident that the archetypical time-man, represented by the Confucians, deliberately chooses to cast everything -- whether it be the life of Nature, the development of an individual, the frame of society, the achievement of value, the attainment to the fullness of Being -- into the mold of time in order of its authentic existence.

The question is, what is time? [10] The essence of time consists in change; the order of time proceeds with concatenation; the efficacy of time abides by durance. The rhythmic process of epochal change is wheeling round into infinitude and perpetually dovetailing the old and the new so as to issue into interpenetration which is continuant duration in creative advance. This is the way in which time generates itself by its systematic entry into a pervasive unity which constitutes the rational order of creative creativity. The dynamic sequence of time, ridding itself of the perished past and coming by the new in the present existence, really gains something over a loss. So, the change in time is but a step to approaching eternity, which is perennial durance whereby, before the bygone is ended, the forefront of the succeeding has come into presence. And, therefore, there is here a linkage of Being projecting itself into the prospect of eternity. Hence, in the nexus of the dynamics of time, "The book of Change contains the measure of heaven and earth, enabling us to comprehend the all-pervasive Tao and its order." [11]

Based upon the concept of time, three metaphysical principles may be set out.

(1) The principle of extensive connection. [q] Three essentials are involved in its formulation. Logically, it is a system of consistent deduction demonstrated rigorously. [12] Semantically, it is a syntax of language in which the rules of formation and transformation of significant statements indicate unerringly a relation of co-ordination and a relation of dovetailing and mutual relevance so as to discriminate what is licit from the illicit and to change the latter into the former. [13] Metaphysically, the philosophy of change is a system

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of dynamic ontology based upon the process of continuant creativity in time, as well as a system of general axiology wherein the origin and development of the idea of the Supreme Good is shown in the light of comprehensive harmony. Thus, the principle of extensive connection asserts at the same time that the confluence of life permeating all beings under heaven and earth partakes of the creative nature of time and achieves, as a consequence, the form of the Supreme Good.

(2) The principle of creative creativity. Confucius in the Book of Change -- the philosophical part of it designated as the chuans -- and his followers in the book of Proprieties [t] -- including the Doctrine of the Mean -- diversified the all-pervasive Tao [14] into (a) the Tao of heaven as the primordial creative power, giving rise to all creatures, comprehending them in the cosmic order of dynamic transformation conducive to a perfectly harmonious fulfillment, and issuing in the attainment of the Supreme Good; (b) the Tao of earth, which, as the power of procreation, is a continuation and extension of the creative origination, sustaining all forms of existence; and (c) the Tao of man, who, with an assured status at the center of the universe, in communion with the creative and procreative power of heaven and earth should come to the full awareness of the spirit and thereby become concreative agents in the perpetual continuance of life as a whole. With the Confucians, this spiritual awareness has given rise to a sense of individual moral excellence, a fellow feeling of the intrinsic worth of other forms of existence, as well as a rational insight into the identifiable unity of the equitable Being of all beings.

(3) The principle of creative life as a process of value-realization. In the Hsi-ts'u-chuan we find a theory set out by Confucius that

what is called Tao operates incessantly with the rhythmic modulation of the dynamic change and the static repose, thus continuing the creative process for the attainment of the Good and completing the creative process for the fulfillment of Nature which is Life. ... It manifests itself in the rational sentiment of humanity but conceals its great function unawares, propelling all beings in a swing of vitality without inciting the anxieties of the Holy. Its richness of virtue, its grandeur of enterprise, is of all things the most sublime. Superabundance is what is called the deed-act; forevermore creativeness is what is called the supreme value. ... The unfathomed mystery underlying the rhythmic modulation of dynamic energy and peaceful repose is what is called the Divine. [15]

Elsewhere Confucius said: "Embracing all in its comprehensiveness and investing each with its magnificence, it ensures that anything and everything

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will enjoy the concordant bliss of well-being." [16] "Of all values, the Good exhibited in the primordial creative-procreative is towering in its supremacy. Concordance in the sport of bliss is the convergence of all that is beautiful. Benediction in the realm of life is the pervasiveness of all that is righteous. Consummation in the deed-act is the fundament of the world of enterprise." [17]

In the light of the above principles, the objective order of the universe is constituted by the superabundant power of creativity in the dynamic process of time. The human individual is thus confronted with a creative world. He must be equally creative in order to fit in with it. And, therefore, the Confucian dynamical value-centric ontology, once completed, evoked a system of philosophical anthropology. It was averred in the Doctrine of the Mean that the most truthful and sincere man in all the world, after completely fulfilling his own nature in the course of life, would extend his boundless sympathy by doing the same with other men, as well as with all creatures and things. In doing so he could participate in the cosmic creation through the process of transformation and thereupon become a concreator with heaven and earth. [18]

As the natural and moral order of life was initiated by the creative power of heaven, so man can cope with the most high in creative potency. In some such way the Confucians developed a homocentric conception of the world as a prelude to the value-centric conception of man. This is why Mencius [xab] (372-289 B.C.) maintained that the spiritual stream of a superior man's life was concurrent with that of heaven and earth. He went further in asserting that a real man, relying upon his own intrinsic goodness, could, in virtue of his beautiful endowment, develop himself to the utmost into a great man. This greatness of character, enhanced by a subtle touch of spiritual exaltation in the process of transformation, would make him, first, a sage and, finally, a holy man invested with inscrutable magnificence. [19]

Not only Mencius. Even Hsun Tzu [xac] (313-238 B.C.), who started with the empirical observation of the ill nature of man, ventured to assert that man through a course of perseverant endeavor of cultivation could come to achieve greatness. Among the primordial Confucians, Hsun Tzu was the only one who seemed to be "fed up" with the value-centric conception of Heaven. Just for this reason, he wanted to set up the supremacy of man apart from unnecessary complication with Nature, which is nothing more than a neutral

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order [20] with physical energies in store for human utilization. According to Mencius, man, by virtue of his inborn goodness, is spontaneously great. In the opinion of Hsun Tzu, man's greatness is cultured in the best sense of the word. Allowing this difference between them, man is ultimately great just the same.

What, after all, is the rationale of human greatness? In the Book of Proprieties, [21] compiled by Senior Tai Tei, [xad] Confucius is reported to have said, in a reply to the queries of Duke Ai of Lu, that there are five types of men in a rational linkage of development. Among (1) the common run of men, the individual can be educated to be (2) a learned and enlightened person who, with an insight of knowledge and with a sagacity in action, issuing in the noble art of life, will become (3) a superior man, adorned with a beauty of character and a balance of mind. Through further edification he can come to be (4) a man of excellence. His choices and forsakings are in accord with the high standard of values acceptable to mankind as a whole. He always tries to act in the right without sacrificing the least part of the fundamental principles. His utterance of truth sets a good standard to the world without a loss of his own integrity. Finally, he becomes (5) a sage, or holy man. With perfect wisdom at his own command, he acts in congruence with the ways of the great Tao, [xag] adapting himself to any circumstance of life in the flux of change without confronting any crises of danger or encumbrance. This he does because he thoroughly understands the true nature and disposition of all things. In virtue of such perfect understanding, all his decisions of value are made in accordance with the great function of reason. And, therefore, the achievement of greatness knowingly keeps abreast of heaven and earth in creativity. This development of man, from the natural capacity to the ideal perfection by way of the function of reason is what I have entitled the Confucian rationale of human greatness. In the light of this rationale man copes with the most high in potency.

All of this leads to the natural conclusion that the world and the individual must be always in reciprocal communion. [22] In such a communion, the cosmic status of the individual is firmly established for the reason that the full capacities constitutive of his personality are, of now, developed to the utmost.

To the Chinese, the Confucian type of man is near and dear like an ideal figure who has been cut by his own noble art of life in a set of expanding

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spheres representing the gradually enlarged and qualitatively perfected human relations, and toward whom all other persons, intimate in spiritual linkage and sympathetic in moral aspirations, are subtly attracted in such a way that there is always an interfusion and interplay of exultation in the influence of exalted personality. This is what makes of the Chinese world and Chinese society a natural domain of moral democracy incessantly leveling up to a higher plane of ethical culture which has sustained the Chinese national state ever since Confucianism has been in vogue.

III

But when we come to the consideration of the Taoists we are suddenly transferred to a different world -- a visionary dream-world. The Taoists make the best type of the space-man. They are wont to take flights into the realms, unfrequented by the common run of people, to which they lift us, level after level, each more exalted and mysterious than the last. From their vantage point at a height unafraid, they gaze disinterestedly upon the stratified world below in which the tragi-comic persons are involved in the regressive lapse into folly and wit, illusion and truth, appearance and reality, all falling off from the supreme Perfection, Truth, and Reality.

Tao is the supreme category in the system of Lao Tzu [xah] (561?-467? B.C.). It may be diversified into four cardinal points.

(1) Ontologically, Tao is the infinite ontic substance, which was multifariously characterized by Lao Tzu (a) as the fathomless unity of all beings, prior in existence even to God; [23] (b) as the fundamental root of heaven and earth, infinite in nature, invisible in shape, but really great in function because all creatures are begotten from it; [24] (c) as the primordial One having ingression into all forms of beings; [25] (d) as the unique pattern of all kinds of activities, discursive but wholesome, twisted around but straightforward, emptying out but remaining full, worn out but forever renovating, eventually comprehensive of all perfection; [26] (e) as the Great Form [xai] or the receptacular Matrix, wherein all creatures are embraced, free of harm, and full of peace, like babies held close to the bosom of their mother; [27] and (f) as the final destiny whereto all creatures, after emptying out every kind of "quixotic" energetic activities in the course of life, will return for the ease and peace of rest, conceived under the form of eternity and achieved in the spirit of im-

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mortality, [28] -- thus on the score of eternity, consciously discerned, all come to be complaisant, equitable, noble, natural, and spontaneous, in full accord with the imperishable Tao.

(2) Cosmogenetically, the infinitely great Tao is the all-pervasive function with an inexhaustible store of powerful energy exerting itself in two different ways. On the one hand, being invisibly subsistent up in the transcendental realm of Nothingness [xaj] and deeply sheathed back in the noumenal realm of unfathomed Mystery, it darts itself out and down into the realm of Being. [xak] Thus, we can say that in the beginning there was Being, and Being was with Nothingness. [29] Henceforward the Tao is the primordial begetter of all things. On the other hand, the supplied energy, within the bounds of Being, may be spent and exhausted through dispersion and waste. The immanent world of Being in a state of urgent want will resort to the transcendental world of Tao for a fresh impartation of energy. Hence, Lao Tzu has every reason to lay emphasis upon "the reversal of procedure in the dynamical transformation of Tao."

The function of Tao is dyadic in track. Progressively, the fundamental Nothingness in the Tao gives rise to the Being of all forms in the world, [30] whereas, regressively, the immanent Being in the whole world depends upon the Nothingness of the transcendental Tao for the performance of adequate function. Hence the pronouncement: "The fulfillment of Being leads to eudaemonia, whereas the attainment to Nothingness fulfills the performance of function." [31]

(3) Phenomenologically, the attributes of Tao can be classified under two headings, namely, natural attributes and arbitrary attributes. The natural attributes are discerned as so many properties inherent in the Tao conceived under the form of eternity. They may be enumerated as follows:

1) Integrity of Tao revealing itself as substance in the realm of Nothingness and as function in the realm of Being; [xal]
2) Conformation of non-action in which nothing is left undone;
3) The primordial incentive in the begetting of all things with no claim of origination;
4) Accomplishment of work on the cosmic scale with detachment; [xam]
5) Sustenance of all things without domination; [xan]
6) Creation without possession; [xao]
7) Energizing activity with no egocentric claim of merits.

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On the contrary, the arbitrary attributes are those which are affirmed from the subjective viewpoint of men and inappropriately portrayed in terms of inadequate human language. Apart from these, the Tao, conceived per se is the really real reality, or, what is the same thing, the mysteriously mysterious Mystery intelligible only to men of supreme wisdom like the sage.

(4) Characterologically, the supreme excellences, manifested as the natural attributes, originally pertain to the nature of Tao but will come in ingress into the integrity of the sage, who is really the exemplar of the Tao in this world. The sage, as an ideal man, has transcended all limitations and weaknesses by reason of his exalted spirit and by virtue of his assessment of ever higher worth. He knows how to gain a world of love and reverence by employing himself generously for the world. Having lived for the benefit of other men, he is richer in worth; having given all he has to other men, he is more plentiful in being. "And, therefore, the sage is always skillful and wholehearted in the salvation of men, so that there is no deserted man; he is always skillful and wholehearted in the rescue of things, so that there is no abandoned thing." [32] Thanks to Lao Tzu, we have come to the consciousness that the essence of each individual man, when realized in full, consists in an endeavor to attain to the ideal of the sage. Man's mission is constantly to make a campaign for the realization of this ideal. Thus the "wages" of winning a sure status in the world is his own inward sageliness.

Many perplexities in the system of Lao Tzu came to be cleared away by Chuang Tzu (b. 369 B.C.) in an attempt to push through the nullifying process far back into mystery after mystery, so that there would be no final Nothingness in the serial regress. Similarly, what was posited in the being of Being could be infinitely iterated, back and forth, thus forming a set of endless bilateral processes of progression and retrogression. The original antithesis between Nothing and Being was theoretically reconciled inasmuch as both Being and Nothing should merge into the profound mystery in such a way as to form an interpenetrative system of infinite integral reality. [33] Finally, Chuang Tzu brought out the chief tenet of Lao Tzu as positing both the eternal Nothing and the eternal Being [xap] predominated over by the supreme unity, thus affirming the authentic reality in the form of vacuity, which would not destroy the reality of all things. [xaq] [34] For the same reason and in the same

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sort of way, the discrepancy between eternity and temporality was dissolved. [35]

Chuang Tzu could accomplish so much because, besides being a great Taoist, he was, also, much influenced by Confucius and Mencius, [36] as well as by his bosom friend, Hui Shih, [at] from the logico-analytical camp. In the philosophy of change, Confucius thought of time as though it had a definite beginning in the past but an indefinite progression into the future. Chuang Tzu, however, accepted the indefinite stretch into the future but denied the definite origination in the past through the agency of creation. This is because he knew how, on the basis of "the reversal of procedure" in the function of Tao, [xau] to probe mystery after mystery [xav] without coming to a standstill in the remote past. Thus, time is literally infinite in respect to the past as well as to the future. Time is a long-enduring natural process of transformation without any beginning and ending. Hence, the Confucian assumption of the primordial power of creation -- in fact, all necessity for the cosmic creation -- is theoretically removed.

Not only time is infinite in span; space, likewise, is infinite in scope. Furthermore, with the metaphysical acumen of his poetic vision, he transformed, by a subtle touch of imagination, the obstructive mathematicophysical space into the infinite "painterly" space as a liberated realm of spiritual exultation whereunto he is to infuse "the wondrous proceeding of the Tao," in order that his own exalted "soul" may reach toward the most sublime for its ultimate acquirement. In a word, the metaphysics of Chuang Tzu is an elaboration of the great Tao, projected unto the frame of infinite space and time, into a way of exalted spiritual life.

Such is the metaphysical import implied in the story of "A Happy Excursion" [xaw] described in poetico-metaphorical language. Like the great magic bird, p'eng, [xax] Chuang Tzu could lift himself up into an intellectual solitude unafraid and exulting insofar as the greatness of his liberated nature would partake of the omnipotent with the support of the infinite Tao.

The "most fantastic" story of "A Happy Excursion" has been variously interpreted by different thinkers. The true meaning should be made out in the light of the philosophy of infinity under discussion by following up the clues indicated by Chuang Tzu himself in the context of the relevant chapters.

(1) It is asserted that the supreme man should lead his own spirit up to the primordial in its infinite regress, reposing blissfully in the realm of No-

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where, doing away with all petty knowledge about the lowly things and getting entirely free from the bother of their burdens. [37] (2) At the culmination in the realm of perfect truth and in abidance by the fundamentum of the eternal Tao, his elevated spirit, being thus estranged from the physical world and disencumbered of all material allurings, would become independent and free from any restraint." [38] (3) Upon entering the gate of infinitude, and having an excursion in the realm of supreme bliss, he would immerse his unique spirit in the exuberant light of the celestial and lose his identity in the eternal harmony of cosmic order. [39] (4) At the attainment to sagehood, he would abandon himself to the vast concord of all perfection. He is now the archetype of man in the full capacity of the omnipotent (Tao) to be cast into the mold of cosmic life as a whole, wherein he gains nothing in particular and loses nothing in full. He forgets himself and forgets that he is really immersed in the bliss of Tao, just as the fish swim in the river and sea and forget all about it. [40] (5) The perfected and perfect man is now what he is in virtue of his identifiability with the "creator" imparting his potency to all the world without becoming the center of fame, the contriver of plans, the director of works, and the claimer to knowledge. He embraces infinity within the range of his experience and rambles in the realm of the infinite with levity and freedom. [41] He fulfills all that is natural in him without a sense of gain. In the spirit of vacuity, he employs his mind and heart like a mirror, impartially reflecting all that there is in the world without showing a trace of lure, dejection, or injury. It is then, and only then, that the final status of his exalted individuality is firmly established in the infinite world of Tao.

All these spiritual modes of life are, as it were, the rockets that launch the Taoistic type of the space-man into the realm of the infinite, in which he is to find a vantage point called by Chuang Tzu "the acme of the Celestial," [az] whereon he can survey the World-All from height to height, from width to width, and from depth to depth. The happy excursion into the realms of the infinite all along embodies Chuang Tzu's philosophy of spiritual liberation in the course of life. This is the Taoist temper of mind, which has incited the best of Chinese poetry as an expression of inspiration.

The exalted individual, once achieved, becomes a true sage, who, upborne by the wondrous procedure of Tao, can penetrate in insight into the Very One Truth comprehending the entire universe. All the partial appearances,

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viewed from different angles in varying heights, will be facet-symbols for beauty susceptible of being interfused into the integral whole of reality. All differences in viewpoints will be reconciled in the over-all perspective which forms a complementary system of essential relativity, going anywhere and anywhen, as well as everywhere and everywhen, with the full swing of the all-pervasive Tao.

This is the pivotal point of his theory of leveling up all things. [42] Thus it is that the system of essential relativity is an all-inclusive system in which everything can find a place of its own fitness and in which no one thing can claim to have an especially privileged position so as to impose surreptitious importance upon all others. At the same time, the system of essential relativity is an interpenetrative system wherein all entities come to be what they are by interlacing their own essences with one another, so that nothing in it can stand alone in complete isolation. It is a system of interrelatedness and mutual relevance in which any one thing has its own intrinsic importance that will bear out valuable results as unique contributions to the make-up of any other. Furthermore, it is a system in which the infinite Tao operates as the unconditioned that will embrace all the conditions originally uncontrollable by any one individual outside of the system. Especially the human individuals before their entry into this infinite system have suffered limitation, restraint, and bondage. Now that they, through the spirit of liberation, being aware of what ridiculous figures they have cut within the bounds of contracting narrowness, have discovered the authentic sagely self by sharing the nature of Tao, they must cry for joy in unison with the Ineffable and Inscrutable in the realm of the infinite, which breaks forth entirely from the limitations of any arbitrary scheme of thought, feeling, and action in life. As a result of all these characteristics exhibited in the infinite system of essential relativity, Chuang Tzu has set out a great theme: "The Universe and I sustain a relation of co-existence; I and all beings have the same entry into the One." [43] Thus being most inward with the Infinite, the individual in the exalted mode of life has well established himself in the world in congruence with all others.

IV

For an epoch of some five hundred years (241 B.C. -- A.D. 240), China in the Asian world was not unlike Rome in the West. People of all ranks were

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busy doing work in the conquest of the practical world. Speculative interest waned in the intellectual realm.

The real revival of metaphysical contemplation dated from the year 240 when Ho Yen [xbc] (190-249) and Wang Pi [xbd] (226-249) came with an attempt to reconcile the differences between Confucius and Lao Tzu by laying importance upon the category of Nothingness for the interpretation of Tao. [44] Historically, Ho Yen was primarily a Confucian in that he had tried to absorb Taoism into the system of Confucianism, [45] whereas Wang Pi was essentially a Taoist with an intention of assimilating Confucianism into the system of Taoism. What was common in them consisted in an attempt to bring forth the unity of infinite substance as the core of metaphysical inquiry.

In his commentary on the Lao Tzu, Wang Pi had elucidated the central theme that all things considered as Being, taking shape in manifolds subject to limitation, should be, in the last resort, redeemable by the integral Tao, which, though designated as Nothing, is really everything transmuted into infinite perfection. It is in this light that he came to see the import of the philosophy of change. The whole world of dynamic Being, begotten by the creative power exhibited in a plenitude of incessant change and variegated transformation, must revert to the fundament of Tao for its primordial unity which, reposing in the form of reason and in the spirit of eternity, will prevail over all multiplicities. Confucianism, as understood by Wang Pi, reveals only the origin of all things in the world of Being, while Taoism helps it to see into the ultimate destiny, in which all of Being in every mode of change is brought back to a final consummation of perfection which is Nothing, that is, nothing in particular but everything in full. [46] It is the end result of all changes, borne out by the inexhaustible richness of function, that should be grasped as the infinite substance.

Such an attempt to restore the manifold being to the fundamental Nothing, explicable in terms of infinite substance, evoked three different reactions in the further development of Chinese metaphysics during the next few centuries.

(1) There was the negative reaction of Pei Wei [xbh] (267-330) and Sun Shen [xbi] (ca. 334). The former advocated the importance of Being at the ex-

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pense of Nothing for the reason that perfect Nothing incapable of giving rise to anything in the realm of life would not be substantial, and, therefore, devoid of any function whatever in the fulfillment of life. [47] The latter, on a different ground of logic, had tried to reduce the utterances of Lao Tzu to a set of absurdities in hopeless self-contradiction. [48]

(2) There was the mild reaction of Hsiang Hsiu [xbj] (ca. 262) and Kuo Hsiang [xbk] (d. 311 or 312) based upon the philosophy of Chuang Tzu. Being and Nothing are correlative terms, not to be reduced, one to the other. Everything in the infinite system of Tao is what comes to be by reason of natural transformation in virtue of itself. There is no need for the futile effort to derive anything from Nothing as the primordial begetter. This is spontaneous naturalism intended to be an affirmation of universal Being [49] in the guise of the infinite Tao.

(3) The third positive reaction was really something more than a mere reaction. It initiated a movement of metaphysical speculation which would reach to the peak comparable in height with the summits of the primordial Confucianism and Taoism. The spirit of Buddhism encompasses two alternative realms of thought: one conceived under the form of incessant change and the other conceived under the form of eternity. Should we include Hiinayaana Buddhism, we would find more causes to fight against the fluctuating mundane world in which bigoted individuals plunge themselves into the deep waters of miserable blunders and sufferings. The vehicle of deliverance would have to bear them up through the fluctuations of time before reaching the other shore. In this sense, the Buddhist is a time-man, and he is such not in the blessed spirit of a Confucian. But, if we should take Mahaayaana Buddhism into consideration, the enlightenment it attained would illuminate before us an upper world of Dharma and Dharma-fulfillment in which the tragic sense of life in the process of time would be superseded by the bliss of eternity. [50] So, in this way the liberated spirit of a Mahaayaanist would undertake a happy excursion into the poetically inspired space-world with the Taoist. He could, now, afford to forget the tragic sense of life engulfed in the wheel of changing time. Under this circumstance, the spirit of a Buddhist was quite congenial with that of a Taoist.

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V

It took a long epoch of more than seven centuries (67-789) for Chinese Buddhism to run its course of full development, which was, of course, conditioned by the continual works done in translation [51] and by the creative works done in system-building. From 789 until 960, the Buddhist tradition only went on and slid down in elaboration. Chiefly in the sixth century, the fore-running schools or sects were to be formed and eventually in the period of Sui-Tang (581-960) the ten different schools of Chinese Buddhism came to be completed. I cannot here attempt to outline their systematic theorizings which, just because of their doctrinal complexity and elaborateness, should form an independent study by themselves. [52] The most that I can do here is to select some features of Buddhism as ways of expressing the singular power of Chinese mentality.

Upon its being first introduced, Buddhism could have taken its deep root in the Chinese mind only by coming under the dominant influence of Chinese thought. It goes without saying that the Chinese Buddhistic metaphysics was evoked and re-enforced by the spirit of Taoism and not vice versa, [53] The Taoists all along had claimed fundamental Nothingness to be the supreme category in their own system. And Buddhists, such as Lokaak.sin [bw] (resident in China during 176-189), Chih Chien [xbx] (192-252), and K'ang Seng-hui [xby] (d. 280), continually laid extreme importance upon the category of fundamental Nothingness, which they took to be equivalent to the Tathataa. [54] During the fourth century, the impact of Taoism upon the philosophy of Praj~naa [xbz] was most obvious in the school of Tao An [xca] (312-385) and his contemporaries.

As regards the controversies about wu and yu or Nothingness and Being, there were, then, six or seven schools[55] diversified into twelve trends [56] of thought discriminating genuine truth from mundane creeds. On the evidences successively given by the monks Tan Chi [xcb] (ca. 473), Seng Ching [xcc] (302-

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475), Hui Ta [xcd] (ca. 481), and Yuan K'ang [xce] (ca. 649), and on the further evidence [57] of Chi Tsang [xcf] (549-623), the above set of theories may be tabulated as follows:

fundamental nothingnes [xcg]
non-differentiation [xch]
nothingness exhibited in the realm of matter [xci]
nullity of mind [xcj]
embracement in consciousness [xck]
illusory transformation [xcl]
assemblage of conditions [xcm]
monk Shen [xcn]
Chih Tun [xco]
monk Wen [xcp]
Yu Fa-kai [xcq]
monk I [xcr]
Yu Tao-sui [xcs]

In the above tabular scheme, (1) is more fundamental than the other six, which are all derived therefrom. According to Tao An, "the fundamental Nothingness is the prius of all transformations, and vacuity is the beginning of all the visible world." [57a] All modes of the true Dharma [xcy] are by nature vacuous and pure, spontaneously ensured from, and essentially identifiable with, the Bhuutatathataa [xcz] (thusness of being) denuded of any contamination of the defiled elements. The trends of thought in the seven schools of Chinese Buddhism during the fourth and fifth centuries were centered round the metaphysical thesis which advocated the importance of Nothingness. From now on, the Buddhists would join hands with the Taoists and form a united front against traditional Confucianism.

The influence of Chuang Tzu is even more prominent in the school of Kumaarajiiva [xda] (343-413). His contribution lay in the field of the philosophy

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of `Suunyataa [xdb] (emptiness). The ultimate reality is that which has emptied out all fantastic whims, so as to show its own purity of essence in the form of Thusness. Among the great number of his pupils, Seng Chao [xdc] (384-414) and Tao Sheng [xdd] (374?-434) stood our as the double stars never waning in their spiritual illuminancy.

The synoptic visions of Seng Chao are diversified into three cardinal theses: [58] (1) correlative motion and rest; (2) reconcilable Being and Nothing or inseparable substance and function; and (3) the dovetailing of knowledge and "no-knowledge" transmuted into the supreme wisdom.

(1) I cannot here go into his penetrative arguments in this regard except to note the two conclusions he had arrived at. (a) Men of the world, engulfed in the flux of change, have no sense of assurance inasmuch as life in a shifting course of action leads to death likely to destroy everything achieved in life. They are always sick of life and sick for the unattainable Nirvaa.na. (b) The man of wisdom can discern permanence in the midst of change. He knows how to remain non-active in a state of spiritual repose and yet will not dispense with the world of action. It is only he who, being immortal in spirit, can plunge into the deep waters of life with no danger of annihilation. In his approach to Nirvaa.na, he has attained it, and yet he will not stand attached to it, out of keeping with the changing world.

(2) Tao An and his associates relied too much upon the fundamental Nothingness by asserting either the vacuity of the ontic substance, or the nullity of matter, or the illusiveness of mind. Seng Chao, however, dissented strongly from all of them. Generally, in the usage of linguistic expressions or "ostensible names," [xdf] we talk about an "objective" which is neither simply real as posited in Being nor simply unreal as denied in Non-Being or Nothing. The said "objective" may be either, and it may be both. In the light of the Maadhyamika `Saastra, [xdg] to be or not to be: that is the one-sided question. It takes a man of supreme wisdom to discern Nothing in all modes of Being and to observe Being in the midst of Nothing. The ontic substance and the complete truth thereof cannot be rent into grotesque pieces.

(3) Seng Chao's metaphysics is a philosophy of the supreme wisdom which is concerned with the ultimate reality, Nirvaa.na, the Dharmakaaya [xdh] (consummate being), the Bhuutatathataa (thusness of being), and the Dharmataa [xdi] (reality as such). All of these are to him different names of the same "objective." In order to avoid misunderstanding, however, a distinction should be made between the supreme wisdom per se and wisdom in the form

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of upaayakau`salya, [xdj] i.e., expedient wisdom. The power of the former penetrates deeply into the objective, whereas the function of the latter adapts itself to all beings in the changing world. By virtue of wisdom per se we are to illuminate the nature of the Void, while by means of the wisdom in expedience we are to launch into the world of fluctuating Being. In dealing with Being in full, we shall have no misgivings with the nature of the Void. And, therefore, we can encounter the realm of Being without attachment. That being the case, we can illuminate what is essentially vacuous without falling back upon it tenaciously. In the midst of knowledge in acquaintance with the world we shall arrive at a wondrous state of the liberated spirit with no knowledge whatever. The reason is that, if you know something in particular, there will be numberless other things that you do not know. Just because the spirit of the divine is with no knowledge in particular, there will be nothing that it does not know, freely and all-pervasively. Hence, the knowledge of no-knowledge embraces all that there is to be known. This may sound quite perplexing, but men of great genius like Shakespeare in the West have understood it quite well.

O, out of that "no hope"
What great hope have you! No hope that way is
Another way so high a hope that even
Ambition cannot pierce a wink beyond,
But doubt discovery there. [59]

The objective of the knowledge of no-knowledge is intent on the spirit of the divine. The divine spirit reposed in a state of vacuity, having no fumblings to get rid of, can be said to possess no knowledge. No-knowledge that way is not the same as the supposed knowledge about Nothingness, which is something nullified into nothing. It is far above mere knowledge correlative with the limited modes of Being. It is completely denuded of nescience, which is sheer ignorance. In a word, it is Enlightenment [xdk] and Praj~naa fused into the One. Enlightenment shades off what is extrinsic of itself and is essentially inner light in the form of no-knowledge, while Praj~naa is an out-pouring of the inner light over the world-all by denuding it of fallaciousness.

I have mentioned Seng Chao and Tao Sheng as the double stars in the ethereal sky of Chinese Buddhistic speculation. But there is a difference between them. Seng Chao has formulated a system of principles explanatory of the nature of wisdom, whereas Tao Sheng has turned the Mahaayaanic theory

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into a way of spiritual life whereby human nature is fulfilled to the extent that it can partake of buddha-nature. [xdl]

Hithertofore, the Chinese Buddhists had looked upon the mundane world as a case of malady and thought about the actual individual as a source of blunder. Any acceptance of the world in its illusory appearances and any affirmation of the individual in his fantastic grimaces would indicate a ridiculous view. But the monk Hui Yuan [xdm] (334-416) had a different turn of mind. The world could exist in the form of permanence constitutive of the ultimate reality. The human being could come to the possession of a real self in intimacy with the Buddha. This line of thought had quite an influence upon Tao Sheng in formulating his philosophy of buddha-nature. For brevity's sake, his fundamental ideas [60] in this regard may be enunciated as follows:

(1) The all-pervasive function of Praj~naa and the substantial nature of Nirvaa.na are inseparable in the make-up of ultimate reality, which will embody the true Dharma and the perfect Buddhataa in the unity of Buddha-dharma. [xdq]

(2) The ideal of Nirvaa.na is realizable in the midst of fluctuating life and death. Hence, the pure land of the Buddha is not different from the existent realm of all creatures. By way of moral purification, all creatures dwelling in the defiled world of blunders will be reinstated in the world of the noble and sublime, won over through the employment of reason. Abidance in the enlightening reason of the Buddha enables each and all to see every facet of the world as pure as it can be.

(3) The conquest of the darkened mind by the potency of reason is the only way to emancipation. In pursuance of this, the real self of spontaneous freedom is achieved by the righteous mind, which has been restored to its original purity of nature through the exertion of reason. Thus, all human beings -- not even excepting the icchantika [xdr] (infidel) -- being endowed with the intrinsic reason can come to share equally the ubiquitous buddha-nature and to unfold the illuminating buddha-wisdom implicit in their own conscience. In this sense, the human individuals are spiritual comrades, equal in cosmic importance to that of the Buddha.

(4) As the light of supreme wisdom has a most direct penetration into his own rational essence, each man through the devout devotion can come to a sudden awakening [xds] of the buddha-nature within the inner constitution of his own nature and achieve buddhahood on his own accord. This is the chief tenet of Mahaayaana Buddhism.

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Tao Sheng's philosophy of buddhahood is of great importance for several reasons. (a) It had evoked a number of interpretations of buddha-nature during the fifth and sixth centuries. (b) His emphasis on the perfectibility of human nature after the model of buddha-nature is quite congenial with the Confucian theory of the original goodness of man. This is evidenced by the fact that the poet-philosopher, Hsieh Ling-yun [xdt] (385-433), in hearty sympathy with Tao Sheng's idea of sudden awakening, made a very favorable comparison of the spiritual achievement of Confucius with that of the Buddha. [61] (c) His theory of sudden awakening by reverting to the inmost nature of the mind anticipated the later philosophy of Ch'an [xdv] (Zenism). (d) His concept of the importance of reason in gaining an insight into ultimate reality even anticipated the Neo-Confucianism of the Sung Dynasty (960-1279). In short, Tao Sheng was, on the one hand, the culmination of that line of thought in the linkage of Buddhism with Taoism, and, on the other, a bridge over which several sects of Buddhism were to make headway in alliance with some schools of Confucianism.

In the epoch of Sui-Tang (581-960) ten different schools of Buddhism flourished in China. "A beggar of time" like me, finally, cannot refrain from mentioning, in particular, the categorical scheme of Hua-yen -- the Avata^msaka School [xdw] -- as a powerful expression of Chinese comprehensive harmony. Theoretically, if not entirely historically, the Hua-yen school may be made the line of convergence along which many systems of Buddhistic thought would have their confluence.

The categorical scheme of Hua-yen [62] was an attempt to integrate all the differentiating worlds, all the noble deed-acts, and all the achieved end-results of the buddhas in the past, present, and future into a sum total of the true realm of Dharma in the form of supreme perfection with a view to showing that each human being, inherently possessed of wondrous excellences, could awaken buddha-nature in himself, all at once, adequately, spontaneously, and congruently. The one real Realm of Dharma [xdx] is not far from this actual world of man if everyone knows thoroughly how to live and act wisely by way of participation in the fundamental wisdom of the Buddha. Buddha-nature in toto has the potentiality of coming in ingress into the perennial spiritual constitution of man. This is the equality and equanimity of Dharma. The spiritual sun sheds its exuberant light over and into all living beings, and all living beings, in turn, assimilate and reflect and interfuse and re-

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enforce this spiritual light uniquely and reciprocally. Thus, all modes of the spontaneous function of reason, manifesting themselves in infinite varieties, would, at the same time, be actuated into a concert of life-activities, in unison with the One True Realm of Dharma, equanimous in essence. In the midst of enriched varieties, the light of Tathataa (Thusness) radiated by the Buddha and witnessed and shared by all men alike will gladden the differentiating minds and the differentiating worlds into the non-differentiation of reality perfectly embedded in the integral truth, which is enlightenment, inherent in each and interpenetrative into all.

Taken in its all-inclusive unity, this One True Dharmadhaatu [xdx] (realm of Dharma) evinces the omnipresence and omnipotence of Mind constitutive of the noumenon of all the phenomenal worlds, diversifying itself into (a) the differential Realms of Events, (b) the integrative Realm of Reason, (c) the interpenetrative Realm of Reason and Events, and (d) the interlacing Realm of all Events.

The theoretical formulation of the categorical scheme, [63] initiated by Tu-shun [xea] (557-640), developed by Chih-yen [xeb] (602-668), elaborated by Fa-tsang [xec] (643-720) and further expounded by Cheng-kuan [xed] (760-820) and Tsung-mi [xee] (d. 841), embraces three grand views, [64] i.e., (1) of the true Void, [xef] (2) of the congruence of Reason and Events, [xeg] and (3) of the dovetailing of all Events in the form of universal coherence. [xeh]

In the first view, an attempt is made to show (a) that the worlds of physical properties can be dissolved into the nature of the Void, just as phenomena are transmutable into the noumenon; (b) that the Void as the ultimate reality is constitutive of, and identifiable with, the assemblage of purified physical phenomena; (c) that the Void and the physical are mutually congruent; and (d) that, eventually, after the impenetrable inertia of the physical is explained away in terms of the efficacy of mental and spiritual transmutations and through the insinuation of the ontic essence -- the true nature of the Void -- into the physical, all one-sided characterizations in respect of the physical and the Void are transcended in the highest integral truth of the middle path.

In the second view, it is maintained that reason and events can be melted into one another in a perfect manner. Reason is the wondrous function deeply rooted in the Bhuutatathataa and has its efficacy anytime anywhere in virtue of

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the omnipresence of the Buddha. This can be accounted for in the following ways: (a) Reason as a whole, denuded of any specification, is universally present in all the worlds of events, however differentiated the latter may be, inasmuch as the Dharmataa is manifesting itself incessantly without limitation. And, therefore, even the minutest event-particles are immersed in the integral truth and imbued adequately with reason. (b) The items of events which, as such, are differentiated must be restored into unity in the integration of reason, just as the wavicles, spreading forth far and away, are losing their own unique momenta and can be re-enforced and saved only by taking up continually with the oceanic ingratiation. Hence, it may be asserted that events, each and all, are constituted according to the reason which is exhibited therein and that the truth is verified by events which are the constituents thereof. Though they are interrelated, the truth, however, is not simply events which, once constituted, would overshadow the reason inherent in them, and the events are not simply the truth which, if verified, would supersede the events limitative in their differentiation.

In the third view, it is asserted that the dovetailing of all events will vindicate the universal coherence of truth. This can be shown as follows: (1) Reason operates for the sake of events. It makes the events what they are in the mode of existence, in the way of differentiation, qualitatively as well as quantitatively, and in the process of change and transformation. Hence, the function of reason issuing in truth will come in ingress into all the differentiating worlds of events. (2) The events, each and all, abide by reason in virtue of which they would go through the process of change in incessant successions and remain permanent in the realm of eternity. And, therefore, the events in observance of reason would permeate all modes of Dharma. (3) The events, as implied in reason, would bring forth the following modes of implication: (a) one implicates another; (b) one implicates every other; (c) one implicates all others; (d) all others implicate one; (e) all others implicate every other one; and (f) all others implicate all others. Thus, the whole and the parts, the one and the many, as well as the universal and the particular, will be intertwined.

The above consideration brings into prominence the principle of mutual implication, the principle of mutual relevance, and the principle of all-pervasive coherence. All these principles, taken together, are explanatory of the integral infinite Dharmadhaatu. In the way of mutual implication, any one (dharma) can gather up any other one unto itself and enter into the constitution of that one; any one can gather up all others unto itself and enter into the constitution of that one; all others can gather up all others unto them-

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selves and enter into the constitution of those others. Hence, the principle of mutual relevance needs no further elucidation. Furthermore, the principle of all-pervasive coherence holds on the following conditions: (a) one dharma gathers up another one into itself and enters into that one; (b) one gathers up all other dharmas into itself so as to enter into that one; (c) one gathers up another one so as to enter into all others; (d) one gathers up all others in order to enter into all others; (e) all other dharmas gather up one so as to enter into another one; (f) all other dharmas gather up all others so as to enter into any one; (g) all others gather up one so as to enter into all others; and (h) all others gather up all others in order to enter into them all. When all of these are melted together, the ultimate result is the integrity of the infinitely perfect Dharmadhaatu. If the above conditions are fulfilled, then the ten approaches to the metaphysical profundity and the six characteristics of all Dharma will be clear in the light of day without further elucidation. In view of such a philosophy, if any person is to gain a firm footing in the One Real Dharmadhaatu, he must live and have his being in the spirit of infinity.

VI

In the above I have tried to depict tersely the ways in which the Chinese contemplative minds have been fascinated with the world and the human individual, which are taken, however, not so much in natural as "in dramatic regard." [65] The world and the individual, taken "in natural regard," would be the exhibitions of related facts, definite in content, determinate in nature, specific in conditions, articulate in forms, full in being, or substantial in essence. All of these, characteristic of scientific explanations, are, of course, very important for the understanding of man and the world. But Chinese philosophers choose to take a step further than this in their modes of contemplation. From their viewpoints, the world taking shape in ultimate reality must transcend the limitations of relatively specific characterizations before all of its complete nature can come to the light of day. The actual world, strictly philosophically conceived, should be transformed into an ideal pattern adorned with the axiological unity of supreme perfection. The Chinese always aspire toward the transfigured world of liberating art, of edifying morality, of contemplative truth, and of religious piety. Any other world short of these will be a realm of anxiety making us look pale and tired.

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This is why the Confucians have craved so much for the continually creative potency of the heavenly Tao in the shaping of the cosmic order as a whole. This is why the Taoists have whole-heartedly cherished the ideal of Nothingness for its coming to the rescue of all things relative in the realm of Being. And this is also why Chinese Buddhists have vehemently struggled for the partaking of the buddha-nature embedded in the integral truth of the ultimate spiritual enlightenment.

As to the nature and status of man, the Chinese, either as a unique person or as a social being, takes no pride in being a type of individual in estrangement from the world he lives in or from the other fellows he associates with. He is intent on embracing within the full range of his vital experience all aspects of plenitude in the nature of the whole cosmos and all aspects of richness in the worth of noble humanity. Anything different from this would be a sign of the impoverishment in the inner constitution of personality which is miserably truncated in development. This accounts for the concerted efforts of Chinese philosophers to advocate the exaltation of the individual into the inward sageliness and the outward worthiness which together make up the intrinsic greatness of man as Man.

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a. 方東美 y. 易章句
b. 墨家哲學 z. 戴震、東原
c. 莊子 aa. 原善
d. 涅槃 xab. 孟子
e. 如來 xac. 荀 卿、荀子
f. 楊朱 xad. 戴德
g. 司馬談 ae. 大戴禮記
h. 司馬遷 af. 盧見曾
i. 商瞿、子木 xag. 道
j. 史記 xah. 老子
k. 楊何 xai. 大象
l. 彖傳 xaj. 無
m. 繫辭傳 xak. 有
n. 說卦傳 xal. 無為而無不為
o. 文言傳 xam. 為而不恃
p. 象傳 xan. 長而不宰
q. 旁通 xao. 生而不有
r. 生命情調與美感 xap. 建之以常無有
s. 易學討論集 xaq. 以空虛不毀萬物為實
t. 禮記 ar. 馬敘倫
u. 焦循 as. 莊子義證
v. 易圖略 at. 惠施
w. 易話 xau. 反者道之用
x. 易通釋 xav. 玄之又玄

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xaw. 逍遙遊 bu. 蔣維喬
xax. 鵬 bv. 佛學概論
ay. 釋德清憨山 bw. 支婁迦讖
az. 寥天一 xbx. 支謙
ba. 章炳麟、太炎 xby. 康僧會
bb. 齊物論釋 xbz. 般若
xbc. 何晏 xca. 道安
xbd. 王弼 xcb. 曇濟
be. 晉書 xcc. 僧鏡
bf. 張湛 xcd. 慧達
bg. 列子 xce. 元康
xbh. 裴頟 xcf. 吉藏
xbi. 孫盛 xcg. 本無
xbj. 向秀 xch. 本無異
xbk. 郭象 xci. 即色
bl. 韓康伯 xcj. 心無
bm. 周易略例 xck. 識含
bn. 廣弘明集 xcl. 幻化
bo. 湯用彤 xcm. 緣會
bp. 魏晉玄學論稿 xcn. 琛法師
bq. 大般涅槃經 xco. 支遁、道林
br. 大槃若經第十六分 xcp. 溫法師
bs. 梁啟超 xcq. 于法開
bt. 梁任公近著第一輯中卷 xcr. 壹法師

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xcs. 于道邃 do. 大般若經
ct. 漢魏兩晉南北朝佛教史 dp. 維摩詰所說經
cu. 道行經 xdq. 佛法
cv. 肇論序 xdr. 一闡提
cw. 肇論疏 xds. 頓悟
cx. 中觀論疏 xdt. 謝靈運
xcy. 法 du. 辨宗論
xcz. 真如 xdv. 禪
xda. 鳩摩羅什 xdw. 華嚴宗
xdb 空性 xdx. 一真法界
xdc. 僧肇 dy. 戒環
xdd. 道生 dz. 華嚴經要解
de. 肇論：物不遷論，不真空論，般若無知論 xea. 杜順
xdf. 假名 xeb. 智儼
xdg. 中觀論 xec. 法藏
xdh. 法身 xed. 澄觀
xdi. 法性 xee. 宗密
xdj. 漚和〈拘舍羅〉、方便善巧 xef. 真空觀
xdk. 菩提 xeg. 理事無礙觀
xdl. 佛性 xeh. 周遍含容觀
xdm. 慧遠 ei. 註華嚴法界觀門
dn. 法華經

NOTES

1. Cf. F. N. Cornford: Principium Sapientiae (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1952), pp. 90-91, 93, 96, 102.

2. Cf. The Works of Chuang Tzu (Chinese text, Chekiang: Chekiang Book Co., 1876), Vol. 10, chap. 33, p. 18.

3. Cf. The Works of Lao Tzu (Chinese text, Chekiang: Chekiang Book Co., 1875), pt. II, chap. 48, p. 6; pt. I, chap. 2, p. 1.

4. Cf. Guido de Ruggiero: The History of European Liberalism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1927), pp. 51-2; 24-28, 66-73.

5. Cf. my Chinese View of Life (Hong Kong: The Union Press, 1957), chap. 3, pp. 87-115, especially pp. 99-115.

6. In the Shih-chi [j] (General History, Royal Library edn, 1746), Vol. 67, p. 8, and Vol. 130, p. 2, Ssu-ma Chien clearly stated that his father, Ssu-ma T'an, learned the philosophy of change from Yang Ho, [k] whose intellectual heritage was traced back to Confucius through an unbroken lineage of eight generations.

7. This cardinal doctrine was set forth by Confucius in the Tuan-chuan [l] (Compendiums), in the Hsi-ts'u-chuan[m] (Conspectus), and in the early section of the Shuo-kua-chuan [n] (Scholia on the Hexagrams).

8. This idea was first formulated by Confucius in the Wen-yen-chuan [o] (Corollaries to the Hexagrams Ch'ien and K'un) and more systematically in the Shang-chuan [p] (Symbolics).

9. The idea of value and the consequential value-centric ontology are developed in the Hsi-ts'u-chuan.

10. I attacked this problem in Shen-ming-ching-tiao-yu-mei-k'an [r] (The Sentiment of Life and the Sense of Beauty), National Central University Monograph on Art and Literature, Vol. 1, no. 1, 1931, pp. 173-204, especially pp. 192-203.

11. The Hsi-ts'u-chuan, chap. 4.

12. Cf. my essay, "Logical Formulations of the Philosophy of Change," in Yi-hsueh-tao-lung-chi [s] (Joint Studies in the Book of Change) (Changsha: Commercial Press, 1941), pp. 31-54.

13. Cf. Chiao Hsun, [u] I T'u Lueh[v] (Logical Structure and Syntactical Scheme Exhibited in the Book of Change), (8 vols., 1813), Vol. I, p. 4, Vol. II, pp. 13-14; I Hua [w] (Talks on the Philosophy of Change (2 vols., 1818), Vol. I, pp. 3, 12; I T'ung Shih [x] (General Commentary on the Book of Change), (20 vols., 1813); and I Chang Chu [y] (The Book of Change: A Study in Syntax), (12 vols.,1815).

14. Cf. the Tuan-chuan, the Wen-yen-chuan, and the Hsi-ts'u-chuan, chaps. 5, 7; Doctrine of the Mean, chap. 22. See also Tai T'ung-yuan [z], Yuan-shan [aa] (Treatise on the Good), chap. 1.

15. The Hsi-ts'u-chuan, chap.5.

16. The Tuan-chuan.

17 The Wen-yen-chuan.

18. Cf. Doctrine of the Mean, chap. 22.

19. Cf. the Works of Mencius, VII. 25.

20. Cf. the Works of Hsun Tzu (Chekiang: Chekiang Book Co., 1876), Vol. 11, chap. 17, pp. 11-16, 18.

21. Cf. Tai Te's version of the Li-chi [ae] (Book of Proprieties), edited by Lu Chien-tseng, [af] 1758, Vol. 1, pp. 4-6.

22. Cf. the Wen-yen-chuan in the Book of Change.

23. The Works of Lao Tzu (Chekiang: Chekiang Book Co., 1875), chap. 4.

24. Ibid., chap. 6.

25. Ibid., chap. 39.

26. Ibid., chaps. 5, 22.

27. Ibid., chaps. 35, 28.

28. Ibid., chap. 16.

29. Ibid., chaps. 40-1, 45.

30. Cf. ibid., chap. 40.

31. Ibid., chap. 11.

32. Ibid., chap. 27.

33. Cf. the Works of Chuang Tzu, Vol. I, chap. 2, p. 24; Vol. V, chap. 12, pp. 6-7; Vol. VI, chap. 17, pp. 9-12; VIII, chap. 23, pp. 9-10.

34. Cf. ibid., Vol. X, chap. 33, p. 25. Also cf. Ma Hsu-lun [ar] Chuang Tzu I Cheng (Verifications of Meanings in Chuang Tzu [as]) (Shanghai: Commercial Press, 1930), Vol. 33, pp. 18-19.

35. Cf. ibid., Vol. III, chap. 6, pp. 7, 10; Vol. VI, chap. 17, p. 10; Vol. VII, chap. 21, p. 24; Vol. VII, chap. 22, pp. 36, 39; Vol. VIII, chap. 23, p. 9; Vol. VIII, chap. 25, p. 34.

36. Cf. ibid., Vol. VIII, chap. 24, p. 22; Vol. X, chap. 31, p. 9 (Kuo Hsiang's notes). The monk Te Ching, [ay] in the Ming Dynasty, in a commentary on Chuang Tzu, said emphatically that Mencius had a tremendous influence upon this great Taoist.

37. Cf. the Works of Chuang Tzu, Vol. X, chap. 32, p. 12.

38. Cf. ibid., Vol. V, chap. 13, p. 24.

39. Cf. ibid., Vol. IV, chap. 11, p. 26.

40. Cf. ibid., Vol. III, chap. 6, pp. 7, 9-10, 15-16.

41. Cf. ibid., Vol. III, chap. 7, pp. 22-26.

42. Cf. Chang T'ai-yen, [ba] Chi-wu-lun-shih [bb] (Commentary on the Theory of Leveling All Things), pp. 1, 3, 11, 14, 18-19, 21-25, 51-55.

43. The Works of Chuang Tzu, Vol. I, chap. 2, p. 25.

44. The Chin-shu [be] (History of the Chin Dynasty). (Shanghai: Commercial Press, 1934), Vol. 43, p. 8.

45. Cf. Chang Chan's [bf] citations from Ho Yen in the commentary on the Works of Lieh Tzu [bg] (Chekiang: Chekiang Book Co.,1876), Vol. I, chap. 1, pp. 4-5; Vol. IV, chap. 4, pp. 4-5.

46. Cf. Wang Pi and Han K'ang-po, [bl] Commentaries on the Book of Change (Shanghai: Chang Hua Book Co., 1922): (a) Wang's portion in Vol. III, p. 4; Vol. I, pp. 2, 5-6; Vol. II, p. 11; Vol. IV, pp. 2-3; (b) Han's portion in Vol. VII, pp. 3-4, 6-9; Vol. VIII, pp. 5-6. See also Wang Pi, Chou-i Lueh-li [bm] (Sketchy Exemplifications of the Principles of Change) in the same edn, Vol. X, pp. 1-3, 6-8.

47. Cf. Chin-shu (History of the Chin Dynasty), Vol. 35, pp. 6-7.

48. Cf. Sun Shen's two essays -- "The Denial of Lao Tzu as a Great Sage" and "The Refutation of Lao Tzu" -- in the Kuang-hung-ming-chi [bn] (Further Collection of Essays on Buddhism), Vol. V, pp. 6-12.

49. Cf. T'ang Yung-t'ung, [bo] Preliminary Treatise on the Metaphysical Schools in the Wei-Chin Period, [bp] 1957, pp. 53-57.

50. Cf. the Mahaa-parinirvaa.na-suutra [bq] in Chinese trans. (Shanghai, 1913, 1926), Vol. 2, chap. 2, pp. 11, 19; chap. 3, pp. 23-25, 28; Vol. 3, chap. 4, pp. 11, 15; and the Mahaapraj~naa-paaramitaasuutra, [br] in Chinese trans., portion 16 (published in Ssuch'uan, 1940), Vol. 596, pp. 4-6.

51. Cf. Collected Essays of Liang Chi-ch'ao [bs] , [bt] 1st series (Shanghai: Commercial Press, 1923), pp. 1-23; 81-134; 155-254.

52. See Junjiroo Takakusu, The Essentials of Buddhist Philosophy (3rd edn., Honolulu: Office Appliance Co., 1956), and Chiang Wei-Chiao, [bu] Introduction to Buddhism [bv] (Shanghai, 1930).

53. T'ang Yung-t'ung has given ample evidences to demonstrate this fact in the History of Chinese Buddhism during the Period of 67-588 [ct] (2nd edn., Taipei: Commercial Press, 1962.) Pt. I, chap. 6, pp. 89-111.

54. Cf.. the Tathataa-parivarta of the Da`sasahasrika [cu] in different Chinese translations by Lokaksin and Chih-Ch'ien. See the Taishoo edn. of the Buddhist Tripi.taka in Chinese. No. 224, p. 453; No. 225, p. 474.

55. Cf. Hui-Ta, Preface to Seng Chao's Discourses. [cv] See the Taishoo edn. of the Buddhist Tripi.taka in Chinese, No. 1858, p. 150.

56. Cf. Yuan-k'ang, Commentary on Seng Chao's Discourses. [cw] See ibid., No. 1859, pp. 162-163.

57. Cf. Chi-tsang: Commentary on the Maadhyamika `Saastra. [cx] See ibid., No.1824, p.29.

57a. Cited by Chi Tsang.

58. Cf. his Discourses On the Perennial, on the Non-Vacuous and on the Praj~naa as No-Knowledge. See the Buddhist Tripi.taka in Chinese, No. 1858, pp. 150-7. [de]

59. The Tempest, Act 2, sc. 1.

60. Tao-sheng's ideas are scattered in the commentaries on the Saddharma-pu.n.dariika, [dn] on the Mahaaparinirvaa.na-suutra, [do] and on the Vimalakiirti-nirde`sa-suutra. [dp]

61. Cf. Hsieh Ling-yun, Essays on the Discrimination of Doctrines [du] in the Further Collection of Essays on Buddhism, Vol. 18, pp. 13-19.

62. Cf. Chiai-huan; [dy] Essentials of the Avata^msaka-suutra, [dz] compiled in 1128. Nanking Centre for Buddhist Publications. 1872.

63. For the important literature on the Hua-yen, see the Taishoo edn. of the Buddhist Tripi.taka in Chinese. No. 1836, pp. 71-76; Nos. 1866-1890, pp. 477-792.

64. Here I am utilizing Tsung-mi's Elucidations of the Hua-yen View of the Dharmadhaatu, [ei] which is essentially more systematic than the earlier expositions by Tu-shun and Fa-tsang, (ibid., No. 1884, pp. 684-692).

65. Cf. C. Lloyd Morgan, Mind at the Crossways (London: Williams & Norgate, 1929), pp. 2-4, 13-14, 20-21, 200-204, 224-227, 230-235, 267-272.