Chapter I Introducing Traditional Chinese Values

1.1 Pursuing the Intrinsic Meaning of Life

Regarding how man should live their life and realize their values, Chinese traditional philosophy chose to uphold the thought of“The oneness of nature and man”and the path of“Internal Transcendence”, which is one of the basic characteristics of traditional Chinese values.

1.1.1 The oneness of nature and man

In Chinese philosophy, secular order and moral values are usually attributed to realities like“Heavenly Moral Ethics”,“Tai Chi”,“Dao”and“Nature”, with the Dao of Man being based on the Dao of Nature, and“The Oneness of Nature and Man”(a philosophical theory that man is an integral part of nature, or the unity/oneness of nature and man) being the“core”theory of traditional Chinese philosophical values.

Ancient Chinese philosophers didn’t simply take values as the desires and needs of man but considered them the inherent property of each and every thing. Generally speaking, value is not to be confined to the domains of society or humans themselves, but should be extended to the height of the nature and the universe. That is to say,“the Dao[1] of Man”should be heightened to“the Dao of Nature”. By acting on the orders of these“Nature”or“Dao”, humans are endowed with“disposition”and“life”. Therefore, for man, to have a life or to realize their values in life is to pursue the oneness of nature and man. Chinese philosophers take“Nature”as the reality of the universe and endow it with moral ethics. At the same time,“man”is abstracted into a holistic category, which is generalized as a cultural-ethical existence of universality. On this basis, they illustrated the consistency of nature and man from the origin of the world, and argued that“Tai Chi”,“truth”,“mind”,“disposition”and“honesty”are the bonding point of the oneness of nature and man, which provides a theoretical basis for this philosophical theory.

For example, it is argued in Dao De Jing[2] that: there is a fundamental existence, born before the heaven and the earth. It is congenitally fuzzy and obscure with no sound or concrete physical form; its nature, from ancient times to the present, has never changed; it exists as an independent being, moving in endless lifecycles and being the primitive origin of all life forms. Such a fundamental existence is called“the Dao”or generally referred to as“the Vastness”since no one knows its name.

The Dao is in a constant state of endless lifecycles. The universe came into being when the Dao became the One. In turn, Yin and Yang took place when the One split into the Two. The Three was bred when Yin and yang blended as one, which signified the formation of everything. Things differ in thousands of ways, while their interaction of Yin and Yang remains the same, which further leads to the endless changes of things. There is a reason for the creation of all things in the world, and the reason is the Dao. After all things are created, each has its own nature: moral ethics, which are the embodiment of the Dao, a double ganger of the Dao. The Dao is a metaphysical theory, which is shaped by all things, and achieves its own reality because of the general trend of the world. All things embody the Dao and its moral ethics. The reason why the Dao is respected is that it is not because of the Dao and its moral ethics themselves but there is an authority and command over all things. It is the nature of all things, and everything happens naturally. It is the Dao that is the root cause of all things, and that contains the nature of birth, growth, harvest and storage all things, during which the creation, development and maturity of them, including their continuity and termination, all have the Dao playing a role in them. The Dao exists in perpetuity but has no selfish motives to possess things. It keeps things but does not show any arrogance, a profound and far-reaching moral ethic that the Dao has as its inner state and virtue.

The Dao is not only a realistic and visible existence as in“being”, but also an intangible existence as in“nonbeing”. Neither of the previous two statuses can represent the totality of the Dao, since“Neither a Dao that can be articulated or an entity that can be named is of universal nature”(道可道,非常道; 名可名, 非常名) as it is put in the first chapter of Dao De Jing. The Dao is in perpetuity. It was of“nonbeing”nature before the formation of the heaven and the earth. Though not an entity,“nonbeing”is an existence in nature, which can either be intangible beings or realities. The so called“nonbeing”can be the mother of“being”. The Dao is embodied in the process of intangible existence involving into entities, i.e.“being”.

The Dao, as a unity of“being”and“nonbeing”, runs through the two poles. When it is considered a phenomenon in reality, as a“being”, the Dao is easy to comprehend, while it is taken as an intangible existence, as a“nonbeing”, the Dao turns to be extensive and profound. On the one hand, the Dao has a trait of“constant nonbeing”as well as“constant being”. The former refers to the Dao’s existence in“an intangible way”, a way that is difficult to perceive or comprehend. On the contrary, the latter refers to the Dao’s existence in“a phenomenological way”, a way that is loud and clear.

The Dao, though born prior to the existence of the world, is but an extending process, a transition from intangibility to reality and sublimation from reality to the Dao itself. The process is a hoop in which the Dao can breed the non-Dao that in turn can go back to the Dao. Man, as part of the Dao’s making, has inherited its natural endowments, which explains why both the Dao and man are of paramount importance. The development of human history is a reflection of the Dao’s existence. Both the natural world and the human society are in constant movement, change and development, in which the Dao plays a part. It is because the Dao’s perpetuity that we are able to manage all the beings in the present by harnessing the Dao from ancient times, and to grasp the laws of the creation of the universe by our insight into the very beginning of all things.

In Chinese philosophy and culture, the so called“Heavenly Dao”(天道) is in fact a reflection of real life. Under the guidance of the Heavenly Dao as, the reality can constantly adjust its course of development. As the reflection of real life, the Heavenly Dao can provide guidance for real life and its value is appreciated in the process of adjusting reality. In the meantime, the nature of the Heavenly Dao is so vigorous that it has been perpetually enriched and developed because it is a reflection of the reality. For this reason, the interaction between the two worlds (the value and the reality) can not only standardize the humanization in reality, but also have the cultural concepts of the value world continuously sublimed and developed.

Therefore, the three ideals“the Cultivation of Self, the Cultivation of Humanity and the Cultivation of Things”pursued by Chinese philosophers has presupposed moral ethics in the first place, without which the existence and activities of mankind and all things would be rendered meaningless. The presupposition of this value is the goal that human society and the universe are supposed to achieve, so that values exist not only in the subject and the object, but also in the interaction between them. In Chinese, values are not just a relationship category exclusively restricted to a certain group of people. It is, rather, a category of the entity, as in that moral ethics themselves is an ontology, which is deemed the source of ultimate value.

Chinese philosophy is in essence the philosophy of values in that the whole system of it is established on the foundation of value judgment, which postulates that the ultimate reality is one of supreme good. The whole world, including human society, is under the governance of this concept of perfectionism and will steer its course of development towards the world of supreme good. Therefore, the mainstream of Chinese philosophy all identify with the value of perfectionism. For instance, discussions on“Heavenly Moral Ethics”by the school of Cheng-Zhu’s Neo-Confucianism’s (程朱理學) and“Innate Mind”by the school of Lu Xiangshan’s Idealism all intended to explore the origin and nature of values. Though their views are different, they all consider virtue an entity, an embodiment of mankind and of things. That’s why the supreme good of moral ethics can be reflected in the value relations of“loving one’s family”to“loving the people”, and of“loving the people”to“loving all things”. In addition, that’s also how the saying that“The benevolent and the whole universe is an organic whole”came into being.

Chinese philosophers generally believe that there is a world of values above the physical world. As for their relationship, the value world is the foundation and destination of the physical world. Although the two worlds are sometimes in opposition to each other, they ought to be consistent in nature. The value world is more fundamental than the physical world in that facts may accord with values or may violate them. The facts that violate values should be abandoned.

Different from the foreign concepts that substantialize, formalize and externalize it, Chinese philosophy generally believes that the ontology of values lies in each individual. The individuals that realize their own value are consistent with the ontology of the value. In this sense, individuals’ value of life is, in the unique thinking of traditional Chinese philosophers, usually realized through an internal transcendence of achieving“The Oneness of nature and man”.

1.1.2 Internal transcendence

In the view of Chinese philosophy, each individual upholds the universality of the Dao. That is to say, each individual is a small universe, a self-sufficient microcosm and a refraction of the entire universe. Each individual can connect themselves with the grand path of the Dao by cultivating their internal moral ethics. The thought of“Isomorphism of Man and Nature”(天人同構) is an expression of the essential characteristics of Chinese philosophy advocating“The oneness of nature and man”as its internal transcendence.

It is argued in Dao De Jing that the Dao is in a concomitant relation with the moral ethics and is integrated as one with physics, and the substances and their functions are integrated as one too. In view of this, an individual is able to channel the universe and become an integrated part of it, and finally be integrated with the Dao, which exists among individuals, families, nations and the whole world. The fact that the Dao reaches everything reveals another fact that it is easily established than rooted up, while the fact that the Dao contains everything reveals yet another fact that it is easy to embrace than to escape from. One will enjoy prolonged prosperity and a long line of descendants if he or she upholds the truth of the Dao and their moral ethics being integrated with the Dao as one[3]. These ethics will be actualized when they are employed to cultivate one’s character; one’s family will prosper when they are employed to regulate family matters; they will be developed when they are employed to benefit one’s neighbors; they will become mighty when they are employed to administer a country; they will reach all living things when they are employed to guide all the people in the whole world. Therefore, one individual’s experience of the Dao and its moral ethics’ existence can be spread through one individual to other individuals, one family to other families, one neighborhood to other neighborhoods and one country to other countries. The moral standards that everyone agrees with can be a measurement of people’s minds in the whole world. There is a value consciousness in everybody’s mind so that they all can unite themselves with the body of the Dao by cultivating the inner moral ethics of their own.

Traditional Chinese philosophy generally regards people as ends rather than means, emphasizing the moral ethics and values of each individual. Chinese philosophers have endowed“the universe”with the qualities of“honesty”,“mentality”and“disposition”, highlighting human beings’ ontological values and central position in the universe and revealing the value of prioritizing people’s position. Chinese philosophers believe that there is a body of supreme good in the universe, which is either called“heavenly justice”, or in other words,“benevolence”, honesty”and“innate mentality”. People cannot reveal the“heavenly justice”and“innate mentality”they have in real life because they are usually blinded by their desires. As a result, imperfections are found in human beings and the real-life society they live in, and there is a disparity between values and facts. They advocated that values that are naturally endowed to human beings can be actualized by self-cultivations such as“cultivating what’s of great significance in the first place”,“studying the phenomena to acquire knowledge”or“exploring things to know truth”. Self-cultivation, by definition, refers to the self-perfecting process in which an individual consciously cultivate his or her“mentality”and“behavior”in accordance with the requirements of the values. Here,“mentality”refers to one’s minds, thoughts, emotions and moral consciousness, while“behavior”, one’s ways of activity in life and production.

Therefore, most Chinese philosophers believe that the realizing one’s values cannot be separated from the consciousness of individuals in that they foster their moral emotions, strengthen their moral beliefs through purposefully deepening their moral consciousness and rationality so as to consciously engage themselves in moral practice, performing their moral obligation and fulfilling their social responsibility to others. To this end, Chinese philosophy has explored various ways to cultivate the goodness of one’s moral ethics, and provided the basic principles and scales for the perfection of each individual.

1.1.3 Self-cultivation

In the traditional Chinese philosophy, Confucianism and Daoism are two different theoretical forms fostered in the Chinese culture, which constitute the two pillars of traditional Chinese value philosophies. Confucianism and Daoism have different understanding of realizing individual values, and of different ways of practicing individual cultivation.

1.1.3.1 Gentleman personality and the true man spirits

One of the pivotal propositions of Confucianism is one’s realm of life and prospect of being a sage. Usually, the realization of an individual’s value and their pursuit of“benevolence”and“righteousness”are combined. The significance of life lies in the pursuit of benevolence, in the practice of righteousness, during which gentleman personality and the mentality of being a true man are achieved, thus fulfilling the expectation of becoming a saint or sage. All these are the life goals of Confucians. This kind of ideal personality, together with the value pursuit of becoming a saint or sage emphasizes not only administering a country and achieving world peace by“governing and benefiting the people”, but also the inner quietness and leisureliness of an individual through internal“cultural-ethical transcendence”. This is what’s called the pursuit of“being a saint inside and a king outside”, with“a saint inside”being the basis of“a king outside”, while individual’s mental and physical health is taken as the most fundamental pursuit in the saint’s internal“cultural-ethical transcendence”.

(1) Straightening thought with respect and squaring behavior with righteousness

The main representative figure of the Pre-Qin Confucian is Confucius himself. In the era of the Spring and Autumn Period in which Confucius lived, the Zhou Dynasty (1046-256 B.C.) had shown signs of decline when some of the states rose to contend for hegemony. The Zhou Dynasty’s political, economic and social and cultural systems were seriously damaged, which led Confucius to believe that it was an era of“a world without the Dao”and“collapsing etiquettes”. He believed that the solution of the problem relied primarily on easing social contradictions and restoring social harmony and stability at that time. Whereas Confucius wanted to tackle the problem with“propriety”, he also believed that“benevolence”was more fundamental, for it was the first moral basis for an individual. Furthermore, it was not only the main body of moral ethics but also one of the cultural-ethical realms of an individual. A benevolence-oriented value was usually represented by other external moral behaviors of“Loyalty and Forbearance”,“Filial Piety”,“Propriety”,“Righteousness”,“Moral Ethic”and“Trustworthiness”etc.

Form and content, internal nature and external performance should be put in an organic unity. How could a person who does not have benevolence inside of him be able to formulate and follow the system of propriety? How could such person perform the ritual of music[4]? Therefore,“benevolence”, as the body of virtue, is the foundation of the system of social rites and music.

Confucius required that everyone cultivate their benevolence. People who upheld such benevolence would fulfill their“filial piety”in daily life so as to honor their elders; in political life, the ruling class would cherish their people and govern them by virtue; in personal morality, individuals would restrain themselves with“propriety”without doing anything that was against the rites or upsetting their minds; in interpersonal communication, people would put themselves in the place of others and be compassionate and understanding. In other words, they want to succeed and also help others do the same thing; they want to move up and develop and also help others do so; they do not impose what they cannot tolerate upon others.

During the Spring and Autumn Period, the social contradiction among classes was acute. Confucius attributed it to the absence of“benevolence”and hoped to solve the social problems with upholding“benevolence”. It should be said that the theory of individual cultivation and value realization of Confucius’s benevolence was of particular significance to the ruling class at that time.

Confucius believed that the implementation of“virtuous policies”should be based on the benevolence of the rulers. Therefore, he required that they“cultivate themselves”,“rectify their behaviors”,“cultivate themselves solemnly to show respect”,“cultivate themselves to appease others”and“cultivate themselves to ease the people”[5]. In Confucius’ view, the so-called politics is nothing more than correcting the ruler’s own behavior and mind. If the rulers do so, who else dares not to? A ruler of good behavior does not have to issue orders, for his people will follow his behavior as a good example; whereas the order of a ruler of misconduct will not be taken seriously since it is natural for the people to follow the misconduct of their rulers. Therefore, the governance a great power lies in the ruler’s cultivating his“benevolence”, his dedication to state affairs, his trustworthiness, his mercy to people, his frugality and lenience toward others.

“A man of virtue is sure to have like-minded companions”(德不孤,必有鄰), said Confucius in the Liren Chapter of The Analects of Confucius.“A gentleman should straighten his thought with respect and squaring his behavior with righteousness so that he has companions of the same virtue”(直其正也,方其義也,君子敬以直内,義以方外,敬義立而德不孤), as recorded in an interpretation of the 62nd Kun Diagram in the Wenyan Chapter, The Book of Changes. This interpretation inherited the legacy of Confucius who believed that“straightening”represents the uprightness of one’s mind while“squaring”the righteousness of one’s conduct. In other words, the creed“Straightening Thought with Respect”requires that one concentrate on cultivating the virtues of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and restraining oneself from indulgence, and“Squaring Behavior with Righteousness”demands that one’s behaviors meet the requirements of the above-mentioned moral ethics. Only by doing so can an individual be a greater man, a man of great virtue and decent behaviors. It is believed that these creeds have made a precise summary of the cultural-ethical purport of Confucius’s theory.

(2) Magnanimousness and the true man spirits

Mencius was an influential representative of the Confucian school in the middle Warring States Period (475-211 B.C.). As for individuals’ self-cultivation in life, Mencius stressed that everyone should cultivate their own“magnanimousness”and indomitable spirit of a“true man”.

Mencius said:“I’m good at cultivating my magnanimousness.”[6] As for what is conveyed in magnanimousness, Mencius believed that it was hard to explain it verbally; that if it had to be explained, magnanimousness was a synonym of righteousness, or right track, or a status of self-cultivation that was bred after people fulfilled their righteous duties. In other words, magnanimousness is an awe of inspiring righteousness, which can be as immense as the universe, filled in both the heaven and the earth; of course, if one has misconducts or is guilty of anything, he or she will not be able to have magnanimousness, but only the feelings of emptiness and weakness. Hence no one is possibly going to reach magnanimousness by chance. They have to cultivate it consciously and properly, during which no damage should be caused to benevolence or righteousness. Since magnanimousness is, according to Mencius, triggered by one’s internal benevolence and righteousness, the creed proposed by Gao Zi[7] that benevolence and righteousness are external codes of conducts does not hold true.

In Mencius’s view, if one wants to cultivate his magnanimousness, he should first cultivate his state of mind, constantly search his own conscience, and be diligent in it, which is all reflected in“things that are meant to happen”. If one fails to do so, he might be doing either too much or too little; of course, one is not supposed to do good deeds intentionally just for the sake of self-cultivation. That’s why one should not expect the result of it. If one does something good deliberately, he does it too much; too much means too little, thus there is no guarantee that he is right in the middle. So, if one wants to cultivate his own magnanimousness, on the one hand, he has to be“diligent in it”, and on the other hand, he has to restrain himself from encouraging it intentionally.

Mencius did not deny the fact that man has natural desires. He believed that there is not much difference between mankind and animals in many ways. However, people feel uncomfortable when called a“beast”and they all prefer the word“human”. Why is that? Mencius believed that there is a fundamental difference between human beings and animals, that is, the former have a natural sense of morality. To this end, Mencius proposed his famous idea that“humans are kind by nature”, which was later backed up by his philosophy that anyone would have a strike of sympathy when seeing a child falling into a well.

One cannot help feeling tension and anxiety to the point that he will naturally have a sense of“sorrowfulness and sympathy”in his heart when he sees a little child crawl at the edge of the well and about to fall into a well. Mencius believed that this is completely out of his human nature, something that makes him humane. He used“intolerability”to describe this feeling. In addition to the sense of“sympathy”, mankind was born with senses of“shame”,“modesty”and“right and wrong”.

Mencius argued that some people are unable or unwilling to keep their own goodness. Rather, they abandon or lose their inherent senses of“sympathy”,“shame”,“modesty”and“right and wrong”. As a result, there comes a difference of good people and bad people. Therefore,“learning is nothing but restore what one had in his heart at birth.”(學問之道無他,求其放心而已矣)[8] One can perfect his moral ethics once he restores what has been lost in his good nature, or do things by following the goodness that he has been naturally endowed with in his heart.

Mencius also proposed the ideal personality of a“True Man”. He was once told that those political strategists such as Zhang Yi and Gongsun Yan in the Warring States Period were qualified for the name of“True Man”since rulers of the vassal states were intimidated once they threw a tantrum and the wars would be stopped around the globe once they settled down. Mencius refuted that these men did not deserve the name of“True Man”, for a genuine true man should be living in the most spacious shelter of the world: Benevolence, a place that was his cultural-ethical home; be standing in the middlemost spot of the world: Propriety, regulating his conducts by the name of it; be walking in the broadest way of the world: Righteousness, practicing it in his daily life. A true man should lead and educate the people when he gets his way, and should also stick to his values when unappreciated. Only those“who cannot be corrupted by wealth, changed by poverty and bent by force”(富貴不能淫,貧賤不能移,威武不能屈)[9] deserve the name of“True Man”.

(3) Remolding nature and being humble and single-minded

Another famous Pre-Qin Confucian Xun Zi (荀子), who was born in the late Warring States period, was so dissatisfied with the political and social environment of his time that he believed it was an era of“filthiness”when Confucius’“Grand Way”was blocked from the world, when there were a chaos of successive invasions and tyrants, and when vulgarity prevailed. He was eager to illuminate Confucius’“Grand Way”in the hope of remolding the evil nature of human beings in reality, establishing a set of effective rituals and legal systems so that“even the common people can be men of virtue”(塗之人可以為禹)[10].

Xun Zi said:“humans are evil by nature and their goodness is cultivated after birth”(人之性惡, 其善者偽也)[11]. Accordingly, he proposed that the ideas of“categorizing things”and“determining the nature of things by naming them”so as to restrain the evilness of human nature by“rites”and“laws”. He believed that the world would be rendered into a state of chaos if there were no“rites”and“laws”and if the evilness of human nature were let loose. It is human nature to do what one feels like doing, and if the evil side of their nature were to be developed, they would become over competitive and the convention of modesty would be abandoned. It is human nature to envy and loathe others, and if this nature were to be encouraged, they would become cruel, predatory and the convention of loyalty and integrity would be abandoned. It is human nature to be addicted to sensual desires, and if those desires were to be indulged, the society, with the rites gone, would be filled with licentiousness. Therefore, if encouraged, the human nature would inevitably become competitive and aggressive, thus endangering social order and the system of rites, which would finally lead to riots. So, it is necessary to teach people with“rites”and“laws”so that the society will be integrated with civilization and the country will be appropriately administered. The evil side of human nature, like a twisted stick that needs straightening or a blunt knife that needs sharpening for better use, needs cultivating to give up its evilness and return to goodness. Without the guidance of righteousness and propriety, mankind tends to take the perilous path rather than the right one. The making of rites and laws is to rectify the evilness of human nature and steer its way toward goodness. Only by doing so can society meet the requirements of the Dao. The greedy nature of mankind makes them seek for gains. Brothers would, when dividing up their family property, turn against and fight each other if their greediness were let be. On the contrary, even strangers would be modest to each other if they were educated with rites and laws. Therefore, the evil side of human nature can be converted to goodness through“remolding their nature”and“enforcing rites and laws”.

Eradicating the evilness of human nature through formulating rites and making laws will ensure a peaceful society, which is a sign of the presence of the Dao. To better abide by the rites and laws made, Xun Zi further proposed the idea of“being humble and single-minded”for self-cultivation, which means every individual is able to abide by rites and laws in their daily life by being humble, dedicated and single-minded so that they can reach“grand clarity”and the“grand way”and therefore improve their practice of“enforcing rites and laws”and“remolding the nature”.

(4) Following moral ethics while reasoning with the aid of righteousness; exhausting truth, knowing human nature and changing the course of human life

The Book of Changes (易經, also I Ching) is one of the important Pre-Qin classics.

The philosophy in The Book of Changes has been fully enunciated in Commentaries on The Book of Changes (易傳)[12], which explained that the ultimate goal of the Saint who wrote this book was to“follow the Dao and its virtue while reason with the aid of righteousness, exhaust truth, know human nature so as to change the course of human life”(和順于道德而理於義,窮理盡性以至於命)[13]. Therefore, The Book of Changes is, according to what’s recorded in the Commentaries, a book of the fundamental principles of the universe and the rules of self-cultivation for mankind, which includes the important part of the Confucianism’s personality cultivation as a gentleman.

As for the life course of the individual, the Commentaries first emphasizes that people should“strive for self-perfection”and“hold the outer world with broad moral ethics”in the process of their self-cultivation and career development, as it is put in The Book of Changes that“As the heaven maintains vigor through movements, a gentleman should strive for self-perfection”and“As the earth’s condition is in receptive devotion, a gentleman should hold the outer world with broad moral ethics”. According to the Commentaries, the greatest virtue of Heaven and the earth lies in their joint creation of mankind and all things. To be brief,“the greatest virtue of heaven and the earth is their creation”, which expresses their benevolence to mankind and all things. They have never ceased their cultivation of the living and their creation, as a constant reminder of their grand love to the mankind and all things, has never stopped. Having inherited the benevolence bestowed to them by birth, mankind should follow the example of their unremitting efforts to strive for self-perfection and show their everlasting love for others and all things. Similarly, the earth is deep and wide, so it can accommodate, bear the weight of and facilitate the achievements of all things. In view of this grand virtue, a gentleman should also follow the earth’s thickness and broadness, cultivate their own moral ethics, strengthen their capacity and make themselves as strong as the earth to bear the great responsibility so that they can also be tolerant of other people and things for their free development.

There is a terminology called“Three Statements and Nine Diagrams”in the Xi Ci chapter of the Commentaries.“Three Statements”refers to the three paraphrases made to the self-cultivation rules in the Nine Diagrams selected from the Sixty Four Diagrams of The Book of Changes. For example, it is paraphrased in the Lǚ (Fulfillment 履) Diagram that how a gentleman can fulfill his duties in accordance with rites; in the Qian (Humble 謙) Diagram that how a gentleman can be humble; in the Fu (Restore 複) Diagram that how a gentleman who has sinned can restore his uprightness; in the Heng (Perpetuity 恒) Diagram that how a gentleman can keep his uprightness in perpetuity; in the Sun (Remove 損) Diagram that how a gentleman can remove his imperfection; in the Yi (Goodness 益) Diagram that how a gentleman can benefit others; in the Kun (Trap 困) Diagram that how a gentleman can honor his integrity when trapped; in the Jing (Well 井) Diagram that how a gentleman can cultivate and defend his virtues like the springing up of well water; in the Xun (Wind 巽) Diagram that how a gentleman can, like the wind, demonstrate his moral ethics by being obedient and submissive.

According to the Commentaries, The Book of Changes, by exploring mysteries, inquiring changes and questing profound truth, aims to the rules and laws of changes, with which the ideological cultivation and behavioral practices of mankind should comply. For instance, in the Fou (Decline 否) Diagram, the Qian (the earth, the Yin 乾) is above the Kun (the heaven, the Yang 坤) and they are isolated, with the former rising while the latter falling. This diagram is a sign of isolation and deviation. Inspired by this diagram, a gentleman should hide his talents and moral ethics, avoid the troubled times, decline the offers of high position and great wealth in case that he may associate with evil persons. In the Gu (Bewitchment 蠱) Diagram, which shows there are winds at the foot of a mountain, meaning that it is time that a gentleman motivated the people and cultivated their moral ethics, the Gen (mountain 艮) is above the Xun (Wind 巽), a sign that the wind is blocked by the mountain and grass and trees are rotten. Having seen this diagram, a gentleman should know that he needs to inspire the people by cultivating their moral ethics. In the Yi Diagram, which shows goodness by the interaction of winds and thunders, meaning that a gentleman should approach goodness and correct his mistakes, the Xun is above the Zhen (Thunder 震), a sign that the fiercer the wind is and the stronger the thunder becomes, and vice versa. The sign that the wind and the thunder bring out the best of each other in an enlightenment to a gentleman, which tells him that he should attend self-cultivation, approaching other’s goodness like the wind to learn from them with a humble attitude and being determined to correct his mistakes like the thunder. Only by doing so can the moral ethics of a gentleman be perfected.

(5) Harmony in diversity, the middle way and eight ways for self-cultivation[14]

The Book of Rites is, compiled by the school of Confucianism from the Pre-Qin to Early Han Dynasties, a collection of essays interpreting the Pre-Qin classics Li Jing, in which The Great Learning (大學, Da Xue) and The Doctrine of the Middle Way (中庸, Zhong Yong) are two important essays praised highly by later generations of Confucians. The Chinese character“Zhong”in“Zhong Yong”is generally considered to bear the meanings of“moderate, neutral and impartial”, while the other one means“mediocrity”.

The two concepts about self-cultivation“Self-Restraining in Privacy”and“The Moderateness-Harmony”are proposed in The Doctrine of the Middle Way. What an individual is endowed with by birth is called his“Disposition”; his choice to follow the kindness in his natural endowment is called“the Dao”; the principles of“the Dao”used for self-cultivation is called“Education”. Mankind cannot, ever for one second, be separated from“the Dao”. Otherwise, the Dao does not deserve its name if they can be separated. Because of this, a gentleman is always cautious and fearful even when others cannot see or hear him, lest his actions do not correspond to the Dao. Every individual, when they do their work, will find that the more hidden and subtle the things they do, the more accurately can these things reflect their sincerity to correspond to the Dao. Therefore, a gentleman who lives alone must be very cautious of his behaviors, which is the so-called“Self-Restraining in Privacy”.

According to The Doctrine of the Middle Way,“One is in the middle way when he restrains himself from being delighted, angry, sad and cheerful; he achieves harmony when he shows strict self-control. Moderateness-Harmony is a fundamental principle in the world and harmony itself is the supreme path under the sky. When impartiality and harmony are achieved, the whole world will be on the right path and all things will thrive.”[15] If everyone can achieve“the Moderateness-Harmony”, everyone in the whole society can keep a calm mind, and the society and the nature can be harmonious world. And above all, the whole world can be at peace.

The Doctrine of the Middle Way emphasizes that a gentleman should always keep himself in the middle, no more and no less. Confucius proposed that moderation is such a good virtue and a fine way of self-cultivation that it is not easy for everyone to achieve it. Of course, there is a difference between the Confucian“the Middle Way”and“hypocrisy”. The latter, which has a nature of pandering, pleasing and flattering others, is seemingly the same with the former with an attitude of going along with others but actually against what the former is. Therefore, Confucius said:“Hypocrisy is the culprit of virtue”[16], which was later reconfirmed by Mencius that“the one who agrees with prevalent vulgarity and filthiness of the world may seem to be faithful and honest in his words and actions. He might be popular and become presumptuous because of this. However, he can never be on the supreme path of mankind and is therefore called ‘the culprit of virtue’”.[17] The true Middle Way should have one’s inner Dao and righteousness as its backbone as in“Gentlemen seek harmony but not uniformity”.[18]“When dealing with things or people, a gentleman does not act according to his closeness or distance to them but rather according to the requirement of righteousness.”[19] It means that because there is righteousness so that a gentleman can behave in line with the Middle Way by using it to measure his judgment and decision.

It is put forward in The Great Learning that self-cultivation has“Three Guiding Principles”and“Eight Items”. The“Three Guiding Principles”refer to“manifesting virtue”,“loving the people”and“aiming at absolute perfection”,[20] which can be elaborated as follows:

The way of the great learning involves manifesting virtue, loving the people, and aiming at absolute perfection. Having known where to reset at the end, one will be able to determine the object of pursuit, having determined the object of pursuit, one will be able to calm down, having been calm down, one will be able to attain tranquility, having attained tranquility, one will be able to deliberate carefully, having deliberated carefully, one will be able to gain the desired outcome. Things have their root and their branches. Affairs have their end and their beginning. Knowing which comes first and which comes last, one is already close enough to the right path.

The term“Great Learning”, which refers to the things learned by adults, is coined relative to things taught in primary schools. Usually, the children in ancient times went to primary school at the age of eight to learn basic knowledge like“propriety, music, archery, driving a chariot, calligraphy and mathematics”and social manners like“doing household duties, striking interpersonal conversations or receiving guests”. After turning fifteen, they started the academic journey of the“Great Learning”, studying for the purpose of“exhausting truth and rectifying the mind, cultivating inner self and educating the people”. Therefore, the purpose of“Great Learning”is to enable everyone to carry forward their innate honorable virtues, to renew oneself by getting rid of their evil practice and doing good deeds in daily life and to make their virtues to the point of absolute perfection. People will become oriented and ambitious when they know the truth of aiming at absolute perfection. They will therefore become determined and calm, which further leads to a peaceful mind that makes them so thoughtful that their efforts of self-cultivation will be fruitful. So, everything always has their beginning and ending. People will get close to the Dao once they understand this.

The“Eight Items”in The Great Learning refers to investigating things, acquiring knowledge, nurturing sincerity, rectifying the mind, cultivating the moral character, regulating the family, administering the country and achieving world peace. Those who want to disseminate the moral ethics of a gentleman in the whole world must first govern their country properly; to govern their country properly, they must know how to make their own family harmonious and orderly; to manage their own family, they must first cultivate their own moral character; to cultivate their moral character, they must first rectify their own mind by making it pure and free from desires; to rectify their mind, they must first nurture their sincerity to the point that they can truthfully show their conscience with no self-deception; to avoid self-deception, they should give full play to their conscience in its role of dictating to the body because when the mind and the external things make contact, they can illuminate the physical properties of things and enlighten the mind; after investigating things, their mind can acquire knowledge about them; after knowing them, they can show their capabilities and conscience so as to not deceive themselves; when their conscience are fully displayed, they can have their mind rectified; after rectifying their mind, they can cultivate their moral character; when having a moral character, they will be able to regulate their family matters; when they are able to handle their own family, they will be able to govern the country and thus finally put the world will at peace! Therefore, everyone should consider cultivating their own character the basic purpose of life. If the cultivation of one’s character is disturbed, the family, the country and the world will not be governed at all. So, these things have to be done orderly and the priorities cannot be reversed; one will be unable to know his“true self ”if he focuses on external things and neglect self-cultivation. That’s why it is said that moral ethics can moisturize people’s mind, and clemency breeds broad-mindedness which naturally makes one’s body comfortable.

It is also stressed in The Great Learning that“Self-Restraining in Privacy”plays an important role in self-cultivation, which means one must not deceive himself if he wants to manifest his true conscience; rather, he should, like their natural reaction to disgusting odor or stunning beauty, let their conscience spring up from the bottom of their heart so that they can be genuinely satisfied.

(6) Obeying divine instructions and following destiny, indoctrinating the people to foster customs; approaching kindness and correcting mistakes

In the Han Dynasty, Confucians generally attributed the foundation of self-cultivation to divine orders, thus setting up a set of theological teleology of heaven-human induction.“The heaven is the ancestor of all things, without which none of them will come into being”[21], said Dong Zhongshu, the renowned Confucian scholar in the Western Han Dynasty. According to his theory, the command of heaven should be deemed as divine orders. The heaven has the most beautiful moral ethic called benevolence. As the mother of all things, it creates them, nurtures them and cultures them; its divine duty of breading and cultivating things never ceases with a purpose of serving the people. Observing the will of the heaven that is filled with infinite benevolence, one should follow its divine instructions, learn from its great deeds and thus become a benevolent man. However, human nature cannot accomplish anything without enlightenment; the desire of mankind is called love which cannot be restrained without measurement and control. Therefore, mankind should be very cautious in bearing the will of the heaven to follow its instruction; regulations, laws and ritual orders should be established in order to prevent the expansion of man’s desires.

In Dong Zhongshu’s view, humanity is as good as seedlings, and kindness is like rice which sprouts from seedlings but are not entirely the same with them; likewise, goodness is originated from humanity but they are not entirely the same thing. Both kindness and rice are man-bred by following the endowments from the heaven rather than being directly created by it. The creative ability of the heaven is bound to certain limit. What’s created within this limit is called natural endowment while what’s made beyond this limit is called humanity. One’s natural endowment has to grow into virtues because humanity goes beyond the limit of natural endowment.

Human nature is not entirely good. Therefore, if not supported by indoctrination, its nature may be turned upside down, rampant and blocked from kindness. Dong Zhongshu also pointed out that humanity is like the eyes of mankind in the darkness. When people sleep with their eyes closed, the world is invisible to the eyes; when they wake up and come to light, they will be able see; the regular people who have potential kindness but are not enlightened yet are just like those who cannot see until they are awakened. Therefore, one has to be cultivated to have a good nature; he can only be said to have potentials rather than the true kindness when his human nature has not yet been awakened.

To say that human nature is good is to say that mankind do not need enlightenment but should let nature take its course, which is against the way of governing the country. A name is used to express the actual content of something or some one’s nature, which is also called their intrinsic quality; this quality, without proper indoctrination, cannot become their kindness. The nature of mankind is simple and pure while their kindness is the result of indoctrination from a sage ruler. A sage ruler’s indoctrination will not succeed without the aid of the intrinsic quality; in other words, one’s simple and pure nature will not be converted to kindness without the indoctrination of a sage ruler. To sum up, it is an age ruler or a gentleman’s responsibility to obey divine instructions and follow destiny, indoctrinate the people to foster customs, approach kindness and correct mistake.

(7) Uplifting intrinsic quality and the unity of knowledge and practice

Confucian school of idealist philosophy of the Song and Ming dynasties inherited and developed the Confucianism of the Pre-Qin Period. The cultivation of an individual’s moral ethics and character, together with the uplifting of their intrinsic quality, were especially stressed in these two dynasties.

“Honesty”and“The Moderateness-Harmony”are related. Zhou Dunyi, the Neo-Confucianism founder in the Northern Song Dynasty, argued that the Heavenly Dao prevailed so that the heaven, the earth and all things were created; it was such a fact that the Dao itself is sincere in nature; the Dao of mankind was generated by the Heavenly Dao, and the two have been united as one so that the former is called“the Sincere One”. The heaven and mankind are channeled by“Honesty”and the Heavenly Dao can also be called the Tai Chi, in the movement of which Yin and Yang, the heaven, the earth, mankind and all things were born. That’s why, according to Zhou Dunyi, the so-called“disposition”exists in not only all things but also mankind; Mankind has five dispositions: strong kindness, strong evilness, gentle kindness, gentle evilness and moderateness. He also emphasized that self-cultivation should reach the state of moderateness, which is the same with harmony. Achieving moderateness-harmony has always been the Great Dao and the cause of saints since it can meet the requirements of benevolence and propriety.

“One should ready his mind for the heaven and the earth, contribute one’s life to the people, inherit the lost knowledge of past sages and make a peaceful world that lasts forever.”This is the legacy of Zhang Zhai[22], a famous thinker who also proposed that the intrinsic quality of the heaven and the earth is absolutely perfect while that of mankind varies between kindness and evilness because of their diversified dispositions; the purpose of cultivating one’s moral ethics is to get rid of what’s evil in one’s intrinsic quality and resume their original status of being absolutely perfect. To this end, he put forward the theory of“Uplifting Intrinsic Quality”, which argued that everyone should make efforts to cultivate their virtues, correct their mistakes, approach kindness and thus perpetuate benevolence and love in his mind. If one thinks and acts in accordance with the requirements of benevolence and love, he or she can uplift his intrinsic quality and become a saint. Another theory called“Exhausting the Truth and Knowing Human Nature”was also proposed by Zhang Zhai, which argued that to know human nature is a process of understanding and controlling one’s personality by birth, and one could reach the highest virtue status of being“honest”through probing into the nature of himself or herself to finally know the true nature of mankind and the whole world.

“Determined Benevolence”should become the pursuit of every individual to internalize“Benevolence”and“Kindness”before spreading them to the whole world, which would be evolved into“Trustworthiness”,“Beauty”and“Greatness”and thus shape one’s character and own benevolence; both benevolence and personality are not abstract ideas but something that prevails in the universe actively with a constantly changing nature called“Spirit”.“A scholar should make resolutions for the heaven and the earth, develop moral virtues for the people, inherit the lost knowledge of past sages and make a peaceful world that lasts forever”, stressed Zhang Zhai in his Collected Essays of Zhang Zhai. He believed, on the basis of his theories concerning the intrinsic quality of the heaven and the earth, the great void and the qi, that everything in the universe has been evolved from qi. All mankind, therefore, are brothers and sisters and all things are the companions of mankind. That’s why we should love all human beings and extend this love to all things in the world. This theory, which reflects his cultural-ethical realm of universal love, can be elaborated as“people are my brothers and sisters and all things are my kinds.”

“Examining Personality”and“Understanding Benevolence”. Cheng Hao[23] believed that the original nature of mankind is good, but after a person is born, in addition to the influences from the heaven and the earth, he or she also receives the influence of different human temperaments. In others words, the human nature is good at birth, but due to the influences such as intrinsically endowed qualities and the acquired habits after birth, it is possible for them to develop an evil side. So he advocated that“the principle of learning lies in uplifting one’s intrinsic quality, getting rid of one’s bad habits. To uplift the intrinsic quality, one must first“examine his personality”. That is to say people should examine their internally bestowed qualities by the heaven and the earth and show their absolute respect to them with an innocent mind. In his The Book of Examining One’s Personality, Cheng Hao argued that to keep the purity of one’s personality, one does not have to remain completely isolated from the outside world, rather, he or she should follow the heavenly instructions in dealing with everything. If so, one will have a peaceful mind and his intrinsic qualities will also be nurtured. Cheng Hao also proposed the idea of“understanding benevolence”, emphasizing that mankind should not only understand the benevolent intellectually, but also have to experience and practice them in real life. The meaning of life lies in one’s dedication to follow the truth and righteousness regardless of personal gains and losses. Only by doing so, can one be content with what one actually is and be completely integrated as one with the whole universe, e.g. the realm of oneness of nature and man.

“One has to dedicate his whole life to self-cultivation, and to advance learning, one has to take the initiative to acquire knowledge.”Different from his elder brother’s emphasis on“examining personality”and“understanding benevolence”, Cheng Yi[24] put his stress in self-cultivation on“exhausting the truth”and“upholding dedication”. The former idea refers to the process of gradually knowing the universal truth by investigating things in the world. However, what he was concerned with is not the scientific laws that governing the things but the knowledge and experience derived from one’s virtue cultivation. He, in his The Book of Posthumous Essays by Cheng Hao, combined this idea with“upholding dedication”to advocate the theory that“One has to dedicate his whole life to self-cultivation, and to advance learning, one has to take the initiative to acquire knowledge”. In his book, the word“dedication”is paraphrased as“the one who focuses on one single goal is said to have the spirit of dedication and sincerity.”Therefore, his idea of“upholding dedication”(zhujing, 主敬) is different from the Daoist“upholding tranquility”(zhujing, 主靜) even though they sound exactly the same in Chinese. The former refers to a state of mind: inactive, tranquil and being free from“prejudice”so the nature of all things will be self-evident. However, the latter requires that everyone has to dedicate themselves to the“Heavenly Moral Ethics”so that they will not be distracted by the outside world and perpetuate“Heavenly Moral Ethics”and their own kindness in the mind. He stressed that one should cultivate themselves through their uplifting dedication and keeping the“Heavenly Moral Ethics”. Of course, his theory is not restricted to inner cultivation because“it is in vain to just uplift one’s dedication but not collect righteousness. It is one who wants to practice filial piety. Is it enough for one to just fulfill his or her filial duty blindly? Of course not. Filial piety can only be truly practiced when one understands why and how this has to be done, and with what an attitude.”In a similar way, self-cultivation can only be realized when one actually understand and experience the moral ethics in real life.

“Differentiating Moral Ethics from Desires”. Zhu Xi[25] believed that for an individual self-cultivation has to be achieved through“upholding heavenly moral ethics whilst annihilating human desires”simply because mankind is the product of the combination of virtues and qi, and virtues are embodied by mankind’s nature towards supreme goodness. The combination of moral ethics and personality is realized through the media of mentality. The mentality of mankind remains inactive when it is in tune with moral ethics and personality, which makes it home to supreme goodness; emotions that have both positive and negative sides come into being when it discords with personality; the emotions that strike an accord with personality fall into the category of heavenly moral ethics by the name of“heavenly mentality”while the ones that do not are categorized as“desires”by the name of“secular mentality”. The kindness of heavenly moral ethics and the evilness of human desires are irreconcilable with each other, as in“human desires die when heavenly moral ethics stand, while heavenly moral ethics die when human desires prevail. The two cannot be kept in peace inside of one individual”.[26] If one wants to be a moral person, he or she should make a choice between the two, either upholding the heavenly moral ethics or destroying human desires. Every individual in social life has a moral mission that is to preserve and develop their good moral ethics and get rid of all selfish desires, which is called“differentiating moral ethics from desires”by Zhu Xi.

“Revering Moral Ethics”. Lu Jiuyuan[27], an important figure in the School of the Mind, disagreed with Zhu Xi on the dichotomy of“Heavenly Moral Ethics”and“qi”by arguing that the“Heavenly Moral Ethics”live in one’s mind and to exhaust truth is to understand one’s own mind as in“we cannot have two minds at the same time, can we?”[28] He believed that the purpose of self-cultivation is to understand the moral ethics bestowed at birth, which is called“revering moral ethics”;“Evilness”rises when one’s conscience is blocked or contaminated. As long as people can take the initiative to get rid of the blockage or contamination, they will be able to restore their conscience. From this point of view, goodness and evilness are nothing but the right and wrong intentions in the mind. Therefore, there is no clear cut between the so-called“heavenly mentality”and“secular mentality”. However, the mentality in Zhu Jiuyuan’s theory that“mentality is but moral ethics”is without doubt the mentality of an actual human body, or in other words, humanity, which is different from affections, love or thoughts in the mind.

“Accessing conscience”and the“Unity of Knowledge and Action”. Wang Shouren (also known as Wang Yangming), a Neo-Confucian philosopher in the Ming Dynasty, dissolved Cheng-Zhu’s“Heavenly Moral Ethics”by upholding that moral ethics do not exist entirely independent of the mind, and by attributing external moral norms to innate virtue conscience.

He once argued:

The Manifestation of“mind”is“meaning”; the body of“meaning”is“knowledge”; the place where“meaning”lies is“things”.“A thing”could be caring for families when“meaning”lies with caring for families. In the same way,“a thing”could be serving the monarch, or showing benevolence for the people and loving the things, or viewing, listening, speaking, and acting when“meaning”lies with these“actions”. Thus, principles or objects do not exist entirely independent of the mind.[29]

By saying so, Wang Shouren does not mean that, in this world, there would be no things if there were no mind, but rather he means that things that exist independently of people’s mind is of no value and meaning. His comprehension of the world is more from the perspective of value rather than from the perspective of cognition. Hence, in his view, the whole world is just a world of meanings endowed by people’s mind and conscience, the external world begins to be of value and meaning only when it involves people’s practice and people’s mind, and things that exist independently of people’s practice and mind is valueless and meaningless.

Discarding the“Heavenly Moral Ethics”of Cheng-Zhu’s School, Wang Shouren turned to the mind of man. He regarded“conscience”as the body of mind and believed that man’s virtue cultivation rests with manifestation and extension of the conscience of the mind in specific action.

Accessing conscience in one’s mind is“being a saint”. To be a saint just means to access the conscience. Those who naturally access it are saints. Those who take efforts to access it are good people. Those who blind themselves and reject to access it are fools. Though fools get blinded, yet conscience still exists in them, and they would be of no difference from saints if they can access it. This is just the reason that saints and fools both bear conscience, and everyone could become a sage.[30]

As for whether a person is a saint or a fool, the key lies with whether he or she could access the conscience inside of them. A person who can naturally follow the development of his or her innate conscience is a saint. While, conscience in people who are fools does not vanish but just temporarily gets covered, and if they can make the body of conscience existing in their minds recovered, they could still become saints. In this perspective, conscience exists in man’s mind perpetually. Though it could be covered, yet it would not disappear. As long as a person follows conscience, he or she would naturally perform the benevolence and righteousness of human virtue in daily practice, and fulfill the duties of being human. As for the evil, it is just lack or fault of the good, but is not another fundamental origin equivalent to the“supreme goodness”.

Wang Shouren argued that conscience is the body of the supreme good, and the intention produced from mind allured by external things could be evil or good. A gentleman’s effort to cultivate himself is just to“do good deed and eliminate evilness”. As for individual’s cultivation and their performance of moral ethics, Wang Shouren proposed the“Unification of Knowledge and Action”. As a person can cognize an object, naturally he would have reaction to that object in terms of volition or emotion, and further produce a kind of value intention that could be responsive or repulsive. The value intention is not only the“knowledge”of receiving external information, but at the same time is the“action”in terms of psychological activity.

Wang Shouren directly defined the virtue intention in people’s mind as“action”to realize the“unification of knowledge and action”in subjective consciousness. While, virtue intention is different from common knowledge in that it bears a kind of trend and capability of inevitably externalizing itself. Thus, Wang Shouren further put forward the“unification of knowledge and action”at the levels of subjective consciousness and external action. Wang Shouren once remarked:“Concrete fulfillment of knowledge is action, and true insight of action is knowledge. Knowledge and action are inseparable in function.”[31] In the view of Wang Shouren, true knowledge entails action, and concrete action involves knowledge. The two are integrated as oneness, and neither of them can function independently.

“Disposition Produces and Completes Daily”. Wang Fuzhi, a prominent Confucian in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, believed that the Dao of heaven evolve and cultivate all things, and there was no issue of whether it is good or evil, or whether it is present or absent since it is indiscriminate and nonselective. While, with human beings, there is the issue of inheritance or non-inheritance since the fundamental nature of human beings is the unification of Yin and Yang. Inheritance is good, while, non-inheritance is non-good. Evil will appear when there is non-good. Such a difference is reflected in the quote of Wang Fuzhi, a naive materialist in the Ming Dynasty, that“The Dao of heaven is non-selective, and the Dao of human is selective”. Wang Fuzhi differentiated the Dao of heaven and the Dao of human in his argument“the Dao of heaven is non-selective, and the Dao of human is selective”, upholding that human beings, as product of the nature, should not violate the law of nature“to incorporate the heaven into the human”. But at the same time, human beings, different from common natural things, had high-level wisdom and could consciously cultivate themselves to reach the life of goodness and the society of goodness. On this basis, Wang Fuzhi proposed that“disposition produces and completes daily”, his disposition-cultivating and“life-creating”theory, and upheld that human disposition was gradually cultivated through postnatal education, that is,“disposition, as the principle of the life, produces and completes daily”. Factors such as environment and education etc. are of significance for cultivation of human disposition.

It should be said that, the Song-Ming philosophy contains in-depth and rich fruits of value theories, producing significant and far-reaching influences on later generations. For instance, there are thoughts on the body of value such as“Heaven Moral Ethics”,“Innate Mind”,“Benevolence”and“Honesty”, approaches to cultivation of moral values such as“cultivating what’s of great significance in the first place”,“studying the phenomena to acquire knowledge”,“exploring things to know truth”,“feeling internal cultivation and examining external action”, and“uniting knowledge and action”, thoughts on value judgment such as“righteousness”and“benefit”,“mind of Dao”and“mind of human”,“principle”and“desire”,“disposition”and“emotion”,“non-developed”and“developed”, and ideal realms of value transcendence such as“holding the outer world with broad moral ethics”,“being willing to follow the Dao of heaven and accept the destiny”, and“conforming to virtues of the heaven and the earth”. Interpretation and development of these thoughts to meet the needs of the times and the society is of significance for constructing values for contemporary people.

1.1.3.2 Revering the dao and its moral ethics, and enjoying unconstraint life

The thoughts of Lao Zi and Zhuang Zi, and the Daoism that derived from them, all attach great importance to the holistic physical and mental health of the individual life. Generally, it is known that Confucianism emphasizes the construction of social rituals and norms, with a clear inclination to the civilization system, while Daoism emphasizes the Heavenly Dao: spontaneity and Wu Wei (non-action) by upholding that the construction of norms in human society should conform to the Heavenly Dao and by opposing the civilization system’s intention to denaturalize humanity.

(1) Naturalness, Simplicity, and Detachment from Desires

Lao Zi made criticism on ethical norms such as benevolence, righteousness and propriety, as in his remarks that“There are benevolence and righteousness when the Great Way is abandoned; there is dishonesty when wisdom appears; there are parental love and filial piety when disharmony happens to families; there are loyal officials when the country is in disorder.”[32] Yet, in the view of Lao Zi, moral norms in human society should be founded on the basis of natural principles. In fact, Daoism does not deny moral concepts such as loyalty, sincerity, filial piety, benevolent affection, but believes that another approach should be taken, that is“If we stopped the making of saint idols and refused to take opportunist wisdom, all people would benefit from it one hundred more times; if we opposed benevolence and discarded righteousness, true filial piety and benevolent affection would be restored in people.”[33] To sustain the true and original content of moral ethics in people such as filial piety, benevolence, loyalty and honesty, it is required to dissolve the malpractices in forms such as man-made benevolence and rites, and prevent denaturalizing and decaying the“moral ethics”that are naturally immanent in man and all things. The denaturalization leads to destruction and degeneration, therefore, it emphasizes“revering the Dao and its moral ethics”.

Regarding individual’s cultivation of mind and disposition, Daoism emphasizes non-action and detachment from desires, which is different from Confucianism that usually advocates the theory of original goodness of human nature, upholds that man has emotions and desires, and in daily life, people could always experience various feelings such as liking, anger, sadness, joy, fear, dislike, desire and gain etc. It is whether these feelings conform to the principles and sustain within a certain range that Confucianism is really concerned with. While, Daoism reduces human affections and desires, emphasizing naturalness, simplicity, and detachment from desires, through which man can return to the congenital state of the Dao.

Regarding the cultivation of human mind and disposition, Lao Zi argued that human mind and disposition are originally natural and simple, and it is just the postnatal and non-natural intentional actions that disrupt their naturalness and simplicity. An individual’s cultivation of mind and disposition should follow the naturalness, non-action, simplicity, and detachment from desires that bear the nature of the Dao in themselves.

According to Daoism, the social disorder and chaos at that time was originated from the expansion of personal desires among human feelings that led to fights, battles, killings, and disasters. To solve this problem, Lao Zi proposed a kind of ideal personality that is of qualities such as benefiting and loving all things, being free from contention, following the trend and time, and being benevolent and honest. It could be compared to water since“the supreme good is like water”. Water is indispensable for all things. It cultivates all things and benefits them all, but never claims credit and never becomes arrogant, being easy of staying at the humble and low place, and this attitude of water is close to the Dao.

(2) Being unconstraint and carefree and upholding naturalness

In the Warring States Period, Zhuang Zi inherited and developed the thoughts of Lao Zi. He emphasized the realms of being unconstraint, freedom and naturalness. The realm of Xiao Yao (逍遙) in his works refers to that all things in the universe are complete in their heavenly nature, though they are different in size and life, and are of different qualities and fates, yet the values of their existence are all equal. As long as they can develop and reach their original nature, they all could reach the corresponding status of“being unconstraint”.

It is Zhuang Zi’s ideal that everyone can live a free, natural, and ecstatic life, which is theoretically founded on the theory of Qi Wu (equality of things). In the view of Zhuang Zi, all things are the same when measured by the Dao.“The Dao is universal and uniform”, hence all things are equal. According to Zhuang Zi, the“equality of things”does not mean to eliminate the practical differences among all things, but rather to realize their equal status in terms of value among different things under the precondition of acknowledging individuality and diversity. Zhuang Zi believed that things in the universe are all different; each has their own unique quality and disposition, which exists on the basis of its own reason. For instance, a person may get a backache when he stays in a muddy place, while a loach particularly enjoys the same environment; mankind can appreciate the beauty of an attractive woman, while a fish seeing her would escape into the deep water, and a bird seeing her would fly away; a horse can run a far distance in one day, but if you ask it to catch a mouse, it cannot match the skills of a little mouse-hunting animal because different animals are good at different skills; an owl can see tiny things clearly in night, but when it comes to daytime, a big mountain in front of it might be invisible because different things are of different qualities.

In the view of Zhuang Zi, as long as things can fully manifest the quality of their disposition and life, there would be no difference with the realization of the values of their existence. As long as all things independently have their own natural disposition and life, then they could reach equality in terms of value, and this is“when measured by the Dao, all things are same”. When a person cannot reach the status of“equality of things”, it is usually because of his insistence on his illusion of different values. Because people are usually constrained by their intentions and desires, often insist on their personal values, and exert these personal values on things and themselves, thus they view themselves superior to others. Zhuang Zi upholds that, though things in the universe are of much difference, yet they exist independently, complement mutually, and constitute a uniform completeness. On this basis, man should fully integrate into the nature, and return to the harmonious and uniform completeness of human beings, animals, and all things, with each existing on its own“quality of the Dao”, and reaching the“true naturalness”, just like“fish are not aware of the water surrounding them, and men are not aware of the quality of the Dao immanent in them.”[34]

As for how to cultivate and obtain the“unconstraint status”of body and mind for an individual, Daoism has abundant theoretical descriptions and practical methods. While, different schools of Daoism, due to different aspects they emphasize, uphold varied views, methods, approaches when it comes to cultivation.

(3) Life first and disposition second

The southern branch of Jindan School in the Northern Song Dynasty, with Zhang Boduan as its prominent representative, advocated the theory of“Life First and Disposition Second”, with the unification of body and mind as the basis, and with valuing Jing (essence), cherishing Qi (vitality), storing Shen (spirit), cultivating Xing (disposition), and restoring Ming (life) as the main measures for individuals to cultivate their mind and body. In the view of Zhang Boduan, what Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism in the Chinese society have all emphasized is man’s disposition and life, namely the issue of harmony between body and mind. Regarding the body-mind and disposition-life issues,“life cultivation”in the physical aspect belongs to the realm of You Wei (action), while,“disposition cultivation”in the cultural-ethical aspect belongs to the realm of Wu Wei (non-action). Theoretically, cultivation could start from non-action of the disposition cultivation, and could also begin with action of the life cultivation. Thus, there is a sequence of the first and the second, and two theories came into being because of this disparity over“Disposition First and Life Second”or“Life First and Disposition Second”.

Zhang Boduan, primarily from the perspective of practical effectiveness of alchemy, advocated“Life First and Disposition Second”. Emptying the mind and accessing the mind are behaviors for disposition cultivation, while, infilling the body and conducting alchemy are behaviors for life cultivation. Disposition and life are inseparable, but there is a sequential order. As for the human’s body, when it is infilled, the original“Jing”will exist, and furthermore the original“Qi”could be supplemented. With the original“Qi”supplemented, the original“Shen”would be boosted. When the“Shen”prospered and the mind emptied, the state of mind would be free from any disturbance, and then the natural“Xing”could be nurtured. One reason that“infilling the body”is made the first step for cultivating the body lies with the fact that human’s mind could not easily be“emptied”. It is recorded in The Analects of Confucius that Confucius himself once said that only at the age of seventy could one“reaches the unification of the freedom of life and the rules of the society”, indicating the difficulty of“emptying the mind”being relevant to disposition cultivation. As for infilling the body, it is relatively easier. As long as a person can stay away from sensual pleasures, reduce desires, sustain the true original, and protect the essence and vitality, then infilling the body could be reached. Therefore, the alchemy approach of“Life First and Disposition Second”is nothing but to collect together the spirit and vitality first to infill the body, which can lay a foundation for accessing the mind and cultivating the disposition.

In the view of Zhang Boduan, the core of body-mind harmony of Daoism lies in the concept of“disposition-life”. Hence, he emphasizes cultivation of both disposition and life, and believed that only there were both disposition and life, could the two be integrated into oneness, and further could the true unity with the Dao be realized. Life could have impact on disposition, and disposition could be manifested in life. Since disposition must depend on the body of life, and life must depend on function of disposition, thus, neither could Yang function independently, nor could Yin function independently. Only when body and function both complete, could perfection be realized.

(4) Disposition first and life second

The Quanzhen School in the Jin Dynasty, with the founder Wang Chongyang as its representative, inherited the thoughts of Lao Zi and Zhuang Zi in the Pre-Qin Period. He upheld that an individual’s cultivation should mainly be cultural-ethical, and proposed the theory of mind-body harmony, with completing the disposition and sustaining the naturalness as the main measures. Wang Chongyang also believed that the body-mind issue and the disposition-life issue are the fundamentals for cultivation. However, when a sequence is made between them, the mind, namely the disposition, should precede the body, namely the life. Cultivation does not only involve the body. Only cultivating the body without disposition does not usually work, because the body is not in charge, and only the true disposition is the exact master in charge of a man. If the life is cultivated without disposition, the goal of cultivation cannot be reached. Therefore, in the view of Wang Chongyang, cultivation should start with the efforts for disposition such as Wu Shen (non-body) and Wu Wei (non-action), rather than with the efforts for life such as conducting alchemy and infilling the body, and emphasized that cultivation was just Wu Shen, Wu Wei, and Wu Lou (non-desire). Only when the mind is empty, can the body reach the unification of Yin and Yang. When the mind is still, the spirit will be static, along with the complete essence and vitality, the internal disposition can be awakened and the external body could be nurtured. When there are further efforts to spread virtues to all people, the status of being unconstraint wandering can be reached.

“Disposition First and Life Second”does not neglect the cultivation of life. It is that, in the view of Wang Chongyang, disposition can be life itself. The importance with cultivation is to access and obtain the true disposition. Cultivation could not take the external elegance as the only objective, and what is more important is with the manifestation of the sincere heart, that being the true mind. When the true mind is present, the true disposition will also manifest. If the cultivation of the mind and the disposition are effective, the body would naturally show corresponding changes. Self-cultivation usually refers to cultivating one’s mind. The mind should be upright and be free of desire and intention and the cultural-ethical easiness could be obtained.

All in all, in the traditional Chinese philosophy and culture, realizing the value of individuality is inseparable from the universality of the Heavenly Dao. The Dao, also called as the heaven, the Tai Chi, the heavenly principles, the innate mentality, the conscience, the supreme emptiness, is not only the source of values, but also the foundation of values, that being the body of values. An individual’s realizing his values is of an inevitable relationship with the body of values, namely the Heaven or the Dao. Thus, Chinese philosophy places special emphasis on the“oneness of nature and man”. At the same time, in the traditional Chinese philosophy, man is not purely atomic individuals. Every individual is innately endowed with universality of the body of value so that the realization of individual’s value could be manifested through its own body, and as long as an individual could get the body of his immanent value fully manifested, he or she could become a saint, a Buddhist, or an immortal. And during this process, there is also no damage made to the true individuality and independence. No matter whether it is the“Revering the Dao and its Moral Ethics” in Daoism, or the quote that“All things change conforming to the non-changing Dao, and all things coexist fulfilling their disposition and life”in Zhou Yi (also known as I Ching), or“there is a difference between the universality of the Heavenly Dao and the individuality of people.”emphasized by School of Principle in the Song and Ming dynasties, all of which believed in the uniformity between the universality of the body of value such as the Dao of Heaven or the Principle of Heaven and the characteristic of the existence of individuality. An individual is the carrier of values such as the Heavenly Dao, and represents the full individuality of the body of value. An individual innately possesses the value body of the universal Dao of Heaven. Thus, the value body of the Dao of Heaven, by combining itself with an individual, presents the obvious individual features. However, this kind of unique features does not render individuals into the atomic or isolated state that is free of any communication. For instance, the“Differentiations”proposed by Confucians in the Song Dynasty means that individual contains the true quality obtained from the original body, and during this process, individuals present themselves in a specific form of existence, and the presentation is of special and innate features. However, these features do not contradict with those“Universal Principles”. This is like the reflections of the moon in the Dianchi Lake in Kunming, Yunnan Province and in the West Lake in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. Though their images are different geographically or in terminology, yet they are both the reflection of the original body of the moon in the sky, and their“principles”are“universal”, but they can still be“differentiated”. Therefore, differentiations among individuals do not mean isolation or irrelevance among individuals. On the contrary, individuals, because of the“Universal Principles”, have universal features; and because of the“Differentiations”, they also have differences. Among the“Differentiations”, there exists the“Universality”that makes it possible to reach the complete harmony among different individuals. This is the true meaning of“Harmony in Diversity”emphasized by Confucianism.