As written in The Book of Changes · General Theory: “Dao is metaphysical, while its embodiment is physical.” The invisible Dao produces Qi and then forms the Ultimate Origin of the world – Taiji. When Taiji emerges, Yin and Yang get separated from each other. The sky and land are split yet interdependent, yin and yang work in the same way, and the mechanism that drives them is Dao. The yin and yang further borne everything in the universe. These above-said elements are represented by both odd numbers and even numbers. The interaction of odd numbers and even numbers match yin with yang and the vigor is produced.
Therefore, things are generated by Qi, just the same way as the embodiment is driven by Dao. As Lao Zi (a philosopher in the Spring and Autumn Period, founder of Daoism) said: “the nameless is the origin of heaven and earth; the named is the mother of all things.” Here, the nameless refers to the origin of various emotions before they sprout, and it is named as Mean; the named refers to the expressed emotions that are reasonable and appropriate, and it is named as harmony. Sage Kong[1]said: “everything has its priorities and progress, and those who know their evolvement almost understand the true meaning of Dao.” From this comment on priorities, it can be easily known that Dao is the foundation and its embodiment shall be taken as supplement. This comment on progress also explicitly expressed the necessity to start everything with Dao and complete the efforts with its embodiment. Confucius said: “Brilliant people seek for Dao rather than wealth.” He also said: “Brilliant people shall not be confined by the visible.” It means that those who well understand the core rule could change according to the situation, and their talents, although extremely treasurable, could rarely be discovered through trifles.
In the ancient times, Yellow Emperor’s consulting with Immortal Guangcheng about Dao, Confucius’s visit to Lao Zi, Shun’s 16-word suggestion to Yu, and the core and consistent quintessence of Confucianism, are all about the universal rule that is applicable to both the emperors and the masses, namely, to refine their own personalities. Born with the essence of mean of the universe, mankind is granted the same quality. Since the Qin and Han dynasty, Confucian school, Daoism and Buddhism went separate and the true spirit of “Mean” became ambiguous. The Great Learning says: “Stop when you find the ultimate goodness and keep it with you.” Here, the best mental state refers to Mean. The Doctrine of the Mean says: “When you learn the ultimate goodness, you shall stick to it forever.” Here, what you shall stick to refers to Mean. The Book of Changes · General Theory says: “Continuously, refinement of your personalities is the way towards morality.” Here, the goal of refinement also refers to Mean. Once the principle of Mean is followed, everything will naturally be in order. This is the Dao that passed down by sages from generation to generation in China from prehistoric eras, through Shang and Zhou dynasties and then told by Confucius for enlightening the later generations.
The Westerners do not know the Dao and thus deviated from the philosophy of Mean. The original intention of Jesus’ preaching was to make the best use of the circumstances to guide people towards goodness. Yet the core of his spirit was distorted by some of his disciples in their works: Such people mixed the theory of Buddhism with that of Muslim and claimed them as ideas of Jesus, they framed the ravings of heaven and hell while at the same time denying the existence of gods and ghosts. What is the intention for the existence of heaven and hell if there are no ghosts and gods? The religious sects diverge far from each other and their endless debates fail to compromise the contradictory theories together till now. This widespread falsehood is caused by busybodies and could never fool the brilliant. Dao, as the ultimate origin of everything in the world, although interpreted in detail by the Doctrine of the Meanand the Book of Changes, is almost incomprehensible for normal people, not to mention to describe it through visible things. However, the Book of Changes chooses to discuss it through visibility and invisibility, because only by this way could the essence of the philosophy be described in part. Since the chapter “Study the Phenomena of Nature To Acquire Knowledge” in The Great Learning and the chapter “Dong Guan” in the Rites of Zhou got missed, the ancient learnings regarding physical things and the rules went into western countries and spawned techniques that are far more sophisticated than ours. This is because we pursue the core and they pursue the trivial; we pursue the essence and they pursue the debris. We pursue the rule and they explore only the phenomenon. After the dynasties of Qin and Han, China became a dark cultural desert where the scholars had no way to understand the Dao but only talked superficially on the topics of human nature and heavenly principles in specious articles. Therefore we Chinese are trapped in the ideas and the foreigners explore the practice. Yet the ideas contain the essence of Dao, which drives the practice; and the practices have their underlying ideas, namely the embodiment of Dao. The combination of both will produce perfection while the separation instead will be incomplete.
Confucius said, learning includes two stages, the first goes towards broad, and the second goes towards focused. What does the word “broad” refer to? The Western natural sciences that are driven by various rules, including all the disciplines such as automobile, optics, chemistry, mathematics, mechanics, astronomy, geography, and electricity. What does the word “focused” refer to? The summarization of ultimate origin, the bridge between the god and the world, Dao. Today, westerners’ coming to China is a trend of turning from “broad” to “focused”. The swarming of foreigners from all over the world to China is the sign of some kind of international unity. From then on, the complementation of the core and the supplement, the idea and the practice, the rule and the phenomenon, the physical and the philosophy will lead to the branch of western learnings returning to the ocean of Confucianism within a century. The learnings in the Book of Changes shall be carefully dug as they are of great significance to the universal rule and those who master such learnings could always see through the trend. The book Xin Xu said: “Those who are aggressive will be defeated by those who rule by force, and those who rule by force will be defeated by those who rule by benevolence”. Western counties today govern their countries based on the debris of the philosophy “ruling by force”. The emperor of our country, however, with the god-given talent and the capability of practicing the philosophy of Mean, respects the law passed down by previous sages, believes the necessity of ruling through benevolence and keeps open and kind towards foreign countries. On this basis, if we could set up all levels of schools for talent cultivation, establish various levels of parliament to make the best of the wisdom of all the people, and pay more attention to commerce to lay a solid foundation for our country’s prosperity; train the land force and the navy for deterring fierce predators; and make the ancient sages as the examples of both His Majesty and the officials, then our grand goal of pursuing an aggressive, powerful and finally benevolent country that makes everything in order and win the respect from foreign countries will be highly realizable. What a good scene it will be! And with our effort it could definitely come true one day.
[1]Sage Kong is Confucius, and the words are cited from the book The Great Learning.
© Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved, Zheng Guanying International Research Institute
