Dao (2018) 17:187–201 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11712-018-9600-3

Reverence and Cheng-Zhu Ecology Barry C. Keenan 1

Published online: 27 March 2018 # Springer Science+Business Media B.V., part of Springer Nature 2018

Abstract The Cheng-Zhu 程朱 school of Confucianism congealed from the larger Learning of the Way school in the 11th and 12th centuries. In contrast to Buddhist conceptions of human nature, Cheng-Zhu advocates claimed an understanding that gave a significant role to the natural world. Addressing the ecology of the human organism in its relationship with the natural environment revealed a complex moral psychology that characterized human beings. Self-cultivation was indispensable for connecting to our inborn nature that revealed no separation between ourselves and nature. Cultivating the mental state of maintaining reverence (chi jing 持敬) was an indispensable form of self-cultivation. This mental state initially expressed itself in courteous and caring behavior that could be taught to the young; but, when more highly developed, reverent attention was disciplined, focused thinking that revealed the mind of the Way. A new single-mindedness might then be maintained as the master of one’s actions. The morally perfected states of being called humaneness and sagehood confirmed that one was in touch with one’s inborn connection to nature. Keywords Cheng-Zhu 程朱 thought . ZHU Xi 朱熹 . Humaneness . Ecology . Reverence . Self-cultivation

We have lived by the assumption that what was good for us would be good for the world. And this has been based on the even flimsier assumption that we could know with any certainty what was good even for us. We have fulfilled the danger of this by making our personal pride and greed the standard of our behavior toward the world.... We have been wrong. We must change our lives, so that it will be possible to live by the contrary assumption that what is good for the world will be good for us....

* Barry C. Keenan [email protected]

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Department of History, Denison University, 2219 Castle Crest Drive, Worthington, OH 43085, USA

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For I do not doubt that it is only on the condition of humility and reverence before the world that our species will be able to remain in it. Wendell Berry, “A Native Hill” (Berry 1968)

1 Introduction What the poet Wendell Berry called for in modern times was a major transformation in the human-centered conception of the relationship of humans with nature. In the 1000s of the Common Era the Chinese philosopher CHENG Hao 程顥 (1032–1085) called for a similar transformation: The reason why all things form one body is that all have this principle simply because they all come from it. “Change means production and reproduction” [Book of Changes “Appended Remarks,” pt. 1, ch. 5]. In production, once a thing is produced, it possesses this principle complete. Man [sic] can extend this principle to others, but because their material force [with which they are endowed] is dark, things cannot do so. But we must not say that they do not share principle with others. Simply because of selfishness, man thinks in terms of his own person, and therefore belittles principle. If he lets go [of] this person of his and views it the same way he views all things, how much joy would there be! (Zhu and Lü 1967: [XIII] 284)1 Both authors point to the self-centered hubris of Homo sapiens as the reason for misunderstanding our intimate relationship with nature. The thesis of this article is that the Cheng-Zhu 程朱 school of Confucianism gave an essential role to the newly defined mental state of reverence (jing 敬) in arguing for the oneness existing between human beings and the physical world. This thesis will be demonstrated below by analyzing the sophisticated Cheng-Zhu moral psychology explaining the way the mind works. Principles endowed in our nature at birth are activated using the subtle relationships of substance to function, and form to shadow, so they can be expressed as feelings. The mental state of reverence is the other side of the same coin as the inborn principle of propriety; and reverence serves the role of critically monitoring selfish intentions in moral actions. Cheng-Zhu thinkers developed insightful ways of self-cultivating to achieve the state of being called humaneness (ren 仁) that makes manifest our connection to nature. From the elementary observation that our physical nature is naturally acquired through our birth, Cheng-Zhu thinkers described a cultivated state of being in which one sees that all things in nature form one body with human beings. It should be noted that ZHU Xi 朱熹, who formulated the lasting form of the school’s moral psychology and conception of humaneness, never had in mind developing what In this citation to Zhu and Lü 1967, “XIII” refers to the chapter (in this case chapter XIII), and “284” to the page number (in this case page 284). All future citations to this source follow this pattern.

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we would call today an environmental ethics. However, his moral psychology directly addressed ecology, a term defined biologically as the interrelationship between organisms and their environments. In this more scientific meaning of the term, rather than in its political connotation of addressing environmental degradation, Zhu’s arguments culminated the school’s ecological understanding of human beings and nature.

2 Accessing Human Nature: The Role of Reverence ZHU Xi was convinced that five constant virtues were constituted among the principles of human nature (De Bary 1999: 735),2 and that they lay innately ready to be uncovered. These virtues are not manifestly present in human society because depravity (selfishness, manipulation, and deceit) also corrupts our conscious minds from the moment of birth. Zhu worked a lifetime to develop techniques that would allow people to refine our conscious minds to make possible access to the principles of our nature. Zhu argued that principle (li 理) in our nature at birth corresponds with the many manifestations of principle in the various components of nature. CHENG Yi 程頤 (1033– 1107), his inspiration from two generations before, made this clear, as preserved in the Er Cheng Yishu 二程遺書 (Surviving Works of the Cheng Brothers), “every blade of grass and every tree possesses principle and should be examined” (Chan 1963: 563). However, to bring the mind closer to its original, unadulterated state and grasp the principles in things, it was mandatory to free the mind of human desires through moral cultivation. This connection of self-cultivation to understanding the natural world has been neglected by much earlier scholarship on ZHU Xi’s psychology of mind (Meng 2010: 209). When the mind is in a clear, empty, bright, and tranquil state, Zhu felt, the original principles in human nature can be accessed, and principles throughout nature will be understood. When the Cheng-Zhu branch of the Learning of the Way school was established, CHENG Yi introduced the term jing 敬 (reverence) as a needed antidote to the unwanted influence of Daoist and Buddhist quietism. Confucians promoted active social involvement and wanted to remove their moral and spiritual practice from any association with Daoist metaphysics and particularly from the Chan 禪 Buddhist practice of sitting meditation popular among philosophers at the time (Adler 2014: 70, 84, 107).3 In 1166, ZHU Xi’s own philosophy openly accepted the indispensable power of reverence in accompanying the search for moral knowledge and personal development; and he revised his teacher LI Tong’s 李侗 advice that quietistic stillness was good personal practice (Adler 2014: 77–110, esp. 89–103). When he selected CHENG Yi’s statements for his major anthology of Northern Song 宋 masters of his school, Zhu included, “If one wants to avoid confusion and disturbance, one’s mind must have a master. What can be its master? Reverence and reverence alone.” In his commentary on the passage, ZHU Xi confirmed that statement in this way: “If one’s mind lacks a master, depravity from outside will come in to fill it” (Zhu and Lü 1967: [IV] 144). Later, Zhu’s Questions and Answers on The Great 2

Citing Zhu 1978: [1] 1a–3a. ZHOU Dunyi 周敦頤, an elder to CHENG Yi and his older brother, CHENG Hao, had articulated a principle of “emphasizing stillness” that seemed to have reflected the influence of “sitting meditation” in Chan Buddhism and therefore needed to be corrected. 3

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Learning (Daxue Huowen 大學或問) included his commentary on the opening sentence of that work, which stated: “Reverence is the master of the mind and the basis of all things.” His dedicated student, CHEN Chun 陳淳 (1159–1223), concluded that reverence must accompany all eight of the steps leading to personal self-cultivation and social order as outlined in The Great Learning (Daxue 大學) (Chen 1986: 102). As Stephen Angle, a scholar of Chinese philosophy, has argued, “attention” and the various ways our minds pay attention—including reverence and special methods of concentrating while reading—were of great importance in ZHU Xi’s moral philosophy.4 Angle has chosen to highlight this theme in both Zhu and later in WANG Yangming 王陽 明 (fl. 1500), even though the term “attention” was not a core concept explicitly appearing in the works of these writers (Angle 2009: 151). Arguably, it could easily have been too obvious for the thinkers to single out, since the importance of attention, and reverence in particular, is crucial to their arguments. Reverence focuses one’s attention so the subtle working of the mind’s principles are un-obscured by the self-serving biases in the conscious mind. The single most important way to achieve one’s original mind is the personal practice of reverence (Kim 2000: 21–22). CHAN Wing-tsit, a perceptive modern specialist on ZHU Xi’s thought, summarized the subtle traits of reverence as the state of mind when “[o]ne will no longer worry, harbor selfish desires, be manipulative, or make deliberate and artificial efforts” (Zhu and Lü 1967: xxiii).5 The mental state of reverence entails the ability to detect one’s own deceit and thereby monitor one’s own depravity of intentions. Somewhat like personal integrity, reverence provides the fortitude to live up to one’s own values; or, as CHENG Yi once put it: “As to not daring [my italics] to be deceitful, or disrespectful, and ‘not doing anything shameful in the recesses of one’s own house,’ all these are matters of reverence” (Zhu and Lü 1967: [IV] 144). ZHU Xi once recommended a technique for using reverence in the self-cultivation process. He chose five phrases that CHENG Yi himself had singled out as typifying reverence, that began, “To explain ‘maintaining reverence’ [chi jing 持敬] doesn’t require many words,” Just appreciate fully the flavor of these phrases: “be ordered and solemn,” “be dignified and grave,” “change your countenance,” “set your thoughts in order,” “regulate your dress and dignify your gaze,” and make a concrete effort at [doing what they say]. Then what is called “correcting ourselves within” and “concentrating on one thing” naturally will entail no additional measures: the mind and body will become reverent and the manifest and the hidden, one. (Zhu 1990: 171–172, para. 6.45; translation adapted) So, an initial step in attaining reverence is to order one’s physical appearance and demeanor. Zhu’s influential student, CHEN Chun, explained what would then develop when proper social norms incorporated in the rites are employed to manage oneself: Daniel Gardner has also recently singled out for analysis the concept of “attentiveness” in Cheng-Zhu thought (Gardner 2004: 99–119). Angle introduces, as well, the renewed philosophic interest in the practice of spiritual exercises and treats Pierre Hadot as part of that movement (Angle 2009: 144–146). 5 In the introduction to this work Chan is citing ch. II, secs. 54, 78, and ch. IV, secs. 24–25, 27–28. Translations of Chinese terms are adapted to conform to the standard translations used throughout this article. 4

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“[then] dignity and reverence will unexpectedly become inspiring by themselves” (Chen 1986: 128–129). 2.1 Substance and Function in Moral Values ZHU Xi’s theory of the mind used several different metaphors to get across the distinction between our inborn virtues as silent principles before they are activated, and the activation of those same principles as feelings, which can be expressed. He defined his terms as follows, Look at the mind, nature, and feeling separately. Undifferentiated within one’s person is the master, which is the mind. There are humaneness, rightness, propriety, and wisdom, which are one’s nature. When these are expressed, they become commiseration, shame and dislike, deference and humility, and the sense of right and wrong. These are feelings. (Chan 1989: 162)6 The four virtues listed are part of human nature and remain unexpressed in our behavior until they are aroused as feelings, such as commiseration. ZHU Xi’s terminology further distinguished the substance (ti 體) of inborn virtue from the function (yong 用) of those virtues, a complex and refined way to analyze a theory of how the mind knows and how we act. One way he explained the subtle operation of these categories was by noting that we all have faculties of sight and hearing as inborn human abilities, but once we open our eyes, or start listening to a specific sound, we can then be said to engage the “functions” of those faculties through acts of seeing or listening. The logical separation of a faculty of hearing from an act of listening is a special sort of logical distinction, since one part cannot exist without the other. In the same way that hearing and sight have functions, the moral mind also works so that virtues embedded quietly in our nature can have functions whenever they appear in the world as actions (Zhu 1999: [6] 101). ZHU Xi considered propriety (li 禮), for example, to be one of the five inborn virtues of our nature (xing 性) and a substance (ti 體) of the mind. Reverence, he considered the function (yong 用) of propriety (Chen 1986: 70; Zhu 1999: [6] 101). Propriety and reverence were then, much like the faculty of hearing and the act of listening, two sides of the same coin, as one could not exist without the other. Zhu’s student CHEN Chun described the connection this way: “Propriety is the reverence of the mind.... When the reverence of the mind arises abundantly and naturally, there is propriety” (Chen 1986: 70, 72). 7 Reverence, however, is not a principle; it is the expression of propriety through the feelings of deference and humility, which can also be expressed as respect. 6

Citing Zhu 1999: [20] 464. All references to Zhu 1999 will indicate the juan (in this case 20) and the page number (in this case 464). 7 CHEN Chun further asserted what can be considered a pedantic point. When reverence (or respect) as the function of a naturally endowed principle like propriety is also called into action, it has the “principle of reverence” in it. That is, it still has propriety in it, as propriety is the principle of reverence. See the original text based on the 1840 edition in Chen 1965, part I, 22. CHAN Wing-tsit’s English translation is found in Chen 1986: 70.

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Zhu and his followers in fact made it clear that the mental state of reverence should be described as the trait inside us that makes it possible for respect to be expressed externally to others (Zhu 1999: [6] 122–123). This use of internal and external was different from the substance-functions distinction because principle has already been activated in feelings when either reverence or respect is expressed. CHEN Chun wrote,8 Respect (gong 恭) means that one’s person is well disciplined and one’s appearance is dignified. However, respect is merely reverence expressed externally and reverence is merely respect held inside. Reverence and respect are not two different things but are like form (xing 形) and shadow (ying 影). No one can be without reverence inside and yet respectful outside or can be respectful outside and yet be without reverence inside. (Chen 1986: 103) Reverence is the form that casts a shadow, and that shadow is respect. CHEN Chun states they are not two different entities because one is just the shadow of the other. But note that neither of these are principle (li 理), nor are they our endowed nature (xing 性), as ZHU Xi pointed out when talking about the nature of principle. He quoted CHENG Yi that, “‘The nature is the same as principle.’ Now if we regard it as a principle, then surely it has neither physical form nor shadow. It is nothing but this very principle” (De Bary 1999: 705).9 And elsewhere when talking about humaneness (ren), Zhu points out that reverence and respect are the right term after the feeling of commiseration has been activated: “Before it is activated and called ren, it can include rightness, propriety, and wisdom. After it is activated and called commiseration, it can include respect and reverence, deference and humility, and the sense of right and wrong” (Chan 1989: 163).10 Let me add a contemporary example to illustrate the role of the Cheng-Zhu conception of reverence in a moral decision. Suppose a middle-class family in the United States must decide whether or not to admit aging parents to a nursing home. The actual judgment involves moral obligation and how it should be weighed; but it also includes whether or not one’s justification for the decision is honest or not. I would submit that in this modern decision the role of reverence, as understood by ZHU Xi, is to prevent the descendants of the parents from deceiving themselves into thinking that they are deciding for one reason when they are actually justifying their decision for another possibly uncomfortable reason. Reverence is not morality, but it accompanies the moral decision and keeps one’s motives honest.11 Thus, according to the Cheng-Zhu advocates, in order actually to make a moral decision, reverence must, in fact, be accompanied by the inborn virtue called rightness (or righteousness, yi 義), which provides individuals with access to fundamental moral 8

Other Cheng-Zhu followers found the same tie of reverence to respect. See, for example, the commentary by YE Cai 葉采 (fl. 1248): “Respect is reverence expressed externally” (Zhu and Lü 1967: [IV] 127–128; translation adapted). 9 Citing Zhu 1714: 6b. 10 Citing Zhu 1999: [20] 465. 11 CHENG Yi once cited a parallel issue regarding the love of children for parents—filial piety—and in that case ZHU Xi clearly interpreted reverence to be restricted to its role as a monitor on one’s integrity. See Zhu and Lü 1967: [II] 66. See also Zhu 1999: [1] 216.

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feelings like disdain and shame. In the nursing home example above, rightness would refer to the moral choice either to admit one’s parents to a nursing home, or possibly invite them to move in with their adult children instead. CHENG Hao had supported the distinction between reverence and rightness by quoting a parallelism from the venerable Classic of Changes (Yi Jing 易經) that remained popular with Cheng-Zhu advocates. A later Cheng-Zhu follower perceptively clarified the two parts of the two-sentence parallelism in quotation marks below, with this commentary: “Reverence is to straighten the internal life” means not to have the slightest selfish idea but to have the mind perfectly clear and completely one in all its aspects. “Rightness is to square the external life” means that when one sees right he decides to do it and when he sees wrong he decides not to do it. He is then absolutely square and correct. In this way, selfish desires will be completely eliminated, the principle of nature (tianli 天理) will prevail, and the character of the human mind will be preserved. (Zhu and Lü 1967: [IV] 139)12 Hence any given moral decision requires rightness, but always in partnership with control over our own selfishness; without it, we could be blinded from doing the right thing. Reverence here functions as the monitor of our own selfishness.

3 The Ecological Implications of Humaneness ZHU Xi agreed with the Cheng brothers that humaneness is the one of the five constant virtues in human nature and that it governs the other four. Attaining humaneness, as a state of being, also reveals to us the harmonious relationship between human beings and nature. CHENG Hao stated the critical position in this way: “The person of humaneness regards Heaven and Earth and all things as one body. To that person there is nothing that is not oneself” (Chan 1963: 530).13 CHENG Yi agreed with his older brother that “[t]he man of humaneness regards Heaven and Earth and all things as one body” (Chan 1963: 524). Zhu agreed with this important point as describing the result of attaining humaneness, but worried that certain of CHENG Hao’s personal disciples had been dangerously naive in stating how one might gain this sense of “one body” (Meng 2010: 204). Zhu quoted ZHANG Zai 張載 in his anthology to wrap up the chapter dedicated to preserving the mind, It is difficult to understand humaneness suddenly. In order to understand it, one must cultivate the Way for a long time and practice it concretely, and only then 12

The commentator is SHI Huang 施璜 who wrote a scholarly commentary on Reflections on Things at Hand (Jinsi Lu 近思錄) in 1705. Translation adapted. 13 The original Chinese is “仁者, 以天地萬物為一體, 莫非己也 Ren zhe, yi tiandi wanwu wei yiti, mo fei ji ye” (Cheng and Cheng 2000: 65). The Chinese describes the person attaining humaneness as ren zhe 仁者, which is a gender-neutral term, so I have adapted the translation to gender-neutral terminology.

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can one perceive the flavor of humaneness. For humaneness must ripen. (Zhu 1987: [4] 13a) Zhu pointed out that attaining humaneness requires several levels of self-understanding prerequisite to achieving the refined state of being of humaneness, brought about only through rigorous self-cultivation. Fortunately, however, the notion of reciprocity (shu 恕) is available to all who undertake self-cultivation as a method of extending themselves toward humaneness. Extending one’s own kindness had long before been praised by Mengzi 孟子, who argued that the culture heroes at the very origins of Chinese civilization had excelled as leaders by “being apt at reaching out with that which one is” (Van Norden 2008: 11).14 Zhu’s philosophic commentary on that passage agreed, [T]he ancients extended it [kindness] from treating their parents as parents, and only then reached being humane to the people. Next they extended it till there was enough left over, and only then reached to being sparing of animals. (Van Norden 2008: 12)15 Mengzi indicated how reciprocity (or sympathetic understanding, shu) can magnify our ability to approach humaneness;16 but Zhu even went beyond that to add the step by which this outward extension from ourselves reaches the principles in nature itself. Although it can take a lifetime of moral practice to make humaneness one’s personal identity, the function of humaneness is available in all of us as it manifests itself in our common sense of love. The love made possible by the humaneness deep within ourselves, Zhu wrote, can become the root for extending love (through reciprocity), to reach the natural world: The point of departure of love is humaneness. Reciprocity (shu 恕) propels that love; so that love is extended by reciprocity. If there were no reciprocity pushing, the love would not reach things (wu 物), and not connect through family on to love of the people, and to things (wu 物). It would remain self-love only. (Meng 2010: 209)17 Zhu’s understanding of the moral psychology of human nature made this insightful advance possible beyond the ideas of Mengzi. 3.1 Self-Cultivation ZHU Xi was resourceful in defining the multiple methods of moral and spiritual practice that constituted self-cultivation. While he spoke often of the positive moral values 14

Translation adapted intentionally to keep it literal. Zhu’s commentary is on the original Mengzi passage in Mengzi 1A7.12 (Van Norden 2008: 11–12), in which the context was Mengzi’s compliment to a king who could not bear to slaughter an ox in order to consecrate a bell with its blood. The reference to Zhu’s words by Bryan Van Norden cites Zhu’s passages (without footnote) from his Sishu Jizhu 四書集注 (Collected Commentaries on the Four Books). Translation adapted. 16 Mengzi 7A4.3: “Nothing will get one closer to humaneness than to force oneself to act out of reciprocity (shu)” (Van Norden 2008: 172). Translation adapted. 17 Citing Zhu 1999: [95] 2453. 15

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hidden in human nature, he was all too conscious of the obvious problem of depravity (De Bary 2004: 83). Whether in office or lecturing at court, Zhu consistently called for officials to follow The Great Learning; he called for the emperor himself to personally self-cultivate in order to staunch the downward flow of official corruption (Chan 1986: 597–599). CHENG Yi had written admonitions in the past for their value in providing daily inspiration for each person’s moral cultivation practice.18 An admonition was written by Zhu himself that clarifies his understanding of the role of reverence in human moral psychology—“Admonition of the Studio of Reverence” (“Jingzhai Zhen 敬齋箴”). Zhu was inspired to write it after reading an admonition on “making unity the ruler” (zhu yi 主一) written by his intellectual correspondent for over a decade from Hunan 湖南, ZHANG Shi 張栻 (1133–1180).19 Zhu originally wrote his admonition on the wall of another friend’s study, and later, after it was reprinted for students, described it as “a listing of the practices of reverence; it speaks of its many different aspects” (Zhu 1990: 173). His aim was for others to post it on the walls of their studies to provide a regular reminder of the essential importance of reverence. ZHU Xi’s “Admonition of the Studio of Reverence” was described by CHEN Chun as, A program for one’s daily effort in maintaining reverence (chi jing 持敬). One should have these items listed by one’s side and always look at them and follow them as the standard for one’s effort. In time one will understand. (Chen 1986: 103) The foremost Korean advocate of Cheng-Zhu philosophy, YI T’oegye 李退溪 (also known as YI Hwang 李滉, 1501–1570), was one later example who advised his students to do just what ZHU Xi had in mind in writing it: “Cautioning oneself, and using it [the admonition] for self-reflection in the course of daily life and in whatever comes to mind.”20 Zhu’s “Admonition of the Studio of Reverence” reads as follows: Properly order your clothing and cap and make your gaze reverent; recollect your mind and make it abide, as if you were present before the Lord on High. The appearance of the feet must be as if they were heavy, the disposition of the hands respectful. First select the ground and then tread; twist and turn [your way] through the ant mounds. [This is a reference to the skillful riding of a horse or carriage over an unusual topography of high anthills in a specific locality, which must have looked like moguls on a ski slope, and evokes the kind of attention needed to focus on the multiple obstructions ahead.] When you go abroad, behave to everyone as if you were meeting an important guest; preside over affairs as if presiding at a sacrifice. Always 18

See for example Zhu and Lü 1967: [V] 155–157. ZHU Xi’s preface to his admonition reveals this inspiration (see Zhu 1965: 5b–6a). 20 YI T’eogye found the text in The Classic of the Mind-and-Heart (Xin Jing 心經), a Chinese compendium of passages dealing with self-cultivation compiled by ZHEN Dexiu 真德秀 (1178–1235), a brilliant follower of ZHU Xi (see Yi 1988: 180). 19

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cautious and fearful, never venture to slacken. Stop up your mouth like the opening of a bottle, and guard your intentions as you would a city wall. Always reverent and sincere, never venture to treat anything frivolously. When attending to something to the west, do not go east; when attending to something to the north, do not go south. When you encounter some affair attend only to it; do not set off about something else. Because of two [matters to be dealt with] do not divide your mind into two; because of three do not divide your mind into three. Be discriminating, be one [with the mind of the Way, wei jing wei yi 惟精惟一] as it watches over the myriad changes. Attending to affairs in this manner is called maintaining reverence [chi jing 持敬]. Both action and tranquility should be without offense; one’s exterior and interior should mutually rectify one another. If one should falter for a single moment, selfish desire will put forth ten thousand shoots; one will be hot when there is no fire, cold when there is no ice. If there is a hair’s breadth disparity (from what is right) Heaven and Earth will change their places; the Three Bonds will perish and the Nine Laws will be wiped out. Ah, little ones, ponder this! Be reverent! Let the Ink Minister take his admonition and convey it to your Lord Mind! (Yi 1988: 178; Zhu 1965: 5b–6a)21 The sentence that begins “Be discriminating, be one” [with the mind of the Way] asks the reader to keep in direct touch with one’s tranquil inborn nature, as that phrase directly refers to the famous 16-character formula Zhu endorsed: “The human mind (ren xin 人心) is precarious; the mind of the Way (dao xin 道心) is barely perceptible. Be discriminating, be one [with the mind of the Way]. Hold fast the Mean!” (De Bary and Bloom 1999: 760; translation adapted) CHENG Hao had long before endorsed this passage from a disputed post-Han 漢 redaction of the Classic of Documents (Shu Jing 書經); but CHENG Hao had added his personal interpretation, indicating that the reference to the human mind meant it was weakened by human desires, and that the reference to the mind of the Way referred to the principles of heaven (tian li 天理) (Cheng and Cheng 2000: 173).22 That important reference in Zhu’s “Admonition” is immediately followed by identifying “maintaining reverence” as precisely the state of mind that makes it possible to bypass the defective understandings of the human mind and access the mind of the Way. The phrase, “both action and tranquility should be without offense,” warns against marring (or offending) one’s moral judgment with incorrect or selfish biases. “Action and tranquility” and one’s “exterior and interior” used together are well-known references to ZHU Xi’s theory of mind. The inborn 21

The bracketed insertions are mine, and parenthetical comment is Michael Kalton’s. In his insightful research on YI T’oegye, Kalton translated this text. Translation adapted. There is one major textual difference in the version used by YI T’oegye (see Yi 1988: 178, 247 n. 9). I use the original ZHU Xi version of the Admonition, including the 16-character formula as ZHU Xi wrote it, but which the YI T’oegye version had slightly changed. 22 Note that such a lifelong process of self-cultivation naturally reminds each of us of the limitations of the human mind (ren xin 人心), and could generate awe. The philosopher Paul Woodruff has explored a related conception of reverence in ancient Greek thought, and it has interesting parallels to the Cheng-Zhu usage. In the Greek case the felt recognition of human limitations generates reverence. In working toward the mind of the Way, Cheng-Zhu thinkers would similarly evoke humility and encourage reverence. See Woodruff 2014: 60.

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virtues are the tranquil and unmoved principles inherent in our human nature, and action is activation of the expression of them in our conduct with other people as well as with the natural world. So, if one succeeds in keeping in touch with the mind of the Way, one’s external behavior will be corrected or rectified by interaction with one’s five constant virtues.23 The “ten thousand shoots” of selfish desire refer to Zhu’s fear of depravity corrupting one’s moral mind. During Korea’s Joseon 朝鮮 dynasty (1392–1910) this daily temptation was put well by YI T’oegye, who wrote the following to a young man entering government service: If you allow a slight gap you will not be able to avoid your mind becoming lazy, your intention becoming lax, and your thoughts being turned about. The worldly notion of what constitutes profit and loss, disaster or blessing, consequently acts as a pressure and threat that gradually dissolves and melts (one’s original resolve); thus there are few who do not change from the ends they initially served and come to regard accommodation with the world as acceptable and turning their backs on the Dao for the pursuit of gain as the most profitable course. This is the most fearful thing of all. (Kalton 2004: 197)24 One norm that could be “turned about” (as warned against in Yi’s letter above) was the Three Bonds (san gang 三綱) mentioned in Zhu’s “Admonition of the Studio of Reverence,” which defines the fundamental relationships between sovereign and subject, father and son, and husband and wife that underlay the Confucian social order. The passage in the “Admonition” stating, “When you encounter some affair, attend only to it,” and the wording regarding the mind going east and west are all but identical with CHENG Yi’s commentary on a passage in the Classic of Changes heralding the good student’s need for reverence in order to make “unity the ruler” in his mind. ZHU Xi also reprinted this CHENG Yi passage in his Zhuzi Yulei (Zhu 1999: [96] 2464) and included it in his anthology (Zhu and Lü 1967: [IV] 141– 142). CHENG Yi wrote: Reverence is simply making unity the ruler. If unity is made the ruling consideration, [the mind] goes neither east nor west and thus remains in equilibrium; it goes neither this way nor that way and thus remains within. If you preserve this, heaven’s principle (tian li 天理) will spontaneously become plain. The learner must cultivate himself according to this idea by “being reverent and thereby correcting himself within.”... Thus Cheng 誠 is the primal unity of the mind, the substance; reverence is the means by which it is maintained in activity, the function. (Graham 1992: 71–72)25 See YI T’oegye’s helpful letter on this subject in Kalton 2004: 197, an insightful analysis that cites a “Letter to Kim Ijong” in Yi 1958, A.29.13a–13b. Kalton is citing “Letter to KI Myongon 奇高峰” in Yi 1958, A.16.61–66b. 25 Citing Henan Chengshi Yishu 河南程氏遺書 (Surviving Works of the Cheng Brothers), 165/8–11, and Henan Chengshi Waishu 河南程氏外書 (The Henan Cheng Brothers Additional Works), 2/3B/10?. Translation adapted. For the importance of Cheng-Zhu thought in Joseon Korea see Deuchler 1980. 23

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ZHU Xi was inspired by ZHANG Shi’s admonition on making unity the ruler, so in his own “Admonition” Zhu refers to a critical passage by CHENG Yi and makes clear that reverence is the way to assure the moral unity of the mind. It is reverence that removes obstructions preventing the free expression of humaneness, rightness, propriety, and wisdom, which are our nature. 3.2 Ethical Union with Animals and Plants One might ask whether there was any evidence that moral cultivation could perfect one to access the interconnectedness between human beings and nature. In the concluding section of the anthology Reflections on Things at Hand, edited in May 1175, one kind of evidence for this was laid out by ZHU Xi and LÜ Zuqian 呂 祖謙. That final chapter, entitled “The Dispositions of Sages and Worthies” (“Shengxian 聖賢”), contains the following exchange written, one should remember, for review by younger generations working on perfecting their original natures through self-cultivation. The anthology passage is taken from CHENG Hao’s writings. However, CHAN Wing-tsit’s 1967 scholarly edition of the anthology adds questions recorded from students’ later oral conversations with ZHU Xi as they reacted to the passage. Each “Answer” below is in the words of ZHU Xi himself, recorded in his Classified Conversation of Master Zhu (Zhuzi Yulei 朱子語類) from the notes and transcripts of Zhu’s students. Anthology passage from CHENG Hao’s writings: Master Mingdao 明道 [CHENG Hao] said: ZHOU Maoshu 周茂叔 [ZHOU Dunyi] did not cut the grass growing outside his window. When asked about it, he said, “[the feeling of the grass] and mind are the same.” (When Zihou 子厚 [ZHANG Zai] heard the cry of a donkey, he said the same thing.) Classified Conversations of Master Zhu: QUESTION: Master Zhou did not cut the grass outside his window and said that its feeling and his own feeling were the same. Was it because the grass is at ease with itself in its production and reproduction or did he wish to see in it the operation of the Principle of Nature (tianli 天理)? ANSWER: You do not have to go so far as to interpret it this way. You can realize the matter yourself. You must see wherein one’s feeling and that of the grass are the same. Asked about Master Zhou’s not cutting the grass outside his window and his remark that its feeling of life is the same as his own, ZHU Xi said, “He just happened to realize that the feeling of the grass and his own feeling were harmonious.” FURTHER QUESTION: About Hengqu’s 橫渠 (ZHANG Zai) hearing the donkey’s cry, was it his idea that the originative process of Nature became active by itself? ANSWER: Of course. But he also happened to see the donkey in this way. If we say that one’s feeling and that of the grass are the same, shall we say that one’s feeling and those of trees and leaves are not the same? And if we that say [sic] one’s

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feeling toward the donkey’s cry and one’s own call are the same, shall we say that a horse’s cry and one’s own call are not the same? (Zhu and Lü 1967: [XIV] 303)26 This exchange illustrates the way Cheng-Zhu thinkers concluded that self-cultivation at advanced stages demonstrated that one can achieve a form of personal identification with other living things. To Cheng-Zhu practitioners, this ability to identify with other living things lay incipient in the premise that the original mind incorporates the same principles (li) as exist in the cosmos more broadly. Testimonials of such identifications with animals and plants provided one type of evidence that the humane person, whose clarity of mind once unified understands the flow of li, has also formed one body with all things.

4 The Oneness of Human Nature and the Natural World Zhu defined the mind of heaven and earth in his essay “A Treatise on Humaneness” (“Ren Shuo 仁說”) much like the science we understand behind DNA today, namely as that which makes life by its nature produce and replicate (Chan 1963: 593, 595).27 Zhu’s assumptions throughout his analysis eliminated the separation between humans and the natural world. In the correspondence with his colleagues that followed distribution of his treatise, Zhu directly addressed this lack of separation. In commenting on the second line of the treatise, he wrote the following in a letter to HE Shujing 何叔京 (HE Hao 何鎬, 1128– 1175): I have maintained that humaneness is the mind of Heaven and Earth, and that man and things receive this mind as their mind. Although this idea is the product of my personal opinion of the moment, I humbly believe that it opens up precisely the point that there is no separation between Heaven and humans. (Chan 1989: 173)28 Zhu’s views of the commonality of human beings and nature were explicit elsewhere as well, With heaven (tian 天) you have the human; with humans you have heaven. As soon as a person is born, that person acquires heaven. When a given person is born, then heaven is in the person. (Zhu 1999: [17] 387; cited in Qian 1971: [7] 366) The sage fully understands the principles in heaven and earth. So when the Cheng brothers’ uncle, ZHANG Zai, wrote in his Western Inscription, “The sage identifies his character with that of Heaven and Earth, and the worthy (xian 賢) is the most outstanding man” (Zhu and Lü 1967: [II] 77), Zhu’s later commentary fully agreed, “The sage unites with the character of heaven and earth” (Zhu 1987: [2] 20a). 26

Citing Zhu 1999: [96] 2477–2478. Scientists have proven that human DNA is directly related to the evolution of earlier life, such as the DNA in trees. 28 Citing Zhuzi Wenji 朱子文集 (Collection of Literary Works of Master Zhu), Sibu Beiyao 四部備要 (Essentials of the Four Libraries) edition, 40.29b, the 17th letter in reply to HE Shujing. Translation adapted. 27

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If maintained with conviction, our dedication to self-cultivation will lead us to attain the state of being called humaneness (ren 仁) in our lifetimes. CHENG Hao made clear that “the person of humaneness regards Heaven and Earth and all things as one body. To that person there is nothing that is not oneself” (Zhu and Lü 1967: [I] 19), and that by reaching such a point, the calls of animals and our affinity for plants, grasses, and trees as living things can become known to us. ZHU Xi accepted the one body phenomenon, not as the substance of humaneness, but as the result of having attained the state of humaneness.29 He warned students to not be tempted to fall into quietism or mysticism, and thereby skip the rigorous self-cultivation work that would make attaining humaneness possible. ZHU Xi clarified the process of attaining the state of humaneness by noting, “Impartiality, altruism, and love all describe humaneness. Impartiality precedes humaneness, where altruism and love follow it” (Zhu and Lü 1967: [II] 62).30 Because overcoming partiality means defeating all selfishness within one’s person, only when that level of self-cultivation is achieved does realizing humaneness become possible. Zhu noted elsewhere, “The sage ... has already formed one body with heaven” (Zhu 1999: [61] 1474; cited in Qian 1971: [7] 375). The unity of human nature and the natural world in Cheng-Zhu thought allows no special status for humans within their natural environment. CHENG Hao’s position, stated at the opening of this article, that human selfishness had to be conquered, agrees with Wendell Berry’s stated so much later. Both saw hubris as blocking understanding of the indisputable physical commonalities that tie humans to their natural environment. The Cheng-Zhu thinkers bent their efforts to a lifelong program of selfcultivation to remove human selfishness and thereby achieve this understanding. They took pains to engage the subtle role of a newly defined mental state of focused attention called reverence to maintain access to the mind of the Way, so inborn principles could become readily activated in moral action. Human beings were born as part of nature, but came mistakenly to think they were qualitatively different. For Cheng-Zhu thinkers, realizing the oneness of human beings and the natural world was a fulfillment of human nature. Acknowledgments This paper was presented at the 11th East-West Philosophers’ Conference, May 25– May 31, 2016, in Honolulu, Hawai’i.

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The substance of humaneness itself was production and reproduction (see Chan 1989: 159, 168–169). Citing Zhu 1999: [95] 2455.

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