Chapter 13 LEARNING OF THE MYSTERIOUS For almost four centuries after the disintegration of the Han dynasty, China was to be without that unity and stability that had seemed for the previous four centuries to be one of its chief characteristids. Instead, during the period of the Three Kingdoms and the Northem and Southern dynasties (220-589 cx), China’s division into numerous contending states and subjection to successive ruling houses brought her perilously close to a loss of cultural identity —or so it appeared to many who lived during these troubled times. Owing to the prevailing disunity and disruption, the situation was hardly fa- vorable to the kind of scholarly enterprise that the imperial court had once encouraged; at the same time Confucianism was deprived of its importance as a state cult, The textual study of the classics that had absorbed many of the best minds during the Han shifted to a different plane now that classical scholarship served no vital function for state or society. It was under such cir- cumstances that intellectual interest in Daoism revived and a foreign religion, Buddhism, first gained a foothold among both the masses and the educated class. ‘The “Learning of the Mysterious,” or xuanxue, was a many-sided movement that found expression in the spheres of metaphysics, religion, literature, and aesthetics. It can be described as a revival of Daoism in the sense that it centered378 LATER DAOISM AND MAHAYANA BUDDHISM IN CHINA on the study of the Laozi or Daodejing,' the Zhuangzi; and the Classic of Changes’ — the first two being core texts of the Daoist tradition, the third having become during the Han period a classic revered by Confucians and Daoists alike. The term xuan— meaning deep, dark, abstruse, profound, or mysteri- ‘ous — is very old, being found on oracle-bone inscriptions. But for those steeped in Daoist tradition, xuan would specifically have recalled the first chapter of the Laozi, which, in its closing lines, evokes a reality recognized as “mysterious (cuan) and still more mysterious, the gateway of all subtleties!" Among the major contributors to the Leaming of the Mysterious were Wang Bi (226-249 c.k.) and He Yan (d. 249 c.x.), both admirers of the Laozi and authors of early commentaries on that text, and Guo Xiang (d. 3:2 c.z.), author of what is still the most famous commentary on the Zhuangzi.> Probing the metaphysical depths of Daoism, these commentators shared a common search for the source of unily or oneness in world in which any semblance of unity had disappeared from the political and social realm. Yet their philosophical explorations went far beyond elaboration of the earlier Daoist tradition, and the spirit in which these explorations were carried on was anything but detached. In a climate that was conducive to escapism and abandonment of the public sphere —and that demonstrably prompted just such a response on the part of some of their contemporaries —all three of these leading figures of xuanxue were involved in government and served in official positions. Committed to the value of active involvement in the world, they may be said to have reinterpreted Daoism in the light of the social and moral philosophy of Confucianism. Thus, while the Learning of the Mysterious was philosophically innovative, it did not entail a complete redirection of Chinese thought. In spite of Confucianism’s decline as the basis of the bureaucratic institution, its ideals and values would remain important and inthis peiod a in so many others in Chinese history, there was a strong tendency toward syncretism. WANG BI Wang Bi’s philosophica] accomplishments were remarkable, particularly when we con sider the fact that he lived in such troubled times and died at the early age of twenty- four. In some respects his underlying concerns resembled those of his predecessors in the Han period, Like Dong Zhongshu, for example, Wang devoted himself to the 1. See ch. 5. 2. Ibid. 3. See ch. 10 4 See ch. 5. 5. This commentary is sometimes known as the Xiang-Guo commentary becanse parts of it are thought to have been written by Xiang Xiu in the mid-third century.Learning of the Mysterious 379 relation between ontology and ethics ~ that is, to the connections between how things ultimately are and how virtue is to be attained, But, perhaps in part because unity in the political sphere was now so obviously lacking and an imperial government was no longer a fixed point of reference, Wang's approach was characterized by greater phil- ‘osophical openness and subtlety. His legacy to later Chinese thought would include ‘new ways of conceptualizing the nature of reality and the criteria for human action, along with a new philosophical vocabulary for articulating this complex under- standing. Wang wrote extensive commentaries on the Classic of Changes and the Laozi, as well as a partial commentary on the Analects called Resolving Uncertainties in the Analects [Lunyu shiyi]. His General Remarks on the Changes of the Zhou (Zhouyi {weli) is a seven-part introduction to his commentary on the Changes that explains in detail how he read the classic. In it, his interests range fiom the pragmatics of real- politik to the metaphysics of the Way, from strategies of living to the meaning of life. Excerpts from two of the seven sections of this work follow. din the first, Wang's emphasis is on the fundamental concept of li or principle, Li was a term that had been used in the earlier Chinese tradition to refer to the patterns in natural things — the markings in jade, for example, or the grain in wood. Here we find Wang Bi using it to designate the order to be discovered in the universe and the processes of nature. In the second selection Wang discusses the way human beings apprehend reality through images and words but come to recognize that a true appre~ ciation of reality transcends both of these “snares.” (GENERAL REMARKS ON THE CHANGES OF THE ZHOU Principle (CLARIFYING THE JUDGMENTS (MING TUAN) What is a Judgment?é It discusses the body or substance of a hexagram as a whole and clarifies what the controlling principle is from which it evolves. The many cannot govern the many; that which governs the many is the most solitary [the One]. Activity cannot govern activity; that which controls all activity that occurs in the world, thanks to constancy, is the One. Therefore, for all the many to manage to exist, their controlling principle must reach back to the One, and for all activities to manage to function, their source cannot but be the One. No thing ever behaves haphazardly but necessarily follows its own principle. ‘To unite things there is a fundamental regulator; to integrate them there is a primordial generator. Therefore things are complex but not chaotic, multitu- dinous but not confused. This is why when the six lines of a hexagram inter- 6, For an explanation of the nature of the “Judgments” on the hexagrams of the Classe of. ‘Changes, see ch. 10,380 LATER DAOISM AND MAHAYANA BUDDHISM IN CHINA mingle, one can pick out one of them and use it to clarify what is happening, and as the hard and the soft supersede one another, one can establish which one is the master and use it to determine how they are ordered. This is why for mixed matters the calculation of the virtues and the determination of the rights and wrongs involved could never be complete without the middle lines. This is why if one examines things from the point of view of totality, even though things are multitudinous, one knows that it is possible to deal with them by holding fast to the One, and if one views them from the point of view of the fundamental, even though the concepts involved are immense in number and scope, one knows that it is possible to cover them all with a single name. . .. Now, although past and present differ and armies and states then and now appear dissimilar, the way these central principles function is such that nothing can ever stray far from them. Although kinds and gradations of things exist in infinite variety, there is a chief controlling principle that inheres in all of them. Of things we esteem in a Judgment, itis this that is the most significant. [Zhouyi lieli, 59-592] Images, Words; and Understanding CLARIFYING THE IMAGES (MING XIANG) Images are the means to express ideas. Words [i.e., the texts] are the means to explain the images. To yield up ideas completely there is nothing better than the images, and to yield up the meaning of the images there is nothing better than words, The words are generated by the images; thus one can ponder the words and so observe what the images are. The images are generated by ideas; thus one can ponder the images and so observe what the ideas are. The ideas are yielded up completely by the images, and the images are made explicit by the words. Thus, since the words are the means to explain the images, once one gets the images, he forgets the words, and, since the images are the means to allow us to concentrate on the ideas, once one gets the ideas, he'forgets the images. Similarly; “the rabbit snare exists for the sake of the rabbit — once one gets the rabbit, he forgets the snare; and the fish trap exists for the sake of fish— once one gets the fish he forgets the trap.”” If this is so, then the words are snares for the images, and the images are traps for the ideas. Therefore someone who stays fixed on the words will not be one to get the images, and someone who stays fixed on the images will not be one to get the ideas. The images are gencrated by the ideas, but if one stays fixed on the images themselves, then what he stays fixed on will not be images as we mean them here. The words are generated by the images, but if one stays fixed on the words 7. A quotation from the Zhuangzi (HIYISIS ed.}, 75/26/48., Leaming of the Mysterious 381 themselves, then what he stays fixed on will not be words as we mean them here. If this is so, then someone who forgets the images will be one to get the ideas, and someone who forgets the words will be one to get the images. Getting the ideas is in fact a matter of forgetting the images, and getting the images is in fact a matter of forgetting the words. Thus, although the images were estab- lished in order to yield up ideas completely, as images they may be forgotten. [Zhouyi lieli, 609-610 (Wang Bi ji jiaoshi ed.) —RJL] ‘ GENERAL’ REMARKS ON THE SUBTLE AND PROFOUND MEANING OF THE LAOZI ‘Wang also wrote a similar work on the Laozt, which became detached from the textual recension of Wang's commentary on the Laozi, perhaps as early as the sixth century c.e., antl was preserved only in an obscure comer of the great’compendium of Dacist texts, the Daoist Canon (Daozang), where it was ignored and largely lost to the tra- dition. Since its discovery there in the 19505, despite some doubts raised concerning its authorship, most modern scholars have accepted it as Wang's longest introduction to the Laazi. The excerpt included here corresponds to the first thitd of the work. In Wang's commentary on the Laozi he explains issues and concepts in terms of a new analytical vocabulary, using # (substance), benti (original substance/pure being), yong (function), shi (origin or beginning), ziran (nature, the natural), [i (prinetple), wu (nothingness), and you (what exists), among other terms. This set of analytical terms, tich in philosophical significance, provided much of the vocabulary of later Chinese thought, and in this sense Wang's influence can he traced in the later history of Chinese Buddhism as well as in the later evolution of Confucianism in a very broad trend of thought known as Neo-Confucianism that began in the tenth century and continued to evolve into the eighteenth. Noteworthy in the passage that follows is the fact that the key concept of wu (literally, “nothingness”) is nat nonexistence but pure being that transcends forms and images and, precisely because it is indeterminate and unbound, can accomplish everything. Nothingness, Being, and the Way “The way things come into existence and efficacy (gong) comes about is that things arise from the formless (wuxing) and efficacy emanates from the name- less (wuming), The formless and the nameless {the Way] is the progenitor of the myriad things. It is neither warm nor cool and makes neither the note gong, 8, Cf, Wang Bi’s commentary to Laozi 1: “All things that exist have their origin in nothingness (ou). Thus, itis when things do not yet have forms and sill lack names thatthe origin of the myriad things occurs. Once they have forms and possess names, it (the Way] causes them to 470%, nourishes them, gives them different shapes, and brings them to mature physical existence382 LATER DAOISM AND MAHAYANA BUDDHISM IN CHINA nor the note shang [i.e., is not subject to the sense of touch or hearing]. You might listen for It, but it is impossible to get a sense of Its sound; you might look for It, but it is impossible to get a sense of Its appearance; you might try to realize what It is like, but it is impossible to get It in terms of understanding; or you might taste It, but it is impossible‘to get It in terms of flavor. ‘Thus, try to conceive of It as @ thing, and It will have 2 thoroughly nebulous existence; try to capture It as an image, and It will be utterly formless; try to hear It as. tonality, and It will greet you as inaudible sound; try to experience It as favor, and It will have an indistinguishable taste. Thus, It is Capable of serving as the progenitor and master of things in all their different categories, of covering and permeating everything in Heaven and Earth, so that nothing is allowed to es- cape the warp of Its weave. If It were warm, It could not be cold; if It were the note gong, Tt could not be the note shang. If It had a form, It would necessarily possess the means of being distinguished from other things; if t made a sound, It would necessarily belong somewhere among other sounds. ‘Thus, an image that takes an actual form is not the Great Image; a note that makes an actual sound is not the Great Note.” However, if the four [basic] images"? did not take actual forms, the Great Image would have no way to become manifested, and if the five notes did not make actual sounds, the Great. Note would have no way to get expressed. The four basic images may take forms, but things are not at all made subject to them, so through them the Great Image is manifested. ‘The five notes may make sounds, but our human hearts [i.e., sensibilities] are not at all made to conform to them, so through them the Great Note is expressed. Thus, if one holds fast to the Great Image, the whole world will come to him," and if one uses the Great Note, folkways and customs will undergo moral transformation. When the formless'is mani- fested, although the whole world might come, this coming is impossible to explain, and when the inaudible sound is expressed, although folkways and customs undergo moral transformation, this transformation is impossible to an- alyze, Heaven may have produced the five things metal, wood, water, fire, earth], but it is nothingness (wu) that brings about their utility.? The Sage [Confucius] may have promulgated the five teachings [i.e., concerning the five human relationships], but it is those who do not speak (bu yan) who bring (cf. Laozis1}; as such, tis then their Mother. In other words, it is when the Way is in its formless and nameless aspect that it begins to give existence to the myriad things.” 9. CE Lagzi 41: “The Great Note is an inaudible sound; the Creat Image is formless.” 10, See Gommentary on the Appended Phrases, Part 1, u: “Therefore, in Change there is the Great Ultimate, This is what generates the two modes (yin and yang]. The two basic modes generate the four basic images, and the four basic images generate the eight trigrams.” The four basic images consist of (1) two yang lines, (2) a yin and a yang line, (3) two yin lines, and (4) a yang and 4 yin line. 11, Cf. Laozi 35; “Hold fast to the Great Image, and the whole world will come.” 12. Cf. Lanzi un: “Thitty spokes share one hub, It is exactly there where the nothing (wi) exists that the function ofthe cart inheres.” For an alternative translation, see ch. .Learning of the Mysterious 383 about moral transformation. Therefore, “the Way that can be spoken of is not the’ constant Way; the name that can be named is not the constant name.”"* The mother of the five things is neither hot nor cold, neither soft nor hard, The mother of,the five teachings is neither bright nor dark, neither kind nor cruel, Although past and present differ and folkways and customs change with time, this [the Way] never changes. It is what the Laozi means when it says, “From antiquity up to now, Its name has never been absent.” If Heaven did not operate this way, things would not come into existence, and if government did not operate this way, efficacy would not come about. Thus, as the past and the present are interchangeable and endings and beginnings are identical, by holding fast to the Way of old one can control what happens in the present, and by taking evidence from the present, one can understand how things began in the past."* This is what the [Laozi} means by the “constant” (chang). It has neither a bright nor a dark appearance, neither a warm nor a coo! image, so “to know the constant is called enlightenment (ming).”” When a thing comes into existence or when efficacy comes about, it never happens but that it comes forth from this [the constant Way). Thus, [the Laozi says:] “In It observe the father of all things (zhongfiu).”8 Ifyou could hurry by running with the speed of lightning, it would still not be fast enough to get there and back in a single instant. If you could travel by riding the wind, it would still not be fast enough to arrive in a single breath. Being good at making quick progress lies in not hurrying, and being good at reaching goals lies in not forcing one’s way.'° Thus, even the most replete [Way], as long as it can still be expressed in words, would never have the capacity to govern Heaven and Earth, and the greatest thing that can possibly have form would never be large enough to house the myriad things. This is why no sighing in admiration of It could ever completely express how beautiful It is, and no singing of Its praises could ever tell how great is Its size. No name for It could ever match what It is, and no comparison for It could ever deal with Its absolute wholeness. A name necessarily involves how one thing is distinct from other things, and a comparison necessarily involves how [the tenor of] one thing depends upon {the vehicle of] another. Making distinctions, any name would result in exclusion; being dependent, any comparison would fall short of the 45, Of Laozi 2: “Thus the sage conducts affate by doing nothing (wu wei) and furthers teachings without speaking (bu yar)” 14, Laozi 1 45. Laogi 23. 16. CE Laozi 4 a7. CE Laozi 36. 18, Laori 2. The text also permits a different reading: “So we call it {the constant Way] the Father of all things.” 19. CE. Commentary on the Appended Phrases, Pat , 10: “Iti the numinous (shen) alone that thus allows one to make quick progress without hunying and reach goals without forcing one’s way.”384 LATER DAOTSM AND MAHAYANA BUDDHISM IN CHINA absolute. As it cannot be perfectly inclusive, any name for It would deviate greatly from the truth; as it cannot be absolute, any comparison for It would fail to designate what It really is. This cari be clarified by further elaboration. ‘The term Way is derived from the fact that It is that on, which the myriad things make their way. The term zwan (the mysterious) is derived from the fact, that It emerges from the secret and the dark. The term shen (the deep) is derived from the fact that you might try to plumb to the bottom of It but can never teach that far. The term great (da) is derived from the fact that you might try to fill It all in or pull It all together but can never ultimately do so. The term yuan (the far-reaching) is derived from the fact that It stretches on so far that you can never reach the end of It. The term the subtle (wei) is dezived from the fact that It is so elusive and inconspicuous that you can never see It. Since this is so, although each of the words Way, mysterious, deep, great, far-reaching, and subtle possesses something of Its meaning, none of them can express all of what It is. Thus, something that can never be entirely filled in or all pulled together certainly cannot be termed tiny, and something that is so subtle and marvelous that it has no form certainly cannot be termed great, This is why sections [of the Laozi] say: “One might write It with the character Way”? or “might call It xan [the mysterious," but one does not give It a name. Given what It is, those who speak of It do violence to Its constancy; those who give It a name separate themselves from Its truth; those who try to force [t ruin Its nature; and those who try to hold on to It do violence to Its source. Thus, as the sage does not allow words to become his master, he does not do violence to Its constancy; as he does not confuse names for It with Its constancy, he does not separate himself from Its truth; as he does not think that the forcing of It should be the means to carry out affairs, he does not ruin Its nature; as he does not hold on to It as a means of control, he does not do violence to Its source.* Since all this is s0, those who wish to debate the text of the Laozi and-make it a form of exegesis will do violence to its aims, and those- who wish to use names and make it responsible for thern will distort its meaning. The supreme objective of the Laozi is to discuss the source of the Great Beginning of all things in order to clarify the nature of the natural (ziran) and to expound upon the ultimate 'meaning of the secret and the dark in order to alleviate the con- fusion of those trapped in the net of deception. {Laozi weizhi liltie (Wang Bi ji jiaoshi ed.) 195-196 —RJL] 20, CE. Commentary on the Appended Phrases, Part 4: “{The Changes] shows how one can fill in and pull together the Way of Heaven and Earth” - that i, as if patching fabric and pulling together seams fill in the missing parts in one’s understanding of the Way. a, Laozi a5. 23, Laozi t 23, Cf. Laos 29. 24. CE Laori 64.Learning of the Mysterious 385 THE SAGE Wang Bi is known not only for such searching discussions of principle, being and nothingness, naturalness, and the relation of symbols and language to reality, but for anew view of the sage. A famous passage from a biography of Wang by He Shao found in the Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms purports.to recount a conversation between ‘Wang Bi and the official Pei Hui: Atthe time when Pei Hui was serving as Director of the Ministry of Personnel, Wang Bi, who then had not yet been capped,** went to pay him a visit. As soon as Pei saw hirn he knew that this was an extraordinary person, and so he asked him, “Nothing (wu) is, in truth, what the myriad things depend on for existence, yet the Sage (Confucius) was unwilling to talk about it, while Master Lao expounded upon it endlessly. Why is that?” Wang Bi replied, “The Sage em- bodied nothing (wu), so he also knew that it could not be explained in words. ‘Thus he did not talk about it. Master Lao, by contrast, operated on the level of being (you). This is why he constantly discussed nothingness; he had to, for what he said about it always fell short.” ‘There is a metaphysical statement here —a further indication of Wang Bi’s idea of the relation between being and nothingness — and also a statement about the personality of the sage and his sphere of action, The statement attributed to Wang suggests that, for him, the personality of the sage is such that he does not withdraw from the world, nor does he just talk or hold certain views. Rather, he exemplifies a certain bearing toward the world; his sphere of action is the ordinary world of human experience. Another lively issue in the period from the third to the fifth centuries was whether or not @ sage experienced ordinary human emotions, and on this matter Wang Bi and his contemporary He Yan evidently disagreed. An indication of what Wang thought about the capacity of the sage for responsiveness and sensitivity is also recorded by Wang's biographer He Shao, who summarized the disagreement between He Yan and Wang as follows: It was He Yan's opinion that the sage is free of pleasure, anger, sadness, or happiness, and his discussion of this issue was meticulously argued, People such as Zhong Hui (225-264) transmitted what he had to say, but Wang Bi took a different position from them and thought that what makes the sage superior to people in general is his intelligence (shenming) and that what makes him the same as people in general is his having the five emotions.” It is because his intelligence is superior that he can embody gentleness and amiability and, in 25. That is, he had not yet reached the age of majority at twenty sui by the Chinese way of counting years of age or nineteen years by Western reckoning. 26. Happiness, anger, sadness, pleasure, and desire.386 LATER DAOISM AND MAHAYANA BUDDHISM IN CHINA so doing, identify with nothingness (wu). It is because he is the same as other people in having the five emotions that he is unable to respond to things free from either sadness ot pleasure. Nevertheless, the emotions of the sage are such that he may respond to things but without becoming attached to them. Now: adays because the sage is considered free of such attachment, one immediately thinks it can be said that he no longer responds to things. How very often this error occurs! (Wei zhi (Chronicles of Wei), in Sanguo zhi (Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms) (Wang Bi ji jiaoshi ed.) 2639~644 —RJL) GUO XIANG: COMMENTARY ON THE ZHUANGZI In the commentary on the Zhuangzi by Guo Xiang (who was probably building on the work of the mid-hird-century commentator Xiang Xiu), a positive note is struck in the emphasis on naturalness and spontaneity in both the internal and the external life. Guo Xiang returns to Zhuangzi’s themes of naturalness and spontaneity, self transformation, and contentment; in Guo’s view, however, the sage moves in the realm of human affairs as well as in the transcendental world. Nature (Tian), the Natural (Zirdn), and Nothingness (Wis) ‘The universe (tiandi) is a general name for the myriad things. The universe attains its reality through the myriad things, and the myriad things take the natural as their norm. Being natural means to exist spontaneously without hav- ing to take any [deliberate] action. Therefore the great peng bird can soar high, and the quail can fly low; the cedrela can live for a long time, and the mush- room for a short time. All are capable of doing so not because of their taking any action but because of their being natural. (sec. 4; 5a] The music of nature is not an entity existing outside of things. The different apertures, the pipes and flutes and the like, in combination with all living beings, together constitute nature. Since nothingness is nothing, it cannot pro- duce being. Before being itself is produced, it cannot produce other beings. ‘Then by whom are things produced? They spontaneously produce themselves, that is all. This does not mean that there is an “I” that produces them. The “I” cannot produce things, and things cannot produce the “I.” The “I” exists of itself, and because it is self-existent, we call it natural. Everything is what it is by nature, not through taking any action. Therefore [Zhuangzi] speaks in terms of nature. The term nature” is used to explain that things are what they are spontaneously, and not to mean the blue sky. But someone says that the music of nature makes all things serve ot obey it. Now, nature cannot even possess 27. Elsewhere the word tian is translated as “Heaven.”