The love of those whose consciousness is small is also small, and the humanity of those whose consciousness is great is also great. (Ta-t’ung shu or Book of Great Unity, Peking, 1956, pp. 2-4)
4. The Age of Great Unity
Therefore all living creatures in the world only aim at seeking happiness and avoiding suffering. They follow no other course. There are some who take a roundabout way, take an expedient way,17 or zig-zag in their course, going through painful experiences without getting tired. They, too, only aim at seeking happiness. Although men differ in their nature, we can decidedly say that the way of mankind is never to seek suffering and avoid happiness. To establish institutions and inaugurate doctrines so as to enable men to have happiness but no suffering is the highest of goodness. To enable men to have much happiness and little suffering is good but not perfectly good. And to cause men to have much suffering and little happiness is no good. . . .
Having been born in an age of disorder, and seeing with my own eyes the path of suffering in the world, I wish to find a way to save it. I have thought deeply and believe the only way is to practice the way of Great Unity and Great Peace. Looking over all ways and means in the world, I believe that aside from the way of Great Unity there is no other method to save living men from their sufferings or to seek their great happiness. The way of Great Unity is perfect equality, perfect impartiality, perfect humanity, and good government in the highest degree. Although there are good ways, none can be superior.
The sufferings of mankind are so innumerable as to be unimaginable, changing from place to place and from time to time. They cannot be all listed, but let us roughly mention the major ones that are readily apparent:
(1)--Seven sufferings from living: 1, rebirth, 2, premature death, 3, physical debilities, 4, being a barbarian, 5, living in frontier areas (on the fringe of civilization), 6, being a slave, and 7, being a woman.
(2)--Eight sufferings from natural calamities: 1, famines resulting from floods or droughts, 2, plagues of locusts, 3, fire, 4, flood, 5, volcanic eruptions (including earthquakes and landslides), 6, collapse of buildings, 7, shipwrecks (including collisions of cars), and 8, epidemics.
(3)--Five sufferings from conditions of life: 1, being a widow or widower, 2, being an orphan or childless, 3, being ill without medical care, 4, being poor, and 5, being humble in social station.
(4)--Five sufferings from government: 1, punishment and imprisonment, 2, oppressive taxation, 3, military conscription, 4, the existence of the state, and 5, the existence of the family.
(5)--Eight sufferings from human feelings: 1, stupidity, 2, hatred, 3, sexual love, 4, burden imposed by others, 5, toil, 6, desires, 7, oppression, and 8, class distinction.
(6)--Five sufferings from being objects of honor and esteem: 1, a rich man, 2, a man of high station, 3, a man of longevity, 4, a king or emperor, and 5, a god, a sage, an immortal, or a Buddha, (ibid., pp. 6-10)
All these are sufferings of human life, not to mention the conditions of sufferings of the feathered, furred, or scaly animals. But if we broadly survey the miseries of life, we shall find that all sufferings originate from nine spheres of distinction. What are these nine? The first is the distinction between states [as a cause of suffering], because it divides the world into territories and tribes. The second is class distinction, because it divides people into the honored and the humble, the pure and the impure. The third is racial distinction, which divides people into yellows, whites, browns, and blacks. The fourth is the distinction between physical forms, because it makes the divisions between male and female. The fifth is the distinction between families, because it confines the various affections between father and son, husband and wife, and brothers to those personal relations. The sixth is the distinction between occupations, because it considers the products of farmers, artisans, and merchants as their own. The seventh is the sphere of chaos, because it has systems that are unfair, unreasonable, non-uniform, and unjust. The eighth is the distinction between species, because it divides them into human beings, birds, animals, insects, and fish. And the ninth is the sphere of suffering. Suffering gives rise to suffering, and so they pass on without end and in a way that is beyond imagination. . . .
Comment. To consider life as suffering is Buddhistic and utterly un-Confucian, but the Buddhist outlook leads to compassion, and compassion is none other than the mind that cannot bear to see the suffering of others. K’ang was syncretic, but Confucianism remains in the center.
My way of saving people from these sufferings consists in abolishing these nine spheres of distinction. First, do away with the distinction between states in order to unify the whole world. Second, do away with class distinction so as to bring about equality of all people. Third, do away with racial distinction so there will be one universal race. Fourth, do away with the distinction between physical forms so as to guarantee the independence of both sexes. Fifth, do away with the distinction between families so men may become citizens of Heaven. Sixth, do away with the distinction between occupations so that all productions may belong to the public. Seventh, do away with the spheres of chaos so that universal peace may become the order of the day. Eighth, do away with the distinction between species so we may love all sentient beings. And ninth, do away with the sphere of suffering so happiness may reach its height. (ibid., pp. 51-52)
In the world of Great Unity, the whole world becomes a great unity. There is no division into national states and no difference between races. There will be no war. (ibid., p. 255)
In the Age of Great Unity, the world government is daily engaged in mining, road building, reclamation of deserts, and navigation as the primary task. (ibid., p. 264)
In the Age of Great Peace, all agriculture, industry, and commerce originate with the world government. There is no competition at all. (ibid., p. 270)
In the Age of Great Peace, there are no emperors, kings, rulers, elders, official titles, or ranks. All people are equal, and do not consider position or rank as an honor either. Only wisdom and humanity are promoted and encouraged. Wisdom is to initiate things, accomplish undertakings, promote utility and benefits, and advance people, while humanity is to confer benefits extensively on all the people and bring salvation to them, to love people and to benefit things. There is no honor outside of wisdom and humanity. (ibid., p. 275)
In the Age of Great Peace, since men’s nature is already good and his ability and intelligence is superior, they only rejoice in matters of wisdom and humanity. New institutions appear every day. Public benefits increase every day. The humane mind gets stronger every day. And knowledge becomes clearer every day. People in the whole world together reach the realm of humanity, longevity, perfect happiness, and infinite goodness and wisdom. (ibid., pp. 277-278)
In the Age of Great Unity, since there is no more state, there is therefore no severe military discipline. As there is no ruler, there is no rebellion or instigation of disturbance. As there are no husbands or wives, there is no quarrel over women, necessity to prevent adultery, suppression of sex desires, complaint, hatred, divorce, or the calamity of murder. As there are no blood relatives of clansmen, there is no reliance on others for support, [authoritarian] admonition to do good, or litigation over inheritance. As there are no ranks or positions, there is no such thing as relying on power or strength to oppress or rob others, or resorting to intrigue or flattery to get jobs. As there is no private property, there is no litigation over land, residence, or industrial or business property. As there is no burial [but cremation], there is no litigation over grave land. As there is no tax, customs, or conscription, there is no crime of cheating or desertion. And as there is neither title nor status, there is no insulting or oppression, or such things as offense or counterattack. (ibid., p. 283)
In the Age of Great Peace, all people are equal. There are no servants or slaves, rulers or commanders, heads of religion or popes, (ibid., p. 284)
In the Age of Great Unity, all people live in public dwellings. . . . There will b
e automatic boats and cars. . . . New inventions appear every day. . . . There will be no difference in dress between men and women. . . . There will be no disease. . . . People think of nothing because happiness will reach its limit. They only think of immortality on earth. (ibid., pp. 294-300)
5. Humanity
The mind that cannot bear to see the suffering of others is humanity. It is electricity. It is ether. Everyone has it. This is why it is said that the nature of all men is originally good.18 Since there is already this mind that cannot bear to see the suffering of others, when it is aroused and applied externally, it results in a government that cannot bear to see the people’s suffering. If man were without this mind that cannot bear to see the suffering of others, then the sage ruler would be without this seed and that means that none of the benevolent governmental measures can be produced. Therefore we know that all benevolent governmental measures proceed from this mind that cannot bear to see the suffering of others. It is the seat of all transformations, the root of all things, the source of all things, the seed that will become the tree reaching up to the sky, the drop of water that will become the great sea. Man’s feeling of love, human civilization, the progress of mankind, down to Great Peace and Great Unity all originate from it. . . .
The mind that cannot bear to see the suffering of others is a humane mind. The government that cannot bear to see the people’s suffering is a humane government. Although they differ as inner and outer and as substance and function, their constituting the Way is the same. It is humanity, that is all. Humanity means “people living together.”19 Chuang Tzu said that in an empty valley “One is happy when he sees someone similar in appearance.”20 It is the natural feeling of men that when they see someone with a similar appearance, a similar form, or a similar voice, the feeling is inevitably aroused in their minds to love each other. . . . All people have the mind to love each other. All people work for each other. . . .
Confucius instituted the scheme of Three Ages. In the Age of Disorder, humanity cannot be extended far and therefore people are merely affectionate to their parents. In the Age of Rising Peace, humanity is extended to one’s kind and therefore people are humane to all people. In the Age of Great Peace, all creatures form a unity and therefore people feel love for all creatures as well.21 There are distinction and gradation in humanity because there are stages in historical progress. . . . History goes through an evolution, and humanity has its path of development. As the path may be large or small, so humanity may be large or small. Before the time is ripe, it cannot be forced. (Meng Tzu wei, or Subtle Meanings of the Book of Mencius, Wan-mu ts’ao-t’ang ts’ung-shu ed., 1:2b-4b)
With respect to Heaven, humanity is the principle of production and reproduction, and with respect to man, it is the virtue of universal love. . . . Heaven is humane. It sustains and nourishes all things, transforming them, producing them, and further nourishing them and bringing them to completion. Man takes humanity from Heaven and thus becomes a man of humanity. . . .
The word jen consists of one part meaning man and another part meaning many. It means that the way of men is to live together. It connotes attraction. It is the power of love. It is really electrical energy. (Chung-yung chu, pp. 20b-21a)
Comment. K’ang synthesized most Confucian concepts of humanity—humanity as the basic virtue, as “people living together,” as universal love, and as “production and reproduction”22—and made it more emphatic by equating it with “the mind that cannot bear [to see the suffering of others].” He did more than just synthesizing, however. Under the influence of Western science, he identified jen with ether and electricity, thus for the first time in Chinese history extending jen to the realm of natural science. He added the new notes that jen is power of attraction and that it is based on the “feeling of the same kind,” so that the gradual extension of love for one’s parents to all men is not just a result of natural moral feelings as Mencius and Neo-Confucianists had thought, but also a result of the power of attraction.
Fung Yu-lan thinks that K’ang’s use of the concept of all-pervasive ether and electricity is no more than the Neo-Confucianist doctrine that all things form one body supplemented with theories of physics without his understanding them.23 But he overlooked at least three new elements in the picture, namely, that forming one body is a process of some energy, that it is a result of mutual attraction, and that it is a natural phenomenon. The one drawback in K’ang’s treatment of jen is that he did not develop the Neo-Confucian idea of jen as the will to grow, although he has hinted at the idea of humanity as seeds.24 If he had developed it, his theory would have been much more dynamic.
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THE PHILOSOPHY OF HUMANITY (JEN) IN T’AN SSU-T’UNG
T’AN SSU-T’UNG (1865-1898) is a replica of K’ang Yu-wei (1858-1927) on a small scale.1 Like K’ang, he followed the idealistic Neo-Confucianism of Lu Hsiang-shan (Lu Chiu-yüan, 1139-1193) and Wang Yang-ming (Wang Shou-jen, 1472-1529), was a syncretist in lumping together Confucianism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Western science, was a reformer, and propounded a philosophy of universalism.
T’an’s philosophy is presented and expounded in his Jen-hsüeh (Philosophy of Humanity). According to Liang Ch’i-ch’ao (1873-1929), it is an elaboration of K’ang’s basic doctrine.2 He never studied under K’ang and met him only during the Hundred Days Reform in 1898. When that movement collapsed, K’ang fled abroad but T’an became a martyr at the age of thirty-three. Two years before that, he had heard of K’ang’s teachings through Liang and declared himself K’ang’s pupil. Thus he was deeply influenced by K’ang, quickly became the elaborator and modifier of K’ang’s basic philosophy of humanity, and wrote the Jen-hsüen in 1896-1897. There is no evidence that T’an had read K’ang’s manuscript of the Ta-t’ung shu (Book of Great Unity), but it is difficult to imagine what else Liang could have told him.3
As an elaborator and modifier, T’an was neither thorough nor profound. His book is unsystematic and spotty and has been described as a confused dream. His ideas of humanity as universal love, as production and reproduction, as ether and electricity, and as power of attraction are no more than repetition of K’ang. However, he did refine them to some extent. For example, whereas K’ang brought in the idea of jen as penetration incidentally, T’an made it his basic concept, or “the first principle,” as he put it. But the most important refinement is that while K’ang merely mentioned ether as jen, he attempted to formulate some sort of system and postulate jen in the sense of ether as the element of elements, as uncreated and indestructible, and as the source of all elements of existence and of all creatures. In doing so he was the first one to regard jen not only as a characteristic of reality but as reality itself. He is still the only one in Chinese history to have devoted a whole book to jen.
No other Chinese philosophical concept has gone through so many interesting phases of development as jen. Before Confucius’ time, it was the specific virtue of benevolence. Confucius turned it into the universal virtue and basis of all goodness. In the Han times (206 b.c.–a.d. 220) it was interpreted as love, affection, and “people living together.” In Han Yü (768-824), it became universal love. Neo-Confucianists of the Sung period (960-1279) understood it variously as impartiality, consciousness, unity with Heaven and Earth, the character of love and the principle of the mind, the character of production and reproduction, seeds that generate virtue, and so forth. And now K’ang describes it in terms of ether and electricity and T’an identifies it with the indestructible element of all elements of existence. In bringing the development to a higher stage, T’an has made a significant contribution.4
SELECTIONS
1. Ether and Humanity
Throughout the realms of elements of existence (dharmas),5 empty space, and sentient beings, there is something supremely refined and subtle, which makes everything adhere, penetrates everything, and connects everything so that all is permeated by it. The eye cannot see its color, the ear cannot hea
r its sound, and the mouth and nose cannot perceive its flavor and fragrance. There is no name for it but we shall call it ether. As manifested in function, Confucius referred to it as humanity (jen), origination, and nature. Mo Tzu (f1. 479–438 b.c.) referred to it as universal love. The Buddha referred to it as ocean of ultimate nature (all-embracing reality) and compassion, Jesus referred to it as the soul and as loving others as oneself and regarding one’s enemies as friends, and scientists refer to it as the power of love and power of attraction. They all refer to this thing. The realms of elements of existence, empty space, and sentient beings all issue from it.
There is nothing more intimate to man than his body. There are more than two hundred bones and in addition a great number of tendons, muscles, blood vessels, and internal organs. It is ether alone that produces them, makes them adhere, and causes them not to scatter apart. It is ether alone that causes men to go from individuals to the (five human relations) between husband and wife, father and son, elder and younger brothers, ruler and minister, and friends, and from individuals to families, states, and the world, and remain interrelated without scattering apart. It is ether alone that causes the earth. . . the moon. . . the planets. . . the infinite number of worlds. . . to attract each other and not to scatter apart. (Jen-hsüeh, or Philosophy of Humanity, in T’an Liu-yang ch’üan-chi, or Complete Works of T’an Ssu-t’ung, Shanghai, 1917, pt. 1, 3a-4a)
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