by Ying-shih Yü
b e t w e e n t h e h e av e n l y a nd t h e h u m a n 9
development by Confucius’ time was that the Decree of Heaven was no longer
confi ned to the Emperor. Every man was subject to the Decree of Heaven which
enjoined him to be moral and it was his duty to live up to the demands of that
Decree.”12 Onozawa Seiichi also made a similar observation in 1978. By associ-
ating the concept of tianming with xin (“heart”) and de
(“virtue,” also with
a “heart” component) in a bronze inscription, he came to the conclusion that
during Confucius’s time, the idea of tianming underwent a subtle shift from
something in support of dynastic politics to that which is to be conferred on
the individuals and, ultimately, to be seated in their hearts.13 Thus, with tian-
ming being conferred on every individual, the direct line of communication
between Heaven and individual humans was reestablished after a long period
of “separation of Heaven and Earth.” As a result, Confucius often spoke as if he
were constantly in personal contact with Heaven: “Heaven is author of the vir-
tue that is in me” ( Analects, 7.23) or “If I am understood at all, it is, perhaps, by
Heaven” ( Analects, 14.35). Statements like these clearly suggest that Confucius
as an individual was capable of communicating with Heaven directly. It is also
fascinating that Zhuangzi once put the following words into the mouth of Yan
Hui
, Confucius’s favorite disciple: “By being inwardly straight, I can be
the companion of Heaven. Being a companion of Heaven, I know that the Son
of Heaven and I are equally the sons of Heaven” (56).14 Here, in his unique way,
Zhuangzi tried to convey the radical Daoist idea that every individual person,
by being “inwardly straight”— a reference to “virtue” in the heart— could be a
son of Heaven. With this twist, Zhuangzi demolished the claim of the king that
he alone is the Son of Heaven. Needless to say, as sons of Heaven, all individual
humans can directly communicate with Heaven so long as they are able to keep
their hearts “straight.”
Up to this point, we have seen how the individual’s turn of tian ren heyi led
to the reopening of the direct line of communication between Heaven, on the
one hand, and the spiritually awakened and liberated individual humans, on
the other. Moreover, as both Onozawa’s study and the passage quoted from the
Zhuangzi indicate, the center of communication seems to have been located in
the heart. The time has now arrived for us to move on to the question of “inward
transcendence.”
Communication between Heaven and Humanity was at the very center
of the whole concept of tian ren heyi. Therefore, we must fi rst ask: How did
the universal king communicate with Heaven during the entire pre- Axial
period? This question brings us to the communicative function of the ritual
( li) practice. As already mentioned earlier, the king had all along relied on the
assistance of wu- shamans to communicate with Heaven. As the king’s trusted
religious functionaries, wu- shamans claimed that they alone had access to
Heaven: they either ascended to Heaven to seek instructions from the God- on-
High, deities, and royal ancestral spirits on behalf of the reigning king or
made celestial deities and spirits descend to the human world. To do so, however,
10 b e t w e e n t h e h e av e n l y a nd t h e h u m a n
they had to perform certain rituals with the help of a great variety of ritual
paraphernalia.
To a considerable extent, the Axial breakthrough was directed against the
shamanistic component of the ritual system. Confucius’s reinterpretation of
the ritual practice may well be understood in this light. As a spiritually awak-
ened and liberated thinker, Confucius needed no wu- shamans to serve as inter-
mediaries in his direct communication with Heaven. Thus, the enormous
communicative power previously believed to be the mono poly of wu- shamans
was now assigned to ren
, the spiritual kernel of li
, which could only be
located in the human heart.
This inward turn took a giant step forward in the fourth century b.c.e. with
the emergence of the new cosmology of qi
(vital energy) . According to this
new theory, the qi permeates the entire cosmos. It is in constant movement
and, when diff erentiated and individuated, all things in the world are formed.
However, this qi is vastly varied in consistency, ranging from the most refi ned
to the grossest. Generally speaking, two types may be distinguished: the pure
qi ( qing qi
) , being light, is associated with Heaven, whereas the gross qi
( zhuoqi
) , being heavy, is associated with Earth. The human person is a
mixture of both, with his body being made up of the grosser qi and his heart
being the seat of the refi ned qi.
With this cosmology of qi, the idea of tian ren heyi entered into a completely
new age. As a consequence, thinkers of vari ous persuasions began to develop
their new versions of tian ren heyi with a view to displacing the earlier wu-
shamanistic interpretation. When Mencius talked about his concept of haoran
zhi qi
(“fl oodlike qi”), he was actually presenting his individualist
view of the “unity of Heaven and man.” Only by turning inward to nourish the
most refi ned qi in the heart can one hope to attain oneness with the cosmos
( Mencius, 2A.2). Elsewhere he also said, “A gentleman transforms where he
passes, and works won ders where he abides. He is in the same stream as Heaven
above and Earth below” (6A.13).15 In this new conception of tian ren heyi, the com-
municative function was assumed, according to him, by the most refi ned qi seated
in the innermost part— heart—of every individual human person.
A similar development may also be found in the Zhuangzi. In discussing the
possibility of an individual person’s attainment of oneness with the transcen-
dent Dao, the Daoist phi los o pher off ered his famous theory of “fasting of the
heart” ( xinzhai
) . According to this theory, the heart must be, on the one
hand, emptied of every thing else, and on the other hand, fi lled with qi of the pur-
est kind so that Dao may fi nd it hospitable. Like Mencius, he also emphasized
the utmost importance of cultivation of qi, which alone can sharpen one’s sen-
sitivity and ability to the highest degree in order to monitor the rhythm of the
infi nitely ongoing cosmic transformation (57–58). Thus, the cases of Confucius,
Mencius, and Zhuangzi provide us with three concrete and vivid examples of
b e t w e e n t h e h e av e n l y a nd t h e h u m a n 11
what I propose to call “inward transcendence,” which distinguishes the Chinese
Axial breakthrough from the rest in a fundamental way.
The historical pro cess, reconstructed above, is intended as an explanation of
how the Chinese Axial breakthrough led to an “inward transcendence” and
why. As shown in my brief discussion of the idea of tianming, Axial thinkers, as
spiritually awakened and liberated individuals, made a subtle strategic move to
break the royal mono poly of access to Heaven by transferring the center of com-
munication from the ritual system dominated by wu- shamanism to the heart of
every individual human. Here we have a concrete example illustrative of the
breakthrough taking place right in the center of the Xia- Shang- Zhou ritual tra-
dition. It also shows that the Heaven– human relationship took a decidedly new
turn as China moved from the pre- Axial to the Axial Period, which was indi-
vidualist and inward in the same breath. Between the pre- Axial ritual tradition
and the philosophic breakthrough, a qualitative leap in Chinese spirituality
occurred. Having transcended the ritual tradition, the Chinese mind raised it-
self to a new level of articulation and conceptualization.
At this juncture, however, a further question calls for our critical attention. I
have suggested above that all the three major schools of thought— Confucianism,
Mohism, and Daoism— reinterpreted the idea of li each in its own way, and none
arrived at a complete break with the ritual tradition. This less- than- complete
break with the pre- Axial tradition seems to bear signifi cantly, as I have hinted
above, “on the fact that the Chinese Axial breakthrough did not give rise to a
transcendental world setting itself in explicit opposition to the actual.” Such
being the case, an account, however brief, of the continuity between tradition
and breakthrough seems very much in order. Let me now return to the tian ren
heyi thesis, with special reference to the concept of the Decree of Heaven.
To begin with, the whole notion of tian ren heyi itself was directly continuous
from tradition to breakthrough; it was only interpreted diff erently. During
Shang- Zhou times, the king and the ruling elite looked up to Heaven as the
ultimate source of wisdom and power of the highest kind, to which the shaman-
dominated ritual system alone provided access. During the Axial Period, spiri-
tually awakened individuals also needed to keep themselves in daily contact
with the sources of spiritual power. As shown in the cases of Mencius and
Zhuangzi, they relied on the cultivation of the most refi ned qi in their hearts
to accomplish this delicate task. Thus, the “heart” became the only medium
through which the line of communication between the individual human and
Heaven, or Dao, was kept open. Vast diff erences in content of thought aside, the
continuity of the new version of tian ren heyi with its pre- Axial ritual archetype
is clearly recognizable.
The concept of the Decree of Heaven stood at the very center of the pre- Axial
tian ren heyi thesis. The term tianming is generally believed to be of western
Zhou origin, but it has also been suggested that a functional equivalent without
12 b e t w e e n t h e h e av e n l y a nd t h e h u m a n
this term may have already been available to the Shang king for legitimation of
his po liti cal authority. At any rate, it can be safely assumed that the necessity of
renewing his tianming from time to time must have been among the most
impor tant reasons for the king to communicate with Heaven through per for-
mance of certain rituals aided by a wide range of paraphernalia. According to
Zhou theory, a reigning dynasty is qualifi ed for tianming only when the king
and the ruling elite are in possession of certain “brilliant virtues” ( mingde
)
such as “fearful reverence of Heaven,” “loving care for the people,” “conscien-
tious attention to administration,” “practice of frugality,” and so on.16 Later, when
Mencius summed up his discussion of this notion, he quoted a saying from a
lost chapter of the Shujing (Book of History) as follows: “Heaven sees with the
eyes of its people. Heaven hears with the ears of its people” ( Mencius, 5A.5).
This is clearly the Chinese version of vox populi, vox Dei. Modern classicists are
well grounded when they suggest that the concept of the Decree of Heaven,
understood in this way, constituted the very essence of the tian ren heyi thesis
in western Zhou times.17
I would like to suggest several lines of continuity between tradition and
breakthrough. First, we have seen how Confucius used the term tianming to
describe his personal relationship with Heaven. According to the Zuozhuan,
Duke Zhao, seventh year, a nobleman of Lu, made this remark about Confu-
cius: “If a sagely man of brilliant virtue ( mingde) does not become distinguished
in his time, among his posterity there is sure to be someone of vast intelli-
gence.” It is impor tant to note that the term mingde, which was the precondition
for the king and his dynasty to receive the Decree of Heaven, also began to be
applied to the individual, in this case, the descendants of Confucius. Thus, we
see that the whole notion of tianming continued well into the Axial Period
despite its shift of emphasis from a collectivistic to an individualistic sense.
Second, Confucius’s famous “rule of virtue” ( wei zheng yi de
; Ana-
lects, 2.1) must also be understood as a continuation of the western Zhou con-
ception of government based on “brilliant virtues,” even though in the latter
case the power of de may have been conceived of as associated with ritual com-
munication under shamanistic infl uences. For Confucius, however, the power
of “virtue” was generated by the heart through “cultivation” ( Analects, 7.3). This
line of po liti cal thinking later culminated in Mencius’s idea of “benevolent
government” ( renzheng
), with par tic u lar emphasis on the importance of “a
heart sensitive to the suff ering of others” on the part of the king ( Mencius, 2A.6).
Indeed, the thread of “rule of virtue” ran continuously from early Zhou through
Confucius to Mencius, while turning ever- increasingly inward.
Last but not least, the inward turn of the idea of tianming itself had its begin-
ning earlier than the time of Confucius. The Zuozhuan, Duke Xuan, third year,
reports a well- known event of 605 b.c.e., which may be summed up as follows.
The Lord of Chu asked a court offi
cial of the eastern Zhou about the size and
weight of the Nine Tripods, which were the ritual symbol of tianming for the
b e t w e e n t h e h e av e n l y a nd t h e h u m a n 13
Zhou. He meant to carry them back so that the Chu could replace the Zhou
house as the new recipient of the Decree of Heaven. The Zhou offi
cial replied
by saying: “The size and weight are not in the tripods but in virtue. . . . Though
the virtue of Zhou is decayed, the Decree of Heaven is not yet changed.” This is
the earliest evidence, as far as I know, of the inward turn of tianming with specifi c
reference to de as inner virtue or power vis- à- vis the Nine Tripods as sacred rit-
ual symbols. This anecdote suggests that the Lord of Chu prob ably still sub-
scribed to the traditional belief that whoever possessed the Nine Tripods also
possessed the Decree of Heaven. However, the eastern Zhou offi
cial’s reply
clearly indicates that a new belief had come into being according to which the
tianming was linked primarily to de as inner spiritual virtue
, not the external
ritual paraphernalia such as the Nine Tripods.
In this connection, I may briefl y mention that the character de
itself also
underwent a similar change toward inwardness. Its earlier written form is com-
posed of two parts: “action” ( chi ) and “straight” ( zhi
). Then in some of the
later Zhou bronze inscriptions, a third ele ment, “heart” ( xin ), is added. It has
been suggested lately that the meaning of de may have changed from some-
thing descriptive of external human be hav ior to that of inner human qualities.
It may be signifi cant that in the newly discovered Daoist and Confucian texts
on bamboo slips from Guodian tentatively dated around 300 b.c.e., the charac-
ter de is invariably written in the form of “straight” plus “heart.” The inward
turn of the tian ren heyi thesis may well have begun before the pro cess of Axial
breakthrough was fully activated.
With tian ren heyi as a central thread, I have outlined a historical account of
the genesis and evolution of “inward transcendence” from the pre- Axial ritual
tradition to Axial breakthrough. The continuity of the notion of tian ren heyi, in
par tic u lar, strongly suggests that its earliest archetype may have been provided
by the ritual communication between Heaven and humans under the infl uence
of wu- shamanism. As the “Separation” myth shows, wu- shamans played a pivotal
role as intermediaries in this celestial communication. It is true that Axial
thinkers beginning with Confucius eventually transcended the ritual tradition,
which resulted in an epoch- making philosophic breakthrough, but they did
this by way of “reinterpretation” of, not “complete withdrawal” from, the origi-
nal ritual system. As a result, “Heaven” was reinterpreted in a variety of senses,
including Dao; the medium of communication changed from “wu- shaman” to
“heart”; and ritual per for mance was also replaced by spiritual cultivation. Nev-
ertheless, the archetypal structure remained intact: the spiritually awakened
individual human continued to long for “unity” or “oneness” with the realm
beyond, where the deepest sources of wisdom and power were supposedly to be
found. Because the center of communication was now located in the human
