Zhu Xi taught at an academy until his death at the age of 70. He attracted many students and established what would be called the “ School of Principle ” because principle is central to his thinking. Zhu Xi brings together earlier ideas about qi , principle, the Supreme Ultimate, and an orthodox transmission of Confucianism.
Zhu Xi ’ s understanding of principle is the same one we have just seen in the discussions from the Cheng brothers. Principle is abstract and beyond a particular time or space. It is much like the essence of a thing. There is a
principle for all things, and things can only exist with a principle. Principle is eternal. It is shown in the physical world in a particular thing or event, like a rose or the practice of fi lial piety, but even though the rose fades and dies, principle continues to exist. Principle always exists: this means that, when we invent something new, like a computer, we are discovering the principle of computer – a principle that already existed.
On the qi level, we live in a physical world of particular things or events. Qi is found in the concrete, physical world where things are created and destroyed. Qi condenses and disperses as things, people, and events move through time and space.
As we saw with Zhou Dunyi, the Supreme Ultimate contains the princi- ples of movement and stillness, operating actively as yang or congealing as yin, and, with the fi ve phases, produces all things in the physical or qi world. The Supreme Ultimate, the Tai Ji , and/or the Wu Ji , the Ultimate - less, is the most perfect principle, the totality of principle. It both changes and does not change; it both exists and does not exist. It is abstract, beyond time and space, and the “ entity ” that is the source of all things in the universe. We have come to another instance of what we saw in Zhou Dunyi and his diagram. The Supreme Ultimate moves but does not move, exists but does not exist, changes but does not change. The questions are: what does this mean and why does Zhu Xi argue for it? By using two names, the Supreme Ultimate and the “ Supreme Ultimate - less, ” Zhu Xi wants to argue that it is beyond us and requires a special insight in order to understand it. Saying that it moves allows for the next movements of yin - yang and the fi ve phases, but, as an abstract principle – actually, as the abstract principle – the Supreme Ultimate cannot be said to move. If Zhu Xi had argued that the Supreme Ultimate exists, the next question is going to be, “ where is it? ” He wanted to say that it cannot exist in a place because it is an abstract principle. It has no form. If the Supreme Ultimate changes, then Buddhists will argue that it is like all other things that are compound and change. So, like Zhou Dunyi, Zhu Xi used both the Supreme Ultimate and the Supreme Ultimate - less as names for the highest.
The Supreme Ultimate is One; it is the totality of all principle. All things share in it because all things have principle. This means that every thing and event has the Supreme Ultimate “ within ” it. Zhu Xi says,
one Supreme Ultimate exists, which is received by all individual things. The Supreme Ultimate is received by all individual things as an entire and undi- vided Supreme Ultimate. It is like the moon shining in the sky refl ected in the lakes and rivers. 8
Just as there is one moon with many refl ections, so, too, the Supreme Ultimate is “ in ” all things, creatures, and events.
If, after reading this, you object that none of this sounds very much like the Confucianism you read about in chapters 2 and 3 , Zhu Xi is coming to that. In human beings, principle is human nature, while the body is made up of qi in its different forms (bones, fl esh, blood, animating energy, emo- tions). Principle is good, human nature is good. This, if you remember, is part of what Mencius argued, that human nature is good. Zhu Xi, however, says that, while what Mencius said is true, qi can cloud our human nature. Some people are simply born with a purer qi , while other people have a muddier qi . Mencius, says Zhu Xi, was talking about principle when he said that human nature is good.
For Zhu Xi, the principle in people is human nature. The mind/heart is where principle (human nature) and qi meet. The mind/heart is pulled in two directions: fi rst toward the morality of the principle/human nature within us; second, toward error and desires because of the mind/heart ’ s involvement with qi . 9
Emotions are produced by qi and have to do with the physical world. Emotions move the mind/heart, leading to desires and excess. When mind/ heart is still, like still water, emotions and desires cannot move it. 10
As Mencius said, the sprouts of sympathy, shame/dislike, modesty, and a sense of right and wrong are found in one ’ s principle, human nature. And, as Mencius said, when expressed concretely in this world they lead to humanity, rightness, ritual, and wisdom. While drawing heavily on Mencius, Zhu Xi ’ s interpretation of Mencius is different from any we have seen before. Zhu Xi ’ s position is that the state of one ’ s qi leads us to develop, or not develop, the seeds within us.
Knowing that we have this marvelous principle within us, we need to fi nd it. We do that, Zhu Xi says, by “ extending knowledge and investigating things. ” This phrase, as we have seen, comes from the Great Learning . In the Great Learning , extending knowledge and investigating things form the basic step that will lead us to complete knowledge, then to sincerity, then to a proper mind/heart, then to the cultivation of the person, the regula- tion of the family, the proper government of the country, and peace for all.
When we read that we should extend our knowledge and investigate things, we might think that this would lead to the study of both humani- ties and sciences. However, Zhu Xi interprets the phrase to mean we must learn the principles of things.
If we contemplate things, through what Zhu Xi calls “ quiet sitting ” and by studying all things – history, human relations, political issues, moral behavior, the teachings of Confucius, and so on – we will come to under- stand the principles of each of these areas fully. We need to come to this project with sincerity and seriousness. Learning each principle is a cumula- tive process. While principle is different in different things, all principle is one and differs only in the way that it is manifested in qi . So, when we
have an exhaustive knowledge of the principles of all things, we can come to an inner enlightenment, a knowledge of the principle that contains all these things, the Supreme Ultimate.
All things can be understood by reasoning, thinking, and reading. Self - cultivation is important for Zhu Xi, just as it was for early Confucians. Study is the way to self - cultivation; knowledge comes before action. We must cultivate a calm mind/heart, like still water, unstirred by emotions that can overwhelm it like waves on the water.
We can all become sages, as Confucius and Confucians have always maintained. The sage gets rid of the obstructions of qi and fi nds the prin- ciple within. Clearly this is an intellectual way to sagehood: the human problem is an intellectual problem that can be solved intellectually through study and thought. If we think, focusing on principle, in “ quiet sitting, ” we can come to the conclusion that the Supreme Ultimate itself is refl ected in us. This is an inward way where we focus, in the end, on our own natures, our own principle, our own inward processes.
Zhu Xi has given Confucianism a formally set out cosmology that links the structure of the universe with the moral and political concerns of human beings. Our moral behavior is behavior in harmony with the Supreme Ultimate. This allows Confucianism to now compete with systems like Buddhism.
Zhu Xi, like the Neo - Confucians before him, called for learning for learning ’ s sake, not just to pass the examinations. Real learning would make a man a responsible adult, taking on family and social responsibilities. Zhu Xi fi rmly believed that by understanding and practicing the search for prin- ciple, a student can come to understand the true teachings of Confucianism and internalize them – not just learn them by rote.
Politically there is a principle for the organization of a state and that is the moral Dao of early Confucianism. The ancient sage - kings, Confucian heroes like the Duke of Zhou, and Confucius himself, all knew, and lived by, this principle. When the ruler and government follow it, there will be good government. Political reform is based on the reform of the individual and that, in turn, is based on a deep philosophical understanding. As with early Confucianism, the best ruler is a sage, but, according to Zhu Xi, a sage who has gotten rid of the blockages of qi and reaches the principle within, the Supreme Ultimate.
Zhu Xi argued adamantly against Buddhism. He said that it is because Buddhists do not understand principle that they think that this world is not real, but an illusion. Buddhists think that human nature is not really real: it is an illusion that changes at every moment and is brought together only by particular circumstances. They are wrong, says Zhu Xi, because they do not understand principle. Principle is eternal, and the belief that nothing is eternal is wrong.
Zhu Xi was a prolifi c writer and wrote commentaries on the classics, with a focus on the classics he used as the basis for his interpretation. These were the Analects , seen as the authentic words of Confucius, and the Mencius , a text Zhu Xi appreciated for Mencius ’ theory that human nature is good and for statements in the text like, “ all things are complete within me, ” which Zhu Xi saw as the foundation of his teachings. The other two are shorter texts, the Great Learning and the Doctrine of the Mean , chap- ters taken from the Book of Rites . The Great Learning , as we have seen, begins with the investigation of things and extension of knowledge, leading to the moral cultivation of the individual and the peace of the world. Moral behavior and politics are fi rmly linked. The Doctrine of the Mean describes living in a state of harmony and balance. It also talks about developing the virtue of sincerity that connects us to the universe. These four books, as understood and commented on by Zhu Xi, refl ect Zhu Xi ’ s theories most closely. Zhu Xi saw them as the real foundation of Confucian thought.
While all the Confucian classics we have seen earlier 11 remained part
of the offi cial Confucian canon, these “ Four Books ” – the Analects , the Mencius , the Great Learning , and the Doctrine of the Mean – were singled out as the most important texts of the Confucian canon and, to a large extent, are still seen that way today. Zhu Xi ’ s commentaries and choice of classics became the orthodox interpretation of Confucianism, main- tained by the examination system and imperial patronage. This orthodoxy remained in force for the next seven hundred years and is often the founda- tion used by modern Confucian scholars.
Zhu Xi not only established the Four Books and his interpretations of them as the foremost texts, he also established an orthodoxy called the dao
tong , the orthodox transmission of proper Confucianism. Zhu Xi set up a
list of Confucians from Confucius to Mencius, and on throughout history. These Confucians were, according to Zhu Xi, proper Confucians. They and their texts were celebrated in the tradition. Thinkers and texts seen as dissenting from the tradition were not allowed in the imperial library and, in some cases, their books were prohibited. 12
As intellectual interest turned to Neo - Confucianism and it became infl u- ential in the state and society at large, there was a tendency to inwardness, as people focused on inner principle, and a tendency to conservatism, as Zhu Xi ’ s interpretations were understood to have explained everything.
Zhu Xi ’ s Family Rituals set out the principle for families: the father and husband are the leaders, the wife and daughter are explicitly second- ary and inferior. Just as Heaven is superior to earth, and yang is superior to yin, women are subject to the three obediences: to their father when young, to their husband when married, and to their son on the death of their husband. Neo - Confucians were adamant that widows should not remarry, but should stay loyal to their husband ’ s memory. Histories, from
local gazettes to imperial histories, began to record the fi delity of widows and they were rewarded with commemorative arches in their city or town, recording their virtue.
Zhu Xi and his successors wrote a number of pieces describing the ideal woman, who was focused solely on the family and who would subordinate herself to her male relatives and, humbly, help them in the path to achieve the Way. Women themselves were not eligible to study the Way. 13
The highest virtues for women were loyalty and chastity. Chastity meant being a virgin before marriage; being faithful to one ’ s husband during marriage; and remaining loyal to his memory and not remarrying after his death. Men, as you might have guessed, were not subject to these rules of chastity: male sexual behavior was only a problem when it threatened the stability of the family, and widowers were encouraged to remarry in order to carry on the family line.
The Neo - Confucian demand that widows should not remarry was based in part on the ideal of loyalty and in part because widows might well have to hold a household together, managing its fi nances. By tracing laws and customs governing ownership of property and of inheritance, Bettine Birge shows that up to the end of the Song dynasty women had far more property and inheritance rights than previously thought. This changed, to the detri- ment of women, in the following dynasties, for many reasons, including a far more rigorous application of Neo - Confucian ideals. 14
Throughout the Song, women, particularly upper - class women, became more confi ned to the home. A number of factors contributed to that; one of them was the practice of footbinding. Footbinding was fi rst mentioned in the Song dynasty, in the 1300s, but might be an even older practice. Scholars suspect that it originated with dancers in the palace, spread among palace women, and then fi ltered down through the population who fol- lowed it in imitation of the leisured upper classes. By the Ming dynasty (1368 – 1644) footbinding was widespread. Having one ’ s feet bound was a sign of good breeding; girls with unbound feet would fi nd it hard to marry. It was thought too that it decreased the likelihood of female unfaithfulness. The proverb was, “ If you love your son, don ’ t go easy on his study; if you love your daughter, don ’ t go easy on her feet ” – a proverb that applied of course to the gentry, but that lower classes imitated.
At about the age of four or fi ve, two yards of bandages were wrapped around the feet to keep the feet from growing. The toes were bent under and into the sole, bones broken, and the toe and heel brought close together. The result was a three - to fi ve - inch long foot, repulsively called “ golden lilies. ” The practice could lead to paralysis or gangrene and death and many women could not walk without help, or needed to lean on something while standing. It was outlawed in 1911, but continued in some places into the 1920s and 30s. 15
In the twentieth century, when Confucians were blamed for just about everything, they were blamed for footbinding as well. Given the explicitly inferior status of women in many Neo - Confucian texts, one can understand how this connection was made. However, the practice began, and spread, outside of the Confucian tradition. It is true that most Confucians did not condemn it, but the few scholars who publicly opposed footbinding did so on the Confucian grounds that it ran contrary to fi lial piety. Binding feet deformed the body, and, according to fi lial piety, we must keep our body whole, just as our parents gave it to us. 16 Many factors contributed to the
status of women in imperial China, and Neo - Confucianism was only one. Neo - Confucianism has also been criticized for being so infl uenced by Buddhism. Despite the rejection of, and attacks on, Buddhism, by the Song dynasty, it would have been impossible for anyone not to have been infl u- enced by Buddhist ideas and habits of thought. Zhu Xi ’ s contention that principle, an eternal unifi ed ultimate, is found in all things echoes the Hua Yan Buddhist idea of principle and phenomena. The Neo - Confucian ideal of the sage who has mastered his mind, controls his emotions, understands all principle, and then understands his interconnection to all is something like the Buddhist path of meditation. However, most of these similarities are natural enough given the culture of the time. Neo - Confucianism is quite clearly “ Confucian ” in its loyalties, its texts, and the self - cultivation of the individual that is meant to lead to an individual taking on responsibilities in his family, society, and government. 17 It is no surprise that Neo - Confucians
talked about “ quiet sitting, ” fi nding the ultimate in the universe, and a number of other issues that come from the Buddhist tradition. We are all infl uenced by our times, and when we talk about Confucianism now we talk about it in light of science, democracy, and human rights – just as modern Confucians do.
Neo - Confucianism is Confucian in its values and terms; it is clearly not Buddhist as it affi rms the world and continues the Confucian notion that human beings refl ect the universe in our sense of order and value. Neo - Confucianism, especially Zhu Xi ’ s School of Principle, was success- ful in turning the attention of the educated back to Confucianism and in