Countering the scholars of the New Text School were those of the, predict- ably named, Old Text School. The fi rst difference between them was the texts that they used. The Old Text scholars used texts that were supposedly concealed during Qin and had been rediscovered; these texts were written in the older form of writing. The more general grounds of disagreement were the use of the yin - yang and fi ve phases theories, the growing dependence on divination texts, and the view that Confucius was a semi - divine person. While there are still disputes about whether the New or Old Text versions are the “ real ” texts, gradually the Old Text versions won out. By the 900s they were in general use, and they are the ones we read today. However,
the issue was never as much about the texts themselves as about the com- mentaries, the interpretations of the texts. Scholars knew what Confucius had taught, the debates were over what that meant.
The leading scholar of the Old Text school is Wang Chong (27 – 97). 22 He
rejected what he saw as the “ superstition ” of the New Text School, arguing against most of the popular scholarship and beliefs of his time.
Wang Chong says that qi is natural and spontaneous; it has no purpose and no emotions. Qi , like the Dao of the philosophical Daoists, does
not intend anything towards us. While it is certainly true that human beings are made from the same qi as the universe, all that this means is that we are alike; it does not mean we are connected. Dong Zhongshu had written that
Spring has the qi of happiness and thus gives birth; fall has the qi of anger, and thus things die off; summer has the qi of joy, and thus nourishes things; winter has the qi of sadness, and thus things are hidden. The four seasons are in the same unity as are heaven and human beings. 23
This connection between the workings of Heaven and human beings is rejected by Wang Chong. He replies,
The way of heaven is to not have any intention. Therefore, spring does not give birth to things; summer does not grow them; autumn does not ripen them; winter does not hide them away. The yang qi comes out spontaneously and things are born and mature; the yin qi rises spontaneously and things are ripened and hidden away. 24
The world works as it works. It does not act for our benefi t. We can take advantage of spring planting and autumn harvest, but they are not pur- posefully provided for us. Heaven, the universe, and qi act naturally and spontaneously, and have no aim. There is no special unity among Heaven, earth, and human beings. The world is here for us to use. It is not here because it wants to help us:
Heaven gives birth to all creatures everywhere. Some creatures are hungry for grain and, feeling the cold, need clothing; therefore, people eat grain and wear clothes. Heaven did not produce the fi ve grains and silk and hemp just so people could eat them or wear them, nor are calamities sent down to punish people. Things are spontaneously produced and people wear them or eat them. 25
The reason that human beings cannot affect what Heaven does by our moods or behavior is that Heaven, the universe, is simply the natural work- ings of qi . Criticizing the New Text scholars, Wang Chong says,
When discussing heat and cold, people say that when the ruler is happy, there is warmth, and when he is angry, there is cold. How is this supposed to work? Happiness and anger, they say, develop inside the ruler and are expressed on the outside in the form of rewards and punishments. With these widespread expressions of happiness, anger, reward and punishments, they can, in the extreme, cause things to wither and do harm to people. …
The Way of Heaven is spontaneity and spontaneity means it does not act with any ego or intention. It may be that, when people perform divination, this matches with human events, but this is only by chance. To see these things as heaven responding to the actions of human beings is to deny the spontaneity of heaven. 26
As Heaven just fl ows on its course, no behavior, good or bad, from rulers or any human being has any effect on what it does. Heaven does not send us omens to warn us about our behavior; it does not care. If there are fl oods and famines, they are natural events; they are not meant to warn us of faults in individual or government behavior. The New Text School is wrong in its application of yin - yang and fi ve phases theories. It does not matter what color clothing the emperor wears, what palace rooms he lives in, what he eats, and when he orders executions. What matters is that he govern properly.
Human beings have no special place in the universe. Like other animals or like plants, we are made of qi , we live in a world of qi , but we have no special status in a triad of Heaven, earth, and human beings. Human beings have no way to infl uence Heaven. Wang Chong argues that a fl ea may live under a jacket. However, that fl ea cannot infl uence the thoughts and activities of the person wearing the jacket. So, too, human beings cannot infl uence the workings of the universe. To think that human beings hold such an exalted status is to not understand how the world works. 27
The New Text scholars are wrong in thinking that Heaven and earth give birth to human beings on purpose: human beings are born just as all other creatures are born. There is nothing special about us.
Another fad of the time, the search for immortality, also came under Wang Chong ’ s fi re. He attacked the whole idea of immortality, saying that it is natural for human beings to die. Animals all die; what would make human beings so special that they could somehow avoid death? When we are born, our qi comes together; when we die, our qi comes apart. This is a natural process that cannot be avoided. Similarly, the idea of ghosts makes no sense. Many, many people have died, Wang Chong said, so why do we not see millions of ghosts? Why do we not see ghost birds, ghost ants, and ghost fi sh? What makes human beings so special that there are human ghosts and not mouse ghosts? Finally, ghosts are always reported to be clothed. Where do their clothes come from? Can they buy them in ghost stores?
For Wang Chong we live in a world of nature that is like us; we are part of it, but nature does not concern itself with human beings. Human beings have no elevated status in the universe; we are just like all the other animals. Wang Chong did not argue against the yin - yang and fi ve phases theories in themselves; they had become part of the fabric of the culture. He did reject the New Text School ’ s use of these theories to elevate the status of human beings, to think that we live in a universe that cares about us, and to create a system that they thought explained everything.