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Home , Jing (Chinese medicine), Qing (philosophy), Shao Yong, Taiji (philosophy), Wang Bi, Wang Fuzhi

2017 3rd Annual International Conference on Modern Education and Social Science (MESS 2017) ISBN: 978-1-60595-450-9

The Chinese Philosophical Concept of Supreme Ultimate MING Yunnan Normal University, Kunming, Yunnan, [email protected]

Keywords: Supreme Ultimate, Bi, the Book of Change, .

Abstract: Supreme Ultimate, a key concept of Chinese , is the pattern or order underlying everything and explaining why things operate as they do, as well as how the operation of things should conform. This paper is an integrated study of the Supreme Ultimate, and the topic of the paper will be carried out from two aspects: 1) beginnings and historical developments: an overview of the Supreme Ultimate; and 2) Shao Yong’s redefinition of the Supreme Ultimate: the mind as the Supreme Ultimate.

Introduction The term “Supreme Ultimate” is known as in Chinese terminology. Taiji is a compound of Chinese character tai which means “great, grand, supreme, extreme, very, too” [1] and ji which means “ridgepole, roof ridge, highest point, extreme, ’s pole, reach the end, attain and exhaust.”[2] Common English translations of taiji are the “Supreme Ultimate”[3] or “Great Ultimate;”[4] but other versions are the “Supreme Pole,”[5] or “Supreme Polarity,”[6] etc. Supreme Ultimate is “a cosmological term for the of the supreme and ultimate state of the undifferentiated absolute and infinite potentiality of Change.”[7] Beginnings and Historical Developments: An Overview of the Supreme Ultimate In the history of Chinese philosophical terminology, the first use of the term “Supreme Ultimate” (taiji) is found in The Book of Change, In the system of the Changes (), there is the Supreme Ultimate (taiji), which produced the Two Elementary Forms. These Two Forms produced the Four Emblematic Symbols, which again produced the Eight Trigrams [8]. (易有大极，是生两仪，两仪生四象，四象生八卦). [9] Traditionally this passage has been given two kinds of interpretations throughout the history of the philosophy of Change: 1) It is an explanation of the predicting formula that ancient Chinese people used to determine the future. For example, Cui (date uncertain) of the Tang dynasty believed in the unseparated state of the forty-nine yarrow stems (shi cao) as being the Supreme Ultimate[10]. 2) It is believed to be the interpretation of the process of the generation of the all things in the universe. For instance, Yu (164-233) regarded the Supreme Ultimate as the whole of and the universe, which indicated that the Supreme Ultimate was the origin and source of the process of change and the creation of things; it giving birth to all things[11]. However, whether the Supreme Ultimate is material or spirit, The Book of Changes does not give a detailed explanation. After the Qin and Han dynastic periods, a number of interpretations had been given to the term Supreme Ultimate by philosophers; different schools were thus established. In The Great Commentary (xici), (551-479 BCE) used the theory “the number for Great Changes (Supreme Ultimate) is fifty” (dayan shu 50) to explain how the Supreme Ultimate produced all things in the universe. Zheng Xuan (127-200 BCE) established four stages which were the Great

919 Principle of Changes (taiyi), the Great Beginning (taichu), the Great Origin (taishi) and the Great Simplicity (taishu) to interpret the Supreme Ultimate. During the time of the Great Principle of Changes stage, there was no manifestation of vital energy (). The Great Beginning was the originator of the vital energy; Great origin was the originator of the forms; and Great Simplicity as the originator of corporeal matter (zhi). At the time of the Great Principle stage, the vital energy, forms, and corporeal matter were intermingled and undifferentiated; this state was called Chaos (hunlun), which was also called Original Vital Energy (yuanqi) by (206-220 CE) scholars [12]. The belief in the unseparated state of original vital energy as Supreme Ultimate was quite popular during the Han dynasty. For instance, Liu (50 BCE-23 CE) mentioned, “The center of the Supreme Ultimate is original vital energy.” Zheng Xuan stated, “This (Supreme Ultimate) is the time when qi and the symbols had not yet separated, when heaven and earth were just beginning.” [13] Yu Fan commented: “the Supreme Ultimate is the Supreme One.”[14] All these describe the cosmology of the Supreme Ultimate in Han dynasty philosophy which was influenced by the astronomy of the Han. During the Wei and Jin dynastic periods, Wang Bi (226-249) wrote A Commentary on Zhouyi (zhouyi zhu) [15] and Treatise on the Commentary of Zhouyi (zhouyi zhushu)[16], using the philosophy of and to comment on The Book of Changes. Wang Bi rejected the Images and Numerals School of the Han traditional philosophy of change [17]. He used the philosophical Daoist idea that “being” is generated from “beinglessness” to comment on the statement, “In the system of the changes there is the Supreme Ultimate which produced the two elementary Forms.” He believed that Supreme Ultimate is an Oneness which is not a number but Beinglessness. Based upon this, Wang’s successor Han Kangbo’s (Han dynasty) commentary on the statement, “in the system of the Changes there is the Supreme Ultimate which produced the two elementary Forms,” [18] he states, “Being must be produced by Beinglessness; therefore the Supreme Ultimate produces the two elementary Forms.” [19] In other words, the two elementary Forms are being, and the Supreme Ultimate is Beinglessness. To Wang Bi and Han Kangbo, the Supreme Ultimate is the name which cannot be named. It cannot be laid hold of and named. It is only by acquiring being that it can be referred to as the Supreme Ultimate. The tradition of Wang Bi denied the theory of original vital energy (yuanqi), and regarded ontological beinglessness as Supreme Ultimate. It suggested the fact that the ideas of Lao Zi’s Daode jing have been introduced into Supreme Ultimate. During the fifth and sixth centuries, the question as to whether the Supreme Ultimate was “being” or “beinglessness” became a popular topic. The Southern dynasties’ (420-589) scholars interpreted the Supreme Ultimate as being in accordance with the tradition of Zheng Xuan. The Northern dynasties’ (534-581) scholars advocated the opinion of Huan Kangbo that the Supreme Ultimate was beinglessness. The great Tang commentator Kong Yingda’s (574-648) work on The Book of Changes was The Correct Meaning of the Zhouyi (Zhouyi zhengyi). In this work he used Wang Bi’s edition of The Book of Changes, which preferred to the philosophical Daoist “beinglessness,” but on the relevant key passage of the Great Commentary (xici) he held that the Supreme Ultimate was “original vital energy” (yuanqi).[20] During the dynastic periods of Song, Ming and Qing, one of the founders of Neo-, Dunyi, established a famous thesis of “the Ultimateless () and yet also the Supreme Ultimate,”[21] in which he regards the unseparated state of yin-yang as the Supreme Ultimate and the separated state as yin-yang [22]. During the post period, the commentaries on the Supreme Ultimate were divided into three major schools: 1) the tradition of (1130-1200)

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constituted “principle” () as the Supreme Ultimate. Zhu’s work The Original Meaning of Zhouyi (zhouyi benyi) states, “The Supreme Ultimate is the Principle (li).”[23] This tradition believed that the Supreme Ultimate was the highest form of Principle, on which all things relied for their existence, and hence all things possess this Principle [24]. 2) The tradition of (1020-1078) and (1619-1692) understood the Supreme Ultimate as Original Vital energy (yuanqi)[25]. Their major works, the Outer Commentary of Zhouyi (Zhouyi waizhuan) [26], the Inner Commentary on Zhouyi (Zhouyi neizhuan)[27], Hengqu Conversation on the Book of Changes (Hengqu yishuo) [28] and The Complete Collection of Zhangzi’s Works (Zhangzi quanshu) [29] show that this tradition is reverting to the Han Confucian point of view but argued his case in a systematic manner. 3) Based upon the passage of The Book of Changes, “in the system of the Changes there is the Supreme Ultimate which produced the two elementary Forms…,”[30] the tradition of Shao Yong redefined the Supreme Ultimate as human mind. It is in the history of Chinese philosophy, in Shao’s major philosophical work, Supreme Principles that Rule the World (Huangji jingshu shu), that the term Supreme Ultimate is given its first redefinition as mind - “the mind is the Supreme Ultimate” (xinwei taiji).[31] Shao Yong’s Definition of the Supreme Ultimate: The Mind as the Supreme Ultimate According to Supreme Principles that Rule the World (Huangji jingshi shu), Shao Yong’s redefinition of the Supreme Ultimate is illustrated by means of diagrams. The diagrams did not survive till, thus the question as to what diagrams were used by Shao Yong has become a popular topic. Zhang Xingcheng (dated around 1131) mentioned, “the ideas of master’s work, [Supreme Principles that Rule the World (huangji jing shishu)], were complete within fourteen diagrams.” Zhang believed that there were fourteen diagrams used by Shao for interpreting his Supreme Ultimate. In both Enlightening with Zhouyi Studies (Yixue qimeng) and The Original Meaning of Zhouyi (Zhouyi benyi), Zhu Xi indentified diagrams as four kinds: “the Fu Xi Diagrams of the Sequence of the Eight Trigrams” (Fu Xi cixu tu), “the Fu Xi Diagrams of the Sequence of the 64 Hexagrams” (Fu Xi liushisi gua cixu tu), “the Fu Xi Diagrams of the Directional Position of the Eight Trigrams” (Fu Xi bagua fangwei tu) and “the Fu Xi Diagrams of the Directional Position of the 64 Hexagrams” (Fu Xi liushisi gua fangwei tu). The purpose of the “Diagrams of the sequence of the eight trigrams and sixty-four hexagrams” is to explain how the Supreme Ultimate produced the eight trigrams and sixty-four hexagrams in terms of sequence. Regarding this, Shao mentioned, “As the Great Ultimate becomes differentiated, the Two Modes () appear. Yang descends and interacts with yin, and yin rises to interact with yang, and consequently the Four Forms (major and minor yin and yang) are constituted. Yin and yang interact and generate the Four Forms of Heaven: the element of Earth; and consequently the Eight Elements (heaven, , , thunder, wind, water in motion, mountain, and earth) are completed. The Eight Elements intermingle and generate the myriad things.”[32] The term “Great Ultimate” is a different translation for the Supreme Ultimate. This paragraph describes how the Supreme Ultimate generates the eight hexagrams and Sixty-four Hexagrams. That is, the Great Ultimate differentiates Two Modes (yin and yang), which again generate the Four Forms, and the Four Forms produce the Eight Hexagrams. This process is clearly represented by Shao’s number sequences such as: “one is differentiated into two, two into four, four into eight, eight into sixteen, sixteen into thirty-two, and thirty-two into sixty-four.”[33]

921 Conclusion Based on above discussion, Supreme Ultimate is a key concept of Chinese transitional philosophy of The Book of Changes, Confucianism, Philosophical Daoism and religious Daoism. It will be helpful to summarize the concept of the Supreme Ultimate as described by different philosophical school as follows: 1) Supreme Ultimate is the whole of nature and the universe. 2) Supreme Ultimate is the origin and the source of the process of change and the creation of things; it gave birth to all things. 3) The mysterious concept of Supreme Ultimate is the centerpiece of Daoist thought and living. Supreme Ultimate represents the ultimate first principle. It has a mysterious quality which cannot be known through any concept.

Abbreviation SKQS: The Complete Collection in Four Treasuries (Siku Quanshu), Taibei: Taiwan Shangwu Yinshu Guan, 1971.

Acknowledgement This research was financially supported by the Yunnan Minority Philosophical Research Center Foundation (Yunnan Shaoshu Minzu Zhexue Sixiang Yanjiu Jidi Jinfei).

References [1] Fabrizio Pregadio, ed., The Encyclopedia of , New York: Routledge, 2008. [2,8,17,18] Zhang Dainian, Key Concepts in Chinese Philosophy, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002. [3] James Legge, The Book of Changes, : Hunan Chuban She, 1992. [4] Le Blanc, Charles, Huai-nan Tzu: Philosophical Synthesis in Early Han Thought: The Idea of Resonance (Kan-Ying) With a Translation and Analysis of Chapter Six, Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1985. [5] Chen, Ellen M, The Te Ching: A New Translation and Commentary. London: Paragon House, 1989. [6] Needham, Joseph and Colin A. Ronan, The Shorter Science and Civilisation in China, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1978. [7] Adler, Joseph A, “Zhou Dunyi: The and Practice of Sagehood,” in Sources of Chinese Tradition, William Theodore Bary and Irene Bloom, ed. (vol. 2), (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999), 438. [9] Zhou Zhenbu, A Commentary on Zhouyi (Zhouyi yizhu), (Hong Kong: Zhouhua Shuju, 1996. [10,11,14] Li Dingzuo, Zhouyi jijie (Collection of Commentaries of Zhouyi), SKQS, vol. 7, 603-892. [12] Zheng Kangcheng ed. Zhouyi qianzao du, SKQS, vol. 53, p. 867. [13,15] Wang Bi, A Commentary on Zhouyi (Zhouyi Zhu), SKQS, vol. 7, 201-283. [16] Wang Bi, Treatise on the Commentary of Zhouyi (Zhouyi Zhushu), SKQS, vol. 7, 283-602. [19] Yan Lingfeng, ed. Collected Editions of the Yijing: Great Commentary, SKQS, vol. 12, 308.

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[20] Kong Yingda, The Correct Meaning of the Zhouyi (Zhouyi Zhengyi), SKQS, vol. 7, 17. [21] Fung Yu-lan, A History of Chinese Philosophy, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1953. [22] Zhou Dunyi, Explanation of the Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate (Taiji Tushuo), SKQS, vol. 1101, 416. [23] Zhu Xi, The Original Meaning of Zhouyi (Zhouyi benyi), SKQS, vol. 12, 625-704. [24] Zhu Xi, Another Version of the Original Meaning of Zhouyi (Bieben Houyi Benyi), SKQS, vol. 12, 705-788. [25] Zhang Zai, Correcting the Unenlightened (Zheng Meng), SKQS, vol. 697. [26] Wang Fuzhi, “Outer Commentary of Zhouyi (Zhouyi Waizhuan),” in Wang Fuzhi, The Complete Collection of Chuanshan (Chuanshan Quanshu), vol. 1, (Changsha: Yuelu Shushe, 1988-1996), 994-1112. [27] Wang Fuzhi, “the Inner Commentary on Zhouyi (Zhouyi neizhuan),” in Wang Fuzhi, The Complete Collection of Chuanshan (Chuanshan Quanshu), vol. 1, (Changsha: Yuelu Shushe, 1988-1996), 53-605. [28] Zhang Zai, Hengqu Conversation on the Book of Changes (Hengqu Yishuo), SKQS, vol. 8, 659-763. [29] Zhang Zai, The Complete Collection of Zhangzi’s Works (Zhangzi Quanshu), SKQS, vol. 697, 75-320. [30] Wing-tsit Chan, Sources of Chinese Tradition, (vol.1), New York: Columbia University Press, 1960. [31,33] Wing-Tsit Chen, A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1963. [32] Shao Yong, Supreme Principles that Rule the World (Huangji Jingshi Shu), Zhengzhou: Zhongzhou Guji Chuban She, 2007.

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