[MUSIC] Now we won't be looking at chairs again, but let's just remind ourselves that for Zhu Xi Li-Principle is what makes everything what it is, what informs its material being. The concept of Li-Principle is further extended to affairs of the human world, and indeed, affairs of the human heart as well. And at this level, it is defined not only as what makes everything what it is, but also what everything ought to be. This will be the focus of our discussion here, the extension of the Neo-Confucian argument from what is the case to what ought to be the case in human life. Fundamentally, now what Zhu Xi is saying is that human society also inherently follows the laws and principles that govern them. At the macro level, according to this view, society is structured hierarchically in terms of family relations, and politically led by the emperor assisted by his officials to whom loyalty and obedience should be rendered as a matter of principle. This is of course very much the standard, traditional view, probably not very interesting either. The more interesting philosophical extension is that for Zhu Xi the same applies to individual human beings. Human beings are constituted physically by Qi. The body, flesh and blood, and the air we breath, all these are composed of Qi. In this respect, human beings are just like other living things. But unlike other things, the Qi with which human beings are endowed is the richest and the most refined. Therefore, human beings, in Zhu Xi's estimation, should be regarded as the apex, the highest of all beings. This is a strongly anthropocentric view. And to Zhu Xi what distinguishes human beings, is that they are endowed with a heart and mind that is capable of controlling and directing the multitude of human functions. Whether in terms of knowing, acting or feeling like the ruler of a country, it is the heart or mind, according to Zhu Xi, that should be issuing the order for the body to function. Now, of course, today we would say it is the brain that does this, the heart has nothing to do with cognition. But, before you check out the concept of the heart, just think of such common expressions as heartache, affairs of the heart, or maybe a heart of gold, and many others, which still expressed the idea that the heart does a lot more than just pumping blood. The heart has its reasons, of which reason knows nothing about, as the seventeen century French philosopher Pascal famously puts it. And the concept of the heart or mind is critical central to Zhu Xi's Neo-Confucian philosophy as well. Inherent in the mind are not only the emotions, such as pleasure and anger, but also what Mencius has identified as the four germs, or sprouts, or beginnings of goodness. That is, the four incipient moral sentiments that are inherent or perceived to be inherent in human nature. These four, you'll remember, are the heartfelt sense of sympathy and compassion, shame and repulsion, consideration and deference, and the sense of right and wrong. These are dispositions of the heart, and they make us truly human. The incipient sense of sympathy and compassion will then grow into love and Humaneness, or Ren, according to Mencius. For Zhu Xie this is certainly true, but like everything else, feelings and emotions must also be traced to the underlying Li-Principle, whereas love may take many forms. For example, the love between parents and children, husband and wife, or between friends, the principle of love remains one. And this principle of love, according to Zhu Xi, is what Confucius and Mencius meant by Ren, the universal virtue of Humanity. The virtue of Ren dominates the other virtues in Zhu Xi's interpretation of Confucian philosophy. Without Ren, the other virtues will lose their meaning. For example, knowledge requires Ren to become wisdom that will benefit humankind. Otherwise, it may be used to devise instruments of destruction. Now without Ren, the sense of righteousness, just to take one more example, the sense of righteousness may become self-righteousness, the void of any feeling of sympathy and compassion for others. But for Zhu Xi, what needs to be made clear is that Ren is not love itself, but rather the principle of love. This is an important distinction. The heart is also driven by desire in actual expression, in real life. Love comes in different shades and may even mutate into other emotions, including hate, and this reflects the workings of desire. As principle however, Ren is always pure. In fact, in many places Zhu Xi also uses the concept of impartiality to explain Ren. As principle, Ren is impartial, equally and universally the same in the sense that it is not influenced by any interest or desire, and therefore precludes any form of preference or favoritism. As principle, Ren makes humaneness or love possible, but it is conceptual and not any particular form of love. Now in this way, with this distinction between the universal on the one hand and the particular on the other, Zhu Xi can now affirm that the action or application of Ren in real life is always expressed first as filial care and affection, as the Confucian scholars of old have argued. Love does start from the family and extends or radiates outward to embrace the whole of humanity. Nevertheless, when viewed conceptually as principle, Ren has no particular object, and therefore it may be said to be impartial, that is, equally extended to all. The principle of love is inherent in human nature. Mencius is therefore correct to say that human nature is originally good. But according to Zhu Xi, Mencius' account is incomplete, because he only considered human nature from the perspective of Li-Principle. No matter how important that may be, we must also take into account the reality of human nature and the workings of the human heart from the perspective of Qi energies, which generate all cognitive and affective functions. When the principle of love is embodied in concrete feeling or action in the world of human desire, it is never entirely pure. And from this perspective, Xunzi is also not wrong in emphasising the dominance of desire that pervades the human heart and drives our feelings and action. So in this way, as you can see, Zhu Xi seeks to reconcile the different views of human nature that have divided Confucian scholars in the past. What he now proposes is that we view human nature as the state of mind before feelings are aroused or before any judgment is made as principle only. Then, and only then, it can be said to be essentially good, because it can then generate Ren and other virtues. But in the material world of Qi, the mind interacts constantly with external stimuli and is moved in all different directions. If we view human nature from this perspective, then we should conclude logically that it is inseparable from desire. In other words, when the mind is moved and emotions come into play, the possibility of good and evil also arises, even for love, as a kind of Qi driven emotion. The result may be good or bad. Love can lead to crimes of passion, to take an obvious example. When human emotions accord with principle, then goodness results. Conversely, when they deviate from principle, partiality and selfish strivings make their way into the human arena. Now, how then do we ensure that we do not deviate from the principle of Humanity and Rightness? From this analysis, you can easily see how it leads to ethical self-cultivation. But before we turn to that question, let me just add that in his writings and conversations, Zhu Xi very often distinguishes between the principle of Heaven, on the one hand, and human desires on the other. The principle of Heaven is also equated with the Great Ultimate, a concept that you see derives from the Yijing, the Classic of Changes. The concept of the Great Ultimate, or Taiji in Chinese, or Tai-Chi as the term is usually pronounced in its anglicised form, this concept signifies the origin of Yin and Yang, the two basic polarities that constitute the universe. From Yin and Yang, the four seasons and the plenitude of nature then come into being. The popularity of Tai-Chi today both in and outside China, I think is testament to the importance of this concept. In one sense, the Great Ultimate may be conceived as the totality of all principles, just as the myriad forms of life and material objects can be traced ultimately to one Qi. The idea here is that the ostensibly diverse principles that govern the constitution and processes of nature can also be traced to a grand unified principle. Now in so far as Li-Principle is inherent in all objects, one could also say that everything has the Great Ultimate Tai-Chi in them, just as the moon is reflected in all kinds of surfaces, to use Zhu Xi's own example. Or to use another expression that is also often used to characterise Neo-Confucian philosophy, principle is one, but the manifestations are many. At the cosmological level, the idea here is that the Great Ultimate as the principle of Heaven generates, it gives, sustains and renews life. At the level of individual human beings, the principle of Heaven is another way of saying that the principle of love or Ren is inherent in our nature. However, embodied in the heart and mind of human beings, the articulation of the principle of Heaven in human life is inseparable from the influence of desire. When we say that the will is weak and the flesh is strong, it means that our mind is no longer in control of our emotions and conduct, but is driven by desires and passions. Now to explain the same point in terms of the mind or heart, Zhu Xi distinguishes between, on the one hand, the heart and mind of the Dao, and the other hand, the human mind. There is only one mind, of course, but it can and should be understood from two different perspectives. From the perspective of principle alone, which is purely good, we can say that the heart or mind is one with the Dao. This term, the "Mind of the Dao," is also translated as the "Moral Mind" by some scholars. On the other hand, if we view the heart or mind not abstractly, not conceptually, not abstractly in terms of principle alone, but as the organ of thought and emotions. Then we should recognise the influence of desire at every turn, and the possibility of deviation from the principle of Humanity and Rightness. So again, how do we ensure that human action conforms to principle? Can it be done by force or compulsion? Given the centrality of the heart in Zhu Xi's Neo-Confucian thinking, genuine ethical order and goodness cannot be established by means of coercive laws and controls, but must, must come from the heart itself. Let's examine this more closely in our next discussion.
