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A SOURCE BOOK IN C H I N E SE P H I L O S O P HY This Page Intentionally Left Blank A S O U R CE BOOK IN CHINESE PHILOSOPHY TRANSLATED AND COMPILED BY WING-TSIT CHAN PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS Copyright © 1963 by Princeton University Press L.C. Card: 62-7398 ISBN 0-691-07137-3 • Chapter 7, "The Natural Way of Lao Tzu," with additional notes and comments, has been published as The Way of Lao Tzu, copyright © 1963, The Bobbs-Merrill Company. • Publication of this book has been aided by the Ford Foundation program to support publication, through university presses, of works in the humanities and social sciences, as well as by grants from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the Edward W. Hazen Foundation, and the McInerny Foundation. • Wing-tsit Chan, now Anna R. D. Gillespie Professor of Philosophy at Chatham College, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is also Professor of Chinese Culture and Philosophy Emeritus at Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H. He did his undergraduate work at Lingnan University in Canton, China, and received his Ph.D. from Harvard University. He has taught both in China and in this country since 1929, and is the author of many distinguished publications in the field of Chinese philosophy. • First PRINCETON PAPERBACK Edition, 1969 TO GREGG M. SINCLAIR This Page Intentionally Left Blank • • • FOREWORD • • • ONE OF THE HOPEFUL SIGNS in these otherwise hectic times in which we are living is the long-overdue realization of the need for mutual understanding between the peoples of the East and those of the West. Genuine understanding of people who are separated from us by great distances or who differ from us in language, in way of life, in social custom, is difficult to achieve, even for those who are sincerely dedicated to this task. Such understanding is vital—humanly, intellectually, practically— but it cannot be achieved through any superficial assessment of words or actions which are often unrevealing or possibly even misleading. It can be achieved only through a searching and serious study of the dominant ideas, the motivating beliefs that have, down through the ages, shaped the "mind," or over-all philosophy, of a race or a nation. In getting at this basic philosophy, the only procedure available to the outsider is to study the thought of the intellectual leaders, the molders of the thought of the culture as a whole. And the only way to reach these great minds is through their own words. No amount of second-hand explanation or description or interpretation can assure the student that he is getting at the real mind of the thinker. Studying the original (even in translation), with the aid of knowledgeable guides where necessary— this alone can make for clarity of comprehension and assurance of au- thenticity. This Source Book is devoted to the purpose of providing such a basis for genuine understanding of Chinese thought (and thereby of Chinese life and culture, since the relationship between the two is probably more pronounced in China than in any other country). It brings to English- speaking Westerners the basic materials for serious work in Chinese philosophy, which in its profundity and its long historical development is probably less adequately understood than that of any other great civiliza- tion in the world today. By virtue of misguided selection of only ancient texts, or popular texts, or texts which are primarily literary rather than technical, the Chinese philosophical tradition has been distorted out of all proportions. The Western philosopher, if he would be a true philosopher in considering all the experiences, insights, and systematic intellectual speculation of mankind as data for his comprehensive philosophical thinking, can no longer remain blind to the important insights of the great Chinese minds of history. The Chinese philosophers have much to contribute in many areas of the broad quest for truth, and it is high time that we in the West overcome our basic ignorance of this field, or at least vii FOREWORD attempt to correct the limited and possibly distorted interpretations that we now have. This Source Book is indeed a milestone along the complex and difficult road to significant understanding by Westerners of the Asian peoples, and a monumental contribution to the cause of philosophy. It is the first anthology of Chinese philosophy to cover its entire historical development. It provides substantial selections from all the great thinkers and schools in every period—ancient, medieval, modern, and contemporary —and includes in their entirety some of the most important classical texts. It deals with the fundamental and technical as well as the more general aspects of Chinese thought. With its new translation of source materials (some translated for the first time), its explanatory aids where necessary, its thoroughgoing scholarly documentation, this volume will be an indispensable guide for scholars, for college students, for serious readers interested in knowing the real China. I must take this opportunity, on behalf of all who are seriously con- cerned about the development of greater understanding of Asian philosophy, to thank Dr. Chan for producing this significant volume. Dr. Chan has taught Chinese philosophy in both China and the United States and, as far as I know, is the only Chinese philosopher who has taught in the United States in this one field continuously for more than 25 years. He knows thoroughly the needs and problems of students of Chinese philosophy—and, as a public lecturer, he is also well aware of the in- terests of the educated public. He brings to this work the valuable bene- fits and advantages of this unique background and experience. The task he has undertaken has been stupendous. Few scholars could have—or would have—undertaken it; no one else could have handled it so well. As mentioned by Dr. Chan in the preface, this volume is the second in a series of Source Books in Asian philosophy. The first volume, A Source Book in Indian Philosophy, edited by Dr. S. Radhakrishnan and myself, was published by Princeton University Press in 1957 and was reissued in 1959. "A Source Book in Buddhist Philosophy," intended as a third volume in this series, is now in preparation. Charles A. Moore Honolulu, Hawaii viii ••• PREFACE ••• CHINA has changed more in the twentieth century than in any period in her history. She has overthrown a 3,000-year-old monarchic system. She has replaced the 1,300-year-old examination institution with modern education. Men and women are for the first time equal. And she has embraced Communism. These radical transformations and many more have forced Westerners to ask why they have taken place. The search is no longer one for information but for explanation. Realizing that neither contemporary factors nor external influences alone can provide the answer, they have begun to probe into Chinese thought. And since Chinese thought is predominantly Confucian, they have looked into Confucian teachings with great seriousness. The study of Confucianism in the West is not new. James Legge's translation of the Confucian Classics began a century ago. Unfortunately, Western studies of Chinese philosophy have been largely confined to ancient Confucianism and its rival systems, as if Chinese Buddhism were not Chinese, Neo-Taoism did not exist, and later Confucianism but a footnote to the Confucian Classics or at best a de luxe edition of them. But the fact is that Chinese thought and the Chinese way of life in the last several hundred years have, generally speaking, been the product of Neo-Confucianism, which thrived from the twelfth to the sixteenth century, and Neo-Confucianism is itself an outgrowth of ancient Confucian- ism, modified by Taoism and Buddhism. Therefore, in order to understand the mind of China, it is absolutely necessary to understand Chinese thought, especially Neo-Confucianism, in its entire historical development. The present book has been prepared primarily to meet this urgent need. In attempting to maintain an historical perspective, I have throughout this work tried to strike a balance between the modern, medieval, and ancient periods as well as between Confucianism, Taoism, and Bud- dhism. The selections presented herein have been chosen with this balance and perspective in view. In the chapters from the Analects, for example, special attention has been given to sayings on knowledge, human nature, human destiny, Heaven, and the like—perennial problems in Chinese philosophy—but only to the extent that such selectivity does not distort the total teaching of Confucius. Moreover, my choice of philosophers and schools has been guided by their relative influence on the development of Chinese thought, not by the temporary interest of non-Chinese scholars. Many Western scholars, for example, have been much interested in Wang Ch'ung (27-100?), evidently because of his skepticism and naturalism, but have been little interested in Wang Pi ix