These views are based on a misinterpretation of the entry in the
1 述聖子思子.
2 See the 四書拓餘說, art. 中庸.
3 顏師古曰,今禮記有中庸一篇,奕非本禮經,蓋此之流.
4 王氏緯曰,中庸古有二篇,見漢藝文志,而在禮記中者,一篇而已,朱子為章句,因其一篇者, 分為三十三章,而古所謂而篇者不可見矣.
Catalogue. It does not speak of two p'ien of the Chung Yung, but of two p'ien of Observations thereon. The Great Learning carries on its front the evidence of being incomplete, but the student will not easily believe that the Doctrine of the Mean is so. I see no reason for calling its integrity in question, and no necessity therefore to recur to the ingenious device employed in the edition of the five ching published by the imperial authority of K'ang Hsi, to get over the difficulty which Wang Wei supposes. It there appears in two p'ien, of which we have the following account from the author of 'Supplemental Remarks upon the Four Books:'-- 'The proper course now is to consider the first twenty chapters in Chu Hsi's arrangement as making up the first p'ien, and the remaining thirteen as forming the second. In this way we retain the old form of the Treatise, and do not come into collision with the views of Chu. For this suggestion we are indebted to Lu Wang-chai' (an author of the Sung dynasty ) [1].
SECTION IV.
ITS SCOPE AND VALUE.
1. The Doctrine of the Mean is a work not easy to understand. 'It first,' says the philosopher Chang, 'speaks of one principle; it next spreads this out and embraces all things; finally, it returns and gathers them up under the one principle. Unroll it and it fills the universe; roll it up, and it retires and lies hid in secrecy [2].' There is this advantage, however, to the student of it, that more than most other Chinese Treatises it has a beginning, a middle, and an end. The first chapter stands to all that follows in the character of a text, containing several propositions of which we have the expansion or development. If that development were satisfactory, we should be able to bring our own minds en rapport with that of the author. Unfortunately it is not so. As a writer he belongs to the intuitional school more than to the logical. This is well put in the 'Continuation of the General Examination of Literary Monuments and Learned Men,'-- 'The philosopher Tsang reached his conclusions by following in the train of things, watch-
1 See the 四書拓餘說, art. 中庸.
2 See the Introductory note of Chu Hsi.
ing and examining; whereas Tsze-sze proceeds directly and reaches to Heavenly virtue. His was a mysterious power of discernment, approaching to that of Yen Hui [1].' We must take the Book and the author, however, as we have them, and get to their meaning, if we can, by assiduous examination and reflection.
2. 'Man has received his nature from Heaven. Conduct in accordance with that nature constitutes what is right and true,-- is a pursuing of the proper Path. The cultivation or regulation of that path is what is called Instruction.' It is with these axioms that the Treatise commences, and from such an introduction we might expect that the writer would go on to unfold the various principles of duty, derived from an analysis of man's moral constitution.
Confining himself, however, to the second axiom, he proceeds to say that 'the path may not for an instant be left, and that the superior man is cautious and careful in reference to what he does not see, and fearful and apprehensive in reference to what he does not hear. There is nothing more visible than what is secret, and nothing more manifest than what is minute, and therefore the superior man is watchful over his aloneness.' This is not all very plain. Comparing it with the sixth chapter of Commentary in the Great Learning, it seems to inculcate what is there called 'making the thoughts sincere.' The passage contains an admonition about equivalent to that of Solomon,-- 'Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.'
The next paragraph seems to speak of the nature and the path under other names. 'While there are no movements of pleasure, anger, sorrow, or joy, we have what may be called the state of equilibrium. When those feelings have been moved, and they all act in the due degree, we have what may be called the state of harmony. This equilibrium is the great root of the world, and this harmony is its universal path.' What is here called 'the state of equilibrium,' is the same as the nature given by Heaven, considered absolutely in itself, without deflection or inclination. This nature acted on from without, and responding with the various emotions, so as always 'to hit [2]' the mark with entire