Originally, however, no priority or subsequence can be predicated of the immaterial principle and primary matter, and yet if you insist on carrying out the reasoning to the question of their origin, then you must say that the immaterial principle has the priority; but it is not a separate and distinct thing; it is just contained in the centre of the primary matter, so that were there no primary matter, then this immaterial principle would have no place of attachment. Primary matter consists, in fact, of the four elements of metal, wood, water, and fire, while the immaterial principle is no other than the four cardinal virtues of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom....
Should any one ask for an explanation of the assertion that the immaterial principle has first existence, and after that comes primary matter, I say, it is not necessary to speak thus: but when we know that they are combined, is it that the immaterial principle holds the precedence, and the primary matter the subsequence, or is it that the immaterial principle is subsequent to the primary matter? We cannot thus carry our reasoning; but should we endeavor to form some idea of it, then we may suppose that the primary matter relies on the immaterial principle to come into action, and wherever the primary matter is coagulated, there the immaterial principle is present. For the primary matter can concrete and coagulate, act and do, but the immaterial principle has neither will nor wish, plan nor operation: but only where the primary matter is collected and coagulated, then the immaterial principle is in the midst of it. Just as in nature, men and things, grass and trees, birds and beasts, in their propagation invariably require seed, and certainly cannot without seed from nothingness produce anything; all this, then, is the primary matter, but the immaterial principle is merely a pure, empty, wide-stretched void, without form or footstep, and incapable of action or creation; but the primary matter can ferment and coagulate, collect and produce things....
Should any one ask, with regard to those expressions, “The Supreme Ruler confers the due medium on the people, and when Heaven is about to send down a great trust upon men, out of regard to the people it sets up princes over them;” and, “Heaven in producing things treats them according to their attainments: on those who do good, it sends down a hundred blessings, and on those who do evil, a hundred calamities;” and, “When Heaven is about to send down some uncommon calamity upon a generation, it first produces some uncommon genius to determine it;” do these and such like expressions imply that above the azure sky there is a Lord and Ruler who acts thus, or is it still true that Heaven has no mind, and men only carry out their reasonings in this style? I reply, these three things are but one idea; it is that the immaterial principle of order is thus. The primary matter in its evolutions hitherto, after one season of fulness has experienced one of decay; and after a period of decline it again flourishes; just as if things were going on in a circle. There never was a decay without a revival.
When men blow out their breath their bellies puff out, and when they inhale their bellies sink in, while we should have thought that at each expiration the stomach would fall in, and swell up at each inspiration; but the reason of it is that when men expire, though the mouthful of breath goes out, the second mouthful is again produced, therefore the belly is puffed up; and when men inspire, the breath which is introduced from within drives the other out, so that the belly sinks in. Lau-tsz’ said nature is like an open pipe or bag; it moves, and yet is not compelled to stop, it is empty, and still more comes out; just like a fan-case open at both ends....
The great extreme (tai kih) is merely the immaterial principle. It is not an independent separate existence; it is found in the male and female principles of nature, in the five elements, in all things; it is merely an immaterial principle, and because of its extending to the extreme limit, is therefore called the great extreme. If it were not for it, heaven and earth would not have been set afloat.... From the time when the great extreme came into operation, all things were produced by transformation. This one doctrine includes the whole; it was not because this was first in existence and then that, but altogether there is only one great origin, which from the substance extends to the use, and from the subtle reaches to that which is manifest. Should one ask, because all things partake of it, is the great extreme split up and divided? I should reply, that originally there is only one great extreme (anima mundi), of which all things partake, so that each one is provided with a great extreme; just as the moon in the heavens is only one, and yet is dispersed over the hills and lakes, being seen from every place in succession; still you cannot say that the moon is divided.
The great extreme has neither residence, nor form, nor place which you can assign to it. If you speak of it before its development, then previous to that emanation it was perfect stillness; motion and rest, with the male and female principles of nature, are only the embodiment and descent of this principle. Motion is the motion of the great extreme, and rest is its rest, but these same motion and rest are not to be considered the great extreme itself.... Should any one ask, what is the great extreme? I should say, it is simply the principle of extreme goodness and extreme perfection. Every man has a great extreme, everything has one; that which Chao-tsz’ called the great extreme is the exemplified virtue of everything that is extremely good and perfect in heaven and earth, men and things.
The great extreme is simply the extreme point, beyond which one cannot go; that which is most elevated, most mysterious, most subtle, and most divine, beyond which there is no passing. Lienkí was afraid lest people should think that the great extreme possessed form, and therefore called it the boundless extreme, a principle centred in nothing, and having an infinite extent.... It is the immaterial principle of the two powers, the four forms, and the eight changes of nature; we cannot say that it does not exist, and yet no form or corporeity can be ascribed to it. From this point is produced the one male and the one female principle of nature, which are called the dual powers; the four forms and eight changes also proceed from this, all according to a certain natural order, irrespective of human strength in its arrangement. But from the time of Confucius no one has been able to get hold of this idea.[333]
And, it might be added, no one ever will be able to “get hold” thereof. Such discussions as this have occupied the minds and pens of Chinese metaphysicians for centuries, and in their endeavors to explain the half-digested notions of the Book of Changes, they have wandered far away from the road which would have led them in the path of true knowledge, namely, the observation and record of the works and operations of nature around them; and one after another they have continued to roll this stone of Sisyphus until fatigue and bewilderment have come over them all. Some works on female education are found in this section, which seems designed as much to include whatever philosophers wrote as all they wrote on philosophy.
The second and third sections, on military and legal subjects, contain no writings of any eminence. The isolation of the Chinese prevented them from studying the various forms of government and jurisprudence observed in other countries and ages; it is this feature of originality which renders their legislation so interesting to western students. Among the fourth, on agricultural treatises, is the Kăng Chih Tu Shí, or ‘Plates and Odes on Tillage and Weaving,’ a thin quarto, which was written A.D. 1210, and has been widely circulated by the present government in order “to evince its regard for the people’s support.” The first half contains twenty-three plates on the various processes to be followed in raising rice, the last of which represents the husbandmen and their families returning thanks to the gods of the land for a good harvest, and offering a portion of the fruits of the earth; the last plate in the second part of the work also represents a similar scene of returning thanks for a good crop of silk, and presenting an offering to the gods. The drawings in this work are among the best for perspective and general composition which Chinese art has produced; probably their merit was the chief inducement to publish the work at governmental expense, for the odes are too brief to contain much information, and too difficult to be generally understood. The Encyclopedia of Agriculture, by Sü Kwang-kí, a high officer in 1600, better known as Paul Sü, gives a most elaborate detail of farming operations and utensils existing in the Ming. Other treatises on special topics and crops have been written, but it is the untiring industry of the people which secures to them the best returns from the soil, for they owe very little to science or machinery.
THE SACRED COMMANDS OF KANGHÍ.