JI And SHI

JI means the portent of movement. SHI means the position of lines on a trigram and the order of trigram in ZHOUYI. Both of them, as the philosophical conceptions, have a long history, but, in addition to WANG Chuan-shan, so little philosophers have realized its values in history. Facing the great upheaval between Ming dynasty and Qing dynasty, the philosophical focus of WANG Chuan-shan is to reflect the reason that why the Empire fall. According to him, in the point, Neo-Confucianism and Wang Yang-ming’s thought should be responsible for the fall. Of course, we could trace the problem to ZHOU Lian-xi. From his age, Buddhism and Taoism have deeply influence to Neo-Confucianism and they are the ultimate cause of the problem. At the same time, almost Neo-Confucians have accepted the influence from Buddhism and Taoism. Therefore WANG Chuan-shan call of duty to eliminate the influence in Neo-Confucianism, as well as JI and SHI are the keywords to complete the mission.On Cosmology, WANG Chuan-shan change the tradition of dualism (LI and QI) in Neo-Confucianism. He argued that the cosmos is unitary and agreed ZHANG Heng-qu’s point that the substance of cosmos is consisted of QI (gas). He said that the QI of YING and YANG as well as the activity of them are the essence of cosmos and history. The point of WANG Chuan-shan is from ZHOUYI and his annotation of its GUA (trigram) and YAO (lines on the trigram). Therefore, he change the way that JI is considered to an inner conception or principle in the tradition of Neo-Confucianism. Moreover in WANG Chuan-shan’s cosmos, because the change and activity is absolutely truth, SHI (time) which means the order of change would be the most basic characteristic of our would. So, in WANG Chuan-shan’s opinion, any conceptions and objects would not transcend to SHI. According to the point, in WANG Chuan-shan’s cosmos, ZHU Xi’s LI (principle) and Wang Yang-ming’s XING (heart) would be non-existent. WANG Chuan-shan argued that the problem s of ZHU Xi and WANG Yang-ming’s theory is from the influence of Buddhism and Taoism which is called the paradigm of "to be and not to be". Conversely WANG Chuan-shan call his own paradigm "to emerge and not to emerge".On Human nature, WANG Chuan-shan has an opposite point from Neo-Confucianism that constructed Cosmology on the base of Mencius’doctrine of good human nature. The Cosmology is the focus of his philosophy, on which the base of Human nature is. According to WANG Chuan-shan, if we grasp JI and SHI, we will achieve GOOD. WANG Chuan-shan call them YAN JI and QU SHI both of which are from ZHOUYI in Etymology. YAN JI means we need examine the situation including subjective JI and objective JI, and then show the heart of Heaven of Earth in our life. QU SHI means we need use the result of YAN JI to coordinate our moral achievement with the Great change (SHEN HUA) of cosmos, and then, depending on our life, Great change will unfold itself farther more. Of course the TAO of Confucianism will burst into bloom by then, which is the highest standard of the Ethics of Confucianism in the eyes of WANG Chuan-shan. Therefore, YAN JI and QU SHI result in a kind of Elitism of WANG Chuan-shan’s Ethics, which is the reverse side of the Secular and religious Confucianism Movement of WANG Yang-ming’s adherents in later Ming Dynasty and the Ethics of Buddhism and Taoism.Moreover, as described above, in WANG Chuan-shan’s Cosmology and Ethics, there are no teleological principles and conceptions. So WANG Chuan-shan regards the conception of Confucian Saint as the basis and exemplification of Moral. Though WANG Chuan-shan’s approach eliminates the Buddhism and Taoism’s influence in Neo-Confucianism, it creates much more new theoretic trouble. In the end, the Saint in the eyes of WANG Chuan-shan is the weakest link in his philosophy.Last but not least, according to JI and SHI, WANG Chuan-shan give a kind of profound criticism to the tradition of Neo-Confucianism which is the background of his thought. And the motivation of the criticism is based on his age that is fall. Nevertheless, as a Neo-Confucian too, he cannot change the basic standpoint of Neo-Confucianism. Moreover, due to the rejecting to the influence of Buddhism and Taoism, the theory of his rebuilding is more fundamental and extreme than that of those traditional Neo-Confucians. And JI and SHI are the key link between his criticism and rebuilding in Neo-Confucianism.Therefore, in history, some people considered that WANG Chuan-shan’s philosophy is progressive and enlightening, the point of which is in doubt. According to the development of philosophy in Ming dynasty and Qing dynasty, the Secular and religious Confucianism Movement in plebes is the trend of the times which Neo-Confucians of that time agree with. For this purpose, WANG Chuan-shan’s philosophy is unique and insular, which need to be further consideration by us.