An Inquiry Into Shushu Thought Among Song Dynasty Ruists

As a cultural phenomenon which was the product of a specific historical and social period,shushu(??)had broad and profound impacts on many aspects of social life in ancient China.There has always been varying opinion in academic circles as to the intension and extension of the term shushu.Shushu differs from sorcery,primarily in that the function of deity is greatly deemphasized in the former.The respective meanings of shushu(??)and shushu(??)have also differed somewhat across different periods of time,though both can be subsumed under the term fangshu(??).Shushu(??)also differs greatly from that branch of Changes study known as xiangshu(??),the latter being part of official classical study(??),whereas the former is intended to be non-metaphysical and practical.Shushu(??)attained to its historical apex in the Song Dynasty,during which time there was an increase in its associated literature and nomenclature,and its practitioners also had multifarious links with the Song political stratum.This efflorescence of shushu-related activities during the Song was the result of the prevalence of the Song literati-scholar class,whose interaction with the practitioners of shushu(hereafter labelled‘shushi')was strongly politically motivated.Political transaction between shushi and the literati-scholars was bidirectional:the literati-scholars had uses for the divinatory activities of the shushi,and the shushi for their part were proactive in seeking connections with powerful literati-scholars.The motivation behind this interaction between the literati class qua participants in the Song Dynasty imperial examination system and the shushi can be described as reasonably monolithic:the literati wanted insight into their futures,and the shushi wanted to profit thereby.Given that the pool of“Ruist shushi”was mainly constituted of failed imperial examinees,the effect wrought by the Song literati-scholars on the“Ruist shushi”was one of Ruist reformation of shushu itself.In this way the interactions between powerful literati,imperial examinees and the shushi was quite multifaceted.The multifaceted interaction between these three groups was centred on the fulfillment of divinatory prediction.The fulfillment or lack thereof of the divinatory predictions,of course,had nothing to do with the theoretical underpinnings of shushu,and everything to do with how glib-tongued and worldly-wise was the shushi in question,as well as effects due to societal belief in shushu.Given both that shushu“can be grasped,but not communicated”,and that research thereinto is heterogeneous to the scientific method,the verification or falsification of the predictions of shushu istherefore more dependent on“the subtlety of perception of the individual in question”.The attitude of the Song literati towards shushu was multidimensional,and could be captured thus:“Could you believe it?But could you disbelieve it?”,or“neither fully believing nor disbelieving”.With regard to the connection between Ruism and shushu,the opinions of scholars of various periods have tended to reflect their own individual predispositions.The connection between the two is one of shared genesis rather than each representing a parallel line.From as early as the Qin and Han periods there was gradual divergence,and by the Song Dynasty,Ruism had ushered in a period of reform and renewal,while shushu had also developed to the apex of its proliferation.Song Ruist positions on shushu conformed to three categories,viz.,“absorption and transformation”,“rejection”and“accommodation”.With regard to kanyu(??)thought,the ChengZhu(??)school upheld the common principle that“filial piety is foundational”,but their specific methods of argumentation differed.Cheng Yi's approach to kanyu thought was similar to that of Sima Guang in its unfailing support for Ruist burial rites,and he wished thereby to exclude the kanyu thought of the shushi,which is what is meant by the phrase“excluding the shu by way of Ru”(????).Zhu Xi's approach to kanyu thought,however,was the same as that of Cai Yuanding(???)in that it was intended to absorb the kanyu of the shushi into Ruist ethics,thereby transforming it,which is to say,the carapace of shushu was to be injected with an enlivening dose of Ruist doctrine,which is what is meant by the phrase“transforming the shu by way of Ru”(????).In terms of the ChengZhu school's view of fate and cosmic principle,this“transformation of shu by way of Ru”was primarily exemplified by their“view of fate and the Right”(???).The intended purpose of the ChengZhu school's“view of fate and the Right”was to support the Ruist ethical notion of“Right”,therewith to dispel popular notions of“Fate”.This method of“making arrangement for fate by way of the Right”(????)could well be described as an effective route by which to“transform the shu by way of Ru”.With regard to horoscopy,Wang Anshi's promotion of the maxim“celestial events are not to be feared”was integral to promotion of his New Policies(??),and the ideological origin of this maxim was to be found in the doctrine of separation of the Heavenly and the human,as well as the new conception of horoscopy of the Northern Song Ruists.Conversely,opposition to these views on the part of the Song Emperor Shenzong and other Ruists was mainly based on the notion that“the Imperial mandate is by Heavenly appointment”,whereas the“celestialevents are not to be feared”maxim was the rationalistic conclusion of Wang Anshi,Sima Guang and other Ruists of the Xining period.Sima Guang,in his capacity as one of the era's most renowned Ruists,found ideological repose in traditional Ruist thought.Faced with the prospect of shushu in the ascendant,Sima Guang upheld Ruist ideas on filial piety and burial rites,and was opposed to practitioners of kanyu who took advantage of the Ruist doctrines requiring devotion to ancestors and protection conferred on descendants in order to turn a profit.Due to considerations of the theories of“succession of governance”and“succession of the Way”,Sima Guang gave superficial assent to astrological horoscopy,the authority of which was predicated on the dao of the spiritual(????),but in fact-under the influence of the doctrine of separation of the Heavenly and the human-he wanted the shushu-derived elements of astrological horoscopy expurgated from Ruism.Sima Guang's views on kanyu and horoscopy are the“spots”which give us a glimpse of the“entire leopard”,that is,his overarching“exclusion of the shu by way of Ru”.With regard to fate and cosmic principle,and in full cognisance of Ruist metaphysical shortcomings on the question of“knowing the will of Heaven”,the ChengZhu school attempted an adaptation via their“views on fate and the Right”,but failed thereby to gain much traction.Wen Tianxiang performed a philosophical sublation on the ChengZhu doctrines,co-opting the inherent accomodationism and common genesis of both shushu and Ruism,and with the plasticity of“the fate of qi”as his starting point,he affirmed the possibility of“catching a glimpse of fate via shushu”,and ratifying the legitimacy of natural desires.He thereby maintained an accomodationist attitude towards shushu notions of predestination,and while he maintained the principle that Ruism was primary and shushu was auxiliary,he nevertheless continued to search avidly for resources in shushu theories of predestination wherewith to supplement Ruist teaching.The thought of Zhen Dexiu,however,was closely connected to the ChengZhu school,and his view of fate was no exception.With regard to his view of fate,he maintained that“Ruism is the fundament”,a principle which in turn directly shaped his view of shushu more broadly.With the attitude typical of Ruists,he was willing to acknowledge“a lesser dao”,attributing to it a subsidiary value and stating of shushu that“despite it being a lesser dao,there must be something to it”.However,the reason he affirmed the subsidiary value of shushu was not principally that the principles underlying the incidental truth of shushu and the fundamental truth of Ruism were the same,but more importantly,it was because shushu had its basis in Ruism.In other words,the fundamentals of Ruism couldaccommodate the incidentals of shushu.His view of shushu which took Ruism as fundamental and shushu as incidental was founded upon the acknowledgement of“lesser dao”,and was intended to accommodate the incidentals of shushu within the fundamentals of Ruism.By way of this scatterplot perspective sketch of the tricategorical approaches to shushu,we discover that despite the seeming opposition between the“absorption and transformation”and“rejection”approaches and the notion of a common genesis for Ruism and shushu,nevertheless this opposition is constructed on the basis of common genesis itself.The“accommodation”approach inherits the notion of common genesis in the most direct way,and is itself a continuation of such a notion.The first two approaches are evident in Confucius and Xunzi,whereas“accommodation”was the unique invention of the Song Ruists.At the level of the general populace,deep acceptance of the“absorption and transformation”and“rejection”approaches proved difficult.This was due to the failure of orthodox Ruism to spark the interest of the utilitarian and pragmatically-minded populace.The Ruist idea of Heavenly-ordained fate was principally intended to encourage the populace to dutifully play their respective roles in the social order,to self-cultivate while accepting their lot,to engender the Ruist conceptions of dao and the Right in their own persons,thereby to aspire to become exemplary persons(??).However,with regard to Heavenly-ordained fate,what the average members of the populace were mostly interested in was their own individual poverty or attainment,misfortune or longevity.For these reasons,we should feel obligated on principle to adopt an accommodationist approach of“drawing on shushu to supplement Ruism”,utilising shushu's ethos of“transformation of fate”to correct the Ruist ethos of the“establishment of fate”.The accommodationist approach of“drawing on shushu to supplement Ruism”has a certain heuristic value for the project of reestablishing the Chinese classical canon.