Posted on 12/24/2023 10:29:04 AM PST by FarCenter
One of the key contrasts between the various classical Chinese thinkers is what to make of Heaven (天).
For Confucius, Heaven is the source of moral virtue and an ideal to emulate in human conduct. By and large, he concerns himself with human affairs: self-cultivation, education, and good rule. But Heaven has a will on Earth, personality and intent, and what is good in men flows down from Heaven. As the Master says, "How great was Yao as a ruler! So majestic! It is Heaven that is great, and it was Yao who modeled himself upon it" (Analects 8.19). Mengzi takes this even further, arguing that humans are born with an inherently good nature, that was endowed to them by Heaven, and that deprivation and mistreatment are the sole source of evil of the heart1.
For the Daoists, on the other hand, Heaven is an impersonal and unknowable force, an intrinsic part of the Way (道). The Way is beyond human morality and operates on its own rules and principles. It is the inherent flow of the universe. The crux of Daoism is accepting this state and learning to flow with it, to not resist it, and instead embrace non-action (無為).
Xunzi, in what is to me one of his most noteworthy breaks from Confucius, subscribes to the Daoist idea of the nature of Heaven. But while the Daoists believe one must surrender to it, Xunzi believes it is simply separate from the human realm. Heaven and Earth have their Way, but humans have their own. Morality and order are human constructs, human rationality and agency are the forces that can change the world for the benefit of humanity. Ritual, education, and good government are the tools by which man protects his own kind and helps forge our collective destiny. The affairs of Heaven are for Heaven to work out.
This is the crux of "Discourse on Heaven," one of my favorite essays by Master Xun.
There is a constancy to the activities of Heaven. They do not persist because of Yao. They do not perish because of Jie. If you respond to them with order, then you will have good fortune. If you respond to them with chaos, then you will have misfortune (17.1).
Xunzi opens "Discourse on Heaven" with the idea that the actions of Heaven cannot be changed by humans. You will have droughts and you will have floods, and neither a sage-king such as Yao nor a tyrant such as Jie can prevent this. What you can do, however, is practice good governance. Supporting industry and moderating expenditures can preserve the finances of the state, grain stockpiles and timely response to disasters can prevent famines. "You must not complain against Heaven; its way is simply thus" (17.23).
"Heaven has its proper seasons, Earth has its proper resources, and humankind has its proper order" (17.34). Xunzi calls this a "triad"—three realms of activity, only one of which we have control over. To wish that this were not so, and that the activities of Heaven and Earth were also in the realm of humankind, is a state of confusion. "Only the sage does not seek to understand Heaven" (17.48).
Xunzi does not mean we shouldn't control the effects of Heaven or Earth with technology where we can. As he says in "The Rule of a True King," "The work of the Director of Public Works is to [build and operate waterworks] so that even if the year is poor due to flooding or drought, the farmers still to have something to reap" (9.389).
In developing a modern Xunism, there are principles of human behavior and proper order that we want to preserve, but especially when it comes to science and technology, we must adapt to the spirit of the message, given our looser constraints. We can predict the weather to some extent, and we're beginning to gain the ability to control it. The sage does not try to understand what he cannot understand. But because there are new things we can understand, and can even control, then we have moved those concerns into the realm of human affairs.
Lived c. 310 – c. after 238 BCE.
There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death. Proverbs 14:12
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