Anne Birdwhistell - Transition to Neo-Confucianism: Shao Yung on Knowledge and Symbols of Reality

HCCSSC, 14:67a, KWWP, 12. This statement alludes to the attitude of Confucius. See Lun-y, 1.1, 6.18; translated in Chan, Source Book, 18, 30.

See Chapter 9 of this study for a discussion of the range of opinions on Shao Yung and his thought that traditional and modern Chinese scholars have held.

For their biographies in the Sung shih, see 427: 1a3a (Chou Tun-yi), 427:10a11b (Shao Yung), 427:8b10a (Chang Tsai), 427:3a5b (Cheng Hao), 427:5b8b (Cheng Yi). There is also some disagreement over the extent to which the five founders influenced each other. See Graham, Philosophers, 15278. I do not agree with Ira E. Kasoffs claim (and this study will show why) that Shao Yung was not part of the Confucian mainstream in the eleventh century. See Kasoff, 8.

As Hou Wai-lu (496) noted, Chu Hsi first identified six masters of the tao learning (see Chu Hsi, Chu Tzu ta-chan, 85 :9ab). In a later work (Yan-yan lu), however, apparently because of the influence of the followers of the Loyang learning, Chu omitted Ssu-ma Kuang from the orthodox line of transmission. On Shao Yungs omission from the Chin-ssu lu, see Chan, Reflections, xxxiixxxiii.

Only when these cultural systems began to break down in the nineteenth century did the problem of separating traditional Chinese culture and its values from China as a modern political state become a major concern of Chinese intellectuals. See Schwartz, Search; and Levenson.

For a general history of this period, see Reischauer and Fairbank. For specialized studies, see Chaffee; Kracke, particularly 827; and J. T. C. Liu, Reform. On printing, see Carter; Chang Hsiu-min; Liu Chia-pi; and J. Needham et al., vol. 5.

For a general view of the development of Chinese philosophy, see Fung. On the development of Neo-Confucianism, see Bruce; Carsun Chang; and de Bary, Reappraisal.

See Wei Cheng-tung, Chung-kuo; and Wu. For the earlier development of the Yi learning, see Mou Tsung-san, Wei-Chin.

See Guthrie, 1 : 146340; and Philip. For a study concerning the possibility of Chinese influence on the Pythagorean school, see Swetz and Kao.

Quine.

In addition to Shao Yung, others followed the so-called tu-shu pai (charts and diagrams branch) of the images and numbers learning. Shao Yung was the most famous, but Liu Mu (101164) and Chu Chen (1072 1138) were also important.

I agree with Grahams view (Philosophers, 153) that there is no evidence indicating that Shao Yung and Chou Tun-yi knew each other.

Lun-y, 7.1; see Chan, Source Book, 31.

See Howard; Le Blanc; and Louton. As this study will show, Shao was greatly influenced by Han thought.

Tung and Yang represented different positions within Han thought, but both shared certain basic assumptions about the unity and correspondence of parts of the universe; see Fung, 2:7150.

Wei Po-yang, a Han dynasty alchemist, wrote the Chou Yi tsant ung-chi, dated A.D. 142, which is considered to be the earliest book on theoretical alchemy. Kuan Lang (Tzu-ming; Wei dynasty) wrote the Tung-chi chen-ching and Kuan shih Yi chuan. During the Sung, Tsai Yan-ting (11398) placed Shaos Huang-chi ching-shih in the tradition of Yang Hsiungs Tai-hsan ching, Kuan Langs Tung-chi chen-ching, and Ssu-ma Kuangs Chien-hs. See HCCSSC, shou-shang:3b . For a discussion of alchemical ideas that indicate the necessary correlation of space and time, ideas similar to those of Shao Yung, see Sivin, Alchemy and the Manipulation.

This claim does not apply to those Chinese philosophers who were part of the evidential research movement in the ching period (and even those who anticipated it before the Ching), for they changed Chinese philosophy in fundamental ways. See Elman.