Neo-Confucianism
in Traditional Chinese Thought
(compiled/edited by Fred Cheung, 2010)
[Main source: John King Fairbank, et al.,
eds., East Asia The Great Tradition.]
• In traditional Chinese thought, the late T’ang and
Sung Dynasties of China witnessed the appearance
of patterns that were to remain characteristics of
China until the 19th century. The
philosophical/intellectual synthesis (of Taoism,
Buddhism into Confucianism), known as NeoConfucianism, which emerged from the intellectual
ferment of these centuries was to be almost
unchanging core of Chinese thought from then until
its collapse under the impact of western thought
and revolutionary political and social changes in the
20th century.
• Two basic factors lay behind the revived
interest in Confucian philosophy. One was
the turning inward of the Chinese during
their long losing battle with the northern
barbarians. In the early T’ang the Chinese,
confident in their power, were inquisitive
and tolerant toward the outside world.
• When the first ambassadors from the
Islamic caliphate came to China in 713 and
refused on religious grounds to prostrate
themselves before the emperor in the
traditional kowtow, the Chinese court
readily waived the requirement. By the
late T’ang, however, a growing fear and
resentment of the barbarians became
evident.
• The other reason for restored interest in
Confucianism was the obvious success of
the old Chinese political ideal. The
political disillusionment of the Six
Dynasties period (3rd to 5th centuries) had
now receded into dim past. The need for
an educated officialdom in the revived
bureaucratic state had led to the recreation
of the examination system and a reemphasis on the Confucian Classics on
which the examinations focused.
• Confucian ideas, concepts, and thoughts
had never died out even at the height of the
Buddhist influence at the T’ang court, but
soon, a new kind of synthesis of
Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism
grew steadily in strength and popularity.
• The Neo-Confucians hoped to recapture
the original vision – to recreate the ideal
Confucian society that they believed had
existed in ancient times – but they did so in
terms of the attitudes and interests of their
own days.
• The Neo-Confucian thinkers were
strongly influenced by some the Buddhist
concepts that had been so important in
Chinese thought for the past few
centuries.
• Many of them had been students of
Buddhism or Taoism before they turned to
Neo-Confucianism, and some even lived in
Zen (Ch’an) monasteries. Buddhism had
conditioned men to think in metaphysical
terms, and one of the things that was new
about Neo-Confucianism was that it
developed a metaphysics for Confucianism,
using Buddhist ideas and Taoist
terminology.
• The 11th and 12th centuries were the period
of great philosophical ferment, when
different schools of Neo-Confucian
thoughts appeared. For instance, Lu
Chiu-yuan (or Lu Hsiang-shan, 1139-1192)
developed a Zen-like emphasis on
personal intuition that was to reach its
height under the Ming Dynasty.
• Another famous Neo-Confucian was Chou
Tun-i (1012-1073), who took from the
Classic of Changes (I Ching) the term T’aichi, or supreme ultimate, and devised a
cosmological chart (calendar) showing how
yin and yang and the five elements derived
from it.
• The brothers Ch’eng Hao (1031-1085)
and Ch’eng I (1032-1107) elaborated this
metaphysics. Ch’eng I was also
responsible for selecting the Mencius, the
Great Learning, the Doctrine of the Mean,
and the Analects to form the (Classics of)
Four Books, which became thereafter the
main scriptures of Confucianism and the
core texts for traditional Chinese
education.
• The final synthesizer and architect of
Neo-Confucianism at this time was Chu
Hsi (1130-1200), who was claimed to be
the successor of the Confucian
Orthodoxy of Mencius (even though after
so many centuries).
• Chu Hsi was also a great historian,
philosopher, and commentator on the
Confucian Classics. In the NeoConfucian metaphysics of Chu Hsi’s
school, all varieties of things were thought
to have their respective li, or fundamental
principles of form, and their ch’i, literally
ether, or what we might call matter.
• The influence of Buddhist concepts is
obvious. The Sung Neo-Confucians were
close enough to Buddhism to put emphasis
on metaphysics, and they carefully
elaborated the relationship between the
supreme ultimate, yin and yang, and the
five elements, and developed cyclical
theories of change of Buddhist ideas.
• The old conflict between Mencius’ belief that
man is by nature good and thus only needs
education and self-development versus Hsun
Tzu’s view that man is by nature evil and thus
needs strict control, came to the study again,
but Chu Hsi succeeded Mencius and confirmed
Mencius orthodoxy.
• Chu argued that man’s nature is pure and
good. It is the origin of the five basic
virtues (benevolence, uprightness,
propriety, knowledge, and reliability). It
only needs polishing, thus, education is
vital, though self-cultivation
(Taoist/Buddhist) is also important.
• The emphases of the Sung NeoConfucianism were essentially those of
Mencius/Chu and of the scholarbureaucrats of Sung China. After Chu’s
death, his Neo-Confucian synthesis
gradually became established as the
orthodoxy. By 1313, Chu’s
Commentaries on the Classics had been
made the standard texts to which all
answers in the civil service examination
had to conform.