The Learning of Absorption and Assimilation

The vitality of ancient Chinese philosophy, like water ceaselessly flowing from a spring, came from a unique self-developed course in which it was always able to absorb and assimilate the merits of various schools of philosophy. In spite of their different viewpoints and forms, all schools sought to seek the truth, conducive to promoting human knowledge of nature and society. The absorption and assimilation of various viewpoints had therefore been a marked feature in the development of ancient Chinese philosophy.

A basic facet of this feature is the mutual debate and absorption between different schools. Each school could find the other's weak points as well as its strong points, and could maintain its theoretical principles while overcoming its own deficiencies.

During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, no thesis could be established without debate and no authority could exist without being tested through argument.

Taoists advocated a return to nature, negating human desires and knowledge. Confucians upheld the self-valuing role of man in the universe, proposing that benevolence (Ren) and righteousness(Yi), or virtue and morality, are the general law of everything under heaven. Taoists criticized the Confucians' ideas as being arrogant and ignorant. An example they gave was Xi Shi whose beauty caught the eye of everyone. But birds would still fly away and fish dive deep in the water when they saw her. So birds and fish do not accept man's standards of beauty. People like to live in luxurious houses while eels like to bury themselves in the mud and monkeys climb up in the trees. So animals do not accept man’s standards for dwelling place. How, then, can it be asserted that benevolence and righteousness are the general law of everything under heaven? When Confucians criticized the Taoists as being "indulgent in Heaven while ignorant of man," they also confirmed the theoretical findings achieved by Taoists in their study of the way of Heaven. They were conscious of the need to know Heaven while knowing man. They therefore advanced their unique principle of the way of Heaven on which their doctrine of the cultivation of the mind was based, and made a series of creative explorations into nature and the way of Heaven (see first section of this chapter). While rejecting the overemphasis of the human role by Confucians, the Taoists also recognized their merits in the study of this role. Later Taoists tried to reconcile the conflict between their concept of the natural way of Heaven and the Confucians' concept of moral cultivation and to absorb the latter's findings on the knowledge of man.

Mutual debate and mutual absorption occurred not only between different schools, but also within each school itself. Zhuang Zi took different sects in different schools for example. He said there were four sects alone in Taoism. While he had no disagreement with Lao Zi's doctrine, he either confirmed or criticized the doctrines of other sects, even including those of Zhuang Zi him self. Of the sects of Peng Meng and Sheng Dao, he said that they maintained justice and fairness, selflessness and being free from desire were adaptable to change, without prejudice and personal bias and preserved a calm mind amid the bustle of life. But their views on the way of Heaven and the human mind were incomplete. This was because they believed in distinguishing fight from wrong, while Zhuang Zi himself basically denied such distinctions. He believed that he had a fairly profound understanding of the way of Heaven, but he also acknowledged that he was not perfect in dealing with the problems of human life.

In another example, Xun Zi, an exponent of one of the Confucian sects, criticized, among other, the sect of Zi Si and Mencius, the most influential sect of the Confucian school at that time. He argued that although their teaching mostly followed the way of the ancient sage-kings, they did not really understand the way of the sage-kings. They had high aspirations but lacked ability. With extensive knowledge, having studied events of remote antiquity, they came up with the five principle of benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, intelligence and honesty which were esoteric and impossible to understand. By today’s standards, Xun Zi’s criticisms may not seem appropriate. But this example shows that there were diverse opinions among different sects of the same philosophy, and when this occurred debate and criticism would arise.

Debate between various school and absorption of each other’s theories continued throughout the whole process of the development of ancient Chinese philosophy.

When Buddhism was introduced into China and modified with Chinese characteristics, the development of its tenets was mainly credited to the debate within the Buddhist world. To spread its doctrine, Buddhist temples often gave a teaching on the main points of the tenet and explained the scriptures. The audience was allowed to raise questions, which the teacher had to answer. No question could be refused. Moreover, temples often held congregation at which various sects and dissenters were allowed to discuss the arguments or topics brought up by the congregation. This promoted the development of various sects of Chinese Buddhism.

In the development of ancient Chinese philosophy, there was a continuous mutual debate and absorption the Xuan Xue, or Metaphysical School( a philosophy combining the Taoist thought and Confucian doctrine) and Buddhism, and between Buddhism and the Li Xue, or Neo-Confucianism, of the Song and Ming dynasties. Buddhists asserted that Buddhism's description of the spiritual ethos and its mode of presentation were superior to those of Confucianism. But they also acknowledged their agreement with some elements in the moral philosophy of Confucianism, such as its doctrine of cultivation of the mind, which emphasized the importance of the subjective functions of the human mind. Chinese Buddhism absorbed these and remodeled them into Buddhist doctrines, creating a new theoretical system different from the indigenous Indian Buddhism. For instance, the saying that the Buddha-nature is within everyone is similar to the Confucian teaching that everyone can become tike the ancient sage-kings Yao and Shun.

Another important aspect of ancient Chinese philosophy is the absorption and assimilation of the tenets of various disciplines and developing their theories.

In view of the formation and development of the basic doctrine of Confucianism, whatever its conception about the way of Heaven or the moral concepts of Confucianism may be concerned,they have kept a close relation with the development of natural science.

An important reason why the early Confucians could advance the idea that of all creatures, man is the most intelligent and that man's rational and moral faculties are the standards of value for all things under heaven lies in the accumulation of the natural science knowledge at the time. In astronomy, for example, in the latter part of the Spring and Autumn Period, a quarterly-divided calendar appeared, that divided the duration of a tropical year into 365.25 days. The system established a 19-year cycle, seven years of which contained intercalary months. Calendric science had thus entered a stage of maturity, independent from the past practice of time reporting only by astronomical observations. During the Warring States Period, six different calendars existed in the various vassal states. All were divided into four quarters, but they differed from each other in terms of the first day and month of each year. Thus, with this knowledge it was now possible to fairly accurately predict future calendaric events.

In the field of medical science, after much exploration and experimentation, people learned the medicinal value of many herbs and materials and built up a comparatively rich and systematic knowledge of the nerves and veins in the human body. Through practical experience, they established many medical formulae and principles for health preservation.

A fairly rich knowledge of chemistry, mathematics and physics was also acquired.

With man's capabilities and scientific knowledge constantly expanding and growing, Confucians concluded that man has the capability to know and to teach the truth of things. This recognition in turn further deepened people's understanding of their own position and duty in society. Confucians, however, were unable to put forward any practical and effective proposals as to how to reform society. They laid their hopes on "sage-kings and illustrious ministers" and stressed the obligations of man to society. But they neglected the rights man should enjoy in society.

It was not only Confucianism which absorbed and assimilated elements of other disciplines or schools; so did Taoism and Buddhism .

The absorption and assimilation of foreign culture is the third important aspect of Chinese philosophy. For details, see Chapter 4.

In modern Chinese philosophy, absorption and assimilation of foreign culture is more conspicuous than ever before. For instance, Li Shanlan (1810-1882) translated the last nine books of Euclidean geometry. The first six books had been translated during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) by Xu Guangqi. A complete and new method of deductive reasoning was thus introduced into the Chinese philosophical world. Li also translated Loomis, J. Herschel, William Whcwell, and Newton's works. All these had a great influence on the development of modern Chinese philosophy and natural sciences.

Yan Fu (1853-1921), a modern thinker, began to translate Evolution andEthics in 1895, written by British biologist T.H. Huxley. This book had a profound influence on modern Chinese thinkers. Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925) used the book as one of his main ideological weapons in his call for a democratic revolution to overthrow the reign of the Qing Dynasty and establish a republic. It is worth noting that when the theory of evolution was applied to modern society in China, it was not in a biological sense. Elements were selected, modified and blended with the ancient Chinese concept of changes, another example of the ethos of absorption and assimilation. By absorption and assimilation, we mean that any culture and ideology which are useful are to be taken in and assimilated by Chinese culture. This is some- thing that the Chinese have been good at since ancient times.

This ethos can be seen in many well-known personalities in modern Chinese history, such as Wei Yuan, Hong Xiuquan, Hong Rengan, and Zhang Taiyan.* These people earnestly studied Western religion, history, political systems, ideology and academic studies so as to apply them to China. Moreover, such scholars who made academic accomplishments were not complacent and conceited. Most of them were experts in Chinese as well as Western studies, and in combining the two.

In short, the study of Heaven and man, the study of changes, and the study t)f absorption and assimilation are the main components and characteristics of the Chinese philosophy. They have been reflected, directly or indirectly, in various aspects of traditional Chinese culture.

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