1、Indiana University, Early Chinese Thought B/E/P374 Fall 2010 (R. Eno) THE DOCTRINE OF THE MEAN (Zhongyong 中庸) The Doctrine of the Mean is somewhat longer than the Great Learning: it is usually edited in 33 chapters, but the arrangement is different in this translation, which divides it into eleven l
2、onger sections, with subsections (the divisions should be considered somewhat experimental, an attempt to clarify the structure of the texts ideas). The title literally means, “the central ordinary,” a puzzling idea. In fact, the notion of “ordinariness” is important to the text: one of its key poin
3、ts is that morality is a characteristic feature of ordinary, everyday spontaneity. This term “ordinary,” as a noun (“the ordinary”), is the same term that we encountered as “ordinary practice” in a key passage of the Zhuangzis “Seeing Things as Equal” (2.8), which reads, “Things cannot have any comp
4、leteness or impairment all are in the final analysis comprehended as one. Only the person of full attainment knows how to comprehend them as one. He affirms no this is it. His affirmation is lodged in ordinary practice. Ordinary practice means use; use is comprehension; to comprehend is to grasp onc
5、e you grasp it youre nearly there!” One way to approach the very Confucian Doctrine of the Mean is to ask whether there are areas of convergence between it and the Zhuangzi. The opening passages of the “Doctrine” (Section I) introduce a cluster of key terms Tian, xing (human nature), Dao, “centralit
6、y” (or, “equilibrium”), and harmony that play important roles throughout the text. The message of the “Doctrine” concerns the way in which a person can become a Sage by maintaining the centrality and harmony characteristic of the Dao and of our Tian-endowed nature, and in so doing become the equal p
7、artner of heaven and earth. To this group of concepts, the text adds another key ethical notion: “perfect genuineness,” which is the focus of Section VI (the term appears in the Great Learning as well). “Perfect genuineness” is an inadequate translation of a term that denotes a type of perfection, o
8、r ethical perfection, that characterizes both the action of Heaven, or Tian (as Nature and, perhaps, as the divine teleology of Nature) and of the Sage (see the comment at the close of Section III). The Doctrine of the Mean was preserved as a chapter of the Liji (“Record of Rites”), a large compendi
9、um of discussions of ritual that was completed during the Former Han Dynasty (202 BCE - 9 CE), incorporating texts dating back significantly earlier. Authorship of the “Doctrine” is traditionally ascribed to Zisi, Confuciuss grandson, who is sometimes said to have studied under the disciple Zeng She
10、n (Zengzi). The text shows clear affinities with Mencius, who is said to have belonged to the Zengzi-Zisi teaching lineage. However, the doctrine also shows the influence of ideas typical in the Xunzi, and includes passages indicating authorship postdating the Qin unification of Imperial China in 22
11、1 BCE. The typographical arrangement in this translation is for purposes of clarity only; the text is generally unrhymed; it is not a poem. 2 THE DOCTRINE OF THE MEAN Section I: The source of the center. Section II: Cleaving to the central mean. Section III: The common basis of the Dao Section IV: C
12、onfucius on the sages. Section V: On government. Section VI: Perfect genuineness. Section VII: The creativity of nature. Section VIII: The Dao of the Sage Section IX: The Dao of the ruling junzi. Section X: The sages power of virtue. Section XI: The invisibility of ultimate greatness The traditional
13、 33 chapter divisions of the text, which vary greatly in length, are indicated by notations in the right margin, placed at the head of each chapter. Section I: The source of the center That which is ordained by Tian to lead by our nature is called the Dao; is called our nature; ch. 1 to cultivate th
14、e Dao is called the teaching. One may not deviate from the Dao for so much as an instant; that from which one may deviate is not the Dao. Thus the junzi is alert and cautious about what he does not see, is fearful about what he does not hear. Nothing is more visible than the obscure, nothing is plai
15、ner than the subtle. Hence, the junzi is cautious when he is alone. Pleasure and anger, sorrow and joy: before they emerge they are called centered; emerging by the proper rhythms they are called harmonious. Centered: this is the great root of the world. Harmonious: this is the ultimate Dao of the w
16、orld. Reaching centered harmony, heaven and earth take their proper places and the things of the world are nurtured thereby. Where tian appears to represent a spiritual deity, the term is rendered here as Tian. Where it seems to denote the sky or is used in the compounds “heaven and earth” or “Son o
17、f Heaven” (king), it is rendered “heaven.” The terms junzi (the exemplar of moral human excellence) and ren (utmost moral excellence) are left untranslated. 3 Section I outlines for us the ideal character that we should aspire to. The link between the Dao to our Tian-ordained nature can be understoo
18、d as a reflection the Mencian tradition. The initial formula tells us that we should monitor the feedback of our spontaneous moral dispositions and let them lead us: the Dao is found within our hearts, a message we see also in The Great Learning. The ideal persons engaged focus is always alert to wh
19、at lies beyond its awareness, in the incipient beginnings of new challenges or the faintest of moral twinges. The junzi recreates within the natural harmony of the cosmos. His emotions emerge from his centered person and remain centered (the phrase “proper rhythms” more literally reads: “hits the be
20、at at the center”), replicating a cosmic balance. The thematic importance to the text of the idea of centrality, denoting perfect balance, is signaled in the title. Section II: Cleaving to the central mean 1. Confucius said, ch. 2 The junzi keeps to the mean in action; the small man reverses the mea
21、n in action. The mean of the junzi is such that he is always exact in his timeliness; the reversal of the mean of the small man is such that he will scruple at nothing. “Keeping to the mean” translates the word “center,” which is used as a verb here. Timeliness is a major theme in the text. We see i
22、t here in the developed sense of the junzis ability to discern the right action in every context. In sections II.3-4 below we see the formula often associated with timeliness: the Dao does not prevail, yet Confucius does not stint in his efforts. 2. The Master said, ch. 3 The mean in action is the u
23、ltimate! Few among the people can long cleave to it. The difficulty of staying just at the center is a recurrent issue for this section: see Sections II.6-8, below. 3. The Master said, ch. 4 That the Dao will not be put into practice, I know it. The wise go beyond it and the ignorant do not reach it
24、. That the Dao will not be made brilliant, I know it. The worthy go beyond it and the unworthy do not reach it. No one does not eat, but few can know the taste. The final phrase can be compared to The Great Learning, B.4: “When the mind is not focused one does not see what one is looking at, hear wh
25、at one is listening to, or know the taste of the food one eats.” 4 4. The Master said, ch. 5 The Dao is not put into practice. 5. The Master said, ch. 6 How great was the wisdom of Shun! Shun loved to ask questions and loved to inquire into teachings near at hand. He put evil in the shadow and raise
26、d up good. He grasped both ends, but employed the center in ruling the people Was this not Shun! 6. The Master said, ch. 7 Men all say, “I am wise.” Drive them into a net or catch them tumbling into a trap; none knows how to evade them! Men all say, “I am wise.” But let them choose the mean in actio
27、n and none can keep to it for a round month! 7. The Master said, ch. 8 Yan Hui was a man who, having chosen to cleave to the mean in action, would clutch any point of goodness tight in his fist, press it to his heart and never lose it. 8. The Master said, ch. 9 One may level all the states of the wo
28、rld, decline high rank and salary, tread upon naked blades, and yet be unable to cleave to the mean in action. Reading sections II.6-8, we can appreciate that Confucian teachers were concerned that students who were impressed with their own level of ethical attainment recognize that the task was not
29、 to hit the moral mark from time to time, but to persist until one had so transformed oneself that one could no longer ever miss the mark, because ones instincts and desires had become fully aligned with the goal of moral living (to cite familiar metaphors, just as a virtuoso violinist always fully
30、aims for the right note or tone, or the tennis player always fully aims to return the volley). This is what Confucius was said to have achieved only at age seventy (Analects, 2.4). The effort of reaching the threshold of full transformation is probably the implicit theme of II.9, which follows. 9. Z
31、ilu asked about strength. The Master said, ch. 10 The strength of the South or the strength of the North? Or do you mean your type of strength? 5 Recall that the disciple Zilu is consistently portrayed as martial and valorous, but also as impetuous and headstrong to the point of rudeness. Instructin
32、g through leniency, not responding in kind to unjust acts: such is the strength of the South the junzi dwells in this. To sleep in ones armor, to die unflinchingly: such is the strength of the North your type of strong man dwells in this. The junzi acts harmoniously but does not join in vulgarity th
33、e strength of the strong! He stands at the center and does not lean the strength of the strong! When the state possesses the Dao, he is unchanged from when his way was blocked the strength of the strong! When the state is without the Dao, he remains unchanged even though it means death the strength
34、of the strong! 10. The Master said, ch. 11 Those who seek to live in hiding and practice strange arts will still be spoken of in later ages but I do not do these things. A junzi may guide his way with respect to the Dao and fall by the wayside halfway but I cannot cease. A junzi may cleave to the me
35、an in action by fleeing from the world to live unknown and feel no regret but only a sage could do so. Some Confucian models, such as the sage hermits Bo Yi and Shu Qi, men who remained loyal to the Shang and refused to participate in Zhou society, resemble Daoists in their retreat from the world of
36、 human governance. Confucians, burdened by the traditional moral authority of these legendary exemplars, could not preclude that such behavior may be “timely.” But they defend against any need to endorse Daoist eremitism by restricting such extreme measures to sages fully committed to the utopian vi
37、sion of perfect society, men who would never respond to challenges with simple escapism. Section III: The common basis of the Dao The passages in this section generally tie the notion of the Dao to the basic structures of good society: love between parents and children; dedication to ones roles; pie
38、ty in ancestral sacrifice. Cultivating the Dao begins in discovering the challenges in these types of action and mastering them. 6 1. The Dao of the junzi is broad yet hidden. ch. 12 Any ignorant husband or wife may partake in knowledge of it, yet reaching to its ultimate nature, there is that which
39、 even the sage does not know of it. Even an unworthy husband or wife may practice of it, yet reaching to its ultimate nature, there is that which even the sage cannot act of it. Heaven and earth are great indeed, yet there are still those things which lead men to despair in them. So it is that when
40、the junzi speaks of what is great, there is nothing in the world that can bear it up; yet when he speaks of what is small, there is nothing in the world that can split it. The Poetry says, The kite flies high, striking the heavens; The fish leap in the abyssal depths. That is to say that both high a
41、nd low are fully delved. The Dao of the junzi forges its basis on the common husband and wife; yet reaching to its ultimate nature, it delves into heaven and earth. Confucians (such as Mencius, but also Xunzi) took the position that all people are born with similar qualities with respect to ethical
42、potential. In III.1, common people including women (a rare concession in Confucian texts) share in possession of the Dao within, and the effort to fully actualize ones moral potential never ceases, even in the sage. Like The Great Learning, here and below we see authoritative texts such as the Book
43、of Poetry deployed to carry moral messages that their original authors may not have intended. 2. The Master said, ch. 13 The Dao does not depart far from man. If a man creates a dao that departs far from others, it cannot be taken as the Dao. The Poetry says, When cutting an axe handle, The model is
44、 never far. Say you hold an axe handle to cut an axe handle and glance aside at the handle in your grasp it would be like taking this to be distant. The junzi governs men by means of what is human; once they have reformed, he stops. 7 Devotion and reciprocity are not far from the Dao. If you would b
45、e unwilling to have something done to you, do not do it to others. Note here the Golden Rule formula. It is preceded by mention of the two virtues that the disciple Zeng Shen identifies as Confuciuss “single thread” in Analects 4.15. There are four aspects to the Dao of the junzi: not one am I able
46、to fulfill! To serve my father with that which I seek from my son I cannot do it! To serve my ruler with that seek from my subordinates I cannot do it! To serve my elders with that which I seek from my juniors I cannot do it! To first practice towards my friends what I seek from them I cannot do it!
47、 In the practice of common virtue, in exercising care in normal speech, if you fall short, dare not fail to exert yourself; if you overstep, do not carry on to the end. In speaking, look to your action. In action, look towards your speech. How can a junzi fail to be ever alert! 3. The junzi simply a
48、cts according to his natural place; ch. 14 he does not long for what is outside of it. If he is naturally in a position of wealth and high status, he acts according to the norms of wealth and high status. If he is naturally in a position of poverty and low status, he acts according to the norms of p
49、overty and low status. If he is naturally placed among the nomad tribes, he acts according to the norms of the nomad tribes. If he is naturally placed amidst confusion and trouble, he acts as is appropriate for times of confusion and trouble. There is no situation in which the junzi is not fully self-possessed. When in high position, do not be arrogant towards those below. When in low position, do not prevail upon those above. Make yourself upright and do not seek what you wis
