G. Confucius and the I Ching

H. Jen & Yi applied to Tai Chi Chuan

I. The Journey & Rectifying Social Injustice

China 34G. Confucius and the I Ching

While KÕung-tzu purportedly wrote commentaries on the I Ching, his philosophy was also heavily influenced by it.

The I Ching is sometimes organized into 10 Wings, including the Judgments by King Wen and the Duke of Chou, commentaries by the Confucian schools upon these judgments, and then various essays upon I Ching theory. Members of the Confucian school wrote most of these essays.

However the 8th Wing, Shuo Kua, Discussion of the Trigrams, according to Wilhelm,

ÒContains material of great antiquity in explanation of the eight primary trigrams. Probably it embodies many fragments antedating Confucius and treated in commentary by him or by his school.Ó[i]

Thus Confucius and his school undoubtedly studied the Shuo Kua in conjunction with the judgments of the hexagrams.

Chapter I, paragraph 2, in this treatise states:

Ò2. In ancient times the holy sages made the Book of Changes thus:

Their purpose was to follow the tao of heaven and called it the dark and the light. They determined the tao of the earth and called it the yielding and the firm. They determined the tao of man and called it love and rectitude. They combined these three fundamental powers and doubled them, therefore in the Book of Changes a sign is always formed by six lines.

The places are divided into the dark and the light. The yielding and the firm occupy these by turns. Therefore the Book of Changes has six places, which constitute the linear figures.Ó[ii]

In summary of this work, which was fundamental to the I Ching theory – as witnessed by its influence upon the Confucian school, there are three main elements in the Universe, Heaven, Earth and Man. Heaven is above, Earth is below, while Humans are in-between. These three elements are reflected in the trigrams. Earth is the bottom line; the middle line represents humans; while Heaven is the top line.

The tao of heaven is based upon positive and negative; the tao of heaven is based upon soft and hard; while the tao of man is based upon love and justice. These 6 elements find correspondence in the hexagrams of the I Ching. Again the top two lines are the positive and negative of Heaven, the bottom two represent the firm and yielding, i.e. soft and hard, of the Earth, while the middle two lines correspond to the love and justice of Man.

According to Cheng Man-chÕing, Lao Tzu of the Taoists based his theories around the tao of Heaven and Earth, while KÕung-tzu based his around the tao of Man. Because of this he felt that it is important to harmonize the teachings of Confucius and Lao Tzu in order to achieve totality.

ÒOf these three principles of Tao, Lao Tzu took the first and second to formulate his theory of the female overcoming the male, and softness overcoming hardness. Lao Tzu did not take the third principle of the I Ching, the Tao of man. He did not believe in the Tao of man because he thought that menÕs actions are false. That is why he advocated Non-Action. But without the principles of benevolence and righteousness, how can we motivate the human race?

Human beings must talk about the Tao of man. Confucius, a contemporary of Lao Tzu, devoted his teaching to the Tao of man.

The difference between Lao Tzu and Confucius is that Lao Tzu emphasized long life and eternal vision while Confucius said, ÔIf I can know the Tao of man, I can die the same evening without any regret.Õ

I, Cheng Man-chÕing, am of the opinion that the Tao of heaven, earth and man are three treasures. Since we are men, it is nothing if we just learn the Tao of heaven and earth. Understanding and behaving in accordance with the Tao of man will enable us to make a great contribution to ourselves as well as to humanity.Ó [iii]

The descriptions of the I Ching theory are based upon polarities. The polarity of heaven is based around positive and negative, while the polarity of the earth is based around hard and soft. The polarity of humans is based around the polarity of benevolence and righteousness, jen and yi. Master Kung especially emphasized the concept of jen, love or goodness. It had to do with treating others with respect and consideration. He said, ÒDonÕt do to another person what you would not have them do to you.Ó[iv]

The concept of jen has to do with loving your fellow humans, and treating them with care and consideration. It is associated with a soft, nurturing kind of love connected with infants. The mother, unselfishly nurses, cares for and protects her baby. The ideogram for jen is two men (presumably cooperating). The concept of yi has to do with the consequences of justice and is associated with the hard love connected with raising children. Parents instill discipline in their children with a firm, but loving, hand.

[Cheng Man-chÕing said] ÔThe character yi means right and wrong. Not, partly right and partly wrong. ItÕs either one or the other.Ó

Hence both jen and yi are necessary. Discipline without love is arbitrary and cruel, while love without discipline is indulgent and ultimately detrimental to the development of a mature individual.

Another translation of yi is rectitude, defined as ÔUprightness in principles and conduct.Õ[v] Rectitude is a derivative word of rectify defined as ÔTo make right, correct, amend.Õ[vi] Hence yi has to do with maintaining proper conduct as well as instituting the adjustments to return to proper conduct. The childÕs behavior was rectified. Thus yi is a very active word. Without rectification, comes dissipation. These are both aspects of the justice of yi. Interestingly yi also has to do with maintaining uprightness in body posture as well. Because his body posture was not rectified he developed back problems. This is another sentence, which reveals the two sides of yi.

H. Jen & Yi applied to Tai Chi Chuan

The tao of Heaven, Earth, and man are applicable to the practice of Tai Chi Chuan, both the solo forms and the interactive Push Hands. The yin-yang polarity of heaven and the firm and yielding of earth are fundamental to Tai Chi practice. The tao of man, consisting of jen and yi, love and discipline, are also applicable, especially to Push Hands. Practicing the solo forms requires constant rectification, yi, and compassion for oneÕs Person, jen, when making mistakes, i.e. donÕt be too hard on yourself. Teaching also has a lot to do with the nurturing love of jen and the disciplined love of yi.

In quality Push Hands, both jen and yi come into play frequently. Jen has to do with caring for your opponent or partner so that you only want the best for them. Besting them to bolster your self-esteem is not the issue. Proving that you are superior than them is not what its about. Caring for their development and how best to make that happen is the issue. This is jen. In caring for the development of your partner, it is important to test the limits of his or her balance. This is yi. If you sense your partnerÕs imbalance and do not exploit it, this is jen without yi. If you sense your partnerÕs imbalance and throw them on the ground or flailing across the room, this is yi without jen. If you sense your partnerÕs imbalance and gently push or pull upon it, allowing them to learn rectification on their own, this is the balance, the harmonization, of jen and yi. If your partner maliciously throws you across the floor, this is yi without jen. If your partner ignores your discontinuities, this is jen without yi. If your partner gently exploits your defects, pointing them out as you go or letting your body gradually learn, this is the balance of jen and yi.

The concepts of jen and yi have two parts. The two parts of jen are treating others as you would treat yourself and being true to oneÕs nature by loving yourself. The two parts of yi are the rectification of your environment and the rectification of oneself. On one level rectifying oneÕs environment has to do with exploiting your partnerÕs weaknesses so that s(he) can progress. It is necessary to exploit your partnerÕs weaknesses lovingly for his own good, not to win. There is a hairbreadthÕs difference between the two. A good criterion is emotional investment. If one becomes mad then one is on the wrong side of the hair.

Rectifying oneself has to do with strengthening oneÕs weak points through diligent practice. Normally one must rely on an outer source to illuminate oneÕs weaknesses. It is hard to be aware of oneÕs problems. Self-delusion is a powerful and unavoidable mechanism. Therefore the partner who has the ability to expose your faults is to be thanked profusely. If you resent your partner for exploiting your defects, youÕre not applying yi to yourself.

I. The Journey & Rectifying Social Injustice

On another level, rectifying oneÕs environment has to do with working to right the wrongs of society. Another translation of yi is righteousness. The idea is very Confucian and very socially active. We see this level of yi frequently in the Journey. The goal of the Band is to reach the Western Heaven, but in many instances, instead of passing on through a kingdom, on their way to their goal, they stay and fight injustice, rectifying the external political situation. Sometimes they have no choice, because they get wrapped up in the turmoil, but other times they go out of their way to lend assistance.

Again in terms of the totality of the book, these situations allowed the pilgrims chance to earn merit to redeem their past misbehavior. On another level they act as pre-ordained opportunities for Tripitaka to experience a purifying ordeal. After he has acquired BuddhaÕs holy scriptures and is on his way back to China, Kuan Yin counts up his ordeals and realizes he is one short of the 81 ordeals that he needs to reach perfection. She orders one more ordeal to complete the cycle.

[Kuan Yin states] ÒWithin our order of Buddhism, nine times nine is the crucial means by which one returns to immortality. The sage monk has undergone eighty ordeals. Since one ordeal, therefore, is still lacking, the sacred number is not yet complete. É Catch the Vajra Guardians and create one more ordeal.Ó[vii]

Hence each of these situations when they go out of their way to assist someone in need was necessary to the totality. If they had been avoided then Tripitaka would have ended up with an insufficient number of ordeals and by extension the other members of the party would not have achieved enough merit to rectify their sins of the past. Immortality would not have been achieved.

An interpretation of the symbolism of the story is that the Ôpure seekerÕ who only moves towards his goal must not ignore social injustice in his single-minded pursuit of enlightenment. Indeed it is sometimes necessary to delay the perceived Journey, to achieve the merit and endure ordeals. In reality the ÔtrueÕ Journey includes these situations where yi must be manifested. The trap is that the path headed straight for immortality is the side path, while the apparent side door of fighting social injustice is the real door. The vision of the author of The Journey is that sometimes one must fight against social injustice on the Way to immortality. Tripitaka could have reached the Western Heaven much sooner had he avoided confronting social injustice, but he would not have gone through the necessary number of ordeals necessary for immortality.

However, the TripitakaÕs band of pilgrims did not go out looking for injustice. They dealt with the injustice that was presented them on their Path. To TripitakaÕs credit, it was normally his compassion that forced the others to deal with social injustice. Monkey frequently urged Tripitaka to hurry on to the Western Heaven, while Piggy lazily argued that it would be too much trouble. Yet Tripitaka regularly insisted they stay and confront the situation because he hated injustice due to his compassion. Sometimes they faced the situation head on; while sometimes they came in disguise. Thus on the way to Buddhist heaven the Pilgrims must accumulate merit in Confucian social activity to achieve Taoist Immortality. The Three Doctrines harmonized.

In mini-summary, Master KungÕs writings specialized in the tao of man, which includes the polarity of jen and yi, compassion and rectitude. This concept is included in the I Ching, and is represented by the middle lines of the hexagrams. The tao of man is applicable to both the solo forms of Tai Chi and Push Hands interaction. These concepts are applied externally and internally.

 



[i] Wilhelm Baynes, I Ching p. 260

[ii]Wilhelm-Baynes I Ching, p. 264

[iii]Cheng Man-chÕing, p 137

[iv] It is this concept of jen, which finds a parallel in the teachings of Jesus, ÒDo unto others as you would have them do unto you.Ó

[v]EB Dictionary, p1055

[vi]EB Dictionary, p1055

[vii] Journey to the West IV, p. 402

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