Liu Shao

CHARLES STRONG (AUSTRALIAN CHURCH)
MEMORIAL TRUST

MAN

DETERMINED

OR FREE?

A Study of
Liu Shao's Treatise On Man
BY
PROFESSOR D. LANCASHIRE
University of Auckland

Reprinted From Colloquium
Journal of the ANZSTS
Melb. 1975

In order to further and encourage the study of comparative religion in Australia, the Charles Strong Trust decided in 1974 to
ask the co-operation of the Australian New Zealand Society for Theological Studies in providing an annual Charles Strong
lecture to be given in connection with the A.N.Z.S.T.S. yearly conference.

The first person invited to lecture in the Australian series was the distinguished Professor of Chinese in the University of
Auckland. The lecture was delivered in August 1975 in the Stephen Roberts Theatre, University of Sydney and is here reprinted
from the journal of the A.N.Z.S.T.S. 'Colloquium', by courtesy of the Editor of that journal.

The Charles Strong Lecture for 1975

MAN, DETERMINED OR FREE?

With special reference to the Treatise on Man by Liu Shao 190?-250?AD

Douglas Lancashire

In an article(1) which seeks, in part, to explain why Confucianism did not
develop a concept of "revelation" analogous to that found in Christianity, Mou
Tsung-san asserts that, whereas the early Confucian interest in human nature might
have led to such a development, Liu Shao's Treatise on Man (third century A.D.)
resulted in a shift of emphasis, the consequence of which was an increasing concern
with the nature of human "talent" and the investigation of man's natural endowments.
Whether Mou's statement is entirely justified or not, it is certainly intriguing, if
only because this first essay into the field of anthropology in China has been largely
ignored by scholars in later times. Indeed, Fung Yu-lan,(2) and Chan Wing-tsit,(3)
make no mention whatsoever of Liu Shao's Treatise. Perhaps because of its
rationalistic and scientific temper and its interest in psychology Western scholars
have in recent years paid it rather more attention. J.K. Shryock published a
translation of it in 1937,(4) describing it in his introduction as a work concerned with
"applied psychology of character" in which most of the author's judgements are of
permanent value.(5) Joseph Needham(6) accepts the high value placed on the
Treatise by Shryock and echoes his sentiments when he states that it is "the most
important book on the psychology of character in old Chinese literature".(7) Alfred
Forke(8) gives the impression of being less enamoured of the work, but describes it
as "the first attempt at an anthropology or characterology ... principally descriptive
and ethical."(9)
Now, whatever the value of the Treatise as an exposition of human psychology or
as a landmark in the history of anthropology in China, when viewed as part of the
whole tapestry of Chinese thought, it poses a number of philosophical problems with
which it may not at first appear to be concerned. These problems include the
question of the nature of man - a topic which has always been central to Chinese
thought and which is "debated" even today in Chinese society - and the question of
free will. In this lecture, I shall be chiefly concerned with the implications of Liu
Shao's Treatise, and the teachings of other thinkers, for the freedom or otherwise of
the human will; and since the mainstream of Chinese thought focuses on man's moral
life in society, I shall be talking about freedom on the ethical level: the freedom to
choose what is good.
But as many writers dealing with this subject have shown, ideas and beliefs
concerning determinism and the freedom of the will cannot be divorced from man's
understanding of himself and of the moral and religious goals available to him; and
this, in turn, has always been affected by man's view of the nature of the universe and
of his place within it. Therefore, before examining Liu Shao's Treatise, and before
attempting to see what are the implications of its teaching for the exercise of free
will, we must summarize what Chinese thinkers had come to understand with regard
to the

17

nature of the universe, and, as a corollary, what they had come to think concerning
human nature.

Early Chinese Cosmology

To judge from the teachings of Confucius (551-429 B.C.) and Mencius (372-289
B.C.) as these are recorded in the Confucian Analects and in the Mencius, these two
men evinced little if any interest in the speculations which undoubtedly already
existed in their day as to the nature of the universe and the way it had come into
existence. Concerned primarily with society and the moral principles which should
govern it, Confucius and Mencius appear to have been content simply to accept the
explanations found in early literature, and, in particular, in the Book of Odes, as to
the way in which man had appeared on earth. The ode which was of greatest
importance to them in this connection and which they felt to be a sufficient statement
of their view of the origin of man is the one which asserts that "Heaven, in producing
mankind, gave them their various faculties and relations with their specific laws;
these are the invariable rules of nature for all to hold, and all love this admirable
virtue."(10) Quoting this ode, Mencius remarked: "Confucius said, 'The maker of
this ode knew indeed the principle of our nature!' "(11)
There continues to be disagreement among scholars as to the degree of
personality which can be attributed to Heaven in the minds of Confucius and
Mencius; but it is clear that the Heaven-bestowed laws which are an attribute of
every man's nature are the moral laws of "humanity" or "love" and "righteousness"
which, when expressed concretely in society, are "filial piety", "loyalty",
"reciprocity" or "consideration for others", and "propriety".
But whereas Confucius and Mencius were not given to speculation on the nature
of the universe, other thinkers were.
The three most obvious groups of speculative thinkers in early China were the
Taoists, the exponents of the dualistic ideas of yin and yang, and those who sought
to relate all things to the Five Forces or Elements, namely, wood, fire, earth, metal
and water. The doctrines of all three of these schools developed at about the same
time, that is to say, in the fourth and third centuries B.C.
The Taoists, as they are represented in the Tao-te ching and the Chuangtzu, were
clearly looking for the unconditioned reality within and beyond the universe of
change. Heaven, which might still be a high god in the teachings of Confucius and
Mencius, is replaced by Tao or the Way which defies any kind of description. It is
that from which "Heaven and Earth sprang",(12) but it is nameless. Unlike Heaven,
which had served as the touchstone of morality, the Tao is seen as transcending
morality. Standards of beauty and ugliness, of right and wrong and, indeed, all
dualities are conceived of as arising out of man's conditioned existence. The concept
of "rightness" can only exist where there is a concept of "wrongness", and "ugliness"
can only exist where there is a general concept of "beauty". The Tao, however,
transcends all such dualities, or is the absolute in which all dualities are resolved.
The Tao, says the Tao-te ching, "is like an empty vessel that yet may be drawn from,
without ever needing to be filled. It is bottomless, the very progenitor of all things in
the world. In it all sharpness is blunted, all tangles untied, all glare tempered, all
dust smoothed. It is like a deep pool that never dries."(13)
Here, then, we have a "mystery" or something "darker than any mystery"(14) which

18

transcends "being and not-being"(15) and all the dualities which result from material
existence. Its relationship to the world of things can be described only in a poetical
way: it is the "progenitor of all things,"(16) "the doorway whence issued all secret
essences."(17)
Dualism, as this is represented in the terms yin and yang, does not find expression
in early Chinese literature. Confucian texts such as the Confucian Analects, the
Mencius, the Doctrine of the Mean and the Great Learning make no mention of yin
and yang. The earliest systematic treatment of yin-yang dualism appeared in the
writings of Tsou Yen, who lived towards the end of the fourth century B.C., but his
works are no longer extant, and our knowledge of Tsou Yen and his teachings is
largely derived from the Historical Records of Ssu-ma Ch'ien completed in the first
century B.C. (18) It is probable that the terms yin and yang were at first related to
divination practices, and that only very much later did they come to acquire a
significance for cosmology. The terms yin, signifying all that is feminine, weak, cold
and negative, and yang, connoting masculinity, strength, warmth and positiveness,
were associated with the moon and the sun, summer and winter, but were regarded as
complementing each other rather than as standing over against each other.
The doctrine of the Five Forces or Elements also seems to have arisen about the
fourth century B.C., and although probably representative of an independent school
of thought at the outset, quickly came to be associated with yin-yang dualism and
finally to be incorporated into the increasingly elaborate cosmologies which reached
full flower in the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-220 A.D..). Summing up the doctrine of the
Five Elements, Fung Yu-lan says: the Five Elements or Powers are five natural
forces, each of which has its period of rise and decay. Both natural and human
events are under the control of that element which happens to be in the ascendancy,
but when its cycle is finished and it declines, it is followed by the next force in the
series that can overcome it, and which, in its turn, flourishes and has its cycle. Wood
can overcome earth; metal can overcome wood; fire, metal; water, fire; and earth,
water again; so that there is an endless cycle of elements. Changes in human history
are but manifestations of these natural forces, each dynasty being represented by one
'Power' and the colour and institutions which it assumes being determined by this
Power. According to such a theory, the courses of nature and of human events are
interlocking . . .”(19)
We turn now to the major features of Chinese cosmological thought as they are
found in the "Appendices" of the divination manual, the Book of Changes, and in the
writings of the Huai-nan-tzu and of Tung Chung-shu. the greatest of the Confucian
synthesizers of the Han dynasty.
In the "Appendices" to the Changes no mention is made of the Five Elemental
Forces which had been employed to interpret "the structure of the universe”.(20) The
two principles of yin and yang, however, have the important function of explaining
"the origin of the world."(21) Thus, yin and yang are seen as two cosmic principles
the interaction of which leads ultimately to "the development of society, morality,
and civilization"." Yin and yang, however, are not final reality. This, according to
the Changes, is the T'ai-chi or Grand Ultimate from which yin and yang emerge, and
which represents the primal unity. The Grand Ultimate, like the Tao of the Tao-te
ching, transcends all dualities, and is therefore the foundation of the cosmos.

19

Although the Huai-nan-tzu represents the collective views of a number of thinkers
of the first and second centuries B.C.,(23) and is lacking in philosophical unity, it
contains the fullest accounts of the nature of the cosmos up till that time. Broadly
speaking we may say that for the philosophers of the Huai-nan-tzu Heaven and Earth
are preceded by a "state of amorphous formlessness"(24) which they termed the
"Great Beginning".(25) "This Great Beginning", we are told in chapter three,
"produced an empty extensiveness, and this empty extensiveness produced the
cosmos."(26) A term which was to play a significant role in later Chinese thought is
now given a place of some importance. This term, ch'i, has been variously translated
"fluid", "ether", "material. energy". Immediately after the statement that "empty
extensiveness produced the cosmos", we read, "The cosmos produced the primal
fluid (yuan-ch'i), which had its limits. That which was clear and light collected to
form Heaven. That which was heavy and turbid congealed to form Earth."(27)
Relating yin and yang to Heaven and Earth and "materializing" these two principles
in the process, the passage goes on to say: "The essences of Heaven and Earth
formed the yin and the yang, and the concentrated essences of the yin and yang
formed the four seasons. The scattered essences of the four seasons formed the
myriad things."(28) The actualization of the "myriad things" was brought about
through the hardness and softness of yin and yang "mutually completing each other,"
the "murky fluid" forming reptiles, and the "Finer essence" forming man.(29)
There is little doubt that the political unification of China under the Ch'in and
Han administrations served as a powerful impetus to the synthesizing of the various
strands of early Chinese thought into a coherent philosophy of life embracing both
the cosmos and the new political reality. The trends in philosophy and political
ideology eventually found their focus in the thought of Tung Chung-shu (179-104
B.C.) who created a synthesis which embraced both the metaphysical and the
physical worlds. He provided a political and social philosophy which allowed for
the creation of a stable society as well as a metaphysics which offered a firm ground
and foundation for the social system.
Tung Chung-shu, the greatest Confucian of his time and the man who did more
than any other to have Confucianism accepted as the ideology of the state, is
sometimes said by Chinese scholars to have stood within the Mencian tradition. Be
that as it may, he happily incorporated most of the non-Confucian speculative
thought I have just outlined into his philosophy. He brought together the doctrines
of yin-yang dualism, ideas concerning the Five Elements, notions of heaven and
earth as these were found in the non-Confucian thinkers, numerology, reflections on
the seasonal cycle, the concept of ch'i ("fluid", "ether", "matter", "material force")
and combined these with the teachings of Confucius, Mencius, and Mencius' younger
contemporary, Hsun Tzu. By so doing he injected a moral dimension into his
cosmology which was generally lacking in the cosmologies of the non-Confucian
thinkers.
Tung's philosophy is a system of interrelationships in which everything in the
cosmos - the elements, the seasons, the directions of the compass, colours, numbers
and the musical notes of the pitch-pipes - is correlated and has its proper place.
Rather than employ the term Tao or Way of the Taoists for the ground of the
universe, Tung introduced the word Yuan, which means "origin". This Yuan, said

20

Tung, is "the great beginning", that is to say, that from which all things derive their
being. "This Yuan," he said, "is like a source ... It permeates heaven and earth from
beginning to end, therefore Yuan is the root of all things, and in it lies man's own
origin."(30) It exists prior to the physical heaven and earth.
Now although Tung spoke frequently of "heaven" in its physical sense, he also
used the term in a way reminiscent of Confucius and Mencius, that is to say, as a
conscious, controlling force which, despite Fung Yu-lan's assertion that it was not an
anthropological deity,(31) is nevertheless said to possess "mind" and "feelings"
analogous to those of man. Unfortunately, as Fung points out,(32) Tung fails to say
whether his cognitive and conscious Heaven also owes its being to Yuan. Although
one may be tempted to argue from this silence that Tung regarded this conscious
Heaven as the active and creation-directed aspect of Yuan (i.e. Yuan viewed from the
standpoint of its energies), this would suggest a degree of precision from which I
suspect Tung himself would have turned aside.
For Tung, the material universe is composed of ch'i (material force) which,
undivided, constitutes a unity, but which, divided, becomes yin and yang; quartered,
the four seasons and, further subdivided, the Five Elemental Forces. The four
seasons and the Five Elemental Forces produce seasonal cycles. The whole process
is, of course, regarded as subject to "the waxing and waning movements of the yin
and yang.(33)
But all this activity and motion is not something which is merely mechanical.
The process is moral in character since yang is regarded as "Heaven's beneficent
power" and yin as "Heaven's chastising power".(34) Heaven responds to evil
behaviour in man, and especially in the ruler, by means of "untoward and portentous
occurrences" in the world about him.

Human Nature

We now turn to the question of human nature as this was understood in the light
of the various cosmologies. As anyone who has recently visited China will be aware,
part of the current campaign against Confucius in that country has been directed
against a work known as the San-tzu-ching (The Three Characters Classic). This
little catechism, which was probably composed in the thirteenth century and which
was usually the first book placed in the hands of school children well into the
republican era, affirms in its first two lines the Mencian doctrine that all men are
born with a nature which is essentially good. At one school I visited, where detailed
attacks on this classic had been carefully written up on class-room blackboards, a
young lad of about ten was placed in front of his class and, in a manner reminiscent
of children of earlier generations, recited a new catechism which began with the
words "Human nature is neither good nor bad . . .”
I doubt very much whether that little boy or his classmates understood the full
significance of what he was saying, but the fact that he had to say it, and the fact that
such teaching is being inculcated in every child today, show that the problem of
human nature is as live an issue in Communist China as it was for the Chinese
philosophers in the fourth and third centuries B.C.
The categorical assertion that human nature is essentially good was first made by
Mencius, although it can be argued that the inference is already there in a number of
the oldest extant Chinese writings. Already in the ode quoted above, Heaven was

21

regarded as having produced mankind, and as having provided him with moral laws.
It can be deduced from this that man was believed to have the capacity to distinguish
between right and wrong; moreover the ode injects a more positive note by asserting
that people hold on to the norms because they "love this admirable virtue."
Confucius no doubt had this same ode in mind when he asserted, "Heaven
produced the virtue that is in me",(35) and although he did not say in so many words
that man's nature is essentially good, his teaching concerning Jen (Goodness or
Humanity) and his claim that "Virtue (humanity) is at hand."(36) suggest that
whatever the moral failures of man, Confucius regarded him as possessed of an
innate moral compass which, if he would only steer by it, would guide him to human
perfection or, to use Confucius' own terminology, sagehood.
In Book VI Part 1 of the Book of Mencius, Mencius employed short allegories to
illustrate his teaching that man's nature is essentially good. In one of these he
likened man's deviation from his good nature to a mountain which, though once
covered with beautiful trees, lost its beauty because people came with axes and
choppers and cut down the trees. The inference here was that the goodness of human
nature is "rubbed away by the rough contacts of daily life"(37) as much as by any
carelessness or indolence on the part of the individual himself. That a man's good
nature with which he is endowed at birth is never altogether lost was affirmed,
however, in the illustration of the child who falls into a well. In it Mencius said:
When 1 say that all men have a mind which cannot bear to see the sufferings of
others, my meaning may be illustrated thus:- even nowadays, if men suddenly
see a child about to fall into a well, they will without exception experience a
feeling of alarm and distress. They will feel so, not as a ground on which they
may gain the favour of the child's parents, nor as a ground on which they may
seek the praise of their neighbours and friends, nor from a dislike to the
reputation of having been unmoved by such a thing. From this case we may
perceive that the feeling of commiseration is essential to man, that the feeling of
modesty and complaisance is essential to man, and that the feeling of approving
and disapproving is essential to man. The feeling of commiseration is the
principle of benevolence (or humanity). The feeling of shame and dislike is the
principle of righteousness. The feeling of modesty and complaisance is the
principle of propriety. The feeling of approving and disapproving is the
principle of knowledge. Men have these four principles, just as they have their
four limbs. When men, having these four principles, yet say of themselves that
they cannot develop them, they play the thief with themselves ...
Since all men have these four principles in themselves, let them know to give
them all their development and completion ... Let them have their complete
development, and they will suffice to love and protect all within the four seas.
Let them be denied that development, and they will not suffice for a man to
serve his parents with.(38)

Two points emerge from this passage; first, that man is endowed at birth with a
sense of right and wrong, and second, that whatever adverse effects society may

22

have on man's moral disposition in his post-natal state, he has a Pelagian capacity for
"self-improvement", a self-improvement which, in the Confucian tradition, had to be
brought about through appropriate education. So strong already was the Confucian
belief in the moral perfectibility of man that even Hsun Tzu (298-238 B.C.), the
younger contemporary of Mencius who adopted a considerably more pessimistic
view of man, found it necessary to assert it. Some would say he was here illogical,
since he expressly rejected the notion of a moral and purposive Heaven, in favour of
a Heaven which approximated to the Taoist concept of the Way, and which is better
translated "Nature".
Like the Taoists, Hsun Tzu's cosmos was naturalistic. The sage, in Hsun Tzu's
scheme of things, was not so much the man who was aware of his Heaven-endowed
principle of "humanity" and who allowed it full play in society, but rather the man
who fully understood the processes of nature and made use of them. Man's nature
was derived from Heaven, but since Heaven lacked any ethical content, so also did
human nature. Morality was man made and was necessary in order to curb man's
natural tendencies. It was acquired and not innate. Morality for Hsun Tzu was
synonymous with order, and the practice of morality was a habit which resulted from
the teaching a man received concerning the "mechanistic" orderliness of the universe
and the drilling he was given in the rules of proper conduct. And if we ask whence
man obtained his capacity for orderly living, Hsun Tzu's answer was that he obtained
it from his faculty of intelligence.(39)
Now although, Hsun Tzu's naturalistic interpretation of the cosmos owed much to
Taoist influence, it is clear that his concern with the moral life places him firmly
within the Confucian orbit. This is not to say that the Taoists were opposed to
morality, but it is a fact that they were more concerned with naturalness and
spontaneity. For them, the action of the Tao or Way was spontaneous, and since
man was a product of the Tao's spontaneous action, it was natural that his nature too
should be viewed in terms of spontaneity. All moral codes drawn up by and imposed
on man were regarded by the Taoists as artificial, and it is therefore not surprising
that Confucianism should come in for severe criticism at their hands. Confucians
wanted people to be transformed through education, whereas Chuang Tzu, for
example, wanted to leave any transformation to the things themselves .(40)
Hsun Tzu's naturalistic interpretation of the cosmos, his pessimistic view of man,
and his tendency to equate morality with orderliness were taken over by his disciple,
Han Fei Tzu (died, 233 B.C.) and transformed into a philosophical system known as
Legalism, a philosophy which, under the first empire (221-206 B.C.), was adopted as
the official ideology of the state. Carrying Hsun Tzu's views to their logical
conclusion, Han Fei and his fellow Legalists rejected Confucian moral standards and
the concept of moral perfectibility and advocated instead a rigorous system of law,
the keeping of which was to be encouraged by generous rewards and severe
punishments. In Han Fei's thought, Heaven was not so much a final reality as a
manifestation of the Tao or Way which, he said, "is that by which all things become
what they are."(41) In an important chapter in which he discussed the nature of the
Tao Han Fei asserted that it "is that with which all principles are commensurable."
"Principles," he said, "are patterns (wen) according to which all things come into
being, and Tao is the cause of their being. Therefore it is said that Tao puts things
in

23

order. Things have their respective principles and cannot interfere with each other."
Since this is so principles are controlling factors in things. Everything has its own
principle different from that of others, and Tao is commensurable with all of
them"(42)
HsUn Tzu had asserted that man was evil in the sense that he tended to allow his
emotions and desires to take control, and Han Fei, likewise, believed that man's
actions were motivated primarily by greed and selfishness. It is obvious, too, from
his comments on the Tao, that Han Fei was also influenced by the Taoists. Despite
the debt he owed to Confucianism and Taoism, however, his conclusions as to how
men were to be dealt with were totally at variance with those reached by Hsun Tzu
and the Taoists. Whereas Hsun Tzu taught that it was possible to lead men to
goodness through moral education, Han Fei asserted that because of the laziness and
waywardness of most people, no amount of consideration for them was likely to help
them; and whereas the Taoists believed in the importance of every individual acting
spontaneously according to his nature, Han Fei maintained that to allow this would
be to invite anarchy.(43) He would have agreed with Hsun Tzu who said of the
Taoists that they were "blinded by Nature and did not know man."(44) Human nature
being what it was "men (had to be) led by governmental organization and kept in
their place by punishments, if the world (was) to be properly ordered."(45)
It is interesting to note that as part of the current anti-Confucius campaign, the
works of Han Fei Tzu and other Legalists have been reprinted, and people are being
urged to study them.
Now you will remember that Tung Chung-shu employed not only the concept of
a conscious and moral Heaven reminiscent of an older, theistic tradition, but that he
also introduced the notion of yuan or "origin" which he described as "the great
beginning of all things". You will also remember that Tung failed, perhaps
deliberately, to indicate the precise relationship between yuan and Heaven. Having
asserted the existence of yuan, he said little more about it, concentrating his attention
instead on the nature of Heaven. His reason for doing so was no doubt because he
intended his philosophy to be practical rather than speculative. Like Mencius, Tung
regarded Heaven as the producer of man. Heaven, he said, was "rnan's supreme
ancestor” and provided him with his physical body but also, through the
"transforming influence of Heaven's will", with a vigour directed towards humanity
and love, and, through "the transforming influence of Heaven's orderly
principle”,(46) with the capacity to act righteously.
But the question arises as to what form these moral concepts took in Heaven
itself. When he related Heaven to the rest of creation Tung spoke of the yin and
yang ethers (which interacted to produce the Five Elements, the seasons and so on)
as pertaining to Heaven, and, likewise, when linking Heaven to man in his moral
endeavours, Tung again referred to these ethers, asserting that yang was "Heaven's
beneficent power" and yin "Heaven's chastizing power". What Tung regarded as
morality in man was to be viewed as yln and yang in Heaven. For Tung, man was a
creature endowed with a nature (hsing) and feelings (ch'ing), his nature being
derived from Heaven's yang and his feelings from its yin. When his nature asserted
itself man acted in accordance with the principle of humanity or love, whereas when
his feelings

24

asserted themselves he tended to act covetously. Thus Tung stated: "Truly, there
exist in man both love and covetousness, each of which lies within his body. What is
thus called the body is received from Heaven. Heaven has its dual manifestations of
yin and yang, and the body likewise has the dual qualities of covetousness and
love."(47)
Like Heaven's yin and yang man's nature and feelings represented potentialities;
potentialities which, if they were to find proper expression, had to be developed
under some kind of control. "Heaven," said Tung, "has its restraints over the yin and
yang, and the individual has his confiner of the feelings and desires; in this way he is
at one with the course of Heaven. Thus the yin in its movements is not permitted to
concern itself with spring and summer, and the moon when it is new is always
obscured by the sun's light ... Such is the way in which Heaven restrains the yin."(48)
Man, similarly, was capable of controlling his nature and feelings - his yang and yin.
For man, mind was the confiner.
This reference to mind brings us to the third quality (the other two being
"humanity" and "righteousness") which Tung regarded as essential to the whole man
- the quality of "wisdom". To possess wisdom was to possess foresight. Wisdom
permitted a man to see the implications of his actions; to be able to judge an end
from a beginning. Like other Confucians before him, Tung emphasized the
importance of education, a process whereby man was taught to model his activities
on those of Heaven.
Two final points need to be made before we leave Tung Chung-shu. The first
point is that although he said that Heaven was able to exercise a restraint on the
activities of yin and yang, these two material forces appear to have been so much a
part of Heaven that Heaven must be regarded as sharing in matter itself and as being
an integral part of the cosmos rather than as standing over against it. The second
point is that by endowing Heaven with feelings of pleasure and displeasure and by
regarding it as a dispenser of rewards and punishments, Tung Chung-shu contributed
to the growth of a religious outlook among the Confucian scholars of the early Han
Dynasty, a religious outlook which disposed some of them to pay honour to
Confucius with religious devotion.
The decline of the Han dynasty makes sorry reading. Etienne Balazs, in his
article "La crise sociale et la philosophie politique a la fin des Han"(49) has
graphically described how, in the second half of the second century, new families
which had risen to power undermined the stability of the state through their
dedication to self-interest, and how the eunuchs at court exploited their position to
secure favours for their relatives and for merchants and manufacturers with whom
they had established a lucrative relationship.
In 166 A.D. the eunuchs embarked on the violent repression of the literati who,
to defend their hard-won right to public office had increasingly denounced these
newly powerful groups at Court for their corruption and extravagance. The
complicated infighting between the various rival groups which were determined to
preserve their power and wealth led to economic chaos in which the losers were the
peasantry. Increasingly desperate as drought and famine added to the hardships they
were already experiencing as a consequence of the rivalries among the ruling classes,
the peasantry was moved to rebellion by the leaders of popular or religious Taoism.
Establishing autonomous governments of their own, these leaders sought to alleviate

25

the sufferings of their followers by providing them with the essentials of life. So
successful were they, that they soon posed a threat to the legitimate government,
launching the Yellow Turban rebellions in 184 and 189.
The rebellions forced the warring factions in the ruling circles into a temporary
alliance and a united effort was made to crush the uprisings. Millions of lives were
lost and the country was laid waste, but the moment victory for the Han forces was
assured, factional warfare broke out once again and the government disintegrated.
Men who had built up private armies during the war against the Yellow Turbans
seized power within their own regions. Despite the efforts of various strong men to
unite the country in the years which followed, the period of disunion continued until
the founding of the Sui dynasty in 589 A. D.
The decline of Han government both morally and politically led to a breakup of
the Confucian synthesis which, in its political ramifications, had made the ruler the
prime link between Heaven and man and therefore the linchpin of human society. As
circumstances grew worse, thoughtful men increasingly questioned the moral and
political assumptions so painstakingly built up during the height of Han power.
Although unwilling to set aside all hierarchy and order, they rejected the strongly
religious element in early Han Confucianism and turned more and more to a
naturalistic interpretation of man and the universe, seeking to discover how man
might best fulfil himself in a world which appeared to lack any absolute moral
foundation. They could no longer accept a Heaven which was no more than man
writ large. In these circumstances, it should not surprise us that in the long run it was
Taoism and Buddhism which were to benefit the most from this loss of faith.
As the situation steadily grew worse, and men began to think more of escaping
the upheavals rather than of repairing society, Taoism proved increasingly attractive
for it provided a philosophical basis for the criticism of Confucianism as well as
justification for an escapist attitude. Neo-Taoism, as this movement is often called,
flourished between the years 240 and 260, but its vitality soon declined and "its
mode of discourse - ch'ing-t'an - ceased to be a speculative instrument (and became,
instead) a plaything of vacuous and cynical aristocrats who watched idly as China
slid further into chaos."(50)
Having thus briefly sketched the social and political circumstances of the final
years of the Han dynasty and the early years of the period of disunion, we must now
turn to Liu Shao and his Treatise on Man. The Yellow Turban rebellions of 184 and
189 and the highwater mark of Neo-Taoism in the years 240-260 serve as the
terminus a quo and the terminus ad quem of his life, for he appears to have been
alive between the years 190 and 250.(51)
Liu's Treatise contains twelve p'ien or sections which are grouped together in the
following manner: first, four sections with the titles 1. Nine Characteristics, 2. Types
of Personality, 3. Men Classified according to Occupation, 4. Principles of Talents.
Second, five sections with the titles 5. Capacities, 6. Advantages and defects, 7. How
to know other men, 8. Heroes 9. Eight Modes of Observation. Third, three sections
with the titles 10. Seven Errors of Judgement, 11. Difficulties in Assessing the
Effectiveness of Men, and 12. The Elimination of Strife.(52)

26

These three groups may be said to fall into the following categories (i) the
theoretical, (ii) the practical, and (iii) the pitfalls to be avoided in the assessment and
utilization of individuals.
Let us begin by examining what Liu had to say on the theoretical level. He
commenced by asserting that "That which is essential to men (i.e. that which makes
man man) is the nature with which he is born. The principle of that nature is subtle
and mysterious (yuan), and no one can probe it to its depths unless he be a sage. All
living beings harbour the primitive material force (yuan-i) which forms their
characters. They are endowed with yin and yang by means of 'which their nature is
established, and they incorporate the Five Elemental Forces by means of which their
bodies are formed."(53)
It is clear from this passage that Liu accepted the basic theory of the origin of
man and the universe propounded by many of the thinkers of the Han dynasty. Like
them he conceived of a primal unity of material force from which emerged the
principles of yin and yang and the Five Elements. What is missing, however, is any
reference to Heaven as a guardian of moral values and as a judge of human
behaviour. Throughout Liu's Treatise such references as there are to moral qualities
in man are traced directly to his physical endowments.
In a manner reminiscent of the Huai-nan-tzu and Tung Chung-shu the Five
Elemental Forces are incorporated in man in such a way that wood is related to the
bones, metal to the tendons, fire to breath or the life force, earth to flesh, and water
to blood. Men's qualities and characters are regarded as commensurate with the
qualities of these material endowments. Liu therefore asserted that when the bones
are firm yet flexible a man is resolute yet benevolent; that strong muscles or tendons
denote courage and justice; that clear breath or life force implies culture, and so on.
All these characteristics, said Liu, are imprinted in men's features, reflected in men's
eyes and can be deduced from their deportment. Benevolence, for example, is
characterized by features which are gentle and soft, whereas courage is expressed in
proud and energetic features, and the intelligent have transparent and open features.
The look in the eyes of the benevolent is sincere and direct; in that of the courageous
it is bright and strong.(54)
Liu stated, however, that of all the characteristics found in man, that which
merited the highest value was moderation. "The character of moderation," he said,
"is marked by mildness and flavourlessness." This was because the man of
moderation was "able to blend the Five Elemental Forces and regulate their
transformations. Therefore," he continued, "when one observes a man and
investigates his character one must begin by investigating the degree of moderation
in him, and only then proceed to find out how intelligent he is." When a man has the
capacity for moderation he is unlikely to be partial or prejudiced in his relations with
others.
Like all the other characteristics enumerated by Liu, moderation was also
referred to man's material endowments; but the man whose material endowments
issued in moderation was likely to be a sage.
At this point it is important to notice a fundamental difference between Liu
Shao's concept of a sage and that of Confucius and Mencius. For Confucius and
Mencius to be a sage was to realize fully in society the moral principles of
Humanity and Right-

27

eousness bestowed by Heaven. For Liu, on the other hand, to be a sage was to hold
in perfect harmony perfect physical endowments.
Second only to moderation was intelligence. Intelligence, for Liu, had its origin
in the dual essences of yin and yang; he said: "When yin and yang are serene and
harmonious a man is illuminated within and intelligent without. The sage is
unalloyed and radiant and unites both these virtues within himself. He knows the
lowliest beginnings and understands their complete unfolding. He who is not a sage
cannot succeed in uniting these two virtues. Thus, a clever thinker may comprehend
the workings of evolution but not the primary idea, whilst another to whom the
primary idea is entrusted knows the motionless source, but is confused by the flood
of the evolutionary process. These two types of men are like the fire and the sun
which illumine, but the interiors of which elude observation, and metal and water
which are bright within, but which cannot give off light."(56)
Liu's Treatise was clearly an attempt to provide a guide for rulers and men in
authoritative positions who had to select suitable individuals for various occupations
within the state.(57) Having therefore given an account of the factors which go to
forming the individual character of a man, and having analyzed the characteristics of
various types of men from the sage downwards, Liu proceeded to enumerate twelve
occupations or pursuits and to relate people to them on the basis of their characters.
These occupations included those of the government official, the learned advisor,
great officers, artists, writers, scholars, dialecticians, heroes, the virtuous and so on.
Liu then drew on outstanding men of the past to illustrate his thesis that certain types
of men are naturally suited to certain types of occupation or activity. For example,
Kuan Chung, a distinguished minister who served under Huan, a ruler of the feudal
state of Ch'i in the seventh century B.C., and Shan Yang, a minister in the state of
Ch'in in the fourth century B.C., were held up as examples of the vocation of learned
advisor; Yen Ling of the Warring States period and Yen Ying, a great officer of the
state of Ch'i in the sixth century B.C., were referred to as models of the incorrupt
official; Ssu-ma Ch'ien and Pan Ku, the two greatest historians of the Han dynasty
were cited as examples of the writer's occupation and so on. Each occupation was
shown to require certain talents and characteristics in combination, and the more
perfect, complete and balanced they were in man, the more suited was he to bear the
burden of high office.(58)
Neither Confucius nor Mencius received honourable mention in Liu Shao's list of
exemplars.(59) The Confucian virtues of Humanity, Righteousness, Propriety,
Trustworthiness and Wisdom do nevertheless find a place in the Treatise, with
Humanity being given pride of place. Thus Liu said: "Humanity is the foundation of
virtue; righteousness is the controlled expression of virtue as duty; the practice of
propriety is the ornamentation of virtue; trustworthiness is its cement and wisdom its
teacher."(60) These moral virtues, however, were not rooted in a transcendent
Heaven or moral principle, but were differing expressions of a spirit grounded in
matter.(61)
Although Liu was confident that a man's qualities could be discerned from his
physical appearance, he did not hold for one moment that the reading of his features,
eyes and deportment was an easy matter. If one were to form an accurate judgement
of a man one had first to observe his appearance, notice his conduct, examine
whom

28

he resembled, inquire into how he began a task and brought it to its completion, pay
attention to his speech, his actions, his shortcomings, his errors, and even his casual
utterances; but so complicated was this procedure that it was all too easy to come to
an incorrect conclusion. "At times," said Liu, "trifling virtues strongly emerge and
one considers them to be extraordinary; or else, deep insight is concealed, and one
concludes that the man is vacant and lacking in substance."(62)
It would be tedious to go through all the deficiencies, imperfections and
shortcomings found in men and enumerated by Liu in his Treatise. Instead, we must
now turn our attention to the implications of Liu's teaching for the doctrine of free
will. If men owe their natures, spirits and characters to the material with which they
are endowed does it not follow that they must lead a wholly determined existence?
Must not the timorous and the courageous, the wise and the ignorant, the loving and
the cruel all remain forever what they are? In Liu Shao's anthropology the answer
lies in the concept of ch'i or matter which he shared with most Chinese thinkers.
Ch'i, as is attested by the various translations of the term, is not to be thought of as
inert matter. Rather is it to be regarded as dynamic and ever in motion. Thus the
Five Elements of wood, fire, water, metal and earth are really five elemental forces
which, associated with the seasons, result in the ever-changing seasonal cycle and
which, related to man, produce the various transformations he is subject to. But
having made due allowance for the dynamic character of matter, it has to be admitted
that in Liu's scheme of things the quality of a man's material endowments - and each
man differs in what he receives - does inhibit his range of perfectibility.
The man who is born with a perfect blend of the finest of the material energy at
work in the cosmos is very rare. The majority of people, as Liu saw it, combine
perfections with imperfections. The question, then, is how the best in each person
can be brought to the fore and the worst mitigated. Clearly, any attempt to bring
about perfection in a person poorly endowed would require a transformation of his
endowments. Liu's position was that if a person is to realize his potential he must
receive tuition, and this applies as much to a potential sage as to the most poorly
endowed. He was not sanguine, however, as to the results of such tuition. Thus he
stated: "Learning is the means whereby man's endowments are brought to
completion. Reciprocity is the means by which one gauges the feelings of others.
The nature which is formed from an imbalance of endowments, however, cannot be
changed. Although a man may receive tuition, when the endowments he has
received are perfected he will act in accordance with them in error. Although he may
be schooled in the practice of reciprocity (i.e. consideration for others), when he has
gauged the feelings of others he will merely do what his own mind dictates. The
trustworthy will assume the trustworthiness of everyone else, whereas the deceitful
will impute deceitfulness to all others. Thus their learning does not penetrate to the
Way, and their reciprocity fails to encompass all things. These are the benefits and
defects of those with distorted endowments."(63)
No matter how important Liu considered education to be for the fulfilment of
human potential, he also regarded it as self-defeating in cases where a man's
endowments are such as to make him prone to anti-social behaviour. What, he
seemed to ask, is the point of teaching a man to value the virtue of reciprocity
when

29

his feelings run naturally in the direction of craftiness, dishonesty, hate and the like?

What are the implications of the teachings we have surveyed for the notions of
determinism and free will? We began by examining the teachings of Confucius and
Mencius on the relationship between Heaven and man; we then saw how the
elaboration of the process whereby the cosmos and man were thought to have come
into existence led to the grand synthesis of Tung Chung-shu in which yin-yang
dualism, the doctrine of the Five elements and the teachings of other schools were
made to serve Confucianism. Finally we saw how Liu Shao, living in a more
sceptical age, shed the religious element in Tung's system and, in his Treatise,
presented a rationalistic and totally materialistic interpretation of man. Mencius and
Liu Shao clearly stood at opposite extremes in their views of man and in their
estimates of man's capacity for self-perfection. If we seek to trace the idea of
perfectibility in Chinese thought from Mencius to Liu Shao we discover that the
more materialistic and mechanistic the universe is conceived to be, the more limited
is the range of perfections open to man.
In the Mencius Heaven is regarded as the metaphysical source of the moral
principles in man, and for Mencius, perfection means coming to know Heaven so
that one may be described as a "citizen of Heaven".(64) The process whereby one
comes to know Heaven is summarized in the words, "He who has exhausted all his
mental constitution knows his nature. Knowing his nature, he knows Heaven."(65)
Mencius was not only a thinker and moral philosopher but a mystic, so that for him,
the perfect man was meant not merely to live in moral harmony with a moral
Heaven, but to become identified with Heaven and the universe. Thus he could say:
"All things are complete within us. There is no greater delight than to realize this
through self-cultivation."(66)
Tung Chung-shu, on the other hand, by seeming to subordinate Heaven to yuan
(origin) and to make Heaven a part of the cosmos, turned Heaven into a creature, a
being who is simply man writ large, with whom man forges a relationship which is
social.(67) Thus, to be perfect in Tung's scheme of things is to enjoy a morally
harmonious relationship with Heaven, "man's grandfather".
In Liu Shao's thought perfectibility is barely capable of being viewed in moral
terms since, for him, man's capacity for moral action, as well as all his other
capacities, is rooted in matter. Liu Shao is a thoroughgoing materialist for whom the
universe is mechanistic and man's life is determined. The best that man can do is to
make the most, through education, of the talents with which he has been endowed.
In their respective understandings of the function and value of education the
differences between Mencius and Liu Shao become most marked. For Mencius,
education is interiorized, and is directed towards the recovery of man's moral mind.
For Liu Shao, on the other hand, education, even if successful in perfecting a man's
natural endowments, is regarded as primarily of value in preparing a man for an
occupation in society.
Now you may regard the gradual lowering of man's sights from Mencius' target
of moral and metaphysical perfection to Liu Shao's target of occupying a place in
society commensurate with one's natural gifts as laudable and realistic; but in Sung
times (960-1279) the creators of Neo-Confucianism, which was to remain the

30

standard of orthodoxy until the early years of this century, came down on the side of
Mencius. Although Neo-Confucians were reluctant to speak of Heaven as if it were
a deity, they felt the need, nevertheless, to provide a transcendent basis for the moral
life and to think of man's relationship to this moral foundation in such a way as to
allow room for his moral advancement at the very least. Generally speaking, the
Neo-Confucians believed that the perfection of virtue and the transformation of
natural endowments could not be brought about merely through teaching and
instruction. One should become conscious, in oneself, of the transcendent reality
which made learning possible - namely, moral and rational truth. No amount of
teaching concerning the virtue of reciprocity, for example, could serve as a substitute
for the discovery in oneself of the transcendent foundation of that which makes
reciprocity possible. The transcendent foundation of reciprocity, they taught, is the
eternal principle or mind of benevolence and humanity. Man is free to perfect
himself morally, but the only way to do so is by denying the tendencies of one's
physical nature and by awakening to the transcendent basis of moral perfection. As
Wang Yang-ming(68) the great Confucian philosopher of the early sixteenth century
put it: "Our nature is the substance of the mind and Heaven is the source of our
nature. To exert one's mind to the utmost is the same as fully developing one's
nature. Only those who are absolutely sincere can fully develop their nature and
know the transforming and nourishing process of Heaven and Earth." “Knowing
Heaven ... is a matter within one's own function, and it means that one in his moral
character has already become one with Heaven."(69)

NOTES

1. "Tsuo-wei tsung-chiao-te ju-chiao" in Chung-kuo che-hsiieh-te t'e-chih, Hong Kong, 1963.
2. A History of Chinese Philosophy, by Fung Yu-lan (tr. Derk Bodde), Princeton, 1953.
3. A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, by Wing-tsit Chan, Princeton, 1963
4. The Study of Human Abilities, by J.K. Shryock, American Oriental Society, New Haven, 1937.
5. op. cit., p. 33.
6. Science and Civilization in China, by Joseph Needham, vol. II.
7. op.cit., p.386
8. Geschichte der mittelalterlichen chinesichen Philosophie, by Alfred Forke, vol. II, Hamburg, 1964.
9. op. cit., p. 197.
10. The Works of Mencius in The Chinese Classics (tr. James Legge), vol. 11, Hong Kong, Copyright
reissue, 1960; p.403.
11. ibid.
12. The, Way and Its Power, (tr. Arthur Waley), London, 1934; p. 141.
13. op.cit., p. 146.
14. op.cit., p. 14 1.
15. op.cit., p. 143.
16. op.cit., p. 146.
17. op. cit., p. 141.
18. Shih-chi, chuan 74, pp, 2-4 (Ssu-pu pei-yao edition).
19. Fung Yu-lan, op.cit., vol. 1, pp. 162-3.
20. Fung Yu-lan, A Short History of Chinese Philosophy, New York, 1948, p. 1 38.
21. ibid.
22. Chan Wing-tsit, op.cit., p.263.
23. Fung Yu-lan, op.cit., vol. I, p.395.
24. op.cit., p.396.
25. ibid.
26. ibid.
27. ibid.
28. ibid.
29. op.cit., p.398.

31

30. op.cit., vol. II, p.20.
31. op.cit., p. 19.
32. op.cit., p.20.
33. op.cit., p.29.
34. ibid.
35. Confucian,4nalects in The Chinese Classics, (tr. James Legge), vol. 1. Hong Kong, Copyright reissue,
1960; p.202.
36. op.cit., p.204.
37. Arthur Waley, Three Ways of Thought in Ancient China, London, Second Impression 1946, p. 116.
38. Mencius, op.cit., pp.202-4.
39. Fung Yu-lan, op.cit., vol. 1, p.288.
40. op.cit., p.334.
41. Chan Wing-tsit, op.cit., p.260.
42. ibid.
43. Fung Yu-lan, op.cit., vol. I, p.334.
44. ibid.
45. op.cit., vol. 1, p.329.
46. op.cit., vol. II, p.32.
47. op.cit., p.33.
48. op.cit., p.35.
49. T'oung-pao, XXIX (1949), pp. 83-131 and summarized in Arthur F. Wright, Buddhism in Chinese
History, Oxford, 1959, pp. 22ff.
50. Wright, op.cit., pp.30-1
51. Forke, op.cit., p. 197.
52. 1 have not followed Shryock's translations in all instances.
53. Jen-wu chih,, chiian (a), p. 1 A (Ssu-pu pei-yao edition).
54. op.cit., pp. 1B-3 B.
55. op.cit., pp. 1 A-1 B.
56. ibid.
57. Liu Shao was actually commanded during the Ching-ch'u reign period (237-9) "to draw up regulations
for the examination of metropolitan officials". See Shryock, op.cit., p. 23.
58. See especially sections 3-5, op.cit., pp. 68-l22.
59. In his preface to the Jen-wu-chih, however, Liu Shao states explicitly that he is following in the footsteps
of Confucius since Confucius examined man in order to understand the factors underlying his behaviour.
To judge from this preface, Liu Shao considered himself a Confucian. See Shryock, op.cit., pp. 2-4.
60. Jen-wu chih, chuan (b), p. 13A.
61. Discussing the nature of the human spirit and human rationality Liu Shao said: "The matter from which
man is formed is exceedingly fine. Out of this finest of matter arises his spirit and his rationality."
op.cit., chuan (c), p.6A.
62. op.cit., chuan (c), p.6B.
63. op.cit., chuan (a), p.6A.
64, Fung Yu-lan, A short History of Chinese Philosophy, p.77.
65. Mencius, op.cit., p.448.
66. Fung Yu-lan, op.cit., p.77.
67. Fung Yu-lan, The Spirit of Chinese Philosophy (tr. E.R. Hughes), London, 1947, p. 125.
68. 1472-1529. See various works by Fung Yu-lan and Wang Yang-ming, Instructions for Practical Living.
(tr. Wing-tsit Chan), New York, 1963.
69. Wang Yang-ming, op. cit., p. 13.

Liu Shao

More Related Content

What's hot (17)

Viewers also liked (20)

Similar to Liu Shao (20)

More from Luis Andrade (11)

Liu Shao