Yang, the fiery ether or the solar fluid, is bright, i. e. light (Chap. XX), warm (Chap. XXI), dry (Chap. XVIII), vivifying, and creative (Chap. XXI). The Yan, rain or water, is dark, cold, wet, and destructive (p. 111). By itself water possesses neither light nor warmth, and may well be called dark and cold. There is not a strict separation of the fluids of Heaven and Earth, they often mix and permeate one another. Heaven as well as Earth enclose air (Chap. XIX). The immense mass of air forming the gaseous part of Heaven, which, as we have seen, is credited with a body, is called sky (p. 113). Now, whereas Earth rests motionless in the centre of the world, Heaven revolves around it, turning from east to west. This movement is explained as the emission of the heavenly fluid which, however, takes place spontaneously. Spontaneity is another corner-stone of Wang Chung's system. It means that this movement is not governed by any intelligence or subservient to the purposes of any spiritus rector, but is solely regulated by its own inherent natural laws. The same idea is expressed in Madhavacharya's Sarva-Darsana Sangraha: "The fire is hot, the water cold, refreshing cool the breeze of morn. By whom came this variety? From their own nature was it born." (Sarva-Darsana-Samgraha, translated by E. B. Cowell and A. E. Gough, London 1882, 'p. 10.) Wang Ch'ung admits that he has adopted the principle of spontaneity from the Taoists, who however, have not sufficiently substantiated it by proofs (p. 97). He shows that Heaven cannot display a conscious activity like man, because such activity is evoked by desires and impulses, which require organs:-the eye, the mouth, etc. The heavenly fluid is not a human body with eyes and ears, but a formless and insensible mass (p. 93). The observation of the natural growth of plants and of the regularity of other natural phenomena precluding the idea of special designed acts, has confirmed our philosopher in his belief in spontaneity. "The principle of Heaven is inaction," he says. "Accordingly in spring it does not do the germinating, in summer the growing, in autumn the ripening, or in winter the hiding of the seeds. When the Yang fluid comes forth spontaneously, plants will germinate and grow of themselves and, when the Yin fluid rises, they ripen and disappear of their own accord" (p. 99). The movement of the Yin fluid is spontaneous likewise. Heaven and Earth cannot act, nor do they possess any know Lun - Heng. 2 ledge" (p. 101). They are not inert, but their activity is unintentional and purposeless. Thus spontaneity is the law of nature. From this point of view Wang Chung characterises the fluid of Heaven as "placid, tranquil, desireless, inactive, and unbusied" (p. 93), all attributes ascribed by the Taoists to their Mundane Soul, Tao. At all times Heaven has been personified and deified. With the Chinese as well as with us Heaven has become a synonym for God. Wang Chung notices that human qualities have been attributed to him. We see in him the Father of Mankind, the Chinese an emperor, the "Supreme Ruler," Shang Ti. He lives in heaven like a king in his palace, and governs the world (Chap. XXII) meting out rewards and punishments to mankind, rewarding the virtuous (p. 160), and punishing the wicked (p. 164). He reprimands the sovereigns on earth for their misrule by means of extraordinary natural phenomena, and, unless they reform, visits them and their people with misfortune (p. 126). Thunder is his angry voice, and with his thunderbolt he strikes the guilty (Chap. XXII). Regarding Heaven as nothing else than a substance, a pure and tenuous fluid without a mind, Wang Chung cannot but reject these anthropomorphisms. Heaven has no mouth, no eyes: it does not speak nor act (p. 183), it is not affected by men (p. 110), does not listen to their prayers (p. 113), and does not reply to the questions addressed to it (p. 184). By a fusion of the fluids of Heaven and Earth all the organisms on earth have been produced (p. 104). Man does not make an exception. In this respect Heaven and Earth are like husband and wife, and can be regarded as the father and the mother of mankind (Chap. XX). The same idea has been enunciated by Lucretius: "Postremo pereunt imbres, ubi eos pater æther in gremium matris terrai præcipitavit: at nitidæ surgunt fruges, ramique virescunt and further on: (Lucr. I, 250-253.) "Denique cælesti sumus omnes semine oriundi: feta parit nitidas fruges arbustaque læta, et genus humanum parit, omnia sæcula ferarum, (Luer. II, 988-995.) Wang Chung compares the creation of man to the freezing of ice. He is the produce of the mixture and concretion or crystallization of the two primary fluids:-"During the chilly winter months the cold air prevails, and water turns into ice. At the approach of spring, the air becomes warm, and the ice melts to water. Man is born in the universe, as ice is produced so to speak. The Yang and the Yin fluids crystallize, and produce man. When his years are completed, and his span of life comes to its end, he dies and reverts to those fluids" p. 196). The Yin forms the body, and the Yang produces the vital spirit and the mind. Both are identical, Wang Chu ung does not discriminate between the anima and the animus:-"That by which man is born are the Yang and the Yin fluids; the Yin fluid produces his bones and flesh, the Yang fluid the vital spirit. While man is alive, the Yang and Yin fluids are in order. Hence bones and flesh are strong, and the vital force is full of vigour. Through the vital force he has knowledge, and with his bones and flesh he displays strength. The vital spirit can speak, the body continues strong and robust. While bones and flesh and the vital spirit are entwined and linked together, they are always visible and do not perish" (Chap. XVIII). Man is imbued with the heavenly or vital fluid at his birth. It is a formless mass like the yolk of an egg, before it is hatched, showing in this respect the nature of the primogenial vapours, from which it has been derived (p. 199). There is no difference between the vital forces of man and animals. They have the same origin. The vital fluid resides in the blood and the arteries, and is nourished and developed by eating and drinking (p. 194). It has to fulfil two difficult functions, to animate the body and keep it alive, and to form its mind. All sensations are caused by the vital fluid: "When the vital fluid is thinking or meditating, it flows into the eyes, the mouth or the ears. When it flows into the eyes, the eyes see shapes, when it flows into the ears, the ears hear sounds, and, when it flows into the mouth, the mouth speaks something" (Chap. XVIII). Wang Chung imagines that all sensations are produced in their organs by the vital fluid, which must be the mental power as well, since it thinks and meditates. Insanity is defined as a disturbance of the vital force (eod.). There are no supernatural mental faculties and no prophets or sages knowing the future or possessing a special knowledge derived from any other source than the vital force (p. 61). It is also the will, which causes the mouth to speak. As such it determines the character, which in Wang Chung's belief depends upon its quantity (Chap. XXXI). As vital energy it modifies the length of human life, which ceases, as soon as this energy is used up (Chap. XXVII). From what our author says about ghosts and spirits in particular, which consist of the Yang fluid alone without any Yin, we can infer that he conceived of the human soul also as an aura, a warm breath identical to a certain extent with the solar fluid. It is easy to see, how the Chinese came to denote the body as Yin and the soul as Yang-I believe that these notions were already current at Wang Chung's time, who only took them up. The body is formed of a much coarser stuff than the soul, consisting as it does of solid and liquid matter. Therefore they presume that it must have been produced from the heavier and grosser substance, the Yin, while the purer and lighter Yang formed the soul. A living body is warm, warmth is a quality of the Yang fluid, consequently the vital force must be Yang. The mind enlightens the body, the Yang fluid is light as well, ergo the mind is the Yang fluid. The last conclusion is not correct, the mind not. being a material light, but a Chinese would not hesitate to use such an analogy; their philosophy abounds with such symbolism. The ideas of the Epicureans on the nature of the soul agree very well with Wang Chung's views. According to Epicurus the soul is a tenuous substance resembling a breath with an admixture of some warmth, dispersed through the whole organism:σῶμά ἐστι λεπτομερές, παρ' ὅλον τὸ ἄπροισμα παρεσπαρμένον, προσεμφερέσ τατον δὲ πνεύματι θερμοῦ τινα κρᾶσιν ἔχοντι (Diog. Laert. X, 63). Elsewhere the soul is described as a mixture of four substances: a fiery, an aeriform, a pneumatical, and a nameless one, which latter is said to cause sensations: κράμα ἐκ τεττάρων, ἐκ ποιοῦ πυρώδους, ἐκ ποιοῦ ἀεράδους, ἐκ ποιοῦ πνευματικοῦ, ἐκ τετάρτου τινὸς ἀκα Tovoμáo Tov (Plut. Plac. IV, 3). Lucretius says that the soul consists of much finer atoms than those of water, mist or smoke, and that it is produced, grows, and ages together with the body (Luer. III, 425-427, 444-445). When a man dies, a fine, warm, aura leaves his body (III, 232). As regards man's position in nature Wang Chung asserts that he is the noblest and most intelligent creature, in which the mind of Heaven and Earth reach their highest development (Chap. XLIII); still he is a creature like others, and there exists no fundamental difference between him and other animals (p. 202). Wang Chung likes to insist upon the utter insignificance of man, when compared with the immense grandeur of Heaven and Earth. It seems to have given him some satisfaction to put men, who are living on Earth, on a level with fleas and lice feeding upon the human body, for we find this drastic simile, which cannot have failed to hurt the feelings of many of his self-sufficient countrymen, repeated several times (p. 183, Chap. XXVI). In short, according to Wang Chung man does not occupy the exceptional position in the world which he uses to vindicate for himself. He has not been created on purpose, as nothing else has, the principle of nature being chance and spontaneity (p. 103). The world has not been created for the sake of man. "Some people," remarks Wang Chung, “are of opinion that Heaven produces grain for the purpose of feeding mankind, and silk and hemp to clothe them. That would be tantamount to making Heaven the farmer of man or his mulberry girl, it would not be in accordance with spontaneity" (p. 92). As an argument against the common belief that Heaven produces his creatures on purpose, he adduces the struggle for existence, for says Wang Chung:-"If Heaven had produced its creatures on purpose, he ought to have taught them to love each other, and not to prey upon and destroy one another. One might object that such is the nature of the five elements that, when Heaven creates all things, it imbues them with the fluids of the five elements, and that these fight together and destroy one another. But then Heaven ought to have filled its creatures with the fluid of one element only, and taught them mutual love, not permitting the fluids of the five elements to resort to strife and mutual destruction" (p.104). Here again Wang Chung is in perfect accord with the Epicureans. Epicurus asserts that nothing could be more preposterous than the idea that nature has been regulated with a view to the well-being of mankind or with any purpose at all. The world is not as it ought to be, if it had been created for the sake of man, for how could Providence produce a world so full of evil, where the virtuous so often are maltreated and the wicked triumph? (Zeller, Philosophie der Griechen, III. Teil, 1. Abt., 1880, pp. 398 seq. and 428.) The same sentiment finds expression in the following verses of the Epicurean poet: "Nam quamvis rerum ignorem primordia quæ sint, hoc tamen ex ipsis cæli rationibus ausim confirmare aliisque ex rebus reddere multis, naturam mundi: tanta stat prædita culpa." (Lucr. II, 177-181 and V, 185–189.) |