Abstract
Written as companion texts, the Bendō 弁道 (“Distinguishing the Way”) and the Benmei 弁名 (“Distinguishing Names”) present Ogyū Sorai’s most mature and comprehensive expression of his philosophical thought. Sorai modestly spoke of the texts in a letter to a student, Uno Shirō 宇野士朗 (1701–1732), calling them “my humble achievements” (funei no waza 不佞の業なり). In another letter to a student, Yamagata Shūnan 山県周南 (1687–1752), Sorai related that after a prolonged bout with ill-health, he feared passing like the morning dew. Therefore, he took up his writing brush and completed the two works. Sorai added that while more than a millennium had passed since Confucius’ death, the Way had only been clarified in recent times. Yet rather than boast of this, Sorai suggested that his hand in the process had been by heaven’s decree. With the two works, he added that even if he passed away soon, his life would not have been wasted.
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Notes
- 1.
Ogyū Sorai, “Reply to Uno Shirō” 復于士茹, Sorai-shū 徂徠集 22, p. 24b.
- 2.
Ogyū Sorai, “Letter to Yamagata Shūnan” 與縣次公, Sorai-shū shūi 徂徠集拾遺 (Sorai’s Works, Gleanings). Cited from Kanaya Osamu 金谷治, “Bendō 弁道 ,” Ogyū Sorai shū 荻生徂徠集, Nihon no Shisō vol. 12, p. 48.
- 3.
Kanaya, “Bendō ,” Ogyū Sorai shū, p. 48.
- 4.
Kanaya, “Benmei 弁名 ,” Ogyū Sorai shū, p. 108.
- 5.
Olof G. Lidin, trans., Distinguishing the Way (Bendō ). Tetsuo Najita, trans., Tokugawa Political Writings. John A. Tucker, trans., Ogyū Sorai’s Philosophical Masterworks: The Bendō and Benmei .
- 6.
Nishida Taichirō, “Kaidai: Bendō , Benmei , Gakusoku , Sorai-shū”, Ogyū Sorai , NST vol. 36, pp. 619–621.
- 7.
Ogyū Sorai, “Letter to Lord [Honda] Iran” 與猗蘭侯, no. 17, Sorai-shū, vol. 20, p. 9b.
- 8.
Dazai Shundai, Shundai-sensei bunshū 春台先生文集. Cited from Kanaya, “Benmei ,” Ogyū Sorai shū, p. 108. “Dirt and husks” (tu ju 土苴 dosho) alludes to the ancient Daoist text, Zhuangzi 莊子, chapter 28, “Doing Without Royal Power” (Rang wang 讓王).
- 9.
Nishida, “Kaidai,” p. 620. Nishida did not compare the 1740 (Genbun 元文 5) edition of the Bendō and Benmei with either the 1737 or the 1789 edition. A line-by-line comparison of the 1740 edition with the edition of 1789 establishes that the latter was a reprint of the former. The 1740 edition, in turn, was a revised and emended version of the edition of 1737. Thus, the 1740 edition was the forerunner of the edition of 1789, on which the modern editions of the Bendō and Benmei have been based.
- 10.
Usami’s Bendō kōchū was published in Edo in Kansei 12 (1800), in one volume. The manuscript for his two-volume Benmei kōchū, however, remains unpublished. The modern edition of the Bendō and Benmei published in Ogyū Sorai shū, edited by Kanaya Osamu, also relies on Usami’s texts. The Bendō sho 弁道書, published in Kyōhō 20 (1735) by Dazai Shundai, is less an account of Sorai’s ideas than an exposition of Shundai’s thought.
- 11.
Kanaya, “Benmei ,” Ogyū Sorai shū, p. 108. Kanaya notes that Sorai’s text, and Itō Jinsai’s Go-Mō jigi , continued the approach to philosophical exposition that Beixi’s text had pioneered. He does not discuss Beixi’s text in detail. Nor are Hayashi Razan’s and Yamaga Sokō’s contributions broached.
- 12.
For an English translation, see Wing-tsit Chan, trans., Neo-Confucian Terms Explained. Chan’s translation is of the 1840 edition, which differs in content and arrangement from the 1553 Korean edition and most Tokugawa editions.
- 13.
The Seikyō yōroku , volume volume two, discusses “the mean” 中 (chū), “the way” 道 (michi), “principle” 理 (ri), “virtue” 徳 (toku), “humaneness” 仁 (jin), “propriety” 礼 (rei), “sincerity” 誠 (makoto), “loyalty and empathy” 忠・恕 (chū, jo ), “reverence and respectfulness” 敬・恭 (ke, kyō), “ghosts and spirits” 鬼・神 (ki, shin), “yin and yang” 陰陽 (inyō), “the five processes” 五行 (gogyō), “heaven and earth” 天地 (tenchi). In volume three, he discusses “human nature” 性 (sei), “the mind” 心 (kokoro), “thought and feelings” 意・情 (i, jō), “intentions, generative force, and thinking” 志・気・思慮 (kokorozashi, ki, shiryo), “the production of humanity and the world” 人物之生 (jinbutsu no sei), “the Book of Changes’ notion of the great ultimate” 易有太極 (Eki ni taikyoku ari), and “the origin of the way” 道元 (dōgen).
- 14.
Jinsai’s Go-Mō jigi discusses: “the way of heaven” 天道 (tendō), “the decree of heaven” 天命 (tenmei ), “the way” 道 (michi), “principle” 理 (ri), “virtue” 徳 (toku), “humaneness, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom” 仁・義・礼・智 (jin, gi, rei, chi), “the mind” 心 (kokoro), “human nature” 性 (sei), “the mind of the four beginnings” 四端之心 (shitan no kokoro), “human feelings” 情 (jō), “abilities” 才 (sai), “intention” 志 (kokorozashi), “ideas” 意 (i), “moral intuition and moral abilities” 良知・良能 (ryōchi, ryōnō), “loyalty and trustworthiness” 忠信 (chūshin), “loyalty and empathy” 忠恕 (chūjo), “sincerity” 誠 (makoto), “reverence” 敬 (kei), “harmony and honesty” 和・直 (wa, choku), “learning” 学 (gaku), “expediency” 権 (ken), “Sages and worthies” 聖賢 (seiken), “princes and commoners” 君子小人 (kunshi shōjin), “true kings and hegemons” 王覇 (ōha), “ghosts and spirits” 鬼・神 (ki, shin), “the Book of Poetry” 詩 (Shi), “the Book of History” 書 (Sho), “the Book of Changes” 易 (Eki), “the Spring and Autumn Annals” 春秋 (Shunjū), “On the Four Classics” 総論四経 (sōron shikei).
Bibliography
Chan, Wing-tsit, trans. 1986. Neo-Confucian Terms Explained: The Pei-hsi tzu-i by Ch’en Ch’un, 1159–1223. New York: Columbia University Press.
Kanaya Osamu 金谷治, ed. 1970. Ogyū Sorai shū 荻生徂徠集. Nihon no Shisō vol. 12. Tokyo: Chikuma Shobō.
Lidin, Olof G., trans. 1970. Distinguishing the Way (Bendō). Tokyo: Sophia University.
Najita, Tetsuo, trans. 1998. Tokugawa Political Writings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Nishida Taichirō 西田太一郎. 1987. “Kaidai: Bendō, Benmei, Gakusoku, Sorai-shū” 解題 : 弁道・弁名・学則・徂徠集. In Yoshikawa Kōjirō 吉川幸次郎 et al., eds. 1987. Ogyū Sorai 荻生徂徠. NST vol. 36. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten.
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Yoshikawa Kōjirō 吉川幸次郎 et al. eds. 1987. Ogyū Sorai 荻生徂徠. NST vol. 36. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten.
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Tucker, J.A. (2019). Bendō and Benmei. In: BOOT, W., TAKAYAMA, D. (eds) Tetsugaku Companion to Ogyu Sorai. Tetsugaku Companions to Japanese Philosophy, vol 2. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15475-2_6
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