Abstract
The Neo-confucian notion of “stilling nature” 定-性 (dingxing) became a central feature of Neo-confucian discourse with Cheng Hao’s 程顥(1032–1085).
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No sooner was the discourse of stilling nature established than it became a classic of Lixue 理学(the school of li or principles). It was included in a number of compilations including Reflections on Things at Hand(compiled by Zhu Xi and Lü Zuqian, South Song), Essentials of Lixue (compiled by Geng Jie, Qing), Basics on Nature and Principle (complied by Ran Jinzu, Qing Period) and deeply influenced intellectuals in the Song and Ming periods. Successive Neo-Confucian and Xinxue Confucian scholars unexceptionally used it to expound on their own theories. He Xiang, a Xinxue scholar in the Ming dynasty, in his painstaking research on nature and principles, came upon Cheng Hao’s On Recognizing Ren and The Letter on Stilling Nature, and was immediately convinced. His two-volume Commentaries on Recognizing Ren and Stilling Nature was thus commented on by Comprehensive Catalogue and Collected Abstracts of the Siku quanshu: “Xiang’s learning can be traced back to Yao Jiang (Wang Yangming); most arguments in this book are justifications of Xinxue” (Abstracts of Imperial Siku quanshu, Vol. 96). Liu Zongzhou, a master in the Ming Dynasty, complied Guiding Classics of the Sacred Learning in which he gave detailed commentaries on key classics including Zhou Dunyi’s Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate and Explanations, Zhang Zai’s Eastern Inscription and Western Inscription, Cheng Hao’s On Recognizing Ren and The Letter on Stilling Nature, Zhu Xi’s On Middleness and Harmony, Wang Yangming’s Questions and Answers on Conscience, etc. (Ibid., Vol. 93). On the other hand, among the Neo-Confucian scholars who annotated The Letter on Stilling Nature in the Southern Song period are famous figures like Zhu Xi, Ye Cai and Zhen Dexiu. In his Collected Explanations of Reflections on Things at Hand, Ye Cai gave a line by line commentary of The Letter on Stilling Nature. As a student of Zhu Xi’s student, Ye’s thoughts resembled that of Zhu’s.Their creative elucidations greatly enriched Cheng Hao’s doctrine of stilling nature.
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Translations of The Letter on Stilling Nature consulted Chan (1963), pp. 525–526.
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Mou’s understanding deserves further consideration, and he goes on to write that, while Cheng Hao and Zhang Zai undoubtedly had different understandings of nature, if it could not finally be stilled, then all of their ideas about it would be baseless. Both Cheng Hao and Zhang Zai had tried to explain the state of one’s nature by taking recourse to “vital force” 气 ( qi) , which they felt accounted for the goodness or evil in one’s nature, but stilling nature is to let it rest in its perfect and original goodness.
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Zhu, R. (2017). The Neo-confucian Discourse on “Stilling Nature” in the Works of Cheng Hao, Zhu Xi, and Zhen Dexiu. In: Yao, X. (eds) Reconceptualizing Confucian Philosophy in the 21st Century. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4000-9_8
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