Man is fallen; nature is erect, and serves as a differential thermometer, detecting the presence or absence of the divine sentiment in man. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
It is chiefly due to the eco-environmental pressure that people tend to be more concerned with the interaction between nature and humankind. The history of Chinese intelligence witnesses a constant probe into the chiasmic encounters between heaven (tian) and human (ren), which is conducive to a core conception of heaven-human oneness (tian ren he yi) as the general ethos of Chinese philosophy. The polysemy of the conception is extended along with the passage of time according to the sociocultural context. At the present-day stage, the tendency to rediscover the relevance of heaven-human oneness is conducted by reading new and even modern messages into the old conception as such. It has consequently become an open-ended activity, inviting a second reflection on its hidden universality for the common good.
This discussion attempts to expose the essential bearings and relevance of heaven-human oneness by tracing back to its historical line of thought with reference to updated reinterpretations. The whole argument is intended to cover the following three sub-topics: the threefold significance, the two-dimensional orientation, and a pragmatic alternative.
1.1 The Threefold Significance
Chinese culture was originated from a nomadic tradition followed by an agricultural counterpart. This being the case, heaven was worshiped because it was seen to be both a dominant force and a dependent means in terms of food production and human survival. According to the antiquities, heaven is above, and earth is below, thus making up the universe or Nature as a whole, in which all things or beings are begotten and conserved. Hence, the tri-party interaction has been the focus of consideration in Chinese thought from ancient to present. Confucianism, for instance, is preoccupied with san cai as “three basic substances” that involve tian as heaven, di as earth, and ren as human; and Daoism is concerned with si da as “four great parts” that comprise tian, di, ren, and dao (tao). It is owing to shamanistic or magic heritage that tian is regarded as embodiment of a divine mandate and thus conceptualized for the Lord of Heaven. Yet, the Lord of Heaven stays and communicates with humans, things, tribes, or societies through magic force. It is neither beyond the empirical domain nor personified into a transcendental power like the Christian God. This is why tian as heaven and ren as human are interacted with each other so closely that the conception of oneness between the two came into shape in pre-Qin period. Speaking generally, the conception itself can be dated back to Mencius (c. 372–289 B.C.) and Zhuangzi (c. 369–286 B.C.), further developed by Dong Zhongshu (179–104 B.C.), and metaphysically moralized by Neo-Confucianism in the Song Dynasty especially from eleventh to thirteenth centuries A.D. Along with the passage of time, the idea of tian is extended into a cluster of concepts, such as tiandi (Heaven and Earth), tianming (the mandate of Heaven), tianyi (the will of Heaven), tiandao (the way of Heaven), xianxia (the land under Heaven), and among many others. I hereby look into three of them that I think are more important and relevant to the general concern of humankind nowadays. They are tiandi as Nature, tiandao as the Heavenly Way, and tianxia as all under heaven, thus consisting of the threefold significance in the Chinese notion of heaven-human oneness.
1.1.1 Tiandi and Its Naturalistic Aspects
The literal translation of tiandi is “heaven and earth” that make up the universe or Nature as a whole. The use of the term is of high frequency in many Chinese classics, and almost always set in a context where Nature and humankind are interrelated.
In the book of Zhuangzi (Chuang-tzu), for instance, we read the following: “Heaven and Earth and I came into existence together, and the myriad things with me are one.”1 “Heaven and Earth have great beauty but remain in silence…. The myriad things have perfect principles but say nothing of them. The sage is a person who is in pursuit of the great beauty and the perfect principles.”2 Heaven and Earth are the producer of the myriad things (wanwu). The myriad things take shelter in Heaven and Earth. They all gather together to form up the entirety of Nature that is then synthesized with humankind into oneness. By such oneness, Zhuangzi tries to equalize all things and justify his principle of making no distinction, for he believes that the cosmic order or harmony is to be attained in no other way than this. In many cases, he advises those who attempt to pursue the Dao of absolute freedom and independent personality to follow the course of Nature. This is not simply because Nature operates characteristically in spontaneity or naturalness (zi ran er ran), but because Nature also has great beauty and virtuous silence. Under such circumstances, Nature is not only the place to live and act, but also the object for aesthetic appreciation. Accordingly, the sage as the idealized personality in Daoism is not merely part of Nature, but the discoverer of natural beauty as well. As is discerned in The Happy Excursion and other chapters, Zhuangzi tenders much credit to the aesthetic value of natural beauty owing to its nourishment of spiritual freedom. He is in fact ready to embrace the natural but reject the artificial. Thus, on many occasions he bestows the natural with joyous charm whereas the artificial with evil distortion, for instance, the bull tamed by man for plowing. All this leads to his philosophizing of aesthetic naturalism.
When it comes to Dong Zhongshu’s Rich Dews in Spring and Autumn (Chunqiu fanlu), the natural beauty is said to embody the harmony of Heaven and Earth, and anyone who has a peaceful mind and right conduct is able to nourish his body by means of this beauty.3 In a rather affectionate tone, Dong assumes that Nature is the “grandfather of man,” making man as man as it bears the virtue of humaneness or benevolence (ren).4 It follows that Nature and man share a strong resemblance. For example, Nature has the sun and the moon, man has the left and right eye; Nature has four seasons, and man has four limbs; and Nature has four kinds of emotional power such as joy revealed in spring, happiness in summer, anger in autumn, sorrow in winter, and so is the case with man. Nature and man are therefore one in a classificatory sense. Accordingly, there arises a harmonious order when man identifies himself with Nature. There arises terrible disorder when man separates himself from Nature.5 The above comparison is ostensibly far-fetched and logically ridiculous. But, it aims to remind humankind of their dependent position and inborn connection with Nature. The emphasis on the strong resemblance between Nature and man is not meaningless at all since it serves at least to let man attend to Nature as much as he attends to himself. This is hopefully conducive to necessary respect and emotional caring for Nature. Historically, Dong is the first to coin the concept of heaven-human oneness that is seen as a milestone regarding the relations between Nature and humankind in Chinese thought. Somewhat like Zhuangzi, Dong acknowledges the natural beauty underlined by the principle of proper harmony. But, he finds such beauty beneficial in a number of ways. It is not merely aesthetically satisfying, but physically rewarding and morally generating. In other words, it satisfies aesthetic needs, nurtures the body, and facilitates the becoming of man as man by its rich resources and varied functions. However, Dong’s preoccupation like this represents a mystical naturalism. For his approach to the oneness is essentially based on the school of Yin and Yang, his personification of Heaven exemplifies a kind of mystification instead of divination, and likewise, his contemplation of natural beauty reveals some mystical rapture.
Mencius is one of the early Chinese thinkers who promote the notion of heaven-human oneness. He perceives the above notion mainly in view of Confucianism. He therefore seeks to maintain a balance by exposing the reciprocal interaction between the two sides. From a cognitive perspective, Mencius claims that “One who has exhausted his mental constitution knows his own nature. Knowing his own nature, he knows Heaven. To preserve his mental constitution, and nourish his own nature, is the way to serve Heaven.”6 This argument shows how man and heaven interact with each other. On the part of man in particular, it requires a sense of mission and more initiative not only to develo...