Keywords

There are both classical and modern forms of the doctrine of gongsheng 共生. In a modern context, European and American academics have created many theoretical forms and paradigms regarding gongsheng. We can see modern interpretations of gongsheng in Alain Caillé’s “Convivialist Manifesto,” in which he considers the numerous problems of coexistence, as well as in the core idea of gongsheng behind the Chinese government’s concept of a “community with a shared future for mankind” (人类命运共同体). Therefore, the discussion of gongsheng has its modern relevance. In recent times, due to the influence of “modern” concepts and systems, many societies have put more emphasis on values like personal freedom and rights, which on the one hand has caused modern societies to prosper, but on the other hand has also led to ecological damage. Thus, our current society’s emphasis on gongsheng demands a change in the re-prioritization of our values: When confronted with ecological and environmental problems, values like personal freedom and human rights should be regarded as secondary concerns. How humanity can “coexist” with others should become a first-order concern—a principal value—of modern humankind’s entire value system and rules for survival. This is because without our planet and its layers of atmosphere that support us, there can be no civilization to speak of. In this sense, modern values must be appropriately adjusted to the doctrine of gongsheng, moving us away from the mainstream industrialized and capitalist ideology to accommodate the gongsheng needs of humanity.

Chinese civilization has a long cultural tradition of gongsheng thought. In particular, the doctrine of gongsheng seen in “the oneness of consummate conduct” (yiti zhiren 一体之仁) of Song-Ming Confucianism—which absorbed much of Buddhist and Daoist thought—can help us understand the values of gongsheng in a multidimensional, multilayered way. Neo-Confucianism of the Song and Ming eras established a new doctrine known as the “unity of consummate conduct (ren 仁) and things (wu 物)” (仁者与物同体) which expanded the fundamental humane-love (ren ai 仁爱) and filial piety of Confucianism to encompass not just one’s blood relations but everything in the world, forming a new cosmic order for dealing with one’s family, fellow humans, and the wu (myriad things or beings) that one shares the earth with. In this way, the doctrine surpasses the crude “interactions between heaven and mankind” (tianren ganying 天人感应) proposed by the Han dynasty Confucian scholar Dong Zhongshu 董仲舒 (179–104 BCE), creating something that we might call the “Song-Ming Neo-Confucian doctrine of gongsheng.”

Zhang Zai’s “Theory of Foundational Qi” and the Gongsheng Doctrine

As a form of systematic thought or philosophical paradigm, the gongsheng doctrine is rich in content, which includes ethics and natural science. It comprises the perspectives of ecology, economics, and politics, as well as those of ethics and philosophy. In the context of Chinese traditional thought, the “theory of foundational qi” (qiben lun 气本论) and the idea of “universal camaraderie” (minbao wuyu 民胞物与) by the Song dynasty Neo-Confucianist Zhang Zai 张载 (1020–1077) can be considered as a type of philosophy and ethics of gongsheng. Zhang Zai expanded the Confucian concept of love for one’s blood relations to a universal scale, describing the natural world as one’s parents:

The sky is my father and the earth is my mother. I minutely exist, intermingled in their midst. Thus, that which fills up nature I regard as my body, and that which directs nature I consider as my capacity to resonate. All people are my brothers and sisters, and all things are my companions.Footnote 1

This expresses the Song dynasty’s Neo-Confucian understanding of the gongsheng doctrine’s ideal.

This gongsheng ideal is philosophical, not religious. The metaphysical philosophy behind it is “the theory of foundational qi,” which in other words, serves as a basis for gongsheng doctrine concerning a philosophy for the natural world. In the text Zheng Meng (正蒙), Zhang Zai wrote: “The great void is formless. The essence of qi can congeal (ju 聚) and disperse (san 散), thus accounting for the way things appear to change.”Footnote 2

In Zhang Zai’s view, things change through the power of qi, which, “though it is intangible, can condense to create images.” He claimed that “things in the world have antagonistic opposites but they will move in the opposite directions, and the antagonism will eventually be resolved by coming together responsively.”Footnote 3

This ideal of a vast harmonization (taihe 太和) perfectly describes the world of qi. However, this symbiotic world composed of qi is not a realm of serenity and calm; it includes what is known as “attacking” (gong 攻) and “seizing” (qu 取)—the various struggles among people and animals in the world. But even these aggressive actions are a part of the natural order, as humankind forms its “ritual propriety” (li 礼) on the basis of this type of behavior, hence forming the order of human lives.

First of all, the natural transformation of qi expresses the gongsheng concept that “nothing exists in isolation” (物无孤立之理). Though there is antagonism between living creatures, none of them are alone. In the “Animals” chapter (dongwu pian 动物篇) of Zheng Meng, Zhang Zai wrote: “Nothing exists independently. The dualities of similarity and dissimilarity, contraction and extension, and beginning and end, give rise to all things (wu).”

Zhang Zai saw the gongsheng among all things as the principle of their existence.Footnote 4 The theory that “nothing exists in isolation” expresses the idea of ecological balance of nature, showing us how things multiply or decrease in response to one another. The discharge of one type of energy displaces another type, thus creating a new imbalance.

Furthermore, there is a “common origin of myriad things” (wanwu yiyuan 万物一元) character to the “naturally governed” (tianxu 天序) transformations of qi. The resulting principle, that “one cannot wantonly arrogate things for oneself” (非我之得而私焉) presents a problem for gongsheng ethics. Ethically, the doctrine of gongsheng advocates for anti-selfishness: Given that humanity and the world coexist in a state of gongsheng, one cannot possess everything privately. This idea is at odds with the modern emphasis on individual ownership of property rights. The ethics of gongsheng is contrary to the principles of individualism, human rights, and property ownership. Thus, it is critical that we find a way to use the ethics of gongsheng to modify or revise these modern views.

Finally, owing to the gongsheng ethical issues based on Zhang Zai’s theory of foundational qi, he was always wary of people’s “material desires” (wu yu 物欲). On the one hand, he said that our sensory desires are an expression of the aggressive “seizing” nature of qi. However, on the other hand, we must also ensure that these desires do not compromise our moral character. Many environmental problems that humans face are caused by the excessive pursuit of sensual desires facilitated by the capitalist system and culture. According to Zhang Zai, the influence of “qi’s substance” (qizhi zhixing 气质之性) often leads to moral biases; thus, the ethical wisdom of “the oneness of consummate conduct” must be used to guide our desires. We cannot forsake our moral adherence to unitary benevolence because of our personal desires. In his gongsheng ethics, Zhang Zai, based on his natural philosophical “theory of foundational qi,” demands that we overcome our selfishness and inflated material desires. This way of thinking is a deep ethical and survival attitude that must be promoted when speaking of the doctrine of gongsheng.

The “Foundational Patterning (Li) Theory” of the Cheng Brothers and Gongsheng

The two Cheng brothers, Cheng Hao 程颢 (1032–1085) and his brother Cheng Yi 程颐 (1033–1107), were Neo-Confucian thinkers of the Song dynasty. They—and particularly Cheng Hao’s theory of “foundational patterning”Footnote 5 (liben lun 理本论)—are a representative characteristic of the ethical dimensions of gongsheng. Cheng Hao believed that “a consummate person (ren zhe 仁者) strives to be one with myriad things.” The idea of “the oneness of consummate conduct” is, first of all, an epistemological issue. In the text On Discerning Consummate Conduct (shiren pian 识仁篇), Cheng Hao suggests that: “A scholar must first understand consummate conduct. One who is consummate completely unites with things.”Footnote 6

Cheng Hao believed that one who wishes to embody the Chinese virtue of consummate conduct (ren) must first understand how they are interrelated with everything they share the world with. And, furthermore, one must keep this principle close to one’s heart, and practice it in in one’s life. Thus, in Cheng Hao’s philosophy, understanding consummate conduct relates to morality, and morality is what connects people with the universe.

Concisely put, the “consummate conduct” spoken of by the Northern Song Neo-Confucianists is somewhat different from the idea of “consummate person loves others” (renzhe airen 仁者爱人) of pre-Qin Confucianism. The former’s conception of ren, which emphasizes the oneness of all things, is a result of absorbing Buddhist and Daoist philosophies. Neo-Confucianism thinkers like the Cheng brothers and Zhu Xi 朱熹 (1130–1200) borrowed from the ancient Yi Jing 易经 (Book of Changes). The “ceaseless generating and procreating, that is meant by ‘change’”Footnote 7 (shengsheng zhi wei yi 生生之谓易) as described in the Yi Jing is an important element of the Cheng brothers’ concept of “the oneness of consummate conduct.” Based on this conception, the world of “oneness of consummate conduct” is one which is constantly changing and full of vitality. Cheng Hao thinks that “the ceaseless generating and procreating meant by ‘change’ is the Dao of tianFootnote 8; the Dao of tian is based on procreating.”Footnote 9

The shengsheng and “oneness of consummate conduct” concepts do not reflect ephemeral immediacy or instancy, but rather a continuous world linking “past, present, and future” timescales. It was the shengsheng concept that motivated Zhou Dunyi 周敦颐 (1017–1073) to respect the myriad living beings through his thinking and actions, and to refrain from cutting the grass before his window (不除窗前草), as it showed him that the grass is just as alive as we are. Similarly, it was said that after encountering hungry beggars, Zhang Zai thenceforth ate only meager meals himself, reasoning that he could not indulge while knowing that others were hungry. The ability to recognize “the life force of myriad things” is an important part of the Neo-Confucian shengsheng concept. Gongsheng’s emphasis that even the most microscopic creatures are brimming with life is the qualitative and vital requirement for the survival of living things.

Additionally, there is a moral sensibility to the Cheng brothers’ “oneness of consummate conduct” that emphasizes moral empathy, an idea that is markedly different from modern and contemporary Western thought—in particular, the ethics of Kant’s rationalism. From a Confucian perspective, it is bizarre that Kant’s ethics would place sympathy outside of morality, because the “oneness of consummate conduct” is a fundamental mark of human morality. According to the Cheng brothers, the unity and sensibility of morality is what characterizes the state of human consciousness. In traditional Chinese medicine, if a person's limbs are paralyzed it means that the blood and meridians are obstructed (bu tong 不通), which means that the limbs are not consummate. Thus, the idea of consummate conduct and the health of one’s body are integrated—whether a person’s qi and blood are flowing or not. The evocative image of a paralyzed body is used to analogize the state of “in-consummate conduct” (bu ren 不仁) and promote the idea of the unity of myriad things, as well as the moral sympathy arising from the affection that is generated between people, providing an embodied intuitive perception of the abstract moral empathy. Thus, the Neo-Confucian doctrine of gongsheng is not just a theoretical or scientific description; it is more of a moral affection and a moral self-awareness that demands us to regard dissimilar existents with moral sympathy. If we lack this moral awareness or sensibility, then the doctrine of gongsheng is stuck in the realm of rationality, and this, according to the Cheng brothers, is not ideal.

One of the unique aspects of the Cheng brothers’ philosophy is how they differentiate between two ways of looking at things: “looking at myriad things from the perspective of humanity” (从人观万物) and “looking at humanity from the perspective of myriad things” (从万物观人). Their idea of “oneness of consummate conduct” stresses the fact that nothing exists outside of the purview of tian and earth, and that humans exist in between tian and earth; thus, the position that humanity occupies is no superior to that of myriad things. Hence, we must go beyond the human perspective when thinking of how everything is interconnected, and we must instead see this from a supra-human viewpoint. In the Dingxing Shu (定性书), the Cheng brothers explain as follows:

The eternal [Dao] of tian and earth is to distribute their heart-mind (xin) among myriad things without having their own will; the eternal [Dao] of sages is to adjust their emotions to abide by myriad things without having one’s own feelings. Therefore, the noble person strives to be just and capaciously accepting, adapting to the changing world.Footnote 10

The character of the sage is as expansive as the universe, and he does not change the way he regards things in the world depending on whether they are good or evil. Laozi also said that “everything is concealed in Dao; the virtuous man cherishes it, and the inept man is safeguarded by it.”Footnote 11

Thus, in this view, there must be two perspectives of the unity of people and everything in the world: the transcendental perspective of the sage and the perspective of Dao that Laozi speaks of. From the perspective of tian, humans, as a species in the world, flow from the same source as everything else in the world. Tian sees nothing special about humanity as such, and thus it is said that: “there is nothing inside nor beyond tian and Earth (天地无内外). Humanity is no different from everything else that exists.”

But at the same time, the Cheng brothers stressed that “humans are the heart-mind of tian and earth,” that humans bear responsibility toward things in the world, as “there is nothing among the myriad things that do not exist in its proper (natural) place— this is tian’s patterning in equilibrium.” This is similar to what was stated in Taiping Jing (太平经), which says that “the Great Peace means all things are unharmed.”Footnote 12 In this sense, there is an inherent connection between the Cheng brothers’ philosophy and Daoism. This shows that the Neo-Confucian concept of “the benevolent unity of all things” contains elements of Buddhist and Daoist thought.

Although Zhang Zai and the Cheng brothers differed in their philosophical views on the fundamental substance of reality (Zhang believed it was qi; the Cheng brothers believed it was li), they converged in their views regarding gongsheng and the unity of all things. Regarding the gongsheng doctrine, the Cheng brothers claimed that:

Tian’s patterning is supreme; that nothing could arise with only yin nor yang exclusively; if it is crooked, one would end up as animals or barbarians, and that those who achieve a balance of yin and yang are humans (ren).Footnote 13

This position belies a predilection for ethnic chauvinism, which shows that there are certain issues in classical Confucianism that we must be cautious and think critically about.

Wang Yangming’s “Oneness of Consummate Conduct” and the Gongsheng of All Myriad Things

The theory of “oneness of consummate conduct” by Wang Yangming 王阳明 (1472–1529) is a classic example of the Confucian doctrine of gongsheng in the Ming era. This “oneness of consummate conduct” can be elucidated on three major levels. Firstly, from the perspective of microbiology and ecology, humans have a unitary relationship with everything in the world. Secondly, there is the ethical belief in Neo-Confucianism that all creatures are related as if they were “one family under tian” (tianxia yijia 天下一家); and, from this, that all people should morally regard each other with affection and care. Scholars and the learned must especially cultivate their sympathy and capacity to love others. The third level is that of moral agents with subjective perception and self-awareness. Since the subject is a moral agent with innate knowing (liangzhi 良知)Footnote 14 that can perceive and is self-aware, all things are illuminated by the light of civilization. Without the light of human morality, the gongsheng state of unity that exists in microbiological and ecological environments can only ever be a dim, uncivilized gongsheng, which, according to Wang Yangming’s thought, is meaningless. On this level, Wang’s philosophy of gongsheng warns us that our modern idea of symbiosis based on ecological technology should not make humans revert to our primitive beginnings in which our unity with nature was primitive. Rather, the light of human civilization should imbue it with the character of human civilization, creating a state of gongsheng characterized by the moral, subjective perception, and self-awareness of all people and things living in harmony. A thoroughly naturalistic view of ecology and gongsheng is actually undesirable and unattainable. From a Marxist perspective, this involves inherently unifying “naturalized personhood” and “personified nature.” Thus, Wang Yangming’s ideal of the “oneness of consummate conduct,” which is based on “innate knowing” and the doctrine of gongsheng that it reflects, can still prove spiritually enlightening for modern people today.

Let us analyze the third level of the “oneness of consummate conduct” mentioned above. First of all, looking at people and everything in the world from the level of qi, people and the world are joined by a primordial connection. Wang Yangming wrote about the connection between the appearance of the world and “innate knowing” as well as human perception, noting that:

As heaven [tian] and earth open up again, all the myriad things reveal themselves and grow. With man also, the ears and eyes now see and hear, and all apertures are open. This is the time when the wonderful functioning of innate knowledge starts. From this we can see that the human mind and [tian] and earth form one body. Therefore, “it forms the same current above and below with that of [tian] and earth.”Footnote 15

This current is expressed as the communication through qi. Wang Yangming expanded on the idea of “innate knowing” so that myriad things possess it. The reason that people and things in the world can resonate with one another is that they both possess the spirit of qi. Regarding the ethical dimension of this unity, Wang Yangming wrote that:

Is there any suffering or bitterness of the great masses that is not disease or pain in my own body? Those who are not aware of the disease and pain in their own body are people without the sense of right and wrong.Footnote 16

Thus, Wang Yangming’s “oneness of consummate conduct” is similar to that of Zhang Zai and the Cheng brothers on an ethical and moral basis. These thinkers differ in their conception of gongsheng in that Wang Yangming emphasizes the “spiritual acuity” (lingming 灵明) of the individual or subject. This acuity refers to the moral awareness of the original unity between everything in the world, an awareness that allows the wondrous aspects of supernatural beings to appear. The statement that “people are the heart-mind (xin) of the universe” (人是天地之心) means that the heart-mind of the universe is the human acuity. Without this acuity, everything exists in a state of dimness; without the human acuity shining its light on the flow of qi, there would be no meaning.

Wang Yangming believed that people are united with the world and everything in it. They are connected by qi, not by relationships of causality, and spiritual acuity is needed to illuminate the state of gongsheng. Without the light of moral civilization, the unitary gongsheng state is benighted and senseless. In Wang’s Instructions for Practical Living 传习录 (Chuanxi Lu), when replying to his friend’s skepticism over his proposition that “nothing exists outside the heart-mind,” there is a fantastic contemplative discourse whereby he gave this example:

Before you look at these flowers, they and your mind are in the state of silent vacancy. As you come to look at them, their colors at once show up clearly. From this, you can know that these flowers are not external to your mind.Footnote 17

But this relationship between the flower and the mind cannot be viewed through the lens of Western philosophy, with Descartes’ and Engel’s understanding of the relationship between existence and cognition. It must be viewed from the perspective of the gongsheng doctrine, which explains human civilization as a sort of “light” that illuminates nature and emphasizes human perception and self-awareness as moral agents. Using human civilization to illuminate the gongsheng status of humanity gives the symbiotic interconnectedness of all things the sense and significance of civilization. Thus, the doctrine of gongsheng does not mean simply returning to pure nature. In this sense, the ethical aspect of gongsheng in Wang’s thought has something the Cheng brothers and Zhang Zai lack, but it is precisely this content relevant to the modern time that the doctrine of gongsheng must preserve and promote.

Conclusion

The gongsheng doctrine is something that we humans need in order to get along with one another as we enter a new phase of globalization. The “New Tianxia System” proposed by the contemporary Chinese philosopher Zhao Tingyang is also an attempt to revitalize ancient Chinese political philosophy concepts, in order to provide an answer from political science and sociology to the problem of human coexistence in a new phase of globalization. In recent years, the Chinese government has proposed the concept of a “community with a shared future for mankind.” In fact, this concept represents the gongsheng ideal proposed by modern Chinese politicians. How should we coexist? This is both a political issue for the international community, and an ecological issue that needs to be seriously regarded by all of humanity. This ecological issue both involves and transcends politics, and thus should concern everybody who calls the earth their home. If we connect the gongsheng doctrine with the proposition of Gu Yanwu 顾炎武 (1613–1682) that “it is the ordinary people who are responsible for the rise and fall of nations” (天下兴亡, 匹夫有责) we might say that even though each person’s power and abilities are limited, and the quality of the world and society is inextricably linked with every individual human. Thus, human beings need to exercise each person’s moral capacity and rational understanding as well as our practical skills, to make the gongsheng concept, which has been inspired by the “oneness of myriad things,” a reality, and strive to imbue the state of gongsheng with the light of spiritual acuity. This is perhaps the significance of the Chinese Song-Ming Neo-Confucian ethics of gongsheng for our current generation.

This article is translated by Thomas Garbarini and Jin Young Lim.