The Neo-Confucian Transmoral Dimension of Zhu Xi's Moral

Thought
Diana Arghirescu

Philosophy East and West, Volume 69, Number 1, January 2019, pp. 52-70
(Article)

Published by University of Hawai'i Press

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/pew.2019.0025

For additional information about this article

https://muse.jhu.edu/article/724194

Access provided at 11 Aug 2019 09:12 GMT from Columbia University Libraries
 THE NEO-CONFUCIAN TRANSMORAL DIMENSION OF ZHU XI’S
MORAL THOUGHT

Diana Arghirescu
Observatoire de l’Asie de l’Est, Université du Québec à Montréal
arghirescu.diana@uqam.ca

This essay is an examination of the perception during the Song dynasty of

moral life and human nature as reflected in the moral thought of Zhu Xi
朱熹 (1130–1200). It is based on the assumption that for every historical
period there is a corresponding particular type of morality.1 The thesis that
this analysis defends is the existence of an immanent transmoral dimension
within Neo-Confucian morality. This dimension is fully immanent as a
constantly present grounding of the individual. It is also fully transmoral as a
capacity that enables the individual to surpass conventional notions of
morality or moral norms and practices, and to reach the ultimate source
of morality. The latter is inward but anchored in a higher order (nature or
heaven). This implies entering into oneself in order to acquire the ability to
go beyond. The prefix “trans” suggests the action of surpassing and the result
of transformation of oneself, while at the same time highlighting the
continuity of this process of individual change, which requires entering into
the depths of the “inside,” integrating it, and finally expanding “beyond.”
Within the holistic context of Zhu Xi’s thought, the notion of transmoral
seems more relevant than concepts habitually used—such as metaphysical
or transcendent—which evoke a separation, a dissociation between the two
orders of reality, that is, the ordinary and the higher.
The specific functions of this dimension are explored in Zhu Xi’s
Collected Commentaries on the Great Learning (Daxue zhangju 大學章句),
his Collected Commentaries on the Analects (Lunyu jizhu 論語集注), and his
Collected Commentaries on the Zhongyong (Zhongyong zhangju 中庸章句). I
argue that this presence of the transmoral within the moral in Zhu Xi’s thought
represents a specific contribution of Song Neo-Confucianism to the Confucian
tradition. My analysis considers this argument from three standpoints: the
moral imperative (and its central notions of the coherence principle [li 理]
and authentic nature [xing 性]); the moral demand (and its related concept of
natural rectitude [cheng 誠]); and the moral motivation [and its relevant idea
of insight/knowledge [zhi 知]). All three concepts—moral imperative, moral
demand, and moral motivation—are main pillars of moral thought, irrespec-
tive of culture. My philosophical translations of these Neo-Confucian terms
constitute particular interpretive choices, which reflect Zhu Xi’s ideas
expressed in the above-mentioned commentaries and explained in their
respective sections. They convey a cross-cultural correspondence that reflects

52 Philosophy East & West Volume 69, Number 1 January 2019 52–70
© 2019 by University of Hawai‘i Press
a double analysis: of the etymology of the Western terms proposed, and of
the graphic etymology of the Chinese characters according to the Shuowen
jiezi 說文解字 dictionary. Thus, they echo the results of recent research in
which scholars illustrate that Zhu Xi’s concepts are multidimensional and
polysemic, while providing further analysis of his philosophical vocabulary.2 I
consider this translation process of Zhu Xi’s work as an exercise in
intercultural hermeneutics and in philosophy as translation, as well as an act
of what Paul Ricoeur called “linguistic hospitality.”3
The theoretical framework I use draws inspiration from Paul Tillich’s
philosophical approach concerning the relation between spirit, morality, and
the transmoral. I have chosen Tillich’s work because he built a neutral
theory of the “transmoral” sources of morality that serves different cultures.
It provides a good theoretical tool for me to investigate Zhu Xi’s thought and
bring to light new dimensions of it. In a sense, my approach is comple-
mentary to Mou Zongsan’s approach. Mou uses Kant’s moral theory as a
methodological tool in order to better examine Neo-Confucianism, Bud-
dhism, and their interaction. I am following a similar approach, but starting
from the Western side, with the intention to initiate a transcultural dialogue
between Chinese and Western moral thought. I am also using Tillich’s
methodological tool in order to better highlight particular details of Zhu Xi’s
moral thought as well as its deep coherence. The Western tool and the Neo-
Confucian content participate here in a cooperative transcultural project
whose goal is to promote cross-cultural communication in the moral domain.
I believe that the encounter between Neo-Confucian moral thought and this
Western theoretical tool will greatly improve Western moral philosophy and
ethics. I think the latter can learn from Neo-Confucian philosophy.
The following notions have particular meanings for Tillich: “spirit” is a
natural quality of humans; “morality” is the constitution of the bearer of the
spirit; “religious” or “spiritual” is a universal, cross-cultural notion describing
“the state of being grasped by an ultimate concern, by an infinite interest, by
something one takes unconditionally seriously.” Using this conceptual
framework, Tillich identifies the presence of a transmoral dimension within
morality, and defines it in a culturally neutral way as the condition in which
one observes and judges oneself “not in obedience to a moral law, but
according to one’s participation in a reality that transcends the sphere of
moral commands.”4 In other words, it involves having a sense of being
embedded in a whole, connected with a higher order. I argue that these
notions are also relevant in the context of Zhu Xi’s moral thought, and I
adopt them in my present attempt to shed light on the transmoral sources of
Zhu Xi’s perspective on morality. In what follows, the notions of transmoral
and spiritual are used interchangeably. The two concern the access to a
subtle stage of moral human development that encompasses and surpasses
the ordinary pre-conventional or pre-moral level (i.e., the stage of rules and
expectations clearly established through the force of authority) and the

Diana Arghirescu 53
 conventional level (i.e., the level reached by individuals who bring their
behavior into conformity with the expectations of their community).5

I. Introduction: The Transmoral Dimension of Moral Thought and the Song

Dynasty Context

To begin with, let’s take a general look at the similarities between Tillich’s
above-mentioned concepts and Zhu Xi’s view. They will be developed one
by one in the following sections. In his Zhongyong zhangju, zhang 1, Zhu
Xi highlights a moral agent’s natural participation in a higher order present
in nature, his “innate goodness” (本然之善), and the fact that without self-
cultivation he is usually not aware of his belonging to this order. Zhu Xi
“hopes that the disciples will return within themselves to look for the way in
order to achieve this transformation from the inside, eliminate temptations
coming from outside, and thus recover their innate goodness” (蓋欲學者於此
反求諸身而自得之, 以 去夫外誘之私, 而充其本然之善).6 In Zhu Xi’s terms,
this innate goodness is the embodiment of a coherence principle (li 理), or
authentic nature (xing 性), which is “transmoral” in Tillich’s terms because it
is a natural quality that heaven bestows to humans, through which one’s
participation in the higher natural order becomes effective, that is, causally
operative, in one’s moral actions. In this moral context, the translation
“coherence principle” for the term li 理 is etymologically justified: the Latin
cohaerentia, “organic order, structure,” emphasizes the quality of constitut-
ing a unified whole, and the Latin principium, “source, foundations,” has a
moral resonance, exactly as does li.
When one gains awareness about this dimension, Zhu Xi explains, one’s
participation in it becomes one’s inner moral force, and one becomes just
like the sages, whose actions are naturally good because they fully
understand everything from birth, naturally follow moral rules, and consti-
tute the model for future generations (Zhongyong zhangju, zhong 32: 惟聖
人之德極誠無妄, 故於人倫各盡其當然之實, 而皆可以為天下後世法). When
rules are followed naturally, this means that they all come simultaneously
from within and from above, namely from one’s awareness of belonging to a
higher order. Also, the idea of following “moral rules” (renlun 人倫)
implicitly makes reference to the moral imperative, moral demand, and
moral motivation. The moral imperative is the inner demand to make active
and efficient one’s innate authentic nature. The moral motivation amounts to
the driving power of the complete good one aims for, searches for, “settles
into and does not back down from” (止者, 必至於是而不遷之意 . . . 當至於
至善之地而不遷) (Daxue zhangju, jing). The moral demand represents the
authoritative moral requirements that ask to be fulfilled by the moral agent.
In Zhu Xi’s moral thought, they take the form of a potential awareness of the
universally valid norms that humans possess innately, but become “distorted
by culture, education, and existential experiences,”7 or, in Neo-Confucian

54 Philosophy East & West

terms, clouded and blocked by various degrees of coarseness of the vital
breath (qi 氣):
Even if humans’ authentic nature is entirely good, the vital breath received by
each one is distinct. For this reason, some understand the Dao earlier, others
later. Some put it into practice with difficulty, others easily. However, if all are
able to continue without stopping and with firmness, to the end, the result will
always be the same.
蓋人性雖無不善, 而氣稟有不同者, 故聞道有蚤莫, 行道有難易, 然能 自強不息,
則其至一也。8

In section two below, I suggest a possible reason why, during the Song
dynasty, Neo-Confucians—and Zhu Xi in particular—took a great interest in
transmoral perception. As reflected in their historical writings, Song Neo-
Confucians considered the calamities they witnessed as clear evidence that
ancient Confucianism was not particularly effective as a moral practice.9
Consequently, probably also under the influence of Chan Buddhism, Zhu
Xi’s School of Principle (Lixue 理學) and his Masters from the Northern
Song10 introduced this spiritual dimension in order to make Confucian moral
action effective. The idea behind my interpretation is that they considered
moral thought as the engine of political and social action, and introduced
into it a transmoral or spiritual source, a higher imperative, demand, and
motivation, in order to overcome the ineffective moralism and the struggle
to obey externally imposed moral commands. This argument supports Yu
Ying-shih’s 余英時 explanation of Zhu Xi’s Confucianism as learning that
aims to unify “external kingliness” (waiwang 外王) and “internal sageliness”
(neisheng 內聖),11 and to build an essential moral/transmoral basis for
increasing the efficiency of moral leaders and moral government. One could
call this the Neo-Confucian ideal of good governance.

II. The Transmoral Dimension of the Moral Imperative:

The Coherence Principle and Authentic Nature

Tillich describes the moral imperative in general as “the demand to become

actually what one is essentially and therefore potentially.”12 Thus defined, the
moral imperative is obviously at the heart of Neo-Confucian moral thought,
because the latter focuses on one’s effort to become aware of the presence
within oneself of the moral principle of coherence, li. When understood in this
way, the moral imperative embodies one’s power to refine oneself, imparted
to oneself by nature. Realizing the moral imperative amounts to a serious and
urgent inner command to engage in self-cultivation, and is carried out by
learning to experience this pre-existing inner force within and to cultivate it
through moral action. In Zhu Xi’s terms, this power is the “coherence
principle,” li,13 bestowed by heaven, that each and every one has the duty to
clear of obstruction and to activate within one’s heart-mind.

Diana Arghirescu 55
 Although at the visible level, sentient beings appear as distinctively
different and isolated from each other, according to Zhu Xi and his School
of Principle they all participate, at a profound level, in a common coherence
principle of heaven (tianli 天理). In his introductory note to the Zhongyong
zhangju, zhang 1, Zhu Xi quotes Master Cheng, who explains the nature of
this principle as a dimension of a higher order that transcends the per-
ceptible level of determinate things, although all things do participate in it:
This writing begins by evoking a unique natural principle of coherence, li. It
dissipates itself in ten thousand things and events, and they finally return to it.
This principle dissipates itself and fills the world, wraps itself, and pulls itself
back so as to set itself aside in a remote place.
其書始言一理, 中散 為萬事, 末復合為一理, 放之則彌六合, 卷之則退藏於密。14
Therefore, according to this passage, li as the spiritual/transmoral dimension
dwells at the very heart of the real world, of humans, and manifests itself as
a profound unity (“it dissipates itself . . . and returns to itself”) that brings
into contact the indeterminate number of sentient beings, all of whom share
this common coherence principle of heaven as their collective “root” (天理
之本然) (Zhongyong zhangju, zhang 1; ZZQS 6:33). Heaven is the one that
confers upon individuals their distinctive coherence principle or authentic
nature (性, 即理也) (Zhongyong zhangju, zhang 1; ZZQS 6:32). That being
so, xing functions as one’s moral imperative by urging one to pursue one’s
self-cultivation. In the holistic texture of living beings, their vital breath (qi
氣), which is their “efflorescence” (mo 末) dimension (i.e., perceptible
functionality), encompasses within it the “root” (ben 本) dimension (i.e.,
essentiality). The latter is present as xing, and therefore is indissociable from
perceptible qualities; in other words, it transcends and integrates them.
In the Zhuzi yulei, juan 4, this characteristic is illustrated by Zhu Xi as
follows:
The authentic nature xing, or the root ben, of humans and other sentient beings
is the same; however, the vital breath qi received by each of them is different.
Authentic nature is like clear water: when poured into a white bowl it appears
white; when poured into a black bowl it appears black; when poured into a
blue bowl the inside of the bowl appears blue. . . . For humans and all other
beings, the coherence principle li, which heaven-nature bestows on them at
birth, is never different. Differences exist only at the level of what each one
takes for oneself. The authentic nature is like a single river; when one goes to
the river with a ladle to fetch water, one gets only a ladle of water; when one
goes with a bowl, one gets a bowl; if one goes with a bucket or a jar, one
naturally gets water depending on one’s capacities and one’s container. This is
also why the coherence principle manifests differently depending on the
aforementioned differences.15

In other words, there is a unique authentic nature, that is, a unique

coherence principle; however, one needs to reach the higher levels of

56 Philosophy East & West

self-development in order to make it manifest within oneself and to become
aware of its uniqueness. At lower levels of development, people initially
gain only an awareness of the existence within themselves of individual,
separate natures and coherence principles (the differently colored bowls of
water), which are blends of the unique li, or the unique xing (the single
river) with various qi (the differently colored bowls). They are not aware that
inside themselves there also exists the same clear water coming from the
unique river. Reality is unchanged. In this passage, Zhu Xi illustrates that
what continuously changes due to self-development is each individual’s
personal perception and way of experiencing this reality. By using this
image, Zhu Xi stresses the obligation, that is, the moral imperative of the
Confucian, to become aware of the existence of the coherence principle as
a “greater good” within oneself and thus to actualize and follow it. It is thus
evident that li (or xing) as the moral imperative bestowed by heaven belongs
to a superior order, that of the greater good, and has, therefore, a transmoral
dimension.
In his Daxue zhangju, zhang 5, Zhu Xi clearly suggests that humans
possess a spiritual/transmoral dimension (ling 靈) existing within their
organic dimension and having the heart as its seat (“the marvelous [spiritual]
power [i.e., efficacy] of every human heart-mind” [人心之靈]).16 According
to its graphic etymology, the term “spiritual” (ling 靈) is a combination of
“shaman” (wu 巫) and “driving rain” (ling 霝). The Shuowen jiezi explains
“shaman” as the ritual dance through which the shaman brings down the
spirits (the rain), and “driving rain” as something beneficent, doing good.
The rain is the symbol of a general good, and has therefore a strong moral
connotation. In Zhu Xi’s moral context, this spiritual efficacy is therefore
equivalent with the transmoral dimension: one has the capacity to bring rain
within oneself, that is, to change and flourish through moral cultivation.
Therefore, Zhu Xi implicitly acknowledges that each human life is a unity of
many dimensions, some potential and some actualized, some dominating
and some dominated.17 In this texture of each life, the Neo-Confucian
coherence principle is one essential dimension, operating in many ways.
One of these ways is as a moral imperative, which has as its source a
transmoral dimension.
Lacking adequate awareness, through their thoughts, feelings, and
actions, humans obscure and render inactive, therefore silent, this moral
imperative or unique coherence principle of heaven that the Zhongyong and
the Great Commentary of the Classic of Changes (Yizhuan) describe in terms
of the way of heaven (tiandao 天道).18 The coherence principle (or authentic
nature) remains a mere latent and unused quality that the individual is
unable to access. For this reason, Confucians consider themselves to be
driven by a demand to make active their authentic natures, which everybody
“has” within in a non-actualized form, for the purpose of taking responsi-
bility for themselves and others, particularly by governing well. In Zhu Xi’s

Diana Arghirescu 57
 view, the source of the moral imperative—the demand to affirm one’s
authentic nature and cultivate one’s innate goodness—is none other than
one’s awareness of one’s belonging to the unique coherence principle.
In what follows I argue that Zhu Xi’s moral imperative to make the
principle of coherence active as an effective source of one’s moral action has
an implicitly transmoral dimension, not only due to the nature of li (as already
noted) but also because, in his view, this moral imperative has an “uncondi-
tional” character. Explained in Tillich’s terms, moral imperative “is the
awareness of our belonging to a dimension that transcends our own finite
freedom and our ability to affirm or to negate ourselves.”19 Therefore, first,
the awareness of this belonging to a higher good is what gives it its
unconditional character. Why, once again, is it an unconditional imperative
for Zhu Xi? In his context, Tillich gives nuances to this general question: “Do I
not have the right to leave my potentialities unfulfilled, . . . to contradict my
essential goodness, and thus to destroy myself?”20 No, Zhu Xi would answer,
because even more than this awareness of belonging, the moral imperative’s
unconditional character stems from the Neo-Confucian purpose of human life,
from “man’s intrinsic aim.”21 This is the second argument in favor of its
unconditional character. “If the aim implies something above finitude and
transitoriness [Tillich clarifies from a typically Western perspective], the
fulfillment of this aim is infinitely significant, or unconditional in its serious-
ness.”22 Leaving aside the Western connotations of the terms “finitude” and
“transitoriness,” his idea, however, is generally valid.
Within the Neo-Confucian moral context, the purpose of human life is
serious and unconditional because it means achieving a state of perfection
similar to the perfection of nature, of its harmonious continuity and
equilibrium within constant change, above ordinary deficiency and fragmen-
tation. In Zhu Xi’s terms, the Neo-Confucian aim of human life is “to assist,
that is to help” (贊, 猶助也) heaven-earth (tiandi 天地, i.e., nature), and
“become united and equal with heaven and earth in a three-dimensional
unity/harmony” (與天地參, 謂與天地並立為三也) (Zhongyong zhangju,
zhang 22). His Neo-Confucian aim is not to overcome finitude and
transitoriness, but to overcome ordinary deficiency and fragmentation. The
awareness of the existence of an unconditional demand coming from
the inner self, urging the moral agent to accomplish this role, constitutes the
transmoral dimension of the moral imperative. This type of demand is
unconditional only because it is transmoral, that is, different from mere
subordination to external moral commands. The latter is often conditional,
sometimes on many factors. Furthermore, the image of the harmony of three
is a description of the Neo-Confucian aim of human life as participation in a
higher order, because the one who is able to participate in this unity is no
longer an ordinary human, but becomes a sage who has the special “power
to assist the movement of heaven-earth, which gives birth and transforms”
(可以贊天地之化育) (Zhongyong zhangju, zhang 22).

58 Philosophy East & West

 By means of his transmoral development, the moral agent gains access
to this level of subtle participation and acquires the means to work together
with heaven and earth to attain their perfection, that is, to effectively
improve and transform the world of day-to-day human activities and
interpersonal relationships. In the present context, transcendence is another
term synonymous with transmoral. Yu Ying-shih considers this kind of
transcendence, which dwells in the human heart and in the activities of
daily living, to be specific to Chinese culture and calls it an “interior
transcendence” (內向超越).23

III. The Transmoral Source of the Moral Demand: Natural Rectitude

This section continues the presentation of evidence supporting the presence of

a transmoral foundation in Zhu Xi’s view concerning morality and of the
analysis of its functions. Having discussed the moral imperative, this part deals
with the issue of moral demand or, more precisely, with the nature of the
source of ethical norms in Zhu Xi’s thought. The following is a justification of
the idea that, according to his Zhongyong zhangju, the origin of these inherent
norms is “natural rectitude” (cheng 誠).24 I call it “natural” (i.e., existing in
nature), first, because, as discussed above, it is grounded in the world of nature,
and second, in order to emphasize the existence of a “moral” nature pervading
the universe, the intimate connection between morality and cosmology is a
focal point of Zhu Xi’s moral thought. As with the coherence principle or
authentic nature, people’s natural rectitude is more or less activated, more or
less incomplete or flawed, that is, insufficiently cleared of obstructions,
depending on the level of self-cultivation and the efforts of the moral agents
themselves. One’s natural rectitude is “complete natural rectitude” (zhicheng
至誠) when it is freed of all obscurations, therefore entirely unveiled to oneself,
that is, when it is completely activated through one’s own actions. The
distinction between cheng and zhicheng will be further clarified.
For the following reasons, one may refer to Zhu Xi’s “natural rectitude”
(cheng 誠) as a “natural transmoral law.” First of all, in his moral thought,
this notion expresses the idea that every human being naturally possesses an
awareness (full of meaning) of the universally valid moral norms. This moral
law not only belongs to the heart-mind of every individual, as the root (ben
本) of each individual’s human authentic nature (誠以心言, 本也) (Zhong-
yong zhangju, zhang 25; ZZQS 6:51), but also constitutes the foundation
(zicheng 自成) of every living thing (誠者物之所以自成) (Zhongyong
zhangju, zhang 25; ZZQS 6:51). Like any law, cheng has first and foremost
a moral dimension, or, in Zhu Xi’s terms, it is “right and without error.” But
it has also a transmoral one, because he considers it “as the root of the
coherence principle of heaven,” which was identified as involving a
transmoral dimension in the previous section (誠者, 真實無妄之謂, 天理之本
然也) (Zhongyong zhangju, zhang 20; ZZQS 6:48).

Diana Arghirescu 59
 The awareness of this moral law (i.e., of ethical rules) is felt and lived as
a self-imposed moral demand, and not as an external commanding moral
law. According to Tillich, the latter is concretized in “conventional rules and
educational principles.”25 Cheng as law and as inner “root” constitutes a
natural system of moral rules, and obviously, as inner awareness, embodies
the demand to pay attention to them, to fulfill them. It is exactly for this
reason that it is transmoral. Only the sage is entirely aware of its inner
presence and therefore pays unforced attention to it, understands its mean-
ing in all its entirety within his heart-mind, and is totally receptive to its
moral demand. This meaningfulness or awareness is non-conceptual direct
understanding. In ordinary people, this awareness is actually distorted or
partly concealed because of the unrefined quality of their vital breath.
The flawless natural transmoral law, which is perceived by Zhu Xi as the
perfect and clear awareness of moral norms and, therefore, as the moral
demand that issues from these norms, is “complete natural rectitude”
(zhicheng 至誠). In the Zhongyong zhangju, zhang 23, Zhu Xi explains that
people usually do not have a “complete natural rectitude,” but a “deficient
natural rectitude” (誠有未至) that includes imperfections described as
“personal inclinations” (si yu 私欲) (Lunyu jizhu 12:1; ZZQS 6:167) and
“dishonesty” (bu shi 不實) (Zhongyong zhangju, zhang 25; ZZQS 6:51).
Clearly, his notion of dishonesty refers to the non-moral, egoistic benefits
that obscure one’s awareness of the natural law and inactivate the natural
moral demand within oneself. In other words, under the influence of these
obstacles, one is not receptive to the inner moral demand—or, simply put,
one has no intention to comply with it.
“Complete natural rectitude” is specific to the heaven-earth, to the sage,
and also to those who become like the sage when successfully and
constantly pursuing lifelong Neo-Confucian cultivation. As a moral demand,
complete natural rectitude is spontaneously and perfectly answered. Zhu Xi
(Zhongyong zhangju, zhang 23; ZZQS 6:50) describes the subtle capacities
one acquires when reaching the level of complete rectitude:

Through accumulation of continuous efforts, it is possible to achieve self-

transformation, to transform others and all the things. The natural rectitude of
the one who achieves this state and maintains it is complete, marvelous, and in
no way different from that of the sage.
積而至於能化, 則其至誠之妙, 亦不異於聖人矣。

This excerpt further reinforces the above-noted assertion that complete

natural rectitude is a natural moral law, which manifests itself as insight and,
therefore, as a self-addressed demand. It is understood that the source of this
demand is transmoral exactly because the response to the demand is not
mere compliance and conformity, but a genuine self-transformation and
transformation of things. The idea of natural transformation also suggests
that no struggle and no authoritative order are necessary to obey the moral

60 Philosophy East & West

demand of rectitude, but rather an intrinsic aspiration to listen to the inner
demand and to experience it, exactly as one experiences being alive. It also
highlights that this demand is not only a moral law but also an omnipresent
force (i.e., a transformative capacity), simultaneously acting outwardly on
the heaven-earth and on interpersonal relationships, and acting inwardly as
a “root or foundation within the heart-mind” (誠以心言, 本也) (Zhongyong
zhangju, zhang 25; ZZQS 6:51).
Thus, the image Zhu Xi uses in the previous quotes to describe one’s
potential of self-transformation suggests that complete natural rectitude as
moral demand has a transmoral nature because the moral agent fulfills it not
“in obedience to a moral law, but according to his participation in a reality
that transcends the sphere of moral commands”26—if I may borrow Tillich’s
terms. Another indication of a transmoral sense is the adjective “marvelous”
(miao 妙). A further argument in support of this quality can be found in
Zhongyong zhangju, zhang 24; ZZQS 6:51, where the power of complete
natural rectitude is explicitly compared with that of “spirits”: “Complete
natural rectitude and the spirits are alike” (至誠如神). In Zhu Xi’s view, this
means that “one who is able to release fully one’s natural rectitude within
oneself and whose heart-mind is completely free of personal inclinations has
the power to discern [read] the faintest trace of warning signs” (然惟誠之至
極, 而無一毫私偽留於心目之間者, 乃能有以察其幾焉) (Zhongyong zhangju,
zhang 24). According to the ancient text of this zhang 24, the power to read
imperceptible warning signs usually belongs to “spirits” (Zhu Xi: guishen
鬼神). Of course, in the Chinese context, the spirits do not pertain to a
“ghostly” realm apart from life, but represent another dimension of life, a
subtler and more powerful form of vital breath, qi.27 In this paragraph, the
signs refer to the imperceptible emergence of personal desires and dishonesty
that makes one’s natural rectitude imperfect and incomplete and therefore
dysfunctional because it is insincere: “As soon as the slightest dishonesty
emerges in one’s heart-mind, even if one’s behavior apparently corresponds to
rectitude, in reality this is as if rectitude was nonexistent” (故人之心一有不實,
則雖有 所為亦如無有) (Zhongyong zhangju, zhang 25; ZZQS 6:51).
In addition, one can say that zhicheng as moral law has a transmoral
source also because it is envisaged as presiding over the order of the whole
natural world, and not only that of the human community. As such, it has
the following specific features, depicted by Zhu Xi:
This complete natural rectitude of the heaven-earth is without interruption.
Through it, each one of the ten thousand things finds its place, its raison d’être.
There is no other law (fa 法) apart from this complete natural rectitude.
天地之至誠無息, 而萬物各得其所也. 自此之外, 固無餘法。 (Lunyu jizhu, 4:15;
ZZQS 6:96)
This description of a movement without interruption, which establishes the
raison d’être of things, closely resembles the organic movement of living

Diana Arghirescu 61
 bodies and the cycle of seasons, and clearly advocates for the natural
character of this law, too. The latter is also reminiscent of the Dao, which is
“the way that naturally follows the things on earth while unfolding their
lives” (道者, 天下之達道) (Zhongyong zhangju, zhang 20), and “what guides
humans, so that everyone may follow one’s own way” (道者人之所當自行
也) (Zhongyong zhangju, zhang 25). In Zhu Xi’s view, the moral law is thus
exactly like nature: it gives life and nourishes all things. These qualities
indicate that its source is higher than the moral.
Through Neo-Confucian learning, the moral agent acquires actual
awareness of the presence within himself of this transmoral/moral and
natural law, as well as of his estrangement from it. He becomes empowered
to cultivate his awareness of the inner moral demand expressed by this
natural law and to respond freely to its call in his mental states and
behavior. Such power developed through this consciousness is of a higher
order because it is founded on “an aspiration to become right and without
error” (欲其真實無妄), and for this reason is completely different from moral
compulsion. In Zhu Xi’s terms,
“Achieving compliance with natural rectitude” refers to the practice of the
individual who presently is incapable of being right and without error, but
aspires to become so; this is an action that every individual must take.
誠之者, 未能真實無妄, 而欲其真實無妄之謂, 人事之當然也。 (Zhongyong zhangju
20; ZZQS 6:48)

Complete moral rectitude as natural moral law and as moral demand is

expressed in the classic Zhongyong in terms of a “great root”: “only the
complete rectitude of this world can establish the great root of reality”
(唯天下至誠 . . . 立天下之大本) (Zhongyong zhangju, zhang 32; ZZQS
6:57). Zhu Xi clarifies the meaning of the great root as “the complete
essentiality of authentic nature [of humans]” (大本者, 所性之全體也)
(Zhongyong zhangju, zhang 32). Accordingly, “great” means “complete,”
both of which are descriptions of the transmoral. Obviously, this natural
rectitude at the center of Neo-Confucian morality refers primarily to the
domain of interpersonal relations. Accomplished morality in (Neo)Con-
fucian terms means that all five types of social relations (wulun 五倫) are
perfectly harmonious—that the rules corresponding to each one of these
relations are followed completely by all members of the community. It is
this moral achievement that Zhu Xi depicts using the central image of
the “established great root” within oneself. When the transmoral great
root is established (li 立) within oneself as the active source of morality,
one’s moral quality (de 德) becomes spontaneous and “corresponds to
the highest natural rectitude, free of any error; one then naturally
observes the rules corresponding to each one of the types of human
relations” (惟聖人之德極誠無妄, 故於人倫各盡其當然之實) (Zhongyong
zhangju, zhang 32).

62 Philosophy East & West

IV. The Transmoral Component of Moral Motivation: Knowledge

Moral motivation represents the third foundational aspect of morality, in

addition to moral imperative and moral demand. As already explored in the
previous section, natural rectitude, cheng, is primarily a moral natural law, a
root, that is, “essentiality” (ti 體—see above: analysis of the “great root”), a
“structure of law” that encompasses meaningfulness, awareness, and moral
demand. However, by the fact that its foundation is transmoral, it functions
not only as a mere structure of law, or as a mere form of commandment,
but, more importantly, as a source of transformative power, the engine of
rectitude’s practical application (yong 用). In its latter role, rectitude thus
functions as a motivating power that activates the individual to transform
her/himself through connecting with her/his innate natural rectitude, clearing
away the debris that interferes with its operation and setting it in motion—
with the goal of eventually making it complete or, in other words, active at
full capacity. This use of rectitude as motivating (i.e., transformative) power
was already mentioned earlier in section three. Section four attempts to
answer a more specific question: how exactly does rectitude exercise its
motivating power? Evidently, in the moral context, exercising motivating
power means effectively producing moral action.
First of all, it is obvious that for Zhu Xi, in his Zhongyong zhangju,
rectitude understood as moral law does not operate its motivating power in an
“institutionalized form,” that is, according to Tillich’s definition: “through
tradition, public opinion, personal habit, and the threats and promises
connected with all of them.”28 This is because institutionalized law is usually
an external command asking for obedience. I agree with Tillich (who cites in
this context Paul, Augustine, and Luther)29 that “naked or pure law,” which
excludes from consideration other human issues, has no motivating power. As
already highlighted, natural rectitude according to Zhu Xi constitutes much
more than “naked law.” It is an integrated whole, a fabric with multiple
dimensions, forces, and motives woven into it: moral, cosmological, and
cognitive. And it is exactly this unity of multiple dimensions that gives
rectitude a motivating force. As such, it represents not only the source of moral
demand, but also the generator of moral motivation. The practical way in
which each one of these strands (cognitive, moral, and cosmological) of
natural rectitude contributes to produce substantial motivation will be
examined below. The goal of this investigation is, first, to identify the presence
of a motivational element in each one of these particular strands, and second,
to discover in them the source of this motivation as a transmoral element.
In the subsequent section, I examine the cognitive thread and will
address the relationship between cognition/knowledge/understanding, mor-
ality, and cosmology as major threads in the fabric of natural rectitude.
Accordingly, the question in need of answering as the entry point into this
analysis is: what kind of “knowledge” (zhi 知, ming 明), that is, that which

Diana Arghirescu 63
 constitutes the first dimension of natural rectitude, might plausibly motivate
moral action? In the anthology Jinsilu, Zhu Xi quotes Zhou Dunyi 周敦頤 in
order to highlight the existence of a relationship between natural rectitude,
morality (for Zhu Xi this means the absence of personal desires, the absence
of dishonesty), and knowledge: “when one’s desires grow increasingly few
until they disappear, natural rectitude becomes established within oneself,
and one’s knowledge becomes deep” (蓋寡焉以至於無, 無則誠立明通)
(Jinsilu 5:2).30 This excerpt presents the connection between morality (i.e.,
the absence of desires) and knowledge/understanding as one of mutual
interdependence. Furthermore, in Zhongyong zhangju, zhang 32, Zhu Xi
clarifies the features of this particular knowledge interconnected with
morality. The ancient text of this paragraph 32 states:
Who else would be able to understand, if not the sage who possesses an innate,
profound, and illuminating capacity to understand, by virtue of which he
possesses a moral quality similar to the moral quality of heaven?
苟不固聰明聖知達天德者, 其孰能知之?

Zhu Xi develops the meaning of this ancient notion of understanding/

knowledge as “unexpressed insight”31 (mo qi 默契) into the movement of
growth and transformation of natural reality, which is neither sense-based
nor conceptual knowledge, but is of a subtle level (in Zhu Xi’s terms,
“which relies neither on hearing nor on eyesight”) and is already present
(i.e., “engraved” [qi 契]) within those possessing complete natural rectitude:
Concerning the understanding of the movement of growth and the transforma-
tion of heaven-earth: the one who has the highest natural rectitude, free of any
error, possesses engraved within him/herself unexpressed insight, which relies
neither on hearing nor on eyesight. This insight results from the natural
functioning of this highest natural rectitude, free of any error.
其於天地之化育, 則亦其極誠無妄者有默契焉, 非但聞見之知而已。此皆至誠無
妄, 自然之功用。32

This passage brings out the fact that the development of insight/knowledge
(i.e., cognitive action) depends on one’s complete moral quality, and that the
latter is the result of the natural functioning/movement of complete rectitude
(i.e., moral action). In other words, in Zhu Xi’s view, this special, “unex-
pressed” (i.e., non-conceptual) insight/knowledge motivates moral action.
Cognition and morality are thus intricately woven together and not separable.
That is to say, cognition is not mere epistemological inquiry, morally neutral,
but knowledge that leads to understanding of the good (i.e., of the coherence
principle), and thus produces engagement in the pursuit of the good.
The connection between the good and the coherence principle was
already discussed in section one above. Zhu Xi’s view on this connection is
also developed in his commentary Daxue zhangju, jing; ZZQS 6:16, where
he defines the notion of “the complete good” (zhishan 至善):

64 Philosophy East & West

 The perfect good is the natural perfection of the coherence principle of the
affairs that have to be dealt with.
至善, 則事理當然之極也。

Furthermore, he gives an explanation of the relation between knowledge of

the perfect good, moral action (i.e., “complete knowledge” [zhizhi 知至], or,
in other words, the elimination from one’s heart of personal desires), and
natural rectitude. The ancient text of the Daxue zhangju, jing states: “After
achieving complete knowledge, one is able to conform one’s intentions to
natural rectitude” (知至而後意誠). Zhu Xi comments on this:
Complete knowledge means that the knowledge of one’s heart-mind is
developed to its fullest extent. When one’s knowledge is developed to its fullest
extent, one is able to make honest one’s intentions.
知至者, 吾心之所知無不盡也。 知既盡, 則意可得而實矣, 意既實。33
Furthermore, making one’s intentions honest is, in Zhu Xi’s view, the effect
not only of the functioning of natural rectitude, but also of being at one with
the good:
To conform to natural rectitude is to make honest. The intentions are what
arises within the heart-mind. To make honest what arises within the heart-mind
means to aspire to be at one with the good and not to fool oneself.
誠, 實也。意者, 心之所發也。實其心之所發, 欲其一於善而無自欺也。34

Note that the idea of “being at one” (qi yi yu 其一於) implies participation.
According to these commentaries, at a transmoral level cognition
becomes motivational. One “aspires” (yu 欲), Zhu Xi notes, because
knowing the good means aspiring to participate effectively in this higher
order (i.e., in this context, cultivating a continuous effort and a higher
quality of attention on “being at one”). De facto participation thus means to
acknowledge, praise, and further develop an underdeveloped and neglected
capacity of awareness/motivation of this participation that everyone has. The
nature of this awareness is engagement, namely natural motivation (interest,
attention) to participate in it. In Zhu Xi’s opinion, this superior order is the
natural and perfect movement of heaven-earth, also the moral quality of
heaven, the unique coherence principle, and the complete good. Knowledge
as awareness/motivation of this participation constitutes a transmoral motiva-
tion (i.e., an incentive for doing good), because in this case the desire to do
good emerges not from obedience or struggle to comply with the law, but
from one’s belonging to something greater than oneself.35 In Zhu Xi’s
commentary Daxue zhangju, this idea of participation in a higher order,
namely the order of the good, is embodied in the notion of “dwelling” (zhi
止).36 The classic Daxue refers to “dwelling in the complete good” (在止於
至善) as the main goal of Confucian learning. Zhu Xi explains “dwelling” as
“reaching the highest level and not backing down” (止者, 必至於是而不遷之
意) (Daxue zhangju, jing), in other words, entering and dwelling in the good

Diana Arghirescu 65
 as a mode of being. Moreover, if, as previously seen, the “complete good”
(zhishan 至善) is “the natural perfection of the coherence principle of the
affairs that have to be dealt with” (至善, 則事理當然之極也), then dwelling
in the complete good, in Zhu Xi’s view, is the result of attaining “complete
knowledge” of all the coherence principles—that is, awareness about one’s
own participation, as well as the participation of all things, in the good or in
the unique coherence principle of heaven. Furthermore, as already mentioned
in a different context (see note 6), in Zhu Xi’s commentary Zhongyong
zhangju, gaining or recovering awareness of this participation in a superior
order of the good is explained as a “return (fan 反) to one’s innate goodness.”
The foregoing highlights this relationship between morality and knowledge.
Moreover, the connection between cosmology and morality is also
present in the texture of natural rectitude. Most significant in this sense is
the idea that the domain higher than the human sphere in which one
participates from the outset constitutes not only the complete good but also
the unity of natural living reality (“the movement of growth and transforma-
tion of heaven-earth” [tiandi zhi huayu 天地之化育] [Zhongyong zhangju,
zhang 32]). The capacity of the Neo-Confucian leader who has attained a
superior stage is described (in Daxue zhangju, zhang 10) as “a power of
squaring facts and conduct” (xieju zhi dao 絜矩之道). Far from being only a
moral and normative dimension, this is, from the perspective of Zhu Xi,
what nurtures life, what constitutes the foundation of the noble man’s own
life and of his people: “When one is incapable of squaring the facts and
conduct, his preferences are corrupted by bias (pian 偏). Thus, one kills
oneself (shenshi 身弒), his country is destroyed (guowang 國亡), and this
situation causes the death (dalu 大戮) of all under heaven.”37 The capacity
to square the facts and conduct is therefore not restricted to the single
domain of morality, but is evidence of the individual’s participation in
universal rhythms, in cosmic life, and Zhu Xi thinks that putting it into
practice supports life and cultivates it. This notion evokes, once again, the
close relation between vitality and morality. Because the cosmic and moral
spheres are closely intertwined, the absence of life is viewed both as
imbalance, disorder, lack of unity, and therefore atomization of society—
and also as lack of trust and especially as failure to become aware of the
deep connection between oneself and other humans and non-humans alike.
Hence, for Zhu Xi, the moral, interpersonal, and transmoral development of
the superior individual has the effect of improving the global functioning of
vital breath in terms of both the harmony between one’s own spirit and
body and the harmony within society.

V. Conclusion

The aim of the present analysis has been to investigate the moral
assumptions of the Neo-Confucian culture of the Song as reflected in Zhu

66 Philosophy East & West

Xi’s work. The implicit presence of the transmoral element in Zhu Xi’s moral
thought has been highlighted, and its functioning interpreted through the
notions of moral imperative, moral demand, moral motivation, and moral
conscience. This essay has attempted to illustrate that this dimension is
central to Zhu Xi’s Neo-Confucian learning and practice, and that it
represents a revolutionary transformation by Zhu Xi and his Masters of the
moral foundations of ancient Confucianism. Clearly, changes in Confucian
moral thought are interconnected with changes in the life and the worldview
of the shi that occurred during the Northern and Southern Song. Zhu Xi
introduced a fundamental change in the understanding of the sources of
ethical standards and commands, in a time that also witnessed tremendous
historical and cultural change. One example is the change of what it meant to
be a shi, in terms of both the meaning and standards of the good life for the
new type of shi as leaders of Southern Song communities. Zhu Xi’s moral
innovations are most likely connected to this change. As non-participants in
the government, their focus was not on institutions and laws that fuel political
power, but on moral leadership and on awareness that transmorality was an
efficient tool for achieving the individual and common good within their
communities. Zhu Xi’s moral thought thus introduces a new dimension within
Confucian morality. His interest in the transmoral appears to reflect this
change in the meaning of shi on the one hand and, likely, the encounter of
Neo-Confucians with Buddhist spirituality on the other.

Notes

1 – Charles Taylor articulated this thesis within the context of the history of
Western changes in ethical worldviews; see Charles Taylor, Sources of
the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity (Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press, 1989), pp. 91–176.
2 – See Roger T. Ames, “Introduction,” in Returning to Zhu Xi: Emerging
Patterns within the Supreme Polarity, ed. David Jones and Jinli He
(Albany: State University of New York Press, 2015), pp. 1–10.
3 – See Paul Ricoeur, On translation, trans. Eileen Brennan (London and
New York: Routledge, 2006), pp. 23–24.
4 – Paul Tillich, Morality and Beyond (New York: Harper and Row, 1963),
pp. 17, 30, 77.
5 – See Lawrence Kohlberg’s model of moral development through stages,
in Lawrence Kohlberg, The Philosophy of Moral Development: Moral
Stages and the Idea of Justice (New York: Harper and Row, 1981).
6 – Zhu Xi 朱熹, Zhongyong zhangju 中庸章句, zhang 1, in Zhu Xi, Zhuzi
quanshu 朱子全書 (Collected works of Master Zhu), 27 vols. (Shanghai:

Diana Arghirescu 67
 Shanghai Guji Chubanshe; Hefei: Anhui Jiaoyu Chubanshe, 2002), vol.
6, p. 33 (hereafter abbreviated as ZZQS). All translations from the
classical Chinese are my own.
7 – See this idea in Paul Tillich’s context, in his Morality and Beyond,
p. 33.
8 – Zhongyong zhangju, zhang 20; ZZQS 6:46.
9 – James T. C. Liu examined the feelings of Song literati expressed in the
historical work Jianyan yilai xinian yaolu 建炎以來繫年要錄 of Li
Xinchuan 李心傳 (1167–1244). See James T. C. Liu, China Turning
Inward: Intellectual-Political Changes in the Early Twelfth Century
(Cambridge, MA, and London: Harvard University Press, 1988), pp. 18–20.
10 – Zhou Dunyi 周敦頤 (1017–1073), Cheng Hao 程顥 (1032–1085),
Cheng Yi 程頤 (1033–1107), Zhang Zai 張載 (1020–1077), and Shao
Yong 邵雍 (1011–1077).
11 – Yu Ying-shih, “‘Nei shen’ yu ‘wai wang’ zhi jian de jinzhang” 「內聖」
與「外王」之間的緊張, in Zhu Xi de lishi shijie: Song dai shi da fu
zheng zhi wenhua de yanjiu 朱熹的歷史世界：宋代士大夫政治文化的
硏究, vol. 2 (Taipei: Yunchen Wenhua, 2003), pp. 26–54.
12 – Tillich, Morality and Beyond, p. 20.
13 – Zhongyong zhangju (ZZQS 6:32). My translation of li as coherence
principle in the context of Zhu Xi’s thought is complementary to its
usual translation as pattern or patterning. For the latter, see Kirill
Thompson, “Li and Yi as Immanent: Chu Hsi’s Thought in Practical
Perspective,” Philosophy East and West 38, no. 1 (January 1988):
493–514. Also, the recent Zhu Xi anthology (note 2) discusses in
extenso the different layers of meaning associated with li as pattern,
and patterned coherence. In my translation, coherence emphasizes the
quality of constituting a unified whole (Latin: cohaerentia), while
pattern emphasizes the idea of regular form. The two translations are
correlative and focus on different perspectives: pattern relates rather to
a cosmological and logical awareness of li, and coherence principle to
an awareness related to morality. For a comparative philosophical
analysis of the Greek notion of principle (Plato and Aristotle) and the
notion of li in Zhu Xi’s thought, see Diana Arghirescu, De la continuité
dynamique dans l’univers confucéen: Lecture néoconfucéenne du
Zhongyong 中庸 (Paris: Éditions du Cerf, 2013), pp. 45–96. About the
idea of li as principle, see Wing-tsit Chan, “The Evolution of the Neo-
Confucian Concept LI 理 as Principle,” in Tsing Hua Journal of Chinese
Studies, n.s., 4/2 (1964): 123–149.
14 – ZZQS 6:32.

68 Philosophy East & West

15 – Zhu Xi, Zhuzi yulei, juan 4; ZZQS 14:185.
16 – Zhu Xi, Daxue zhangju, zhang 5; ZZQS 6:20.
17 – Tillich developed a theory of life as a unity of dimensions. See his “Life
and the Spirit,” in Systematic Theology. Vol. 3, Life and the Spirit:
History and the Kingdom of God, ed. Paul Tillich (Chicago: University
of Chicago Press, 1963), pp. 11–110.
18 – Zhu Xi explains, consecutively, this notion in Zhongyong zhangju,
zhang 21, 22, 24, 26, and 31.
19 – Tillich, Morality and Beyond, p. 24.
20 – Ibid.
21 – Ibid., p. 27.
22 – Ibid.
23 – Yu Ying-shih 余英時, Lun tian ren zhi qi: Zhongguo gudai sixiang qi
yuan shi tan 論天人之際：中國古代思想起源試探 (Taipei: Lianjing
Chuban Gongsi, 2014), p. 219.
24 – The concept of cheng 誠 is one of the major ideas of the Zhongyong
and is detailed in chapters 21–26 and 32 of Zhu Xi’s commentary
Zhongyong zhangju. For a complete translation of these chapters and
in-depth hermeneutics of this notion, see Arghirescu, De la continuité
dynamique dans l’univers confucéen, pp. 275–343 and 369–378.
25 – Tillich, Morality and Beyond, p. 55.
26 – Ibid., p. 77.
27 – Zhu Xi quotes Master Cheng (Zhongyong zhangju, zhang 16; ZZQS
6:41), who explains that “the spirits are part of the functioning of the
ensemble heaven-earth. They are marks of the natural activity that
engenders and transforms everything” ([程子曰:]「鬼神, 天地之功用, 而
造化之跡也。」).
28 – Tillich, Morality and Beyond, p. 55.
29 – Ibid., p. 56.
30 – Zhang Jing Hua 張京華, Xin yi jinsilu 新譯近思錄 (Taipei: Sanmin
Shuju, 2005), p. 275; cited as Jinsilu.
31 – Also about Zhu Xi’s thought, but in a different context, see the idea of
the “extension of knowledge” (zhizhi 致知) in Yung Sik Kim,
“‘Analogical Extension’ (Leitui) in Zhu Xi’s Methodology of ‘Investiga-
tion of Things’ (Gewu) and ‘Extension of Knowledge’ (Zhizhi),” Journal
of Song-Yuan Studies 34 (2004).
32 – ZZQS 6:57.

Diana Arghirescu 69
 33 – ZZQS 6:17.
34 – Ibid.
35 – About the moral power and the inner stages of the process of learning,
see Diana Arghirescu, “Zhu Xi’s Spirituality: A New Interpretation of
the Great Learning,” Journal of Chinese Philosophy 39, no. 2 (June
2012): 272–289.
36 – Etymologically speaking, according to the Han dynasty dictionary
Shuowen jiezi 說文解字, the character zhi 止 represents the trees and
other plants rooting.
37 – Zhu Xi, in ZZQS 6:25: 若不能絜矩而好惡殉於一己之偏, 則身弒國亡,
為天下之大戮矣。

70 Philosophy East & West