Directory_and_Chronicle_1850 — Page 411

1850.

Defense of an Essay, &c.

373

If you say, “Heaven confers this nature," the, the celestial decree is merely li or táu. If you say, Shángti confers this nature, Shangtí is Heaven, and so you run round the circle again. No won- der that Dr. Medhurst found himself "baffled by the very incoherent manner in which they express themselves, and shocked at the pro- pensity to materialism which they constantly exhibit."*

* I shall throw together in a note here the proofs of all I have advanced in the text, and give the Chinese characters along with the translation. These extracts are all from the 49th section of Cha-futaz's works, the whole of which section is devoted to the consideration of Li and Kí.

1. “This Great Extreme is merely Lí, the principle of order." R 是一箇理字

道

2. "This character táu is the Great Extreme of the Yih King, or Book of Diagrams. One is the odd number, and belongs to the active primordial sub- stance (yang); two is the even number, and belongs to the passive primordial substance (yin); three is the odd number and even, added together.” When it

is said two produced (sang) three, it means that two and one make three. If we merely consider one as the Great Extreme, there is no need to say further that Reason (Táu) produced one." This puts an extinguisher upon the idea

ofa first Cause in the Yih King 此道字易之太極。- 乃陽數奇。二乃陰數之偶。三乃奇偶之其 日二生三者猶所謂二與一為三也。若直以 一為太極則不容復言道生一

3. "All things, the four seasons, the five elements, only from the Great Ex- treme come. The Great Extreme is merely a Kí, a primordial substance.''

萬物四時五行則是從那太極中來。太極 只是一箇氣

4. "The Great Extreme is Lí—the principle of order; it is the active-passive

primordial substance viz., kí.” ★ fœ⇓ A‡ à œ. 太極理也動靜氣也

5. "The Great Extreme is not a separate individual thing; if we speak of it with respect to the Yin-yang-active-passive primordial substance, then it is in the Yin-yáng; if with respect to the five elements, it is in the five elements ; if with respect to all things, then it is in all things; it is merely a Lí principle of order (i. e. inherent in all things.) Because it goes to the extreme (of every- thing of which it is predicated), it is called Tui kik, the Great Extreme." This excludes all idea of its being a first cause distinct from Li and Kí.

太極非是別爲一物郋陰陽而在陰陽。 五行而在五行。萬物而在萬物。只是 管理而已因其極至故名曰太極