Lu Xiangshan (1139–1193)
LU XIANGSHAN
(1139–1193)
Lu Xiangshan, also called Lu Jiuyuan, started the idealistic trend in Chinese philosophy. He emphasized the supremacy and self-sufficiency of the mind, contrary to his contemporary Zhu Xi, who stressed the need to discover reason and to acquire knowledge of the external world. He lived in the province of Jiangsi. His father was a respected member of the gentry, and from his early youth Lu was able to devote himself to the study of Confucius and Mencius. He disagreed with the views of the scholar Cheng Yi of the Northern Sung Dynasty.
Lu Xiangshan is known for the following:
When a sage arises in the East,
The mind is the same,
And so is reason.
The same is true of sages born in the West, the North, and the South and of those born thousands of generations earlier and later. What he meant is that mind is the same the world over and at all times. From this fundamental thesis he drew the conclusions that mind has priority over all things and that reason has a universal validity.
Yang Jian, a disciple of Lu and a submagistrate, asked him, "What is the Original Mind?" Lu quoted the words of Mencius concerning the four kinds of virtues—ren (benevolence), yi (righteousness), li (decency), and zhi (knowledge)—and said, "This is the Original Mind." But Yang failed to understand what Lu meant. Some time after, a lawsuit was brought by a salesman of fans for Yang's verdict, and Yang again came to Lu with the same question. Lu answered, "In trying the case of the fan salesman, you were able to judge right that which is right and wrong that which is wrong. This is the Original Mind." Yang was then convinced that the mind is self-conscious and self-evident.
Lu was firmly convinced that there is a universal mind and a universal rationality: "What fills the universe is rationality; what the scholars should search for is to render the idea of rationality clear to all. The scope of rationality is boundless." He also quoted Cheng Hao's words, "The universe is great; yet it has its limitation," and then inferred from them that what is more perfect than the universe is rationality.
Again he said: "Rationality in the universe is so evident that it is never concealed. The greatness of the universe lies in the existence of rationality which is an order publicly followed and without partiality. Man with Heaven and Earth constitutes the triad. Why should one be egocentric and not in conformity with rationality?" Lu's main idea is that since each one has a mind and reason is inherent in mind, mind is reason. Furthermore, he says: "What is the happening of the universe is the ought-to-do-duty of man; what is the ought-to-do-duty is the happening of the universe."
See also Chinese Philosophy; Mencius; Rationality; Reason; Zhu Xi (Chu Hsi).
Bibliography
Works by Lu may be found in the typescript The Philosophy of Lu Hsiang-shan, a Neo-Confucian Monistic Idealist, translated by L. V. Cady in 2 volumes (New York: Union Theological Seminary, 1939), which also contains discussion.
Chan, Wing-tsit. A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1963.
De Bary, Theodore William. The Message of the Mind in Neo-Confucianism. New York: Columbia University Press, 1989.
Huang, Chin-hsing. "Chu Hsi versus Lu Hsiang-shan: A Philosophical Interpretation." Journal of Chinese Philosophy 14, no. 2 (1987): 179–208.
Huang, Siu-chi. Lu Hsiang-shan: A Twelfth Century Chinese Idealist Philosopher. New Haven, CT: American Oriental Society, 1944; Westport, CT: Hyperion Press, 1977.
Carsun Chang (1967)
Bibliography updated by Huichieh Loy (2005)