Chinese Philosophy - PART II

How does any of this relate to Chinese Philosophy? The most pervading concepts of Chinese Philosophy seem to be derived from the desire to describe the indescribable and to define the indefinable. Many Chinese Philosophers, such as Confucius, Lao-zi, Zhuang-zi, the Legalists, and Hua-Yen were able to question the ways of humankind and provide brilliant results. To each philosopher, there was a permeating idea that remained out of their grasp. This idea was seen as universal. Being universal, it is beyond words, however, this idea is said, with words, to be the “Nature of things.” All things possess this Nature and Nature possesses all things. Chinese Philosophers believed that this force is eternal. Even the totalitarian ideals of the Legalists came to acknowledge this concept by stating, “What is eternal has neither change nor any definite particular principle itself”(Chan 261). The legalist doctrine of Han Fei Tzu attempts to act immediately in response to the “…profound vacuity and utilize its operation everywhere”(Chan 261).
What is the It that is so commonly spoken of in Chinese Philosophy? It is what Confucius called Tian, Lao-zi called Dao, and Hua-Yen, called Dharma. These terms are all related and similar in that they are all attempts toward the definition of the “Mandate of Heaven and Earth”(Ames & Rosemont 27), “the all-embracing quality of the great virtue”(Chan 150), and it is said that It is “obscured by petty biases”(Chan 182), and “free from attachment”(Chan 412). These descriptions ranged from early Confucian views and strung through modern Zen Buddhist schools of thought. What seems to be permeating throughout all schools is the Natural Way. This Natural Way does not itself change, but instead changes everything of Nature. This is Truth. This is Truth because it is Universal. What is Truth is Universal and what is Universal is Truth.