先有个天理了，却有气。气积为质，而性具焉。 敬仲。
big5:
Τ虹ぱ瞶玱Τ縩借τ┦ㄣ瞛 穛ヲ
Text from Wesleyan e-text project, checked against Zhu Zi Yu-lei Da-quan text.
[Zhu Xi said:] "First there is a heavenly Li and only afterward is there a (corresponding) lifebreath. Lifebreath accumulates and becomes materialized lifebreath (zhi, "stuff"), and the nature (a species of li) is concretely present therein.
[Recorded by the disciple Jing-zhong.]
PEM Commentary:
There is a clear idea of sequence here. Whether temporally or "logically," the heavenly Li (which I take to be the same as Tai-ji) is prior to lifebreath, and lifebreath is prior to materialized lifebreath. The most interesting thing implied (but certainly not clearly stated) is that the nature of human beings is something that appears at the third step in this sequence, and that in turn indicates that the nature of a human being is a characteristic or component or aspect of his or her concrete existence. |||
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