Wake Forest University
Patrick Edwin Moran
Traditional:
或問：「必有是理，然後有是氣，如何？」曰：「此本無
先後之可言。然必欲推其所從來，則須說先有是理。然理
又非別為一物，即存乎是氣之中：無是氣，則是理亦無掛
搭處。氣則為金木水火，理則為仁義禮智。」
人傑。
Simplified:
或问：「必有是理，然後有是气，如何？」曰：「此本无
先後之可言。然必欲推其所从来，则须说先有是理。然理
又非别为一物，即存乎是气之中：无是气，则是理亦无挂
搭处。气则为金木水火，理则为仁义礼智。」
人杰。
big5:
ΰݡGuOzAMᦳOApHvGuL
ᤧiCMұqӡAhOzCMz
SDO@AYsGO𤧤GLOAhOzL
fBChAzhq§Cv
HǡC
GB:
ʣȻΣԻ˱
֮ԡȻ˵Ȼ
ַDZΪһ֮У
ΪľˮΪǡ
˽ܡ
[Someone] asked: "Is there first li, or is there first lifebreath?" [Master Zhu said: "Li has never departed from lifebreath (i.e., it has never been found independent of lifebreath). However, li is what is above (i.e., controlling) form, and lifebreath is what is below (i.e., governed by) form. Speaking in terms of things that are above and things that are below form, how can it be said that there is no before and after? Li is formless. Lifebreath is coarse. It contains dregs.
Commentary:
The expressions "xing er shang" and "xing er xia" come from the late stratum of the composite book known as the Yi Jing or Book of Changes. If we think of the material aspect of our world as rising from an amorphous form derived from the earth, and the formal aspect as something invisible coming "down" to order the palpable stuff and give it a definite shape and texture, then the form of any particular thing is neither in the world of invisible controlling cosmic forces, nor in the world of gross matter. It exists at the interface between the two. The creative vision of the potter leaves its trace in the shape imparted to the clay. But in the Chinese tradition there is no such anthropomorphic thinking.
The analogy given above is also inaccurate because according to Zhu Xi, li is prior to lifebreath. What can that mean? In recent decades men have succeeded in breeding lions with tigers, creating a new creature called, if I remember correctly, a liger. Such a creature must presumably have a li. If that li existed from the dawn of time, why did it take such a long time to become instantiated? If that li did not exist from the very beginning, what brought it into existence? These questions have a fundamental bearing on the question of whether Zhu Xi was a metaphysical monist or a metaphysical dualist.
One possibility would be that, ab initio, there were two different kinds of being in the universe, li and lifebreath. Then li and lifebreath would seem to be ideas that are very close to the Western ideas of form and matter. But in this passage, Zhu Xi seems to be intent on denying the validity of this kind of a picture of the universe. Without being able to say exactly what it means, it seems clear that he wants to assign some kind of priority to li.
If, on the other hand, any and all li exist before the creatures from whose natures we abstract a description of their li, then the question becomes, "How does 'what comes after li' come into existence?" Does li in some sense create the lifebreath in which it is later found by human beings? Does some third party arrange for the production of lifebreath when it sees a li that needs to be instantiated?
I think that there must be a third kind of answer, since Zhu Xi implicitly eliminates the first possibility in this passage (and certainly never states that li and lifebreath are co-equal metaphysical sources of our world), and since the the second possibility involves the unmet needs for an explanation of how li acts to create lifebreath and for an explanation of what determines when li acts to create lifebreath. Furthermore, there are interesting questions regarding what becomes of the li of a living creature when that creature dies and decomposes.
One thing should perhaps be noted in passing: Some thinkers are unambiguously metaphysical dualists, and they have specific terms for the primal form of lifebreath.
-- PEM