1.3
The Zhongyong:
A Composite Document
There
are good reasons to believe that the Zhongyong
is itself a composite document. Even Tu Wei-ming, who argues for the overall
integrity of the text, suggests that the text falls rather clearly into three
distinct sections, refecting its cummulative origins and its composite
authorship:[i]
(1) passages 1-19 which deal with the character of the exemplary person (junzi
君子)
(2) passage 20 that deals mainly with proper governing (zheng
政),
and (3) the remaining 13 passages that explain cheng
诚--what
we translate as "creativity." The late Takeuchi Yoshio in his
important work on the Zhongyong
goes over the various discontinuities in the text in detail, and evaluates the
different theories that have been proffered by scholars late and soon.[ii]
Some of these proposals have more merit than others.
For
example, Takeuchi introduces one contemporary scholar who has speculated that Zhongyong
1 is an add-on remnant of the lost Classic
of Music.
In this case, we would have to side with Zhu Xi who in his commentary insists
that this first passage is not only integral to the text, but is in fact the
central axis of the entire work. Indeed, in recently recovered texts such as Human
Tendencies Emerge from the Propensity of Circumstances
性自命出，
the
relationship among several of the key terms of Zhongyong
1-- "human tendencies (xing
性),"
"tian
天"
and "the propensity of circumstances (ming
命)"--are
taken together with "the human heart-and-mind (xin
心)"
and "feelings (qing
情)"
to be the core, defining vocabulary of Zisi thinking. A major theme of the Zisi
materials generally and the Zhongyong
specifically is how human beings can coordinate their conduct to make themselves
a triad with the heavens and the earth.
Although
we believe that this opening passage is indeed integral to the Zhongyong,
it has provoked some interesting debate that we will want to examine. While we
shall argue for the important function Zhongyong
1 serves in some detail below, there are other parts of the text that really do
seem anomalous. Zhongyong
16, for example, assumes a doctrine of gods and spirits that is not at all
consistent with early Confucian thinking on this subject:
The
Master said, "The efficacy of the gods and spirits is profound. Looking, we
do not see them; listening, we do not hear them. And yet they inform events to
the extent that nothing can be without them. Because of them, the people of the
world fast, purify themselves, and put on their finest clothes in carrying out
the sacrifices to them. It is as though the air above our heads is suffused with
them, and as though they are all around. The Book
of Songs says:
The
descent of the gods
Cannot
be fathomed--
How
much less can it be ignored.
Such
is the way that the inchoate becomes manifest and creativity is irrepressible.
This
passage neither follows from passage 15 nor anticipates passage 17, but in fact
interrupts the otherwise continuous flow of thought. Its overt appeal to the
efficacy of gods and spirits without reference to the moral responsibility of
the human community would not sit well with the Confucius of the Analects.
In reassigning this passage to the later portions of the text on the basis of
its specific reference to "creativity (cheng
诚),"
Takeuchi is able to place it in the mouth of Zisi who, unlike Confucius, makes
frequent use of this term.
We
must certainly allow that the Zhongyong's sustained
discussion of cosmology is a radical departure from the human-centered concerns
of Confucius and early Confucianism. But even so, for Takeuchi's argument to be
persuasive, we would have to discover a Zisi sympathy with gods and spirits that
does not occur in the existing materials. An alternative explanation might be
that this passage has been included in the text because of its concluding
references to "the way that the inchoate becomes manifest (夫微之显),"
that resonates immediately with Zhongyong 1 which has "there is nothing . . . more manifest
than what is inchoate (莫显乎微)."
1.4 Dating
the Zhongyong
Perhaps
the most troubling problem in trying to determine the date at which the Zhongyong
was compiled is passage 28:
No
one but the Son of tian (tianzi
天子)
can preside over rites and ceremonies, make the laws, and determine the written
script. Today in the empire our carriages have axles of the same width, in our
writing we use a standard script, and in our conduct we accept the same norms.
The
standardization of currency, weights and measures, axle widths, and so on,
mentioned here is a persistent theme in the description of the First Emperor of
Qin's reign in the second half of the 3rd century BCE, appearing in
sources such as the Records
of the Historian
(Shiji)
6. Many commentators, beginning from uncritical assumptions about the integrity
of the Zhongyong
as a whole, have concluded on the basis of this passage that the Zhongyong
in its entirety is a Qin or early Han product. Alternatively, we might conclude
that at least this portion of what is a composite document is relatively late,
while other portions of it might be of earlier vintage.
In
the court bibliography, "Yiwenzhi
艺文志"
transmitted in the History
of the Eastern Han
(Hanshu
汉书)
under the heading "Confucians" (rujia
儒家)
there is a record of a "Zisizi
in 23 bundles 子思子二十二篇.”
The Kong
Congzi
孔丛子,
a
text that covers some 650 years of the Kong family history which Yoav Ariel has
argued dates from the 3rd century CE,[iii]
observes that there are "Zhongyong
texts in 49 bundles 中庸之书四十九篇."
There has in past been some scholarly debate about
the dating of the materials associated with Zisi, with many learned doctors
arguing that such texts belong to the early Han dynasty. However, the recent
archaeological finds have proven at least some of the Zisi materials that were
later to be included in the Record
of Rites
such as The
Black Robes
(ziyi
缁衣)
date from earlier than 300 BCE.