The character 道 (dao) literally means the road, the way or the path. Every thing has its own trajectory and development path, which must not be altered. The sun and the earth have their orbits; trees, flowers and plants grow according to a certain pattern. If their paths were altered, or the law of nature be violated, there would be chaos and disaster.

The original meaning of the character 理 (li) is the texture of an object, for example, timber, stone or jade. An excellent carpenter makes good use of the texture of the timber when making furniture. An excellent lapidary carves and chisels the uncut jade following the texture. By so doing, the inner beauty of the timber and jade could be preserved and illustrated.Such methods are also the most cconomical and scientific.

The Confucians think that the world and the society also have their own “texture”, which are the characteristics, growth patterns and principles of the world and the society. For example, when water is heated up to 100 degrees, it turns into steam. Apples always fall to ground from the tree. People are born, grow up, get ill and die. In the Song Dynasty, Confucian scholars further assumed that, in addition to the characteristics and growth patterns of all things, there is also a general principle in the world and in the universe. That is “Tianli”(Heavenly Texture), the highest principle of the human society.

In the eyes of a Confucian scholar, a person should be kind, caring and considerate for others, but it does not mean that he be a person without integrity and principles. A true benevolent person docs things according to the law of nature, and let all things develop harmoniously, when all could benefit from the process.

Each school of thought in China has its own “Dao”, the way, and each believes their school best accords with “Dao”. Therefore, the Confucians have their “Dao”, while the Daoists have their “Dao”. A has its “Dao”, while B has its “Dao”. How could one know whether his “Dao” is the correct and practical one that accords with the law of nature?

The Confucians claim that, one must not rely on imaginations, nor must one be dogmatic. One must “investigate things for the extension of knowledge”. In other words, the Confucians rely on careful investigation on each object and each matter in the objective world, and try to find a pattern in order to gain extended knowledge, and apply such knowledge for the betterment of the human society. For example, James Watt, a British scientist, discovered the power of water vapour when observing the kettle on the stove and invented the steam engine. It was his invention that brought forth the invention of trains, cars, steamships and so on, which brought great convenience to mankind. Finding the patterns and theories, and acting in accordance with the patterns and theories would enable us to achieve real peace of mind, and “follow my heart’s desire without transgressing the norm”. This is why the Confucians attach great importance to the investigation of things for the extension of knowledge.

However, the Confucian scholars in ancient China preferred to study the mind, the human nature and Tianli, the highest principle in the universe, and they neglected the study of the objective things in the external world. They studied from the Confucian classics and personal perceptions rather than through practice and experimentation in real life. Zhu Xi (1130–1200), a great Confucian scholar, said that the key to the investigation of things for the extension of knowledge lies in the studying of the objects and thoroughly understanding the patterns and theories in the objects. In other words, through careful observation and analysis to find the patterns and theories. However, Confucian scholars, as famous as Zhu Xi, didn’t perform well in this respect. Wang Yangming (1472–1529), a great scholar in the Ming Dynasty, once shared a story, which helps to explain the shortcomings of Confucianism in research methods. He investigated bamboos in front of his house in order to gain knowledge about bamboo. He watched for 7 days consecutively, but in the end, he achieved no knowledge. If we only use our eyes but not our hands, if we only try to perceive things instead of practice and experiment, we will probably not be able to gain knowledge after another hundred years.

Cultural Notes

Zhu Xi 朱熹

A Confucian scholar in the Southern Song Dynasty and a representative of Neo Confucianism. His thought later became the official doctrine and had great effects in China.