The Cultural Connotation of “Heaven-and-Human Oneness”

“Heaven-and-Human Oneness”has been an important concept of traditional Chinese philosophy，interpreted by different schools of philosophy in detail.This idea，the“mutual communication”between heaven and man，originated in the pre-Qin Dynasty period，and the famous traditional Chinese medical literature，Yellow Emperor’s Canon of Medicine holds that man“had correspondence with heaven and earth，and conformation to four seasons，understood heaven and earth”.Though man has an independent spirit and heaven is an objective entity，man and heaven are identical in the principle，property，structure and law，which express the same meaning as“Heavenand-Human Oneness”.In the Western Han Dynasty，Confucian scholar Dong Zhongshu was the first person to put forward this idea of“Heavenand-Human Oneness”clearly，even explained how man was identical to heaven，with the interpretation of”the resemblance of man to heaven”，and“the conformation of man to heaven”.Though his explanations were far-fetched，his interpretations of the relationships between heaven and man，approached from the biological perspective，reflected the affinity and intimacy of ancient Chinese with nature，which resembled man’s kindred relationship with nature.He even extended this idea to the concept of“heaven-and-human interaction”.In the Song Dynasty，the Cheng brothers and Zhu Xi，philosophers，extended it to the concept of “heavenly principles”.Taoist philosophers believe that”The heaven and the earth and I came into existence at the same time；all things in the world and I are one uniformity.”

（1）Heaven is nature，man is an integral part of it，and the relationship between heaven and man is coexistant and one.The fundamental idea of“Heaven-and-Human Oneness”has been recognized by ancient Chinese philosophers of different schools.

Book of Changes says，“Vast is the‘great and originating power’indicated by Qian！Allthings owe to it their beginning:it contains all the meaning belonging to heaven.Theclouds move and the rain is distributed；the various things appear in their developedforms.The brightly sun revolves from the end to the beginning repeatedly and how the indications of the six lines in the hexagram are accomplished，each in its season.It mounts the carriage drawn by those six dragons at the proper times，and drive through the sky.

method of Qian is to change and transform，so that everything obtains its correct nature as appointed by the mind of Heaven；and thereafter the conditions of great harmony are preserved in union.The result is‘what is advantageous，and correct and firm.’The heaven creates everything and the myriad states all enjoy repose.”our ancestors attributed the origin of myriad things to heaven which kept multiplying the universe and myriad things unceasingly，whereas man，as the paragon of animals，should follow the example of the heaven and keep forging ahead with the spirit ofstriving incessantly.In Chinese culture，there was no such religious consciousness as that of Jewish people kneeling in prayer to God sincerely.In the replacement of religion，however，was the harmonious relationship between man and heaven.From the beginning，Chineseplanted the idea of“Heaven-and-Human Oneness”in the ethics and held that every individualhad fallen into the“net”of human relations the moment he was born.How to harmonize these relations constituted the ethical net，and man formed a close and harmonious relation as soon as he came to the world.Theology thus melted into the ethical sense that followed human nature with strong interest.There is nowhere for Chinese to shelter religion in their spiritual world.

The major difference between Chinese philosophical idea of“Heavenand-Human Oneness” and Western traditional thought lies in that from the ancient Greece to the Medieval time，Western philosophers had been fully aware of the limitation of man，and，on the basis of this understanding，harboured the boundless reverence for the higher being that transcended man’s limitation.Ancient Greek philosophers hold that the wisdom of God is immense and significant，whereas that of man insignificant.Medieval Christianity believes that man is born with the original sin，and he must show reverence for God so that he can be saved.The strong atmosphere of religious sentiment and sincere religious worship enveloped the Medieval European society.Just on the contrary，Chinese Confucianism regards the relationship between man and heaven as intrinsic，Way of heaven as that of man.Chinese Confucianism never treated man and heaven as two separable things，but rather as indivisible oneness.Heaven must manifest itself in man，without whom heaven is meaningless.

Confucianists never felt the limitedness of man profoundly，of course never cherished the reverence for the higher being beyond humanity，and remained religiously indifferent.But Confucianists had their reverences，”There are three things that agentleman fears:hefears the will of Heaven，he fearsgreat men，he fears the words of the Divine Sages.”）Among these three fears or reverences，only“he fears the will of Heaven”belonged to the fear or reverence for the non-human existence，but notfor religious god.Then，what on earth does Confucius mean by“He fears the will of Heaven” Confucius inherited the ideas from the Spring and Autumn Period，that is，heaven，humanized god，reigns over the myriad things in the universe；”the will of Heaven”，or“mandate of Heaven” controls man’s life and death，and social order and disorder，and traditional view of supernatural beings，but he also holds that“If one respects the spirits and the dead and thegods while keeping them at a distance，then he can be called wise.”，man should cherish his sincerity and piety for supernatural beings at the sacrificeoffering ceremony，and should not explore the question of their existence，because Confucius cared more for human affairs，emphasized more on man’s subjective initiative，and put top priority on the real problems of human life.Of course，Confucius’view of the mandate of Heaven was eventually restricted at the level of perceptual knowledge，and never elevated to the abstract andabsolute spiritual level，or rational knowledge，higher into the religious sphere.Duringhis lifetime，Confucius had explored the questions of human life within the ethical and political fields，seldom from the metaphysical perspective which had been determined by his values and humanistic care，for his Confucianism was the thought of thisworldliness，advocating the spirit of being enterprising and shouldering the social responsibilities.

Geographical Reason:China is largely in the temperate zone，with mild and humid climate，and fertile soil suitable for farming，which enabled China to develop highly advanced agricultural civilization early in history.While Chinese ancestors enjoyed all kinds of blessings bestowed by nature，leading the life of ease and stability，they，of course，suffered many untold calamities and disasters as well.They，therefore，had an ambivalent feelings of love and hate towards”Heaven”，the representative of nature，as they were，most of the time，grateful and even reverent to Heaven，and they，sometimes，complained a lot.But they have always lived in the bosom of nature，feeling intimate and even sentimentally attached，which might help explain the origination of the idea of “Heaven-and-Human Oneness”geographically.

Patriarchal Reason:From the patriarchal clan system to the state with patriarchal system，ancient China，probably in the Xia Dynasty，had had the idea of“Family-and-State Oneness”，which was possibly inspired by the idea of“Heaven-and-Human Oneness”.Since the relationship between man and heaven is an integral whole，the relationship between families and state should also be an organic whole.With the passage of time，the relationship between families and state，through the detailed and systematic designing，had been strengthened and implemented，with the cohesive role performed by patriarchal system in enhancing the idea of“Family-and-State Oneness”.

Ethical Reason:From the phallicism and its eulogy，our ancestors had gradually evolved their unique ethical thought，”Heaven and earth existing，all things then got their existence.All things having existence，afterwards there came male and female.From the existence of male and female there came afterwards husband and wife.From husband and wife there came father and son.From father and son there came ruler and minister.From ruler and minister there came high and low.When high and low had existence，afterwards came the arrangements of propriety and righteousness.”）The philosopher from the Song Dynasty，Zhang Zai，believes that Heaven is father and Earth is mother；the Emperor is the eldest son of Heaven and Earth，and courtiers are his housekeepers.A1l people are my compatriots and all living creatures are my friends.Chinese，thus，have been closely related with myriad things in the universe in blood，and formed their distinctive idea of“Heaven-and-Human Oneness’ of course，certain kind of philosophical thought may have been produced with a variety of factors，under certain special historical circumstance，in certain region of the world，but the individual man，or the special nation that had created this thought had surely played an essential part in the process.With innate intimacy with nature，Chinese ancestors had been harmoniously related with nature，which assumed an important feature of Chinese culture.

qingquang

See author's posts