122 THE THEISTIC IMPORT OF THE SUNG PHILOSOPHY 



Supreme Ultimate is not only identified with Law (Li), but 

 also with Tao. Shao Tzu categorically asserts "Tao is the 

 Supreme Ultimate."* Chou Hsi also says explicitly: ''The 

 dictum 'Infinite! And also the Supreme Ultimate!', with 

 the Diagram, expresses the truth that before all things Tao 

 existed, and is the true source of all things, "t 



We have now prepared the way for what must be the 

 ultimate goal of our inquiry — the question : What, for the 

 Sung School is the import of the word T'ien (^ )? It must 

 be borne in mind that the T'ien of the Sung philosophers, 

 so far as their conscious intent was concerned, was the T'ien 

 of the Classics. If there was any departure therefrom in 

 fact, it was unwittingly. Our inquiry, therefore, has to do 

 mainly with their interpretation of the Classics. According 

 to Chu Hsi, the word T'ien in the Classics is used in three 

 senses, which, he says, must be carefully distinguished. "In 

 some passages," he says, "the word refers to the Empyrean 

 (3if3!f), in others to the Euling Powers, and in others to 

 Law (Li) only. "J With regard to the last statement, the 

 unmistakeable teaching of Chu Hsi is that Heaven is Law. 

 In the opening paragraph of his work on Human Nature he 

 endorses the statement in the very same words, and adds; 

 "Law is Heaven's substance." § T'ien is also recognized 

 as identical with the Supreme Ultimate or First Cause. 

 "Among the attributes of High Heaven there is nothing that 

 can be perceived by the senses, and yet He is the true 

 Pivot on which all creation turns, the ground of all dis- 

 tinctions in the world of beings. Hence the statement is : 

 'Infinite; And also the Supreme Ultimate!' It is not said 

 that beyond the Supreme Ultimate there is also an In- 

 finite." I] In other words, High Heaven is the First Cause. 

 And, as we should expect, T'ien is also identified with Tao. 

 "Tao is Heaven as the self-existent,"^ it is stated; and the 

 Four Ultimata which constitute the Tao are regarded as 

 attributes of Heaven. "What in my mind is called Love 

 is the Yuan of Heaven; what in my mind is called Eeverence 

 is the Heng of Heaven; what in my mind is called Ptighteous- 

 ness is the Li of Heaven ; what in my mind is called Wisdom 

 is the Cheng of Heaven." I As transcendental they are the 

 Tao of Heaven, as immanent in the universe they are the 

 Decree of Heaven. By three different roads then we arrive 



*&*£r* , Bk. XLIX, f. 14. 

 tteSflfS, Bk. I, f. 14. t&=t&m, f. 25. 



§ Ibid., Bk. XLII, f. 1. 



Iltt&ttft . Pt. I. f. 4. V**^, Bk. XLII, f. 19. 



| Ibid., Bk. XLIV, f. 34. 



