124 THE THEISTIC IMPORT OF THE SUNG PHILOSOPHY 



that which is termed Heaven; and, further; Chu Hsi dis- 

 tinctly asserts in the passage alluded to above that the 

 attributes of High Heaven cannot be perceived by the senses. 

 On the other hand, in another connection, the Philosopher 

 says, "The Empyrean is what we term Heaven. It is that 

 which revolves in endless revolution."" This refers to the 

 revolution of the Primordial Ether by means of which the 

 Two Modes come into existence. In the Li Chi it is said : 

 "The T'ai I (the Great Monad) separated and became heaven 

 and earth. It revolved and became the Two Modes. "f- 

 The T'ai I or Great Monad is another name for the T'ai Chi 

 or Supreme Ultimate with which, as we have already seen, 

 Heaven is identical. Both these terms, T'ai I and T'ai Chi, 

 are sometimes applied to the Ether, but the real Ultimate, 

 the real Unity is not the manifesting vehicle, but the im- 

 material transcendental Law. It is most important that 

 this intimate relation between the immanent principle and 

 the material manifestation be kept in mind. We saw it in 

 the case of the Supreme Ultimate which gives its name to 

 the infinite mass of world stuff or Ether. And we see it now 

 in the case of the term Heaven. Heaven, the immaterial 

 has its material manifestation in the Empyrean, the garment 

 of God. 



The Empyrean, therefore, as referred to in the passage 

 quoted in the last paragraph is not the visible sky but the 

 Primordial Ether revolving in endless revolution, from which 

 the visible sky and all other material existences are evolved. 

 Where then does the "Azure Vault" come in? There is 

 undoubtedly in the ancient religious thought of China an 

 intimate connection between the visible sky and the supreme 

 Euler. Is not the connection due to the fact that the 

 visible Heaven in its infinite expanse of azure blue, formless, 

 mysterious, and intangible, was regarded as the purest and 

 most subtle manifestation of the supernal Ether accessible 

 to man's cognisance, and was therefore reverenced as sym- 

 bolical of the invisible Supreme Being? Just as the im- 

 material First Cause has given its name of Supreme Ultimate 

 to the infinite mass of Primordial ether in which it is 

 inherent, so, conversely, the material azure vault has given 

 its name "Azure Vault" or "Empyrean" to the same im- 

 material First Cause, as the Supreme Euler. 



But if it cannot be denied that in the term Empyrean 

 there is an etherial reference, neither can it be questioned 

 that when Chu Hsi contends that the Empyrean must not 



* 3c * & %- , Bk. XLIX, f . 25. 



t Sacred Boohs of the East, Vol. XXVII, p. 387. 



