|54 NOTES ON THE SYMBOLISM OF THE 



Having thus set forth the main principles he proceeds 

 to the "Theory of the basic idea of the Classics and hence of 

 Chinese Philosophy." 



The key to the right understanding of the Chinese Sacred 

 Books with their established annotations, as comprehending 

 a theory of all mental and material existence, lies in the 

 perception of the fact that the fourteen following words or 

 terms, T'ai Chi; Hsing; Hsin; Tao; Tao Li; Li; Te; Ti (or 

 Shang Ti); T'ien; T'ien Li; T'ien Tao; T'ien Ming; Ming 

 and Ch'eng, MEAN ONE AND THE SAME THING: the 

 Ultimate Principle of my exposition. 



The differences among those words are purely of a 

 nominal kind : the words themselves are, all of them, names 

 for the Ultimate Principle as it is conceived either in opera- 

 tion at various stages of the evolution of the Universe ; or 

 as more especially forming the root of, and working in some 

 division or sub -division of the Universe : or as considered 

 with more particular reference to some one feature of its 

 own action; in no case do they, as philosophical terms, mean 

 anything distinct from, or less than, or more than — the 

 Ultimate Principle. 



Definition of Terms. 



T'AI CHI ± l[g "Great, Extreme." 



Morrison : 5,914. That which existed previously to the division 



of Heaven and Earth ; or the present system of the Universe. 

 Giles : 859. The "Absolute" of Confucian cosmogony, as explained 



by Chu Fu-tsu. 

 Wieger : Analysis, 2 D. Man between Heaven and Earth striving 



with all his faculties, mouth and hand in the struggle for 



existence = extreme. 

 Meadows : T'ai Chi is the name used when the Ultimate Principle 



is. regarded with reference to its quality as the ultimate or 



extreme originating point of the Universe. 



HSING tt "Nature." 



Morrison : 9,475. The nature, principles or properties communi- 

 cated by Heaven ; innate qualities ; what is born in man, or 

 with man ; the nature or properties of the things. The natural 

 constitution, ability, disposition, or temper of man. 



Giles : 4,600. Nature, natural disposition, temper, faculty. 



Wieger : Analysis, 79 F. Heart ; a growing plant. 



Meadows : In the process of universal production the Universal 

 Principle is often represented as a "Flowing forth" in order 

 to constitute men or things ; as an influx into humanity it is 

 Jen Hsing, the nature of man. The nature of man is therefore 

 perfectly good, for it is identical with the will of Heaven, 

 that is to say, with the fixed course of the one ultimate 

 principle of the Universe. 



Hsing being used of the nature of the things as well as that 

 of man, it follows that inanimate nature, is to the Chinese 

 mind, as perfect as it is considered by us when spoken of as, 

 fresh from the hands of its maker, etc. 



