Kaibara Ekken on the Love of Nature and of Humanity

Among Japanese Neo-Confucianisis there is perhaps none who combines more strikingly than Kaibara Ekken (1630-1714) both the moralistic and rationalistic tendencies of this movement. More than anyone else he brought Confucian ethics into the homes of ordinary Japanese in language they could understand. Other Neo-Confucianists might have taken great pride in demonstrating their command of Chinese style writing. Kaibara was content to set forth in comparatively simple Japanese the basic moral doctrines which should govern the everyday conduct of the people, their relations with others, their duties within the family and to their feudal lords, their duties in war and peace, etc. 

Virtually all Chinese and Japanese Confucianists had been content to confine their "investigation of things" to the classics, but Kaibara carried his inquiry further into the field of nature. His Catalogue of Vegetables, Catalogue of Flora, and Medicinal Herbs of Japan, together with his last work, How To Live Well, arc samples of his extensive studies in the biological realm. But his interests in this sphere were not pursued to the exclusion of humanistic studies. To Kaibara, man and nature arc allied and inseparable; an understanding of nature is indispensable to the understanding of man. In this respect it may be said that Kaibara still reflects the essential humanistic and ethical concerns of Confucianism, which distinguish him from the more independent "scientific" thinkers and "Dutch" schoolmen of the eighteenth century in Japan.  

His interpretation of the virtue of humanity (jin) as love for all things. In an orthodox follower of Chu Hsi like Kaibara, however, this is not too surprising a development of the Sung philosopher’s own view of jin as representing a cosmic love identified with the creativity of nature. And it was rather in his special emphasis on creativity and the life-force that Kaibara eventually qualified his acceptance of Chu Hsi by taking issue, in a book entitled Grave Doubts ( Taigi-rol(u ), with the latter’s dualism of principle (ri) and material force (#) in favor of a monism of understood as the life-force.

 This opening passage to his Precepts for Children (Shogalu-kun) sets forth with great simplicity Kaibara’s view of the interrelation of man and nature through the supreme Confucian virtue of humanity or benevolence (Ch. Jen. Jap. Jin). To make clear that this virtue is understood by him as not only involving but transcending “humanity," we render the term here as ‘‘benevolence." The reader should not fail to observe, however, that it is precisely that which makes man truly man which unites him with nature.

In the first paragraph the compound standing for "nature" is rendered literally as “heaven and earth" so that the correspondence to "father and mother" may be brought out.

All men may be said to owe their birth to their parents, but a further inquiry into their origins reveals that men come into being because of nature’s law of life. Thus all men in the world arc children born of heaven and earth, and heaven and earth arc the great parents of us all. The Book of History says, "Heaven and earth arc the father and mother of all things" (T’ai-shih 1). Our own parents are truly our parents; but heaven and earth arc the parents of everyone in the world. Moreover, though we are brought up after birth through the care of our own parents and arc sustained on the gracious bounty of the ruler, still if we go to the root of the matter, we find that we sustain ourselves using the things produced by nature for food, dress, housing, and implements. Thus, not only do all men at the outset come into being because of nature’s law of life, but from birth till the end of life they are kept in existence by the support of heaven and earth. Man surpasses all other created things in his indebtedness to the limitless bounty of nature. It will be seen therefore that man's duty is not only to do his best to serve his parents, which is a matter of course, but also to serve nature throughout his life in order to repay his immense debt. That is one thing all men should keep in mind constantly.

As men mindful of their obligation constantly to serve nature in repayment of this great debt, they should not forget that, just as they manifest filial piety in the service of their own parents, so they should manifest to the full their benevolence toward nature. Benevolence means having a sense of sympathy within, and bringing blessings to man and things. For those who have been brought up on the blessings of nature, it is the way to serve nature. It is the basic aim of human life, which should be observed as long as one lives. There should be no letting up on it, no forgetting of it. Benevolence in the service of nature and filial piety are one in principle: it is a principle which must be known and observed by anyone insofar as he is a man. There is none greater than this, none more important. All men living in their parents’ home should expend themselves in filial service to their father and mother; and serving their lord should manifest single-minded loyalty to him. Just so, living as we do in the wrap of nature, we must serve nature and manifest to the full our benevolence. For a man to be unaware of this important duty, to let the days and years pass idly by and let one’s life go for naught, is to make oneself unworthy of being a man. Indeed, how can anyone who would be a man ignore this fact? It is in this that the way of man lies. Any way apart from this cannot be the true way.

To persist in the service of heaven means that everyone who is a man should be mindful of the fact that morning and evening he is in the presence of heaven, and not far removed from it; that he should fear and reverence the way of heaven and not be unmindful of it. He should not, even in ignorance, oppose the way of heaven or commit any outrage against it. Rather, following the way of heaven, he should be humble and not arrogant toward others, control his desires and not be indulgent of his passions, cherish a profound love for all mankind born of nature’s great love, and not abuse or mistreat them. Nor should he waste, just to gratify his personal desires, the five grains and other bounties which nature has provided for the sake of the people. 

Secondly, no living creatures such as birds, beasts, insects, and fish should be killed wantonly. Not even grass and trees should be cut down out of season. All of these are objects of nature's love, having been brought forth by her and nurtured by her. To cherish them and keep them is therefore the way to serve nature in accordance with the great heart of nature. Among human obligations there is first the duty to love our relatives, then to show sympathy for all other human beings, and then not to mistreat birds and beasts or any other living things. That is the proper order for the practice of benevolence in accordance with the great heart of nature. Loving other people to the neglect of parents, or loving birds and beasts to the neglect of human beings, is not benevolence.

Sources of Japanese Tradition, Vol. 1 1958 William Theodore De Bary, Ryusaku Tsunoda, Donald KeeneUNESCO Collection of representative works, Japanese series