'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. 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 (qi) 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.'
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.
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
