Han Yu and the Study of the Way

Han Yu and Study of the Way (原道)

Introduction and Background of Han Yu

Han Yu, (768-824), sometimes called Han Changli, was a master of Chinese prose, and an outstanding poet. The members of the Han family were all government officials. However, the period of time Han Yu lived in was not what we consider today as “the Prosperous Tang” period. It was actually an era of chaos, mainly caused by the autocrat of vassal states and the prevalence of Taoism and Buddhism. Han Yu was determined to counteract the influences of Taoism and Buddhism by advocating Confucianism. He studied the traditional Confucian works and wrote the famous “Study of the Five, ” including “Study of the Way, ” “Study of the Nature, ” “Study of the Man, ” “Study of the Ghost, ” and “Study of the Slander. ” “Study of the Five” was the utmost representation of Han Yu’s philosophical ideas, which later came to be known as Neo-Confucianism, which had wide influence in China and Japan.

In all the articles of “Study of the Five, ” “Study of the Way” gave all the general principles that would appear in the others.

The Text of Study of the Way

The “Way” in “Study of the Way” is based on Confucian doctrines. There are two perspectives of the “Way”: the ideology and the implementation. The first paragraph of the article gives us a general review of the ideology – the guiding principles. We will examine the paragraph sentence by sentence.

The first sentence emphasizes the Confucian definition of ren(仁), In Confucian philosophy, ren was one of the most fundamental of all virtues, variously translated as humanness, warm-heartedness, or benevolence. Before Confucius’ time ren was understood as the kindness of rulers to their subjects. It was gradually broadened to mean benevolence, still a particular virtue but no longer restricted to rulers. Confucius changed it to connote perfect virtue, which includes all particular virtues and applies to all men. Mencius and the Doctrine of the Mean went on to say that “ren is ren”–that is, ren is the distinguishing characteristic of man. Han Yu stresses it as love for all mankind – though plants, trees, fishes, animals can be loved, too, but if necessary, they can be sacrificed for the benefit and survival of mankind.

The second sentence gives us a clear view of yi (righteousness) – the relationship between “Do” and “Appropriate. ” They are two different aspects of yi, which is to “do” what is “appropriate. ” Neither can be omitted or ignored.

The third sentence explains the dao (way) of Confucianism. Dao is the combination of ren and yi. Confucian believe in ren, and actions based on ren is yi. Ren and yi are inseparable. To Confucian, dao is not something far away or mysterious. Dao is the principle, dao is the way. The principle shows people the direction, the way leads people go into the right direction. The principle of Confucian is the principle of ren, the way of Confucian is the way towards ren.

The fourth sentence shows that people could get to ren through the cultivation of the mind. Ren can not be acquired by outside pressure or preaching of doctrine. It can only be acquired through willingness and great efforts.

The fifth sentence says “ren and yi are constant names. ” The word “constant” here means solid, fixed, and specific. Ren and yi has to be given proper and specific names in order for people to carry them out.

The Sixth sentence says “dao and de are empty carriers. ” Here Han Yu wants to clarify the true meaning of dao and de (morality). Confucianism uses these two words in its doctrine. Taoism and Buddhism also use the words in their doctrines, too. Thus in a sense, dao and de are like empty containers, which can carry ideas of Confucianism, Taoism or Buddhism. Han Yu makes it clear that what he is going to talk about is the Confucianism ren and yi. He says, “for all the dao and de I talked about, [it is the] combination of ren and yi, [it is what] the public opinion; for the dao and de Laozi (founder of Taoism) talked about, ren and yi were omitted, just his own opinion. “

Once we have understood the first paragraph, it is not difficult to see where Han Yu is going. In the second paragraph, he explains the reason why Buddhism and Taoism are so popular. “From Zhou’s weak, death of Confucius, to the burning of books with fire in Qin, to the prevalence of Taoism in Han, to the prevalence of Buddhism in Jin, Wei, Liang and Sui. Thus those who wanted to pursue tao and de, they either joined Taoism or Buddhism. If they joined one side, they would reject the other side…… When people wanted to hear the doctrines of dao and de, which side would they turn to? ”

Thus even people who believe in Confucianism would look down upon themselves, and turn to Taoism and Buddhism when needed. Many people lose their way when they turn to Taoism and Buddhism. It is important to teach them, to enlighten them with Confucianism.

In the third paragraph, Han Yu attributes the chaos and famines in his time to Taoism and Buddhism. Both Taoism and Buddhism esteem people who “do nothing, feel nothing, and care nothing. ” They do not work, they do not produce, worst of all, they teach people not to work. In the old days of the sages, there were only four types of people, solider, peasant, craftsman, and merchant; there were only one religion: Confucianism, which believe in “do something. ” Now there are two more kinds of religions, Taoism priest and Buddhism monk; they eat but do not plant, they use but do not work, they take money but do not do business. They are the origin of all the problems. In order to get rid of the problems, Taoism and Buddhism have to be gotten rid of first, people have to learn the way of Confucianism.

Following this, Han Yu depicts how the Confucian sages taught ancient people to survive in the fourth paragraph. The sages taught people how to become an inter-dependent society, where peasant cultivates for the whole society, craftsman products for the whole society, solider fights for the whole society, and merchant do business within the whole society, they were all integral parts. If not for the sages, mankind would have been extinguished already, and there would never be Taoism and Buddhism to defy the sages.

Next, Han Yu gives us a blueprint of the ideal Confucian society, which composed of king, officials and common people. The king is responsible for giving the order. The officials are responsible for carrying out the order to the common people. The common people are responsible for turning in food, clothes, property and money to the king and the officials. The three components are dependent on each other, in a traditional feudal hierarchy. According to Han Yu, “If the king cannot give the order, he loses his power to be a king; if an official cannot carry out the order to the people, he loses his power to be an official; if a common people cannot turn in food, clothes, property and money to the superior, he will be terminated. ” It is an extremely strict hierarchy, with definite difference between strata. The punishment for non-performers is very severe, the king could lose his throne, an official could lose his power, and a common man could lose his life. At the first sight, it seems that Han Yu’s policy is extremely harsh to the common people, while loose to the king and the officials. But if we consider the historical background, we can see that the only people who can not fulfill their requirement are the priests and monks. If they really are the cause of the problems in the society, then they should be terminated – in the worst case. Also the punishment to the king and the official are pretty severe, too, if we see it in a feudal society.

To further his discussion, Han Yu continued to explain how some people became the sages. “Emperor and king, though [they] have different names, the reason why [they] became the sages are the same. [They] wear thin clothes in the summer, fur in the winter; [they] drink when [they are] thirsty, [they] eat when [they are] hungry; though these are different things, that’s why they are called wise. ” If we do things like the priests and monks do, e.g., wear thin clothes in the winter and drink water when hungry, sounds pretty stupid, right? Using a paragraph from the Da Xue (a traditional Confucian work), he further refute the Taoist and Buddhist ideas. To Taoism and Buddhism, the purpose of training and cultivation is to “clear, silent, quiet, and die down, ” to stay away from the current affairs and duties; son will not take his father as his father, official will not take his king as his king; common people will not perform their duties; everything is disoriented. This is not tolerable.

In Confucianism, to cultivate the mind is to manage the country in the future; to utilize all the knowledge to serve the country; to preserve the hierarchy in the society. In a word, Taoism and Buddhism honor “do nothing”, while Confucianism honors “do big things. ” Which one is more helpful to the development of a society with low productivity in Han Yu’s time? Of course, it is the Confucian doctrines. That is why Han Yu advocates Confucianism and opposes Taoism and Buddhism.

Then Han Yu devotes a whole paragraph to discuss the way of his ideal society – ren and yi. “[the] books [people read] are Shijing, Shujing, Yijing, Chunqiu; its legal system is etiquette, music, penalty and policy; its people are solider, peasant, craftsman and merchant; its relationship is official-king, father-son, teacher-friend, guest-host, brother-sister, and husband-wife; people wear linen and silk; people live in houses; people eat wheat, rice, fruit, vegetable, fish, and meat. It is easy to understand as a doctrine. It is easy to carry through as a policy. ”

If this is the ideal way to rule a state, why people know nothing about it? In ancient times, the kings were the ones who taught the way carried it out. When it came to the time of Confucius, he was only an official, but he did his best to teach the doctrines. Thus the way was preserved until Han Yu’s time.

In the last paragraph, Han Yu proposed some ways to stop the spreading of Taoism and Buddhism. “[we should] burn the books of Buddhism and Taoism, rebuild the temples into houses, guide [them] with the way. [We will] take care of the widowers, widows, orphans, seniors, disabled people and sick people” Han Yu wants to educate the priests and monks with the Confucian way, and when they are turned to the Confucian side, Han Yu’s ideal society can be realized. This is the theme of the whole article.

However, Han Yu’s idea is still limited to the scope of traditional Confucianism -to serve the feudal government. It emphasizes the people, but does not give people democracy. It is NOT a democratic idea.

One small note, Han Yu was also a master of Chinese linguistics. Many words he invented has become idioms and are used widely today. For example, a sentence in our article “Study of the Way” says “sitting in a well and see the sky, then say the sky is small, actually the sky is not small, they just cannot see the whole sky, ” now is a very common idiom called “坐井觀天, ” used to describe people who are short-sighted.

The Way In Prose Writing

Although “Study of the Way” talks about the way to manage a state, Han Yu also used it in his reform of writing — He led a major reform against the peculiarly artificial prose style of bianwen (變文), which, cultivated for almost 1,000 years, had become so burdened with restrictive rules as to make forthright expression virtually impossible.

Han Yu boldly advocated the use of Zhou philosophers and early Han writers as models for prose writing. This reform brought about a liberation in writing. Because the sentence unit in prose writing was now given perfect freedom to seek its own length and structural pattern as logic and content might dictate, instead of slavishly conforming to the rules of bianwen. This new freedom enabled Liu Zongyuan, Han Yu’s chief associate in the literary reform, to write charming travel and landscape pieces.

This reform also accelerated the development of a new genre in prose: well-made tales of love and romance, of heroic feats and adventures, of the mysterious and supernatural, and of imaginary incidents and fictionalized history. These prose romances, generally short, were written in the classical prose style for the amusement of the literati and did not reach the masses until some of the popular ones were adapted by playwrights in later ages.

Conclusion

The “Study of the Way” was written to express and preserve Confucian doctrines. He shows us a blueprint of an ideal Confucian society, composed of the king, the officials, and the people. Most important of all, he utilizes the idea of “division of power and labor, ” the king, the officials, and the people each has his own rights and obligations, with corresponding punishments. The “Study of the Way” is considered the best Neo-Confucian work by a lot of scholars.

Similarly important is Han Yu’s contribution to the reform of prose writing, he initiated a new era in prose writing in Chinese literature history by applying the Confucian ideas from Zhou.

Works Cited

Luo, Lian-tian. Han Yu. National Bookstore Inc. Taibei, Taiwan. 1982.

Han, Tingyi. Study of Han Changli’s Ideas. Business Press. Taibei, Taiwan. 1992.

Liu, Guoying. Comments on Han Yu. Beijing Teacher’s College Press. Beijing, China. 1992.