Chang Tsai

Zhang Zai

 or Chang Tsai

(born 1020, Chang'an, China—died 1077, China) Realist philosopher of the Song dynasty. The son of a magistrate, he studied Buddhism and Daoism before being inspired by the Confucian classics. In his Cheng-meng, he declared the universe a unity with myriad aspects and all existence an eternal integration and disintegration. Ren (humaneness) is the basic virtue, and morality consists in doing one's duty as a member of society and of the universe.

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Chang Tsai 

Born 1020; died 1077. Chinese philosopher; one of the founders of neo-Confucianism.

Chang Tsai held that the universe is one but differs in its manifestations; its unifying “material force” is the ch’i, which as a result of objective necessity sometimes comes together, forming a multitude of things, and sometimes is dispersed, reverting to the hsü, or Great Vacuity. Another one of Chang Tsai’s basic tenets was that every human relationship is associated with a particular requirement. Such relationships, however, are always contained within love; consequently, the man who loves becomes identified with Heaven and Earth, which give birth to everything and everyone. Chang Tsai also advocated a return to the ching t’ien system, which equalized the availability of land for peasant use.

REFERENCES

Konrad, N. I. “Filosofiia kitaiskogo Vozrozhdeniia (O Sunskoi shkole).” In this book Zapad i Vosíok [2nd ed.]. Moscow, 1972.
Forke, A. Geschichte der mueren chinesischen Philosophie. Hamburg, 1938. Pages 56–69.
Chan Wing-Tsit. A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy. Princeton, 1963. Pages 495–517.