Appreciation of a Fine Essay | Tang Xianzu’s Threefold Realm of “Among All Things in Heaven and Earth, Humanity Is Most Noble”

Tang Xianzu’s Threefold Realm of “Among the myriad beings of heaven and earth, humanity is most noble”
 

In the nineteenth year of the Wanli era (1591), Tang Xianzu, having submitted a memorial boldly exposing the court’s malpractices and thereby offending powerful officials, was demoted to Xuwen in Guangdong, where he served as a minor administrative officer. The journey was arduous, and upon his arrival at his place of exile, he found that “the people there valued life lightly and knew nothing of propriety and righteousness,” while those who came to seek his guidance were so numerous that “doorsteps were always crowded, and even the official residence could scarcely accommodate them.” At this very moment, the imperial treasury happened to disburse funds, and Tang Xianzu, deeply concerned with the welfare of the populace and the promotion of moral education, promptly conferred with the county magistrate, Xiong Min, proposing that they use these resources “to consult with Magistrate Xiong, select a site that was open and well‑ventilated, and construct a lecture hall.” Thus arose what would later become the renowned Guisheng Academy of Guangdong; the name “Guisheng” derives from the ancient saying, “Among all things under Heaven, man is most precious.” Tang Xianzu’s educational philosophy, centered on the principle of “cherishing life,” is chiefly articulated in three essays: “On the Guisheng Academy,” “On Mingfu,” and “On the Scholar.”

 

The assertion that “among all the creations of heaven and earth, human beings are most precious” was already recorded in the Xue Jing during the late Warring States period. In its chapter on “Sacred Governance,” Zengzi asked Confucius: “May I ask whether the virtue of the sage can be surpassed by filial piety?” Confucius replied: “Of all the attributes of heaven and earth, humanity is most esteemed; among human conduct, nothing is greater than filial piety.” Later, in the Liezi’s chapter “Heavenly Auspices,” Rong Qiqi likewise declared: “Heaven gives rise to all things, yet only humans are held in highest regard.” The idea that “human beings are most precious” has a long and venerable tradition within China’s fine cultural heritage. Tang Xianzu, too, upheld this principle: he inscribed for Guisheng Academy the maxim, “When a gentleman studies the Way, he loves others; all living beings under heaven ought to be cherished and valued.” Moreover, in the course of instructing his disciples at the academy, he expounded the truth that “among all the creations of heaven and earth, humanity is most precious” in three distinct stages, thereby articulating with profound depth his people‑centered worldview.
 

 

The first level of attainment is this: “A person of benevolence and filial piety treats Heaven as if it were a parent, and treats his parents as if they were Heaven.” Tang Xianzu advanced this view with a specific aim in mind. At the time, in places like Xuwén, there was a widespread tendency among the populace to regard life lightly and to devalue themselves. Tang Xianzu believed that the ancient texts of the ancestors—such as the Classic of Filial Piety and the Book of Changes—abound with exhortations to cherish life; yet in these regions, education remained backward, and the people lacked understanding, “regarding their bodies merely as forms and appearances,” which gave rise to a custom of taking one’s own life and despising oneself. Such individuals held that life was nothing more than a mere shell, and that discarding it would pose no obstacle. Even worse, some were misled by superstition, believing that death was simply the soul’s ascent to blissful realms. In response to this situation, Tang Xianzu invoked Mencius’s teaching, pointing out: “This very form and appearance are, in fact, our innate nature; they ought to be treasured and reverently upheld. Once one understands this, one will wonder: who, then, is the source of all life?” He argued that human beings should value life, for on the one hand, “innate nature” and “form and appearance”—soul and body, heavenly principle and human desire—are inseparable, indivisible; to abandon “form and appearance” is to lose “innate nature,” and without “body,” there can be no talk of “soul.” Thus, these two aspects must not be regarded as distinct, nor should “form and appearance” be relegated to a lower status. On the other hand, we must also bear in mind that the true creators of life are none other than our parents. Every life is not an isolated, self-contained entity; within each person lies the most fundamental, most precious, and utterly indispensable bond of kinship and social connection—the love of one’s parents. Since those who bring forth life are none other than our parents, “a person of benevolence and filial piety treats Heaven as if it were a parent, and treats his parents as if they were Heaven.” How could such a precious life be so easily destroyed?

 

In fact, this ethos of “benevolence and filial piety” left a profoundly deep mark on Tang Xianzu’s life. From an early age, he was renowned throughout the land for his talent and learning; yet his official career remained fraught with setbacks, eventually leading him to withdraw from public life and return to his hometown. During this period, he befriended Master Daguan, one of the four great Buddhist masters of the Ming dynasty, and his interest in Buddhist thought grew ever stronger. He came to regard Master Daguan as a spiritual guide through life’s uncertainties, and in Nanjing he even underwent the Buddhist ordination ceremony, taking the Dharma name “Cunxu.” Nevertheless, the Confucian principle of “revering Heaven as if it were one’s own parent, and revering one’s parents as if they were Heaven” prevented him from pursuing the Buddhist path more fully: with both parents still alive, a son was not supposed to travel far from home. Thus, Tang Xianzu remained at home, writing and staging operas while attending to his aged parents. According to Zou Diguang’s biography, “The Life of Mr. Tang of Linchuan,” Tang “lived with his family, their voices rising and falling in cheerful harmony, mutually encouraging one another, laughter never far away, yet his countenance remained bright and serene. When he was with his two elders, his demeanor was gentle and his expression joyful, always anticipating their wishes and preemptively fulfilling their desires.” He continued in this manner until his mother passed away at the venerable age of eighty-five and his father at eighty-eight; Tang Xianzu himself died the following year, at the age of sixty-eight.

The second level of understanding is this: “The great virtue of Heaven and Earth is to give birth; the supreme treasure of the sage is his position.” Quoting this passage from the Xici Chapter of the Zhouyi, Tang Xianzu further elucidated to his disciples the correspondence between “the life-giving power of Heaven and Earth” and “the sage’s station.” As the saying goes, “The constant renewal of all things is what we call the Yi”; the creation of heaven and earth, and the ceaseless flux of change, constitute the most fundamental principle of the world, while life itself is the most precious outcome born of this perpetual transformation. The sage, by emulating heaven and modeling himself on earth, attains a profound grasp of the Yi‑principle that governs the cosmos. Hence he proclaims: “Heaven moves with vigor; the noble man, therefore, should strive for self‑strengthening without ceasing. Earth is yielding and receptive; the noble man, accordingly, should cultivate broad virtue to bear all things.” Faced with the boundless, ever‑changing workings of Heaven and the vast, harmonious expanse of Earth, only the noble man can, through the spirit of “unceasing self‑improvement” and “broad virtue that bears all,” emulate them. This, then, is why life stands as the most “precious” of all things under Heaven and Earth.

So why does the sage hold “position” as a treasure? It is because those who occupy high office can bring about the great and boundless flourishing of heaven and earth; thus, position is esteemed precisely when it is accompanied by virtue. And how, then, does the sage “treasure this position”? By taking “benevolence” as the foundation and “position” as the instrument—cherishing life and caring for the people. In other words, as a sage, one should revere the profound virtue of heaven and earth and attend to the vitality of all under heaven. This not only accords with the laws of heaven and earth and opens the path to the unity of man and heaven, but also reveals the essential function of power and status. This perspective transcends the individual’s concern for one’s own life and extends it to the care of others’ lives through one’s own; in doing so, it elevates the profound meaning of the principle that “among the qualities of heaven and earth, human beings are most precious.”
 

The third level of attainment is this: “The learning of the great person begins with the knowledge of life.” As Zhu Xi explains in his “Explanations for the Imperial Lectures,” “The Great Learning is the learning of the great person. In ancient times, educators distinguished between the learning of the young and that of the mature. The learning of the young encompasses the proper conduct of sweeping, cleaning, responding, advancing, and retreating, as well as the arts of poetry, writing, ritual, music, archery, chariotry, calligraphy, and arithmetic. By contrast, the learning of the mature concerns the pursuit of principle, self-cultivation, the regulation of one’s household, the governance of the state, and the pacification of the world. Since what is recorded in this text pertains entirely to the learning of the great person, it is accordingly named ‘The Great Learning.’” In a word, the learning of the petty person focuses on technique, whereas the learning of the great person centers on the Way. As the Analects puts it, “When the gentleman learns the Way, he loves others”; such is the true character of the great person. “The great person is one who takes heaven, earth, and all things as a single unity. To him, the whole world is but one family, and China is but one individual. Those who distinguish themselves from others by clinging to bodily forms and drawing distinctions between ‘I’ and ‘you’ are indeed petty persons.”

Tang Xianzu held that the “learning of the Great Person” is the path of study one must pursue to attain the intellectual realm of “inner sainthood and outer kingship,” a process that Xuwen’s disciples inevitably undergo as they learn and strive. Accordingly, Tang Xianzu exhorted his students that the key to cultivating this kind of learning lies in knowing when to stop: “To stop is to abide by the nature of Heaven’s mandate and to enter the gateway of righteousness.” All the turmoil and confusion of the world arise from “Heaven’s mandate”; “to know Heaven is to know one’s nature and establish the great foundation; to know one’s nature is to devote oneself wholeheartedly and bring the principles of governance to their fullest expression.” Our thoughts, aspirations, and pursuits all take the “nature of Heaven and Earth” as their root; once this root is firmly established, the heart finds peace. “Stopping” is a state ordained by Heaven’s mandate, a stage on the journey from “birth” to “sainthood.” Therefore, “we should gather virtue without harming life,” and certainly should not, when temporarily beset by difficulties, let our heads droop in despair or behave as though mourning the loss of our parents. The Great Person ought, under all circumstances, to remain composed and calm, to “act according to one’s station,” and to uphold the principle that “the Way‑mind is subtle, refined, and singular.” Thus, “to know when to advance or retreat, when to live or perish, yet never lose one’s rectitude”—this is the very essence of the gentleman’s pursuit of the “learning of the Great Person.” Only with such inner composure, grounded in “knowing life” and “knowing when to stop,” can the “learning of the Great Person” be expressed outwardly: “all knowledge is expanded and fully realized, leading to devoted sincerity and to the mighty qi of integrity.” This “mighty qi” constitutes Tang Xianzu’s concrete exposition of how to “value life”; it is the method and principle he taught his Xuwen disciples for applying the ethos of “valuing life” to daily living, while also embodying his painstaking efforts—unconcerned with gain or loss, undaunted by hardship—to found the Guisheng Academy, and his earnest hopes that his Xuwen students would pursue learning and aspire to higher ideals. In the twentieth year of the Wanli era (1592), the year Renchen, Tang Xianzu was transferred from Xuwen to serve as county magistrate of Suichang. Even after receiving a letter from local gentry in Xuwen announcing the final completion of the Guisheng Academy, he still wrote back: “I have heard that the Guisheng Academy is finished, and I am greatly delighted for your region. Yet there must surely be someone who, with due care, teaches virtue, sings songs, and keeps books within its halls; otherwise, it will soon be overgrown by wild grasses.”