Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 2.pdf/312

 agitated and his health endangered. In this crisis a member of the Chu family took compassion on him and disclosed to him, for the first time, that his father came originally from a family in Po-yeh, named Yen, and that he himself was an adopted grandson. After confirming this news, he decided to join the Yen clan, but did not carry out his intention until the decease of his foster grandfather five years later (1673). His intellectual revolution took the form of a violent reaction against his hitherto implicit belief in the adequacy of Sung scholarship. During the mourning period he had followed punctiliously the rules laid down in the venerated book 家禮 Chia-li, or "Family Ritual", 5 + 1 chüan, usually attributed to the great Sung philosopher, Chu Hsi (see under ). But when he compared the text of this work with the original classics he found discrepancies and distortions of meaning which caused him to doubt the fidelity of Sung interpretations. It may be noted, in passing, that a younger contemporary of Yen, named Wang Mou-hung 王懋竑, attempted to prove that the Chia-li is not a work of Chu Hsi, though it seems to have been produced in the Sung period. Yen Yüan's own corrections of the Chia-li are listed in an essay by him, entitled 居憂愚見 Chü-yu yü-ch'ien, "Things Observed in a Period of Mourning". Thus he became convinced that the concepts of the Sung and Ming scholars, tinctured as they were with Buddhist notions, were misleading, heterodox, and at variance with the Classics which, in his opinion, stressed the importance of a life of practical activity. This belief resulted in a decisive change in attitude, from which a new pragmatic philosophy took shape.

In 1669 Yen set forth his ideas in two works, though neither was printed until some twenty years later, owing to lack of funds. They are: (1) Ts'un-hsing (性) pien, 2 chüan, printed in 1705, a treatise on human nature, based on the teachings of Mencius as over against the ideas of the Sung scholars who wrote under the influence of Buddhism and Taoism; and (2) Ts'un-hsüeh (學) pien, 4 chüan, printed in 1701, an exposition of education before the time of Confucius. In the latter work he stressed practical training as opposed to the book-learning which had been fostered officially for many centuries. He now denounced all studies that ended in mere contemplation, or in the composition of more books devoted to abstract morality, to the neglect of bodily activity or social amelioration. In the end, he came to believe that the proponents of both the Sung School and the School of Han Learning (see under ) were fostering a type of education that was hopelessly bookish and physically and mentally stultifying. He would revive what, from his reading of the Classics, he supposed was the real teaching of the sages. According to his investigations they taught, among other things, the Liu-hsing 六行 or "Six Duties" and the Liu I 六藝 or "Six Arts or Departments of Knowledge"—the former consisting of Filial Reverence 孝, Sincerity in Friendship 友, Kindliness 睦, Love of Kindred 婣, Endurance on Behalf of Others 任, and Charity 恤; the latter comprising Ceremonial Observances 禮, Music 樂, Archery 射, Charioteering 御, Writing 書, and Mathematics 數. As he believed practice (hsi 習) to be the essential thing in learning, he altered (1669) the name of his studio to Hsi-chai, "Studio of Practical Knowledge". By example, as well as by precept, he strenuously promoted his theory, and by 1676 his views and those of his friend, Wang Yang-ts'ui, gained in North China a wide hearing.

Prior to this he had corresponded (1670) with and (1672) with, sending to them his writings for criticism. In 1678 he went to see Li Yin-tu (see under ) in the near-by district of Ch'ing-yüan, when the latter was on his way to Peking to participate in the special examination known as po-hsüeh hung-tz'ŭ. Early in 1679, when Yen was forty-five sui, Li Kung came to study under him, and before long became the most important expounder of Yen's philosophy—being, in fact, the one who eventually obtained for those doctrines a nation-wide hearing. Though Yen was the founder of the school, whatever succert the school had was due to Li Kung; so closely are their names associated that the school im still commonly referred to as the Yen-Li P'ai 顏李派. Late in the same year (1679) Yen lost the use of his left eye owing to an abscess. Three years later (1682) he completed his last work, 喚迷途 Huan mi-t'u, in which he denounced Buddhism as unhumanitarian. The title of this work was later changed to Ts'un-jên (人) pien and was so published in 4 chüan in 1705.

On May 21, 1684 Yen Yüan set out to find his father. When he arrived in Peking, nine days later, he caused handbills to be printed giving descriptions of his father, and these he posted wherever he went. Passing through Shanhaikuan on July 2, 1684, he spent almost a year in 914