China & East Asia · 3rd–5th c. CE
Xuanxue (“Profound Learning”)
Behind the many things lies a formless root, or, as Guo Xiang replied, things simply arise of themselves; the sage combines Confucian conduct with Daoist insight.
What is the root of all things, and how does the sage live?
After the Han dynasty fell in 220, state Confucianism, with its omens and heavy commentaries, lost credibility amid political danger. Scholars turned to the “Three Profound Texts”, the Laozi, Zhuangzi and Book of Changes, and to “pure conversation” (qingtan) in search of a deeper metaphysics.
Wang Bi argued that anything with a definite form cannot be the source of all forms, so the root must be formless “non-being” (wu). Guo Xiang replied that non-being cannot produce anything, so each thing “self-generates” (zisheng) and is fulfilled by following its own nature.
- Non-being is the root of being (Wang Bi).
- Things arise spontaneously of themselves (Guo Xiang).
- Once the meaning is grasped, words and images can be forgotten.
It gave Chinese thought an abstract vocabulary, such as substance and function (ti/yong) and being and non-being, used to interpret Buddhism and later taken up by the Neo-Confucians.
Thinkers
226–249Wang BiProdigy commentator who founded Xuanxue metaphysicsc. 252–312Guo XiangEditor and commentator who shaped the Zhuangzi we readKey texts
Where it came from
Grew out ofDaoismWang Bi and Guo Xiang built their metaphysics as commentaries on the Laozi and the Zhuangzi.Borrowed from
ConfucianismXuanxue thinkers still ranked Confucius as the true sage, one who embodied non-being instead of talking about it as Laozi did.