1/10/2016

Yang Zhu - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yang Zhu
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yang Zhu (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: Yng Zh; WadeGiles: Yang
Chu; 440360 BC), also known as Yang Zi or Yangzi (Master Yang), was a Chinese philosopher
during the Warring States period. An early ethical egoist alternative to Mohist and Confucian thought,
Yang Zhu's surviving ideas, known as Yangism, appear primarily in the Chinese texts Huainanzi, Lshi
Chunqiu, Mengzi, and possibly the Liezi and Zhuangzi.[1]
The philosophies attributed to Yang Zhu, as presented in Liezi, clash with the primarily Daoist influence
of the rest of the work. Of particular note is his recognition of self-preservation (weiwo ), which has
led him to be credited with "the discovery of the body".[2] In comparison with other Chinese
philosophical giants, Yang Zhu has recently faded into relative obscurity, but his influence in his own
time was so widespread that Mencius () described his philosophies along with the antithetical ideas
of Mozi () as "floods and wild animals that ravage the land" (Liu: 1967: 358).

Contents
1 Mencius's view of Yang Zhu
2 Nature
3 Life
4 Death
5 Summary
6 See also
7 Notes
8 References

Mencius's view of Yang Zhu

According to Mencius, Yangs principle is, Each for himself which does not acknowledge the
claims of the sovereign. Mos principle is, To love all equally which does not acknowledge the
peculiar affection due to a father. To acknowledge neither king nor father is to be in the state of the
beast. If their principles are not stopped, and the principles of Confucius set forth, their perverse
speaking will delude the people, and stop up the path of benevolence and righteousness (Durant: 1963:
681).
Mencius criticized Yang Zhu as one who would not pluck a hair from his body to benefit the world.
However, Yang Zhu emphasized that self-impairment, symbolized by the plucking of ones hair, would
in no way lead to others benefit. Although he would not toil for others, he would not harm them for
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yang_Zhu

1/3

1/10/2016

Yang Zhu - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

personal gain or advantage, which should be avoided as external to ones nature (Liu: 1967: 358).
Yang Zhu taught, If everyone does not harm a single hair, and if everyone does not benefit the world,
the world will be well governed of itself. In other words, everyone should mind their own business,
neither giving nor taking from others, and be content with what he has, and in that way one will be
happy and also contribute to the welfare of the world (Liu: 1967: 358).

Nature
Although his detractors present him as an hedonist, epicurean, and egoist, Yang Zhu was, according to
contemporary sources, an early Daoist teacher identified with a new philosophical trend toward
naturalism as the best means of preserving life in a decadent and turbulent world (Liu: 1967: 358).
All beings, thought Yang Zhu, have the survival instinct, but man, the highest of creatures, lacking the
strength of animals, must rely on intelligence to survive rather than strength. He felt that strength was
despicable when used against others (Liu: 1967: 358).

Life
Yang Zhu directed his thought to attainment of the spiritual self through self-expression and finding
contentment (Liu 1967: 358). Henri Maspero (1978:318) described Yang's philosophy as "a mixture of
pessimism and fatalism". The Yang Zhu chapter of Liezi says:
One hundred years is the limit of a long life. Not one in a thousand ever attains it. Suppose
there is one such person. Infancy and feeble old age take almost half of his time. Rest during
sleep at night and what is wasted during the waking hours in the daytime take almost half of
that. Pain and sickness, sorrow and suffering, death (of relatives) and worry and fear take
almost half of the rest. In the ten and some years that is left, I reckon, there is not one
moment in which we can be happy, at ease without worry. This being the case, what is life
for? What pleasure is there? For beauty and abundance, that is all. For music and sex, that is
all. But the desire for beauty and abundance cannot always be satisfied, and music and sex
cannot always be enjoyed. Besides, we are prohibited by punishment and exhorted by
rewards, pushed by fame and checked by law. We busily strive for the empty praise which
is only temporary, and seek extra glory that would come after death. Being alone ourselves,
we pay great care to what our ears hear and what our eyes see, and are much concerned with
what is right or wrong for our bodies and minds. Thus we lose the great happiness of the
present and cannot give ourselves free rein for a single moment. What is the difference
between that and many chains and double prisons? (7, tr. Chan 1963:310)

Death
Yang Zhu agreed with the search for happiness, but he felt one should not strive for life beyond ones
allotted span, nor should one unnecessarily shorten ones life. Death is as natural as life, Yang Zhu felt,
and therefore should be viewed with neither fear nor awe. Funeral ceremonies are of no worth to the
deceased. Dead people are not concerned whether their bodies are buried in coffins, cremated, dumped
in water or in a ditch; nor whether the body is dressed in fine clothes. What matters most is that before
death strikes one lives life to the fullest (Liu: 1967: 358).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yang_Zhu

2/3

1/10/2016

Yang Zhu - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Summary
"Life is full of suffering, and its chief purpose is pleasure. There is no god and no after-life; men are the
helpless puppets of the blind natural forces that made them, and that gave them their unchosen ancestry
and their inalienable character. The wise man will accept this fate without complaint, but will not be
fooled by all the nonsense of Confucius and Mozi about inherent virtue, universal love, and a good
name: morality is a deception practised upon the simple by the clever; universal love is the delusion of
children, who do not know the universal enmity that forms the law of life; and a good name is a
posthumous bauble which the fools who paid so dearly for it cannot enjoy. In life the good suffer like the
bad, and the wicked seem to enjoy themselves more keenly than the good (Quoted by Durant:
1963:679).

See also
Egoism
Hedonism
Yangism

Notes
1. Shun, Kwong-loi (2000). Mencius and Early Chinese Thought. Stanford University Press. pp.4041.
ISBN978-0-8047-4017-3.
2. Emerson, Jonn J. "Yang Chu's Discovery of the Body" (http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/1399495?
uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=21102803639857), Philosophy East and West, Volume 46, October
1996, pp. 533566

References
Chan, Wing-Tsit. 1963. A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy. Princeton University Press.
Will Durant, Our Oriental Heritage, MJF Books 1963. ISBN 1-56731-012-5
Graham, A.C., Disputers of the Tao: Philosophical Argument in Ancient China (Open Court
1993). ISBN 0-8126-9087-7
Liu Wu-Chi, Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Vol. 8, Macmillan Inc. 1967.
Maspero, Henri. 1978. China in Antiquity. Tr. by Frank A. Kierman Jr. The University of
Massachusetts Press.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Yang_Zhu&oldid=684104024"
Categories: Zhou dynasty philosophers 4th-century BC philosophers
This page was last modified on 4 October 2015, at 16:28.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms
may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia is a
registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yang_Zhu

3/3