Beyond Oneness and Difference: Li and Coherence in Chinese Buddhist Thought and Its Antecedents (SUNY series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture)

Continues the author’s inquiry into the development of the Chinese philosophical concept Li , concluding in Song and Ming dynasty Neo-Confucianism. Beyond Oneness and Difference considers the development of one of the key concepts of Chinese intellectual history, Li . A grasp of the strange history of this term and its seemingly conflicting implications—as oneness and differentiation, as the knowable and as what transcends knowledge, as the good and as the transcendence of good and bad, as order and as omnipresence—raises questions about the most basic building blocks of our thinking. This exploration began in the book’s companion volume, Ironies of Oneness and Difference , which detailed how formative Confucian and Daoist thinkers approached and demarcated concepts of coherence, order, and value, identifying both ironic and non-ironic trends in the elaboration of these core ideas. In the present volume, Brook Ziporyn goes on to examine the implications of Li as they develop in Neo-Daoist metaphysics and in Chinese Buddhism, ultimately becoming foundational to Song and Ming dynasty Neo-Confucianism, the orthodox ideology of late imperial China. Ziporyn’s interrogation goes beyond analysis to reveal the unsuspected range of human thinking on these most fundamental categories of ontology, metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics. Continues The Author's Discussion Of The Development Of The Chinese Philosophical Concept Li, Concluding In Song And Ming Dynasty Neo-confucianism--provided By Publisher. Chapter 1 Li As A Fundamental Category In Chinese Thought 21 -- Needham And Organic Pattern 30 -- Hansen And The Mass Noun Hypothesis 31 -- Graham And The Absent Copula And Correlative Thinking 33 -- Peterson And Coherence 38 -- Hall And Ames And The Focus/field 40 -- Chapter 2 The Advent Of Li, Ironic And Non-ironic 49 -- Li As Greatest Coherence In The Xunzi 49 -- Heavenly Principle ( Tianli) Ironic And Non-ironic In The Inner Chapters Of The Zhuangzi And The Record Of Music 59 -- Li In The Wings To The Zhouyi 64 -- Li And Centrality In Dong Zhongshu (179-104 Bce) 68 -- Chapter 3 The Development Of Li In Ironic Texts 71 -- Li And Non-ironic Coherence In The Later Parts Of The Zhuangzi: Integrating The Non-ironic 71 -- First Type: Li And Dao Both Non-ironic 72 -- Second Type: Dao Ironic, Li Non-ironic 73 -- Third Type: Dao And Li Both Ironic 79 -- Integrating Types Two And Three 82 -- Chapter 4 The Advent Of Li As A Technical Philosophical Term 107 -- Toward The Ironic: Li In The Pre-ironic Daoism Of The Guanzi 108 -- Li Defined: The Later Two-and-a-half Chapters Of The Guanzi 118 -- The Hanfeizi Commentary On The Laozi: Li As Division And The Yielding Dao 125 -- Cosmologies! Dao And Its Li In The Huamanzi 131 -- Chapter 5 Li As The Convergence Of Coherence And Incoherence In Wang Bi And Guo Xiang 137 -- Subjective Perspectivism In Wang Bi: The Advent Of Ti And Yong As Ironic Structure 149 -- Applications Of The Multiplicity Of Li In Wang's Laozi Commentary 155 -- Convergence Of Coherence And Incoherence In Guo Xiang: Li As Just The Way It Is, As Limit, And As Vanishing Convergence 157 -- Unintelligible Coherence: Vanishing And Merging Into Things 168 -- Ironic Li As Non-ironic Li In Guo Xiang 170 -- Chapter 6 Beyond One And Many: Li In Tiantai And Huayan Buddhism 185 -- How Emptiness Became Li 185 -- Tiantai On Truth, Threefold 194 -- Li In Early Tiantai: Center As Convertibility Of Determinate And Indeterminate 210 -- Appearance And Reality In Huayan And Tiantai 220 -- Existence And Nonexistence In Tiantai And Huayan 230 -- Wave And Water In Huayan: Beyond Li 235 -- Wave, Water, And Mud In Tiantai: Inherent Entailment As Omniavaliability 241 -- Summary Of Differences Between Tiantai And Huayan, And The Irony Of Coherence In The Tiantai And Huayan Classifications Of Teachings 256 -- Chapter 7 Mind, Omnipresence, And Coherence In Tiantai And Huayan 261 -- The Pure Mind And The Deluded Mind In Huayan Thought 261 -- Mind And The Nature In Tiantai Thought 268 -- The Three Thousand Lis And The Three Thousand Events 293 -- Conclusion: The Vertex Of The Vortex 307. Brook Ziporyn. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. __Continues the author’s inquiry into the development of the Chinese philosophical concept__ Li__, concluding in Song and Ming dynasty Neo-Confucianism.____Beyond Oneness and Difference__ considers the development of one of the key concepts of Chinese intellectual history, __Li__. A grasp of the strange history of this term and its seemingly conflicting implications—as oneness and differentiation, as the knowable and as what transcends knowledge, as the good and as the transcendence of good and bad, as order and as omnipresence—raises questions about the most basic building blocks of our thinking. This exploration began in the book’s companion volume, __Ironies of Oneness and Difference__, which detailed how formative Confucian and Daoist thinkers approached and demarcated concepts of coherence, order, and value, identifying both ironic and non-ironic trends in the elaboration of these core ideas. In the present volume, Brook Ziporyn goes on to examine the implications of Li as they develop in Neo-Daoist metaphysics and in Chinese Buddhism, ultimately becoming foundational to Song and Ming dynasty Neo-Confucianism, the orthodox ideology of late imperial China. Ziporyn’s interrogation goes beyond analysis to reveal the unsuspected range of human thinking on these most fundamental categories of ontology, metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics.