Shao Yong (; 1011–1077),
courtesy name
A courtesy name (), also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one's given name. This practice is a tradition in the East Asian cultural sphere, including China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.Ulrich Theo ...
Yaofu (堯夫), named Shào Kāngjié (邵康節) was a
Chinese cosmologist, historian, philosopher, and poet who greatly influenced the development of
Neo-Confucianism
Neo-Confucianism (, often shortened to ''lǐxué'' 理學, literally "School of Principle") is a moral, ethical, and metaphysical Chinese philosophy influenced by Confucianism, and originated with Han Yu (768–824) and Li Ao (772–841) ...
across
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
during the
Song dynasty
The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the res ...
.
Shao is considered one of the most learned men of his time. Unlike most men of such stature in his society, Shao avoided governmental positions his entire life, but his influence was no less substantial. He wrote an influential treatise on
cosmogony
Cosmogony is any model concerning the origin of the cosmos or the universe.
Overview
Scientific theories
In astronomy, cosmogony refers to the study of the origin of particular astrophysical objects or systems, and is most commonly used ...
, the ''Huangji Jingshi'' (皇極經世, ''Book of supreme world ordering principles'').
Origins
Shao's ancestors were from
Fanyang. He was born in 1011 in an area known as Hengzhang county (衡漳, now
Anyang, Henan) to Shao Gu (邵古, 986–1064) and Lady Li (李氏, d. 1032 or 1033). Shao's mother, Li, was an extremely devout practitioner of
Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
. This link with Buddhism proved to be a major influence on Shao's thought throughout his life.
Shao Yong's first teacher was Shao Gu, his father. This was common practice in the familial environment of China at the time. Shao Gu was a scholar in
philology
Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as ...
and his influence can be discerned in Shao's literary works. Guided by his father, he studied the
Six Confucian classics intensively at a young age. Shao also sought out the scholarship of private schools, many of which were run by monks and heavily influenced by Buddhism.
Around 1020, the Shao family moved to Gongcheng county (now
Xinxiang, Henan). Shortly after his mother's death in 1032 or 1033. Shao met his most important teacher, Li Zhicai (). Li was a former pupil of ancient prose specialist
Mu Xiu (穆修, 979–1032). Under Mu Xiu, Li had studied the ''
I Ching'' extensively.
Career and later life
Shao was a member of a group of thinkers who gathered in
Luoyang
Luoyang is a city located in the confluence area of Luo River and Yellow River in the west of Henan province. Governed as a prefecture-level city, it borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east, Pingdingshan to the southeast, Nanyan ...
toward the last three decades of the 11th century. This group had two primary objectives. One of these was to draw parallels between their own streams of thought and that of
Confucianism
Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a Religious Confucianism, religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, ...
() as understood by
Mencius.
Secondly, the men set out to undermine any links, real or otherwise, between 4th-century Confucianism and what they viewed as inferior philosophical schools of thinking, namely
Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
and
Taoism
Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the '' Ta ...
. Other loosely connected members of this so-called network of thinkers include:
Cheng Yi,
Zhang Zai,
Cheng Hao (程顥, 1032–1085) and
Zhou Dunyi. Central to each of these men was the ancient text ''I Ching'', which each had studied closely. The way in which Shao studied this ancient text, however, differed from the other members.
During the Song Dynasty, there were two main approaches in ''I Ching'' studies. Together with the majority of scholars, the other members of the group took the ''yili xue'' (義理學, "principle study") approach, which was based on literalistic and moralistic concepts. The other approach, taken by Shao alone, was the ''xiangshu xue'' (象數學, "image-number study") approach, which was based much more on iconographic and cosmological concepts. An approach to
I Ching divination known as
Mei Hua Yi has been attributed to him.
Sima Guang (a close friend of Shao Yung) edited the ''
Taixuanjing'' by
Yang Xiong (written in 10 AD). Influenced by the
Base 3 number system found in the ''Taixuanjing'', probably drawing on this association and the realization of a base 3 system employed in the Taixuanjing Shao Yong then set the Hexagrams of the ''I Ching'' into a
binary sequence (the
Fu Xi Ordering). This in turn influenced
Leibniz
Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz . ( – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat. He is one of the most prominent figures in both the history of philosophy and the history of ma ...
and his thinking on binary arithmetic, and in turn the language of modern computers.
Descendants
Shao Yong's offspring held the title of Wujing Boshi (五经博士;
五經博士; Wǔjīng Bóshì).
In 1452 Wujing Boshi was bestowed upon the offspring of
Mengzi-Meng Xiwen 孟希文 56th generation and
Yan Hui
Yan Hui (–481 BC) was a Chinese philosopher. He was the favorite disciple of Confucius and one of the most revered figures of Confucianism. He is venerated in Confucian temples as one of the Four Sages.
Names
Yan Hui is also known by his c ...
-Yan Xihui 顔希惠 59th generation, the same was bestowed on the offspring of
Zhou Dunyi-Zhou Mian 週冕 12th generation, the two Cheng brothers (
Cheng Hao and
Cheng Yi-Chen Keren 程克仁 17th generation),
Zhu Xi-Zhu Ting 朱梴 (Zhu Chan?) 9th generation, in 1456-1457, in 1539 the same was awarded to
Zeng Can
Zeng Shen (505–435 BC), better known as Zengzi (Master Zeng), courtesy name Ziyu (), was a Chinese philosopher and disciple of Confucius. He later taught Zisi (Kong Ji), the grandson of Confucius, who was in turn the teacher of Mencius, thus b ...
's offspring-Zeng Zhicui 曾質粹 60th generation, in 1622 the offspring of
Zhang Zai received the title and in 1630 the offspring of Shao Yong.
[Wilson, Thomas A.. 1996. “The Ritual Formation of Confucian Orthodoxy and the Descendants of the Sage”. The Journal of Asian Studies 55 (3). ambridge University Press, Association for Asian Studies 559–84. doi:10.2307/2646446. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2646446 p. 571.]
Poetry
Shao is also famous for his poetry and for his interest in the game of
Go (wéiqí). He wrote a ''Great Ode to Watching Wéiqí'' (), one of the longest surviving classical Chinese poems, as well as a ''Long Ode to Watching Wéiqí'' (), which is translated below.
:::''Long Ode to Watching Weiqi''
See also
*
History of the Song Dynasty
The Song dynasty ( Chinese: 宋朝; pinyin: Sòng cháo; 960–1279) of China was an imperial dynasty that ruled most of China proper and southern China from the middle of the 10th century into the last quarter of the 13th century. The dyna ...
*
Wen Wang Gua
Notes
References
* Birdwhistell, Anne D. ''Transition to Neo-Confucianism: Shao Yung on Knowledge and Symbols of Reality''. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1989. .
* Liu, Weihua
"Shao Yong" ''
Encyclopedia of China'' (Philosophy Edition), 1st ed.
* Wyatt, Don J. ''The Recluse of Loyang: Shao Yung and the Moral Evolution of Early Sung Thought''. Honolulu, Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press, 1996. .
Further reading
*
External links
''Huangji Jingshi''at the
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
The "Great Ode to Watching Weiqi"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shao, Yong
1011 births
1077 deaths
11th-century Chinese philosophers
11th-century Chinese poets
Chinese Confucianists
Neo-Confucian scholars
Philosophers from Henan
Poets from Henan
Song dynasty philosophers
Song dynasty poets
Song dynasty Taoists
Writers from Anyang
Go (game) writers
Song dynasty classicists