This term means to reach the same goal through different routes. Coming from The Book of Changes, the term has two meanings: First, different schools of thought and different people have different understandings of social order and values, and the ways of governance they advocate also vary, but their goals are the same – stability and prosperity of society. Second, though things under heaven manifest themselves in different ways, they all belong or rely on a common ontological entity.
The philosopher Hui Shi’s (370?-310? BC) approach to commonality and difference among things was to unite them, regarding commonalities and differences as relative. There are bound to be small or great similarities and differences between any two concrete things. If we look at them from the point of view of commonality, all things have something in common, so they can be said to be similar. If we look at them from the point of view of difference, no two things are completely the same, so they are all different. Whether things are in common or different depends on the perspective from which we look at them. This led Hui Shi to determine that commonalities and differences are not separate; that is, they are unified.
Being a supreme domain in terms of principle, li (理) exists in different things and manifests itself in different forms. “There is but one li, which exists in diverse forms” – this is an important way in which the Song- and Ming-dynasty thinkers viewed the forms in which li exists. As li has different meanings, its one-and- diverse composition is also interpreted in different ways. First, as the origin of universe in an ontological sense, li runs through all things. The li of each thing is not a part of li, rather, it is endowed with the full meaning of li. Second, representing the universal law governing all things, the universal li expresses itself in the form of different guiding principles in specific things. The li of each thing or being is a concrete expression of the universal li. The concept of li being one and same ensures unity of the world, whereas its diversity provides the basis for multifarious things and hierarchical order.