People’s physical constitution, emotions and ethics should closely correspond with the structure and order of Nature. The theory that “Humanity should be aligned with Nature” was put forward by Dong Zhongshu(179-104BC). He believed that all things between heaven and earth and their operation had their own intrinsic structure and order. A person’s body, feelings, thinking, acts, and ethics are all in correspondence with the structure and order of Nature, particularly in numbers. According to this theory, humans are but a duplicate of Nature. Dong’s idea provided the basis for mutual interaction between people and Nature.
The Chinese character for human being (人) has been imbued with Chinese humanistic spirit since it was created. In its ancient form, it resembled a man standing with his body slightly bending forward, his hands on his sides, looking modest and polite. Because humans have the ability to think, they understand that an individual is too weak to survive alone and, therefore, they need to cooperate with each other. Ancient Chinese thinkers believed that human beings were one of the three elements of the universe, the other two being heaven and earth. Humanity was the soul of the world; therefore, human beings were the most distinguished among all things. Many ancient concepts, particularly in the political and ethical spheres, were based on this humanistic spirit.
Tian (天) is a sacred and fundamental concept in ancient Chinese philosophy. It has three different meanings. The first is the physical sky or the entirety of nature (not including human society), the operations of which manifest certain laws and order. The second refers to a spiritual being, which possesses an anthropomorphic will and governs everything in the universe. The third denotes the universal law, which is observed by all things and beings, and which is also the basis of human nature, morality, and social and political orders.
Humans and Nature respond to each other. This theory was put forward by Dong Zhongshu (179-104BC) , who had inherited his predecessors’ thinking and believed that things of similar nature could respond to each other. According to him, humans are a duplication of Nature, therefore they respond to each other. Changes of Nature will affect human beings and their activities. Human actions and words, as well as the order or disorder of human society are reflected in Nature by astronomical signs. If the ruler of a state has said or done something treacherous, calamity or unnatural phenomenon may occur to reflect this. Dong Zhongshu, with this theory as his basis, tried to persuade the ruler to govern virtuously by citing historical calamities or unnatural phenomena.
The term represents a world outlook and a way of thinking which hold that heaven and earth and man are interconnected. This world outlook emphasizes the integration and inherent relationship between heaven, earth, and man. It highlights the fundamental significance of nature to man or human affairs, and describes the endeavor made by man to pursue life, order, and values through interaction with nature. The term has different ways of expression in history, such as heaven and man are of the same category, sharing the same vital energy, or sharing the same principles. Mencius(372?-289 BC), for one, believed that through mental reflection one could gain understanding of human nature and heaven, emphasizing the unity of mind, human nature, and heaven. Confucian scholars of the Song Dynasty sought to connect the principles of heaven, human nature, and the human mind. Laozi maintained that “man’s law is earthly, earth’s law is natural, and heaven’s law is dao.” Depending on a different understanding of heaven and man, the term may have different meanings.
This term refers to a world outlook and a way of thinking which hold that heaven and man are different. This explanation was first put forward by Xunzi(313?-238 BC), who did not believe that human morality and the order of human society emanated from heaven. He argued that heaven and man each had a different role and that they should not be mixed. Temporal changes of heaven and earth as well as the occurrence of seasonal changes in temperature and rainfall all belonged to the domain of heaven. They had their normal path, unrelated to human affairs, and were beyond the reach of human power. On the other hand, man’s morality and order in the world belonged to the realm of man. People should be responsible for moral development and social order. Only by making a clear distinction between heaven and man could one develop his abilities on the basis established by heaven, without overstepping into a domain where man was unable to exert his power.