The Philosophical Thought of Ji Kang

Abstract

Ji Kang (224-263) was a great writer and thinker of the Wei-Jin period. He said that he was "indebted to Laozi and Zhuangzi" (Poems of Hidden Anger [Youfenshi]), and that "Laozi and Zhuangzi are my teachers" ("Letter Breaking with Shan Juyuan" [Yu Shan Juyuan juejiao yishu]). But unlike He Yan and Wang Bi, Ji Kang did not accept Laozi's idea that "Being comes from Nonbeing." He did not take the mental construct of "Nonbeing" as the source or origin of the universe, nor did he, as some comrades suggest, take the material, physical "qi" (material force) as the foundation of the existence of all things in the universe. In Ji Kang's view, "Where is this Being and Nonbeing?" That is, why should we conceive of "Being" or "Nonbeing" as the source or origin of the universe? He proposed transcending totally the mysticism of "Being" and "Nonbeing." The present article will discuss a few aspects of this question.