道心說前史 — 兼論中國思想中心體義的展開=Prehistory of the Theory of Tao Mind (Daoxin): With Additional Remarks on the Development of the Idea of Ontological Mind (Xinti) in Chinese Thought
The distinction between human mind (renxin) and Tao mind (daoxin) was a crucial thesis of Neo-Confucianists on the question of mind. Nevertheless, did this antithesis between human mind and Tao mind start from the Neo-Confucianism? Actually, we can already observe relevant discussions on Tao mind in earlier literatures such as Pre-Qin literature, Han-Jin Buddhist sutras and Taoist texts during the Six Dynasties, but these literatures contained divergent views on the relationship between human mind and Tao mind. In Pre-Qin and Han era, the theories of heaven mind and Tao mind had a different level from human mind: an individual can conduct the human mind by means of self-cultivation and then perceive the Tao mind, but still cannot unite with the last since it remains a metaphysical thinking. Afterwards, the Buddhism introduced the concept of mind with ontological meaning and translated “Bodhi-citta (putixin)” in sutras with the term of “Tao mind”, which was not, however, considered as the upmost level. Under the influence of Buddhist mind ontology, the Taoists during the Six Dynasties and the Neo-Confucianists during the Song Dynasty established respectively Taoist and Confucian mind ontology and both, distinguishing from the Buddhism, took Tao mind as the noumenon. Our historical and contextual study of the theory of Tao mind before the Neo-Confucianism provides meanwhile a further understanding of the development of the concept of mind-in-itself in ancient Chinese thought.
