Beyond Oneness and Difference: Li and Coherence in Chinese Buddhist Thought and Its Antecedents

by Brook Ziporyn

Beyond Oneness and Difference considers the development of one of the key concepts of Chinese intellectual history, Li . A grasp of the strange history of this term and its seemingly conflicting implications--as oneness and differentiation, as the knowable and as what transcends knowledge, as the good and as the transcendence of good and bad, as order and as omnipresence--raises questions about the most basic building blocks of our thinking. This exploration began in the book's companion volume, Ironies of Oneness and Difference , which detailed how formative Confucian and Daoist thinkers approached and demarcated concepts of coherence, order, and value, identifying both ironic and non-ironic trends in the elaboration of these core ideas. In the present volume, Brook Ziporyn goes on to examine the implications of Li as they develop in Neo-Daoist metaphysics and in Chinese Buddhism, ultimately becoming foundational to Song and Ming dynasty Neo-Confucianism, the orthodox ideology of late imperial China. Ziporyn's interrogation goes beyond analysis to reveal the unsuspected range of human thinking on these most fundamental categories of ontology, metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics.

Genres: Philosophy

432 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2013

Reviews

[Blaine Snow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Currently (spring 2025) taking large bites out of this dense history of Chinese philosophical thought, the second of two volumes by Ziporyn on the topic, the first being Ironies of Oneness and Difference: Coherence in Early Chinese Thought; Prolegomena to the Study of Li. I think this is the paperback edition on GR.

These volumes require some background in Chinese language, history, and culture but the rewards are profound. Ziporyn follows the central Chinese philosophical concept of li (理; pinyin: li, trans. "coherence"), its origin and development as it runs through 2,000 years of Chinese philosophical history. His grasp of the nuances of Chinese thinking in both the non-ironic Confucian tradition and the ironic Daoist tradition, his ability to show the interplay between the two traditions, introduce us to the many philosopher-scholar-sages who contributed to the development of the concept of li, all amount to a breathtaking vision of Chinese philosophical history. But it IS dense - and I'm plodding through it page by page in order to help you appreciate the majesty that is (traditional) Chinese culture.

More to come...