Forming Material Things

Abstract

Abstract This chapter continues discussion of the concepts of contraction (翕) and expansion (闢), their mutual opposition and mutual completion, and their connection with Qian and Kun in the Book of Change. Xiong also sets out his claim that what Zhongyong (Balance as the Norm) explains as being “so small that they cannot be broken apart,” and what Hui Shi 惠施 called “the smallest ones” correspond with the theory of atoms. Xiong then turns to identify three major fallacies in “cosmological accounts of Reality.” This is followed by his account of the three major modifications undergone by living entities that enabled the pure and spirit-like (精神) to attain the means for it manifestly to express its own power. The chapter concludes with some general remarks on the development of the cosmos and the role played by the principle of “manifesting that which was originally concealed.”