Benyu 本語

Benyu 本語 "Words of human nature" is a "brush-notes"-style book (biji 筆記) written during the Ming period 明 (1368-1644) by Gao Gong 高拱 (1512-1578), courtesy name Suqing 肅卿, from Xinzheng 新鄭 (in today's Henan province). He was Grand Academician (daxueshi 大學士) of the Hall of Literary Profundity (Wenyuange 文淵閣), but was driven out when Xu Jie 徐階 (1503-1583) became a member of the Grand Secretariat (neige 內閣). During the Longqing reign-period 隆慶 (1567-1572), he returned to the Grand Secretariat and was Grand Academician of the Hall of the Central Pole (Zhongjidian 中極殿), and finally Senior Grand Secretary (neige shoufu 內閣首輔). Under the Wanli Emperor 萬曆帝 (r. 1572-1619), when Zhang Juzheng 張居正 (1525-1582) controlled the political landscape, Gao was again expelled from the Grand Secretariat and left the court, to live a private life. His posthumous title is Gao Wenxianggong 高文襄公. His collected writings are thus called Gao Wenxianggong ji 高文襄公集.

The book of 6 juan length was finished in 1576, thirteen years after Gao Gong was dismissed from office, and thus opens with the two hexagrams Pi 否 and Tai 泰 (see Yijing 易經) which are believed to be expressions of conflict and disadvantageous relationships between a nobleman and a commoner. Gao uses exemplarious figures of history and compares them with himself and with contemporaries. In discussing Pei Du 裴度 (765-839) and Liu Yan 劉晏 (716-780), he compares them covertly to himself. Li Linfu 李林甫 (683-753) is equalized with Xu Jie, and for Lu Huaishen 盧懷慎 (d. 716), an indirect comparison is drawn with Yin Shidan 殷士儋 (1522-1582). The author thus vents his frustration with the sad state of the Ming empire.

The fundamental principle of the world was the relationship between the Heavenly principle or order (tianli 天理) and human emotions or affections (renqing 人情). Only the Saints (shengren 聖人) of the past or a nobleman (junzi 君子) in the present time would understand this relation by inquiring his own heart. A nobleman would cling to mean modesty (zhongyong 中庸), and to harmony (he 和) as an expression of the congruence (shun 順) of words and deeds with Heaven and "nature" in the Neo-Confucian sense. All words had to be embedded in human emotions (jie ben ren qing 皆本人情), and thus followed the Heavenly Way.

Some statements in the book are somewhat unreasonable, like Su Liangxiang's 宿良鄉 dream of Confucius; his pondering about the "miracle of the unintentional mind" (wu yi zhi miao 無意之妙) mastered by the Saints, or Gao's attempts to sever the link between Heaven's Way (tiandao 天道) and the human world as it was believed to exist in the shape of natural disasters, on which traditional scholars like Cheng Yi 程頤 (1033-1107) or Dong Zhongshu 董仲舒 (179-104 BCE) had spent a lot of thoughts. On the other hand, Gao Gong points at many mistakes of Confucian scholars and the errors in biographies of eminent persons, and thus presents a vigorous style of scholarly critique.

From fascicle 5 on, the author discusses current affairs and explains some of the shortcomings of the Ming government. The official image of Gao in his biography as that of an expert in politics and affairs of statecraft is thus reflected in his book.

The text is included in the series Zhihai 指海, Siku quanshu 四庫全書 and Congshu jicheng chubian 叢書集成初編.