"Conditional Arising" And "Vigorous Change"-a Philosophical Study Of <New Perspectives On Cittamatra> By Xiong Shili

It takes Xiong Shili ten years around to formulate his representative work,New Perspectives on Cittamatra.And this dissertation contains two main questions: the first one is to elaborate Xiong’s demonstrating course between the two opposite characteristics in his book,that is to say,cosmology and the moral metaphysics;the second one is to explain the key point between Confucianism and Buddhism via Xiong’s theory.As for the first question,the whole theoretical creation of Xiong Shili comes down to three words: essence-function monism,vigorous change and transcendental mind,especially the second word.Xiong reaches his final point vigorous change through essence-function monism.Firstly he states the nothingness of both object and mind,so the dichotomous opposition between them can be avoided.Secondly he defines “change” as “the forth-and returningchange” from different perspectives,meaning that the change changes ceaselessly,through which Xiong reaches the concept—the great cosmos life.In this way,where there is a noun characterized as incessant or without a barrier,that is noumenon in Xiong’s theory.The vigorous change is in itself the great cosmos life,and human life is the realization of the great cosmos life,that is what is named as transcendental mind.The word “life” is endued with ontological meaning,so the transcendental mind is just the noumenon.As for the second one,the key point is that Xiong takes a metaphysical way in Buddhism explanation,and consequently missing the basic spirit which also constitutes the core of differentiation of the haves or have-nots.As Xiong puts forward the perfect expectation concerning human life(human life is an embodiment of the great cosmos life,as mentioned before),such expectation leads to his metaphysics reflection therefore the transcendental mind in his work exactly means substance or noumenon.Correspondingly he takes a negative attitude towards object even though it contributes a lot to theoretical integrity.His inadequate comprehension of conditional arising is the focus of such demerit.