sheng Chinese term meaning ‘the sage’, ‘sagehood’. This is the Chinese concept of extraordinary human attainment or perfection. Philosophical Taoism focuses primarily on sheng as complete attunement or adaptability to the natural order of events as well as irregular occurrences and phenomena. Classical Confucianism focuses, on the other hand, on the ideal unity of Heaven (t’ien) and human beings as having an ethical significance in resolving human problems. Neo-Confucianism tends to focus on sheng as a realizable ideal of the universe as a moral community. In Chang Tsai’s words, ‘Heaven is my father and Earth is my mother, and even such a small creature as I finds an intimate place in their midst. . . . All people are my brothers and sisters, and all things are my companions.’ In Confucianism, sheng (the sage) is often viewed as one who possesses comprehensive knowledge and insights into the ethical significance of things, events, and human affairs. This ideal of sheng contrasts with chün-tzu, the paradigmatic individual who embodies basic ethical virtues (jen, li, i, and chih), but is always liable to error, especially in responding to changing circumstances of human life. For Confucius, sheng (sagehood) is more like an abstract, supreme ideal of a perfect moral personality, an imagined vision rather than a possible objective of the moral life. He once remarked that he could not ever hope to meet a sheng-jen (a sage), but only a chün-tzu. For his eminent followers, on the other hand, e.g., Mencius, Hsün Tzu, and the Neo-Confucians, sheng is a humanly attainable ideal. See also CONFUCIANISM , MENCIUS. A.S.C. Shen Pu-hai (d.337 B.C.), Chinese Legalist philosopher who emphasized shu, pragmatic methods or techniques of bureaucratic control whereby the ruler checked the power of officials and ensured their subordination. These techniques included impartial application of publicly promulgated positive law, appointment based on merit, mutual surveillance by officials, and most importantly hsing ming – the assignment of punishment and reward based on the correspondence between one’s official title or stipulated duties (ming) and one’s performance (hsing). Law for Shen Pu-hai was one more pragmatic means to ensure social and bureaucratic order. See also HSING , MIN. R.P.P. & R.T.A.
