t’ien li

t’ien li jen-yü, Chinese terms literally meaning ‘heavenly principles’ and ‘human desires’, respectively. Sung–Ming Neo-Confucian philosophers believed that Heaven enables us to understand principles and to act according to them. Therefore we must try our best to preserve heavenly principles and eliminate human desires. When hungry, one must eat; this is acting according to t’ien li. But when one craves gourmet food, the only thing one cares about is gratification of desire; this is jen-yü. Neo-Confucian philosophers were not teaching asceticism; they only urged us not to be slaves of our excessive, unnatural, artificial, ‘human’ desires. See also NEO-CONFUCIANISM ; TAO-HSIN, JEN -HSI. S.-h.L.

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