The Chinese Sage for the great sinologist François Jullien is “without idea”. He is careful not to put an idea ahead of the others – to the detriment of the others: there is no idea that he puts in mind, posed in principle, serving as a foundation or simply as a beginning, from which could deduct or at least s, unfolding his thought. Power of Chinese wisdom that calls into question the principles of our philosophy inherited from the Greeks 2500 years ago!
Since Socrates and Plato, our European students have studied it enough (!) a “principle” is what both begins and commands what thought can begin with. Once the principle is established, everything else follows!
But isn’t that a trap? The Chinese Sage is afraid of this hegemonic beginning which blocks thought. The direction is already taken…
Because the Idea of the Greek philosopher, barely advanced, made the others recoil… The Chinese Sage will take care to keep his thoughts “on the same level and this is his wisdom: to keep them equally possible, equally accessible, without ‘none, passing in front, comes to hide the other, does not overshadow the other, in short without any being privileged “writes the sinologist.
Does this phrase sound weird to you, “No Idea”? But it is an advantage for fluid, leaping thought. The Sage is not in possession of any Idea, prisoner of any Idea.
In fact it has plenty of thoughts or ideas (but “idea” is more of a Greek concept ? ). Only, it does not highlight any!
But how to avoid putting an idea forward? “How could we think without advancing anything?” And yet, as soon as we begin to put forward an idea, wisdom tells us, all of reality or all of the thinkable suddenly recedes! “.
Abandon the obvious?
In fact, this first idea advanced broke the fund of evidence that surrounded us; by pointing to one side, this one rather than another, she tipped us over into arbitrariness, we poured on this side, and the other is lost, the fall is irremediable!
“How do you get back to the flat surface, that of the obvious? asks François Jullien, passionate about Chinese texts so different from those of the Greeks.
The Chinese Sage leaves nothing out, he leaves nothing out. Yet he knows that, by putting forward an idea, one has already taken, if only temporarily, a certain side on reality: by starting to pull a thread, this one rather than another, in the skein coherences, we began to tilt the thought in a certain direction. And the debates begin! Often controversial! What the sages of ancient China did not like. And today, contradicting the other head-on in a discussion is frowned upon.
The Dragon of the Yi-Jing
A great 16th-century Chinese thinker, Wang Fuzhi, commented on a canonical formula from the ancient “Classic of Change,” the Yi-Jing, China’s oldest book!
This spell says “See the troop of headless dragons: pomp”. The first hexagram is composed of 6 continuous Yang lines symbolizing the various aspects of the situation, as well as the successive moments of its evolution, none is dissociated from the others, or prevails over the others, none exceeds; although their place is not equivalent, none of them is put forward, none is privileged.
In short, no one stands out and takes on relief — they all remain on the same plane.
“Headless” therefore means that all these dragons remain “grouped”, with none of them protruding from the head, being put forward, and that they have “equal capacity ».
Which amounts to recognizing that it is enough to put nothing in mind to keep the Real all of its virtuality “so that there is nowhere where it cannot be exercised to the end””, says precisely the Chinese commentator Because, perceived in this way, nothing inhibits or restrains it, it finds itself completely deployed.
The Chinese Sage then remains available to all the variations of reality since he is not limited to a point of view on this reality.
It is the flexibility and speed of the Dragon adapting to all situations.
This is the oldest secret of Chinese Wisdom.
