If Zhang Zhongjing, the Buddha, and Zhuangzi Lived in the Modern World

Sometimes I think impractical but interesting questions. Today I wondered: if Zhang Zhongjing, the Buddha, and Zhuangzi were all still alive, I would very much like to ask all three the same question - would they be willing to learn modern science such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology?

I suspect all three would answer yes.

I have reasons for saying this. First, Zhang Zhongjing. In the preface to Shanghan Zabing Lun (Treatise on Cold Damage and Miscellaneous Diseases), he wrote: "I am dismayed that the scholars of the age pay no heed to medicine and pharmacology, do not diligently study the arts of prescription, in order above to treat the illnesses of their lords and parents, below to rescue the needy from distress, and in the middle to preserve and nourish their own lives; instead they scramble for glory and power, tiptoeing after the influential, hustling and bustling solely for fame and gain, embellishing the branches while neglecting the root, making the outside splendid while the inside withers. If the skin is gone, to what will the hair attach?" This expresses his disdain for a worldly life chasing fame and gain. So, "mourning the decline of the past and grieving that sudden death cannot be rescued, he diligently sought the ancient teachings and broadly gathered the various formulas," studying assiduously and eventually writing the TCM classic Shanghan Zabing Lun on the basis of what he learned.

A person as diligent and eager to learn as Zhang Zhongjing, if living in the modern world, how could he not study modern science? And after learning more, how could he not further research and reflect on what he had previously learned? So if Zhang Zhongjing were alive today, the Shanghan Zabing Lun he wrote would be very different. I believe he would preserve the practicality of the old work while surely drawing on new scientific and technical knowledge to substantially revise his doctrines.

Now the Buddha. What kind of person was he? A disciple asked: "What has the greatest strength? What is the brightest?" The Buddha answered: "Forbearance has the greatest strength, because it harbors no wickedness and adds well-being and health. The forbearing do no evil and are surely respected by others. When mental defilements are extinguished and the mind is pure and flawless, that is the brightest. From before heaven and earth to today, of all the ten directions, nothing is unseen, nothing unknown, nothing unheard; one who attains all wisdom may be called bright." In this passage the Buddha clearly states his attitude: to reach the brightest state, one must, "from before heaven and earth to today," see all, know all, hear all, and attain all wisdom. How does one reach such a state? The Buddha taught that one must "study widely and investigate broadly." In The Sutra of Forty-two Sections, the Buddha lists twenty difficulties for human beings, one of which is "the difficulty of studying widely and investigating broadly."

So, based on the Buddha's own words, I can judge that he, too, was diligent and eager to learn. Moreover, he had no partisan biases, hoping to learn all knowledge under heaven and achieve "nothing unseen, nothing unknown, nothing unheard, attaining all wisdom." With such an attitude, had the Buddha attended university, he would surely have been a top student always in the library. As he absorbed the wisdom of others, he would surely have treated all kinds of knowledge and wisdom with an open mind.

As for Zhuangzi, although he wrote in his book: "My life has a limit, but knowledge has no limit. To pursue the limited with the limitless is dangerous; and to keep doing so is simply perilous. Do good not for the sake of fame, do evil not for the sake of punishment; follow the central axis as your guiding thread, and thereby you can preserve your body, fulfill your life, nourish your parents, and complete your years" - yet a man like Zhuangzi, who would rather "drag his tail in the mud" than take high office, and who loved thinking (had he not loved thinking, the delightful book Zhuangzi would never exist), would have abundant leisure and would spend a large part of it reading.

Zhuangzi might even have fallen in love with chemistry and biology, becoming a doctoral supervisor in chemistry or biology at some university. Among Zhuangzi's later followers emerged many alchemists; as everyone knows, ancient alchemists were the earliest chemists in human society, the first to use chemical reactions to smelt metals and generate new substances. Some ill-informed TCM fans in China fiercely oppose chemical drugs, never imagining that among the ancestors of the TCM world there were many early chemists like Ge Hong. The alchemy equipment they invented bears a striking resemblance to experimental apparatus in modern chemistry labs; Chinese-medicine substances such as "qiushi" (autumn mineral) and "pishuang" (arsenic trioxide) were chemical substances they refined.

So among the traditional-culture enthusiasts who raise the banner of honoring the ancients while rejecting modern science, a considerable number merely use that banner as an excuse for not wanting to study. Learning requires investing much time and energy; mastering difficult subjects requires even more effort. Most people cannot bear the hardship of study, dislike learning, and along the way develop an ignorant contempt for modern science. This is just as dogmatic as the attitude of those unwilling to learn traditional culture and developing an ignorant contempt for it.

In Lüshi Chunqiu (Mr. Lü's Spring and Autumn Annals) it is said: "All laws of the former kings were suited to their times. If the times have not kept pace with the laws, then though the laws exist today, they cannot be practiced. So discard the established laws of the former kings and study the reasons they made laws." It is clear that our ancients already realized that when society and the times change, people must keep pace with the times and the body of knowledge must be updated. Preserving what is valuable in ancient learning, discarding its dregs, drawing nourishment from new discoveries, testing and improving old understanding, and bringing forth the new - that is the true respect for the ancient sages. For even if they themselves lived in a new era, that is what they would do.