| Abstract |
Contemporary neo-Confucian master, Xiong Shili’s early major works include A New Treatise on Consciousness-only (新唯識論), Essentials for Reading the Classics (讀經示要),and Essential Sayings of Shili (十力語要); in the later period, they are Evolution of the Cosmos (乾坤衍), Essay on Substance and Function (體用論) and Treatise on Brightening the Mind (明心篇). These works represent the best originality of contemporary Confucians’ ontology and cosmology. Xiong’s basic pproach in these works is manifesting the holistic-vitalism of Confucian philosophy by ‘Yi-Zhuanian hermeneutics’, in which he displays his vitalistic viewpoint for ecology and evolution. It views nature holistically as a self-sustaining and vital existential-space. This article will examine Xiong’s later works,especially Evolution of the Cosmos (乾坤衍),with the conception ‘existential-space’. I shall discuss the existential- space notion in the context of Yi-Zhuan, based on which I shall further discuss Xiong’s ‘qian-kun-structured’existential space and his holistic-vitalism.
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