The moral characters of humans endowed or influenced by qi (气) stand in contrast with “characters endowed by Heaven” or “characters endowed by Heaven and Earth.” The term encompasses two meanings. First, it refers to the specific disposition of a person under the influence of qi, such as firmness and gentleness, patience and impatience, and wi…
This term aims to explain how human culture arose. It stands in contrast to what is known as “heaven’s ways” or “earth’s ways,” the former referring to laws governing the movement and change of heavenly bodies and weather, while the latter to that of topographic features and directions of mountains and rivers. Since humans came into being with…