Ox Mountain
Depicting yet another ecosystem out of balance, another environmental scene deteriorating before one's very eyes as a reflection of human nature's crumbling is the Confucian parable of Ox Mountain.
Written in the fourth century of the common era by Chinese philosopher-sage Mencius, second only to Confucius himself, Ox Mountain tells the all-too-familiar tale of ecological disequilibrium. A landscape once so pristine is suddenly depleted and turned into desolate wasteland. Human nature, Mencius writes, is subject to the same fiery assault.
Believing that human nature is fundamentally good, Mencius invokes the story of Ox Mountain in order to illustrate the potential to restore the natural state even after it has been stifled. Whether environmental or mental terrain, there remains hope for reforestation under the right conditions. Mencius reminds us that despite all outer appearances, regeneration of this original state is always possible.
Here we examine Ox Mountain in detail as both an ecological actuality and a metaphor for the human condition.
Human Nature
Among the primary virtues of Confucian philosophy are two qualities variously rendered 1) benevolence / altruism / kindness / compassion / humanity (仁) and 2) righteousness / justice / fairness (義). These two feature centrally in the story of Ox Mountain. In fact, they are likened to the abundant trees responsible for the mountain's lush appearance, its innate beauty.
Although perched high on the mountaintop, these trees (virtues) are unfortunately hewn away at the hands of humans. While they remain capable of regrowing, they are quickly depleted again and again through overgrazing, leaving the mountain bare once more. The system is repeatedly thrown into disarray.
We include Charles Muller's translation from the Chinese.
Mencius said, “The greenery on [Ox] Mountain was once beautiful, but since it was near a large city, it was attacked by lumberjacks. How could it retain its beauty? Still, by the respite gotten day and night, being nourished by the rain and dew, there was no lack of the growth of new buds and sprouts. But then cattle and sheep came and fed themselves, and by the time they were done, it was completely barren.” If people saw this barrenness, they might have imagined that there had never been any greenery. How could this be the mountain's original nature?
In the case of people, how could they lack the mind of humaneness and fairness? But the daily damage done to the goodness of their mind is just like the lumberjacks did to the mountain. Being chopped down day after day, how can its beauty have a chance to emerge?
Day after day...
Now barren, devoid of trees, Ox Mountain has become a shell of its former self. Those who lay eyes upon it assume this lifeless state, completely desolate, must be its original nature.
In actuality, its desolate appearance is the result of a complex web of causes and conditions including situational negligence, carelessness, and ignorance - noxious qualities that eat away at an originally lush ecosystem. Just as the mountain's original nature was brimming with life, humanity's original nature is characterized by humaneness and fairness despite their present depletion.
Purity of Mind
Such virtuous qualities underpin the fundamental purity of mind that Mencius saw within all people. While they may be trampled underfoot during the upsurge in greed and ignorance, leading to environmental illness, their roots remain firmly planted. As long as the virtues retain their roots, the health of the ecosystem may regenerate.
Much like the fires and other catastrophic conditions that ravage the earth, the possibility for an end to the madness and restoration of what once was remains within reach so long as the foundations, the virtuous roots, are preserved.
For Mencius, the roots of these fundamental virtues extend deep. Unfortunately, they deteriorate with neglect. Although Mencius associates depravity with animals, a potentially problematic association that deserves scrutiny, his main focus is the role of the vital breath.
Having some time to rest day and night, and breathing in the morning air, your likes and dislikes may be somewhat similar to those of other people. But due to your daily activities you are suffocated. Being suffocated, you can't get enough fresh air. Fresh air being insufficient, your goodness of mind is not nourished, and there will be little difference between you and the animals. People see our animalistic nature and assume that we have never had great endowments. How could this be our real disposition?
Therefore, if it is properly nourished, there is nothing that will not grow. If it is not nourished, there is nothing that will not die. Confucius said: “Use it and you will keep it; ignore it and you will lose it. It comes and goes at any time, and no one knows where its original home is.” What else could he be talking about but the mind?
Another two key concepts surface in these passages, "air" (氣) and "mind" (心).
The first (氣) is not merely any air, but the vital breath that imbues all with life, termed qi, the primordial source and sustainer. By cultivating and nurturing this vital breath, allowing it to pervade one's being, the entire system is purified.
By extension, the detoxification process applies equally to the ecosystem, as this vital breath pervades all. At the most basic level, clean air is a fundamental condition for the health of breathing beings, whether flora or fauna. When the mind, whose form "心" is intended to resemble the heart, undergoes purified by this vital breath, then all is healed and clarified. Likewise, the heart of the ecosystem at large must be sustained in order to prevent total collapse.
Mental and Environmental
From the mental to the environmental, the fundamentally pure state is that to which we must return. For Mencius, this original state is like the densely covered mountaintop, flourishing with foliage, only hacked away and razed to the ground when the circumstances are unfavorable. For much of the present world, such unfavorable conditions include fire, pollution, flooding, and an entire slew of other challenges. Such environmental challenges, Mencius perhaps inadvertently suggests, might stem from a toxic disturbance of mental equilibrium, including the deforestation of virtuous qualities of mind.
At least in the opinion of Mencius, one may resurrect the fallen trees. Virtues hewn away by the ax can regenerate if nourished back to health. Such virtues characterize the original state of mind, just as an abundance of trees characterizes the original state of Ox Mountain. Given the innate goodness of the mind, such a fundamental state can be restored even after harm has come to it.
For more on these matters of mind and its ecology, particularly in relation to the greater ecosystem, stay tuned.
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