Self-Cultivation and Creativity : Reflections on Mou Zongsan's Relationship with an Energetic Confucianism Within the Chinese history of the self-cultivation (and particularly in Song and Ming Confucianism), the spiritual was confronted with a tendency of ontological " de-hierarchisation ". In philosophy, this movement appeared mainly in the evolution of the concept of " energy " (qi). The relation between the spirit (shen) or the regulating structure (li) on the one hand, and energy on the other constitutes one of the central questions of neo-confucian philosophy. From the northern Song up to the late Ming, the philosophical satus of the concept of qi-energy increasingly raised. During the last decades, scholarly debates on Confucianism in China have been very much influenced by the question whether the réévaluation of energy as a key-concept can provide new and critical perspectives for research into the Confucian tradition. In this debate, Zhang Zai (1020-1078) and Wang Fuzhi (1619-1692) as representatives of energetic Confucianism have been major objects of attention. With this development as a background, this paper deals with the following problem : if one abandons the value-hierarchy between immanence and transcendence, between the physical and the metaphysical world, and thus undermines the metaphysical basis of spiritual cultivation, how can the relationship between creativity, cultivation and ethics be critically reconceptualized ? According to Mou Zongsan (1909-1995), energetics and cultivation obviously form an opposition, with the moral effort aiming at limitation and control of the flow of energy. Is it possible to think of a more positive relation between cultivation and energetics ? The understanding of "the compénétration of the constituants without adherence" (jianti wulei) as an ascetic practice is thus part of a broader research into alternative modes of relation between ethics, aesthetics and self-cultivation. concept of " energy " (qi). The relation between the spirit (shen) or the regulating structure (li) on the one hand, and energy on the other constitutes one of the central questions of neo-confucian philosophy. From the northern Song up to the late Ming, the philosophical status of the concept of qi-energy increasingly raised. During the last decades, scholarly debates on Confucianism in China have been very much influenced by the question whether the réévaluation of energy as a key-concept can provide new and critical perspectives for research into the Confucian tradition. In this debate, Zhang Zai (1020-1078) and Wang Fuzhi (1619-1692) as representatives of energetic Confucianism have been major objects of attention. With this development as a background, this paper deals with the following problem : if one abandons the value-hierarchy between immanence and transcendence, between the physical and the metaphysical world, and thus undermines the metaphysical basis of spiritual cultivation, how can the relationship between creativity, cultivation and ethics be critically reconceptualized ? According to Mou Zongsan (1909-1995), energetics and cultivation obviously form an opposition, with the moral effort aiming at limitation and control of the flow of energy. Is it possible to think of a more positive relation between cultivation and energetics ? The understanding of " the compenetration of the constituants without adherence " (jianti wulei) as an ascetic practice is thus part of a broader research into alternative modes of relation between ethics, aesthetics and self-cultivation.
L'histoire chinoise de la culture de soi (et tout particulièrement dans les doctrines des néo-confucéens des Song et des Ming), le spirituel s'est trouvé confronté à une tendance à la «dé-hiérarchisation» ontologique. En philosophie, ce mouvement s'est manifesté principalement dans l'évolution de la notion d'« énergie» (qi). Les relations entre l'esprit (shen) ou la structure régulatrice (li) d'une part, et l'énergie de l'autre constituent l'une des questions majeures de la philosophie confucéenne des Song et des Ming. Or, des Song du Nord aux Ming, cette notion d'énergie a occupé une place de plus en plus élevée. Depuis quelques dizaines d'années, la nature de cette évolution vers une théorie énergétique constitue un point essentiel dans les polémiques sur la pensée des Song et des Ming. Dans ce débat, Zhang Zai (1020-1078) et Wang Fuzhi (1619-1692) ont fait l'objet d'une attention particulière. Le problème est le suivant : dès lors que l'on abandonne la hiérarchie entre l'immanence et transcendance, entre le monde physique et le métaphysique, et que l'on se débarrasse du fondement métaphysique d'une culture de soi spirituelle, comment concevoir le rapport entre créativité, culture de soi et éthique ? Selon Mou Zongsan (1909-1995), les théories énergétiques et celles de la culture de soi sont à l'évidence dans un rapport d'opposition, l'effort moral consistant à limiter et contrôler le flux de l'énergie. Le problème est de savoir s'il est possible de créer ou non entre elles un rapport plus positif. L'idée de «la compénétration des constituants sans adhérence» (jianti wulei) comme pratique d'ascèse s'efforce d'abord de proposer un autre mode de relation entre éthique, esthétique et culture de soi.
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