Mu Tzu, the philosopher of humanism and
utilitarianism, we find the idea of creation. It was, he says, Heaven
(which was anthropomorphically regarded by him as a personal Supreme
Being) who "created the sun, moon, and innumerable stars." His system
closely resembles Christianity, but the great power of Confucianism as
a weapon wielded against all opponents by its doughty defender Mencius
(372-289 B.C.) is shown by the complete suppression of the influence
of Mo Tzuism at his hands. He even went so far as to describe Mo Tzu
and those who thought with him as "wild animals."

Mencius and the First Cause

Mencius himself regarded Heaven as the First Cause, or Cause of Causes,
but it was not the same personal Heaven as that of Mo Tzu. Nor does
he hang any cosmogony upon it. His chief concern was to eulogize the
doctrines of the great Confucius, and like him he preferred to let
the origin of the universe look after itself.

Lieh Tzu's Absolute

Lieh Tzu (said to have lived in the fifth century B.C.), one
of the brightest stars in the Taoist constellation, considered
this nameable world as having evolved from an unnameable absolute
being. The evolution did not take place through the direction of
a personal will working out a plan of creation: "In the beginning
there was Chaos [_hun tun_]. It was a mingled potentiality of Form
[_hsing_], Pneuma [_ch'i_], and Substance [_chih_]. A Great Change
[_t'ai i_] took place in it, and there was a Great Starting [_t'ai
ch'u_] which is the beginning of Form. The Great Starting evolved a
Great Beginning [_t'ai shih_], which is the inception of Pneuma. The
Great Beginning was followed by the Great Blank [_t'ai su_], which
is the first formation of Substance. Substance, Pneuma, and Form
being all evolved out of the primordial chaotic mass, this material
world as it lies before us came into existence." And that which
made it possible for Chaos to evolve was the Solitary Indeterminate
(_i tu_ or the _tao_), which is not created, but is able to create
everlastingly. And being both Solitary and Indeterminate it tells us
nothing determinate about itself.

Chuang Tzu's Super-tao

Chuang Chou (fourth and third centuries B.C.), generally known
as Chuang Tzu, the most brilliant Taoist of all, maintained with
Lao Tzu that the universe started from the Nameless, but it was if
possible a more absolute and transcendental Nameless than that of
Lao Tzu. He dwells on the relativity of knowledg