Spontaneous Arising: Creative Change in the Hengxian

This paper explains how, in a relatively short, newly excavated bamboo text called the Hengxian, the author provides an intriguing version of what it means for humans to act in accordance with the creative forces of the cosmos. I show that, rather than focus on effortless action per se, the author presents an account of the creation of the entire cosmos, which lays the foundation for understanding the central process of creative change in the cosmos: that of spontaneous arising.

He then uses his cosmological account of spontaneous arising to serve as the basis for a fundamental ethics of creative change, applicable to the human world of politics and individual action, thought, and belief. After outlining the meaning and importance of creative change in the early cosmos, I show how the author’s version of spontaneous arising serves as a positive formulation of wuwei in the human world. I also show how this particular, positive manner of articulating a Daoist ideal of action is philosophically subtle, insofar as it presupposes a certain ever-changing concept of the self in space and time.