The Role of Change in Xiong Shili’s Understanding of Ti and Yong

Abstract

During the 1950s Xiong Shili’s 熊十力 (1885–1968) ti-yong metaphysics underwent some profound changes. Focussing on his 1958 publication, Tiyong lun 體用論 (Treatise on reality and function), this paper seeks to explain the role that the concept of change played in the articulation of his core metaphysical tenet, “the non-duality of ti and yong” (體用不二). It will further propose that this understanding of the role of change also served as his mature solution to the Buddhist problematic of avoiding the two extremes (二見、二邊) of reification and nihilism, which Xiong characterizes in terms of believing either that things endure over time (continua) or that things cease to exist.