This chapter examines the Song commentaries which Longobardo considered important for a correct understanding of Confucianism. In particular, Meynard reveals that Longobardo’s understanding of what constituted canonical thought in late Ming China was highly idiosyncratic. Longobardo elevates Shao Yong as the representative thinker of the Confucian tradition despite the fact that Zhu Xi considered many of his ideas to be heterodox. Longobardo’s report provides the first European description of Shao Yong’s cosmological division between metaphysical and abstract realities (xiantianxue), and the concrete realities unfolding in the physical universe (houtianxue). Longobardo interprets his cosmology through the lens of Aristotelian concepts and concludes that it was essentially materialist monism which does not allow for spiritual substances, thereby proving terminology indigenous to the Confucian tradition cannot convey the transcendence of Christian theological concepts.

1. 1.

   See John Makeham,Transmitters and Creators, Chinese Commentators and Commentaries on the Analects (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, 2003).

2. 2.

   As suggested to me by Daniel Canaris, one could also argue that Longobardo’s stance about the hidden intention of the literati is not a premise, but a conclusion based upon his (flawed) philological research and that his philosophical demonstration is not construed as being dependent on this conclusion, but as further evidence in support of it, i.e., the semiotic/philosophical approaches are mutually corroborative.

3. 3.

   Nicolas Trigault and Matteo Ricci,De Christiana expeditione apud Sinas suscepta ab Societate Iesu (Ausburg: Apud Christophorum Mangium, 1615).

4. 4.

   Pierre Bayle,Dictionnaire historique et critique, vol. 13 (Paris: Desoer, 1820), 416.

5. 5.

   See Thierry Meynard,The Jesuit Reading of Confucius: The First Complete Translation ofthe Lunyu (1687) Published in the West (Leiden: Brill, 2015), 20. For a modern edition of Zhu Xi’s work:Sishu zhangju jizhu 四書章句集注 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2003).

6. 6.

   See Wing-tsit Chan,A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1963), 482–483.

7. 7.

   The twojuan that Longobardo studied corresponds to the two parts (shang andxia 上下) of theGuanwu waipian, which are said to be the teaching of Shao Yong collected by his disciples and edited by his son, Shao Bowen 邵伯溫 (1057–1134). Apparently, Longobardo did not study theGuanwu neipian 觀物内篇 (“Inner Chapters on Observing Things”) which is reproduced in theXinglidaquan (juan 9 and 10), and considered from the hand of Shao Yong himself.

8. 8.

   Following João Rodrigues and other Jesuits, Longobardo believes in the existence of a common source for all the philosophies in the world, and from the point of view of the history of human knowledge, it may be worthy reconstituting Pythagorean numerology with the help of Chinese numerology. After Longobardo, many Jesuits like Anathasius Kircher (1602–1680) or Joachim Bouvet (1656–1730) made efforts in retrieving the universal ancient knowledge through Chinese sources.

9. 9.

   Previously, Ricci had associated first matter totaiji: “Ex iis quae de Taikieo loquuntur, nihil mea quidem sententia aliud est quam id quod nostri Philosophi dicunt primam materiam.” See Ricci,The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven, 377.

10. 10.

    APF, Manuscript SC Indie Orientali e Cina, vol. 1, fol.177^v.

11. 11.

    APF, Manuscript SC Indie Orientali e Cina, vol. 1, fol.177^v.

12. 12.

    For theXiaojing goumingjue 孝經鉤命決: “天地未分之前有太易, 有太初, 有太始, 有太素, 有太極; 謂之五運 形象未分謂之太易; 元氣始萌謂之太初; 氣形之端謂之太始; 形變有質謂之 形已具謂之太極; 五氣漸變謂之五運.” Shao Yong is himself influenced by Han dynasty works, like Yang Xiong’sTaixuanjing 太玄經. Some Tang dynasty monks make also mention of a cosmogeny in five stages, like Falin 法琳 (572–640) in hisBianzhenglun 辯證論 and Zongmi 宗密 (780–841) in hisYuanjuejing lueshuzhichao 圓覺經略疏之鈔.

13. 13.

    It is interesting to note that Antonio de Santa María Caballero (1602–1669) in hisZhengxue liushi 正學鏐石, published posthumously in 1698, discusses this five-stage cosmology, which he may probably have discovered in Longobardo’s report which he translated in 1661. Antonio de Santa María Caballero,Zhengxue liushi 正學鏐石, inDongchuan fuyin 東傳福音, ed. Zhou Xiefan 周燮藩, 25 vols (Hefei: Huangshan shushe, 2005), 3:3–5.

14. 14.

    However, in some passages (like 13.12), Longobardo seems to identifyli andtaiji, like Zhu Xi did.

15. 15.

    APF, Manuscript SC Indie Orientali e Cina, vol. 1, fol.177^v.

16. 16.

    Robin R. Wang, “Decoding the Philosophical DNA of the Yinyang Symbol,” inSymbols, Cultures and Identities in a Time of Global Interchange, ed. Paata Chkheidze, Hoang Thi Tho, and Yaroslav Pasko (Washington, DC: The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy, 2015), 296.

17. 17.

    APF, Manuscript SC Indie Orientali e Cina, vol. 1, fol.178^r.

18. 18.

    APF, Manuscript SC Indie Orientali e Cina, vol. 1, fol.179^r.

19. 19.

    APF, Manuscript SC Indie Orientali e Cina, vol. 1, fol.179^r.

20. 20.

    APF, Manuscript SC Indie Orientali e Cina, vol. 1, fol.181^r.

21. 21.

    SeeZhuzi yulei 朱子語類,juan 4 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju 中華書局, 2004), 56–81.

22. 22.

    APF, Manuscript SC Indie Orientali e Cina, vol. 1, fol.182^r.

23. 23.

    “凡有囘世界者, 必天主使之.” Ricci,The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven, 150.

24. 24.

    Longobardo inserted the words ofZhongyong 16: “體物而不可遺.”

25. 25.

    APF, Manuscript SC Indie Orientali e Cina, vol. 1, fol.190^r.

26. 26.

    APF, Manuscript SC Indie Orientali e Cina, vol. 1, fol.190^r.

27. 27.

    APF, Manuscript SC Indie Orientali e Cina, vol. 1, fol.190^v.

Authors and Affiliations

1. Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China

   Thierry Meynard

Corresponding author

Correspondence toThierry Meynard.

Editors and Affiliations

1. Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China

   Thierry Meynard

2. Xue-Heng Institute for Advanced Studies, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China

   Daniel Canaris

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