European Journal of Social Sciences Studies issn 2501-8590

3.2 Regarding human's inherent character 
The issue of human inherent character, Eastern philosophy is interested in clarifying in 
many different aspects. We can see very clearly the separation between Indian 
philosophy and Chinese philosophy in the interpretation of this problem. 
In ancient Indian philosophy, Buddhism discussed the human character as a 
religion. From Theravada Buddhism to the Hinayana and Mahayana schools, they all 
agree on the point of view: Humans have two types of personality: Buddha nature (called 
“nature”) and
mundane nature (called “love”). In which, Buddha Nature is the 
enlightened human nature of “empty”, “nothingness”; enlightenment about the world of 

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 Le Anh Dung 
THE PERSPECTIVE ON HUMANS IN EASTERN PHILOSOPHY
European Journal of Social Sciences Studies - Volume 6 
│
 Issue 5 
│
 2021 132 
“eternal truth”, about the realm of “nirvana” without birth and death. The mundaneity 
is the human character that is still immersed in the realm of ignorance with thoughts 
filled with the habit of “greed 
- hatred - 
delusion”. “Greed” means coveting, wishing to 
have, possess; “hatred” means anger, impatience; “Delusion” means ignorance, 
darkness. The mundanity makes people covered with ignorance, wandering around, 
unable to escape from the cycle of reincarnation to advance to Buddhahood. Therefore, 
want to have Buddha nature to attain Nirvana; people must destroy sex, that is, giving 
up “greed 
- hatred - delusion
”, following the eight paths called the eightfold paths.
In Chinese philosophy, thinkers have been interested in researching and offering 
many opposing views on human inherent character; because one of the characteristics of 
Chinese philosophy is to aim to correct the moral and ethical values of human beings by 
promoting the image of the perfect gentleman. 
During the Warring States period, Mencius introduced the concept of “
Man's 
inherent character at birth is good
”; that is, right from the moment of birt
h, human's inherent 
character is good. Humans already have the germ of “benevolence”, “righteousness”, 
“propriety”, “wisdom” and have the germ of filial piety to parents, loyalty to the king, 
and respect for elders. 
Contrary to that view, Xunzi said that 
“
human inherent character is evil
”; It means 
that humans are born evil by nature. To justify that view, he said: Humans is the type of 
“
the eyes like pretty colors, the ears like beautiful sounds, the mouth likes good flavors, the heart 
likes what is beneficial, and the bones and flesh like what is comfortable
”. It is those desires, 
along with the inherent character of greed for good things and avoidance of harm, that 
make people cruel. Because of the love of benefit, it is easy to give birth to quarrels, lose 
the attitude of concessions and lose loyalty. Although affirming, human's inherent 
character is evil, but Xunzi believes that everyone can do good things and become good. 
Therefore, humans must be educated in the right way to give up evil and return to good. 
The doctrine of the evil of XunZi, later, was inherited and developed by Han Fei 
Zi. Han Fei Zi believes that human's inherent character is evil, inherently selfish, greedy 
for benefit and afraid of harm. With that evil inherent character of man, it will be the 
germ to make society disorder. Therefore, it is just stop at education, it is not enough, but 
it has to promote the Legal (the legal system must be strict), and it must be severely 
punished to threaten the evil of humans. 
Later, Gao zi was the next person to discuss human's inherent character. 
According to him, the human character has three points worth noting: Firstly, the non-
virtuous and virtous nature (human inherent character is neither good nor evil). For a 
better explanation, he said: 
“
sinh chi v
ị
tính, th
ự
c s
ắ
c tính dã
”; means that "
Living is the 
character 
–
Eating and the nuance is also the character
". Thus, according to Gao zi, the 
inherent character is the basis of human and animal life. Human's inherent character is 
expressed in growth and reproduction. Growth is to maintain the individual's life, 
reproduction is to continue the life of the species. This is instinct, not good or evil. 
Secondly, the character of “
kh
ả
 
dĩ vi thiệ
n, kh
ả
 
dĩ vi bấ
t thi
ệ
n
”; that means, the inherent 
character can be made good, can also be made not good. To better understand, he 
explains that “
the inherent character is like water flowing around. When opening to the East, it 

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 Le Anh Dung 
THE PERSPECTIVE ON HUMANS IN EASTERN PHILOSOPHY
European Journal of Social Sciences Studies - Volume 6 
│
 Issue 5 
│
 2021 133 
flows to the East, when opening to the West, it flows to the West
”. With this underst
anding, 
the inherent character is initially like a blank sheet of paper, if we write good things, we 
will become good, if we write bad things, we will become evil. Thereby, highlighting the 
role of education in shaping human character. Thirdly, the humanity belongs to a priori, 
that means, “
d
ữ
 sinh cân sinh
” (it was already available at birth). As for Righteousness, it 
belongs a posteriori, they were born through knowledge and experience. Therefore, he 
said, “
Nhân n
ộ
i dã, phi ngo
ại dã. Nghĩa ngoạ
i dã, phi n
ộ
i dã
”. (Humanity is to be inside, not 
outside. Righteousness is to be outside, not inside)
ii
. 
To the time of Wang Fuzhi and Dai Zhen, the view of human inherent character 
was broadened. Wang Fuzhi said that human character is not innate, but is born and then 
formed. More specifically, human character is formed through learning, “
Every day is 
lived, every day is formed
”. Complementing this point of view, Dai Zhen expands the 
character into three aspects: Desire (sex), Affection (love), Knowledge (intellection). Thus, 
both Wang Fuzhi and Dai Zhen saw the very natural needs of human character, and they 
have seen that human character is formed in the relationship between people and the 
social environment where they live. Thus, these are highly advanced views of human 
inherent character in ancient Chinese philosophy. 
In general, the above thinkers have based on the materialist point of view to 
explain human's inherent character. Although the views may be opposite, they all agree 
that they all recognize the role of education in shaping the inherent character as well as 
educating to bring human inherent character to the goodness.
Besides those materialistic views, idealism also has many representatives who 
were interested in human's inherent character. Typical among them are: Dong ZhongQiu 
divided human's inherent character into 3 types: sainthood (comprehensive), middle-
class (good and evil), and pettiness (all evil). Han Wu (Tang Dynasty) also divided 
human's inherent character into three levels: high level (perfect), middle level (good and 
evil) and low level (only evil). Cheng Hao, Cheng Yi (in the Northern Song Dynasty) 
divided into the good character (pure good), temperament (good and evil). With the point 
of view of
理
li (principle) and 
事
shi (affairs, matters), Zhu Xi (Northern Song Dynasty) 
shares the nature of man into heaven and earth's character (only principle) and 
temperament (principle and affairs).
iii
.