The most radical thinker and most fiercely principled spirit among the "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove," the standard-bearer of the Wei-Jin Dark Learning slogan "Transcending Moral Institutions and Following Nature." In works such as the Essay on Releasing Selfishness, the Essay on Nourishing Life, and the Essay on Sound Having No Sorrow or Joy, he pushed Laozi-Zhuangzi natural philosophy to its extreme as social critique—publicly declaring "I reject Tang and Wu and slight Zhou and Confucius," questioning the moral legitimacy of the Confucian sage-kings, and proposing the central thesis that one should "transcend moral institutions and follow Nature," holding that hypocritical ritual institutions shackle the authenticity of life. In aesthetics, his Essay on Sound Having No Sorrow or Joy used rigorous "mind-thing dualism" argumentation to establish the autonomous aesthetic value of music, standing as the purest formalist aesthetic manifesto in the history of Chinese aesthetics. Before his execution, he asked for a zither and played "Guangling San," using the beauty of art to give his life a solemn conclusion.
Courtesy name Shuye, a native of Zhi County in Qiao State (modern Suixi, Anhui), approximately 224–263 CE. Born into a scholarly family, he lost his father early and was raised by his mother and elder brother. Ji Kang was imposing in stature and transcendent in bearing: "Dragon-like in mien and phoenix-like in appearance, naturally endowed." He married a great-granddaughter of Cao Cao, becoming an in-law of the Wei royal house. He loved to forge iron, often working at a bellows under a great willow tree in his Luoyang residence with Xiang Xiang, using this activity to decline visits from the powerful. Sima Yi's power to usurp Wei was already established; Zhong Hui arrived with a retinue, but Ji Kang kept forging without pause, finally asking: "What did you hear that you came? What did you see that you depart?" Zhong Hui replied: "I heard what I heard and came; I saw what I saw and departed," and bore a grudge. Later, when his friend Lu An was falsely accused of unfilial conduct and imprisoned, Ji Kang rose to defend him, but Zhong Hui slandered him and he was imprisoned on charges of "licentious speech and vilifying the classics." On the day of execution, three thousand Imperial Academy students jointly petitioned to have him appointed as their teacher; Sima Zhao refused. Ji Kang, his countenance unperturbed, looked at the sun's shadow, requested a zither, and played the Guangling San. When the piece ended, he sighed: "The Guangling San is now lost forever." He faced death composed, aged only forty. His death was not merely a personal tragedy but the symbol of the total collapse of Wei-Jin intellectual idealism under political violence.
Ontologically, Ji Kang inherits Laozi's "Dao follows nature" and Zhuangzi's "heaven and earth have great beauty but do not speak," taking "nature" as the highest cosmic principle: "When qi is still and the spirit is empty, the mind holds no pretension; when the body is bright and the mind is clear, the emotions are not bound by desire." The human's authentic state is one of stillness and emptiness, at one with nature; ethical codes and ritual are external fetters. In political philosophy, "transcending ethical codes and entrusting oneself to nature" is his most radical declaration: "The Six Classics aim at repression and guidance; human nature finds joy in following desire." Confucian classics repress and guide, while human nature delights in following natural desires—the two are fundamentally opposed. Therefore one should discard the hypocritical norms of ethical codes and return to the authenticity of nature. Aesthetically, his "Sound Has Neither Sorrow Nor Joy" proposes a revolutionary thesis: musical sound is a physical phenomenon of nature, and the emotions of sorrow and joy are subjective responses of the human heart. "Sound itself should be judged by its tonal quality, and has nothing to do with sorrow or joy; sorrow and joy arise from the emotions and then express themselves, and are not tied to sound." The beauty of music exists independently of moral content. On cultivation, he主张 dual cultivation of body and spirit: "Cultivate the nature to protect the spirit; still the mind to preserve the body," pursuing breath and meditation practices for the dual transcendence of body and mind.
"Transcend ethical codes and entrust yourself to nature; examine what is precious and base and penetrate the nature of things. Sound has neither sorrow nor joy; mind and object are two. — "On Releasing the Private"; "Sound Has Neither Sorrow Nor Joy""
Ji Kang placed the dignity of life above power and institutions, sacrificing his death to consecrate absolute spiritual freedom. Compared to Socrates drinking the hemlock for truth, how tragically similar and resolute they are?
Ji Kang takes "nature" as the highest principle; Spinoza takes "God is Nature" as the origin of all things. Both anchor individual freedom in the natural whole, advocating the removal of external normative veils to return to authentic existence.
Is freedom found in nature or in the transcendence of nature? Do Ji Kang and Spinoza's naturalistic philosophies offer genuine liberation, or do they merely replace one form of necessity with another?
Ji Kang attacks ritual codes for harming the authentic nature of humanity; Rousseau deplores the corruption of the natural state by civilized institutions. Both, across more than a millennium, prescribe "return to nature" as the remedy for the disease of civilization, belonging to the radical tradition of cultural critique.
Is "return to nature" a genuine philosophical prescription or a romantic fantasy? Do the cultural critiques of Ji Kang and Rousseau offer real alternatives, or merely nostalgic escapism?
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