Action is the Beginning of Knowledge (June 1927)

Mr. [Wang] Yang ming says, "Knowledge is the beginning of action; action is the completion of knowledge." I do not agree. Action is the beginning of knowledge, and knowledge is the completion of action. Let us begin with children. They know that fire is hot only after they have felt the heat. They know that snow is cold only after they have chilled their hands. Only after they have tasted sugar do they know it is sweet; only after they have run into a rock do they know that rocks are hard. When you have lived for awhile in a sunny place, when you have gone into a kitchen a few times when food is being cooked, and when you have lived through several summers, then you have an abstract idea of heat. When you have made a few Bodhisattvas out of snow, when you have breathed the frosty wind a few times, and when you have had a few dishes of ice cream, then you have an abstract knowledge of cold. When you have eaten white candy, red candy, sesame candy, sugar cane, and licorice, then you have an abstract idea of sweetness. When you have run into iron, copper, and wood several times, then you have an abstract knowledge of hardness. When you first burn your hand and then freeze your face, you understand hot and cold even better. When you eat licorice and then bitter herbs, you can understand sweet and bitter even better. When you run into a rock then touch a ring of cornflowers, you know the difference between hard and soft even better. In all of these things, we can see clearly that action is the beginning of knowledge and knowledge is the completion of action. Only after Franklin flew a kite did it become known that electricity could be attracted from the atmosphere to earth. When Watt heated water and saw that steam could move the teapot cover, he knew steam could also move machines. When Galileo dropped balls of unequal weight from the tower of Pisa, he knew that balls of unequal weight fall to earth at the same speed. In these scientific examples, we can again see that "action is the beginning of knowledge and knowledge is the completion of action."