Work Classification Layer
Compare Works
Pick two or more works to set their attribute fingerprints, dimension-by-dimension passages, and shared school embodiments side by side. Especially useful for author-stage comparisons (Wittgenstein early vs late) and for setting a single tradition's foundational texts against each other.
Memorial on the Bone of the Buddha
Since Buddhism entered China the dynasties have been short-lived — the fearless memorial that told the emperor to burn the bone and restore the ancient Way
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | Memorial on the Bone of the Buddha |
|---|---|
| Time · Extent | Finite |
| Time · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Time · Grain | Continuous |
| Time · Freedom | Non-Deterministic |
| Time · Traversability | Linear |
| Time · Dimensionality | One |
| Time · Direction | Uni-directional |
| Space · Extent | Finite |
| Space · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Space · Curvature | not engaged |
| Space · Dimensionality | Three |
| Space · Locality | Local |
| Matter · Extent | Finite |
| Matter · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Matter · Conservation | Conserved |
| Matter · Dimensionality | Three |
| Matter · Locality | Local |
| Observer · Time Instance | Single |
| Observer · Space Instance | Single |
| Observer · Knowledge Extent | Mediated |
| Observer · Knowledge Retainment | Partial |
| Observer · Physicality | Embodied |
| Observer · Agency | Active |
| Observer · Number | Plural |
| Observer · Metaphysical Agency | Cosmic-ordering |
| Observer · Moral Authority | Tradition |
| Observer · Theological Method | — |
| Energy · Extent | Finite |
| Energy · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Energy · Conservation | Conserved |
| Energy · Dispersibility | Irreversible |
| Information · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Information · Cosmic Conservation | Conserved |
| Information · Personal Conservation | not engaged |
| Information · Granularity | Continuous |
Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence
What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.
Time
Memorial on the Bone of the Buddha
Finite, substantival, uni-directional. The Memorial argues from historical precedent: long-lived sage-king dynasties vs. short-lived Buddhist-favouring ones. Degenerative orientation: the present has declined from the ancient ideal.
Space
Memorial on the Bone of the Buddha
Finite, substantival. China (the civilised world, tianxia) is the spatial frame. Buddhism is spatially foreign — it comes from beyond the borders of civilisation.
Matter
Memorial on the Bone of the Buddha
Substantival, finite, conserved. The Memorial treats the Buddha's relic as mere material — "a dried and rotten bone" — stripping it of sacred significance.
Observer
Memorial on the Bone of the Buddha
Embodied, active, mediated. The scholar-official observes history and draws moral conclusions. Partial retainment: the Way was lost after Mencius. Cosmic-ordering: Heaven (Tian) provides the impersonal moral order.
Energy
Memorial on the Bone of the Buddha
Finite, conserved. Not theorised independently. The political energy of the state is wasted on Buddhist ceremonies.
Information
Memorial on the Bone of the Buddha
Substantival. The classics encode the Way; Buddhism corrupts the informational order. Personal conservation is unaddressed — Han Yu rejects the Buddhist afterlife without offering a Confucian alternative.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
The Memorial attacks Buddhism on political and moral grounds but does not engage its metaphysical or soteriological arguments — an intellectual incompleteness that later Neo-Confucians (Zhu Xi, Wang Yangming) would attempt to remedy. The claim that Buddhism causes dynastic decline is historically questionable: the Tang dynasty itself was both Buddhist and powerful. Han Yu's willingness to risk death for his convictions embodies the Confucian ideal of remonstrance, but his exile also reveals the limits of scholar-official power before imperial authority.