Chapter 2: Diagram of The Western Inscription
| Contents |
| Text of the Western Inscription | 51 |
| Comments of Chu Hsi and Others | 56 |
| T'oegye's Comments | 57 |
Commentary |
| Confucian Ethics on a New Foundation | 59 |
| The Substance of Humanity | 60 |
| Weaving a New Cloth of Old Threads | 61 |
| Principle as Objective Norm and Subjective Identity | 63 |
The Western Inscription is the work of Chang Tsai
(1020-1077), and it stands with the Diagram of the
Supreme Ultimate as one of the most fundamental documents of
the Neo-Confucian tradition.1 It puts flesh and
blood on the bare bones of metaphysics, reflecting upon Heaven
and Earth as the common parents of all creatures; stemming from a
single common origin, all of creation is therefore a single body,
and all people form a single great family. With the Western
Inscription the level of discourse shifts from metaphysics to
ethics: granted this unity which pervades the cosmos, what does
it mean for the way I relate to others? How should I live, and
how should I die?
Text of the Western Inscription
Ch'ien [Heaven] is called the father and K'un [Earth]
is called the mother. I, this tiny being, am commingled in their
midst; therefore what fills up all between Heaven and Earth, that
is my body, and that which directs Heaven and Earth is my
nature.2
All people are from the same womb as 1, all creatures are
my companions. The Great Ruler is the eldest son of my
parents, and his great ministers are the household retainers of
the eldest son. By honoring those who are advanced in years, I
carry out
52 Diagram of the Western Inscription
the respect for age which is due my aged,3 and by kindness to
the solitary and weak, I carry out the tender care for the young
which should be paid to my young.4 The Sage is at one with the
character [of Heaven and Earth],5 and the wise man is of their
finest [stuff]. All persons in the world who are exhausted,
decrepit, worn out, or ill, or who are brotherless, childless,
widowers, or widowed, are my own brothers who have become
helpless and have none to whom they can appeal.6
To maintain [our awe of Heaven] at the proper time is to show
the respect of a son;7 to feel joy [in what Heaven allots]
without anxiety is to exemplify filial piety in its purity.8
Deviation from [the will of Heaven] is called a "perverse
disposition";9 doing injury to humanity (jen) is called
"villainous."10 One who promotes evil is lacking in [moral]
capacity;11 he who fulfills his bodily design [by doing good]
resembles [his parents, Heaven and Earth].12 Understanding the
transformations [of the universe] is being skillful in
carrying forward [one's parents'] activities; plumbing the
spiritual exhaustively is being good at perpetuating their
intentions.13 He who even in the recesses of his house does
nothing shameful will bring no shame;14 he who is mindful and
fosters his nature will not be negligent.15
Through disliking fine wine, the son of the Earl of Ch'ung
[i.e., the sage, Yu] looked after the nurture [of his parents];16
through his development of the fine talents of others, the
frontier guardian at Ying extended [his filial piety] to others
of his kind.17 It was the merit of Shun that by being unceasing
in his exhausting labors, he caused his father to find delight
[in what was good]18 it was the reverence of Shen-sheng
that caused him to await death without attempting to flee.19 Shen
[i.e., Tseng Tzu] was one who, having received his body intact
from his parents, returned it intact at death.20 Po-ch'i
fearlessly obeyed and conformed to the commands [of his
parents].21
Wealth, honor, good fortune, and abundance have as their aim
the enrichment of our lives. Poverty, meanness, grief,
56 Diagram of the Western Inscription
and sorrow serve to discipline us so as to make us complete.22
In life I shall serve [my parents, Heaven and Earth] compliantly
and in death I shall be at peace.
Comments of Chu Hsi and Others on the Western
Inscription
Master Chu says: "Ch'eng I regarded the Western
Inscription as clarifying the fact that principle (li) is one
but its manifestations are diverse.23 That is, as for regarding
Ch'ien as father and K'un as mother, among living
beings there are none of which this is not so; this is what is
meant by saying that principle is one. But among men and other
living creatures which have blood in their veins, each has
[particular] affection for its own parents, each treats its
offspring as its own; thus how can the distinct manifestations
but be diverse! [If one sees that] there is a single,
comprehensive unity but with ten thousand diversities, then
although the world be as a single family and China as a single
person, one will not fall into the mistake of [Mo Tzu's doctrine]
of universal, egalitarian love.24 [If one realizes that] there
are ten thousand diversities, but a single unity runs throughout,
then although there are distinctions of feelings according
to the proximity or distance of relationships and the noble and
the base belong to distinct levels, one will not be bound up in
the selfishness of acting only for self-interest. This is
the main idea of the Western Inscription.
[Chang Tsai] analogically extends the closeness of the
affectionate relationship one has with one's parents [to the
universe] in order to show the great compass of the
impartiality of the selfless person; he takes the sincerity of
one's service to one's parents as a basis for clarifying the Tao
of serving Heaven. Reflecting on this, [one sees that] there is
no aspect of it that
Diagram of the Western Inscription
57
cannot be characterized as distinctions standing established,
while the pervasive unity of principle extends throughout. 25
[Chu Hsi] also says, "The first half of the Western
Inscription is like a chess board; the second half is
like actually playing the game.26
Yang Kuei-shan27 says: "The Western Inscription
[explains how] principle is one but its manifestations are
diverse. It is by understanding that principle is one that one
practices humanity; it is by understanding that its
manifestations are diverse that one practices righteousness. As
Mencius says, `Be affectionate to your parents and humane to the
people; be humane to the people and value other creatures': 28
the diverse manifestations are not the same, and therefore the
[kind of love] one shows cannot but have different levels."29
Yao Shuang-feng30 says: "The first half of the
Western Inscription explains how man is the son of Heaven
and Earth; the second half speaks of how man's service to Heaven
and Earth should be like that of a son to his parents.31
T'oegye's Comments
The above inscription is the work of Master Chang
Heng-ch'ü [Tsai]. At first it was entitled "Correcting
Obstinacy"; Master Ch'eng [I] changed it to "Western
Inscription." Ch'eng Lin-yin32 made this diagram of it. For
the learning of the sages consists in the seeking of humanity. It
is necessary to deeply inculcate in oneself the intention [of
becoming humane], and then understand that one makes up a single
body with Heaven and Earth and the myriad creatures. To truly and
actually live this way is what is involved in becoming humane.
One must personally get a taste [of this experience]; then he
will be rid of the problem [of thinking that] it is something so
vast as to be
58 Diagram of the Western Inscription
unobtainable and also will be free from the mistaken notion
that
other things are identical with himself, and the inner
dispositions
of his mind and heart will thus become perfect and complete.
Thus Master Ch'eng says, "The meaning of the Western
Inscription is exceedingly perfect and complete; it is the
substance of humanity."33 And again, "When one has fully attained
to this, he will be a sage."34
Diagram of the Western Inscription
59
Commentary
Confucian Ethics on a New Foundation
The Confucian tradition had always made human
relationships its central concern, focusing its attention
particularly upon government and family as the principal forms of
human interrelatedness. The family in particular provided
the paradigm for proper relationships and served as a model for
government. The virtue of filial piety, the norm for the
relationship of children to parents, stood at the heart of this
ethics; one schooled in an affectionate and attentive
relationship to parents could be expected to transfer these
attitudes appropriately to other forms of relationships in
society and thus become a person of jen, humanity (often
translated as "love" or "benevolence"), the crowning virtue
of the Confucian tradition that expressed the essence of all
properly human relationships.
In the two short sentences with which the Inscription begins,
Chang Tsai casts the emergent Neo-Confucian metaphysics in
a form which relates directly to this ethical tradition, catching
it up and reestablishing it for the first time on a cosmic level.
This not only creates a new philosophical grounding for Confucian
ethics, but transforms them by opening up a vision of a
unity among humans and also among all creatures of a sort that
the earlier tradition had granted only to the members of a single
family, a single body made up of those who share the same flesh
and blood. The one-body concept-it is much more than
a metaphor-subsequently came to occupy an important
place in Neo-Confucian thought.
The conceptualization of all creatures as forming one body
stemming from a single shared origin is a powerful foundation for
attitudes of selfless affection for others and identification
with their well-being, i.e., humanity (jen). But it entails
the danger of slipping into the kind of undifferentiated,
universal love advocated by MO Tzu; this was anathema to
Confucians, who were much concerned with
60 Diagram of the Western Inscription
the appropriate differentiation of love according to the
different kinds and degrees of human relationships. Such fears
were voiced by Yang Shih (1053-1135), a principal disciple
of the Ch'eng brothers. Ch'eng I decisively settled this problem
by applying a crucially important dictum to the Western
Inscription: it is, he responded to Yang, a perfect expression of
how "Principle is one but its manifestations are diverse."35
This dictum plays a central role in both the interpretive
framework of the diagram of the Inscription and in the comments
which T'oegye has drawn from various sources. While unity is
indeed the central theme of the Western Inscription, looked at in
this framework, one sees that differences are indeed also
expressed. The Confucian doctrine of graded love, even in the new
ambience, is preserved.
Although Chang Tsai's own philosophy was a monism of
material force, his essential insight was successfully
translated unto the language of the philosophy of principle
elaborated by the Ch'engs and completed by Chu Hsi. "Principle is
one but its manifestations are diverse," is both metaphysical and
ethical and could be applied to the Supreme Ultimate as well as
to this work. In Neo-Confucian thought a metaphysically
grounded ethics and an ethically significant metaphysics
make up a single discourse with a shared terminology. There is in
fact a close relationship between the metaphysical concern to
maintain a realistic pluralism with a monistic basis, and the
ethical concern to maintain appropriately differentiated forms
within an all-encompassing love. The dual applicability of
Ch'eng I's dictum is an apt reflection of this mutual
articulation.
The Substance of Humanity
The root of all evil in Confucian ethics is
self-centeredness or selfish desires that cause
disorder and disruption in the interrelated human community.
The opposite of selfishness is jen, variously translated as
"humanity," "love," or "benevolence"; in effect it is a matter of
treating others with the care and concern with which we treat
ourselves. The Western Inscription is considered a
breakthrough
Diagram of the Western Inscription
61
expression of the "substance of jen" because it exposes the
ultimate metaphysical grounds of the human condition which make
selfishness a basic misapprehension of the nature of one's
existence by showing that humanity (jen) is a reflection of a
universe which is truly united as a single body. This is clear in
the following passage, in which T'oegye discusses the meaning of
the original name of the Western Inscription, "Ting wan
(Correcting Obstinacy)":
Ting means "to discuss"; it also has the meaning of
settling and setting aright errors and mistakes. Wan
[meaning "wicked" or "obstinate"] is the term for being not
humane. [The mind of] one who is not humane is obscured and
blocked up by selfish desire; he does not know the connection
between himself and others or understand how to extend [to
others] his mind's [innate] disposition to commiseration.36
His mind is obstinate, like a rock, and so [Chang Tsai] termed it
"obstinacy" [in his title]. For Heng-ch'ii [Chang Tsai] in
this inscription repeatedly reasons out and clarifies how the
principle shared by oneself, Heaven and Earth, and all creatures
is fundamentally one. He formulates the substance of
humanity in order to break down the selfishness of the self,
expand on the impartiality of selflessness, and make the
stone-like, obstinate mind-and-heart dissolve and
fuse with no separation between the self and others, allowing no
place for the least bit of self-centered intentions between
them. One can thus see that Heaven and Earth are as a single
family, the whole nation as a single person, and that the
suffering and distress [of others] is truly that of one's own
person; [understanding this] one attains the Tao of humanity.
Therefore he named [this inscription] "Correcting
Obstinacy," meaning it corrects the obstinacy [of
self-centeredness] and makes one truly human. (A,
7.49a-b, p. 218)
Weaving a New Cloth of Old Threads
As the multiplicity of the footnotes makes clear, the Western
Inscription is a tissue of quotations from classical sources.
Chang Tsai's use of these materials is a more potent tool for the
transposition of the old tradition to a new key than any
exposition in his own words could have been. T'oegye describes
how one is to approach this work:
62 Diagram of the Western Inscription
Master Chu characterized this work as being entirely composed
from the sayings of the ancients..37 In reading it, one must for
every phrase investigate whence it comes, and after considering
its basic meaning in its original context, move [to consider its
meaning] in the context of this work; then one will recognize the
inexhaustible subtlety of Heng-ch'ii's use of words and
phrases. Only when both of these are evident will one be able to
catch the drift [of his meaning]. (A, 7.51b, p. 219)
The basic shift, of course, is the transposition of the filial
piety tradition to a cosmic context. The second part of the
Inscription in particular weaves together cosmological references
from such works as the Book of Changes with
well-known passages dealing with filial piety. The modern
reader can easily get the basic meaning, but it is difficult to
recapture the original savor of Chang's suggestive juxtaposition
of phrases that had deep meaning and broad connotations for his
Confucian readers. A good example of this is T'oegye's
comment on "Understanding the transformations [of the
universe] is being skillful in carrying forward [one's parents']
activities; plumbing the spiritual exhaustively is being
good at perpetuating their intentions":
The Book of Changes, in the Appended Remarks [pt. 2,
ch. 3] says, "Plumbing the spiritual exhaustively and
understanding the transformations [of the universe] is the
fullness of virtue." The Doctrine of the Mean [ch. 19]
says, "Filial piety is being good at perpetuating others'
intentions and being skillful in carrying forward others'
activities." The Doctrine of the Mean, in speaking of
"others," meant to refer to one's parents, but [Chang Tsai] has
here changed these words so that, although the saying still
refers to parents, the referent is Heaven [rather than human
parents]. His meaning here is profound and marvelous! (A, 7.55b,
p. 221)
The Western Inscription, elegant, inspirational, and endlessly
suggestive, occupies a permanent place as one of the most
fundamental expressions of Neo-Confucian ethics. But the
impact of the new metaphysics instigated a further,
many-faceted exploration of the cosmic significance of jen.
This led to developments only foreshadowed here; we will see the
culmination of this development when we take up Chu Hsi's
Treatise on Jen in the seventh chapter.
Diagram of the Western Inscription
63
Principle as Objective Norm and Subjective Identity
Principle, or, in more traditional terms, the Tao, serves as
the objective norm of the way things should be, and as we have
seen in the Western Inscription, the unity of principle
establishes an objective, cosmic ground for an ethics of
selflessness in human relationships. But T'oegye notes that
the Inscription should not be read in a merely objective,
non-personal sense:
[Chang Tsai] employs the terms people use to refer to their
own persons; all who read this work should consider these ten
[first person pronouns] not as references to the self of
Heng-ch'ii, nor put them off as referring to the self of
others: they must all be seen as indications of one's personal
responsibility for what is one's own affair. Only then will one
be able to grasp how the Western Inscription is
fundamentally a formulation of the substance of humanity
.... Heng-ch'ii also regards humanity as something that,
although [it means] being as one body with Heaven and Earth and
all creatures, must nevertheless first come from the self as its
fundamental source and master; one must attain a personal
realization of the interrelatedness of the self and others in the
unity of principle. When the disposition of commiseration which
fills the heart penetratingly flows forth, unblocked by anything
and with nothing which it does not encompass, then this finally
is the true substance of humanity. If one does not understand
this principle and just broadly considers humanity as a matter of
Heaven and Earth and all creatures being as a single body, then
what is called the substance of humanity will be something vast
and distant; what connection will there be with one's own body
and mind! (A, 7.50a-b, p. 218)
There is a world of difference between looking at principle as
something objective, "out there," and realizing that it is
actually the substance of one's own being, the heart of
one's own identity.38 The first section of the Western
Inscription brings this out naturally because filial piety is
fundamentally based in the question of a proper understanding of
one's own identity.38 But systematically it is broadly founded on
the metaphysics of principle, which locates principle both in the
realm of objective norms and in one's own nature as the substance
or basis of personal consciousness and identity. We shall see
that T'oegye's
64 Diagram of the Western Inscription
emphasis here on the absolute necessity of a personal grasp
and personal experience runs throughout his discussion of
study and the investigation of principle. In this framework,
understanding the universe and what is proper in the conduct of
affairs is also, ultimately and most urgently, a matter of
understanding oneself.39
Notes
2. Diagram of the Western Inscription
1. On Chang Tsai, see first section of Introduction. The
Western Inscription was originally ch. 17 of Chang's
Cheng-meng, and was entitled "Correcting Obstinacy"
(Ting-wan); Ch'eng I, fearing that this obscure title would
cause problems, changed it to "Western Inscription," a
reference to the fact that it was inscribed on the western window
of Chang's lecture hall. It was included in the second chapter of
Chu Hsi's Chin-ssu lu (see Wing Tsit Chan's translation,
Reflection of Things at Hand, pp. 76ff. ) and is also presented,
along with Chu Hsi's commentary and annotations from other
sources, in HLTC, chüan 4. T'oegye's careful
phrase-by-phrase analysis of its sources and meaning,
the Sŏmyŏng koch'ung kangŭi (Lecture on the
Sources of the Western Inscription) appears in
TGCS, A, 7.49a-62a; this lecture was originally
presented by him from the Classics Mat before king Sŏnjo.
His comments indicate that he was using the HLTC material.
English translations of the Western Inscription are to be
found in Wing Tsit Chan's Source Book in Chinese
Philosophy, pp. 497-500, and Derk
228 Notes to pp. 51-52
Bodde, tr., History of Chinese Philosophy, by Feng
Yu-lan, vol. 2, pp. 493-495; my own translation is
indebted to both.
2. "What fills up all between Heaven and Earth" and
"that which directs" are references to Mencius 2A: 2, a
famous passage which describes man as possessing a "vast, flowing
passion nature" (hao-jan chih ch'i), which, if
nurtured on righteousness, fills up all between Heaven and
Earth.
3. Reference to Mencius, 4A; 12.
4. Reference to Mencius, IA: 7. T'oegye notes that the
pronoun translated by Bodde as "their" should really be
understood as "my" and I have followed his interpretation. Cf.
TGCS, A, 7.53a, p. 220. "My" young and aged would
ordinarily refer to one's family members; here my family is
extended to include all persons.
5. Changes, Commentary on Ch'ien hexagram.
6. Reference to Mencius, IA: 5.
7. A combination of references to the Book of Odes
(hereafter, Odes), #272 and 244 respectively.
8. A combination of references to Changes, Appended
Remarks, pt. 1, ch. 4, and Tso chuan (Tso's Commentary on
the Spring and Autumn Annals), 1.1.
9. A combination of references to Analects, 4.5, and
the Classic of Filial Piety, ch. 9.
10. A combination of references to Analects, 15.9, and
Mencius, 3B: 9.
11. Reference to Tso chuan, 6.18.
12. A combination of references to Mencius, 7A: 38, and
Mencius, 5A: 6.
13. Each half of this sentence combines references to
Changes, Appended Remarks, pt. 2, ch. 3, and Doctrine
of the Mean, ch. 19.
14. A combination of references to Odes, #256 and #
196.
15. A combination of references to Mencius, 7A: 1, and
Classic of Filial Piety, ch. 4. Mencius, 7A: 1 is a
key reference point for Neo-Confucians, for it links Heaven
and man's nature and, in the phrase here quoted, sums up the
essence of self-cultivation.
16. A combination of references to Mencius, 4B: 20 and
4B: 30.
17. Tso chuan, 1.1. Ying Kao-su, by the example
of his own filial piety to his mother, caused Duke Chuang to
repent and be reunited with his own mother, whom he had sworn
never to see again.
18. Mencius, 4A: 28. According to tradition the father
of the sage, Shun, was a depraved villain who repeatedly
attempted to kill his son; however, he was finally won over by
Shuns constant filial piety.
19. Book of Rites, T'an kung, pt. 1: 3. Shen Sheng,
when falsely accused of attempting to poison his father, Duke
Hsien of Chin, committed suicide rather than flee.
20. Tseng Tzu was a disciple of Confucius particularly noted
for his filial piety. Analects 8.3 tells how on his death
bed he called his disciples to view his hands and feet,
witnessing that he had fulfilled his filial duty to preserve his
body intact. The Classic of Filial Piety, though of later
origin, was traditionally attributed to him.
21. Po-ch'i was a prince who accepted his father's
expulsion of him even though it was caused by the machinations of
a stepmother who wanted him replaced by her own son. Wing Tsit
Chan (Reflections, p. 78, n. 221) has traced the story to
the annotation of the eulogy at the end of Ch'ien Han shu,
ch. 79, where it is referred to the Shuo yüan; he
notes that it is not to be found in modem editions of the Shuo
yüan.
22. Reference to Odes, # 253.
23. Ch'eng I applied this dictum in answering doubts
about the Western Inscription expressed by his pupil, Yang
Shih. Cf. below, note 27, and Commentary, "Confucian Ethics on a
New Foundation." The correspondence between the two on this
question may be found in HLTC, 4.12a-13b. A
translation of Ch'eng's letter appears in Chan, Source Book,
pp. 550-551.
24. Mo Tzu (fl. 479-438 B.C.) was a philosopher who
expounded a doctrine of universal, egalitarian love. His school
was one of the chief rivals of the early Confucians, and it was
in response to it that Mencius clearly enunciated the Confucian
doctrine of graded love. See Mencius, 3B: 9. On Mo Tzu and
this doctrine, see Chan, Source Book, pp.
211-217.
25. Chu Hsi's Commentary on the Western Inscription,
HLTC, 4.lOb-l la.
26. Ibid., 4. 2 I a.
27. Kuei-shan was the honorific name of Yang Shih
(1053-1135), a pupil of the Ch'eng brothers who became a
leading Neo-Confucian scholar. T'oegye in his "Sin
mu ch'e yong pyŏn" (Discourse Against the Theory That the
Mind Does Not Have Substance and Function), TGCS, I,
41.19b, p. 920, criticizes his inclination for lofty and abstruse
theorizing.
28. Mencius, 7A: 45. This is the classical locus for
the Confucian doctrine of "graded love. "
29. HLTC, 4. l lb. "Righteousness" in a Confucian
context is not an abstract virtuousness, but the characteristic
of acting in a manner appropriate to the given situation, and
hence is correlated with the diversity of principle.
30. Shuang-feng was the honorific name of Yao Lu (fl.
1256), and his courtesy name was Chung-yüan. He' was a
leading disciple of Chu Hsi's son-in-law, Huang Kan.
An account of him appears in T'oegye's Ihak T'ongnok
(Comprehensive Record of Neo-Confucians), 9.40b,
TGCS, B, p. 501.
31. HLTC, 4.24a-b.
32. The honorific name of Ch'eng Fu-hsin
(1279-1368); his courtesy name was Tzu-hsien. A
Yüan dynasty scholar, he was best known for a book of
diagrams, the Ssu-shu chang t'u (Diagrams of the
Chapters of the Four Books), a work upon which he spent some 13
years, and which T'oegye obtained about 1560. As is clear from
comments he makes in chapter 8, T'oegye held Ch'eng in high
esteem, and two more of his diagrams appear in chapters 6 and 8.
There is an account of him in T'oegye's Ihak T'ongnok,
10.31b-32a, TGCS, B, p. 519.
33. I-shu, 2A, 2a. In the Chin ssu lu, Chu Hsi
attributes this saying to Ch'eng Hao (see Chan, Reflections,
p. 79).
34. A paraphrase of I-shu, 18. l lb, a saying of Ch'eng
I.
35. See above, note 23.
36. Commiseration is the active manifestation of the character
of jen, humanity, which Neo-Confucians view as
one of the constitutive qualities of man's nature. This is based
upon Mencius' famous discussion of the goodness of human nature
in terms of the "Four Beginnings," of which commiseration is the
first: "The disposition of commiseration is the beginning of
humanity" (Mencius, 2A: 6). For a discussion of the Four
Beginnings and their relationship to man's nature, see below,
chapter 6.
37. Reference to YL, 98.12b.
38. In the Confucian tradition, self-understanding could
not be ultimately separated from a consideration of the
conditions of one's origin and growth as a human being. One
originates as an extension of the existence of one's parents and
could not have survived without their care. If one understands
oneself in this way, there is no place for a self-enclosed
conceptualization of one's existence, as in the modem formula, "I
have my own life to lead." Rather, filial obedience and service
are founded upon a self-identity which includes one's
dependence/interdependence on a transpersonal community
participating in and transmitting a single life-force. In
this view, "my life," rightly understood, cannot be separated
from "our life."
39. This will be taken up with the topic of "the investigation
of principle" in chapter 4. In general the question of objective
vs. subjective emphasis is a critical issue in
Neo-Confucian thought. The school of the Ch'eng brothers
and Chu Hsi tries to maintain a delicate balance between the two;
its chief rival, the school of Wang Yang-ming
(Shou-jen, 1472-1529), which picked up and developed
the thought of Chu Hsi's contemporary, Lu Hsiang-shan
(Chiu-yüan, 1139-1193), emphasized the
subjective side and thus moved in a sharply different direction.
T'oegye vigorously opposed this development and wrote several
essays in which he was harshly critical of Wang Yang-ming
(see TGCS, A, 41.23a-32b