Per CC-CEDICT: 'oneness of Heaven and humanity — humans as integral parts of nature.' The phrase crystallizes a strand running through Daoism (Zhuangzi's 'the universe and I came into being together'), Confucian cosmology, and later Neo-Confucianism (Zhang Zai's
民胞物与, 'all people are my siblings, all things my companions'). It contrasts sharply with the Western Cartesian split between mind and nature, and is invoked today in everything from TCM to ecological writing.
