本文認為，中國哲學的基元範疇「五行」、「陰陽」、「氣」、「道」等，與西方哲學的「實體」概念有根本的區別。儒家的「生生之仁」、「太極--陰陽」學說，道家的「天地與我並生，而萬物與我為一」的模型，佛家的「圓融三諦」、「理事無礙」思想，都是非實體主義的。中國哲學肯定人與世界、本質與現象、主觀與客觀的相依相待、永恆流動是最根本的存在狀態。中國哲學貫通形上與形下，統一理想境界與現實人生，體驗人類存在的崇高感和生命的終極價值，與西方實體主義的哲學本體論和方法論迥然不同。

　　　　　In this essay, it is argued that the basic categories in Chinese philosophy, such as “the five elements,” “the yin and the yang,” “Chi (air),” and “Tao,” are fundamentally different from the concept of “substance” of Western philosophy. The Confucian conception of “the virtue of the dynamism of life” and “the ultimate principles of yin and yang;” the Taoist principle that “I co-exist with the world and everything in the world and I are one,” and the Buddhist idea of “the three ways to perfection” (emptiness, falsity and neutrality), and “boundlessness of reasons and things,” all stand without appeal to a concept of substance. In Chinese philosophy, it is firmly claimed that the most basic mode of existence is the interdependence between human beings and the world, essence and phenomena, subject and object, and their eternal flowing into each other. Chinese philosophy is typically different from western ontology and methodology of substance in the sense that the physical and the metaphysical penetrate each other; the ideal state and practical existence are unified, and the sublime of human existence and the ultimate value of life are lived experience in Chinese philosophy.