 Zongmi states that   Kongzi and   Laozi are both great sages, and that their ethical teachings are extremely beneficial to the common people. However, Confucians and Daoists claim that humans, animals, and inanimate objects all come into existence from the same underlying “vital force” (Ch. qi, roughly similar to the “boundless” of Anaximander). Zongmi argues that this creates an insoluble problem. Since vital force is originally without consciousness, then since we receive this force in the same way grasses and trees do, either we should lack consciousness or else grasses and trees should be conscious. In addition, Confucians and Daoists believe that fate is governed by Heaven (Ch. tian, an impersonal higher power), which acts in accordance with the moral Way. Zongmi argues that they cannot explain why a moral Heaven allows the virtuous to suffer and the vicious to flourish. Since some who lack virtue flourish, while others with virtue suffer, the distribution of rewards and punishments is unjust. 