|
|
||
 |
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||
|
EASTERN PHILOSOPHY - CHINA |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Select: Confucius - Laozi - Mozi - Hui Shih - Tzu Ssu - Chuang Chou Mencius - Hsun Ching - Han Fei - Lu Wang - Fung Yu-Lan
Confucius [K'ung Fu-tzu] (551-479 B.C.E.) Confucius (picture) is the Latinized name of the philosopher and sage, K'ung Fu-tzu, whose influence has hold uninterrupted sway over the Chinese people for almost 2500 years. He was born, according to tradition, in the village of Tsou, state of Lu, China. He was a contemporary of the Greek philosopher Pythagoras and some of the later Hebrew prophets. At the age of 19, Confucius had married and held an office as district inspector of agriculture. His honesty in tax collections was credited with contributing greatly toward the prosperity of his district. When he was 22, his mother died. Confucius then resigned his office and lived in retirement for three years, mourning his loss. This act of filial piety made a strong impression upon his fellow citizens, and it was later used as the historical prop in restoration of ancient funeral rites in honor of the dead. This conduct by Confucius affords a key to his influence, which rested upon idealization of the past in terms of social virtues calculated to preserve society. To spread his doctrines, he began, in his 30th year, to establish schools as he had opportunity and to educate disciples. About 501 B.C.E., Confucius was appointed governor of the state of Lu. The next year, he became minister of works; the next, minister of crime. He applied in public office reforms based on his conceptions of civic virtues. As a result of antagonisms created by his reforms, however, he was finally compelled to retire from office and to seek refuge in the province of Wei. He proffered his services as a reformer there and elsewhere, but met with refusal in each case. Finally, when he was in extreme poverty, he was recalled to Lu. He was well received, but did not reenter political life. In his last years, Confucius is said to have completed a collection of the ancient writings. His work consisted in gathering together the documents that make up the Shu King, "Canon of History," and writing an introductory commentary on it. The direct teachings of Confucius are to be found principally in the Analects, compiled after his death by his immediate disciples. It is often said that Confucianism is a system of morality without religion, because it is a system of political and social life built upon a very slight foundation of philosophy. Its distinctive feature, however, is its emphasis on ceremonies, most of which were of a distinctly religious character. In all that Confucius did or thought, the useful and practical, in a broad sense, formed the sole object of his labor and consideration. His precepts included the following typical admonition: First, let every man govern himself according to the sacred maxims; then his family according to the same; and, finally, let him render to the emperor, who is the father of his people, such filial obedience as he demands of his own children, and worship him with the same veneration that he pays to his own ancestors. Confucius promulgated an ideal conduct of life, the basis of which was learning, wisdom, moral perfection, and decency in behavior. His doctrine of reciprocity in man's relations with his fellow man paralleled, with almost the same words, the concept of the Golden Rule. He demanded that his followers practice the virtues of sincerity, justice, benevolence, courtesy, respect for older people, and ancestor reverence. He urged them to live in harmony with themselves because that was a requisite condition for harmony between the individual and the universe. He sometimes referred to "Heaven," without, however, expressing belief in a supreme deity. He constantly exhorted that all intellectual and moral energies be channeled for self-perfection, the common good, and social and universal peace. Schools arose throughout the empire where the maxims of his philosophy were taught, and his influence was perpetuated from generation to generation. In The Radical Academy Elsewhere On The Internet
Laozi [Lao Tzu] (Sixth Century B.C.E.) The traditional assumption that Laozi (picture) was a contemporary of Confucius, and, as the author of the book Tao Te Ching (Teaching on the Power of the Way), the founder of Taoism, has been disproved by recent scholars. In all probability, the spiritual movement, later called Taoism, started long before the book Tao was written, and that book must be considered not so much the creation, as rather a condensation of already current Taoist ideas. It has been said that Lao was a custodian of documents and a priest-teacher. He has been worshipped since about the 3rd century C.E. Tao, the Way, means the cosmic order of Nature that cannot be grasped by human intellects or expressed in words, according to Taoism and contrary to the Confucian meaning of Tao that concerns guidance of moral conduct of life. Taoism is a doctrine of a reality which is different from the world perceptible by the senses. In many regards it is similar to the reality assumed by Plato, and even more so to the Hindu distinction between the world of appearances and true existence. In its later development, Taoism became mixed with ideas of various origin, but it has remained a mystical faith in the unity of Pure Being. In The Radical Academy
Elsewhere On The Internet
Mozi [Mo Tzu] (c. 470-c. 391 B.C.E.) After Mencius had been successful in discrediting the doctrine of Mozi (picture), it was ignored by Chinese thinkers and the public for twelve centuries. Only Chinese Buddhism retained some of Mozi's tenets. Recently Mohism, as the school of Mozi is called, has been adopted anew by many young Chinese, who regard it as a way to China's salvation from the troubles of the present time. Mozi was a victorious general and an efficient civil servant. His philosophy combines religious spirituality and utilitarian rationalism. He was also a refined logician and experienced in dialectic. After having adhered to Confucianism he accused Confucius' successors of exaggerated ritualism and rejectged his former Master's belief in fate. He set purity of the heart higher than formal correctness in fulfilling ceremonial laws. He pronounced universal love without regard to legal status, and therefore was called "an apostle of human brotherhood." While justifying his doctrine, he declared that universal love was demanded by heaven, the Supreme Being, as well as by the innermost strivings of the human inidividual for happiness, and that it would always pay to lvoe his fellow men. His aim was promotion of general welfare by both moral elevation and economic improvement. Devoted to the cause of peace, Mozi allowed defensive war only, and he is credited with having averted several wars. In The Radical Academy Elsewhere On The Internet
Hui Shih (Fourth Century B.C.E.) Documents of the teachings of Hui Shih are preserved only in the book of Chuang Chou, the brilliant precursor of Taoism, who considered him the worthiest of his adversaries, and evidently esteemed him higher than Confucius. Hui Shih probably was some years older than Chuang Chou and died before the latter had finished his book Chuang Tzu. In the aphorisms quoted by Chuang Chou, Hui Shih appears to be a disciple of Confucius' grandson Tzu Ssu, deeply impressed by his awareness of eternal change and fond of pointing out the paradoxical. In The Radical Academy
Tzu Ssu was a grandson of Confucius. Often he evoked his ancestor's authority; but he also expressed thoughts of his own. Confucius had begun to distinguish between true and supposed knowledge, while Tzu Ssu proceeded to meditations on the relativity of human knowledge of the Universe. He tried to analyze as many types of action as possible, and believed that the reality of the universe can be copied in the character of any wise man who is conscious of his moral and intellectual duties. In The Radical Academy
Chuang Chou (c. 340-280 B.C.E.) Modern experts on Chinese philosophy consider Chuang Chou (picture) as among the most brilliant of all the Chinese philosophers. He was a scholar, a poet, and a master of dialectic and logic. Aware of the unity of the universe, he longed for "the transcendental bliss" which brought peace of mind and enabled man to live harmoniously with nature. His ability at logic and dialectics made him appear to be a cynical debunker, fond of destroying renowned illusions, but his love of freedom was too great to allow him to deny the values of government and society; he often declined high office in order to retain his personal independence. As a formidable adversary of Confucius, he was frequently and severely criticized by Mencius. If Chuang Chou was not the founder of that which was subsequently called Taoism, certainly he was its precursor, and the extent of his soaring imagination, the profundity of his thought, and the power of his style were never matched by any of the Taoists. In The Radical Academy Elsewhere On The Internet
Mencius [Meng Tzu] (371-289 B.C.E.) In his efforts to educate kings, Meng Tzu (Master Meng) (picture) seems to have been no more successful than his Greek contemporary Aristotle. But to a greater extent than Aristotle, Meng used his personal experiences for the development of his philosophical teachings. Meng was a disciple of Tzu, who was the grandson of Confucius and himself an influential philosopher, though of lesser importance to the history of Confucianism than his pupil Meng. It was Meng who restored the authority of Confucius by successfully combating deviating opinions such as were advanced by Mo-Ti and Yang Chou, both of whom had become extremely popular and had tried to discredit the cult and doctrine of Confucianism. At the end of his life, Meng composed the book that bears his name and, in the Sung era, was canonized. Extracts from the book became favorite reading in Europe early in the 18th century and have continued in their popularity. The book is the fruit of experiences collected during long, extensive travels, and of keen observations of people of all classes from kings down to beggars. Meng declared that man is good by nature but that he has to develop his own nature to the greatest possible perfection. The government, said Meng, must serve the people and promote their welfare. Revolt against bad rulers is permitted. War is branded as a crime. Meng has been quoted more than once by Voltaire and Rousseau. In this way he influenced, at least indirectly, many leaders of the French Revolution. In The Radical Academy
Elsewhere On The Internet
Hsun Ching (c. 298-c. 238 B.C.E.) The purely philosophical strain in Confucianism was developed to its highest point by Hsun Ching who, however, was also a great poet and a master of lyrical reflection, penetrating into the secrets of the human soul, inspired by the beauty of nature. Although he adopted views of Mo-Ti and some Taoists, he remained faithful to Confucianism, believing firmly in the necessity of moral order and individual self-perfection, and strongly opposing the belief in fate. In The Radical Academy
Han Fei (picture), a disciple of Hsun Ching and the greatest Chinese philosopher of law, committed suicide because he, as an official adviser of a ruler, had aroused the jealousy of the latter's responsible minister. Han Fei concentrated upon the problems of government, state-craft, authority and public welfare, and advanced views similar to those of Jeremy Bentham and other British utilitarians. But he also adopted Taoist ideas on essential truth. In The Radical Academy
Elsewhere On The Internet
Lu Wang [Lu Hsiang-Shan] (1139-1192) Confucianism has become most scholastic in the philosophy of Lu Wang (picture), whose thinking was imbued with the spirit of Buddhism although his terminology remained Confucian. He considered mind as the embodiment of reason, and taught training of the mind by "tranquil repose," in which state the essences of truth and goodness will be perceived by intuition, and the individual will be united with the universe. Neo-Confucianism revolted against Lu Wang's metaphysics which regards moral conduct as a mere consequence of intuitive insight into the essences of reality. In recent times, Lu Wang's philosophy was revived by Liang Sou-ming whose book The Civilization and Philosophy of the East and the West (1921) was a great sensation in China. In The Radical Academy
Elsewhere On The Internet
Professor Fung Yu-Lan, the author of the standard History of Chinese Philosophy (1930-33) and The New Rational Philosophy (1939), was not only a historian of philosophy but a systematic philosopher whose way of thinking and conceiving reality shows striking analogies to George Santayana's views, though he is firmly rooted in the traditions of Confucianism. He has revived the rational philosophy of the brothers Ch'eng Ming-tao (1032-1086) and Ch'eng I Ch'uan (1033-1107), in order to "continue" but not to "follow" them. He distinguishes two realms, that of truth and that of actuality. Reason, according to him, belongs to the realm of truth. It is not in or above the world but rather it is a regulating principle of everything that appears in the actual world. The realm of actuality is not created by reason; it is self-existent. Since reason cannot create, it is a principle which is neither in reason nor in the actual world that brings things into real existence. This principle is called "the Vital Principle of the True Prime Unit." The essences of the realm of truth which are not the causes but the models of the real things can be known only the objective and systematic studies, by means of inductive method and experimental logic. In this way, Fung has purified Neo-Confucianism from the Buddhist elements which had pervaded it in previous times. In The Radical Academy Elsewhere On The Internet Enrich Your Life With a Philosophy Book...
|
|
|
Introduction & Directory |
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
||
[Homepage] [Newsletter] [Search] [Support the Academy] [Link to Us] [Contact the Academy] [Citing Articles from Our Website] [Privacy Policy & Disclaimer]
Copyright 1998-99, 2000-01, 2002-03, & 2004 by The Radical Academy. All Rights Reserved.