Study on the Mythological Philosophy of Guo Pu's Shanhai Jing Notes
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The Unity of Yin and Yang: a Philosophical Assessment
The Unity of Yin and Yang: A Philosophical Assessment Thaddeus T'ui-chieh Hang National Chengchi University, Taipei "One yin ^ and one yang d, constitute what is called Tao 51"; "When yin and yang are united in their virtue, the soft and the hard attain their physical shape." These famous statements are drawn from the "Appended Remarks" (Hsi-tz'u Slit?) of the / Ching %M.. Since they were uttered more than two thousand years ago, they became the metaphysical foun- dation for the two great philosophical schools of China, namely, Taoism and Confucianism. For both these schools, yin and yang, two contrasting but mutually compensating components constitute unity in harmony. We shall endeavor to give an historical account of this concept, describe it phenomenologically, and venture a philosophical assessment from cos- mological, anthropological, as well as theological points of view. I. An Historical Account The origin of yin-yang ideas must be sought in very ancient times. In the Book of Poetry (Shih-ching I^M?i<) the words "yin" and "yang" signified the north and south sides of a mountain.1 In the Book of Historical Documents (Shu-ching US?) the two words never appeared together ex- cept in the apocryphal "Chou-kuan" /SJ1T. Even in the Analects of Con- fucius there is no mention of yin-yang. However, the eight trigrams were probably in use at the beginning of the Chou )*] dynasty (late 12th cen- tury B.C.). Since the eight trigrams consist of combinations of broken and 'James Legge, The Chinese Classics: Vol. IV, Book of Poetry (Taipei, 1972), Ode 19, p. -
A New Examination of Confucius' Rectification of Names
Journal of chinese humanities � (���6) �47-�7� brill.com/joch A New Examination of Confucius’ Rectification of Names Cao Feng (曹峰) Professor of Philosophy, Renmin University, China [email protected] Translated by Brook Hefright Abstract Confucius’ explanation of the “rectification of names” is not necessarily related to the theories of “social status” and “names and actuality.” The reason scholars have inter- preted the rectification of names in the Analects in so many different ways is, to a large degree, due to assumptions about Confucius’ thinking by his successors, and based on the views on rectification of names among later generations. In the course of the devel- opment of thinking about names, scholars have augmented Confucius’ own explana- tion, gradually fleshing it out from an empty shell into a substantial edifice. The original meaning may have been very simple: Confucius did not wish to establish a standard system of names. Rather, he was simply the first person in history to realize the impor- tance of language in politics. As a politician, Confucius noticed and foresaw the influ- ence that the indeterminacy, ambiguity, and arbitrariness of names could have on politics. He discerned the political consequences when language could not accurately express meaning or when there was no way for people to accurately perceive it. He also recognized how names, as a way of clarifying right and wrong and establishing norms, could have a great effect on a society’s politics. Although Confucius noted that disunity in speech could lead to disunity in politics, he did not propose a solution. -
The Status of Cosmic Principle (Li) in Neo-Confucian Metaphysics
jeeloo liu THE STATUS OF COSMIC PRINCIPLE (LI) IN NEO-CONFUCIAN METAPHYSICS Introduction In this article, I attempt to make use of Western metaphysical notions to explicate the cosmological variances in Chinese philosophical thinking, with specific reference to the debates among the Neo- Confucian thinkers. While I do not presume and argue that Chinese philosophers dealt with the same Western issues, I do believe that a comparative study of this nature can point to a new direction of think- ing concerning metaphysical pondering in Neo-Confucianism. This article is divided into three parts. In Part I, I employ Robert Nozick’s notion of natural cosmic state to analyze the fundamental difference between the Confucian and Daoist cosmologies. Even though this notion of natural cosmic state has no comparable match in Chinese philosophy, it may serve as an analytic and explanatory device for our comparative study of Chinese cosmology. In Part II, I employ Nicholas Rescher’s distinction between “laws of nature” and “laws for nature” to analyze the debate on the status of cosmic prin- ciple (li)a between Zhou Dunyib and Zhu Xic on the one hand, and Zhang Zaid and Wang Fuzhie on the other.1 In Part III, I employ the notion of supervenience,as defined by Jaegwon Kim,to argue that in the debate on the status of cosmic principle, it is Zhang Zai and Wang Fuzhi’s view that better preserves the causal relevance of cosmic principle in a physicalistic universe.2 In light of the three notions borrowed from contemporary Western metaphysics, I hope to offer an analytic reconstruction of the age-old debate on the status of cosmic principle (li). -
List 3. Headings That Need to Be Changed from the Machine- Converted Form
LIST 3. HEADINGS THAT NEED TO BE CHANGED FROM THE MACHINE- CONVERTED FORM The data dictionary for the machine conversion of subject headings was prepared in summer 2000 based on the systematic romanization of Wade-Giles terms in existing subject headings identified as eligible for conversion before detailed examination of the headings could take place. When investigation of each heading was subsequently undertaken, it was discovered that some headings needed to be revised to forms that differed from the forms that had been given in the data dictionary. This occurred most frequently when older headings no longer conformed to current policy, or in the case of geographic headings, when conflicts were discovered using current geographic reference sources, for example, the listing of more than one river or mountain by the same name in China. Approximately 14% of the subject headings in the pinyin conversion project were revised differently than their machine- converted forms. To aid in bibliographic file maintenance, the following list of those headings is provided. In subject authority records for the revised headings, Used For references (4XX) coded Anne@ in the $w control subfield for earlier form of heading have been supplied for the data dictionary forms as well as the original forms of the headings. For example, when you see: Chien yao ware/ converted to Jian yao ware/ needs to be manually changed to Jian ware It means: The subject heading Chien yao ware was converted to Jian yao ware by the conversion program; however, that heading now -
Due to the Special Circumstances of China Nancy L
Bridgewater Review Volume 5 | Issue 2 Article 6 Nov-1987 Due to the Special Circumstances of China Nancy L. Street Bridgewater State College, [email protected] Recommended Citation Street, Nancy L. (1987). Due to the Special Circumstances of China. Bridgewater Review, 5(2), 7-10. Available at: http://vc.bridgew.edu/br_rev/vol5/iss2/6 This item is available as part of Virtual Commons, the open-access institutional repository of Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts. --------------ES SAY-------------- Due To The Special Circumstances ofCHIN1\... BY NANCY LYNCH STREET ,~d Ifim 'h, ,boY< 'id, in 'h, <xch'nge pmgrnm 'On"''' "'''",n Shanxi Teacher's University and Bridgewater State College. I pondered it for awhile, then dropped it. I would find out soon enough the "special circumstances of China." First, I had to get ready to go to China. Ultimately, the context of the phrase would enlighten me. During the academic year 1985-1986 I taught at Shanxi Teacher's University which is located in Linfen, Shanxi Province, People's Republic of China. Like the Chinese, I would soon learn the virtues of quietness and patience. I would listen and look and remember. Perhaps most important of all, I would make friends whom I shall never forget. FROM BE]ING TO LINFEN Cultural Revolution. Seventeen hours by from personal observations here and The Setting train north to Beijing, eight hours south abroad; and finally, from days and weeks The express train arrives in Linfen to Xi'an (home of the clay warriors found of talk and gathering oral history from from Beijing in the early morning, around in the tomb of the Emperor Ching Shi students, colleagues and friends. -
The Analects of Confucius
The analecTs of confucius An Online Teaching Translation 2015 (Version 2.21) R. Eno © 2003, 2012, 2015 Robert Eno This online translation is made freely available for use in not for profit educational settings and for personal use. For other purposes, apart from fair use, copyright is not waived. Open access to this translation is provided, without charge, at http://hdl.handle.net/2022/23420 Also available as open access translations of the Four Books Mencius: An Online Teaching Translation http://hdl.handle.net/2022/23421 Mencius: Translation, Notes, and Commentary http://hdl.handle.net/2022/23423 The Great Learning and The Doctrine of the Mean: An Online Teaching Translation http://hdl.handle.net/2022/23422 The Great Learning and The Doctrine of the Mean: Translation, Notes, and Commentary http://hdl.handle.net/2022/23424 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION i MAPS x BOOK I 1 BOOK II 5 BOOK III 9 BOOK IV 14 BOOK V 18 BOOK VI 24 BOOK VII 30 BOOK VIII 36 BOOK IX 40 BOOK X 46 BOOK XI 52 BOOK XII 59 BOOK XIII 66 BOOK XIV 73 BOOK XV 82 BOOK XVI 89 BOOK XVII 94 BOOK XVIII 100 BOOK XIX 104 BOOK XX 109 Appendix 1: Major Disciples 112 Appendix 2: Glossary 116 Appendix 3: Analysis of Book VIII 122 Appendix 4: Manuscript Evidence 131 About the title page The title page illustration reproduces a leaf from a medieval hand copy of the Analects, dated 890 CE, recovered from an archaeological dig at Dunhuang, in the Western desert regions of China. The manuscript has been determined to be a school boy’s hand copy, complete with errors, and it reproduces not only the text (which appears in large characters), but also an early commentary (small, double-column characters). -
Revisiting the Scene of the Party: a Study of the Lanting Collection
Revisiting the Scene of the Party: A Study of the Lanting Collection WENDY SWARTZ RUTGERS UNIVERSITY The Lanting (sometimes rendered as "Orchid Pavilion") gathering in 353 is one of the most famous literati parties in Chinese history. ' This gathering inspired the celebrated preface written by the great calligrapher Wang Xizhi ï^è. (303-361), another preface by the poet Sun Chuo i^s^ (314-371), and forty-one poems composed by some of the most intellectu- ally active men of the day.^ The poems are not often studied since they have long been over- shadowed by Wang's preface as a work of calligraphic art and have been treated as examples oí xuanyan ("discourse on the mysterious [Dao]") poetry,^ whose fate in literary history suffered after influential Six Dynasties writers decried its damage to the classical tradition. '^ Historian Tan Daoluan tliË;^ (fl. 459) traced the trend to its full-blown development in Sun Chuo and Xu Xun l^gt] (fl. ca. 358), who were said to have continued the work of inserting Daoist terms into poetry that was started by Guo Pu MM (276-324); they moreover "added the [Buddhist] language of the three worlds [past, present, and future], and the normative style of the Shi W and Sao M came to an end."^ Critic Zhong Rong M^ (ca. 469-518) then faulted their works for lacking appeal. His critique was nothing short of scathing: he argued Earlier versions of this article were presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Asian Studies in Phil- adelphia in March 2012 and at a lecture delivered at Tel Aviv University in May, 2011, and I am grateful to have had the chance to present my work at both venues. -
Mythical Image of “Queen Mother of the West” and Metaphysical Concept of Chinese Jade Worship in Classic of Mountains and Seas
IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science (IOSR-JHSS) Volume 21, Issue11, Ver. 6 (Nov. 2016) PP 39-46 e-ISSN: 2279-0837, p-ISSN: 2279-0845. www.iosrjournals.org Mythical Image of “Queen Mother of the West” and Metaphysical Concept of Chinese Jade Worship in Classic of Mountains and Seas Juan Wu1 (School of Foreign Language,Beijing Institute of Technology, China) Abstract: This paper focuses on the mythological image, the Queen Mother of the West in Classic of Mountains and Seas, to explore the hiding history and mental reality behind the fantastic literary images, to unveil the origin of jade worship, which plays an significant role in the 8000-year-old history of Eastern Asian jade culture, to elucidate the genetic mechanism of the jade worship budded in the Shang and Zhou dynasties, so that we can have an overview of the tremendous influence it has on Chinese civilization, and illustrate its psychological role in molding the national jade worship and promoting the economic value of jade business. Key words: Mythical Image, Mythological Concept, Jade Worship, Classic of Mountains and Seas I. WHITE JADE RING AND QUEEN MOTHER OF THE WEST As for the foundation and succession myths of early Chinese dynasties, Allan holds that “Ancient Chinese literature contains few myths in the traditional sense of stories of the supernatural but much history” (Allan, 1981: ix) and “history, as it appears in the major texts from the classical period of early China (fifth-first centuries B.C.),has come to function like myth” (Allan, 1981: 10). While “the problem of myth for Western philosophers is a problem of interpreting the meaning of myths and the phenomenon of myth-making” as Allan remarks, “the problem of myth for the sinologist is one of finding any myths to interpret and of explaining why there are so few.” (Allen, 1991: 19) To decode why white jade enjoys a prominent position in the Chinese culture, the underlying conceptual structure and unique culture genes should be investigated. -
Confucian Self-Cultivation and Daoist Personhood: Implications for Peace Education
Front. Educ. China 2013, 8(1): 62–79 DOI 10.3868/s110-002-013-0006-0 RESEARCH ARTICLE Hongyu WANG Confucian Self-Cultivation and Daoist Personhood: Implications for Peace Education Abstract This essay argues that the concept of reaching peace within in order to sustain peace outside in classical Confucianism and Daoism offers us important lessons for peace education in the contemporary age. Building harmonious connections between differences in one’s personhood paves a path for negotiating interconnections across conflicting multiplicities in the outside world. The essay starts by discussing the Confucian and Daoist notions of personhood as a microcosmic universe connected to a macrocosmic universe. Second, the historical context of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Period in which Confucianism and Daoism emerged are briefly reviewed. Third, Confucian self-cultivation and the Daoist conception of personhood are discussed. Fourth, relational issues of harmony in difference and tranquility in turbulence are analyzed. Lastly, inner peace reaching outer peace in leadership and governing is formulated in terms of the unity between means and end in peace education. Keywords peace, Confucianism, Daoism, harmony in difference Introduction While the contemporary age has brought unprecedented interconnectedness across the globe and in everyday life, it has also simultaneously witnessed fragmentation, conflict, and ethnic and religious warfare. Can Confucianism and Daoism, first formulated in ancient China, be useful for addressing our contemporary concerns about bringing peace out of conflict? This essay argues that the Confucian and Daoist traditions of reaching peace within in order to sustain peace outside offer us important lessons. Building harmonious connections between differences in one’s personhood paves a path for negotiating interconnections across conflicting multiplicities in the outside world. -
Analysis of the Mythological Interpretation Characteristics of Guo Pu's Shanhai Jing Notes Shuyan Yi1, a and Jilin Yang1, B*
Advances in Intelligent Systems Research, volume 163 8th International Conference on Management, Education and Information (MEICI 2018) Analysis of the mythological Interpretation characteristics of Guo Pu's Shanhai Jing Notes Shuyan Yi1, a and Jilin Yang1, b* 1College of Humanities &Sciences of Northeast Normal University, Changchun, Jilin, China, 130117 [email protected], [email protected] * The corresponding author Keywords: GuoPu, Shanhai Jing Notes, Myth, Interpretation Characteristics Abstract. Through the analysis of Guo Pu's annotation of mythical characters in Shanhai Jing, interpreting of the mythological interpretation of Guo Pu's Shanhai Jing Notes. In his annotation of God, Guo Pu had carried on the conscious enrichment to the god person image according to the annotated person's identity,so that made many of the original blurred image of God could be clear. To the vague mythological stories, Guo Pu interpretted them by compiling new mythological stories.[1] Through this literary interpretation, Guo Pu not only enriched the images and fairy tales of the gods and figures in Shanhai Jing, but also highlighted the color of the Shanhai Jing, and achieved the unity of the dual identity of the annotator and the litterateur. Introduction Nowadays, most researchers study GuoPu’s Shan Hai Jing Notes from the perspective of linguistics and philology, but rarely from the perspective of mythology. Although some scholars have also noticed the value of Guo Pu's Shan Hai Jing Notes in the study of mythology and made some studies, but most of the related studies are on the surface and lack of systematic summary and theoretical explanation. -
Laozi Have Advocated Humility in Leadership and a Restrained and Concessive Approach to Statecraft , Either for Ethical and Pacifi St Reasons Or for Tac- Tical Ends
Introduction Moss Roberts the poems and sayings of the mysterious book of wisdom called Dao De Jing have powerfully aff ected many aspects of Chinese phi- losophy, culture, and society. In the realm of aesthetics the idea of Dao, or the Way, a transcendent natural principle working through all things, has inspired artists and poets who have sought to represent nature in its raw wholeness or have depicted vast landscapes within which human structures and pathways, overwhelmed by mists, moun- tain faces, and water vistas, hold a tiny and precarious place. With regard to personal spiritual cultivation Daoism off ers techniques of concentration and self-control, while in the realm of physiology the Daoist theory of natural cycles points toward systems of internal cir- culation and techniques of rejuvenation.1 In its ethical application Daoism teaches self-subordination and frugality and warns of the self- defeating consequences of assertiveness and aggrandizement, whether political, military, or personal. In the realm of governance political theorists infl uenced by Laozi have advocated humility in leadership and a restrained and concessive approach to statecraft , either for ethical and pacifi st reasons or for tac- tical ends. Th e well-known line that opens stanza 60, “Rule a great state as you cook a small fi sh,” has been used in China and in the West as an argument for a “light touch” in governing: the Way creates suf- fi cient order. In a diff erent political context, one mediated by legalist theories of government, a transcendent Way has served to legitimate state builders in constructing impersonal institutions and formulating 1 LLaoziaozi - DDaoao DDee Jing.inddJing.indd 1 220/12/180/12/18 33:07:07 PPMM all-powerful laws. -
Book of Lieh-Tzu / Translated by A
ft , I ' * * < The B 2 I it* o f Lieh- i - I /\ Classic of Tao i > *• A Translated by A. C. GRAHAM . t The Book o f Lieh-tzu A Classic o f the Tao translated by A. C. GRAHAM Columbia University Press New York Columbia University Press Morningside Edition 1990 Columbia University Press New York Copyright © 1960, 1990 by A. C. Graham Preface to the Morningside Edition copyright © 1990 by Columbia University Press Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Lieh-tzu, 4th cent. B.C. [Lieh-tzu. English] The book of Lieh-tzu / translated by A. C. Graham, p cm.—(Translations from the Oriental classics) Translation of: Lieh-tzu. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-231-07236-8 ISBN 0-231-07237-6 (pbk.) I Graham, A. C. (Angus Charles) II. Title. III. Series. BL1900.L482E5 1990 181'.114-dc2o 89-24°35 CIP All rights reserved Casebound editions of Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid-free paper. Printed in the United States of America c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 p 10 9 8 Translations from the Asian Classics EDITORIAL BOARD Wm. Theodore de Bury, Chair Paul Anderer Irene Bloom Donald Keene George A. Saliba Haruo Shirane David D. W. Wang Burton Watson Contents Preface to the Morningside Edition xi Preface xvii Dramatis Personae xviii—xix Introduction i HEAVEN'S GIFTS 14 2 THE YELLOW EMPEROR 32 3 KING MU OF CHOU 58 4 CONFUCIUS 74 5 THE QUESTIONS OF T'ANG 92 6 ENDEAVOUR AND DESTINY 118 7 YANG CHU 135 8 EXPLAINING CONJUNCTIONS t58 Short Reading List 182 Textual Notes 183 i x Preface to the Morningside Edition A significant change since this book was first published in 196o is that we have learned to see philosophical Taoism in a new historical perspective.