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Of Civilizations in Asia

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Of Civilizations in Asia Volume I: 10,000 B.C. to 1850 Comparative History of Civilizations in Asia EDWARD L. FARMER University of Minnesota CAVIN R.C. HAMBLY University of Texas at Dallas DAVID KOPF University of Minnesota BYRON K. MARSHALL University of Minnesota ROMEYN TAYLOR University of Minnesota Westview Press / Boulder and London The Crisis and Ethical Protest in the Mid-First Millennium B.C. 600 B.C. to 450 B.C. During the first millennium B.C the civilizations of Asia faced a remarkably similar set of PROCESSES PATTERNS crises. The simultaneous acceleration of economic development and the occurrence of devastating wars broke down old social patterns and generated new ones. The popula­ Crisis in the Mid-First Millennium B.C. 1 . Zoroaster and the Hebrew Prophets tions of civilized societies grew rapidly on the basis of an expanding agriculture. Trade in West Asia a. Militarism and materialism developed far beyond the levels attained in the early civilized period, and a distinct b. Elitism and political cynicism 2. Mahavira and Buddha in South Asia merchant class emerged. A general advance in technology was initiated by the coming c. Traditionalism and ritualistic of the Iron Age and the availability of metal in large quantities for tools and weapons. formalism 3. Ethical Protest and Reform Ideology Within each major cultural area warfare among states was conducted on a greatly d. Proletarianization and cultural enlarged scale and with savage intensity. Whole societies feared destruction or large­ in Chou China alienation scale forced migrations. Old ruling aristocracies were destroyed alorg with the institu­ tions through which they had once ruled. New and more rational systems of government The Formulation of Ethical Protest were created, and administrations came to be operated by career bureaucrats with a e. Moral sensitivity and ethical dualism resulting increase in the despotic authority of rulers. This destruction and displacement f. Existential humanism and internal of older social and political orders was accompanied by the dissolution of the old transformation religious beliefs and ceremonials that had justified and sustained them. g. Nemesis and the reinterpretation It was in this period of crisis that some of the best known of Asia's ethical teachers of history emerged on the scene to denounce the conditions of their times in protests that had h. Universalism and social much in common. Confucius, Buddha, Zoroaster, the Hebrew prophets, and the other amelioration ancient Chinese, Indian, and West Asian moralists differed among themselves in the proposals they expounded, for each was the product of a particular time and a particular cultural tradition. But all shared in common a deep concern with the breakdown of the ethical standards and moral values of the time. Each in his own way protested vigorously against senseless bloodshed, greedy ambition, ruthless exploitation, and general im­ morality. It was this condemnation of their societies that won for them a sympathetic audience, while the way in which they drew upon and reworked the traditions of their own cultures in proposing solutions gained them a permanent place in the history of their civilizations. Despite the separate and distinct messages of these ethical reformers, it is possible to make comparisons under a number of broad headings, including their views of the origins of evil, their interpretation of human history, their appeal for individual transfor­ mation, and their vision of a better society. 83 82 I 3. ETHICAL PROTEST I 1 2 GREECE 3 - HEBREWS/ZOROASTER --------- MAHAVIRAIBUDDHA --~---~- f-- -- - __~ __ ~ ________~ CONFUClUSILEGAlISTS r---- Fir<,( Isaiah, Cd. 740-70 I 700 S.c. Hl'zekiah, C,l. 72')-697 losi,lh, Cd. 640-60<) CYdxdres 62S-S9 3 600 Zoroaster, fl. ca. 588 Babylonian captivity, ca. 586-53<) Second Isaiah, fl. ca_ 550-540 Cyrus, r. ca. 550-530 Cyrus' Edict of Liberation 539, permitting return of Hebrews to Bimbisara, fl. ca. 545 Jerusalem Confucius 551-47<) The Buddha Sakyamuni, ca. 560-480 Mahavira, Cd. 540-468 500 J \ Mo Tzu 479-381 Socrates 470-3<)9 Sisunaga, fl. ca. 410 400 Sh,mg Yang, d. 338 Aristotle \84-322 McrKrus 372-289 Alex,mder the Great. r. J 36- 32 3 Chudng Tzu, Cd. 569-286 300 End of Chou kingdom 2')6 H'Lrn T7lr 2<)8-2 \8 Han Fer T Lli d. 231 00 I..n eh'in conque'l, unification of (hind 221 200 PROCESSES Reaction against perceived injustices or immorality is a pervasive phenomenon in the history of human societies, but in Eurasian history the two centuries between 600 and 400 B.c. stand out as a truly remarkable era of ethical protest. In this relatively brief span lived not only the Greek thinkers Socrates and Plato and the Hebrew prophets Ezekiel and Isaiah, but also the Iranian religious leader Zoroaster, the Indian moralists Mahavira and Buddha, the Chinese philosophers Mo Tzu and Confucius. These were ethical reformers whose basic ideals, although often much modified, were to form the foundations of later ideologies that continue to influence human lives even in the present day. Here we shall attempt to compare these ethical reformers by focusing on two separate but not unrelated aspects of their lives and thought. First there is need to explore the historical circumstances they faced in their individual civilizations. Whereas too little is known definitely about the personal lives of these men to hazard firm statements about the internal psychological experiences that led them to their beliefs, enough is known about the social conditions of their times to suggest why their ideals fell on receptive ears, spread, and became influential. Moreover, it would seem apparent that each of these thinkers was attempting to provide meaningful solutions to very real human problems-answers to questions raised by concrete situations. Thus, in order to understand the ideas they articu­ lated, it is important to grasp the nature of the issues they confronted. Once the historical processes at work during this period have been made clearer, we can then turn to the ethical principles espoused by these moral reformers. At that point we shall stress the similarities in their basic ideals. These similarities have sometimes been said to have been due to cultural exchange, the borrowing of inspiration by one civilization from another. It can be argued that it is just as probable that conditions of crisis occurred in the separate U civilizations at roughly the same time span and thus led to parallel responses. <Ii E ."c: c: THE PERIOD ~ 'E The age of the great Asian reformers overlaps the preceding period in the growth of civilization in West, South, and East Asia, and indeed it was in many respects-the processes ~ ~ of political organization and territorial expansion themselves that stimulated the reaction. -6 E The Hebrew prophet Ezekiel lived during the Babylonian captivity (i.e., 586-539 B.c.), OJ shortly after the Chaldeans (or Neo-Babylonians) replaced the Assyrians in West Asia. -£ c: Farther to the east, in Iran, Zoroaster (belived to have lived in the early sixth century B.c.) would have witnessed a time of political conflict preceding the establishment of the 2'" 2 Achaemenid empire. In South Asia, by the time of Buddha (ca. 563-ca. 483 Be), there were Q. over a dozen powerful states competing for dominance in northern India, including :> ~ .~ Magadha, which is sometimes compared to Assyria. In East Asia during the lifetime of .!:: - '" - OJ Confucius (ca. 551-ca. 479 B.c.), Chinese civilization was facing its first great crisis as the "0 c: Chou dynasty (1122-221 Be) continued its long-term disintegration. 'l .;;;'" ~ '" "5 ~ OJ .!:: CRISIS IN THE MID-FIRST MilLENNIUM H.C. I- The processes at work in this period were in no sense unique to it. We shall note them often M in discussions of political tension, social stress, and moral turmoil in other eras. We need to C. IV examine them at some length here because it was at this time that they combined to ~ produce a period of major crisis in the ancient history of Asia. Unfortunately, in many instances specific details are not fully available to the historian, and our information is partially derived from the biased, if not necessarily distorted, views of the ethical protestors themselves, thus blurring the line between historical objectivity and subjective reaction. 87 86 , :' 3.P Crisis and Ethical Protest: Processes Crisis and Ethical Protest: Processes 3.P Ji Nevertheless, the broad outlines are clear enou h to er mlt' d. Proletarianization and Cultural Alienation the major causes of the crises that affected all f t~ P 'I the attempt to summarize In the absence of an ethical order to moderate the abuses of materialism and self-interest, nlUm R,C 0 ese CIVI IzatlOns dunng the first millen- the wealthy and the powerful formed an elite that dominated society through force and collusion. The result was a widening of the social and economic distance between the a. Militarism and Materialism privileged few and the masses. Social stratification as such had always been a characteristic As ancient civilizations developed and became more h' , . , of civilizations, and the peasant cultivator had always borne the burden of producing tended to become increasingly milita ',t'. W Ighlyorganlzed politically, they rIS Ie. eapons and tactics b sufficient agricultural surplus to support the urban centers. But in better times the lower b rutal, often causing unparalleled hard h" h ecame more and more classes and the peasantry as a whole had been recognized as participants in the larger grew in scale and intensity Under th sA Ip on t e masses of the people as the violence ' , ' e ssynans, the elite of Mes t' , society. Now there was widespread economic exploitation of the peasantry, often the result race a definite militaristic ethos wh'l ' I d' h opo amlan society em- b d , " I e In n la t ere raged I 'I of an increased commercialization of agriculture, with its concomitant tendencies toward competing states eventually won by th k' d f a ong reglona conflict of g indebtedness by cultivator to landlord or merchant.
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