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Vanity in Human Life-A Comparative Study of the Role of Hebel in Qoheleth and Wu in the Philosophical Thought of Wang Bi

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Vanity in Human Life-A Comparative Study of the Role of Hebel in Qoheleth and Wu in the Philosophical Thought of Wang Bi Concordia Seminary - Saint Louis Scholarly Resources from Concordia Seminary Master of Sacred Theology Thesis Concordia Seminary Scholarship 5-1-1999 Vanity in Human Life-A Comparative Study of the Role of Hebel in Qoheleth and Wu in the Philosophical Thought of Wang Bi Hsiao-Yung Liu Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.csl.edu/stm Part of the Biblical Studies Commons Recommended Citation Liu, Hsiao-Yung, "Vanity in Human Life-A Comparative Study of the Role of Hebel in Qoheleth and Wu in the Philosophical Thought of Wang Bi" (1999). Master of Sacred Theology Thesis. 23. https://scholar.csl.edu/stm/23 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Concordia Seminary Scholarship at Scholarly Resources from Concordia Seminary. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master of Sacred Theology Thesis by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Resources from Concordia Seminary. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Vanity in Human Life A Comparative Study of the Role of Hebel in Qoheleth and Wu in the Philosophical Thought of Wang Bi A thesis presented to the Faculty of Concordia Seminary, St. Lottis, Department of Exegetical Theology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Sacred Theology by Hsiao-Yung Liu (Samuel) May 1999 tA n OP )44- , A.4_613Att te.&_e4.44-itt, 120 LA-Iihi-z-4044-4--4isz_LE,Vo4r3t AKro MY EMASHOPWRNHOV* M7'tP2 OWO±Wil ZMf51* OM: —AAA*HA CONTENTS INTROCUDTION 1 PART ONE REBEL AND ITS INVOLVED STUDIES Chapter I. REBEL AND THE AUTHOR OF QOHELETH 7 II. SEMANTIC AND ETYMOLOGICAL UNDERSTANDING OF HEBEL • • 10 III. CONTEXTUAL AND TEXTUAL UNDERSTANDING OF HEBEL • • • • 13 IV.RHETORICAL AND FORMAL UNDERSTANDING OF HEBLE 40 V.SOCIOECONOMIC UNDERSTANDING OF HEBEL 50 VI. PHILOSOPHICAL AND THEOLOGICAL UNDERSTANDING OF HEBEL 52 VII. CONCLUSION OF PART ONE 54 PART TWO WU AND ITS INVOLVED STUDIES VIII. WU AND WANG BI 58 IX. SEMANTIC AND ETYMOLOGICAL UNDERSTANDING OF WU • • • • 62 X. CONTEXTUAL AND TEXTUAL UNDERSTANDING OF WU 67 XI. RHETORICAL UNDERSTANDING OF WU 90 XII. SOCIAL AND POLITICAL UNDERSTANDING OF WU 100 XIII. PHILOSOPHICAL AND THEOLOGICAL UNDERSTANDING OF WU • • 104 XIV.CONCLUSION OF PART TWO 108 PART THREE COMPARISON AND EVALUATION XV. SIMILARITIES BETWEEN QOHELETH'S REBEL AND WANG BI'S WU 112 XVI. DIFFERENT CHARACTERISTICS OF QOHELETH'S HEBEL AND WANG BI'S WU 113 XVII. BEYOND VANITY 115 XVIII. SOME SUGGESTIONS ON MISSION FOR CHINESE 127 XIX. CONCLUSION OF PART THREE 133 CONCLUSION r 135 SELECTED BIBLOGRAPHY r 138 INTRODUCTION The concept of vanity may not seem very impprtant in the whole history of salvation, but it cannot be ignored in the wisdom literature of the Old Testament. Indeed, the question and importance of the concept cannot be overemphasized when we want to understand Jewish wisdom on a deeper level and do a sufficient job in cross- cultural study. Hebel, the Hebrew word generally translated as vanity, has traditionally been considered as the theme of Qoheleth. However, what does it really mean? What kind of role does hebel play in Qoheleth? How does Qoheleth come to this thought? How does hebel relate to Biblical faith? Is the sense of vanity not a part of God's general revelation? These questions will be studied in this thesis. Admittedly, the concept of vanity is also common in religions and cultures around the world. In particular, it has occupied a very important role in Chinese scholarly thought known as Buddhism's concept in a unique way, relating wu to major religious and philosophical schools. The concept of vanity in Buddhism is well known. During the third century A.D. a leading Chinese scholar, Wang pi' (226r249 AD), devoted his efforts to the concept of wu, a Chinese term closely related to vanity and to hebel. Unique about Wang Bi is that his study included also Daoism and Confucianism. His philosophical discussion of the concept of wu not only created a new intellectual movement at that time, but also offers a point of contact of which a dialogue with the For Chinese a person's family name must come first, then the given follows. E.g., "Wang" is the family name, and "Bi" is like the given name in English. 1 Hebrew concept of hebel can begin. Dialogue, not monologue, is the only way to achieve mutual understanding. The Apostle Paul did not tell the Jewish message to the Gentile people of Asia Minor and Europe when he started his mission outside of Palestine. He said, "To the Jews I became like a Jew to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law...To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some." (1Cor.9: 20-22) What would Paul have said if he were given the opportunity to evangelize the Chinese? It is believed that he would insist on preaching the Gospel rather as a Chinese than as a Jew. For this reason this topic has been chosen. It is hoped that this thesis will serve as a bridge between the Bible and Chinese thought insofar as both address a similar topic. This thesis doesn't only provide a chance to dialogue, but also intends the expression of human common cry on vanity. A ballad by W. E. Henley may give the impression of vanity upon human life: Life is a smoke that curls — Curls in a flickering skein That winds, and whisks and whirls, A figment thin and vain, Into the great Inane. One end for hut and hall! One end for cell and stall! Burned in one common flame Are wisdoms and insanities. For this alone we came-, O Vanity of Vanities.' 2 The ballad is cited from G. C. Martin, Century Bible, Proverbs etc. by W. E. Staples in "Vanity of Vanities" in Canadian Journal of Theology, vol. 1, no. 3, 1955, 141. 2 The ballad demonstrates vividly that man is not able to do or think anything before vanity, the huge monster in the heart. Indeed, the sense of vanity encounters man when some valuable is lost, some one passes away and unbearable pain comes abruptly. No one can escape these misfortunes, and the sense or conception of vanity is for all. Qoheleth and Wang Bi provide us a good opportunity to see what this vanity really is. The aim of this study is to increase the mutual understanding between the Old Testament and ancient Chinese thought. The methodology is both cross-cultural and exegetical. Without the effort of exegesis, an understanding of hebel would be colored by one's own assumptions and prejudices. The same thing is true of ancient Chinese philosophy. The concept of wu was first discussed not by Wang Bi but by Lao Zia (in about the fifth century B.C.E.), the founder of Daoism. A$ a re-interpreter of wu, Wang- Bi developed the original meaning of Lao Zi and increased a new spirit for Daoism, Confucianism and Buddhism. Wang Bi did not only open a new window for Chinese literature but also significantly influenced the political and social attitudes of his contemporary intellectuals. Hopefully after both Qoheleth's hebel and Wang Bi's wu are studied carefully by analyzing the text and their invQlve4 studies exegetically and cross- culturally, the true meaning of hebel and wu can be revealecl, and comparison and evaluation in between can be done. To make this thesis more understandable and faithful to the original meaning, the Lao Zi ( T-) is famous for his work, Dao De Jing (WWI). Lao Zi was thought as the contemporary of Confucius, but modern Chinese scholars (like ne. Qian Mu) put the age of Lao Zi in Warring States Period (480-222 B.C.E.) according to modern literary critical methodology. Lao Zi, the term can mean either the author or the book traditionally. To distinguish both in this thesis, Lao Zi in italic will mean the book and in non-italic the author. 3 Hebrew and Chinese text will be used as much as possible and the English translations will accompany these texts in a parenthesis mark. ("( )" is cited from the NIV Bible and "[ ]" is the translation by the author of this thesis.) All the Chinese translations are made by the author of this thesis and the English translations of special Chinese vocabularies adopt Han-Yu Romanization system (A,Mag*a). This thesis will be divided into three main parts: hebel and its involved study (part one), wu and its involved study (part two) and the last part, a comparison and evaluation (part three). In the first two parts, the main structure will include: authorship (ch. I and ch. VIII), semantic and etymological understanding (ch. II and ch. DC), contextual and textual understanding (ch. III and ch. X), rhetorical understanding (ch. VI and ch. XI), socioeconomic or political understanding (ch. V and ch. XII), philosophical and theological understanding (ch. VI and ch. XIII) and a conclusion (ch. VII and ch. XIV) for each individual part. For the third part, namely comparison and evaluation (part three), the similarities (ch. XV) and different characteristics (ch. XVI) between Qoheleth's hebel and Wang Bits wu will be provided and discussed, and then "beyond vanity" (ch. XVII) will follow. Some suggestions on mission for Chinese (ch. XVIII) and the conclusion (ch. XIX) for this part will end the part. A final conclusion will be given after these three parts and will conclude this thesis.
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