Social Theory in the Balance of Intercivilizational Dialogue
A Brief Anthology of Chinese Intellectual Thought
By: Seyed Javad Meynagh
Copyright: LONDON ACADEMY OF IRANIAN STUDIES
Table of Contents Preface
Seek Knowledge as far as China. (Prophet Muhammad)
It is always complex to conceptualize metaphysical, philosophical, social theoretical and intellectual questions. But this complexity becomes even more difficult when we attempt to focus on other societies than the one we are familiar with, without knowing the language of a particular culture or society. In this work, which is not a very scholarly one I have tried to give an account of China based on my own encounter through discussions with Chinese professors and students who could speak English and were kind enough to translate pieces for me, which ultimately provided me with enough material to put this essay together within the frame of intercivilizational dialogue. In other words, I have not given here an account on China based on profound scholarship but my own observations and dialogue with students and professors at Hunan and Harbin Universities respectively. Besides these conversations I tried to make extensive travels around China, which enabled me to capture something about the real people who make up the spirit of Chinese intellection, which is of great significance for intercivilizational dialogue generally and Indo-Iran (Turkey and Muslim thinkers) particularly. The reason I would like to publish this work is not the scholarly nature of this work, which I think it is next to nothing but the sentiment that it contains, namely a closer relationship between China, India, and Iran (and Muslim world in general) in this new century that hopefully will put an end to long-standing cruel colonialism of England, Russia, France, Germany and America. To overcome the colonialism of secular modernity we need to forge real alliances based on affinities that have been left to us by our ancestors. However those who can forge profound alliances are not politicians but people who know the nature of metaphysics that is expressed through religious sensibilities. I have tried to give a very personal account of my journey to China, which lacks the rigours of scientific analyses. In my view, Sinologists and Orientalists have produced vast literatures, which are of great importance for those who are interested in China or Orient along other motives but my own attempt is based on constructing an intellectual space for dialogue among Chinese, Indian, Iranian (and Muslims) and to certain extend and Russian thinkers and philosophers for this century that is surely the epoch of the people of the Third World. Last but not least, I would like to mention the metaphysical reason in choosing China as a Muslim intellectual for exploration. As any kid born into a Muslim family, the first thing I learned about China was through the golden saying of Prophet Muhammad, namely seek knowledge even in China. Later on in life I realized that the concept of ‘ilm’ is, to say the least, different than ‘secular’ understanding of science, as the former is more integral and existentially related to the whole of human practice qua insan or human being. To paraphrase Nagarjuna’s word, the limit of ‘ilm (knowledge) is the limit of the everyday world. In other words, the concept had fundamental implications for Muslim philosophical models of causation, substance ontology, epistemology, God, Self, conceptualizations of language, ethics and theories of world-liberating salvation, and proved seminal even for religious philosophies in India, Tibet, China and Japan very different from the Islamic own. Indeed it would not be an overstatement to say that Islam’s innovative concept of ‘ilm, though it was hermeneutically appropriated in many different ways by subsequent philosophers globally, was to profoundly influence the character of religious thought anthropologically, psychologically, sociologically, politically, theosophically, and in one word ideologically. Having this in mind, I assumed that if the idea of knowledge is related to redemption and the Prophet has encouraged us to seek it even in China, then again, I presume, to say the least, a glimpse of it must be in China and for this reason I attempted to travel there in person in order to acquire some. In following Prophet upon this saying I learned few things which I would like to share with you here in brief. I realized that wisdom is not a property of one singular nation or people but a universal reality, which could be found anywhere regardless of geography or race. Secondly I realized that if I am to acquire this wisdom from others I need to learn it from the other, which, in turn, it means I need to enter into a dialogue with the other respectfully in the spirit of education. Thirdly I realized that the sayings of the Prophet demonstrate their impressing magnitude when one applies them in all spheres of one’s existence tirelessly. In other words, I tried to imagine that I am sitting next to the Prophet and asking him about knowledge and this saying is personally addressed to me here and now. I wanted to see for myself in practice how these words work for me in this world here and now. In these words there are wonders and awes for those who take the sacred words for what they Are, i.e. spiritually transformative, cognitively enlightening and practically uplifting.
Setting the Scene: Genealogies and Possibilities
The question of conflict is one of the most perplexing issues that lie at the heart of any intercivilizational theoretical attempt. If one argues that the alpha and omega of intercivilizational theory is dialogue then what needs to be tackled in order to achieve a dialogical mode of coexistence globally as well as existentially is the question of ‘Conflict’. In other words, how best conflict could be overcome and peace restored within our communally global state of affairs. This is a question that any intercivilizationalist intellectual, as perceptively been alluded by Seyyed M. Xatami, should profoundly attend to. This intellectual attention could be cast into various fields of inquiry such as films, art, science, technology, poetry, literature, sign language, and great many other cultural products or even in the realm of religion. The debate could be additionally conducted between various cultural units. Here I would like to look at the question of social theory in the light of intercivilizational dialogue within the Chinese intellectual context. The contemporary historiographers of social sciences, as I have already mentioned elsewhere, have been deeply oblivious to the multi-polarity nature of human thought, which sadly affected the very essence of the emerging global system that has come deeply to shape our very terrestrial existence recently. However this is not to deny the very long history of intercivilizational intellectuals that have enriched our understanding about the very question of social and philosophical thinking prior to disciplinarization of thought that has brought great many kinds of myopic visions of reality. Briefly speaking one should start from Abu Reyhan Biruni, who was the first founder of intercivilizational intellectual dialogue through his approach to the question of ‘existential ground’ among Hindus. Al-Shahrestani is another thinker, who looked at the question of ‘existential ground’ among various denominations. In recent time we have had great many others, who followed in the footsteps of Biruni such as Dariush Shayegan (the Iranian philosopher, who has been working on intercivilizational issues since early fifties), Pitrim Sorokin, who did not confine the realm of social theory to disciplinary borders of reflection. The most recent example of this approach is Ayatullah Seyyed M. Xatami from Iran, who has proposed a theoretical framework for intercivilizational dialogue based on religious intellection. But it would be a grave mistake to think of intercivilizational dialogue only in terms of Islamic, Hindu or even disciplinary (secular) tradition, as the scope of intellectual tradition of humanity is more diverse and complex than what one might initially be able to comprehend. In this essay I would present a brief history of Chinese intellectual tradition, which hopefully would shatter the narrow understanding of disciplinary deans of social sciences and philosophy, which confine the vast complexity of human intellectual thought to secular modernity.
By focusing on Chinese context I am not suggesting that the practice of intercivilizational dialogue and the very subsequent intellectual engagement that it entails should be confined to one civilizational unit. On the contrary one should, for instance, take India with her complex religio-intellectual backgrounds into dialogical account as, for instance, Sufism in its higher form could prove very engaging for intellectuals, who look for common denominators among Iran, China, India, Russia (Sufism in Russia is of great intercivilizational dialogical significance) and Euro-America and finally the globe. These are issues, which need the attention of religious intellectuals of all traditions as Gnostic inclinations are not confined to geography or determined by politics. These are complex issues and the field has not grown into maturity yet but the attempts done by great many religious thinkers are promising and should encourage others to embark on this path of soul-discovery too. One of the most delicate questions that sadly are treated less seriously is the question of human self in relation to philosophy of life or to put it otherwise the importance of religion in the constitution of self and society. The disciplinary thinkers have become accustomed to consider religion in the context of Reformation and its aftermath without realizing the complexities of religious dynamism in the world of human reality. Syed Farid Alattas, for instance, has alluded to the problem of disciplinary thought in relation to religion, which is of profound intercivilizational significance. I would like to provide an illustration of the problem of disciplinary thought with recourse to the example of the concept of religion. This concerns the translation of cultural terms such as religion into scientific concepts. Social scientific concepts originate from cultural terms in everyday language. As such they present problems when brought into scientific discourse and used to talk about areas and periods outside of those of their origins. The result is a distortion of the phenomena that they are applied to.
The Latin religio, from which the English term religion is derived, was a collective term referring to diverse practices and cults in and around Rome, prior to the emergence of Christianity. When Rome became Christian, Christianity became the dominant belief and all other beliefs were absorbed or eliminated. But religio not applied to Christianity as there was no need to - it was the only legitimate belief, so it was just known as the Church. With Luther and the Protestant Reformation religio referred to Christian beliefs and a way of life separate from the institution of the Catholic Church. It was oppositional to the clergy, that is, it was the layman’s religion.
In 1593, the French philosopher, Jean Bodin published his Colloquium Heptaplomeres (Colloquium of the Seven about the Secrets of the Sublime). Here there was a generalized understanding of religion and included non-Christian faiths. By the 18th century "religion" came to be used as a scientific concept, referring to belief systems other than Christianity.
But while "religion" meant all beliefs, when European scholars wrote about religion critically, they had in mind Protestantism (as in Marx's reference to religion as the opium of the intellectuals) or the institutional religion (Catholicism) as opposed to the religion of the believers (Protestants).
When "religion" is applied to beliefs other than Christianity, for example, Islam, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism or Hinduism, there is an implicit or explicit comparison with Christianity, which results in an elision of reality. According to Alattas, the logic of comparison is such that the two things to be compared are subsumed under a third unit, which is at a higher unit of abstraction. For example, apples and pears are subsumed under fruits. "Fruits" becomes the tertium comparationis. Similarly, Christianity and Islam are subsumed under religion. The problem with this is that the characteristics of religion are derived from Christianity to begin with. Therefore, the supposedly general scientific concept "religion" is culturally defined by Christianity and Islam is looked at in terms of Christianity rather than compared to Christianity in terms of a tertium comparationis, a general concept "religion". Besides the very idea of Christianity has been fathomed under influence of what one might call the process of constriction in contrast to expansion.
What reality is lost, what is the distortion done to universal idea of transcendence? Religion as it is understood in the West is a private matter as opposed to state and church. Therefore there are such dualities as sacred versus profane, religious versus non-religious, and so on. Also, religion in West refers to the beliefs and private lives of believers. The danger is that Islam, for instance, is also seen in these terms when in fact there are no such dualities. For example, there is no distinction between secular and religious education. All knowledge and education is either about God or the creations of God.
Another example comes from the application of the concept of religion to Hinduism. A case in point is the study of Hinduism. The term "Hindu" was first used in the eighth century to refer to people who lived on the other side of the Sindhus or Indus River on the Indian sub-continent, a name which was imposed from the outside to encompass a wide variety of beliefs over a vast area of land. It originally had geographical connotations, which had been undergoing transformation since. The adherents of such beliefs did not always consider themselves as belonging to a single religious entity that we now know as Hinduism. Yet many textualist and essentialist studies of Hinduism, such as that of Max Weber, subscribed to such constructed myths.
These problems are of deep importance for those who are attempting to reshape the cultures of globe in the spirit of dialogue among civilizations. The purpose behind such an approach lies in the need to educate people about the multicultural origins of our contemporary globe, about the contributions of the Muslims, Indians and Chinese to modern Europe, about the positive aspects of all these civilizations, and about the common values and problems that humanity shares. Analysis is an important tool but illumination should not be neglected as both are of importance to the constitution of healthy self and harmonious society.
In other words, the intercivilizational dialogue is an extension of the concept of Tree in world religions where it is associated with Wisdom and Knowledge, for example, the revered Bodhi tree under which the Buddha attained enlightenment. In this design one can realize that like a tree with many branches human civilizations are of great many branches but what unite all them together is the root, which without no tree, no matter how majestic it is would ever last. In this essay we cannot develop all the aspects of dialogue but will touch upon one single dimension, which would enable us to move forward in intellectually rewarding manner.
In any anthology there is a moment of arbitrariness that relates to the man who makes the choice of selecting out of a vast numbers of candidates. As the word anthology itself suggests, i.e. a collection of selected intellectual or literary works or excerpts this work could not but be incomplete in its demonstrative dimension but this should not be discouraging to those who have conviction in the power of dreams and visions and dialogue. Dialogue is a dream and men of dream are short in supply but they, nonetheless are. Their are-ness is not a matter of incident or accident but roots in the soil of Existenz and true expression of Vujud, which without the sky of humanity would look very gloomy indeed in our dark time. But exactly in times of darkness one should expect the emergence of men who dream while they are awake and sing one eternal song: Mis estimados or Do not lose heart. Because in a dark time eye begins to see and the heart starts to cherish the value of light. The religious taste at the heart of intercivilizational dialogue is like a Voyage in the dark by Jean Rhys, who is dealing with an estranged world and this estrangement could not be overcome unless by spirits who carry visions of The Beyond.
The climate has turned very nasty in the globe, with snowstorms of bigotry, hatred, ignorance, and enmity pounding the mountains of intellect, reason, love, kindness and truth. But there is still hope and planting the seeds of dialogue in the form of ideas is a sign of hope in the face of unknown. What is unknown? It is the path of discovery and a repository of becoming or unconscious turned conscious, myth turned reality; ideals aspired by those who, in the face of danger dare to walk the untrodden path and become a beacon of light in the stormy dark night of humanity. This path is like a universe with all its galaxies and a sky full of stars that are visible to those who endure the night and take on the pain of looking up and not always concerned with looking down.
The question of civilizations and the centres of intercivilizational importance are issues that should draw the attentions of intellectuals, who are interested in the meaning of religion in its universal sense and eager to preserve the ideals of tradition and orthodoxy in their respective lofty manners. That is a path that takes the whole existence of man within the context of life as it appears in the world of reality and does not confine the extension of this reality to the borders of accidents but looks beyond in an eschatological sense, which is represented in all Prophetic traditions. As far as the idea of Russia is concerned one could detect such a realization in her civilizational dimensions when she was true to her principles. The current Russia is far away from the idea of Russia as expressed by all three great traditional exponents of Buddhism Christianity and Islam in this vast land. The research has not brought forth the intellectual significance of Buddhist and Muslim thinkers of Russia to the outside world yet but scant references in Tolstoy (about Islam) and Dostoevsky (about Asia and Buddhism) are enough for students of intercivilizational dialogue to get engaged on intercivilizational issues.
Here I cannot explicate all the relevant issues in regard to Russia as a cultural pole but it is of importance to realize that we are faced with two versions of Russia whenever we look at Russia as a civilizational unit. One is a Russia that is evident in religious thinkers of Russia such as Solovyov and the other is a Russia that chose the path of Colonialism and ended up in ruins today. Our concern is mainly the primary notion of her and in this dimension religious thinkers, who are interested in intercivilizational dialogue could focus on along with Iran, China, and India. As far as Russia in religious intellectual tradition is concerned one should start with Solovyov as one who put the idea of Russian religious thought on the world map.
The
Crisis of Western Philosophy is the seminal
work in which Solovyov developed his religious philosophy. In it, he
undertakes a stunning critique of disciplinary thinking, by which he
understands the entire philosophy of secularism which he sees as setting up
a conflict between reason and faith, and reason and nature.
This last is one the most significant issues which the entire world of meaning could be established upon as it takes the whole of man into consideration and man as an embodied spirit attend in his prayers, as prayer, as elegantly put by Fritjof Schuon, fashions the man. Whatever that makes the man and constitutes his whole being is worth to cling on and re-appropriate it in the matrix of life.
In brief it should be mentioned that the religious thinking in Russia did not stop at Solovyov but developed into an ever-complex system of philosophies of life based around the key concept of Divine Sophia or as Solovyov puts it Bozhestvennaya Sofiya in the sophiological works of E. N. Trubestkoi, Semon Frank, L. Shestov, Lossky, Alexsandr Bogdanov, V. Rozanov, N. Fedorov, Sergius Bulgakov, Pavel Florensky and S. L. Frank who developed all-encompassing systems of religious thinking that, in terms of relevance and depth, went beyond the geographical and cultural borders of Russia.
However it should be noted that the contemporary Russia (as an Idea) is in a total shatter in relation to importance of religious sensibilities in the public square and in connection to the emergence of individual person. Here I cannot develop these problems but suffice to mention that the salvation of Russia as a nation is not divorced from the re-emergence of Russia as a religious idea in the consciousness of people and the body-politics of Russia. As long as they are divorced any debates on Russia’s health is mere talk and an utterly nonsensical statement, which are evident by the decline of her stature within Russia and without her on the political map.
My presentation of Chinese intellectual history, as indicated above, is a brief version of a very complex field of inquiry, which needs more research within the framework of intercivilizational dialogue. Unfortunately under the negative impact of disciplinary thought most of intellectuals within social sciences and philosophy as well as human sciences fields have been accustomed to see the rise of social reflections with the emergence of the Enlightenment Thought. But this is a mistaken approach to the rich of human thought, which has a more complex history than such a naïve historiography could ever fathom. It is sad to admit that even most modern Chinese intellectuals are unaware of the relevance of Chinese (Han) intellectual history, which could prove immensely instrumental in an intercivilizational perspective. In my estimation, the majority of contemporary (Han) Chinese intellectuals, thinkers, writers, or philosophers are unaware of the inherent distinctiveness of Chinese philosophy of life, which could not be framed within modernization theoretical frameworks. Although they have come to guard off the western colonial imperialistic intrusions by clinging to nationalistic sentiments nevertheless one should remember that the emotional sentiments would soon fade away in the face of real reasoning. In other words, one needs to equip mind and spirit by enlightening ideas and lofty ideals too. The widespread unawareness on behalf of Chinese thinkers today has not only depressed the creativity of China as a civilizational centre but had has adversary consequences for Eastern civilizations of India, Iran, Africa and Islamic civilizations in general.
Today we need a revolution but not in the realm of society, economy or politics. On the contrary, the most desired of revolutions in our contemporary context is the revolution of spirit or what sociologists call mindset. This revolution could not be accomplished by disciplinary thinkers or specialists and experts as they all lack vision about the nature of man as a reality of cosmological grandeur.
On the other hand, religious thinkers of various civilizations have potentially the ability to dialogue across intellectual boundaries, political divisions and geographical divides due to the fact that they work through a worldview that recognizes the reality of man as a transcendental being that has always been essentially one and the same in terms of being. The splintered world and the disintegrated man are in need of light and this light could not be found in places where illumination is a tale of past or considered as the faith of ancient folks. The intercivilizational dialogue at heart is an exercise of thirsty soul in the search of illumination, which could connect the terrestrial to celestial realm individually and collectively. This task is at the centre of Prophetic traditions, which work through unity and multiplicity, i.e. an aspiration to bring communion to the diversity of people as the meaning of human existence is based on dialectics of unity and multiplicity that finally should usher in Tawhid.
In preparing an anthology one needs to have a clear understanding of the filed of inquiry based on a thorough investigation of the subject in question within an innovative frame of analysis. On all three accounts we are still far from a satisfied state of affairs as we lack in-depth research based on intercivilizational dialogue and these two shortcomings affect, in turn, our understanding of Chinese intellectual traditions profoundly. In other words, the very notion of ‘anthology’ is jeopardized due to the lack of coherent strategy. Before an intercivilizational theorist there are two extreme options, one is to give up the idea wholly and the other is to work piece by piece. Due to the grave dangers of monological theorists and their myopic worldviews we are compelled to choose between ‘bad’ and ‘worse’ and here we will follow the worse option, which needs to be corrected deeply later on by three different approaches: philosophical, historical and social theoretical. This uncalculated venture into Chinese intellectual traditions here should be upgraded and re-interpreted along new rediscoveries, which would ultimately enable us to present a more accurate anthology of intellectual debates.
Colonialism did shatter the bonds between historical civilizations by remoulding them into dependent manageable entities for the benefits of metropolis. For example, four great civilizational spheres of China, Iran, India and Turkey (Ottoman Empire) have not yet found their organic modes of relations. In order to overcome the colonial mentality that has affected the psyches of these nations by crippling their present health we, as intercivilizational theorists, need to formulate, innovate, rediscover, and recreate the broken bonds by re-establishing bombarded bridges. This is a hope that lies in the heart of Religious Revolution of 1979 (elsewhere I have indicated that we have had four great revolutions and the last one, i.e. 1979 brought a new consciousness into our globe- but so far neglected by social theorists across the globe due to myopic outlooks and hostilities of various kinds) and it is a task, which requires our common efforts to bring the ideals of unity and brotherhood about. The faith in God is not only a metaphysical necessity but a political good, as it indicates that our humanity is One in origin and needs to be actualised accordingly in our human societies too.
In other words, intercivilizational dialogue based on religious or even transcendental concerns is the only way forward in a world that lacks faith in human potentialities for all, regardless of wealth, race, ethnicities, and so on and so forth. At the heart of intercivilizational theory one could easily discern a perennial message that bears resemblance to the Prophetic Message, i.e. in communion (with God as creator, Beings as creatures) one grows. In other words, the idea of Dialogue for religious thinkers is an obligation to the truth if this is not the same for other intellectuals.
Anybody interested in engaging with intellectuals in various world civilizations beyond the strictures of disciplinary thought should be aware that there are complexities in any civilizational contexts as those who carry any meaningful realities are not but complex human individuals. Although what they produce in the forms of arts, architecture, poems, literature, technology, temples, mosques, or sacred domains and so on and so forth could be studied independently nevertheless one needs to grasp the spirit that lies behind these complexities as any true-good-beautiful creation is a dialogical interplay between the Divine and Human. The study of Chinese thought is not any exception in this regard and an intercivilizational student should always heed to the question of wholeness of human existence in the matrix of Divine Presence and this could not be achieved if the researcher of meaning is not aware of the First Principles, not only in his thinking but in his whole life as life is only possible when it is lived fully, the rest is survival and a matter of analysis by neo-Darwinians. The parameters which we need to adjust our searching soul within are tremendously far away from the disciplinary strictures and best could be illustrated in the words of Shri Shankaracharya:
Control thy soul, restrain thy breathing, distinguish the transitory from the true, repeat the holy Name of God, and thus calm the agitated mind. To this universal rule apply thyself with all thy heart and all thy soul.
The quest in intercivilizational dialogue is an existential yearning in understanding the meaning of union and diversity in one of the most complex sites of theophany, i.e. human life. The questions of diversity and union have always been part and parcel of universal intellectual debates and religion has been the only locus where these universal ideals and ideas have been reflected upon. But it is an unfortunate fact that religious thinkers fell in a long slumber, which did affect the social role of religiosity in a global sense. However today the state of affairs are, due to awakening movement of Ayatullah Khomeini (the undisputed leader of contemporary religious movements in our global village), different and religious thinkers have realized the importance of a universal religious language that could enable all of us to debate the questions of difference and diversity as well as the unity and tolerance without fearing the loss of uniqueness that each tradition holds within its terrestrial form. Although the celestial fragrance is beyond all forms nevertheless we are men with forms and find solace in forms as well as contents. In looking at the Chinese context we are attempting to propose a way in looking at questions of life, time, space, religion, reality, world, existence, transcendence and all that makes up the very backbone of metaphysics relevant within the context of intercivilizational dialogue, as it is always joyful to hear how the other see (envision) this colossal beauty called life and how the other depict it (in language, paintings, art, society, ….). Because it is like reading a love poem, which takes you to the heights that you have never been and to sceneries of the spirit that you have never seen but still you can feel with all your heart and being.
This is not a minor realization in the era of Kali or in the period of Great Occultation. It is true that the Eternal Now is always accessible to the good-beautiful-truthful spirits but the same is true that we are in an era that is different than when the Noble Souls were walking on the same streets as the others. Each tradition in its noble sense is an attempt to express the reality of transcendence in the midst of perceived reality but all traditions are not of the same nature as all individuals are not of the same depth. The Total Transcendence is an intelligible idea that could be discerned in what has not been said and not said in what has been done. In approaching the Chinese tradition we are approaching our own other self that has not been already realized and the same applies to all other civilizations, as what distinguishes us, in a more sublime level is exactly that which could unite us and shed light on the questions of differences and diversities in the normal state of consciousness. To learn about Confucius, for instance, is not only an informative act in knowing a sage of the past, as wisdom does not know serial time but it is an exercise in discerning how far we could go or how short we have become. Or to put it differently:
Abba Lot went to see Abba Joseph and said to him, “Abba, as far as I can I say my little office, I fast a little, I pray and meditate, I live in peace, and as far as I can I purify my thoughts. What else can I do?” The old man stood up and stretched his hands toward Heaven. His fingers became like ten lamps of fire, and he said to him, “If you will, you can become all flame.”
In the mirrors hold by others we can see ourselves or the desired (Good, Beauty and True) selves, which could be achieved like the flame that is none but the soul endowed upon us by God the Al-love. In other words, at the heart of dialog in the religious tradition within intercivilizational parameters there is the quest for wisdom in its most traditional/perennial/Gnostic/philosophical/Irfanic sense that never left the sky of noble souls. This quest in exploring the Chinese tradition is not only a contribution in understanding of the Chinese philosophy of life within the frame of intercivilizational analysis, but will also make a lasting contribution to the multicultural philosophical synthesis required by global communities as we enter into a new era where nothing but a reflexive principle of sobornost or all-togetherness could guide our intellectual efforts by emancipating our localized minds and put them at the service of intelligible realities.
As abovementioned the Chinese tradition is both complex and spans over a long period of time, which requires a more profound engagement than what we can offer here. This is going to be a very brief anthology in the light of intercivilizational perspective and hopefully may entice a wider interest among scholars who take transcendence existentially seriously. Schematically one can divide the Chinese intellectual history into the following:
. Ancient and pre-Tang Dynasties (340 BC and onward) Sun Tzu (722 BC) Kong Zi or Confucius (551-479 BC) Mozi or Mo-tzu (470?-391? BC) Mencius, Mengzi (372-289 BC) Qu Yuan (340 ? -278 ? BC) Han Fei (d. 233 BC) Song Yu (3rd century BC) Sima Qian (145- ? BC) Sima Xiangru (179-117 BC) Ban Gu (32-92) Zhang Heng (78-139) Cao Cao (155-220) Cao Pi (187-226) Cao Zhi (192-232) Xi Kang (223-262) Lu Ji (261-303) Tao Yuanming (365 or 372-427) Xie Lingyun (385-422) Liu Xie (? -520 ?)
. Tang Dynasty (680 AC) Hanshan (680 ?-793 ?) Meng Haoran (689 or 691-740) Wang Wei (701-761) Li Bai (701-762) Du Fu (712-770) Han Yu (768-824) Bai Juyi (772-846) Liu Zongyuan (773-819) Yuan Zhen (779-831) Li He (791-817) Du Mu (803-852) Li Shangyin (812-858) Li Yu (937-978)
. Song Dynasty (11th Century)
Liu Yong (11th
century)
. Ming Dynasty (16th Century)
Wu Cheng'en
(1500 ?-1582 ?)
. Qing Dynasty (17th Century) Li
Yu (1611-1679 ?)
. Modern Period Ya Fu (1853-1924) Ku Hung-Ming (1857-1928). Liu E (1857-1909) Kang Youwei (1858-1927) Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925) Wang Guowei (1877-1927) Lu Xun (1881-1936) Ma Yinchu (1882-1982)
Su Manshu
(1894-1918) Deng Xiaoping (1904-1997)
Ba Jin (1905- ) Qian Zhongshu (1910-1998) Fei Xiaotong (1910 - 2005)
In each of these periods have China produced great many philosophers and thinkers of grand importance and here we can only name them in passing as it is beyond the scope of my ability to survey all of them in details. The abovementioned authors are of great significance within the history of Chinese thought but in this anthology we cannot explore them as the main purpose of this work is to present few selected philosophers of China within the framework of intercivilizational dialogue. However a complete understanding of Chinese intellectual traditions needs to be based on a more comprehensive approach both diachronically and synchronically as Chinese context is one of the most pluralist intellectual traditions that humanity has ever produced along with Iran, India, Turkey (Ottoman Cultural Spheres) and Russia. Here I only presented these authors by name in order to set the plan for future research which hopefully will lead to a thorough exploration of each and one of them along proposed framework of Seyyed Mohammad Xatami. The political significance of this intercivilizational engagement should not be disregarded either, as it is my firm belief that China along with Iran, India, Pakistan, Turkey (provided it regains its Muslim ethos), Russia (provided she renounces her colonial mentality), and the host of countries such as Malaysia (and many African and Latin American countries such as Venezuela) could stave off the neo-colonial aggressions of imperialistically oriented governments of England, America, France, Germany and American stooges such as Japan. The world is in need of such a force which could only come through extensive engagements of above-mentioned countries that all have suffered in the hands of colonial powers. The historical scars inflicted upon China, Iran, and India and so on and so forth are what could unite them in the struggle against global hegemony of Anglo-American and Franco-German imperialists. Students of humanities and philosophers of these countries should learn more about each other and re-establish the broken ties, which they enjoyed for centuries before British arrived in the scene as early as 18th century. The Silk Road, for instance, was not only a commercial path but a symbol of exchange of ideas between great civilizations of Iran (and Muslim world), India (both Muslim and Hindu traditions) and China (Confucian, Buddhist, Taoist, and Muslim).
ONE
Confucius
One of the most famous people in ancient China was a wise philosopher named Confucius (circa 551-479 BC). He sometimes went by the names Kong Zi though he was born - Kong Qiu - styled Zhong Ni. He was born in the village of Zou in the country of Lu. This Chinese sage was a well-known leader in philosophy and he also made great many contributions in various fields such as law, existentialicism, and the government. In his view, philosophy is a kind of a system of ideas and thoughts that is concerned about the human's behavior, the rules that you should follow to make a successful life, and about the government. In other words, it's about thoughts and theories that teach other human beings lessons about principles, or rules, about life and it also teaches you a moral. Confucius’s philosophy like the Chinese spirit is holistic as it talks about nature, the world, and the human self and its ultimate destiny. He did not fail to reflect over the sociological aspects of human life as well as the importance of political structures and the elites, who should run the affairs of the state.
Living as he did in the second half of the Zhou (Chou) dynasty (1027?-256 BC), when feudalism degenerated in China and intrigue and vice were rampant, Confucius deplored the contemporary disorder and lack of moral standards. He came to believe that the only remedy was to enlighten people once more to the principles and precepts of the sages of antiquity or what came to be known as the Perennial Philosophy. He therefore lectured to his pupils on the Prophetic Tradition. Confucius taught in his academy for many years. His theories and principles were spread throughout China, Iran, India and many parts of the ancient world by his disciples, and soon many thinkers adopted his intellectual principles in their own very diverse pursuits. One of his most significant principles reads as," If you governed your province well and treat your people kindly, you kingdom shall not lose any war. If you govern selfishly to your people, you kingdom will not only lose a war, but your people will break away from your kingdom." Like all true sage he had a keen eye on the moral dimension of human self, which without humanity cannot survive and in this regard he composed his golden rule as follows: "A man should practice what he preaches, but a man should also preach what he practices."
Confucius’ philosophy did not separate the realm of politics from morality and the latter from metaphysics but introduced them as a whole. He proposed that man is a part of cosmos and any teaching which sets to redeem man from vices should possess a profound understanding of man and cosmos, i.e. be of a great depth. One could summarize his teaching in this regard as follows:
To love others; to honour one's parents; to do what is right instead of what is of advantage; to practice "reciprocity," i.e. "don't do to others what you would not want yourself"; to rule by moral example instead of by force and violence; and so forth. Confucius thought that a ruler who had to resort to force had already failed as a ruler. Your job is to govern, not to kill is the epitome of his philosophy.
Confucius like many other sages before and after him did not put into writing the principles of his philosophy; these were handed down only through his disciples. The Lun Y¨ (Analects), a work compiled by some of his disciples, is considered the most reliable source of information about his life and teachings. One of the historical works that he is said to have compiled and edited, the Ch'un Ch'iu (Spring and Autumn Annals), is an annalistic account of Chinese history in the state of Lu from 722 to 481 BC. In learning he wished to be known as a transmitter rather than as a creator, and he therefore revived the study of the ancient books. His own teachings, together with those of his main disciples, are found in the Shih Shu (Four Books) of Confucian literature, which became the textbooks of later Chinese generations.
Perhaps the most important Confucian and by extension Chinese value is jen, once you have mastered this concept, all the remaining Confucian and Neo-Confucian values fall into place. As a crucial concept the word is immensely complex and so can't be translated easily into English; traditionally, it is translated either as "humaneness" or "humanity" or "benevolence." However, the foundational or etymological meaning of jen is "people," "human beings," or "common people," so the concept is rooted primarily in the social and the political. When combined with the concept of t'ien ming, the "mandate of Heaven", the moral order of the universe as encompassed by the imperative that the Emperor concern himself overwhelmingly with the welfare of the people¡ it's natural that jen as meaning "common people" eventually would come to include the moral obligations of the Emperor to the well-being of the common people. Jen as a cultural value originates with Confucius, the great teacher at the fountainhead of the Era of One Hundred Philosophies. Confucius makes jen the centrepiece of his philosophy, which is always and rigorously ethical and political in its concerns. By Confucius's time, the concept of t'ien ming had come to encompass more than just the Emperor's moral obligations to his people, but had begun to include more or less all the obligations people had to those that were near to them, such as family. In this sense, jen as "benevolence" is a fairly good translation, since the imperative of jen is to be concerned for the well-being of others.
In Confucius's thought, recorded by his students in a collection called The Analects, jen is a fairly sophisticated concept and is the base of all other aspects of Confucian thought. Although Confucius offers several definitions of jen, it is perhaps no exaggeration to consider the Confucian Analects as one long extended definition of the concept of je . What does jen consist of in The Analects? First of all, it is the quality that all superiors (those in ruling positions) should have in order to govern well; if the mandate of Heaven decrees that government is for the welfare of the people, and then all governors first and foremost should display the quality of jen. Principally, jen consists of shu and chung, "reciprocity or self-analogy" and "doing one's best." In the first instance, one should use oneself as an analogy when attempting to determine what is owed to others or what is beneficial to others: what you wish done for yourself, you should do for others, what you do not wish done for yourself, you should not do to others. But knowing this isn't enough; you should exert yourself to the best of your abilities (chung) to accomplish what you owe to others¡ this doesn't mean that you'll succeed: it is sufficient to have the right intent and make the right effort in order to have the quality of jen .
Secondly, jen consists of all those other qualities which are part of a moral life: li, or properly doing all the rituals that govern day to day life; yi, or right action; hsin, or making one's words conform to one's deeds (this includes speaking the truth and not speaking if one does not know the truth); ching, or "reverence," "seriousness," or "the sense of awe in the face of one's obligations to others."
When all these qualities are present, then one can truly be identified as a ch¨n tzu, or "superior man," which means both a man of superior rank in a government and a morally superior human being. In other words, ethically superior human beings, who concentrate solely on the welfare of the people they govern, ideally should run government.
Jen is something one learns rather than something one is born with. One learns morality by listening to moral precepts (hs¨eh) and by thinking through them in order to determine if they are applicable to the situation you find yourself in (ssu); the key to morality in Confucius is always thinking since the world is constantly changing. Unfortunately researchers of this great sage have failed to look at the religious dimensions of his metaphysics, which is profound, consonant with perennial philosophy and religious through and through. This is a domain, which requires more of research based on religious intercivilizational dialogue that would clarify the depth of Confucuis’ morality, which is diametrically different than secular notions of morality that does not attach transcendental values to ethicality. By looking at Confucuis one learns about the complexity of religious thinking that hitherto has been neglected even by religious thinkers themselves and understandably enough rejected by secular intellectuals in toto.
TWOMO Zi
Mozi or Mo-tzu (470?-391? bc), early Chinese philosopher and founder of the school of philosophy called Monism, who developed strict rationalistic tests for evaluating the truth and utility of all propositions. Mo Zi, more in line with the interest of the common people, some of his important theories were in direct conflict with those of Confucius. His ideas could be found in a book entitled Mo Zi. The suffix of zi (tzu) in ancient China was a respectful way of addressing a sagely writer. He lived in the State of Song during the Spring and Autumn Period. Mo Zi probably began as a follower of Confucius. In response to the violent civil disharmony of the period, philosophers attempted to discover the principles for creating order. Confucianism, unlike visionary spirit of Confucius, stressed the importance of filial piety, career advancement based on age and status, and absolute reverence for the past. Mo Zi countered the Confucians by emphasizing rationalistic standards, making Monism the most logically oriented school of Chinese philosophy. According to Mo Zi, government should be centralized, with advancement depending on merit, and standards should be applied uniformly. His aim was to benefit all people and classes in accordance with his creed, known as Universal Love. Mo Zi had a profound theological view of heaven (Tian). He also posited that, since God loves all human beings regardless of their position, people should act equally. For Mo zi, the highest possible good was to sacrifice oneself for the good benefit of community.
Compared with Confucius, the teachings of Mo Zi are more democratic and other-regarding. Today, two aspects of Mo Zi continue to be quoted in a largely Confucian China: universal love, and peace (no war). Mo Zi also strikes one as a socially conscious thinker. Mo Zi was sometimes associated with pragmatism due to his disinterest to art and music. Mo Zi, together with a number of others, constituted a strong counter-current to Confucianism, only to be partially absorbed into mainstream Confucian learning eventually. For centuries, the teachings of Mo Zi were on the periphery while Confucian learning constituted mainstream Chinese learning.
One could briefly summarize the main threads of his thoughts as follow:
1 Mo Zi believed in an ethical heaven and a practical attitude toward life. Social strength and prosperity would be the result of capable administrators bent on practical administration, universal love and peace. 2 Definitions of leadership: it was dedication to his job, which primarily was to fill the treasury, leading to grace from heaven and the state would become strong and prosperous (66-67). His focus is not on ruler/minister relationship, on ministers obeying rulers, but on rulers wisely employs capable ministers. The right policies for rulers were to use these worthy ministers properly, through exalting their names and giving them generous pay. 3 To Mo Zi, peace was central to the basic government policies of a state, and peace could be achieved through every one's following enlightened self-interest: treating other states as one did one's own. Thus the way to resolve warfare was to love others as one would love one's own state. 4 The greatest paradox perhaps comes in the form of Mo Zi's criticism of Confucius by charging the latter with no proper recognition of social hierarchy, with mourning of wife/son the same length as father/mother; and with the belief in fate and thus trusting little to human initiatives. If anything, Confucius is most remembered for the social hierarchy it created, and the emphasis on human agency (e.g. human individual initiative in social prosperity). Such criticism, however, directs us to the fact that a system of thought is very complex. Despite that Confucians emphasized social hierarchy, certain aspects of Confucian teachings perhaps did not quite achieve that goal; and despite Mo Zi's teachings emphasized less ritual and hierarchy, obviously it was not against hierarchy! 5 Mo Zi believed that "all men are equal before God" and that mankind should follow heaven by practicing universal love. Advocating that all action must be utilitarian, Mo Zi condemned the Confucian emphasis on ritual and music. He regarded warfare as wasteful and advocated pacifism. Mo Zi also believed that unity of thought and action was necessary to achieve social goals. He maintained that the people should obey their leaders and that the leaders should follow the Tao of heaven. Although Monism failed to establish itself as a major school of thought, its views are strongly echoed in Legalist thought. In general, the teachings of Mo Zi left an indelible impression on the Chinese mind.
THREE Mencius
Mencius, Mengzi (his first name is Ke, and his literary name is Ziyv.) Mengzi lived during 372 B.C.—289 B.C. He was born in Zou in the middle period of the Warring State, which is nowadays Zou County in southeast Shangdong Province, and is not very far from the hometown of another prestigious Chinese thinker and philosopher Kongzi. He was a well-known thinker, statesman and philosopher who are only regarded as second to Kongzi in importance within Confucian intellectual circles. It is said according to “the legend of Leinv” and “prescription for Mencius” written by Zhaoqi that he was once disciples of Zisi, the grandchildren of Confucius. Meanwhile, it is also reported in that book that Mencius was greatly influenced by his mother.
Mencius is a fourth-generation disciple of Confucius and widely considered by the anti-traditionalists as the "Second in the Confucian Shop". With many parables, Mengzi tries to persuade the rulers of different states to follow the way of the ancient sage kings and to rule with humanity and righteousness (ren and yi), and to let the people take part in the wealth of the upper classes. On the other hand, he considered the unchangeable official position and division of labour as an integral part of the social fabric. He supposed that every man is good by nature and therefore every ruler is able to run an ideal government without exhausting himself. A central point in his social doctrine is the filial piety (xiao), which has to be expressed in giving up everything to serve one's parents during lifetime and after their death.
As for his view on Government, Mencius had an audience with King Hui of Liang. The king said, "Sir, you did not consider a thousand li too far to come you must have some ideas about how to benefit my state." Mencius replied, "Why must Your Majesty use the word 'benefit'' All I am concerned with are the benevolent and the right. If Your Majesty says, 'How can I benefit my state?' your officials will say, 'How can I benefit my family,' and officers and common people will say, 'How can I benefit myself.' Once superiors and inferiors are competing for benefit, the state will be in danger. When the head of a state of ten thousand chariots is murdered, the assassin is invariably a noble with a fief of a thousand chariots, when the head of a fief of a thousand chariots is murdered the assassin is invariably head of a sub-fief of a hundred chariots. Those with a thousand out of ten thousand, or a hundred out of a thousand, had quite a bit. But when benefit is put before what is right, they are not satisfied without snatching it all. By contrast there has never been a benevolent person who neglected his parents or a righteous person who put his lord last. Your Majesty perhaps will now also say, 'All I am concerned with are the benevolent and the right. Why mention 'benefit?' ''
After an incident between Zou and Lu, Duke Mu asked, "Thirty-three of my officials died but no common people died. I could punish them, but I could not punish them all. I could refrain from punishing them but they did angrily watch their superiors die without saving them. What would be the best course for me to follow?" Mencius answered, "When the harvest failed, even though your granaries were full, nearly a thousand of your subjects were lost -- the old and weak among them dying in the gutters, the able -- bodied scattering in all directions. Your officials never reported the situation, a case of superiors callously inflicting suffering on their subordinates. Zengzi said, 'Watch out, watch out! What you do will be done to you.' This was the first chance the people had to pay them back. You should not resent them. If Your Highness practices benevolent government, the common people will love their superiors and die for those in charge of them."
As for his ideas on Human Nature one could mention Mencius’ core ideas that are based on the concept of ‘heart’. Everyone, in his view, has a heart that is sensitive to the sufferings of others. The great kings of the past had this sort of sensitive heart and thus adopted compassionate policies. Bringing order to the realm is as easy as moving an object in your palm when you have a sensitive heart and put into practice compassionate policies. He, like all other philosopher-sages, explicates his notion of heart that is sensitive to the sufferings of others by examples. Anyone today who suddenly saw a baby about to fall into a well would feel alarmed and concerned. It would not be because he wanted to improve his relations with the child's parents, nor because he wanted a good reputation among his friends and neighbours, nor because he disliked hearing the child cry. From this it follows that anyone who lacks feelings of commiseration, shame, and courtesy or a sense of right and wrong is not a human being. From the feeling of commiseration benevolence grows; from the feeling of shame righteousness grows; from the feeling of courtesy ritual grows; from a sense of right and wrong wisdom grows. People have these four germs, just as they have four limbs. For someone with these four potentials to claim incompetence is to cripple himself; to say his ruler is incapable of him is to cripple his ruler. Those who know how to develop the four potentials within themselves will take off like a fire or burst forth like a spring. Those who can fully develop them can protect the entire land while those unable to develop them cannot even take care of their parents. Within his philosophical matrix a superb theory of what Abraham Maslow calls ‘Self-actualization’ or ‘Growth Theory’ lies, which needs to be explored along the lines of intercivilizational dialogical theory.
To conclude; The relative time of the middle Warring State was more revolutionary than the late Spring and Autumn period in which Confucius lived, accompanied by the unstable social environment as well as the competing cultural world of “Baijiazhengming”, which means that there were many schools of thoughts merged up during that period of time. Therefore, adopting the political as well as the educational ideas of Confucius, Mencius had developed and formed a series of socio-political and pedagogical thoughts of his own. Among the fierce competition of the schools of thoughts of MO, DAO, and FA, Mencius managed to maintain the ideas of Confucianism. Consequently he had stabilized his position as a grand master next to Confucius. As the thoughts of Confucianism had gained its ruling place, both Confucius and Mencius were considered as “the Sages” par excellence.
FOURHan Fei zi
Han Fei (d. 233 BC) was a philosopher who, with Li Si (d. 208 BC), developed the unsentimental and authoritarian inclinations of Xun Zi into the doctrine embodied in the School of Law or Legalism. Han Fei was a prince of the royal family of Han in the Warring States Period. He and Li Si studied with the philosopher Xun Kuang. Li Si, who later became chancellor of Qin under the First Emperor, felt that he was not the equal of Han Fei. But Han stuttered and could not present his ideas in court, which was a serious impediment. He overcame this by developing one of the most brilliant styles in ancient China.
His main ideas could be presented schematically as follow:
A Country’s Strength Depends on Law Promote Followers of the Law Beware of Promotion by Reputation or Partisanship Civil Decay Follows Punishment of the Innocent Efficient Administration Depends on Upholding the Law Let the Law Select Leaders The Law Treats All Alike
He elaborated his main ideas into complex principles, which could be presented below in brief: 1. A Country’s Strength Depends on Law
No country is permanently strong. Nor is any country permanently weak. If conformers to law are strong, the country is strong; if conformers to law are weak, the country is weak
2. Promote Followers of the Law
Therefore, at present, any ruler able to expel private crookedness and uphold public law finds the people safe and the state in order; and any ruler able to expunge private action and act on public law, finds his army strong and his enemy weak. So, find out men following the discipline of laws and regulations, and place them above the body of officials. Then the sovereign cannot be deceived by anybody with fraud and falsehood. Find out men able to weigh different situations, and put them in charge of various important affairs. Then the sovereign cannot be deceived by anybody in matters of world politics.
3. Beware of Promotion by Reputation or Partisanship
Now supposing promotions were made because of mere reputations, then ministers would be estranged from the sovereign and all officials would associate for treasonable purposes. Supposing officials were appointed on account of their partisanship, then the people would strive to cultivate friendships and never seek employment in accordance with the law. Thus, if the government lack able men, the state will fall into confusion. If rewards are bestowed according to mere reputation, and punishments are inflicted according to mere defamation, then men who love rewards and hate punishments will discard the law of the public and practice self-seeking tricks and associate for wicked purposes. If ministers forget the interest of the sovereign, make friends with outside people, and thereby promote their adherents, then their inferiors will be in low spirits to serve the sovereign. Their friends are many; their adherents, numerous. When they form juntas in and out, then though they have great faults, their ways of disguise will be innumerable.
4. Civil Decay Follows Punishment of the Innocent
For such reasons, loyal ministers, innocent as they are, are always facing danger and the death penalty, whereas wicked ministers, though of no merit, always enjoy security and prosperity. Should loyal ministers meet danger and death without committing any crime, good ministers would withdraw. Should wicked ministers enjoy security and prosperity without rendering any meritorious service, villainous ministers would advance. This is the beginning of decay.
Were such the case, all officials would discard legalism, practicing favouritism and despising public law. They would frequent the gates of the residences of cunning men, but never once would they visit the court of the sovereign.
5. Efficient Administration Depends on Upholding the Law
The law of the early kings said: "every minister shall not exercise his authority nor shall he scheme for his own advantage but shall follow his majesty's instructions. He shall not do evil but shall follow his majesty's path." Thus, in antiquity the people of an orderly age abode by the public law, discarded all self-seeking tricks, devoted their attention and united their actions to wait for employment by their superiors. Indeed, the lord of men, if he has to inspect all officials himself, finds the day not long enough and his energy not great enough. Moreover, if the superior uses his eyes, the inferior ornaments his looks; if the superior uses his ears, the inferior ornaments his voice; and, if the superior uses his mind, the inferior twists his sentences. Regarding these three faculties as insufficient, the early kings left aside their own talents and relied on laws and numbers and acted carefully on the principles of reward and punishment.
Thus, what the early kings did was to the purpose of political order. Their laws, however simplified, were not violated. Despite the autocratic rule within the four seas, the cunning could not apply their fabrications; the deceitful could not practice their ill-intentions; and the wicked found no means to resort to, so that, though as far away from His Majesty as beyond a thousand li, they dared not change their words, and though as near by His Majesty as the courtiers, they dared not cover the good and disguise the wrong. The officials in the court, high and low, never trespassed against each other nor did they ever override their posts. Accordingly the sovereign's administrative routine did not take up all his time while each day afforded enough leisure. Such was due to the way the ruler trusted to his position.
Therefore, the intelligent sovereign makes the law select men and makes no arbitrary promotion himself. He makes the law measure merits and makes no arbitrary regulation himself. In consequence, able men cannot be obscured, bad characters cannot be disguised; falsely praised fellows cannot be advanced, wrongly defamed people cannot be degraded. Accordingly, between ruler and minister distinction becomes clear and order is attained. Thus it suffices only if the sovereign can scrutinize laws.
The law does not fawn on the noble; the string does not yield to the crooked. Whatever the law applies to, the wise cannot reject nor can the brave defy. Punishment for fault never skips minister’s reward for good and never misses commoners. Therefore, to correct the faults of the high, to rebuke the vices of the low, to suppress disorders, to decide against mistakes, to subdue the arrogant, to straighten the crooked, and to unify the folkways of the masses, nothing could match the law. To warn the officials and overawe the people, to rebuke obscenity and danger, and to forbid falsehood and deceit, nothing could match penalty. If penalty is severe, the noble cannot discriminate against the humble. If law is definite, the superiors are esteemed and not violated. If the superiors are not violated, the sovereign will become strong and able to maintain the proper course of government. Such was the reason why the early kings esteemed legalism and handed it down to posterity. Should the lord of men discard law and practice selfishness, high and low would have no distinction. Hence to govern the state by law is to praise the right and blame the wrong.
To conclude; Han Fei zi was a representative of the Fa-chia, or Legalist, school of philosophy and produced the final and most readable exposition of its theories. His handbook for the ruler deals with the problems of strengthening and preserving the state, the way of the ruler, the use of power, and punishment and favor. But most importantly one could discern in his complex discourse a social theory that does not refrain from moral as well as metaphysical challenges. His represents one of the finest treatments of political theory that regards man as an existentially conscious being, which cannot live happily in a society that lacks transcendental concern. This is an aspect, which needs to be taken into account in future research on intercivilizational social theory and religious intellectual debates across the globe.
FIVESun Tzu
Sun Tzu was a military general from the state of Chi, which is roughly the same period as Confucius. The general agreement among scholars is that he may have lived from 544 BC to 496 BC. Sun Tzu means Master Sun. His first name is Wu. Sun Tzu’s father was a senior officer in the military establishment, which helped to develop his interest in tactical warfare at an early age and lead him to become an expert in the military field. Skilled and experienced in warfare matters during a time of unprecedented political turmoil, he was introduced to the emperor Ho-lu of Wu Kingdom by Wu Gi Xu to explain his art of war theories. At the emperor's request, he demonstrated the military strategies with the emperor's royal concubines. He successfully transformed 180 court women into trained soldiers in just one session, which proved his competency and confirm the principles' effectiveness. The emperor eventually agreed to employ him as his General.
With Sun Tzu as general, King Ho-lu captured the capital city of Ying to defeat the powerful Ch'u state in 506 BC. They then headed north and subdued Ch'i and Chin. Not surprisingly, Sun Tzu's name quickly spread throughout the land and among the feudal lords.
How he later lived or died is unknown. However, the Yueh Chueh Shu declared "ten miles outside the city gate of Wu Hsieh, there is a large tomb of the great strategist Sun Tzu." By the Han dynasty, his reputation as a wise philosopher, who took life as a battleground that requires a careful and examined approach and respected military leader was well known. Considering the countless texts lost or destroyed throughout China's history, the remarkable survival and relevancy of Sun Tzu's The Art of War to this very day attest to its immeasurable value.
The Art of War has come to be considered as one of the most significant books on military theories but this is a naïve approach to Sun’s immensely existentially enriching philosophy of life. It is true that the book is aimed at military battles but to lose sight of the underlying assumptions is equal to misunderstand how Master Sun looked upon military battles, which are partial reflections of what Life is all about. His masterpiece is best known to most of us as The Art of War. Since naming a written work after its author was customary in ancient China, the text was originally referred to as simply "Sun Tzu." The book consists of 13 chapters written in Classical Chinese, namely Strategic, Waging War, Attack by Stratagem, Tactical Disposition, Posture of Army, Weak and Strong Points, Manoeuvring, The Nine Variables, On the Marches, Terrain, The Nine Varieties of Situation, Attack by Fire, and Use of Spices. Let’s look at each briefly:
I. Strategic Sun Tzu said: The art of war is of vital importance to the State.
II. Waging War Sun Tzu said: In the operations of war, where there are in the field a thousand swift chariots, as many heavy chariots, and a hundred thousand mail-clad soldiers, with provisions enough to carry them a thousand li, the expenditure at home and at the front, including entertainment of guests, small items such as glue and paint, and sums spent on chariots and armour, will reach the total of a thousand ounces of silver per day. Such is the cost of raising an army of 100,000 men.
III. Attack by Stratagem Sun Tzu said: In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy's country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good. So, too, it is better to recapture an army entire than to destroy it, to capture a regiment, a detachment or a company entire than to destroy them.
IV. Tactical Disposition Sun Tzu said: The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy.
V. Posture of Army Sun Tzu said: The control of a large force is the same principle as the control of a few men: it is merely a question of dividing up their numbers.
VI. Weak and Strong Points Sun Tzu said: Whoever is first in the field and awaits the coming of the enemy, will be fresh for the fight; whoever is second in the field and has to hasten to battle will arrive exhausted.
VII. Manoeuvring Sun Tzu said: In war, the general receives his commands from the sovereign.
VIII. The Nine Variables Sun Tzu said: In war, the general receives his commands from the sovereign, collects his army and concentrates his forces
IX. On the Marches Sun Tzu said: We come now to the question of locating the army, and observing signs of the enemy. Pass quickly over mountains, and keep in the neighbourhood of valleys. X. Terrain Sun Tzu said: We may distinguish six kinds of terrain, to wit: (1) Accessible ground; (2) entangling ground; (3) temporising ground; (4) narrow passes; (5) precipitous heights; (6) positions at a great distance from the enemy.
XI. The Nine Varieties of Situation Sun Tzu said: The art of war recognizes nine varieties of ground:(1) Depressive ground; (2) facile ground; (3) contentious ground; (4) open ground; (5) ground of intersecting highways; (6) serious ground; (7) difficult ground; (8) hemmed-in ground; (9) desperate ground.
XII. Attack by Fire Sun Tzu said: There are five ways of attacking with fire. The first is to burn soldiers in their camp; the second is to burn stores; the third is to burn baggage trains; the fourth is to burn arsenals and magazines; the fifth is to hurl dropping fire amongst the enemy.
XIII. Use of Spices Sun Tzu said: Raising a host of a hundred thousand men and marching them great distances entails heavy loss on the people and a drain on the resources of the State. The daily expenditure will amount to a thousand ounces of silver. There will be commotion at home and abroad, and men will drop down exhausted on the highways and as many as seven hundred thousand families will be impeded in their labour.
This work stresses the unpredictability of battle, the importance of deception and surprise, the close relationship between politics and military policy, and the high costs of war. The futility of seeking hard and fast rules and the subtle paradoxes of success are major themes. The best battle, Sun Tzu says, is the battle that is won without being fought.
Sun Tzu argued in his The Art of War:
Much calculation brings triumph. Little calculation brings defeat. How much more so with no calculation! By observing this, I can predict victory or defeat
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