Journey to the West, or The Monkey King, is a late Ming, fictitious creation based on the journey of the historical figure Xuanzang (602-664CE) to India during the Tang dynasty (618-907CE). At the time, Xuanzang was a monk at Jingtu Temple in the capital of Chang'an. Disheartened by social corruption and the poor quality of translations of Buddhist scriptures, Xuanzang took it upon himself to travel to India to learn the doctrine directly and eventually provide superior replacements for the flawed Chinese canon. With the Emperor's blessing and the help of other Buddhists, Xuanzang made the treacherous journey across the barren deserts and steppes of central and western China. His journey lasted 17 years, from 629-647CE, during which he faced numerous hardships, visited important religious sites in India and studied at the ancient Indian university at Nalanda.
Popular stories of Xuanzang's travels cropped up during the Song and Yuan dynasties (960-1368CE). Finally, at the end of the Ming (1368-1644CE), novelist and poet Wu Cheng'en (~1500-58CE) combined all these legends, adding to them his own allegorical, literary and political sensibilities to form a summa of the legends about Xuanzang's journey. Like the other great novels of the late Ming and high Qing, Wu's work was a daring linguistic project, taking up the vernacular instead of the classical language to tell his story. For centuries, in fact, the authorship of the text was in doubt because its author elected to remain anonymous in order to avoid censure for having written in dialect. Journey to the West, like Dream of the Red Chamber, is a work not only read for its surface narratives but for the political and religious meanings that subtend it.
Wu's story contains 100 chapters that recount the perilous journeyings of Tripitaka (Xuanzang) and his four spectacular companions/gaurdians (Monkey, Piggie, Sandy and Dragon) in the episodic manner of Arthurian legend. Assaulted by ghosts, goblins, beasts, often trials programmatically arranged by the gods, the pilgrims are in constant danger but always miraculously pull through. In the end, Tripitaka makes it to India and receives the Buddhist scriptures from the living Buddha atop Vulture Peak.
Readings:
Journey to the West (see ANGEL)
Questions:
(1) How do you see the Monkey King functioning in the story?
(2) Where are there passages where soci0-religious criticisms may be being made?
(3) How is the tale an allegory for the human soul?
Secondary references:
*
*
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Palace Politics
The Dream of the Red Chamber, also known as The Story of the Stone, written by Cao Xueqing in the 18th century, is one of the "Four Great Qing Novels." In fact, it is considered the most important of the four and the culmination of classical Chinese novels. Princeton sinologist Andrew H. Plaks encapsulates the importance and universal scope of the work:
"Nearly all readers of the Dream of the Red Chamber--both native and foreign--come away with the impression that what they have experienced in the lengthy span from cover to cover is a comprehensive view of the entire civilization of the Imperial China. This sense of cultural completeness may be largely attributed to the simple fact that the novel presents at exceedingly close range the day-to-day life of a bygone age of glory--and there is little doubt that this aspect is responsible for the degree of emotional attachment with which the work has been treasured by two centuries of readers." (11)
Cao's work is unique in its sheer bredth, taking in the whole sweep of Chinese history, mythology, religion and arts. Having written the novel in the vernacular Beijing dialect, Cao also used the work to legitimize linguistic forms of literary expression other than Classical Chinese, used almost exclusively in the practice of the high literary arts.
The novel records the daily lives of important members of the Rongguo and Ningguo Houses of the Jia Clan, one of the most illustrious clans at court at the time. The history of the fall of these houses follows the narrower narrations of the lives of over thirty main characters and four hundred minor ones. Jia Baoyu, a precious Genji like boy, is the heir of his family and the main character of the novel. His emotional entanglement in love affairs and the mythic nature of his birth and end provide some of the novel's most poignant and engaging episodes.
Like the great works of the Western literary tradition (e.g. the Commedia, The Canterbury Tales, the Quixote, etc.), The Dream of the Red Chamber has accumulated centuries of commentaries and criticisms. The study of the novel in fact has its own designation called "Redology." Four schools of criticism have grown up around it and have debated insoluble historical and literary cruxes for centuries. Important themes that have occupied and intrigued researchers and readers have been the novel's autobiographical, social, archetypal and politically allegorical elements. In reading some passages from the novel, we will focus on some of the social and archetypal aspects of the text.
Readings:
Dream of the Red Chamber (see ANGEL)
Questions:
(1) What are some of the mythic and religious elements informing the story?
(2) How do these elements seem to function in the convoluted realities of this prestigious clan?
(3) What do we learn about social relations between classes and genders during the Qing from in this text?
(4) What some to be some of the inherent tensions between fiction and history in the tale?
Secondary references:
*Plaks, Andrew H. Archetype and Allegory in the Dream of the Red Chamber. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1976.
* Xiao Chi. The Chinese Garden as Lyric Enclave: A Generic Study of The Story of the Stone. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 2001.
*Alexander des Forges, "From Source Texts to 'Reality Observed:' The Creation of the Author in 19th Century Chinese Vernacular Fiction," CLEAR 22 (Dec. 2000): 67-84.
"Nearly all readers of the Dream of the Red Chamber--both native and foreign--come away with the impression that what they have experienced in the lengthy span from cover to cover is a comprehensive view of the entire civilization of the Imperial China. This sense of cultural completeness may be largely attributed to the simple fact that the novel presents at exceedingly close range the day-to-day life of a bygone age of glory--and there is little doubt that this aspect is responsible for the degree of emotional attachment with which the work has been treasured by two centuries of readers." (11)
Cao's work is unique in its sheer bredth, taking in the whole sweep of Chinese history, mythology, religion and arts. Having written the novel in the vernacular Beijing dialect, Cao also used the work to legitimize linguistic forms of literary expression other than Classical Chinese, used almost exclusively in the practice of the high literary arts.
The novel records the daily lives of important members of the Rongguo and Ningguo Houses of the Jia Clan, one of the most illustrious clans at court at the time. The history of the fall of these houses follows the narrower narrations of the lives of over thirty main characters and four hundred minor ones. Jia Baoyu, a precious Genji like boy, is the heir of his family and the main character of the novel. His emotional entanglement in love affairs and the mythic nature of his birth and end provide some of the novel's most poignant and engaging episodes.
Like the great works of the Western literary tradition (e.g. the Commedia, The Canterbury Tales, the Quixote, etc.), The Dream of the Red Chamber has accumulated centuries of commentaries and criticisms. The study of the novel in fact has its own designation called "Redology." Four schools of criticism have grown up around it and have debated insoluble historical and literary cruxes for centuries. Important themes that have occupied and intrigued researchers and readers have been the novel's autobiographical, social, archetypal and politically allegorical elements. In reading some passages from the novel, we will focus on some of the social and archetypal aspects of the text.
Readings:
Dream of the Red Chamber (see ANGEL)
Questions:
(1) What are some of the mythic and religious elements informing the story?
(2) How do these elements seem to function in the convoluted realities of this prestigious clan?
(3) What do we learn about social relations between classes and genders during the Qing from in this text?
(4) What some to be some of the inherent tensions between fiction and history in the tale?
Secondary references:
*Plaks, Andrew H. Archetype and Allegory in the Dream of the Red Chamber. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1976.
* Xiao Chi. The Chinese Garden as Lyric Enclave: A Generic Study of The Story of the Stone. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 2001.
*Alexander des Forges, "From Source Texts to 'Reality Observed:' The Creation of the Author in 19th Century Chinese Vernacular Fiction," CLEAR 22 (Dec. 2000): 67-84.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
So I Married an Axe Murderer
So I Married an Axe Murderer
This unit introduces what is commonly thought of as lightweight literature: Chinese ghost stories. Not until the twenteith century has ficiton of this nature even been considered a remotely respectable form of literature. That means that for centuries in China the writing of ghost stories and their enjoyment were almost entirely an unrespected, diversional activity, the indulgence of innocent children, bored youth and weery scholars. This however does not imply that they were not well crafted or culturally significant. Quite to the contrary. Ghost stories were an imaginative realm of the Chinese mind that gave vent to fears, desires, angsts and fantasies too often smothered in reality by taboos and propriety. They were often elegantly penned by the hand of learned literati. Furthermore, they contain much in the way of contemporary, social criticism and satire. Their role in the development of modern Chinese literature is significant (v.s. David Der-wei Wang, "Second Haunting").
Ghost stories in China are not strictly speaking horror stories, as understood in the Western sense. As a genre that grew out of taoist hagiographies (tales of magical sages), ancestor worship, folk religions and old stories, the tales involve the occult and fantastical but not necessarily the gory or terrifying. Their most acclaimed narrators in China come out of the Qing dynasty (1644-1912): Pu Songling and Zhi Yun.
Readings:
Pu Songling's Strange Tales (see ANGEL)
Zhi Yun's Sketches from a Cottage (see ANGEL)
Questions:
(1) What are unique about these ghost stories?
(2) What social issues do these tales seem to tackle?
(3) Locate some of the stories' stock characters. What is significant about their function?
Links:
*Tang Menglai's Preface
Secondary references:
* Chang, Chun-shu and Shelley Hsueh-lun Chang. Redefining History: Ghosts, Spritis, and Human Society in P'u Sung-ling's World, 1640-1715. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 1998.
* Zeitlin, Judith T. Historian of the Strange: Pu Songlin and the Chinese Classical Tale. Stanford: Stanford UP, 1993.
*David Der-wei Wang and Shang Wei. Dynastic Crisis and Cultural Innovation. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 2005.
This unit introduces what is commonly thought of as lightweight literature: Chinese ghost stories. Not until the twenteith century has ficiton of this nature even been considered a remotely respectable form of literature. That means that for centuries in China the writing of ghost stories and their enjoyment were almost entirely an unrespected, diversional activity, the indulgence of innocent children, bored youth and weery scholars. This however does not imply that they were not well crafted or culturally significant. Quite to the contrary. Ghost stories were an imaginative realm of the Chinese mind that gave vent to fears, desires, angsts and fantasies too often smothered in reality by taboos and propriety. They were often elegantly penned by the hand of learned literati. Furthermore, they contain much in the way of contemporary, social criticism and satire. Their role in the development of modern Chinese literature is significant (v.s. David Der-wei Wang, "Second Haunting").
Ghost stories in China are not strictly speaking horror stories, as understood in the Western sense. As a genre that grew out of taoist hagiographies (tales of magical sages), ancestor worship, folk religions and old stories, the tales involve the occult and fantastical but not necessarily the gory or terrifying. Their most acclaimed narrators in China come out of the Qing dynasty (1644-1912): Pu Songling and Zhi Yun.
Readings:
Pu Songling's Strange Tales (see ANGEL)
Zhi Yun's Sketches from a Cottage (see ANGEL)
Questions:
(1) What are unique about these ghost stories?
(2) What social issues do these tales seem to tackle?
(3) Locate some of the stories' stock characters. What is significant about their function?
Links:
*Tang Menglai's Preface
Secondary references:
* Chang, Chun-shu and Shelley Hsueh-lun Chang. Redefining History: Ghosts, Spritis, and Human Society in P'u Sung-ling's World, 1640-1715. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 1998.
* Zeitlin, Judith T. Historian of the Strange: Pu Songlin and the Chinese Classical Tale. Stanford: Stanford UP, 1993.
*David Der-wei Wang and Shang Wei. Dynastic Crisis and Cultural Innovation. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 2005.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
My Zen Teacher is Nuts!
My Zen Teacher is Nuts!
During the Tang dynasty, the foreign, import religion, Buddhism, became officially recognized and patronized by the imperial courts. Shen Xiu, the face of Buddhism for a time and founder of what is know historically as the Northern School of Zen, was strongly supported by aristocrats and nobility. In the shadow of of this public respendlence, however, another breed of Buddhism began to grow, and, very appropriately, from the unlikeliest of sources. Hui Neng, an illiterate fuel-wood peddler, and his energetic pupil Shen Hui began challenging the meaning and doctrines of prevailing Buddhist beliefs and practices by their emphasis on the religious significane of mundane, human experiences. According to this radical strand of thought, formal practices such as meditaiton and absolute quietude were unnescessary, even troublesome , auxiliaries to the perfectly adequate activities of everyday life in realizing one's Buddha-nature. The renowned sinologist Wing-tsit Chan summarizes the nature of Hui Neng and Shen Hui's poistion, named the Southern School (what would prevail as the as the orthodox Chan or Zen school), in the following way:
"Everything other than the cultivation of the mind, such as reading scriptures, making offerings to the Buddha, reciting His name, joining the monastic order, are regarded as unnescessary. The total effect is to minimize, if not to wipe out, the whole Buddhist organziation, creed, and literature and to reduce Buddhism to a concern with one's mind alone" (A Source Book 428)
Just how was this minimization brought about? The history is complex and the methods are sundry, but the prinicple is singular: to attach oneself to a master who will disabuse you of all attempts to attain Buddhahood. This seems perfectly counter-intuitive and counter-productive. It is. But because the Southern School believed that what was necessary for enlightenement was a stripping down of Buddhist practices, the methods tended to seem wildely irreligious and irreverent. This was meant to free the mind from the bonds of desire and logic in pursuing Buddhist ideals. A whole library of literary works cropped up documenting the surreal teachings and strange encounters between Zen masters and their pupils. Here is a typically beffudling example from the classic the Blue Cliff Record (碧巖錄)(1125CE). These short, pithy accounts are known as gong an (koan). They were purported to have lead many a lucky pupil to enlightenment:
"Nansen told Joshu what had happened, and asked him for his view. Joshu thereupon took his sandals, put them upon his head and went away. Nansen said, 'If you had been there, I could have spared the cat.'"
Where is the doctrine? Where is the logic?... Exactly.
Readings:
(1) Platform Sutra (see ANGEL)
(2) Records of the Teachings of Master Yi Xuan (see ANGEL)
Questions:
(1) What purpose do you see obsurdity having in religious experience?
(2) What is the logic of irrationality?
(3) How would this kind of teaching change the image of a sacred, religious figure like the Buddha?
Links:
*Blue Cliff Record , The Gateless Gate , Book of Equanimity
*A Finger Pointing to the Moon (Bruce Lee)
*Steve Carrell babbling
Secondary sources:
* Wing-Tsit Chan. A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1963.
During the Tang dynasty, the foreign, import religion, Buddhism, became officially recognized and patronized by the imperial courts. Shen Xiu, the face of Buddhism for a time and founder of what is know historically as the Northern School of Zen, was strongly supported by aristocrats and nobility. In the shadow of of this public respendlence, however, another breed of Buddhism began to grow, and, very appropriately, from the unlikeliest of sources. Hui Neng, an illiterate fuel-wood peddler, and his energetic pupil Shen Hui began challenging the meaning and doctrines of prevailing Buddhist beliefs and practices by their emphasis on the religious significane of mundane, human experiences. According to this radical strand of thought, formal practices such as meditaiton and absolute quietude were unnescessary, even troublesome , auxiliaries to the perfectly adequate activities of everyday life in realizing one's Buddha-nature. The renowned sinologist Wing-tsit Chan summarizes the nature of Hui Neng and Shen Hui's poistion, named the Southern School (what would prevail as the as the orthodox Chan or Zen school), in the following way:
"Everything other than the cultivation of the mind, such as reading scriptures, making offerings to the Buddha, reciting His name, joining the monastic order, are regarded as unnescessary. The total effect is to minimize, if not to wipe out, the whole Buddhist organziation, creed, and literature and to reduce Buddhism to a concern with one's mind alone" (A Source Book 428)
Just how was this minimization brought about? The history is complex and the methods are sundry, but the prinicple is singular: to attach oneself to a master who will disabuse you of all attempts to attain Buddhahood. This seems perfectly counter-intuitive and counter-productive. It is. But because the Southern School believed that what was necessary for enlightenement was a stripping down of Buddhist practices, the methods tended to seem wildely irreligious and irreverent. This was meant to free the mind from the bonds of desire and logic in pursuing Buddhist ideals. A whole library of literary works cropped up documenting the surreal teachings and strange encounters between Zen masters and their pupils. Here is a typically beffudling example from the classic the Blue Cliff Record (碧巖錄)(1125CE). These short, pithy accounts are known as gong an (koan). They were purported to have lead many a lucky pupil to enlightenment:
"Nansen told Joshu what had happened, and asked him for his view. Joshu thereupon took his sandals, put them upon his head and went away. Nansen said, 'If you had been there, I could have spared the cat.'"
Where is the doctrine? Where is the logic?... Exactly.
Readings:
(1) Platform Sutra (see ANGEL)
(2) Records of the Teachings of Master Yi Xuan (see ANGEL)
Questions:
(1) What purpose do you see obsurdity having in religious experience?
(2) What is the logic of irrationality?
(3) How would this kind of teaching change the image of a sacred, religious figure like the Buddha?
Links:
*Blue Cliff Record , The Gateless Gate , Book of Equanimity
*A Finger Pointing to the Moon (Bruce Lee)
*Steve Carrell babbling
Secondary sources:
* Wing-Tsit Chan. A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1963.
* Bill Porter. A Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits. Mercury House, 2009.
* Edward Burger's documentaries on Buddhist hermits
Sunday, May 24, 2009
How to be a Hermit
Underneath the surface current of an engaged Confucian life deeply flowed a channel of hermetic aesthetics. Chinese scholars preparing for life at court or already employed there developed a lasting and complex tradition of imagining an idyllic, rural life outside the capital. Much like the Western creation of the pastoral ideal in the hands of the urbane, the romanticization of the hermit or country life became the respository of Confucian scholars' desires for respite and repose. The fantasy of dwelling alone in nature and among one's numberless scrolls became a prime form of escape from the demands of an active, political life, or, at the very least, the poetic justificaiton for not being able to become a part of it.
Readings:
Tao Yuanming
Xie Lingyun (p.524-32)
Meng Haoran
Wang Wei
Questions:
(1) Identify the recurring, poetic images that make up this aesthetic.
(2) How, if at all, do these poets handle differently the imagination of an idyllic existence?
(3) Are there any images that seek to disrupt the harmony of these perfect imaginations?
(4) Is there any poet who appears more manneristic (imitative) in his treatment than others?
Links:
*Video (Youtube) of China's landscapes
*Definition of the "wild"?
*A modern Chinese definition of "nature"?
*OED definitions of "nature"?
*Modern state of Chinese environment?
Secondary references:
*Frodsham, J.D. The Murmuring Stream: The Life and Works of the Chinese Nature Poet Hsieh Ling-yun (385-433), Duke of K'ang-Lo. Kuala Lumpur: University of Malaya Press, 1967.
*Charles Yim-tze Kwong. Tao Qian and the Chinese Poetic Tradition. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 1994.
*Swartz, Wendy. Reading Tao Yuanming. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 2008.
*Tian Xiaofei. Tao Yuanming & Manuscript Culture. Seattle: U of Washington P, 2005.
*Hightower, James Robert. The Poetry of T'ao Ch'ien. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1970.
*Kroll, Paul W. Meng Hao-Jan. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1981.
*Yu, Pauline. The Poetry of Wang Wei: New Translations and Commentary. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1980.
Readings:
Tao Yuanming
Xie Lingyun (p.524-32)
Meng Haoran
Wang Wei
Questions:
(1) Identify the recurring, poetic images that make up this aesthetic.
(2) How, if at all, do these poets handle differently the imagination of an idyllic existence?
(3) Are there any images that seek to disrupt the harmony of these perfect imaginations?
(4) Is there any poet who appears more manneristic (imitative) in his treatment than others?
Links:
*Video (Youtube) of China's landscapes
*Definition of the "wild"?
*A modern Chinese definition of "nature"?
*OED definitions of "nature"?
*Modern state of Chinese environment?
Secondary references:
*Frodsham, J.D. The Murmuring Stream: The Life and Works of the Chinese Nature Poet Hsieh Ling-yun (385-433), Duke of K'ang-Lo. Kuala Lumpur: University of Malaya Press, 1967.
*Charles Yim-tze Kwong. Tao Qian and the Chinese Poetic Tradition. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 1994.
*Swartz, Wendy. Reading Tao Yuanming. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 2008.
*Tian Xiaofei. Tao Yuanming & Manuscript Culture. Seattle: U of Washington P, 2005.
*Hightower, James Robert. The Poetry of T'ao Ch'ien. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1970.
*Kroll, Paul W. Meng Hao-Jan. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1981.
*Yu, Pauline. The Poetry of Wang Wei: New Translations and Commentary. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1980.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Heroic Portraits
Under the ambitious direction of Emperor Wu, the Han dynasty (202BC-220AD) successfully moved forward in the kind of empire making the tyrant Qin Shi Huang had begun decades before. Emperor Wu pushed the borders of his kingdom into the vast frontiers of other foreign lands. His troops reached the lands of central Asia, northern Korea and northern Vietnam, beating back barbarians (Xiongnu) and forging new trade and diplomatic routes. Back in the heart of his kingdom, Emperor Wu established the parameters of a new cultural order as well. Confucianism, only one of many philosophies and orders introduced and developed during the Eastern Zhou, now became the ruling doctrine of the court and the ethical paradigm for Han society.
In the midst of these monumental imperial achievements, Emperor Wu made sure that his court historians and recorders were on hand to document the events and weave them into the grand historical narratives of Chinese civilization. The Sima family (司馬) was intimately involved in the production of a new comprehensive history of China. Sima Tan held the position of Grand Historian at court for thirty years (140-110BC) before his health failed him and he was forced to cede the position to his prodigious son, Sima Qian. Sima Qian picked up where his father left off, gathering sources and completing the Records of the Grand Historian (史記). Because of his unique and turbulent history and numerous literary gifts, Sima Qian's historical record would refashion the face of Chinese historiography and set a standard for prose compositions for millenia to come. Unlike the strictly dynastic histories of the past, Sima Qian's volumes span thousands of years of history and highlight the lives of important figures in a string of exempla. His project is ambitious as a sort of universal history that transcends its own particular moment in time. However, at the same time it demonstrates a sensitivity to details and character that attests to its author's consciousness of specific conditions and human natures.
Readings:
Emperor Wu of the Han (see ANGEL)
Qu Yuan (see ANGEL)
Jingke, Assassin
Questions:
(1) How does Sima Qian characterize the Zhou?
(2) How does Emperor of Wu, Sima Qian's contemporary, come off in this biography?
(3) How does the biography of Jingke from the exemplary persons section of the records differ from the previous accounts?
(4) What is your opinion of what Sima Qian understands to be the universal history of the Chinese?
Links:
(1) Han Map
Secondary references:
In the midst of these monumental imperial achievements, Emperor Wu made sure that his court historians and recorders were on hand to document the events and weave them into the grand historical narratives of Chinese civilization. The Sima family (司馬) was intimately involved in the production of a new comprehensive history of China. Sima Tan held the position of Grand Historian at court for thirty years (140-110BC) before his health failed him and he was forced to cede the position to his prodigious son, Sima Qian. Sima Qian picked up where his father left off, gathering sources and completing the Records of the Grand Historian (史記). Because of his unique and turbulent history and numerous literary gifts, Sima Qian's historical record would refashion the face of Chinese historiography and set a standard for prose compositions for millenia to come. Unlike the strictly dynastic histories of the past, Sima Qian's volumes span thousands of years of history and highlight the lives of important figures in a string of exempla. His project is ambitious as a sort of universal history that transcends its own particular moment in time. However, at the same time it demonstrates a sensitivity to details and character that attests to its author's consciousness of specific conditions and human natures.
Readings:
Emperor Wu of the Han (see ANGEL)
Qu Yuan (see ANGEL)
Jingke, Assassin
Questions:
(1) How does Sima Qian characterize the Zhou?
(2) How does Emperor of Wu, Sima Qian's contemporary, come off in this biography?
(3) How does the biography of Jingke from the exemplary persons section of the records differ from the previous accounts?
(4) What is your opinion of what Sima Qian understands to be the universal history of the Chinese?
Links:
(1) Han Map
Secondary references:
Friday, May 22, 2009
Confucian Cortegiani and Fluttering Sages
After the fall of the Ji family at the end of the Western Zhou, the Zhou clan began its steady descent from the heights of real power into the trappings of nominal rule. The centuries following, called the Eastern Zhou, were marked by a steady growth in the increasing power of smaller principates and kingdoms once held under the centralized power of the early Zhou. 12 powerful rulers (十二諸侯) directed the most important affairs of the continent. As the years wore on, the Zhou clan receded from the forefront of power as military mights such Qin, Jin, Qi, Chu and Wu rose to prominence. These states thrived off of the consumption of smaller neighboring states and the volatile dealings of foreign diplomacy between one another. With the Zhou remaining merely as a puppet suzerain, the infighting between the these powerful states threw society into centuries of unrest. The chaotic conditions of life, however, created the conditions under which innovation was possible. It was toward the end of the Spring and Autumn period (722-481BC) and the beginning of the Warring States period (476-221BC) that Kongzi or Confucius was born and would initiate a cultural revolution that would shape China for millenia to come.
Confucius was part of a new emerging class of minor, poor nobility (士) who were involved in the active formulation of new cultural paradigms for China and who peddled their intellect and virtue as a means for their own physical and existential sustenance. Amidst the turmoil of these times, men of superior intellect wandered from court to court seeking audience and offering their services to (mostly corrupt) officials. Though he would become the most well known, Confucius was hardly the only important figure of this intellectually vibrant period. In fact, the period is also known today as that of the 100 schools of philosophy (諸子百傢). Alongside Confucius, equally important figures in their times were Mozi, Laozi, Han Feizi, Zhuangzi and Mencius. Each of these figures would present their own versions of what constituted a harmonious society and an ideal rulership. Each philosophized their own way (道) of personal and communal cultivation to the establishment of harmony and order, that eagerly sought after point of natural repose. In our readings we look behind the philosophy to the role of the philosopher in the pitching of the way to the achievement of repose. We will read excerpts from the Analects (Confucius), the Mencius, Mozi, the Laozi and the Zhuangzi as we seek to formulate how the role of the philosopher evolves and effects and is effected by his philosophies of social and inner harmony.
Readings:
Analects (Book 1 and 2)
Mencius (Book 1.1)
Mozi (Book 4.1 and 5.1,2)
Laozi (Ch. 29-39)
Zhuangzi (Ch. 7)
Questions:
(1) How would you characterize the character or tones of these different philosophers?
(2) What are some of the details of their way or dao (道)?
(3) How are these philosophers implicated in their own philosophies or in the societies they hope to establish?
Links:
(1) Slides for 100 Schools
Secondary readings:
Confucius was part of a new emerging class of minor, poor nobility (士) who were involved in the active formulation of new cultural paradigms for China and who peddled their intellect and virtue as a means for their own physical and existential sustenance. Amidst the turmoil of these times, men of superior intellect wandered from court to court seeking audience and offering their services to (mostly corrupt) officials. Though he would become the most well known, Confucius was hardly the only important figure of this intellectually vibrant period. In fact, the period is also known today as that of the 100 schools of philosophy (諸子百傢). Alongside Confucius, equally important figures in their times were Mozi, Laozi, Han Feizi, Zhuangzi and Mencius. Each of these figures would present their own versions of what constituted a harmonious society and an ideal rulership. Each philosophized their own way (道) of personal and communal cultivation to the establishment of harmony and order, that eagerly sought after point of natural repose. In our readings we look behind the philosophy to the role of the philosopher in the pitching of the way to the achievement of repose. We will read excerpts from the Analects (Confucius), the Mencius, Mozi, the Laozi and the Zhuangzi as we seek to formulate how the role of the philosopher evolves and effects and is effected by his philosophies of social and inner harmony.
Readings:
Analects (Book 1 and 2)
Mencius (Book 1.1)
Mozi (Book 4.1 and 5.1,2)
Laozi (Ch. 29-39)
Zhuangzi (Ch. 7)
Questions:
(1) How would you characterize the character or tones of these different philosophers?
(2) What are some of the details of their way or dao (道)?
(3) How are these philosophers implicated in their own philosophies or in the societies they hope to establish?
Links:
(1) Slides for 100 Schools
Secondary readings:
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