Transcript RT3004 Integrated Spirituality: Women in Chinese Religions

Chinese Religion
Part II:
The Terrain of Faith: Government, Practices and Behaviour
Session 5:
Staking out the Turf:
Governance, Behaviour and Ethics
Dr Paul Hedges
Session Overview
The Importance of Government
Rules and Regulations in the DDJ and Confucius
Controlling Ideas on Government
Ethical Rules and Regulations
The Xiang’er
Confucian virtues
The 180 Precepts of Lord Lao
Filial Piety
Human Nature
Mencius vs. Xun Zi
Reflections
Confucian and Daoist paradigms
Chinese views on self and society
The
Importance
of
Government
• Context:
– Ideologies develop in
period of confusion
• (late Zhou: Spring &
Autumn Period/ Warring
States)
• Homology:
– unity of all things
• Found in all traditions:
– DDJ
– Celestial Masters
– Ru > Civil Service tradition
Styles of Government
• Legalist
– Govern by strength
– Keep people in submission
• Confucian
– Govern by wisdom
– Promote virtue
– Advisors to emperor
• Literati/ Civil Servants risked
lives for virtuous government
– Bringing your coffin to court
• Other
– ‘Daoist’ critique: leave alone
Governance and the
Chinese World
• Son of Heaven (tian zi 天
子)
• Harmony (he)
– Runs through everything
• King/ emperor: heaven –
people – earth
•王
Heaven
People
Emperor
Earth
• Imperial palace layout:
– Emperor sits facing south
– Except sacrifice to heaven
Sage
Nature
Government
Wu Xing
Tai Ji
Yin
Dao
Yang
Heaven
Five Elements
Society
Wu-wei
He governs by non-action
[wuwei], consequently there is
nothing ungoverned.”
DDJ 3, Jun
• The Master said, He did
• “After Shennong died, the
nothing and all was well
Yellow Emperor, Yao, and
ordered – this would
Shun arose…. The Yellow
describe Shun, would it not?
Emperor, Yao, and Shun
What did he do? He simply
allowed their upper and
composed himself with
lower garments to hang
reverence and sat facing
down and the world was
due south.
properly ordered.”
– A XV:5
– Classic of Documents (Shujing),
"Canon of Yao" Section
• (Eno)
•
Analects and Government
A I:5
– The Master said: To guide a state great enough to possess a thousand war
chariots: be attentive to affairs and trustworthy; regulate expenditures and
treat people as valuable; employ people according to the proper season.
• Midsize state (chariots); times and seasons
•
A II: 1
– The Master said: When one rules by means of virtue (de) it is like the
North Star – it dwells in its place and the other stars pay reverence to it.
• Wu-wei
•
A II:3
– The Master said: Guide them with policies and align them with
punishments and the people will evade them and have no shame. Guide
them with virtue (de) and align them with li and the people will have a
sense of shame and fulfill their roles.
• De and li over punishments and policy
•
A II: 20
– Ji Kangzi asked, “How would it be to use persuasion to make the people
respectful and loyal?” The Master said, “If you approach them with solemnity
they will be respectful; if you are filial and caring they will be loyal; if you
raise up the good and instruct those who lack ability they will be persuaded.”
• Context: state of Ji warlike, large military force – notes on correct rule
•
A IV:14
– The Master said, Do not be concerned that you have no position, be
concerned that you have what it takes to merit a position. Do not be
concerned that no one recognizes you, seek that which is worthy of
recognition.
• Take position if it comes, but secondary to virtue
Tianming
•
• Confucian
– “Heaven endows humans with
the Mandate, by which the
world can be ruled justly. Just
A fundamental notion
rule can be exercised only if
Related to wuxing/ five
the people are satisfied in a
moral way. Endowing or
phases
withdrawing the Mandate is a
matter of moral judgement.
Used in various ways
Thus, in Confucian politics, the
Mandate of Heaven is
• For Qing
Mencius
understood to be the will of the
Dynasty and
people, by which the
– Tianming 天命 can be
Others:
legitiomacy of a government is
withdrawn:
– Justified their
given and confirmed.”
• Tyranicide is not regicide
rules
– (M 4A:9; 2A: 5; 7B:3)
• Confucius as Emperor
– For Han Dynasty Confucians
Tianming passed to Confucius
• Pole star
• Withdrawing the Mandate
– Illness of the Emperor
– Earthquakes, floods, famine,
rebellions – can be signs of the
withdrawl of the Mandate/
need to rectify governance
• Opposition
= against
heaven
• (Yao, p. 147).
Ethical Rules and
Regulations
• Areas to Consider:
–
–
–
–
Confucian virtues
The Xiang’er
The 180 Precepts of Lord Lao
Filial Piety
• Virtue (De 德)
– De = virtue; charisma; innate power/
authority
– Meaning of ‘ethics’ in Chinese context?
Confucian Virtues
• The Five Constant Virtues/ Five
Regulations:
– Constant and unchanging laws of
nature
– ren (仁) humaneness
• Discussed in session 3
– yi (义) righteousness
• Emphasized by Mencius
• Seen as closely related to ren,
uprightness/ honesty
– li (礼) ritual/propriety
• Discussed in session 3
– zhi (智) wisdom
• Relates to understanding, not just
intellectual
– xin (信) faithfulness
• Corresponds most to loyalty
zhong (忠)
• Cheng (誠)
Two •
More
Confucian
Virtues
– ‘Sincerity’/ honesty/ seriousness, etc.
– Becomes core in Neo-Confucianism:
– The Doctrine of the Mean
(Zhongyang):
– “The ultimate cheng is ceaseless.
Being ceaseless, it is lasting….
Being infinite, it is extensive and
deep…. It is because it is infinite and
lasting that it can complete all
things.”
• DoM XVI
– Relates to truth/ reality (zhen 真)
– Also praised by Mencius
Shu (恕)
– ‘Reciprocity’
– Relations to others (ren)
• Can be seen in relation to:
• “What you do not like
yourself do not do to others”
(A XV: 24)
– Also, relates to relationships:
• Guanxi (关系)
• Web of social relationships
• http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/oal/c
ourses/image/ias2550/0809/C
hineseSociety.ppt#1
Confucianism’s Three
Guiding Principles & 5
Relationships
• Sangang/ Three Guiding
Principles
– Ruler-Minister/ subject
– Father-son
– Husband-wife
Note relations:
Family = empire
Social = personal
Emperor = father
Direct relations
• Five Human Relationships
–
–
–
–
–
Ruler-Minister
Father-Son
Husband-Wife
Elder Son-younger son
Elder friend-younger friend
– Each needs cheng/ sincerity
– Mutual obligations
Xiang’er
• Celestial Masters commentary
on DDJ
– c. 200 CE
– attributed to Zhang Daoling,
1st Celestial Master, or his
grandson, Zhang Lu
– title literally = ‘[the Dao is]
thinking of you’
– Emphasizes morality in
commentary
• Illness arrives through ‘sin’
• No ‘healing’ allowed in early
CM community
– See handout (Bokenkamp, pp.
78-9, 106-9)
• “Those readers who already have
some idea of the Laozi… may well
feel that the Xiang’er commentary
takes unwarranted liberties with a
mystical book…. [H]owever…
although the commentator is
undenibaly reinterpreting the
Laozi… we… after… reading the
text through the eyes of medieval
Chinese interpreters, are only now
beginning to rediscover how that
book was originally meant to be
read.”
– Bokenkamp, Early Daoist
Scriptures, pp. 30-1.
The 180 Precepts and Daoist Lists
• Sets of prescriptions from
various Daoist groups,
Celestial Masters onwards
• Some still in use
• Give ‘ethical’, ‘social’ and
‘other’ guidelines – how
does this relate to ‘virtue’/
‘sin’/ ‘ethics’/ ‘morality’?
– Union of heaven and earth
– Harmony
• See handout, Kohn,
Cosmos and Community,
pp. 136-45, 184-5, 188-95
http://www.flickr.com/photos/doctorow/41376752/
Filial Piety
xiao (孝)
Fundamental Chinese virtue
Respect/ deference to elders/
parents
Whole basis of community
Talcott Parsons: ‘familism’
Exemplified:
The Classic of Filial Piety (孝经)
See handouts
http://www.chinapage.com/confucius/xiaojing-be.html
The 24 Paragons of Filial Piety (二十四孝)
http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~asia/24ParagonsFilialPiety.html
Virtue and filial piety:
Filial Piety 2:
What do you make of this,
in what does righteousness
reside?
Why?
Is ‘Confucius’ dishonest?
“The Duke of Sheh informed Confucius,
saying’Among us here there are those who
may be styled upright in their conduct. If
their father has stolen s sheep, they will
bear witness to the fact.’ confucius said,
‘Among us, in our part of the country,
those who are upright are different from
this. The father conceals the misconduct
of the son, and the son conceals the
misconduct of the father. Upright is to be
found in this.’”
(A XIII: 18)
Human Nature (xing 性):
Mencius vs. Xun Zi
• Xun Zi:
• Mencius:
– “Water will indeed flow
indifferently to the east or the
west, but will it flow indifferently
up or down? Human nature is
disposed to goodness just as water
tends to flow downward. There is
no water but that which flows
downward, and no man but he
who shows tendency to be good.”
(M 6A:2)
– human nature is innately
evil
– Must be trained by
education and ritual
Ox Mountain
• ‘Ox Mountain was covered by trees, but it stands by a
populous city. The people climbed up with their axes
and choppers; they cut the wood down, and the
mountain lost its vegetation.
Yet even so, there came the night breeze. Rain and dew
moistened it: green shoots began to grow. Cattle and
sheep grazed there. After some time, the mountain was
gaunt and bare. People who see it barren today imagine
it always treeless.
Who knows that the woods were tampered with, hewn
with axes, beaten with clubs? The trees are lopped, day
after day; how will the mountain flourish?....”
(M6A:8)
Confucian and Daoist
Paradigms (?)
Wang Chongyang (Quanzhen)
Disciples study:
Dao De Jing
“Abandon sageliness (sheng) and discard
wisdom (zhi); then the people will benefit a
hundredfold. Abandon humaneness (ren) and
discard righteousness (yi), then the people will
return to filial piety (xiao) and fraternal love
(ti).” (DDJ XIX)
Attacks Confucian ideal (sheng) and virtues
(zhi, ren, yi)
But ti in Analects (A I:6; I:2 – equated
with ren); xiao = highly Confucian
Not in ‘original’ texts
Heart Sutra (Buddhist)
Dao De Jing (Daoist)
Classic of Filial Piety
(Confucian)
• Daoism (traditional views):
– Counter-tradition
• Withdrawal for self-cultivation
• Mock Concern with
active/political life
Daoism and
Government
– Rebellion
•
•
•
•
Yellow Turbans
White Lotus Societies
Taiping rebellion
Etc.
Daoism (historical actualities)
• Celestial Masters
– Theocracy
– However, millennial
– flout conventions: sex rituals (condemned by later Daoists)
• Tang Daoism
– Daoists in court in Tang and before and after
– No clear distinction from literati/ ru circles till Neo-Confucianism
• Rebellion?
– Yellow Turbans not Daoist – use Taiping (Great Peace) ideas, as do
Daoists, Confucians
– Most rebellions/ groups not Daoist – various Buddhist/ Daoist/
Confucian/ Chinese/ Christian, etc.
• Taiping
– Great Peace: many Daoist rituals centred around preserving harmony
• Monasticism
– Withdrawal from politics
Chinese Views on
Ethics,
Self
and
Society
Some Themes:
Harmony
Relation of natural world and human
Illness/ natural diastsers relate to government/
personal morality
Virtue more than (less than?) good/ evil
Social relations
Harmony in natural world
http://haha.nu/amazin
g/japanese-body-artnsfw/
Some Questions:
How do you understand the notion of virtue/ ethics in relation to
Chinese society?
How would you understand the relationship/ difference between
Daoist and Confucian paradigms? Dopes thinking of Daoisms and
Confucianisms help?
What do you think are/ make of the core Chinese ideas expressed
within this area/ topic/ set of themes?
Session Summary
• We have discussed
– Chinese views on government and ethics
• We have seen
– That these are inter-related
• We have noted
– Confucian and Daoist ideas of both
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/china/mysteri
ous-chinese-character-virtue-1906.html
See for notes on the character de
• We have seen
– That it is problematic to distinguish these
as clearly as may be assumed
• We have discussed
– The Chinese context of these ideas and
the nature of the views held
Zhou Dynasty
Historical periods/
groups/ events
Spring & Autumn Period
Tang Dynasty
Terms
Yuan Dynasty
De
Han Dynasty
He
Qing Dynasty
Shu
Yellow Turbans
Wu-wei
Taiping Rebellion
Ren
White Lotus Societies
Dao De Jing
Texts
Yi
Yellow Emperor
Confucius
Terms
Warring States
Analects
People
Zhang Daoling
Mencius
Xin
Xunzi
Ru
Wang Chongyang
Son of Heaven
Tianming
Ti
Sheng/ Sage
Taiping
Xiao/ filial
piety
Guanxi
Xiang’er
Cheng
Three Guiding Principles
180 Precepts of Lord Lao
Zhi
Five Human Relationships
Classic of Filial Piety
Li
Five Constant Virtues