Miss Buddha (98 page)

True, with the proliferation of not only the
Earth’s population but also her technologies, specialization seems
to be the bane of the age, still, fact remains that a single
pursuit of ultimate truth has now been more or less buried under
the weight of endless micro-philosophies.

That said, let’s see how we fared over the
years in the East.

Chinese Philosophy

In what follows, I’ll use “Chinese
Philosophy” as an umbrella designation for the various schools of
thought originated by Chinese philosophers.

Surveying history, we find
that Chinese philosophy passed through three distinct historical
stages: the classical age, a creative period from the
6
^th
to
the early 2
^nd
century BCE; the medieval age—lasting from the
late 2
^nd
century BCE trough the 17
^th
century CE, a period of
synthesis and absorption of foreign thought; and the modern
age—from the late 17
^th
century to the present saw maturation of earlier
philosophical trends and the introduction of new philosophies from
the West.

Classical Age

The classical age of Chinese philosophy did
not gain traction until the later years of the Zhou (Chou)
dynasty—which lasted from about 1045 BCE to 256 BCE. This was an
era of political and social turmoil when feudal states, long
subordinate to the house of Zhou, finally rose to newfound economic
and military strength and moved toward independence.

When the power of these
combined feudal states began to eclipse that of Zhou, the bonds
between them ruptured and widespread interstate warfare broke out.
This was during the
Spring and
Autumn
period (722-481 BCE), which then
developed into outright political anarchy during the
Warring States
period
(403-221 BCE).

Meanwhile, new currents of trade and
commerce were disrupting China’s simple agricultural society,
bringing additional social and economic changes in their wake. In
this climate of political anarchy and social upheaval emerged a new
class of scholar-official: men who aspired through their learning
and wisdom to reunify the empire and restore societal order.

Confucius and Later Disciples

The most important of these
scholar-officials was Confucius (551-479 BCE)—known in Chinese as
Kungzi or K’ung-tzu. He was a minor aristocrat and official of the
state of Lu (in what is now Shandong Province) who spent most of
his life as an itinerant scholar-teacher as well as an adviser to
the rulers of various Chinese states.

Confucius believed that the best, if not
only, way to reform society was to look at its citizens and to
cultivate ethical behavior in individuals. And not only in citizens
but also, and perhaps especially, in rulers and their ministers
because leaders serve as important role models for their
people.

Confucius did not speak
directly (at least not officially) on such philosophical issues as
the nature of human beings, or the influence of the supernatural in
human affairs; however, two of his 4
^th
and 3
^rd
century BCE disciples,
Mencius (in Chinese, Mengzi or Meng-Tzu) and Xunzi (Hsun-tzu), did
address them.

Mencius held that human nature is good and
that it can be developed not only by study, as Confucius had
taught, but also by cultivating (by practice and reflection) one’s
innate tendencies, such as our compassion for the suffering of
others and our disdain for doing what is wrong.

Xunzi took a diametrically opposite view of
human nature. He held that humans are not virtuous at heart, but
that they could improve through education, the study of the
classics, and the practice of ritual. Thus virtue could be acquired
and order reestablished in society.

Mencius thought virtue was something that
must be developed, as a tree grows from a sprout, while Xunzi
thought that human beings must be reshaped, as a piece of wood is
carved into a useful object.

Taoism and Other Important Schools

If Confucianism was the first great
philosophy of the classical age, then Taoism was the second.

The traditional view is
that Taoism was originated by Lao Tzu, who we assume was a
contemporary of Confucius. Legend (which has blossomed into popular
opinion) has it that he wrote the
Tao Te
Ching
(“Classic of the Way and Its Virtue”)
at the behest of the gates keeper who would not let him out of the
city unless he did (Lao Tzu, apparently, had had enough of men and
their ways and sought some peace and quiet at some far remove in
nature).

However, many scholars
today believe that there was no single person who wrote the
Tao Te Ching
, but rather
that it is an anthology of sayings by different authors and was
composed as late as the 3
^rd
century BCE.

A common thread throughout
the
Tao Te Ching
is the Tao (“Way”), an entity, or a concept, that both creates
the world and determines how things should live. The
Tao Te Ching
suggests
that what Confucius and his followers celebrate as virtues and
culture are in reality but artificial corruptions of the original
simplicity of the Tao. Were humans to follow the Tao instead, they
would live in peace and contentment in simple agrarian
communities.

When the School of Taoism first began to
look for its roots, sometime around 100 BCE, it identified three
great founder teachers. These were, and still are, Lao Tzu, Chuang
Tzu and Lieh Tzu.

Taoism is the search for the Tao, the Way of
Nature which, if you could become part of it, would take you to the
edge of reality and beyond. One of the core teachings of Taoism is
that:

The Tao that can be talked about is not the
true Tao.
The name that can be named is not the eternal Name.

In the light of this, perhaps it should not
come as a surprise that, of these three founder-figures, only one
can be definitely rooted in a given time and place. For the truth
is that Lao Tzu may well never have existed, and even if he did, he
most likely did not write the Tao Te Ching, the book usually
ascribed to him as author (at least not by himself).

Lieh Tzu may also be a fictional figure.
Again, even if he did exist, the book which bears his name contains
few of his actual words and was probably composed some six hundred
or more years after his supposed lifetime.

Which leave us with Chuang Tzu.

While the
Tao Te Ching
is one of
the most widely translated and admired texts in the world, many
scholars believe that another Taoist text, the Chuang Tzu, is a
greater work of philosophy and literature. The Chuang Tzu is named
after its author, the scholar Chuang Tzu, who wrote in the
4
^th
century BCE.

His work agrees with
the
Tao Te Ching
that human civilization is an artificial creation that does
not correspond to reality. But Chuang Tzu then goes on to say that
one can see through this artificiality and be freed from concerns
over profit and loss, and life and death, while still participating
in ordinary society.

Other Classical Schools

Among the other important schools of the
classical period we find Mohism and Naturalism.

Mohism, founded by Mozi
(Mo-tzu) during the 5
^th
century BCE, taught strict utilitarianism and
mutual love among all people regardless of family or social
relationships.

During the
4
^th
century BCE Naturalism offered an analysis of the workings of
the universe based upon certain cosmic principles. The best known
of these principles were Yin and Yang, which represented the
interacting dualities of nature, such as female and male, shadow
and light, and winter and summer.

Legalism

During the chaotic years of
the 4
^th
and 3
^rd
centuries BCE, Legalism emerged as the dominant philosophy in
the state of Qin (Ch’in). Two disciples of Xunzi, Han Fei (Han
Fei-tzu) and Li Si (Li Ssu), were, respectively, the leading
philosopher and the leading practitioner of this almost
uber-utilitarian philosophy.

The Legalists based their ideas on Xunzi’s
teachings that human nature was evil, but took things one step
further by rejecting his optimism that humans could be ethically
perfected. Rather, they claimed that strict controls were needed to
regulate human conduct (read: police state).

Based on this philosophy, the Legalists then
proceeded to develop the model for the Chinese bureaucratic
government with a view that officials must be assigned precise
responsibilities and rewarded if they met those responsibilities,
but punished if they failed to meet them.

Not surprisingly, Legalism proved an
effective instrument in creating a powerful military and economic
system in the state of Qin—totalitarian though it might have been.
And like any state based on might and sword, by 221 BCE, Qin had
succeeded in conquering the other feudal states and establishing a
unified, centrally administered empire (the Qin dynasty).

Qin rule was characterized by strict laws,
harsh punishment, rigid thought control (for example, the burning
of all non-Legalist books in 213 BCE—again, about as totalitarian,
about as 1984ish as you could possibly wish), government control of
the economy, and enormous public works projects, such as an early
version of the Great Wall, accomplished with forced labor and at
great cost in human life.

However, it was not long before the
oppressive rule of the Qin dynasty drove its subjects to rebellion.
In 206 BCE a rebel leader of plebeian origin proclaimed the Han
dynasty. He did however retain the Legalist-inspired centralized
administration which, in some form or another, stayed in place
until 1912.

Medieval Age—Han Confucianism

The philosophers of the Han dynasty weaved
their own philosophy from strands that included the yin-yang
cosmology of the naturalists, the Taoist concern for perceiving and
harmonizing with the order of nature, Confucian teachings on
benevolent government, rule by virtuous leaders, and respect for
learning, as well as the Legalist principles of administration and
economic development.

This philosophy, eventually
termed
Han Confucianism
, was officially patronized by the government from 136 BCE and
subsequently became the required learning for government
service.

During the
2
^nd
and
3
^rd
centuries CE, a variety of social and economic causes saw the
downfall of the Han dynasty, leading to renewed political disunity
and foreign invasion.

The philosophical void created by the
collapse of Han Confucianism was filled by both Taoism and later by
Buddhism, a philosophy then new to China. While one faction of
Taoist philosophers attempted to reconcile the Confucian teachings
of social responsibility with the naturalness and mysticism of
Taoism, another faction sought to escape the issue altogether by
donning blinders and proclaim that pleasure—and its pursuit—is the
only good in the world.

Buddhism

In the
1
^st
century CE, Buddhism began to filter into China from India, a
flow that kept up well through the 6
^th
century. These new teachings
offered escape from the sufferings of life and from the endless
reincarnation through Samsara caused by human desires.

During this time, the Chinese Buddhist
philosophers of the Tiantai sect formulated the doctrine of the
“Perfectly Harmonious Threefold Truth” to explain the nature of
existence. This view held that things are fundamentally empty
because everything depends on something else to cause it to exist;
however, things do have a temporary—if brief—existence, and so the
everyday world is not a complete illusion.

Neo-Confucian Period

During the Tang dynasty (618-907) Buddhism
and Taoism remained dominant philosophies, but Confucianism alone
among the three prevailing schools offered a political and social
philosophy suited to the needs of a large centralized empire.

Consequently, it was almost inevitable that
there would be a revival of Confucian cultural and philosophical
thought. This revival became known as Daoxue (The Study of the
Way), today thought of as neo-Confucianism.

The newfound hold of Confucianism, along
with first a healthy respect and then fear on the part of the
government regarding the growing power of Buddhist monasteries,
culminated in persecutions of Buddhists and Taoists during the Tang
dynasty. However, both Taoism and Buddhism had found the hearts of
many educated Chinese and lived on in their personal lives and in
their relationships with nature.

Neo-Confucianism reached intellectual
maturity during the Song dynasty (960-1279 CE); and neo-Confucians
of this period held that the universe and everything in it has two
aspects: li and qi. Li, usually translated as “principle,” can be
understood as the structure or organizing principle of everything
in the universe. It is fully present in each thing that exists. The
li determines why things are the way they are, and how they ought
to be.