A Short History of Chinese Philosophy Read Online Free PDF Page B

justification of this social system, or its theoretical expression. Economic conditions prepared its basis, and Confucianism expressed its ethical significance. Since this social system was the outgrowth of certain economic conditions, and these conditions were again the product of their geographical surroundings, to the Chinese people, both the system and its theoretical expression were very natural. Because of this, Confucianism naturally became the orthodox philosophy and remained so until the invasion of industrialization from modern Europe and America changed the economic basis of Chinese life.
    This-worldliness and Other-worldliness
    Confucianism is the philosophy of social organization, and is also the philosophy of daily life.
    Confucianism emphasizes the social responsibilities of man, while Taoism emphasizes what is natural and spontaneous in him. In the Chuang-tzu, it is said that the Confucianists roam within the bounds of society, while the Taoists roam beyond it. In the third and fourth centuries A.D., when Taoism again became influential, people used to say that Confucius valued ming chiao (the teaching of names denoting the social relationships), while Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu valued tzu jan (spontaneity or naturalness). These two trends of Chinese philosophy correspond roughly to the traditions of classicism and romanticism in Western thought. Read the poems of Tu Fu and Li Fo, and one sees in them the difference between Confucianism and Taoism. These two great poets lived during the same period (eighth century A.D.), and concurrently expressed in their poems the two main traditions of Chinese thought.
    Because it roams within the bounds of society, Confucianism appears more this—worldly than Taoism, and because it roams beyond the bound of society, Taoism appears more other—worldly than Confucianism. These two trends of thought rivaled each other, but also complemented each other. They exercised a sort of balance of power. This gave the Chinese people a better sense of balance in regard to this-worldlincss and other-worldliness.
    There were Taoists in the third and fourth centuries who attempted to make Taoism closer to Confucianism, and there were also Confucianists in the eleventh and twelfth centuries who attempted to make Confucianism closer to Taoism. We call these Taoists the Neo -Taoists and these Confucianists the Neo -Confucianists. It was these movements that made Chinese philosophy both of this world and of the other world, as I pointed out in the last chapter.
    Chinese A rt and Poetry
    The Confucianists took art as an instrument for moral education/The
     
    036
    THE BACKGROUND OF HINESE PHILOSOPHY
     
    Taoists had no formal treatises on art, but their admiration of the free movement of the spirit and their idealization of nature gave profound inspiration to the great artists of China. This being the case, it is no wonder that most of the great artists of China took nature as their subject. Most of the masterpieces of Chinese painting are paintings of landscapes, animals and flowers, trees and bamboos. In a landscape painting, at the foot of a mounlain or the bank of a stream, one always finds a man sitting, appreciating the beauty of nature and contemplating the Too or Way that transcends both nature and man.
    Likewise in Chinese poetry we find such poems as that by T'ao Ch ien (A.D. 372.-42-7): I built my hut in a zone of human habitation,
    Yet near me there sounds no noise of horse or coach,
    Would you know how that is possible?
    A heart that is distant creates a wilderness round it.
    I pluck chrysanthemums under the eastern hedge,
    Then gaze long at the distant summer hills.
    The mountain air is fresh at the dusk of day;
    The flying birds two by two return.
    In these things there lies a deep meaning;
    Yet when we would express it, words suddenly fail us.* Here we have Taoism at its best.
    The Methodology of Chinese Philosophy
    In Chinese philosophy, the farmer's outlook not only conditioned