THE EMERGENCE OF PEASANT SOCIETIES IN EAST ASIA

2004 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroshi Miyajima
Keyword(s):  
Song Dynasty ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Zhu Xi ◽  
Deep Roots ◽  
The Song Dynasty ◽  
Feudal Society ◽  
Peasant Society ◽  
Confucian Values ◽  
The One

In the recent debates about Confucianism and its role in East Asian economic development, there has been little discussion about why East Asian societies embraced Confucian values in the first place. Here, “Confucian” refers particularly to the ideas of the Song dynasty Zhu Xi school (neo-Confucianism) which became associated in China with the shidafu scholar-bureaucrat class. Zhu Xi political philosophy was anchored in a centralized governing bureaucracy under the emperor, and differed markedly from political ideals underlying medieval feudal society in Europe, for example. Land-ownership was not a condition of shidafu status, and there is only a partial resemblance between the Chinese landowner and European feudal ruling strata. In Japan and Korea, notwithstanding the fact that neo-Confucianism was an imported philosophy and there arose discrepancies between its ideas and social reality, it sank deep roots into both societies. This paper looks at the conditions that allowed this to happen, and concludes that the spread of Confucian ideas depended on structural changes in Korea and Japan that were similar to those that had occurred in China. It is in the emergence of peasant society that we find the key to such changes. This, I contend, is a far more important watershed than the one that divides early-modern and modern.

Core Texts of the Sŏn Approach

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Broughton
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Song Dynasty ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Zen Buddhism ◽  
The West ◽  
Mental Operation ◽  
The Song Dynasty ◽  
Asian History ◽  
Partial Translation

The book is a study and partial translation of Core Texts of the Sŏn Approach (Sŏnmun ch’waryo), a Korean anthology of key texts foundational to Korean Sŏn (Chan/Zen) Buddhism. This anthology provides a convenient entrée to two fundamental themes of Korean Sŏn: Sŏn vis-à-vis the doctrinal teachings (in which Sŏn is shown to be superior); and the huatou (Korean hwadu) method of practice-work popularized by the Song dynasty Chan master Dahui Zonggao (1089–1163). This method consists of “lifting to awareness” or “keeping an eye on” the huatou or phrase, usually the word wu無‎/No (Korean mu). No mental operation whatsoever is to be performed upon the huatou. The practitioner simply lifts the huatou to awareness constantly, twenty-four hours a day. Core Texts of the Sŏn Approach, which was published in Korea during the first decade of the twentieth century, attempts to encapsulate the entire Korean Sŏn tradition in one convenient volume (and thus functions as a sort of vade mecum). It contains eight Chan texts by Chinese authors and seven Sŏn texts by Korean authors, showing the organic relationship between the parent Chinese Chan tradition and its heir Korean Sŏn. Due to the circumstances of modern East Asian history, Korean Sŏn is much less well-known in the West than Japanese Zen. This book will give readers access to a broad sweep of texts of the Korean branch of this school of East Asian Buddhism.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Makeham
Keyword(s):  
Song Dynasty ◽  
Institutional Setting ◽  
Zhu Xi ◽  
The Song Dynasty ◽  
Conceptual Structures ◽  
Buddhist Doctrine ◽  
Confucian Thought ◽  
Philosophical Project ◽  
Key Questions ◽  
The Way

The Introduction contextualizes Zhu Xi within the “Learning of the Way” tradition of Neo-Confucian thought, and introduces key questions that animate the volume as a whole: What aspects of Buddhism did Zhu criticize and why? Was his engagement limited to criticism (informed or otherwise) or did Zhu also appropriate and repurpose Buddhist ideas to develop his own thought? If Zhu’s philosophical repertoire incorporated conceptual structures and problematics that are marked by a distinct Buddhist pedigree, what implications does this have for our understanding of his philosophical project? The Introduction provides a narrative that links the book’s five chapters; introduces the main aims, content, and structure of each chapter; and provides historical, institutional, and doctrinal contextualization for the Buddhist material. That material includes coverage of Chan Buddhist doctrine in the Song dynasty and Chan’s institutional setting; Chan and Tiantai engagement with Neo-Confucian thinkers; and key Tiantai and Huayan doctrines.

A Reinterpretation and Reconstruction of Confucian Philosophy

2013 ◽  
Vol 40 (5) ◽  
pp. 239-250
Author(s):  
Shu-Hsien Liu
Keyword(s):  
Song Dynasty ◽  
Zhu Xi ◽  
The Song Dynasty ◽  
Regulative Principle ◽  
Confucian Philosophy ◽  
Spiritual Tradition ◽  
Radical Reconstruction ◽  
Current Emphasis

This article further develops my understanding of Confucianism as a spiritual tradition. The spirit of Confucian philosophy remains the same as Confucius and Mencius in the ancient era, and Zhu Xi in the Song Dynasty, who developed liyi-fenshu (one principle/many manifestations) into a comprehensive anthropo-cosmic philosophy. The idea is inherited by Contemporary Neo-Confucian scholars, reinterpreted to cope with the current emphasis on plurality, the aspect of fenshu (difference), but maintained liyi (unity) as a regulative principle, sometimes radical reconstruction is needed to respond to contemporary issues such as the conflict between universalism and particularism.

scholarly journals True Identity

2018 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 100-119
Author(s):  
Ching-Ling Wang
Keyword(s):  
Fourteenth Century ◽  
Twelfth Century ◽  
Song Dynasty ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Yuan Dynasty ◽  
The Song Dynasty ◽  
Fundamental Research ◽  
Buddhist Painting ◽  
Image Production ◽  
The Yuan Dynasty

In the Rijksmuseum collection there is a painting depicting the Buddhist deity Water-Moon Avalokite´svara. The identification and dating of this painting are complex. It had long been considered to be a Chinese work of the Song Dynasty and dated to the twelfth century; later it was regarded as a Chinese work from the Yuan Dynasty and dated to the fourteenth century; more recently opinion shifted and it was seen as a Korean Buddhist painting from the Goryeo Dynasty and dated to the first half of the fourteenth century. This essay aims to serve as a fundamental research by examining the iconography and style of this painting in detail. The author argues on the basis of style that this painting is a late fourteenth-century Japanese hybrid creation that combines both Chinese iconography and the colouring of Chinese Song Buddhist painting with decorative elements of Korean Goryeo Buddhist painting. In light of the recent research into the inter-regional connection of East Asian Buddhist image production, the Rijksmuseum Water-Moon Avalokite´svaraprovides an example of the artistic interactions between China, Korea and Japan in the fourteenth century.

Who Wrote the Analects?

2020 ◽  
pp. 39-57
Keyword(s):  
Song Dynasty ◽  
Zhu Xi ◽  
The Song Dynasty ◽  
Four Books ◽  
Liu Zongyuan ◽  
The Analects ◽  
Confucian Teachings

This chapter focuses on the Analects, which is a collection of 512 passages arranged in twenty chapters that describe what Confucius said. The chapter talks about the rationalist neo-Confucian philosopher Zhu Xi who selected the Analects as one of the Four Books to read in order to understand Confucian teachings during the Song dynasty. It also mentions the Five Classics of Confucianism that were traditionally ascribed to Confucius in the sense that he wrote some and edited others. The chapter discusses Ban Gu, a Chinese politician and poet who provided the seminal narrative for how it was thought the Analects was compiled. It also pays attention to the poet and politician Liu Zongyuan, who expressed the opinion that disciples of Zengzi compiled the Analects.

Song Neo-Confucian Conceptions of Morality and Moral Sources (Zhu Xi): Connections with Chan Buddhism

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 193-212
Author(s):  
Diana Arghirescu
Keyword(s):  
Song Dynasty ◽  
Moral Agency ◽  
Textual Analysis ◽  
Moral Agent ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Chan Buddhism ◽  
Zhu Xi ◽  
Moral Thought ◽  
The Song Dynasty ◽  
Ways Of Thinking

In this study of ancient Confucian, Neo-Confucian (School of Principle) and Chan Buddhist ways of thinking about morality and the moral agent, my main objective is to trace changes relating to the nature and foundation of Confucian moral thought that occurred during the Song dynasty, through a parallel reading of Neo- Confucian writings and the Platform Sutra. By using the hermeneutical method and comparative textual analysis, the essay provides evidence that these changes reflect the Chan influence on Neo- Confucianism and embody a specific Neo-Confucian spirituality. The following concepts and themes articulate the theoretical framework of the research: the moral agent and moral agency; the heart-mind, authentic nature, and the principle of coherence; types of morality (substantive and procedural); and interrelatedness, oneness and purity.

«Mein Geist ist das Universum»

1996 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 57-80
Author(s):  
Wolfgang Ommerborn
Keyword(s):  
Song Dynasty ◽  
The Other ◽  
Factual Knowledge ◽  
Zhu Xi ◽  
Universal Principle ◽  
The Song Dynasty ◽  
Human Conduct ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Self Examination

Abstract Lu Jiuyuan (1139-1193) is one of the most prominent philosophers of the Song dynasty. He belonged to the School of Mind (Xin-Xue), one of the two main schools of Neo-Confucianism - the other being the School of Principle (Li Xue), of which Zhu Xi (1130-1200) is the outstanding figure. This essay investigates the onto-logical and epistemological teachings of Lu Jiuyuan and compares them with the thought of other Neo-Confucian thinkers such as Zhu Xi. The most important term in Zhu Xi's philosophy is li (universal principle). Lu Jiuyuan equated li with the mind of man. He developed his philosophy on the basis of li- present in and apprehended by the mind - as the moral criterion of human conduct. For him, the purpose of study is to recognize li and return to the originally pure condition of the mind. Every man, he said, is responsible for the condition of his mind and must strive to attain knowledge of the truth. Lu refused to consider as important the acquisition of factual knowledge by external investigation, emphasizing instead that li is to be known intuitively. The realization of li is the result of inner, subjective self-examination.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document