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.

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.

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.

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.

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