Wednesday, December 31, 2008

美国著名政治学家亨廷顿逝世 Samuel Huntington Died on Christmas Eve

美国著名政治学家亨廷顿(1927-2008)在圣诞节前夕逝世。亨廷顿在他工作事业后期,以‘文明的冲突’学说而闻名,即关于‘西方与其余者’之间不可避免的摩擦。
在《文明的冲突与世界秩序的重组》中坚持关注文化课题,而文化在传统上被其他政治学家认为是个软课题。他确定八种世界文明:西方、儒家(中国、韩朝和越南)、日本、回教、印度教、东正教(以俄罗斯为核心)、拉丁美洲、以及非洲文明。
源于发表于政治期刊‘外交季刊’的1993 年的一篇文章,三年后出版成书。它辩证说冷战后摩擦的主要根源不是国家或理念,而是文化。冲突是亨廷顿对那些认为在共产党垮台后西方价值普遍胜利的敏捷回应。西方傲慢的认为自己文化具普世性,会蒙蔽了他们看到其他文明挑战者的出现,尤其是回教与中国。
文明冲突立刻在学术界引起争议与辩论,尤其是它与福山的看法截然不同。福山是个有影响力的历史学家。他在冷战平和落幕后,写了‘历史的终结’,辩说西方自由民主的出现,是人类理念演变的终点和人类政府最后形式的信号。
那些认为世界政治主要演员是国家而不是文明的人自然的批评他的观点简化当前政治形势。他被指责替西方在国外的军事干预制造理由。
亨廷顿一直站稳他的文明冲突学说立场。去年,他自哈佛退休前说:‘我的见解还是一样,就是文化的一致、敌对、关联在国与国关系中不但扮演一个角色,而且会扮演一个重要的角色。’
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Samuel Huntington (1927-2008), an American political scientist passed away on Christmas Eve. He achieved fame late in his career for his "Clash of Civilisations" theory concerning the inevitability of conflict between the ‘West and the Rest’, notably Islam.
The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order was a hard-headed look at what political scientists had traditionally dismissed as a soft subject: culture. He identified eight major civilisations in the world: ‘Western, Confucian, Japanese, Islamic, Hindu, Slavic-Orthodox, Latin American and African civilization.’
Originating as a 1993 article in the policy journal Foreign Affairs, and published three years later as a book, it argued that the key sources of post-Cold War conflicts would not be national or ideological, but cultural. Clash was Huntington’s riposte to those who thought the fall of communism meant the universal triumph of Western values. The West’s arrogance about the universality of its own culture would blind it to the ascent of ‘challenger civilisations’, particularly Islam and China.
The Clash of Civilizations prompted immediate controversy and debate within the academic world, particularly as it contrasted so starkly with the vision of the influential historian Francis Fukuyama, who had written about the End of History, following the largely peaceful resolution of the Cold War. In the book, Fukuyama argues that the advent of Western liberal democracy may signal the end point of mankind's ideological evolution and the final form of human government.
Those who believe that nation-states rather than civilisation are the primary actors in world politics would naturally criticise his view as oversimplification of current political situations. He was accused of framing arguments that justified Western military intervention abroad.
Huntington always stood by his clash of civilisations thesis. ‘My argument remains that cultural identities, antagonisms and affiliations will not only play a role, but play a major role in relations between states,’ he said last year, after retiring from Harvard.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

子曰:必也正名乎 Confucius: Rectification of Names

孔子认为要有一个秩序良好的社会,重要的是执行它所谓的正名。就是说,每一样东西都要有正当的名字。
子路曰:‘卫君待子而为政,子将奚先?’
子曰:‘必也正名乎?…….. 名不正,则言不顺,言不顺,则事不成,事不成,则礼乐不兴,礼乐不兴,则刑罚不中,则民无所错手足。故君子名之必可言也。言之必可行也。君子于其言,无所苟而已也。’
正名亦表示事物要符合它所取的名字。在社会关系上,每个名字都意含其责任与职责。统治者、臣子、父亲、儿子都是社会关系中的名字,每一个人在各自名分下都应该适当的履行他们的责任与职责。
所以孔子说:‘君君臣臣父父子子。’
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Confucius held that in order to have a well-ordered society, the most important thing is to carry out what he called the rectification of names. That is to say all things should be called by their proper name.
Zilu said, ‘The ruler of Wei awaits your taking on administration. What will you consider the first thing to be done?’
Confucius replied, ‘What is necessary is to rectify names . . . . If names are not rectified then language will not flow. If language does not flow, then affairs cannot be carried on to success. If affairs cannot be carried on to success, ritual and arts will deteriorate; if the rites and arts deteriorate, justice goes astray; and if justice goes astray, the people will stand about in helpless confusion. Therefore a superior man considers it necessary that the names he uses may be spoken appropriately and also that what he speaks may be carried out appropriately. What the superior man requires, is just that in his words there may be nothing incorrect.'
The rectification of names also means that things should conform to the name they already have. Every name in the social relationships implies certain responsibilities and duties. Ruler, minister, father, and son are all the names of such social relationships, and the individuals bearing these names must fulfil their responsibilities and duties accordingly.
Therefore, Confucius said: ‘Let the ruler be ruler, the minister be the minister, the father be the father, and the son be the son.’

Thursday, December 25, 2008

华人春联 Chinese Spring Couplets

春联时是对联中的一种。春联是在华人新年的一种装饰品。对联可以常年挂,而对联则是贴在屋子前门的新年应景装饰,犹如外国万圣节或圣诞节的装饰品。
春联时写在红色直挂纸的对联,给新年传达快乐、希望、鼓励的信息。
第一张直挂(上联)纸贴在前门的右边。
第二张直挂(下联)纸贴在前门的左边。
另外,还可写第三张横贴门的上面。
下面二副春联是写于猪年(右)与鼠年(左)的:
1。人逢盛世情无限,猪拱华年岁有余。
2。灵鼠迎春春色好,金鸡报晓晓光新。
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Chunlian is a special type of Duilian, or couplet. It is used only during the Chinese New Year as part of its celebration. While duilian is permanent, chunlian is a temporary decoration to be placed on the entrance of the house, somewhat akin to Halloween and Christmas decorations. Duilian comprises of a couplet written on vertical strips of red paper which conveys happy, hopeful, uplifting message(s) about a better New Year to come.
The first (called upper) line is posted on the right side of the front door.The second (called lower) line is posted on the left side of the front door.
In addition, a third horizontal piece may be posted across and on top the door.
The two couplets shown here are written for years of pig (right) and rat (left)respectively.
1. Boundless love blooms during this good time; Prosperity grows in this year of Pig
2. Intelligent mouse welcomes the spring that comes with wonderful colours; Golden rooster announces the daybreak that brings in new light.

Monday, December 22, 2008

布什总统访伊拉克遭“飞鞋”袭击Shoes thrown at President Bush on Iraq Trip

12月16日报章报道,美国总统布什对伊拉克的突然访问,在巴格达记者招待会中发生了伊拉克记者向他抛丢鞋子的事件而大为失色。这是布什明年1月任满前,最后一次走访伊拉克。
新闻招待会半途时,伊拉克电视台记者扎伊迪站起来,丟第一只鞋时用阿拉伯语喊道:“这是来自伊拉克人民的礼物,这是告别之吻,你这条狗。” 布什总统闪过。
阿拉伯文化中,向别人显示鞋底是对他轻蔑侮辱。骂人是狗也是大耻辱。
扔第二只鞋时,扎伊迪说:“这是来自寡妇、孤儿和所有在伊拉克丧生的人。”布什总统也闪避了。
记者认为这次攻击很有象征性。萨罕姆被推翻后,伊拉克人就以鞋子丢和敲打他的铜像。
可是,事后总统先生对记者说不觉得自己被丢鞋而受到侮辱。他还形容这事件引人发笑和很有趣,是自由社会的现象。
更重要的是,总统先生说:‘那家伙想在电视上做秀,他成功了。我不知道他想抱怨什么,但不管是什么,我相信有人听到他了。’
好家伙,想不到西方也有阿Q。
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According to newspaper reports on 16 Dec, a surprise visit by US President George Bush to Iraq has been overshadowed by an incident in which two shoes were thrown at him during a news conference. This is a last visit by him before his term ends in Jan 2009.
In the middle of the news conference, Iraqi television journalist Muntadar al-Zaidi stood up and shouted in Arabian language "this is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog," before hurling a shoe at Mr Bush which narrowly missed him.
Showing the soles of shoes to someone is a sign of contempt in Arab culture. And scolding someone a dog is also a great insult.
With his second shoe, which the president also managed to dodge, Mr Zaidi said: "This is for the widows and orphans and all those killed in Iraq."
Correspondents said the attack was symbolic. Iraqis threw shoes and used them to beat Saddam Hussein's statue after his overthrow.
However, the President told a journalist later that he wasn't insulted by the shoe-throwing. He described the incident as amusing and interesting, and it's a sign of a free society.
And more importantly, the President said: ‘the guy wanted to get on TV and he did. I don't know what his beef is. But whatever it is I'm sure somebody will hear it.’
Well said. Now we know there are Ah Qs in the West as well.

Note: Ah Q is famous for ‘spiritual victories’, Lu Xun's euphemism for self-talk and self-deception even when faced with extreme defeat or humiliation.

Friday, December 19, 2008

子曰:人之生也直Confucius said: Man is Born for Uprightness

孔子详细的谈到他人生精神的发展。我们的印象是他是个有决心和思想独立的人。也可以说他相信人性本同,只是习惯的不同才使到人有不同。
什么是共同的人性呢?子贡曾经说:‘夫子之言性与天道,不可得而闻也。’《论语·公冶长》 意思是老师谈到人性与天道,不是听了就能理解的。
从论语记载看来,孔子谈到人性时说法并不一致。
a. ‘人之生也直’《论语·雍也》
b. ‘我未见好仁者、恶不仁者’《论语·里仁》
c. ‘唯上知与下愚不移’《论语·阳货》
对人性的看法变成重要是因为它决定了人会追求怎样的理想和他如何尽力而为。
儒家后来对人性有了两种重要的看法。
孟子(372-289 BC)所持的一种看法是所有人类都有一个善良的内心,可以教育与自修来助长。
另一方面,荀子(453-221 BC) 持着相反的看法,礼仪是用来改正这种恶本性最重要方法。
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Confucius talked in great detail on the life journey of his own spiritual development. One gets the impression of a man of conviction and independence of mind. One can also say that he believed that human nature is common but practice make it different one from another.
But what is this common nature? Zogong once said: The master’s “discourses about man’s nature, and the way of Heaven, cannot be understood easily by just listening to him.”
In the Analects, it would appear that inconsistent views were expressed by the Master on human nature.
a. ‘Man is born for uprightness’ (6.19)
b. ‘I have not seen a person who loved virtue, or one who hated what was not virtuous.’ (4.6)
c. ‘There are only the wise of the highest class, and the stupid of the lowest class, who cannot be changed.’ (17.3)
The position on human nature becomes important as it shapes our ideas on what ideals men can aspire to and how they are best encouraged to do so.
Two significant positions on human nature were developed later among the Confucians.
Mencius (372-289 BC) holds one position that all human beings share an innate goodness that can be cultivated through education and self-discipline.
On the other hand, Xunzi (453-221 BC) holds the opposite view and that ritual is crucial for reforming humanity’s original bad nature.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

辜鴻銘:中国人的心灵与毛笔 Gu Hongming: The Chinese Mind and the Soft Brush

辜鴻銘 (1857 - 1928) 马来西亚的华人学者。作为一个王室和儒学价值的拥护者,在清朝被拖翻后,他还继续保留他的辫子。晚年对文化感兴趣。十岁时到苏格兰读书。获得爱丁堡大学的文学士与莱克锡大学的土木工程专科。在欧洲念完书后才学华文,听说华文字写得不好看。
他写了几本英文书,包括‘中国人的精神’。虽然我们可能不完全同意他所说的,这本书还是反映了一个被称为‘文化异数’的华人学者的思想。
下面从这本书录了一段关于中国人缺乏精确的特征:
‘那么在中国人的生活方式中缺乏精确的原因是什么呢?我还是要说,原因就是因为中国人过着一种心灵生活。心灵是精细和敏感的微妙平衡。它不像是坚硬、僵化、严格的仪器的头脑或者理智。你不可能像用头脑或者理性一样,用心灵也作如此稳定、如此严格的思考。至少要做到这一点,是非常困难的。事实上,中国毛笔,这种柔软的刷子,可以作为中国心灵的符号。它非常难于书写和作画,而一旦你掌握它的用法,你可以用它以一种硬钢笔无法做到的优美和雅致来书写和作画。’
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Gu Hongming (Ku Hungming 1857 - 1928) was a Malaysian Chinese scholar. As an advocate of monarchy and Confucian values, he preserved his plait even after the overthrow of Qing Dynasty. Gu has become a kind of cultural curiosity late in his life. He was sent to Scotland to study when the boy was 10. He earned a degree in Literature at the University of Edinburgh, and earned a diploma in Civil Engineering at the University of Leipzig. Subsequently, he went to Paris to study law. He acquired Chinese only after his studies in Europe, and was said to have a bad Chinese hand-writing.
He had written a number of English books, including The Spirit of the Chinese People. Although we may not agree all what he had said, it is a book worth reading as it reflects the mind set of an old Chinese scholar who has been treated as a ‘cultural oddity’.
Below is a paragraph from his book on Chinese want of exactness:
‘Now what is the reason for this want of exactness in the ways of the Chinese people? The reason, I say again, is because the Chinese live a life of the heart. The heart is a very delicate and sensitive balance. It is not like the head or intellect, a hard, stiff, rigid instrument. You cannot with the heart think with the same steadiness, with the same rigid exactness as you can with the head or intellect. At least, it is extremely difficult to do so. In fact, the Chinese pen or pencil which is a soft brush, may be taken as a symbol of the Chinese mind. It is very difficult to write or draw with it, but when you have once mastered the use of it, you will, with it, write and draw with a beauty and grace which you cannot with a nard steel pen.’

Saturday, December 13, 2008

二元论:现代科学之诞生 Dualism: Modern Science Made Possible

我们可以说,笛卡儿(1596 – 1650)强调宇宙之双重本质时,他是强调心物二元论的思想。把这两种物质完全独立分开,他让自然科学自由地以机械来解释自然。
科学界可以忙着研究自然现象而不必管心灵之事了。科学也可以完全只管机械方面,而不必去想目的,目标或其他有关心和灵方面的特征了。它可以专注于探索所有有关身体行为与行动的规律。这样,现代科学就可能产生了。
伽利略(1564 – 1642)严厉地把物理与形而上学分开来。伽利略是现代动力学的发明者。他认为形而上学与物理是两种完全分开,不能互相转移的学说,而他只对物理有兴趣。因此,他可能是第一个专业科学家。
笛卡儿与伽利略对世界的看法,采取了不同的理性方式,但都导致了现代科学的诞生。和伽利略不同的是,笛卡儿对形而上学想得很深,以致他被看做是现代哲学之父。由于形而上学被认为是信仰天主的理性解释,难怪伽利略会有不少强势的敌人,尤其是不少的传教士。
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We may speak of the thought of Descartes (1596 – 1650) as emphasizing the dualism of mind and matter, which is, stressing the two-fold nature of the universe. By making these two substances entirely independent, he left nature free from the mechanical explanation of natural science.
The sciences could busy themselves with a study of nature without having to worry about mind. Science could develop along purely mechanical lines without having to make room for purposes, goals, and other characteristics of mind and spirit. It could busy itself with the discovery of the laws by which all bodies act and moves. Indeed, in this way modern science was made possible.
Galileo (1564 – 1642) also sharply separated physics from metaphysics. Galileo was the founder of modern kinematics. He thought that metaphysics and physics were two separate, untranslatable discourses, and he was only interested in physics. This probably makes him the first professional scientist.
Descartes and Galileo adopted two different rational ways of thinking about the world and both led to the birth of modern science. For, contrary to Galileo, Descartes did think hard about metaphysics, so much so that he is considered the father of modern philosophy. Since metaphysics was the rational ground for believing in God, it is not difficult to understand why Galileo had made some powerful enemies, especially among the Jesuits.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

老子:道法自然 Laozi: Dao Follows the Way of Spontaneity

我们注意到天道、地道和人道是形而下道。它们与形而上道有什么关系呢?
老子在道德经中说:‘故道大,天大,地大,人亦大。域中有四大,而人居其一焉。人法地,地法天,天法道,道法自然。’
所以道就是天、地、人道所遵守的最后之法。道法什么呢?道法自然。
这个自然需要解释。
在先秦,‘自然’二字几乎毫无例外是指‘自然而然’。自就是自己,然就是如此,自然就是自己如此。
后来,这个词的意思延伸指天然,物质世界,或自然的。这样,有些学者就把‘道法自然’错解为‘道师法自然界的规律’。
可以总结说,道不可名,无声,无形和无限。它就是自己如此而已。
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We noted that Dao of Heaven, Earth and Man are within-form Dao. What is their relationship with the Above-form Dao?
Laozi said in Daode Jing: ‘Therefore the Dao is a great; Heaven is great; Earth is great; and Man is also great. The four are great things in the universe, and Man is one of them. Man follows the way of Earth. Earth follows the way of Heaven. Heaven follows the way of the Dao. And the Dao follows the way of spontaneity.’
Dao is therefore the ultimate rule to be followed by Heaven, Earth and Man. But what rule does Dao follow? It follows the way of spontaneity.
The Chinese term ‘zi ran’ needs clarification.
During and before Qin dynasty (221-206 BC), the word ‘zi ran’ was used almost without exception to mean spontaneity or as-it-is. The word ‘zi’ means itself or on its own, and ‘ran’ means as it is. When the two words are put together, it means ‘as-it-is-ness’, or ‘as it is’.
However, the meaning of the term was later extended to mean also natural world, physical world, or naturally. As such, some scholars misinterpret the last sentence to mean ‘And the Dao follows the way of the Nature’.
One can therefore conclude that the Above-form Dao is unnamable, soundless, formless and boundless. It is itself and is ‘as-it-is’.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

预兆即将成为事实:写在墙壁上的字 The Writing on the Wall

好像越来越多西方人关心亚洲人缺乏创造力。韩纳斯先生就是其中的一个。
韩纳斯会说十二这语言。他说东亚与西方国家比较,在科学与技术重要突破方面是失败的。他归罪于中国、日本、韩国的书写系统。
他写了‘汉字困境’、‘写在墙壁上的字’*之类的书。据一个网站说是‘依据认知科学和语言学识,及作者的东亚语文深刻经验’,‘为环球化中,现代亚洲所面对的一个重要问题,提供一个平衡和深思熟虑的解释。’
在中国书写系统中,每一个字对应一个音符。它是音节系统。
相比之下,西方的字母系统依赖完全抽象的字母,而单一字母并不代表一个音符。
因为东亚书写系统缺少字母的抽象特征,它们限制了科学创新所必具的分析和抽象思维。韩纳斯关注的是,沉浸于字体文化里的孩童会居于劣势,因为这些书写系统没有训练抽象思考能力。
他注意到西方的亚洲移民,在字母系统中工作,吸取和应用西方花费大量资源所创造的科学成果,来进行创意工作和赚取财源。
我们有理由相信他当他坚持他不是在批评亚洲人和说他们缺乏智力。
他本身写在墙壁上的字响亮和明显:东亚应该改用字母系统。
*注:英语The Writing on the Wall 直译是‘写在墙壁上的字’,真正的意思是指很明显的预兆(多指不祥的预兆)即将成为事实。一语双关的意图明显。
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More and more westerners seem to be quite concerned with Asians’ lack of creativity. One of them is Mr William C. Hannas.
Hannas who speaks 12 languages, blames the writing systems of China, Japan and Korea for what he says is the East Asia’s failure to make significant scientific and technological breakthroughs compared to the Western nations.
He has written books, such as ‘Asia’s Orthographic Dilemma’, ‘Writing On The Wall’, which, according to one Internet Website, are ‘based on the scholarship in cognitive science and linguistics, and the author's intimate experience with East Asian languages’, and provide ‘a balanced and thoughtful account of one of the important problems facing modern Asia in the age of globalization.’
In the Chinese writing system, each character corresponds to a syllable of sound. It is a system of ‘syllabaries’.
In comparison, the western alphabetic systems rely on letters that by themselves are pure abstractions since a single letter does not represent a syllable of sound.
Because the Eastern Asian writing systems lack the abstract features of alphabets, they hamper the kind of analytical and abstract thought necessary for scientific creativity. He is also concerned that children who are immersed in a character-based culture are at a huge disadvantage because such writing systems do not cultivate the ability for abstract thought.
He noted that Asian immigrants to the West, who work in an alphabetic system, do innovative work and make money by taking and applying the fruits of science that the West creates at great expenses.
One has good reason to believe him when he insists that he is not criticizing Asians and claiming that they lack intellect.
His own writing on the wall is also loud and clear: East Asians should switch to the alphabetic system.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

语言与形象 Word and Image

在西方,自古以来,语言就很重要。咒语并非空言,而是有力量实现所表达的事件的语言。
就此而言,世界就是经上帝的语言而创造的。
圣经约翰福音1.1:‘太初有道,道与上帝同在,道就是上帝。这道太初与上帝同在。万物是借着他造的;凡被造的,没一样不是借着他造的。生命在他里头,这生命就是人的光。光照在黑暗里,黑暗却不接受光。’
中文读者要注意,这个‘道’不是中国哲学中的道,而是指语言。就意译而言,这个翻译确实神来之笔。圣经本意就是把语言当上帝的代理。当然,这个道是西方之道,和中国之道是完全不同的。
我们注意到逻各斯,希腊语意指‘说’,在希腊与基督教哲学中居重要地位。
相比之下,中国哲学习惯以阴阳,龙图象或其他奥秘符号来表达。这是因为华人相信‘书不尽言,言不尽意。’华人重象轻言。
王弼(226-249)在‘周易略例’把意、象、言的关系这样解释:
‘夫象者,出意者也;言者,明象者也。尽意莫若象,尽象莫若言。….. 故言者所以观象,得象而忘言;象者,所以存意,得意而忘象。’
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In the West, words are powerful since ancient times. A curse is not idle words, but words with power to carry out the thing expressed.
In this sense the world came into being through God's word.
Gen. 1:3; John 1:1. 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. '
Word is therefore treated as the agent of God in the creation of the world. It is noted that logos, a word derived from the Greek verb lego, ‘to say’, figures prominently in a number of Greek and Christian philosophical doctrines.
In contrast, the Chinese philosophy often features images of yin, yang, dragons and other esoteric symbols. This is because the Chinese believe that ‘writing cannot fully express spoken words, and spoken words cannot fully express ideas.’ The Chinese prefer symbols and images, not words.
Wang Bi (226-249) in his Zhou Yi Lueli explains the relationship between ideas, symbols and words:
'Symbols serve to express ideas. Words serve to explain symbols. For the complete expression of ideas, there is nothing like symbols, and for the complete explanation of symbols there is nothing like words… Therefore the purpose of words is to explain the symbols, but once the symbols have been grasped, the words may be forgotten. The purpose of symbols is to preserve ideas, but once the ideas have been grasped the symbols may be forgotten….'

Monday, December 1, 2008

王维:空山不见人 Wang Wei: Empty Mountain, No Man is Seen

王维是盛世唐朝重要诗人。他的诗主要描述自由、简单、平静、自然悠闲的人生,包含意味深长的美学思想。王维信佛,特别是禅学。他的美学思想受佛学影响很大,特别是南禅思想。
他的诗以简单悠闲景物和静山与河流为美的对象,展现它追求简单、出世、自由与自然人生,和外物与自身的理想和谐。
让我们看他这首杰作:鹿柴
空山不见人,但闻人语响。
返景入深林,复照青苔上。
树长深林加上日照青苔的景象应把自然之超逸具体化。至于为何如此,这就期望读者把隐藏在景象后的作者意向加以解码了。
这首诗有几组心像并排组成:空山与回音、复照与深山、青苔光与青苔、语声与青苔。这些并列心像互动而唤起源源不绝的象外之象和境外之境。
你可以想象王维坐在鹿柴中整日冥想,默察空与形(山)、无知(影)与智慧(光)、天与山、光线、青苔成长、人之现与隐之间的互动。
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Wang Wei (699-761) is a famous poet in the most prosperous age of Tang Dynasty whose poems mainly describe the free, simple, placid, and natural idyllic life, which contain profound aesthetic thoughts. Wang Wei believes in Buddhism and Chan philosophy in particular. His aesthetic thoughts have been influenced by Buddhism, especially by the South Chan philosophy.
His poetry, regarding the simple idyllic scenery and the quiet mountains and rivers as aesthetic objects, exhibits his pursuit of a simple, detached, free and natural life as well as an ideal harmony between the outside world and himself.
Let’s look at his master piece ‘Deer Park’:
Empty mountain, no man is seen,
Only heard are men's voices echoing;
The sunlight re-enters the deep wood,
Shining again on the green moss.
The scene of trees growing amidst hills with the sunlight shining on the moss is supposed to reify the notion of natural gracefulness. As to why this is so, readers are expected to decode the authorial intention lurking behind the scene by themselves.
This poem is built upon a number of imagery juxtapositions: the empty mountain and the echoing voices, the re-entering sunlight and the deep wood, the moss-shining sunlight and the green moss, and the voices and the moss. These imagery juxtapositions may interact to evoke unceasingly ‘image beyond image’ and ‘scene beyond scene.’
You can imagine Wang Wei sitting in day-long meditation in Deer Park observing the interplay between emptiness and form (the mountain), ignorance (shadows) and wisdom (light), sky and mountain, lights, the lowest mosses glowing, human presence and absence.

Friday, November 28, 2008

孔子与苏格拉底: 述者与作者 Confucius and Socrates: Transmitter and Maker

孔子 (551-479BC) 和苏格拉底 (469-399BC) 是历史上两个著名的思想家。他们对中西文化各自有重大影响。人们常把苏格拉底说成是西方的孔子。
可是我们知道这两个思想家是不同的,主要因为它们生活在不同的社会、文化、政治环境里。
我们注意到孔子所生活的周朝已达到高度成熟的政治文化、交易系统、社会结构。孔子幸运地承继了纪录得很好的古典书籍,如诗、尚书、易经、礼、乐、春秋。孔子用它们来做教育子弟学生的基本教科书。所以孔子自豪的说他‘述而不作,信而好古’。
苏格拉底就没有那么好运,他没有已被接受的参考书来开展他的哲学理念。我们可以说他并没有选择,只能成为作者。
孔子作为中国古代传统的一个述者,对他的古代著作阐述的接受,他并没有面对重大阻力。据说他有学生三千名,其中著名弟子七十二名。这些弟子对他很敬畏,以日月来比喻他的德行。他死后被葬于故土附近,不少弟子为他守墓三年,还植树来怀念他。据说他死后的第二年,鲁哀公将其故宅隔改建为庙,还为他奉祀。这是儒学漫长历史的开端。
作为新理念的哲学作者,苏格拉底的努力事实上引起疑虑,被看成是民主的反对者。公元前399年的一天,苏格拉底站在500名雅典陪审员前,被指控‘拒绝承认国家所承认的神’和‘败坏年轻人’。在聆听了苏格拉底和控方的陈词后,陪审员对他的罪名投票,而以280对220的票数判他有罪。他被判死刑。
很明显的,述者和作者的命运是不同的。
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Confucius (551-479BC) and Socrates (469-399BC) are two of the most important thinkers in History. They have a huge impact on eastern and western culture respectively. People tend to say that Socrates is the Confucius of the western world and vice versa.
But we all know that these two thinkers are very different, and this is so mainly because they lived in very different social, cultural and political environments.
We have noted that Confucius lived during the Chinese Zhou dynasty which had already achieved a highly sophisticated political culture, educational system and social structure. Confucius had the good fortune of inheriting many well documented classical texts, such as the Books of Odes (Poetry), History, Changes, Rites, Music and The Annals of Spring and Autumn. Confucius took them as the basic textbooks to educate his disciples and students. Confucius had therefore proudly declared that he is ‘a transmitter and not a maker, believing in and loving the ancients’.
Socrates was not so lucky to have well accepted texts as his reference in developing his philosophical ideas. One can therefore say that he had no choice but to be a maker.
Confucius as a transmitter of ancient Chinese traditions did not face major resistances in getting his interpretation of ancient works accepted. It is said that he had three thousand students, of whom seventy-two were well-known disciples. His disciples respected or revered him and compared his virtue to the sun and moon. After his death, he was buried near his native town, and many of his disciples stayed there for three years mourning for him, where they planted trees in memory of him. It is believed that the second year after his death, the Duke of Lu took his house as the temple, where the duke made sacrifice to him. This was the beginning of the long history of the Confucianism.
As a maker of new ideas and philosophy, Socrates’ effort had actually raised suspicions about him and he was seen as a critic of democracy. On a day in 399 BC Socrates stood before a jury of 500 of his fellow Athenians accused of ‘refusing to recognize the gods recognized by the state’ and ‘of corrupting the youth.’ After hearing the arguments of both Socrates and his accusers, the jury was asked to vote on his guilt and he was found guilty by a vote of 280 to 220. He was sentenced to death.
The fates of a transmitter and maker are obviously different.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

中国艺术意境: 象外之境 Chinese Artistic Vision: Scene beyond Images

艺术意境是另一个重要的中国美学概念,为二十世纪的美学家所热烈讨论与阐述。
意境经常与境界交替使用。然而,境界有较广的意义。学者如王国维、宗白华、冯友兰等都说人生有不同境界。宗白华认为人生有五种境界,艺术境界就是其中的一种。
艺术境界其实就是意境。
意境不单是情感与景色的完全交融。
意境就是意与境。
意就是情感。所谓写情则沁人心脾,写景则在人耳目,述事则如其口出是也。
境就是指我们的心神遨游古、今以至未来的时间之中,由无数形象形成图像。这些形象由虚与实之空间所形成。众所周知,中国美学认为虚更重要,因为虚比实更能提示性的表达。要引出意境,我们要现象处身于无限时空之中,同时艺术品需能传达‘象外之象’和‘境外之境’并引出我们的世界感、宇宙感、人生感。
就是说,意境代表一种抽象形象美,它的大部分藏于形式内或超越形式,所以只会显现于行家或灵目之中。
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Artistic vision (yijing) is another important Chinese aesthetic concept that was very much discussed and elaborated by aestheticians during the 20th century. The western readers should not confuse the Chinese term artistic vision (yijing) with the Book of Changes (yijing). Although the pinyin for these two terms is exactly the same, but the actual Chinese words for them are totally different.
Artistic Vision (Yijing) is often used interchangeably with the term Horizon (jingjie). However, the term Horizon has a broader meaning. Scholars such as Wang Guowei, Zong Baihua and Fong You-lan talked about various types of Horizon of life. Zong Baihua said that there were five types of horizon of life and artistic horizon was one of them.
The artistic horizon actually refers to the artistic vision (yijing).
Artistic vision is more than a perfect aesthetic fusion of artistic feeling or idea with scenic images.
The Chinese term yijing consists of two words: yi and jing.
Yi means feelings. One scholar once said, ‘it is in the expression of feelings that is heart-stirring and mind-freshening, in the description of scenes that is vivid and engaging, and also in the narrative of events that is lucid and authentic as though coming straight from the mouth of a good story teller. ’
The words jing refers to the land of countless images that form a picture in one’s mind that moves along the time line from past to present and towards future. The images are formed by spaces that are unoccupied (xu) and occupied (shi). It is well known in Chinese aesthetics that the unoccupied is more important as it can be more suggestively telling than the occupied. Therefore, to achieve artistic vision, one must imagine he is in the land of infinite time and space and that the art work should convey ‘images beyond images’ and ‘scenes beyond scenes’ which will bring out one’s sense of world, universe and life views.
In other words, artistic vision represents a kind of abstract beauty of images in which more than half conceals itself within or beyond Form and is revealed only to the ‘informed’ and searching eye.

Monday, November 24, 2008

中国官员:天何言哉 Chinese Officials: Does Heaven Speak?

联合早报11月21日报道,中国前驻法大使、外交学院前院长吴建民昨天在官方《人民日报》上发表文章,批评一些中国高官不懂得如何同外国人交流,把大量时间浪费在充满套话、废话和空话的无效交流上,指出交流力缺失是中国社会的一大浪费。
他说一些人就好像茶壶里装饺子,倒不出来。这个比喻可说是神妙极了,饺子借用外力进壶颈倒不太难,可要它自己显出,可是不易呀。
吴建民认为,造成这种现象,既有历史原因,也有现实原因。自古中国人的哲学是‘敏于行,讷于言’,‘能说会道’的人容易被批评为夸夸其谈,而不善表达的人倒是人们表扬的对象。
看来是孔老夫子教导错误了。
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It was reported on 21 Nov in the Zaobao that Wu Jianmin, the former Chinese Ambassador to France and former Dean of the China Foreign Affairs University wrote in the official ‘People’s Daily’ and criticized certain Chinese officials who did not know to communicate properly with foreigners, wasted much time in using polite, nonsensical and empty words for ineffective communication. He pointed out that the loss of power of communication is a great waste for the Chinese society.
He said that certain people are like the dumplings in tea pots – just could not be poured out. This is an interesting analogy. While it is not too difficult for the dumplings to be pressed into a tea pot with a little help by external forces, it is rather difficult to them to get out of it on their own.
Wu felt that there are both historical and practical reasons that can be used to account for such phenomenon. The ancient Chinese philosophers teach that one should be hesitant to speak, fearing that their actions would not do justice to their words. A person with a ready and eloquent tongue may be seen to be an empty talker, while people who are not good in expressing themselves may be praised.
Looks like Confucius should be blamed for his wrong teachings.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

理性主义:二元论 Rationalism: Dualism

西方理性主义的理论中,对真理的决定是基于知性和推理而不是感官。它崇尚永恒多过变动,这就产生了各种的二元论。
它产生了本体二元论。就是说,存在被认为比变易优异。
它也产生了心体二元论,意味着与这个变动世界关联的身体,被当作比与永恒世界联系的灵魂来得低下。
二元论还有其它一系列的分体:理念世界-知觉世界,本质-现象,唯心-唯物,主体-客体,等等。
二元分开,这边无法通到另一边。这就成为至今还困扰西方哲学家的最大难题:如何解释二元间的关系?也就是说,如何统一双方?
注:华人的阴阳学说不是二元论,因为阴与阳不是二个个体:所谓阴中有阳,阳中有阴是也。
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The western Rationalism is based on a theory in which the criterion of the truth is not sensory but intellectual and reasoning. It prefers permanence over flux and this has produced many kinds of dualism.
It has produced ontological dualism. That is to say, being has always been seen as superior to becoming.
It also produces the dualism of soul and body which implies that the value of body associated with the world of flux has been construed as inferior to that of the soul associated with the unchanging world of permanence.
The dualism further displays in a serial of separations: idea world - perceivable world, noumenon - phenomenon, idealism - materialism, subject - object, etc.
The two sides in each pair separate from each other and they cannot pass from one side to the other side. This has become the most difficult problem that has haunted philosophers even to the present: how to explain the relationship between the two sides? Or put it another way, how to unify the two sides?
Note: The Chinese yin-yang theory is not a dualism, as yin and yang are not separated – as the saying goes, yin is always contained in yang and yang in yin.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

子曰:天何言哉? Confucius Said: Does Heaven Speak?

子曰:‘予欲无言。”子贡曰:“子如不言,则小子何述焉?”子曰:‘天何言哉?四时行焉,百物生焉,天何言哉?’
孔子说:“我不想讲话了。”子贡说:“老师如果不讲话,那么弟子们又传述什么呢?”孔子说:“天讲了什么呢?春夏秋冬照样运行,天下百物照样生长,天讲了什么呢?”
我们可以从孔子“予欲无言”这四个字里看到孔子内心的一种无奈。孔子为什么不想讲话呢?除了因为言易行难,更重要的是言不尽意呵。
关于第一点,孔子说了不少:‘巧言令色,鲜矣仁’、‘古者言之不出,恥躬之不逮也’、‘君子欲訥於言,而敏於行’ 。
关于第二点,孔子在易经中就指出:‘书不尽言,言不尽意。’所以,‘圣人立象以尽意,设卦以尽情伪,系辞焉以尽其言。’
就这样,重象轻言的说法后来就成了中国美学里最重要的审美概念。比较起来,西方则重‘文字’(罗各斯)而轻‘影像’。
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Confucius said, 'I would prefer not speaking.' Zi-gong said, 'If you, the Master, do not speak, what shall we, your disciples, have to record and pass on?' Confucius said, 'Does Heaven speak? The four seasons pursue their courses, and all things are continually being produced, but does Heaven say anything?'
One can sense the Master’s inner feeling of lack of choices when he said he would prefer not speaking. Why didn’t he prefer speaking? This is due to the difficulty in applying his teachings in our daily lives and more importantly, the difficulty in using words to transmit completely his teachings.
On the first point, Confucius has a lot to say about it:
- Fine words and an insinuating appearance are seldom associated with virtue.
- The ancients were hesitant to speak, fearing that their actions would not do justice to their words.
- The Superior Man desires to be hesitant in speech, but sharp in action.
On the second point, Confucius said in Yijing: “Writing cannot fully express spoken words, and spoken words cannot fully express ideas.” As such, he continued: “A Sage establishes images/symbols to fully express his ideas, and he designs the hexagrams to plumb true and false feelings. He appends text to them to express his words.”
Now, his preference of ‘images/symbols’ over ‘words’ was later evolved into the most important aesthetic concept in the traditional Chinese aesthetics, as compared to the Western preference of ‘words’ (logos) over appearances.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

中国文字:书法的第一形式美 Chinese Characters: The Beautiful Primary Form of Chinese Calligraphy

我们注意到中国文字是书法的第一形式美。
通常说中国文字具有意、音、形三美。就是这形美吸引了书法家,使到他们中不少人以终身的精力来研究如何把美丽的文字优美的写好。
我们说中文字有美感是因为他们是以美感标准和原理来创造的。
就让我们看一些用来组成中国文字结构的重要原理吧。
匀称:文字的笔画可简单、可复杂、可粗、可细、可长、可短。它们要适当和相称地排列,令人感到均衡、相称和协调。
让就:指笔画在文字结构上的安排。主笔和副笔分清以协调。相同的,字的左右、上下、中间的笔画或组成部分位置要适当,这样才不会不得体。
平正:指横平竖直。就是说每字的中心要平衡和稳定,以使字平正。
中国传统美学的美源于自然。中国文字的制造的原理就是要体现自然之次序和纹理,和自然之平衡与协调。
难怪两千多年前,汉朝学者杨雄就说:‘书,心画也。’
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We have noted that Chinese characters are the primary form of Chinese Calligraphy.
The Chinese characters are said to possess beauty in sense, sound and form. It is the beautiful form that catches the attention of the Chinese calligraphers and many of them have spent their lifetime to study how this beautiful form can be beautifully executed.
It is said that the form of Chinese characters is aesthetically beautiful because the words are structured based on aesthetic rules and principles.
Let’s look at some of the important principles that are used to create the structure of Chinese characters.
Yunchen (匀称): The Chinese term yunchen means well proportioned. The strokes that form the characters can be simple or complicated, fat or lean, long or short. They must be suitably and proportionately arranged so as to give one a sense of good balance, fine proportion and harmony.
Rangjiu (让就): The Chinese term ranjiu means suitably positioned. This refers to structural arrangement of strokes of the character. A distinction between the principal stroke and the subordinate strokes is drawn so that they can be harmonized. Similarly, the left and right, top and bottom, and the central strokes or components that form the character must be positioned appropriately so that none of the component parts is out of place.
Pingzheng (平正): The Chinese term pingzheng means straight and even. This means the dash, or horizontal stroke is level, or flat; and the vertical stroke is upright. In other words, the centre of gravity of the character must be balanced and steady so that the form of the character will become level and even.
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In traditional Chinese aesthetics, beauty is rooted in nature. The form of Chinese characters is created based the principles that aim to embody the order and pattern of nature as well as the balance and harmony of the nature.
It is no wonder that Yang Xiong (53 BC – 18 AD), a Han dynasty scholar, said more than two thousand years ago that the Chinese characters are the picture of mind.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

苏轼:欲把西湖比西子 Su Shi: Drinking at the Lake

当一个感性诗人在湖边喝酒,遥想美女,其结果会如何?
诗人:苏轼(1037–1101) 是宋代著名作者、诗人、画家和书法家。从1060年起的二十年,他在中国各地当官,其中令人瞩目的是在杭州,在那里西湖边建了苏堤。
美人:西施(506 BC-?)是中国四大美人之一。西子就是西施。西施之美,据说依露台下望鱼池,鱼儿都会感到眩眼而忘了游水,渐往下沉;鸟儿会忘了飞而从天掉下;月儿渐淡;花儿耻于相比而关花瓣。
:在杭州之西边,西湖三面为连绵山地树木所围,是杭州地标,也是中国最美丽的景观之一。传说西湖是天上掉下来的宝石。
结果:诗人为与西施同美的美景所激励,以诗来表达了情怀。千年来,这诗吸引了无数人来游览这湖。
苏轼( 1037 – 1101 ): 《饮湖上初晴后雨》
水光潋滟晴方好,山色空蒙雨亦奇;
欲把西湖比西子,淡妆浓抹总相宜。
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When a sentimental poet drank at a lake and thought of a beautiful lady, what would happen?
The Poet: Su Shi (1037–1101) was a famous writer, poet, artist, calligrapher of the Song Dynasty. Beginning in 1060 and throughout the following twenty years, Su held a variety of government positions throughout China; most notably in Hangzhou, where he was responsible for constructing a pedestrian causeway across the West Lake that still bears his name: sudi (蘇堤).
The Beauty: Xi Shi (506 BC – ?) was one of the renowned Four Beauties of ancient China. The word Xi in Chinese means West. As such, Xi Shi is also known as the Lady of the West. Xi Shi was said to be so beautiful that while leaning over a balcony to look at the fish in the pond, the fish would be so dazzled that they forgot to swim and gradually sunk away from the surface, birds would forget to fly and fall from the sky, the moon would fade, and flowers would close their petals in shame in comparison to her.
The Lake: Lying on the west edge of Hangzhou city, West Lake, surround in three sides by rolling wooded hills, is the symbol of Hangzhou as well as one of the most beautiful sights in China. Legend has it that West Lake was originally a jewel fallen from heaven.
The result: The poet was obviously inspired by the beautiful scenery that was as pretty as the Lady of the West. He expressed his poetic sentiment in a poem that has captivated countless people for centuries to visit the lake.
Su Shi: Drinking at the Lake
The brimming waves delight the eye on sunny days,
The dimming hills present rare view in rainy haze.
West Lake may be compared to Lady of the West,
Whether she is richly adorned or plainly dressed.

Friday, November 14, 2008

子日:述而不作 Confucius Said: A Transmitter and Not a Maker

孔子(551BC – 479 BC)出生与生活于周代春秋时期中国东北的鲁国。周代(1122 BC to 256 BC) 是中国历史上历时最久的一个朝代,建国初期和后期,人们生活条件和社会状况相差很大。
周朝在政治文化、教育系统、社会结构高度成熟,成就很大,礼乐文化闻名。周朝书籍著作和保留很多,包括诗经、尚书、易经、周礼。
孔子沮丧于周礼乐文化之衰微与没落。礼乐文化在他于公元前551年出世之前的几个世纪就已经发展和兴盛成熟。
道家的反应是逃避人类文明,在自然中寻找宁静与自由。而孔子的反应是全面的、长远的解决方案,就是以周文化来教化百姓。
所以当孔子说‘述而不作,信而好古’时,倒不是他的谦虚之言,而是现成的选择。
他还说:‘我非生而知之,好古,敏以求之者也。’
无可避免地,在传述古典思想时,他以自己的伦理观念加以阐述。而这些阐述最后发展成为一家之说,那就是儒家。
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Confucius (551BC - 479 BC) was born and raised in the state of Lu during the Spring and Autumn period of Zhou dynasty in Shandong province in northeast China. The Zhou dynasty (1122 BC to 256 BC) is by far the longest in Chinese history, and the conditions of life and the state of society at the beginning and end of it are vastly different.
The Zhou dynasty achieved a highly sophisticated political culture, educational system and social structure. It was famous for its culture of rites and music (礼乐文化) and lots of writing were produced and preserved from Zhou dynasty, including Book of Odes (Shi Jing), Book of History (Shang Shu), Book of Changes (Yi Jing), and the Rites of Zhou (Zhou Li).
Confucius was disheartened on seeing the decline and falls of the Zhou culture of rites and music, which was developed and flourished for a number of centuries prior to his birth in 551 BC.
While the Daoists responded by moving away from human civilization and finding tranquility and liberation in nature, Confucius responded with a holistic, long term solution by teaching his fellow people the Zhou culture.
Thus, when Confucius said he is ‘a transmitter and not a maker, believing in and loving the ancients’, he is not being modest. Rather he was making an existential choice.
He continued: ‘I am not one who was born in the possession of knowledge; I am one who is fond of antiquity, and earnest in seeking it there. ’
It is inevitable that while transmitting the ideas from the classics, he gave them interpretations derived from his own moral concepts, which ultimately evolved into a school of thought known as Confucianism.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

易经:天道、人道、地道 Yijing: The Three-tier Universe

易经清楚的说明宇宙的三结构:‘易之为书也,广大悉备,有天道焉,有人道焉,有地道焉。’
中国古典著作中,常把天道和地道合称为天道。天地为宇宙,天地之道就是天道。
人和天不是两个不同的个体,他们是宇宙完整的三结构,易经明显把人放在宇宙的中心,为其脑筋。
这样,易经提出了‘天人合一’的思想。
易经亦提出了天地人三道的六个属性:‘昔者圣人之作‘易’也,将以顺性命之理,是以立天之道曰阴与阳,立地之道曰柔与刚,立人之道曰仁与阳义。’
同‘中庸’中的‘天命之謂性,率性之謂道’一起读,我们可进一步理解天性和人性。
这里所说的天地人道其实都是‘形而下’道或器之道。易经说‘形而下者谓之器’,这器道是物质世界的原理。
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Yijing spells out clearly the theory of the three-tier universe when it says: ‘As a book the Yijing is vast and broad, comprehending all details. In it there is the Dao of Heaven, there is the Dao of Man, and there is the Dao of Earth.’
One should take note that in the Chinese classical books, very often Dao of Heaven and Earth are mentioned simply as the Dao of Heaven (tian dao). Since Heaven and Earth form the physical world, tian dao actually refers to the Dao of Nature.
Man and Nature are not two separate entities. Rather, they form integral parts of the three-tier universe and we have noted that Yijing clearly positions Man at the centre of this universe as its brain.
With this, Yijing is said to have developed the idea of oneness between Man and Nature.
Yijing also points out the six major attributes/elements of these three Dao: ‘In the past, when the sages made Yijing, they developed it in compliance with the ways of human nature. Therefore, the elements constituting the Heaven way are yin and yang; the elements constituting the Earth are the soft and the hard; the elements making out the way of Man are humanity and righteousness.’
One should read the above together with the following sentences from Zhong Yong (The Doctrine of Mean) to further reflect the idea of human and terrestrial nature: ‘What (ethical) Tian confers (on man) is called his (human) nature; following our straightforward nature is called the Dao.’
The three Dao mentioned here are actually the within-form Dao, or the Way of Qi (器). Yijing says: ‘What is within Form are called Qi (器)’ and the within-form Dao applies therefore to all things in the terrestrial world.

Monday, November 10, 2008

陶渊明:道家精神最高境界 Tao Yuan-Ming: Daoism at its Best

录自冯友兰《中国哲学简史》:
道家对艺术没有正面提出系统的见解,但是他们追求心灵的自由流动,把自然看为最高理想,这给了中国的伟大艺术家无穷的灵感。由于这一点,许多中国艺术家把自然作为艺术的对象,就不足为怪了。中国美术作品中的许多杰作都是写山水、花鸟、树木、竹枝。在许多山水画里,山脚下、溪水边,往往能看见一个人,静坐沉醉在天地的大美之中,从中领会超越于自然和人生之上的妙道。
在中国的诗歌里,让我们读陶渊明(公元三七三至四七二年)的诗《饮酒》(其五):
结庐在人境,而无车马喧。
问君何能尔?心远地自偏。
采菊东篱下,悠然见南山。
山气日夕佳,飞鸟相与还。
此中有真意,欲辨已忘言。

这正是道家所追求的最高精神境界。
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Extraced from A Short History of Chinese Philosophy by Fong You-lan:
The Taoists had no formal treaties on art, but their admiration of the free moment of the spirit and their idealization of nature gave profound inspiration to the great artists of China. This is 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 the landscape painting, at the foot of maintain or the bank of a stream, one always find a man sitting, appreciating the beauty of nature and contemplating the Tao or Way that transcends both nature and man.
Likewise in Chinese poetry we find such poems as that by T’ao Ch’ien (Tao Qian 陶潜, AD. 372-427):
I build 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.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

中国美学: 境界 Chinese Aesthetics: Horizon of True Emotions and Scenes

境界是王国维所阐述的其中一个重要的中国美学概念。这本来是个佛家词语,指境或尘,就是感觉作用的区域;又为对象;心识活动范围。
他对境界的解说:‘境非独谓景物也。喜怒哀乐,亦人心中之一境界。故能写真景物,真感情者,谓之有境界。否则谓之无境界。’
就是说,境界要有真感情和真景物。
据他所说,境界有四个透视镜:
1。造境与写境:这理想派和写实派得分别, 虽然事实上不易分别,因大诗人所造之境必合乎自然,所写之境必邻于理想故也。
2。有我与无我之境:艺术家与景物完全认同,是为有我之境,类似里柏斯的移情状态。我在景物中迷失,似乎消失,无我之境也。
3。大小之境:境界有大小,不以是而分优劣。
4。隔与不隔之境:‘隔’就是‘雾里看花’。‘不隔’就是自然表现的真感情与真景物而令参与者获得直觉的理解和深邃的鉴赏。
我们可以总结说,境界是文艺价值的最终判断和艺术创作的理想。
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The notion of Horizon (jing-jie), as elaborated by Wang Guowei, is one of the most important Chinese aesthetic concepts. Jing-jie is actually a Buddhist term visaya which means the scope of sense perception or the characteristic of sense experience.
On the meaning of Horizon, he said: ‘The poetic state is not limited to scenery and objects alone. Pleasure and anger, sorrow and joy are also a sort of jing-jie in men’s hearts. Therefore, those poems that describe true scenes and objects (真景物), true emotions and feelings (真感情), can be said to possess jing-jie. Otherwise, they may be said to be lack of jing-jie.’
In other words, Horizon is about true emotions and true scenes.
According to him, Horizon can be viewed from four perspectives:
1. Created or Described Horizon: This is the basis of the distinction between idealists and realists. In reality, it is not easy to differentiate them, as great art works must be both created naturally and described ideally.
2. Involved-Self or Detached Self: Horizon of an Involved-Self is a situation whereby the artist totally immerses himself personally and emotionally. This is quite similar to Lipps’ condition of empathy. In the case of a Detached-Self, the self is so deeply lost in the object that it seems to disappear.
3. Large or Small Horizon: Horizon can be large or small, but it cannot be used as a basis for determining excellence or inferiority of an art piece.
4. Veiled or Non-Veiled Horizon: The Veiled Horizon refers to a situation where one ‘views flowers through a mist’. On the other hand, Non-Veiled Horizon is achieved through the natural expression of real feelings and scenes that enable participants to attain intuitive apprehension and profound appreciation.
We can therefore conclude that Horizon or jing-jie is an ultimate measure of literary value and an ideal of artistic creation.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

中国书法:古典优雅的艺术 Chinese Calligraphy: Fine Art of Classical Elegance

书法之本质,已有不少讨论,但至今尚无定论。一学派从王国维之古雅说中获取灵感。
王国维美学观点无疑是形式主义者。他主张从定义来说,美都是形式美,存于形式之对称、变化及调和。例如,英雄和他的境遇提供了小说或戏剧的材质,可是这些材质只能通过某种适当形式才能引起美的感觉。只有这个有别于材质的形式,才是美的对象。
他说形式有两种。那些由第一形式自然地和完美地表现出来的,能唤起优美和宏壮之美。那些由第二形式巧妙地表现出来的,可产生优雅的美的客体。第二形式不存在于自然世界。
王国维把第二形式美称为古雅。
通常说书法是写汉字的艺术。如果我们接受汉字是书法的第一形式,那么很自然的,可下结论说书法就是汉字之艺术表现的第二形式。
换句话说,书法是古雅的艺术。
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There have been a lot of discussions on the nature of Chinese Calligraphy without any generally accepted agreement till today. One school of thought gets its inspiration from Wang Guowei's theory of guya (古雅).
Wang’s view on aesthetics is no doubt that of a formalist. He asserts that all beauty is by definition formal beauty that lies in the symmetry, variety and harmony of form. For example, the hero and his situation provide the subject matter of a novel or drama, but this subject matter can arouse aesthetic feelings only through adequate form. Only this form, which is distinct from the subject matter, can become an aesthetic object.
He says that there are generally two types of form. What is expressed naturally and perfectly in the primary form will produce an aesthetic object of either the beautiful (优美) or the sublime (宏壮), and what is skillfully represented in the secondary form will produce an aesthetic object of the refined (古雅). The secondary form does not exist in the natural world.
The term guya consists of two Chinese characters: gu (ancient or classical) and ya (grace or elegance). Wang put them together to mean a kind of classical elegance or refined gracefulness in art.
It is generally accepted that Chinese Calligraphy is an art of writing Chinese words or characters. If one accepts that the Chinese characters are the primary form of Chinese Calligraphy, then one would naturally conclude that Chinese Calligraphy is the artistic expression of Chinese characters in their secondary form.
In other words, Chinese Calligraphy is a fine art of classical elegance.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

西方哲学之道路 The Journal of the Western Philosophy

西方哲学之道路分为天人合一、理想主义和生活世界三个阶段。
天人合一:包括亚理斯多德在内,一般认为泰勒斯是希腊首个哲学家。泰勒斯尝试找出对世界的自然的解释,而不需要指向超自然。他相信世上包括人类在内的万物有共同点,它们相连于‘一’。对他而言,这个‘一’就是‘水’。在他以后的哲学家都提出了相似观点,虽然他们所指的‘一’是不同的东西。
理性主义:苏格拉底和柏拉图对他们以前的哲学家对世界本质提出自相矛盾的解释和学说深感幻灭。柏拉图把注意力转移到研究人类获取知识能力。他认定世上有永恒和普世的知识,靠人类用推理就能掌握的。由此所导致的西方理性主义在促进西方科学和科技的发达扮演了重要的角色。
有人说十七世纪所创造的现代科学,解决了对世界性质的认识。但是,我们还没有解决人在世上的位置和人类文明行为的问题。这就令我们的处境更加危险。
生活世界:1936 年胡塞尔提出‘生活世界’的概念,强调人类紧密的套入现实实体之中。生命世界是人类分析、沟通和社交于多个区域的社会、政治、历史和文化环境。
海德格尔更提出‘人在世界中’的概念来清晰阐明它是归一的现象,须要从整体来看。就是说人类需要融入和沉浸入物质的、实体的日常世界中。
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The journal of the Western philosophy can be divided into three significant phases of Oneness, Rationalism and Life-world.
Oneness: Many, most notably Aristotle, regard Thales as the first philosopher in the Greek tradition. Thales attempted to find naturalistic explanations of the world, without reference to the supernatural. He believed that there was a basic similarity between all things, including human being, in the world. They are all related to each other by the One. The One, to him was Water. Philosophers after him offered similar explanations of the world, although their Oneness pointed to different things.
Rationalism: Socrates and Plato were disillusioned by the conflicting answers and theories put forward by philosophers before them regarding the nature of world. Plato shifted his attention to study man’s ability to acquire knowledge. He was convinced that there are unchanging and universal truths, which human reason is capable of grasping. This line of thinking resulted in Western rationalism that plays a significant role in facilitating the advancement of sciences and technologies in the West.
It is said that the creation of modern science in the seventeenth century has solved the problem of learning about the nature of the universe. But we have yet to solve the problems of man’s place in it and learning how to become civilized. This would put us in a situation of great danger.
Life-world: Husserl introduced the concept of life-world 1936 to stress the solidness of the human encapsulation in reality. The life-world is a social, political, historical, and cultural environment where human beings interpret, communicate, and socially engage in multiple communal spheres.
Heidegger articulated it with the notion of ‘Being-in-the-world’, which stands for a unitary phenomenon and needs to be seen as a whole. That means to be human is to be embedded and immersed in the physical, tangible day to day world.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

王国维:学无中西 Wang Guowei: Learn Both Chinese & Western Cultures

美学还没从西方传入中国之前,古代中国没有美学。在廿世纪,有不少重要美学家把西方的美学著作翻译或改编而引进中国,为中国美学的发展做出了巨大贡献。
回顾当年,我们发现不少美学家对中西文化的态度是正面的。因此,他们不但有意识的学习西方美学理论,还积极的更生中国美学和尝试把中国传统美学现代化。
王国维(1877–1927),就是这样的一个学者。他是当时一个优秀的中国美学家,可说是第一个把西方美学介绍到中国的人。
他在‘国学丛刊’序中写道:
所谓学无新旧、无中西、无有用无用之说,可得而详焉.....
世界学问,不出科学、史学、文学。故中国之学,西国皆有之,西国之学,我国亦类皆有之;所异者,广狭疏密耳.....
余谓中西二学,盛则俱盛,衰则俱衰,风气既开,互相推助。
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Before the concept of Aesthetics was introduced to China from the West, it was not an academic discipline on its own. The During the 20th century, there were many important aestheticians in China who made great contributions to the development of this subject by translating or adapting the Western aesthetic works into Chinese.
Looking back, it is noticeable that the attitude of most of the aestheticians at that time were positive towards both Chinese and foreign cultures. As such, they not only consciously learned the western modern aesthetic theory, they also actively revived and attempted to modernise the Chinese traditional aesthetics.
Wang Guowei (1877–1927) is one of such scholars. Wang Guowei was among the best during his time for the studies of ancient aesthetics in China, probably was the first person to introduce Western meixue to China.
His said in his Foreword to the Journal of Chinese Studies that:
It is clear that the nature of learning has nothing to do with making a distinction between the modern and the classical, the western and Chinese, or the useless and the useful…….
Human knowledge in the world is basically contained in such disciplines as science, history and literary studies. These studies exist in both China and western nations. The only difference is that they vary in the degree of depth and superficiality.
I would say that Chinese and western studies cannot be done without each other in terms of their respective rise and fall. There is a need to promote both to the extent that they thrive and decline in a synchronous fashion.

Friday, October 31, 2008

蔡元培: 以美育代宗教 Cai Yuanpei: Replacing Religion With Art Education

二十世纪初,随着西方思潮的进入,中国对本身传统文化的幻灭,我们看到了一个新文化运动。
新文化运动的发展触发了对中国千年文化的质疑和重新检讨。学者呼吁以世界和西方准则来重建新中国文化。就是说,孔子教义和古代经典都要以现代内容及批评方法来重新检验。
蔡元培(1868-1940),一个二十世纪初卓越的开放的教育者,就以他在改革传统教育和综合中西方教育思想所做的努力而著名。他的教育方针是“五育”并行 :军国民教育(体育)、实利主义教育(智育)、公民道德教育(德育)、世界观教育(哲学观念教育)、美感教育(美育)。
西方美育的概念由王国维(1877 - 1927),一个在哲学、文学批评、中国历史等领域的先驱人物,最先介绍到中国来。但是,蔡元培却是比较有效的推行者。他们两位都确信衰退中的古老中国制度能以现代教育来重建和更生。
蔡元培靠着他的前线行政员和著名教育家的地位,带领北京大学行政改革来展开他的信念。他的‘以美育代宗教’口号特别有名。这事实上是宗教教育在中国终止的信号,而自1949年以来,宗教教育被禁,只能在特别批准的神学院中传授。
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Around the turn of the twentieth century that featured the influx of western ideas, China witnessed a new cultural movement sprang from the disillusionment with traditional Chinese culture.
The development of the New Culture Movement promoted the questioning and re-appraisal of millennia-old Chinese values. The scholars called for the creation of a new Chinese culture based on global and western standards, especially democracy and science. That also meant there was a need for re-examination of Confucian texts and ancient classics using modern textual and critical methods.
Cai Yuanpei (1868-1940), the leading liberal educator of early twentieth-century China, was noted for his pioneering work in reforming the system of traditional education and for his efforts to synthesize Chinese and Western educational ideas. His educational policy was characterized by the unity of five types of education: military/citizenship, utilitarian, moral, a world view, and aesthetic education.

The Western notion of aesthetic education was first introduced to China by Wang Guowei (1877 - 1927), a pioneering scholar in fields as diverse as philosophy, aesthetics, literary criticism, Chinese history. However, it was more effectively promoted by Cai Yuanpei (1868-1940). Both were convinced that the declining institutions of old China could be reconstructed and revived by means of modern education.

Cai Yuanpei took advantage of his role as a front-line administrator and renowned educator who led the administrative renovation of Peking University to spread his ideas. He was especially known for his slogan of “replacing religion with aesthetic education”. This actually signals the end of religious education in China and since 1949, formal religious education is banned except in licensed schools of theology, which are usually college-level and above.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

白马与桌子White Horse and Table

白马与桌子有何关联?
在中国古代,听说有一天公孙龙要出关,被关隘守卫阻挡:‘马不可过关。’公孙龙回答:‘我的马是白色的,白马非马。’他和白马都过关了。
公孙的观点是马是的绝对和永恒的名字/概念,当然和白马不同。
在西方,柏拉图以桌子来说明他著名的理念说。理念说是他最重要的哲学贡献。如果一组物体具有相同名字,那组东西就有了个理念。
所以一组物体如果都可称为桌子,那就有了桌子理念。桌子理念是永恒、不灭、普世的概念。相对来说,世间所见的桌子是可灭的,它们只不过是桌子理念的复本。
这样,两位伟大的古代哲学家在两千年前都有了理念和永恒性概念的认识,虽然他们各居千里之外。
在逻辑中,认为普遍性概念是永远没有实体的。就是说,桌子和马在世间并没有一个对应物。世间是由方桌、圆桌、白马、黑马这类个体所组成的。
过去两千多年,西方尽全力寻找理念或概念,譬如桌子理念的真意。西方哲学可适当地称为普世性哲学。他们生活在概念世界中。
在中国,学者主要兴趣不在‘马’,而是在‘白马’。中国的哲学可说是个体特殊性哲学。他们生活在万物世界中。这使我想起布莱克的那句诗:一沙见世界。
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What is the connection between a Table and a White-horse?
In ancient China, it was said that one day Gongsun Long was passing a frontier and a frontier guard stopped him and said: ‘Horses are not allowed to pass.’ Gong replied: ‘My horse is white, and white horse is not a horse.’ He was allowed to pass with his white-horse.
Gongsun’s idea is that Horse is a name/concept which is absolute and permanent, and it is obviously different from a White-horse.
In the West, Plato used Table to illustrate his famous Theory of Forms, which is said to be his most significant philosophical contribution. The idea is that if there is a set of things all of which have the same ‘name’, then there is a Form for that set.
Therefore, for any set of things to which we apply the term ‘table’, there is a single Form of table. The form of table is permanent, non-perishable and a universal concept. In contrast, the tables we see in the physical world are perishable and are mere copies of the Form of Table.
So, two great ancient philosophers arrived at almost the same concept of ideas or universality more than two thousand years ago, although they lived thousand miles away from each other.
It is accepted that in Logics, the general can never be an entity. In other words, the words ‘table’ or ‘horse’ cannot each have a single reference in the real world which consists of particular things such as square, round tables, and white, black horses.
For more than two thousand years, the West focus almost all their energy on studying the meaning of general Ideas or Concept, e.g. the Form of Table, and Western philosophy can therefore aptly be termed as the Philosophy of Universality. They live in conceptual world.
In China, the scholars’ main interest is not about the meaning of ‘horse’; rather it is about the ‘white-horse’. The Chinese philosophy is the Philosophy of (Uniqueness of) Particularity. They live in physical world. That reminds me of the line written by Blake: ‘To see a World in a Grain of Sand’.

Monday, October 27, 2008

康德:形式主义的始创者? Kant: Founder of Formalism?

我们谈过康德美感判断的四个契机。
第一,美感是无功利的。就是说我们要先觉得一样东西美丽才产生愉快,而不是有了愉快感才认为它美丽。第二和第三,美感判断具有普遍性和必然性的。普遍性和必然性是人脑想象的产物(康德把这个想象成为‘共通感’),一件物品的漂亮并没有客观特征。第四,在美感判断中,美丽东西的本身才是决定性,并应无目的的。
他也坚持审美不涉及概念。所以说花朵,天然图形,线条植物叶群中无拘束的纠缠在一起,不象征什么,也不靠什么既定概念,可也很美。
我们可以由此得出结论:在康德美的观念中,形式至关重要。事实上,这正是康德的意思。他说:适当来讲,美的判断只关形式。就是说,当我们看到一件艺术品,一个天然物品或景物,认为它美丽的话,是基于他的形式品质,而不是感悟到的内容。
就这样,康德成为现代美学哲学里所有形式主义的创始者。
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We have noted that Kant’s aesthetic judgments have four key distinguishing features.
First, they are disinterested, meaning that we take pleasure in something because we judge it beautiful, rather than judging it beautiful because we find it pleasurable. Second and third, such judgments are both universal and necessary. Both universality and necessity are a product of features of the human mind (Kant calls these features 'common sense'), and that there is no objective property of a thing that makes it beautiful. Fourth, through aesthetic judgments, beautiful objects appear to be final without end or purpose.
He also insists that judgments of beauty do not involve concepts. It is said that flowers, free designs, lines aimlessly intertwined in each other under the name of foliage, signify nothing, do not depend on any determinate concept, and yet please.
One can therefore conclude that form seems to be of primary importance for Kant with respect to beauty. In fact, this is exactly what Kant has in mind when he says that judgment of beauty ‘should properly concern merely form.’ That is to say, when we come across a work of art, a natural object or scene and experience it to be aesthetically beautiful, this is owing to the formal qualities, not sensible content of the object.
Kant is thus the founder of all formalism in aesthetics in modern philosophy.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

中庸 :天命之謂性 Zhong Yong: What Tian Confers (on man) is called his (Human) Nature

我们说儒家把天人性化为道德的天。子思所写的‘中庸’把这个天和道联系起来:
天命之謂性,率性之謂道,修道之謂教。
第一句里的‘命’当动词解为‘给’。天所给我们的就叫性。
英语把性和自然都译为‘nature’,可是中文里这两个词在语意是没有关联的。英语 nature在西方思维里包含了中国古代所没有的超越现实。一般上,性可译为human nature。
什么叫‘率直之性’?儒家有另一个说法叫‘赤子之心’。一般观察小孩出生百日后才开始说话。在这之前,他的心是率直、纯净、清洁、无压力、自然的。这时的心就可以形容为率性。赤子之心就是道。我们要注意的是这个道为人道。人道又是一个重要的华人概念。
小孩开始说话后,他就被周围的环境和人所影响,所以孔子说:‘性相近也,习相远也。’故人需要教化以回到赤子之心的道。儒家传统,教化的过程就是修道。
道家的修道意思又不大相同,指顺其自然之道以达长生不老。
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We have said that the Confucians have extended the meaning of the Chinese word Tian to mean an ethical Tian. In Zhong Yong (The Doctrine of Mean), a book written by Zisi, Tian is linked to Dao:
What Tian confers (on man) is called his (human) nature;
Following our straightforward nature is called the Dao;
Cultivating the Dao is called education.
One should note that the word Ming (命) in the first sentence is a verb that means ‘confers’. So Tian Ming here is not to be interpreted as the Decree of Heaven.
The word Xing (性) needs clarification. Xing, ziran (自然) are both commonly translated into English as ‘nature’, but the two terms have no semantic relationship to each other in Chinese. The translation ‘nature’ has implications from Western conceptual scheme of a transcendent reality that was nonexistent in ancient China. Xing is conventionally interpreted as ‘human nature’.
What then is ‘straightforward nature’? The Confucians have another term for it called ‘The bare mind’ (赤子之心 also translated as The Pure Heart)。It is observed that a child starts to speak only about one hundred days after his birth. Before this, his mind is straightforward, pure, clear, without stress, and is as natural as it is. His mind during this period is termed a Bare Mind and it is this stage of mind that is known as Dao. One must take note that this Dao refers to the Dao of Humanity – which is another important Chinese concept.
After a child starts to talk, his mind will be influenced by his natural environment, people surrounding him, as Confucius observed: 'men are close in human nature but far apart in practice’. (The Analects, 17.2) Therefore there is a need to cultivate it back to the bare mind again.
In the Confucian tradition, the process of cultivation is known as Education ‘xiudao修道’.
The term ‘xiudao修道’ is used by the Doaists rather differently to mean the cultivation of Dao to attain immortality.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

布莱克: 一沙见世界 Blake : To see a World in a Grain of Sand

‘天真的预言’是英国诗人、画家、制版者布莱克(1757 – 1827)的一首诗。据说写于1803年,可是直到1863年才发表。这首出自英国诗人之手的诗很不寻常,因为它与佛教思想颇多暗合之处,所有有人怀疑布莱克看到过或研读过译为英文的佛教经典。
这首诗有132行,充满了谬论,把纯真和邪恶、腐败相提并论。可是它的首四句却相当叙事和‘有趣’。事实上,可以说布莱克只选了这四句不含谬论和矛盾。
华人对这四句很入迷,所以有不少翻译,这里选了佚名和宗白华的翻译。
一沙见世界,一花窥天堂。
手心握无限,须臾纳永恒。
——译者不详
一沙一世界,一花一天国,
君掌盛无边,刹那含永劫。
——宗白华.
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The poem ‘Auguries of Innocence’ was written by William Blake (1757 – 1827), an English poet, painter, and printmaker. It is assumed to have been written in 1803, but was not published until 1863. This poem is unusual to be written by an English poet as it seems to resonate with Buddhist thought and world views. It is therefore suspected that Blake might have studied Buddhist scripts and was influenced by Buddhist philosophy.
The poem is 132 lines which contain a series of paradoxes which speak of innocence juxtaposed with evil and corruption. However, the first stanza of four lines is very descriptive and "pretty". In fact, one could say that they are the only lines that Blake chose to leave free of paradox and conflict.
The four lines were translated beautifully into Chinese style poem and the lines are well liked by the Chinese. Here are the first four lines of the poem:
To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

书法的意义 The Meaning of Chinese Calligraphy


中国书法是中国过去四千年以来重要与特殊的中国文化特色。它是中华四艺之一。四艺就是琴棋书画。
书法被认为是最崇高的中华文化。但是什么使它成为艺术?
英语Calligraphy 意为好的书写。但中国书法不能只当做写汉字,或当作是使汉字变得好看的一种途径。
作为一门学问,它的内容丰富,包括了字体发展,技巧法则,书法历史,书家及他们的书法遗产,书法鉴赏。这门学问范围广泛。当然,在书法学习上,重点是放在线条、笔画的节奏和速度、及体势上。
中文由线条所组成。最简单的线就是点或横画:所谓一画。随着笔画增加和更多字的发明,书法可以进一步以书写方向、起笔和落笔方式、线条外形来表达。笔画的流动要达成平衡,以令人对字有平衡状态的感觉。
虽然有无限的可能性,一切皆起于一画。这就反映了中国人几千年来所形成的中心思想:宇宙始于太一。
所以书法并不只是书学中文的技巧,也是表达感情的艺术,它包含了书家的思想与感情。在华人的脑海里,写字与宇宙的生成平行,是左右生命原理的具体化。在这个思想体系里,就如宇宙太一从混沌中一蹴而成,整个天地人亦可以一画来象征。
书法亦如绘画。这里书家以中国文字来沟通精神世界。正如千人有千面,千人亦有千种书写法。通过形式媒介,用笔之法、表象、风格皆可把书家之完整伦理、性格、情感、审美感觉和文化修养,以书法来传达给读者,并以其震撼力和美之愉悦来感染他们。
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Chinese Calligraphy has been an important and unique feature of the Chinese culture for the past 4000 years. It is one of the four critical standards for Chinese literati. The four skills are: calligraphy (shu), painting (hua), playing on a stringed musical instrument (Qin) and a strategic board game (Qi).
It is regarded as the most sublime form of art in the Chinese culture. But what makes it an art?
Calligraphy literally means “good writing”. However, Chinese calligraphy cannot be defined as just “writing” Chinese characters. Neither can it be described as a way of making Chinese characters look “more beautiful”.
As a branch of learning it is rich in content, including the evolution of writing styles, development and rules of technique, history of calligraphy, calligraphers and their inheritance in art, and evaluation of calligraphy as a work of art. This branch of learning is wide ranging. However, in learning the skills, much attention has been given to line, rhythm and speed of stroke and aggressiveness in styles.
Chinese characters are made up of strokes. The simplest stroke is a dot “Dian 點” or a horizontal stroke Yi ‘一’ which means “one.” As the number of strokes increased in each character, the possibilities began to expand and numerous characters were invented, it can be further described by the direction in which they are written, their beginning and ending characteristics and their contour. The flow of the strokes should move in such a way that they achieve balance giving the characters the impression of a temporary equilibrium.
The possibilities are endless; nevertheless, they all start from the Oneness. This reflects the concept that the universe was created from an original ‘oneness’ – a central idea in Chinese thought as it developed over the centuries.
Calligraphy is therefore not only a practical technique for writing Chinese characters, but also an emotional form of art, as it carries the thoughts and feelings of the artist. In Chinese thought, the act of writing a character is seen as parallel to the universal process of creation, and an embodiment of the principles that govern all life. In this system of beliefs, just as the universe was created from primeval form in one single stroke, so it can be expressed in one stroke that signifies the whole of nature and humanity.
It is very much like painting. It uses Chinese characters to communicate the spiritual world of the artist. Just as one thousand persons will have as many faces, one thousand persons will have as many differences in handwriting. Through the medium of form, way of handling the brush, presentation, and style, calligraphy as a work of art conveys the moral integrity, character, emotions, aesthetic feelings and culture of the artist to readers affecting them by the power of appeal and the joy of beauty.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

形而上道有时间性吗?Is the Ontological Dao Before Physical Form?

我们注意到‘道’是中文里最难理解的其中的一个字。但是它是一个很重要的概念,值得经常探讨。
‘易经’里‘形而上者谓之道’可以在英文翻译为‘What is above-form is called the Dao’。问题是在英语里‘形之上’Above-form 不易理解。
另一个翻译是:What exists before physical form is called the Way.
这里Way 字没问题,因为一般对中国哲学有了解西方读者都知道这个字指‘道’。
问题是这个before 字不好理解。
一种解释是把before 解为‘无’。就是说,道是‘无形状’的。可是,这不尽然。虽然本体道不可名,可是它能变形,而且充满万物中的。
Before 也可以表示时空的次序。
在西方,时空一直是个争论性的议题。从知识论来说,时空是相对的。从本体论来说,时空是绝对的。宇宙是无限时间世界,就是说过去、现在和未来永恒存在。
中国古文没有西方时间相对应的字。‘时’多指‘时机’或‘周期性’。
把‘道’联系到时间,看来是不合理的。
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We have noted that the word Dao is one of the most difficult words to understand in the Chinese literature. But it is such an important concept that we need to re-visit it many times.
The phrase ‘形而上者谓之道’ in Yijing can be translated as ‘What is above-form is called the Dao’. The problem here is the meaning of ‘Above-form’ in English.
Here is another translation of this phrase: What exists before physical form is called the Way.
There is no problem with the word Way – as it is commonly accepted by the Western readers who are familiar with Chinese philosophy that the word Way refers to Dao.
The problem here is how to understand the word ‘before’. One interpretation is that ‘before’ can be used here to mean ‘without it’. In other words, Dao exists without physical form. But, this may not be the case. While the ontological Dao is said to be unnamable, it is also accepted that Dao is flexible and is full of everything.
The word ‘before’ may also imply the sequence in time and space.
In the West, views on space and time have been the subject of controversy. It is said that from the epistemology angle, time and space are relative. From the ontology angle, time and space are absolute and the universe is a timeless world, which means that all the past, the present and the future exist eternally.
There is no Classical Chinese word equivalent in meaning to the English word time. The term shi in Chinese used very often to mean ‘timeliness’ or ‘seasonality’.
It would therefore seem to be absurd to associate the Dao with time.

Friday, October 17, 2008

子曰:七十而从心所欲,不逾矩Confucius Said: At Seventy, I could Follow the Desires of my Mind…..

孔子的晚年心境应该是相当痛苦的。56岁后,孔子离开鲁国周游列国,希望再次找到伸展政治抱负的机会。但是,他碰到的是冷漠对待,有时还陷入困境和遇到危险。
孔子69岁回到了鲁国。回来不久,他最亲近的人连续死亡。首先,他的儿子去世,接着是得意弟子颜回。公元前481年,司马牛悲惨死去,子路亦于公元前480年死于卫国的内乱。
但孔子对自己的死亡似乎平静以待。有一次,他病得很严重,子路问可不可以为他祈祷。孔子回答:‘我自己已经祈祷很久了。’意思是说不必祈祷了,他平时的所作所为就是对天的一种祷告了。
孔子晚年主要的工作就是教书,把他的思想和智慧传授给与日俱增的学生,并通过五经(包括易经)来传递他的思想。孔子和这些述作的联系,使到这些经书成为‘儒学经典’,而孔子本身也被敬为教师、历史学者、伦理哲学家、文学学者,和其他无数在中国文化史上著名人物的精神导师。
孔子应该最清楚什么是‘不逾矩’,因为他就是道德标准的述作者。难怪他会说:‘七十而从心所欲,不逾矩’。
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The last couple of years of Confucius' life must have been bitter ones for him. At the age of 56, he left the state of Lu to travel to other states in order to see if he could advise other rulers to put his principles into practice. However, he met instead with indifference and, occasionally, severe hardship and danger.
He returned to Lu at the age of 69. Shortly after his return, he met with a number of deaths among his close associates. First his son died, and then his favourite disciple Yen Hui. Sima Niu, had a tragic death in 481 BC, and Zilu was killed in the civil war of Wei in 480 BC.
However, Confucius seemed to face his own death calmly. Once when he was very ill, Zilu asked if he could pray for him. The master responded, "My praying has been for a long time." What he meant was that the deeds of his life had been his prayer to Heaven, there was no need to pray for him.
Confucius spent the last years of his life teaching, spreading his thoughts and wisdom to his growing number of disciples and transmitting his words through a set of books called Five Classics, which include Yijing, the Book of Changes. Confucius' traditional association with these works led them and related texts to be revered as the “Confucian Classics” and made Confucius himself the spiritual ancestor of later teachers, historians, moral philosophers, literary scholars, and countless others whose lives and works figure prominently in Chinese intellectual history.
Confucius must have known clearly the boundaries of what is right since the moral standards were interpreted and set by him. No wonder he said, ‘At seventy I could follow the desires of my mind without overstepping the boundaries of what is right.’

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

西方:中国礼节大争论 The Great Chinese Rites Controversy

我们注意到中国人基本上是非宗教的。我相信利玛窦神父在1581年抵达中国后就持有这个想法。
西方传教士主要目的是传教,但他们有个难题。中国中坚分子都属于儒家,一种源自孔子学说的实践哲学。而礼节是儒家的重心。
利玛窦很快就认定儒家不是宗教,而是为了社会之好而有的哲学。他观察到人们并没有以祷告来祭拜孔子,也没有向他要求什么。中国的礼节是社会礼节而不是宗教仪式,故入教者应该可以继续参与这些仪式。
十七世纪初,利玛窦的政策遇到了反对意见。St Marie 就是其中著名的反对者。他于1633年抵达中国,只住了三年。他要求所有入教者都应该放弃本身‘异教’思想信仰。St Marie 以他们在美洲成功的改变了美洲文化来证明他们的方法正确。
1707 年,Maigrot,一个极力反对中国礼节和对中国文化与语文了解不深的大主教在与康熙皇帝见面时,质疑康熙对中国词语的知识。康熙大为厌恶,明确地表明孔子的学说就是中华帝国的教义,如果传道者要留在中国,是不能被改变它的。
西方反对中国礼节的浪潮,在1715年达到了一个高点。那年教会禁止所有基督教徒实行中国礼节。到了1742年,基督教在中国被禁,西方人被驱逐,中西交流几乎停顿,直到1940年代。
2001年,教宗保罗二世承认天主教会过去在与中国交往上犯了错误,并形容利玛窦神父为中西,欧洲复兴文艺与中国文化,优秀的古中国文明与欧洲之间的珍贵的链节。
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We have noted that the Chinese people are basically non-religious. I suppose this was also what Father Matteo Ricci had in mind after he arrived in China in 1581.
The primary goal of the Jesuits was to spread Catholicism, but here they had a problem. The Chinese elite were attached to Confucianism, a practical philosophy derived from the teachings of Confucius. And ritual is central to Confucianism.
Ricci quickly determined that Confucianism was not a religion, but more like a philosophy which existed for the good of society. He observed that Confucius was not worshipped as the Chinese did not recite any prayers nor ask for any favour from him. The Chinese rites were social, not religious, ceremonies, and that converts should be allowed to continue to participate.
The opposition of Ricci’s policies started to appear in early 17th century. One of the prominent opponents was St Marie, who arrived in 1633 and spent only three years in China. He demanded total renunciation of native ‘pagan’ beliefs by all converts. St Marie pointed to their success in the Americans in the conversion of whole cultures as proof of their method.
In 1707, Bishop Charles Maigrot, who was deadly against Chinese rites and who knew very little about the Chinese culture and their language, challenged the emperor Kangxi’s knowledge of the meaning of Chinese terms in his meeting with the emperor. The emperor was disgusted, and made clear that the Doctrine of Confucius was the teaching of the Chinese empire, and it could not be touched if one wished that the missionaries remain in China.
The wave of anti-Chinese rites reached its high point in 1715 when the Church forbade Christians to practice Chinese rites. By 1742, Christianity was banned in China, Westerners expelled, and exchanges between China and the West virtually stopped until the 1940s.
In 2001, Pope John Paul II acknowledged the past errors of the Catholic Church in its relations with China and described Father Ricci as ‘a precious connecting link between West and East, between European Renaissance culture and Chinese culture, and between the ancient and magnificent Chinese civilization and the world of Europe.’

Monday, October 13, 2008

中国无哲学:都是中国文字的错 The Unphilisophical Language of the Chinese Writing System

德国哲学家莱布尼兹 (1646 – 1716) 曾经称呼中国人为另一个星球的人:‘他们的语文和文字,生活方式,艺术才干,制品,甚至他们的游戏都和我们不同,好像他们来自另一个星球。他们的习规,就算是单纯而详尽的叙述,比起许多学者紧抱着的希腊罗马礼节和激励的知识,都可能给我们有实质和有用的察悟。’他认为中国文字本身已类似思维分析。
但是,中国的魅力在西方只维持了两个世纪。到了十八世纪末,中国形象完全改变。法国大革命 (1789–1799) 后,中国思想已完全被视为负面。
中国语文被认为是‘非哲学’的,因为它缺乏文法。黑格尔 (1770 - 1831) 就明确的说拼音文字系统是比较聪明的书写形式。因此他批评莱布尼兹,说比起拼音书写,象形文字的短处是它被‘感官-实形’所困,只有拼音文字才能捕捉抽象和形式。
就算近代文字的比较研究,西方结论也认为中国文字书写的图像痕迹把思维困于俗世之中,而拼音书写系统的表象可构成‘超越’,而超越正是西方哲学中最主要的本体论概念。
正如尼采所说:这就是所谓的西方的偏见。
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Leibniz (1646 – 1716), the Germen philosopher had labelled the Chinese as “people of another globe”: “Their language and their character, their way of life, their artistry and their manufactures, and even their games are so different from ours that it seems as if they were people from another globe; it may very well be possible that even a simple, yet detailed description of their practices will give us more substantial and useful insights than the knowledge of the rites and incitements of the Greeks and Romans, to which so many scholars cling.” And he thought that the Chinese script is “comparable to the analysis of thought”.
However, the West’s fascination with China lasted in Europe only for two centuries, and by early 18th century, the image of China had changed completely. By the end of the French Revolution (1789–1799), the Chinese thought per se were perceived in a thoroughly negative way.
And the Chinese language is said to be an “unphilosophical” language due to its lack of grammar. Hegel (1770 - 1831) explicitly argued that ‘the alphabetical writing system is in and of itself the more intelligent form of writing.’ He therefore criticized Leibniz, saying the main disadvantage of pictography – in comparison to alphabetical writing – was that the essence of the former is bound to the “sensuous-concrete”, while only the latter manages to capture the abstract and the formal.
Even modern comparative studies of language conclude that the pictorial traces of Chinese writing keep the thought in the realm of “worldliness” while it is the very lack of pictorial representation within the alphabetic writing system that constitutes “transcendence”, which is the most important ontological concept in the Western philosophy.
As Nietzsche said: This is the bias of the occident.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

非常新加坡人,但还保存印度人特色 Fully Singaporean Yet retaining their Indian-ness….

看到海峡时报对‘全球印度人’的报道,令我十分鼓舞。(海峡时报,十月十日)
作者这样说新加坡的印度人:‘成功,活跃于社区,非常新加坡人,但还保存印度人特色。’
为这么这些成功人士会选择新加坡为他们的永久家园?银行家沙马说这是因为‘新加坡是治理、成长和生活方式的好模式。’
舒适生活方式显然很重要。说到生活方式,令我想起囉喏,这是一盘在新加坡常见的水果加蔬菜的菜式。囉喏是马来字指混合物。亦在日常用语中指杂混,又特指新加坡多元文化社会的特性。
我们注意到华人的世界观里偏向独特性多于统一性。就是说不期望组成分子改变本身的生活方式,故其独特性得以保存。这就是独特新加坡的方式:接受多样性,和寻找共同点。
希望可以听到更多人说:‘非常新加坡人,但还保存马来人特色’ ;‘非常新加坡人,但还保存华人特色’。
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I am very encouraged on reading The Straits Times’ report about ‘Global Indians’ in Singapore. (The Straits Times, 10 Oct.) This is what the writer Lee Siew Hua says about Indians in Singapore: ‘Successful, active in the community, fully Singaporean yet retaining their Indian-ness.’
Why do these successful people choose Singapore as their permanent home? Banker Deepak Sharma says this is because ‘Singapore is a great model of Governance, growth and lifestyle. ‘
And, a comfortable lifestyle is obviously important. Talk about lifestyle, it reminds me of Rojak, which is a fruit and vegetable dish commonly found in Singapore. The term Rojak is Malay for mixture, is also used as a colloquial expression for an eclectic mix, and in particular is often used to describe the multi-ethnic character of Singapore society.
We have noted that in the Chinese world view, ‘uniqueness’ is preferred over ‘unity’; which means the constituent components are not expected to change their own way of life and thus could retain their uniqueness. This is exactly the uniquely Singapore way: accept diversity, seek commonalities.
I hope we will hear more people say ‘fully Singaporean yet retaining their Malay-ness….’; ‘fully Singaporean yet retaining their Chinese-ness….’

Thursday, October 9, 2008

东西方思维:独特性与统一性 East & West: Uniqueness vs Unity

我们已经注意到华人的思维是联想式的,或者说是审美式的。这种思维方式中,界定世界秩序的组成分子保存其独特性。这是因为在这个秩序里,并没有超越原理可以把这些组成分子统一起来。
而在西方的理性思维中,统一性的概念备受注重。就是说,组成分子失去了其独特性
所以郝大维与安乐哲在‘期待中国’这本书中说:
在古代西方形而上学中,遇到统一性与独特性的模棱两可情况下,偏向选择统一性。因此,早期对于单一秩序宇宙提出了各种各样的概念的有条理的哲学家,在其任何的概念中,组成世界的众多现象都是按照统一的原理来解释的。这些原理决定了世界事务的本质。
古典时期的中国人对世界秩序的思索中,遇到统一性与独特性的模棱两可情况下,偏向选择独特性。所以无名的道产生了‘一’,由此繁殖。古代中国自然哲学中不要求一个单一秩序的宇宙。
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We have noted that the Chinese way of thinking can be described as correlative, or aesthetic. In this way of thinking, it is said that the particular individuals defining the world order are said to be unique. This is because in this order, there is no transcendent principle by which its constituent particulars can be called to be unified.
On the other hand, the concept of ‘unity’ is emphasised in the Western rational way of thinking. That means the constituent particulars will not retain their uniqueness.
Roger T. Ames and David L. Hall therefore said in the book Anticipating China:
In classical Western metaphysics, the equivocation between ‘unity’ and ‘uniqueness’ is resolved in favour of ‘unity’. Thus in any of the various conceptions of a single-ordered universe assumed by the early systematic philosophers, the many phenomena comprising the world are defined in accordance with unifying principles which determine the essential realty of the things of the world.
In classical Chinese reflections on world order, the equivocation between ‘unity’ and ‘uniqueness’ is resolved in favour of ‘uniqueness’. Hence, the nameless dao engenders an individual ‘one’ which proliferates. The natural philosophy of classical China does not require a single-ordered world.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

华人的联想思维 The Chinese Correlative Thinking

郝大维与安乐哲解释联想思维的意思
华人思考时,惯用一种类比形式,我们可称之为联想思维。联想思维在中国古典宇宙学(易经,道家,阴阳家)和古典希腊都可找到;在希腊,这种思维是次要的,用在联系图像或者一组概念时,宁做有意义处置而不考虑实体因果。
联想思维是一种自发思维,基于非正式和特定类比程序,并以联系和区别为前提。这个思维模式的调整元素是文化与传统的共构,而不是因果必然性中的一般假设。
联想思维相对的不注重逻辑分析,就意味着能够把影像及隐喻关联的含糊性,暧昧性和不连贯性带进正式思维的成分中。事实上,这些混乱因素对正在决定中的联想秩序有正面价值,那就是提供拟人化和自我复现的机会。
理性思维注重用字明确,不含二意。与此相比,联想思维则把重点联系到那些已被认为不能再分成更小的元素有意义合成的影像组合。…..
….. 老师老子比他年轻的学生聪明,所以在这方面把学生比下去了。老子是阳,学生是阴。可是学生的体格比老师强壮,所以体力健壮的学生是阳,而老子是阴。当这些用来界定关系的各种强点和弱点可以平衡到适当点时,人际关系达到最有效,最和谐的状态。
从这个说明可以看出,阴和阳不能被理解为宇宙原理或者是根源于事物本质的本体对照物。反之,它们是启发性的,可以帮我们理解和记述世界的特征,并以不同方式来具体的体验它。
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Roger T. Ames and David L. Hall explain the meaning of correlative thinking:
Chinese thinking depends upon a species of analogy which may be called ‘correlative thinking’. Correlative thinking, as it is found both in classical Chinese ‘cosmologies’ (the Yijing - Book of Changes, Daoism, the Yin–Yang school) and, less importantly, among the classical Greeks involves the association of image or concept-clusters related by meaningful disposition rather than physical causation. Correlative thinking is a species of spontaneous thinking grounded in informal and ad hoc analogical procedures presupposing both association and differentiation. The regulative element in this modality of thinking is shared patterns of culture and tradition rather than common assumptions about causal necessity.
The relative indifference of correlative thinking to logical analysis means that the ambiguity, vagueness and incoherence associable with images and metaphors are carried over into the more formal elements of thought. In fact, the chaotic factor in the underdetermined correlative order has a positive value as an opportunity for personalization and self-construal.
In contradistinction to the rational mode of thinking which privileges univocity, correlative thinking involves the association of significances into clustered images which are treated as meaning complexes ultimately unanalyzable into any more basic components …..
….. The old teacher, Laozi, is wiser than his young student and hence ‘overshadows’ him in this respect. Laozi is yang and the student is yin. The student, however, is stronger physically than the old master, and hence in physical prowess the student is yang to Laozi’s yin. When these various strengths and weaknesses defining the relationship can be balanced to maximum effect, the relationship is most productive and harmonious.
It is clear from this illustration that yang and yin are by no means to be understood as ‘cosmic principles’ or ontological contrasts rooted in the very nature of things. Rather, they are heuristics helpful in reading and characterizing the world as concretely experienced in a variety of ways.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

蔡文姬: 胡笳十八拍 Cai Wenji: Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute

蔡文姬(177-?) 是东漢代文學家和书法家蔡邕(AD 133-192)的女儿,博学有才,通音律和书法。
蔡文姬一生坎坷。汉末,兵荒马乱,蔡被胡兵所俘,在胡境住了十二年,嫁给匈奴左賢王,生二子。
因为蔡父蔡邕年老孤独,汉丞相曹操以重金给左賢王,将她赎还。回乡后,对还留在胡境内的二子思念不断,加上怀念儿时无忧无虑的生活,只有以诗来抒情。她的诗悲憤哀伤,反映她悲苦的一生。
今传她遗留诗三首。《悲愤诗》二篇,描述游牧生活。另一篇《胡笳十八拍》,反映痛苦一生和思子之情,虽然学者对这首诗是不是出自蔡之笔,还有争论。
这首诗直接和热情的反映了一个妇女的心声,这样的古诗是很不寻常的。直到现在,这首著名的曲调还是古琴演奏会中的名曲之一。
胡笳十八拍的第一拍
我生之初尚无为,我生之后汉祚衰。
天不仁兮降乱离,地不仁兮使我逢此时。
干戈日寻兮道路危,民卒流亡兮共哀悲。
烟尘蔽野兮胡虏盛,志意乖兮节义亏。
对殊俗兮非我宜,遭恶辱兮当告谁?
笳一会兮琴一拍,心愤怨兮无人知。
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Cai Wenji (AD 177 - ?) was the daughter of Cai Yong (AD 133-192), a famous scholar and calligrapher of Eastern Han. She was a learned scholar, also proficient in music and calligraphy.
Cai Wenji had led a turbulent life. Towards the end of the Han era, the country was thrown into turmoil. Cai Wenji was captured by Hu troops and carried off to their city. She lived in the Hu territory for twelve years as the concubine of a Xiongnu prince, named Zuoxian and bore him two sons.
Sensing Cai Yong's loneliness, the Prime Minister Cao Cao sent precious gifts to Prince Zuoxian in exchange for Cai Wenji. However, she constantly longed for the two sons she left behind in the Hu region after returning to her homeland. She was also haunted by thoughts of her carefree childhood. Poetry was her consolation and her poems were noted for their sorrowful tone, parallel to her hard life.
Three poems are said to be written by her. Two named ‘Poem of Sorrow and Anger’ (悲憤詩) are narrative poems describing her life with the nomads. The third and most influential is the one that is known as ‘Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute’ (胡笳十八拍). The poem is a perfect reflection of her rough life and her deep yearning for her children, although its authorship is a perennial issue for scholarly debate.
The poem is unusual for early poetry because of its direct, passionately expressed identity of the woman’s voice. Until now, this famous melody is still one of the repertoires of Guqin concerts.
The first song:
"At the time of my birth, the land was at peace,
But later, the Han Dynasty fell into decline.
Heaven is unkind, allowing wars, suffering, separation;
Earth is unkind, that I should have to live at such a time.
Weapons of war are everywhere, making the roads perilous.
Soldiers and people fleeing to exile, suffering together.
The land, billowing clouds of smoke and dust, is a prisoner of the Hu.
Integrity and willpower have disappeared.
I cannot accept the vulgar barbarous customs,
Humiliated and abused, to whom can I turn?
I sing to my hujia and qin,
But no one knows my anger and my grief."

Friday, October 3, 2008

易经:六爻之动,三极之道也 Yijing: The Six Lines and Three Powers

易经说:六爻之动,三极之道也 。
什么是三极呢?三极就是天,地和人,而天地人正是华人的宇宙观。
天地有没有缺陷呢?当然有,不然我们就不会受苦受难了。所以人要为生存而奋斗。天地有缺陷,所以人生才有价值。
人生的价值就是要‘叁赞天地之化育’。叁赞就是弥补的意思,弥补天地的化育之不足。
再谈六爻。
我们都知道,易经讲的是阴阳之道,这就是庄子所说的:‘易以道阴阳’。
对华人来说,阴阳是重要的,老子说过:‘万物负阴而抱阳,冲气以为和。’
易经里,线代表阴阳爻。实线代表阳,虚线代表阴。上曰天,下曰地,中间就是人,各据二位置,共为六爻。所以天地人一动,就是六爻。六爻互动,这就是天地人之道了。
那个推行罢黜百家,独尊儒术的汉代儒者董仲舒总结说:天生之,地养之,人成之。
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Yijing says: The movements which take place in the six lines (six places of the hexagram) show the course of the three powers in their perfect operations.
What are the three powers? They are Tian (heaven), Di (earth) and Ren (humanity), which we have noted that they form the Chinese view of a three-tier universe.
Is the universe (tian-di) perfect? Obviously, it is not and that is why we suffer so much in life. We also have to fight constantly for our survival.
Now, this is where the Chinese see the value in life, which is to be able to ‘assist the transforming and nourishing powers of Heaven and Earth.’ Our life becomes meaningful only because the world is imperfect.
What are the six lines of the hexagram in the Yijing?
As Zhuanzi said, ‘Yijing is to show the action of the Yin and Yang.’
The Chinese always view the Yin and Yang seriously. Laozi said: ‘The myriad things contain Yin and Yang as vital forces, which achieve harmony through their interactions.’
In Yijing, the solid line of the hexagram represents yang and the broken line Yin. Tian is at the top, Di at the bottom and Ren in the middle and each occupies two positions. When any or all of the six lines move and interact, the world and people must act and interact accordingly, and that is the Way of Tian, Di and Ren.
The Confucian scholar Dong Zhongshu who was responsible for establishing Confucianism as the theoretical foundation of the imperial state during the Han dynasty (206 BC - 221 AD) summarised: ‘Heaven gives birth to things and instils people with moral inclinations; Earth nourishes things and provides for their material needs; and Humanity completes or perfects all things by maintaining proper patterning (i.e., through rites and music).’

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

一个假设的代价 The Price of An Assumption

王赓武教授在一篇题为‘一个假设的代价’的文章里说:(海峡时报,10 月1 日)
很明显的,美国财经界需要多些法规。中国的制造业界也肯定需要多些谨慎法规。看来是时候停止把世界划分为自由和非自由,视一为好而另一为坏了。大家所面对的问题是如何建立一个更有效的法规机制.....
壮丽的北京奥运结束不久,中国就面对毒奶丑闻与其食品的国际市场受到威胁。差不多同时,美国财经界魔咒般威胁严峻经济不景气的到来.....
几个星期以来,这两个国家共占新闻头条的事实,应令我们停下并问,是不是看起来像完全相反的意识观点都已经让位给与日俱增的含糊妥协了.....
中国和美国都认为删除法规体制是经济成长的秘密武器。他们都为这个假设付出了昂贵的代价.....
..... 如果活性法规是两国所需要的,正是时候问一问:对法规情况而言,资本主义者和社会主义者有无不同.....
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Extracted from Prof Wang Gunwu’s article entitled ‘The Price of An Assumption’:
(The Straits Times, 1 Oct 2008)
‘The need for more regulation in American financial services is obvious. More careful regulation is also certainly needed for Chinese manufacturing sector. The time may have come to stop dividing the world into free and unfree, painting one as good and the other as bad. The problem for everyone is how to build a more effective regulatory system……….
Soon after the end of the splendid Beijing Olympics, China faced the scandal of contaminated milk and the international market for its food products was threatened. About the same time, the US financial system conjured up threats of a severe recession……….
….. the fact that the two have shared news headlines for several weeks now should make us pause, if only to ask seemingly diametrically opposed ideological positions are not giving ways to increasingly blurred compromises…….
China and the US both believed that removing regulatory regimes was the secret of economic growth. Both are paying a very high price for that assumption…..
….. if it is active regulation that both needed, it is time to ask if capitalists and socialists are different where regulatory conditions are concerned……..’