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On the Dao1

in On Ethics and History: Essays and Letters of Zhang Xuecheng

This chapter presents the English translation of Zhang's most comprehensive and important essay. Zhang understood the title yuan dao to mean both “to trace the dao or Way back to its historical ... More

This chapter presents the English translation of Zhang's most comprehensive and important essay. Zhang understood the title yuan dao to mean both “to trace the dao or Way back to its historical source,” and “to provide a complete analysis describing what it essentially is.” Zhao traces the evolution of the dao through three distinctive historical periods and explains why a grasp of this history is critical for understanding how past as well as contemporary thinkers misunderstand the nature of the dao, and therefore act in misguided and unproductive ways. Zhang's criticisms are aimed primarily at well-meaning yet misguided Confucians who misunderstood the very nature of the dao and therefore corrupted and misdirected the Confucian tradition.Less

A Treatise on Teachers1

in On Ethics and History: Essays and Letters of Zhang Xuecheng

This chapter presents the English translation of an essay by Zhang, which is an explicit response to Han Yu's well-known essay with the same title. Against Han Yu, Zhang argues that the highest kinds ... More

This chapter presents the English translation of an essay by Zhang, which is an explicit response to Han Yu's well-known essay with the same title. Against Han Yu, Zhang argues that the highest kinds of knowledge can only be acquired from certain very special kinds of teachers. Zhang develops this idea into an intriguing distinction between replaceable and irreplaceable teachers. One can learn facts and techniques from the former, but if one is interested in the sense, style, and significance of the dao, one must seek the latter: a teacher who personally embodies this knowledge. Moreover, irreplaceable teachers can communicate this more esoteric type of wisdom only through direct and intimate interactions with their students or disciples. Invoking the style as well as the language of Chan Buddhism, Zhang insists on a “mind-to-mind transmission” of the Confucian dao.Less

The Central Coast through the Eighth Century

Hugh R. Clark

in The Sinitic Encounter in Southeast China through the First Millennium CE

This chapter introduces the case study, based on southern Fujian province from the Neolithic through the early stages of sinitic immigration. The discussion covers evidence pertaining to early ... More

This chapter introduces the case study, based on southern Fujian province from the Neolithic through the early stages of sinitic immigration. The discussion covers evidence pertaining to early religious beliefs, including shamanism and totemism, and addresses cults devoted to demonic icons such as snakes and dragons, both long and jiao. Finally the chapter establishes the parallel between the demonic jiao and the crocodile, particularly as explored in the essays and poems of Liu Zongyuan and Han Yu.Less

Translator’s Introduction

in Korea's Great Buddhist-Confucian Debate: The Treatises of Chong Tojon (Sambong) and Hamho Tuktong (Kihwa)

An extensive introduction the history of the philosophical relationship between Confucianism and Buddhism, spanning the time from the first century CE up to the 16th century in Korea. First, the ... More

An extensive introduction the history of the philosophical relationship between Confucianism and Buddhism, spanning the time from the first century CE up to the 16th century in Korea. First, the mutually compatible aspects of the two traditions are explained, followed by an introduction to the early appearances of strife, highlighted in the first exchange of opinions between Han Yu (769–824) and Zongmi (780–841). This is followed by a discussion of the deepening philosophical dimensions of the arguments brought about by the essays of the Cheng brothers and Zhu Xi (1130–1200). Next, the special characteristics of the opposition between Confucianism and Buddhism in Korea are shown, along with an introduction to the backgrounds of the two main protagonists in the final debate, Chŏng Tojŏn and Kihwa. This is followed by a discussion of the main philosophical parameter of the debate: the essence-function (Ch. tiyong; K. ch'e-yong) paradigm.Less

An Array of Critiques of Buddhism (Pulssi chappyŏn): by Chŏng Tojŏn (Sambong)

in Korea's Great Buddhist-Confucian Debate: The Treatises of Chong Tojon (Sambong) and Hamho Tuktong (Kihwa)

An annotated translation of the third of Chŏng Tojŏn's three major treatises that criticized Chan/Sŏn Buddhist doctrine and practice. In this extensive essay (his magnum opus), Chŏng, in nineteen ... More

An annotated translation of the third of Chŏng Tojŏn's three major treatises that criticized Chan/Sŏn Buddhist doctrine and practice. In this extensive essay (his magnum opus), Chŏng, in nineteen chapters, assembles all the arguments made against Buddhism ranging from the time of its earliest importation in China up to his current time in the Koryŏ. These arguments range from relatively unsophisticated diatribes against Buddhism as being a "foreign" religion with unnatural, celibate, shaven-headed adherents, up to relatively sophisticated philosophical critiques derived from the writings of the Cheng brothers and Zhu Xi. Critiques also include issues related to real corruption and unhealthy relations with the rulership seen in the Buddhist saṃgha of the late Koryŏ period. There is no essay by a Confucian scholar in the history of East Asia that matches this as a critique of Buddhism in terms of comprehensiveness, organization, and rhetorical skill.Less

Northern Perceptions of the Pre-Sinitic South

Hugh R. Clark

in The Sinitic Encounter in Southeast China through the First Millennium CE

Beginning with the culture of the Warring States Chu kingdom, this chapter reconstructs perceptions across the North–South divide from the late 1st millennium BCE into the mid-1st millennium CE. The ... More

Beginning with the culture of the Warring States Chu kingdom, this chapter reconstructs perceptions across the North–South divide from the late 1st millennium BCE into the mid-1st millennium CE. The focus of the chapter is on the “Yue,” a generic term describing a wide range of local cultures along the southeast and southern coasts that were linked by an Austronesian linguistic heritage. Initial contact between the “central lands” and the Yue, or “Hundred Yue,” beginning in the early imperial era, was characterized by hostility and resistance. Drawing on poetry the chapter explores the negative reactions of northerners such as Han Yu who had been sent to the South as punishment. The chapter also examines evidence of southern resistance, such as that connected with the Celestial Masters and Sun En.Less