The Quintessence of China’s Cultural Heritage

1. The Quintessence of China’s Cultural Heritage San-pao Li, Ph.D. Department of Asian and Asian American Studies California State University, Long Beach California, U.S.A. January 27, 2000

2. Preface • A macrohistorical and holistic approach • New inspirations from an age-old theorum

3. Preliminary Considerations • What is “culture”? • A multifaceted phenomenon • A tree vs. a forest • Cultural resiliency and infragmentability • The unity of Heaven, Earth, and Man

4. The Anthropocosmic Unity:Heaven, Earth, and Man • Heaven-----Religion • Earth -------Cosmology • Man---------Ethics

5. The Anthropocosmic Unity:Heaven, Earth, and Man Heaven (Religion) Earth (Cosmology) Man (Ethics)

6. Cosmology • kosmos + logos =cosmology

7. Earth---Cosmology • Existential continuum (ontology) • Organismic whole (microcosm-macrocosm) • Dialectical pattern of cosmic forces (epistemology)

8. Existential Continuum • Harmony of the opposites • The absence of cosmogonical myths • Absence of interest in the “First Cause” • Unity of the spiritual and the material, the subjective and the objective, the secular and the sacred • An existential continuum

9. Organismic Whole • Joseph Needham, Science and Civilisation in China • “Heaven and I are one” • The law of conservation • The fear of Nature

10. Dialectical Pattern of the Cosmic Forces • Harmonized opposites--Book of Changes • Mutually creative yet destructive • wood, fire, earth, metal, water • wood, earth, water, fire, metal • The Yin and the Yang • Confirmation by modern physics

11. Dialectical Pattern of the Cosmic Forces Yin Yang

12. Dialectical Pattern of the Cosmic Forces Water Wood Metal Earth Fire

13. Cosmology • Coincidentia oppositorum • Reconciliation of the opposites

14. Earth---Cosmology • Cosmology---Weltanschauung • Pan Gu--the only cosmogonic myth • Yin-Yang and the Five Cosmic Forces • Things of the same genus activate each other • microcosm-macrocosm

15. Man---Ethics • Cultivation of the self • Self-family-state-world • Inner sageliness and outer kingliness • Humanism (Asian vs. European)

16. Man---Ethics • Karl Jaspers, The Great Philosophers • Socrates • Buddha • Confucius • Jesus • The Confucian “Ethos” • Intense moralism

17. Man---Ethics • The “self” and the “society” • The process of daily renewal • The concept of “self-renovation” • Transforming potential • A process of becoming • From “what is” to “what should be”

18. Man---Ethics • The five cardinal human relationships • The hierarchical structure: misinterpretations from the Han • Core values in Confucianism • benevolence,loyalty, filial piety, and social decorum • The physical, natural order and the social, moral order are identical and often spoken as one and the same.

19. Man---EthicsThe Five Cardinal Human Relations Monarch-Subject Husband-Wife Father-Son Self Friend-Friend Brother-Brother

20. Man---EthicsThe Core Values in Confucianism Zhong (Loyalty) Xiao (Filial Piety) Jie (Chastity) Ren (Benevolence) Xin (Faithfulness) Li (Rites)

21. Man---Ethics • Confucian personality is not private but public • Publicly accountable and communally significant

22. Man---Ethics • The Confucian “subjectivity” • A moral concept sui generis • “It is man who magnifies the Dao; the Dao does not magnify a man.” • The concept of “matching Heaven” • Charles A. Moore, The Chinese Mind • “The ethical and the spiritual are one in China” • Faust and Prometheus

23. Heaven---Religion • The concept of “Creator-God” • Institutional religion vs. diffused religion • What is “religion”? • A means of ultimate transformation

24. Heaven---Religion • Prerequisites of a religion • possesses transforming potential • spiritually uplifts and transcends

25. Heaven---Religion • Religion in the Chinese langage: zongjiao • Zong (ancestors) • Jiao (doctrines/teachings)

26. Heaven---Religion • Zong (ancestors) • Jiao (doctrines/teachings)

27. Heaven---Religion • The Creator vs. the created (polarity) • The 17th-century Scientific Revolution命 • Atman and atman in Hinduism • Spontaneity and naturalness

28. Heaven---Religion • Matteo Ricci and the “rites controversy” in the 18th-century • Space and time in Asian traditions • “Timeliness” in the • Book of Changes (Yijing) • Doctrine of the Mean (Zhongyong)

29. Heaven---Religion • Two types of Religion: • Institutional religion • Diffused religion

30. Heaven---Religion • Institutional religion • Has a system of theology, rituals and organization of its own • Distinguishable from and independent of other secular social organizations

31. Heaven---Religion • Diffused religion • Its theology, rituals, and organization are intimately merged with the concepts and structure of secular institutions and other aspects of social order.

32. Heaven---Religion • Religion • A means of ultimate transformation

33. The Anthropocosmic Unity:Heaven, Earth, and Man Heaven (Religion) Earth (Cosmology) Man (Ethics)

34. Concluding Remarks • The anthropocosmic trio -- Heaven, Earth, and Man • Fundamental cultural differences between East and West, each has its intrinsic value • The importance of understanding each other • Reconstruction of value system for our “Global Village” • Challenges of the new millennium

35. The Quintessence of China’s Cultural Heritage San-pao Li, Ph.D. Department of Asian and Asian American Studies California State University, Long Beach California, U.S.A. January 27, 2000

36. Please keep in touch! • sanpaoli@csulb.edu • http://www.csulb.edu/~sanpaoli

37. A Dedication • We dedicate our knowledge and wisdom to the future generations whose youthful energy and intercultural understanding will create a more civilized world.

38. Thank you! • Your comments and questions • are welcome!