What is the spirit of China's philosophy?

According to the tradition of China's philosophy, the function of philosophy is not to enhance positive knowledge (I mean information about objective things and people), but to improve people's minds, transcend the real world and experience values higher than morality.

The position of philosophy in China culture has always been regarded as comparable to that of religion in other cultures. In China, philosophy is an area that everyone who is educated cares about. Once upon a time in China, a person was educated, first of all, philosophy education. Children should first read The Analects of Confucius, Mencius, University and The Doctrine of the Mean. These "four books" are also the most important documents considered by Taoism (called "neo-Confucianism" in the west) after the Song Dynasty. Children have just learned to read and usually use the textbook "Saint Amethyst". Every three words are a group, and every six words are a sentence. Even the sentences rhyme and are easy to read and remember. In fact, this book is a literacy textbook for children in China. The first sentence of Saint Amethyst is "at the beginning of life, human nature is good". It is the basic idea of Mencius' philosophy.

The position of philosophy in China culture

In the eyes of westerners, China people's lives are permeated with Confucianism, which has become a religion. In fact, Confucianism is no more like religion than Plato or Aristotle. It is true that the "Four Books" have biblical status in the minds of China people, but they did not create God or heaven and hell.

Of course, the meaning of philosophy and religion is not very clear, and different people may have completely different understandings of philosophy and religion. When people talk about philosophy or religion, they may think very differently. As far as I am concerned, philosophy is a systematic reflection on life. As long as a person is not dead, he is still alive. But not everyone reflects on life, and even fewer people do systematic reflection. A philosopher always thinks philosophically, that is, he must reflect on life and express his thoughts systematically.

This kind of thinking is called reflection, because it takes life as the object of thinking. Theories about life, the universe and knowledge all come from such thinking. The universe is the background of human existence and the stage of life drama performance, so cosmology rises. Thinking itself is knowledge, from which knowledge is born. According to some western philosophers, if people want to think, they must first find out: what people can think; In other words, before thinking about life, you should think about your thoughts.

These theories are the products of reflection, even the concepts of life and life, universe and knowledge are the products of reflection, and even the concepts of life and life, universe and knowledge are the products of reflection. Whether people think by themselves or talk to others, they are all in life. When we think about the universe and talk about it with people, we are all reflecting on the universe. But the "universe" mentioned by philosophers and the "universe" in the minds of physicists have different connotations. When philosophers talk about the "universe", they mean the whole of all existence; It is equivalent to what Hui Shi, an ancient philosopher in China, called "freshman". We can give it a definition, that is, "nothing is beyond the maximum." Therefore, anyone and anything are in the universe. When a person thinks about the universe, he is reflecting.

When we think or talk about knowledge, this kind of thinking and talking is also knowledge. In Aristotle's words, it is "thinking about thinking", that is, "reflection". Some philosophers insist that we must think before thinking, as if people have another set of thinking organs, which is in a vicious circle. In fact, we only have one thinking organ. If we doubt our ability to think about life and the universe, we also have reason to doubt our ability to think.

Religion is also related to life. Any major religion must take philosophy as its core. In fact, every major religion is a philosophy plus a certain superstructure, including superstition, doctrine, etiquette and system. This is my understanding of religion.

If we look at religion in this sense-that is, what people usually know-we can see that Confucianism is not a religion. Many people are used to thinking that Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism are the three religions in China. Actually, Confucianism is not a religion. Taoism and Taoism are two different things. Taoism is a philosophy and Taoism is a religion. Their connotations are not only different, but even contradictory. Taoist philosophy teaches people to conform to nature, and Taoism teaches people to go against nature; For example, according to Laozi and Zhuangzi's thought, everything must die when it is alive, and people don't have to mind death at all and conform to nature. But the purpose of Taoism is to teach immortality. Isn't that unnatural? Taoism contains the scientific spirit of conquering nature. If anyone is interested in the history of Chinese science, the works of many Taoist priests in Daozang can provide a lot of information.

As for Buddhism, there are also differences between Buddhism and Buddhism. For intellectuals in China, Buddhism is much more interesting than Buddhism. It is not surprising that monks and Taoists attend the traditional funeral in China at the same time. China people's attitude towards religion is also full of philosophical meaning.

Today, many westerners see that China people don't attach as much importance to religion as other ethnic groups. For example, Professor Dirk Bader wrote in the article "The Main Ideas of China Culture": "They (China people) don't think religious thoughts and activities are an important part of life. ..... The spiritual foundation of China culture is not religion (at least not the organizational form of religion), but ethics (especially Confucian ethics). ..... All this makes China and its major civilized countries regard the church and clergy as an important part of civilization, which is basically different. "

In a sense, this is true. But people will ask: why is this? If the pursuit of the other side of the world is not one of the deepest requirements of human beings, why do religious beliefs and activities become a very important part of the lives of many people in the world? If religious belief and religious activities are one of the basic requirements of human beings, why are China people an exception? Some people think that the spiritual foundation of China culture is not religion, but ethics. Does this mean that China people have never realized that there is a higher value than morality and ethics?

The value above ethics can be called the value beyond ethics. Love is a moral value, and love for God is a value beyond morality. Some people may like to call it a religious value. But if someone asks my opinion, I will say that this value is not limited to religion, unless the meaning of religion here is different from what I said above. For example, Christians regard love for God as a religious value; In Spinoza's philosophy, the meaning of God is the universe. Strictly speaking, what Christians say about loving God does not go beyond morality and ethics. The God that Christians believe in has personality. Therefore, Christians can compare loving God to loving fathers and sons, and loving fathers and sons is an ethical value. Therefore, it is a question whether Christianity's love for God transcends morality. It is just similar to super-morality, and the "love of God" in Spino's philosophy is the real value beyond morality.

Now let's answer the above questions. People are not satisfied with the real world and seek transcendence, which is the deep desire of human beings: in this regard, China people are no different from people of other nationalities. But China people don't care much about religion, because they care too much about philosophy. Their religious consciousness is not strong because their philosophical consciousness is too strong. They found the existence beyond the real world in philosophy, and expressed and appreciated the value beyond ethics in philosophy; In their philosophical life, they experienced these values beyond ethics.

According to the tradition of China's philosophy, the function of philosophy is not to enhance positive knowledge (I mean information about objective things), but to improve people's minds, transcend the real world and experience values higher than morality. Chapter 48 of the Tao Te Ching says, "Learning goes bad and Tao goes bad." I won't say the difference between "loss" and "benefit" here, and I don't fully agree with this sentence of Laozi. This sentence is quoted to show that China's philosophical tradition is different from "learning" and "Tao". "Learning" is what I said earlier, which increases correct knowledge, while Tao is the promotion of spirit and soul. Philosophy belongs to the latter category.

The function of philosophy, especially metaphysics, is not to increase empirical knowledge, which has been expounded by Vienna School in contemporary western philosophy. However, the Vienna school is from another angle, for another purpose. I don't agree with this school that the function of philosophy is only to clarify concepts, and the essence of metaphysics is only lyric poetry of concepts; However, it is clear from their argument that it would be absurd if philosophy really seeks to provide positive knowledge.

Religion does provide positive information about reality, but the information it provides is different from that provided by science. Therefore, there is a conflict between religion and science in the West. Every step forward in science, religion takes a step back; Its authority has been weakened in the process of scientific progress. People who keep the tradition regret this fact; Regret that the masses have left religion, and the result is their own decline. If there is no way to achieve higher value except religion, we should really regret it today when people's religious consciousness is getting weaker and weaker, because when people abandon religion, they also abandon higher value. They have to be confined to the real world and isolated from the world of God. Fortunately, besides religion, philosophy can achieve higher value; Moreover, this channel is more direct than religion, because higher values are realized through philosophy, and people do not need to go around in circles, through prayers and rituals. The higher value obtained by people through philosophy is purer than that obtained through religion, because imagination and superstition are not mixed. In the future world, philosophy will replace religion. This is in line with China's philosophical tradition. People don't need religion, but they must have philosophy. When man is philosophized, he also gets the highest blessing provided by religion.

The Spirit and Problems of China's Philosophy

On the nature and function of philosophy, a general discussion was made, and China's philosophy will be specifically discussed below. In the historical process of China's philosophy, there is a mainstream that can be called China's philosophical spirit. To understand it, we need to look at what problems most philosophers in China are trying to solve.

People are all kinds. Every kind of person can achieve the highest achievement. For example, some people go into politics, and the highest achievement in this field is to become a great politician. At the same time, in the field of art, the highest achievement is to become a great artist. People may have different levels, but they are all people. As far as being a man is concerned, what is the highest achievement? According to China's philosophy, it is sanctification, and the highest achievement of sanctification is that the individual and the universe become one. The question is, if people pursue the unity of heaven and man, do they need to be abandoned by society and deny life?

Some philosophers think it must be so. Sakyamuni thinks that life is the root of pain, and Plato thinks that the body is the prison of the soul. Some Taoists believe that life is a wart, a tumor, and death is to get rid of that tumor. All these viewpoints hold that people should be liberated from the world corroded by matter. If a saint wants to achieve the highest achievement, he must abandon society and even life. Only in this way can we get the final relief. This kind of philosophy is usually called "natural philosophy".

There is also a philosophy that emphasizes interpersonal relationships and personnel in society. This kind of philosophy only talks about moral values, and it is impossible to talk about values other than morality, and it is unwilling to discuss them. This kind of philosophy is usually called "WTO entry" philosophy. From the standpoint of WTO philosophy, the born philosophy is too idealistic and unrealistic, so it is negative. From the standpoint of birth philosophy, the philosophy of entering WTO is too practical and therefore too superficial. It is positive, but just like a person who goes the wrong way, the faster he walks, the farther he goes astray.

Many people think that China's philosophy is the philosophy of entering WTO, and it is hard to say whether this view is completely correct or completely wrong. On the surface, this view cannot be regarded as wrong, because people who hold this view believe that no matter which school of philosophy China is, they are directly or indirectly concerned about politics and ethics. So the main concern is society, not the universe; Concerned about the daily functions of interpersonal relationships, but not about hell or heaven; Care about other people's lives, not their communication. The Analects of Confucius 1 1 chapter 1 1 records that once a student of Confucius, Luz, asked Confucius, "Dare to ask death?" Confucius said, "If you don't know life, how can you know death?" Mencius once said, "sage, human relations are extremely important." (Mencius on Li Lou) This is equivalent to saying that saints are morally perfect people. On the surface, the saints mentioned in China's philosophy are people in this world, which is quite different from those mentioned by Sakyamuni in Buddhism or Christianity. Especially the saints mentioned by Confucianism. This is the reason why ancient Taoists in China laughed at Confucius and Confucianism.

However, this is only a superficial problem. It is impossible to understand China's philosophy in this simplified way. The main spirit of China's traditional philosophy, if correctly understood, can not be called completely secular, nor can it be called completely born. It is both secular and natural. When talking about Taoism, a philosopher in the Song Dynasty said, "Don't leave your daily life until you have painted the world." This is the direction of China's philosophical efforts. With this spirit, China's philosophy is both idealistic and realistic. Very practical, not superficial.

Entering WTO and being born are opposites, just as realism and idealism are opposites. The mission of China's philosophy is to seek their synthesis in this bipolar opposition. Is it necessary to cancel this opposition? But they are still there, but the poles are combined. How to do this? This is exactly what China's philosophy tries to solve.

According to China's philosophy, not only in theory, but also in action, it is a saint who can realize this synthesis. He entered the WTO and was born again; China's sage's achievement is equivalent to the Buddha in Buddhism and the sage in western religion. However, the saints in China are not divorced from reality, roaming the mountains and being immune; His character can be described by the words "sage inside and king outside"; The inner saint means that his heart is devoted to spiritual cultivation, and the outer king means that he is like a king in social activities. This does not mean that he must be the head of government of a country. From a realistic point of view, it is often impossible for a saint to become a political leader. "Saint inside and king outside" means that a political leader should have a noble heart. It doesn't matter whether a person with such a heart becomes a political leader.

According to the tradition of China, a saint should have the character of being a saint inside and a king outside. The mission of China's philosophy is to let people develop this character. Therefore, the problem discussed in China's philosophy is the way of being sage inside and king outside; The "Tao" here refers to the road, or the basic principle.

This sounds a bit like Plato's "philosopher king" theory. Plato believed that in an ideal country, philosophers should become kings, or kings should become philosophers. How can a person become a philosopher? Plato believes that this man must first undergo long-term philosophical training, so that his mind, which grew up in a rapidly changing world, can be transferred to the world of eternal ideas. From this point of view, Plato and China philosophers hold the same view, that is, the mission of philosophy is to make people establish the character of being sage inside and king outside. However, according to Patatou, becoming king goes against the philosopher's will. Being king is a position imposed on him, and it is his self-sacrifice. Taoism in ancient China also held this view. There is a story in "Lushi Chunqiu Guisheng Pian", in which an ancient sage was acclaimed as a monarch by China people, and the sage fled up the mountain and hid in a cave. China people followed him, smoked the sage out of the cave with cigarettes, and forced him to be a monarch. This is the similarity between Plato's thought and China's ancient Taoism, from which we can also see the thought of being born in Taoist philosophy. In the third century AD, Guo Xiang, a neo-Taoist, revised this point in Taoist thought according to the tradition of China's mainstream philosophy.

According to Confucianism, saints do not suffer from dealing with daily affairs. On the contrary, it is in these secular affairs that they cultivate their own temperament and make people develop their own character of seeking holiness. He regards treating people and things as not only the duty of the people, but also, as Mencius said, the duty of "the people of heaven". Man must be conscious when he becomes a "citizen of heaven", otherwise, what he does cannot have beyond moral value. If he happens to become a monarch, he will do it sincerely, because it is not only about people, but also about heaven.

Since philosophy discusses the way of being sage inside and king outside, it is naturally difficult to get rid of politics. In China's philosophy, no matter which school of philosophy, its philosophical thought must be its political thought. This is not to say that there are no metaphysics, ethics or logic in various schools of China's philosophy, but that they are all linked with political thoughts in different forms, just like Plato's Republic not only represents Plato's whole philosophy, but also his political thoughts.

For example, the "white horse is not a horse" debated by famous artists seems to have nothing to do with politics, but the famous representative Gong Sunlong "wants to correct his name and change the world" ("Gong Sunlong Ji Zi Fu"). In today's world, all politicians flaunt their country's single-minded pursuit of peace. In fact, it is not difficult to see that some people are preparing for war while talking about peace. This is the difference between name and reality. According to GongSunLong, this discrepancy between name and reality should be corrected. Indeed, to change the world, this is the first step that needs to be changed.

Since the theme of philosophy is "the way of external saints", learning philosophy is not only to seek philosophical knowledge, but also to cultivate such moral character. Philosophy is not only knowledge, but also the experience of life. This is not an intellectual game, but a very serious matter. Professor Jin said in an unpublished paper: "China's philosophers are Socrates to varying degrees, because he integrates ethics, philosophy, reflection and knowledge. As far as philosophers are concerned, knowledge and morality are inseparable, and philosophy needs people who believe in it to practice this philosophy with their lives. Philosophers are just people who carry Tao, and living according to their own philosophical beliefs is a part of his philosophy. Philosophers persist in practice all their lives, live in philosophical experience, transcend selfishness and strive to be one with heaven. It is clear that this mental exercise can't stop for a moment, because once it stops, the ego will look up and the inner cosmic consciousness will be lost. Therefore, from the cognitive point of view, philosophers are always pursuing; Practically speaking, he has been acting or will act. These are inseparable. Philosopher embodies the combination of wisdom and love originally contained in the word "philosopher". Like Socrates, he didn't think about philosophical problems according to commuting time; He is not a dusty and stale philosopher. He shuts himself in his study, sits in a chair and stays on the edge of life. For him, philosophy is not a set of thinking modes that people know, but an internal norm of philosopher's action; It can even be said that a philosopher's philosophy can clearly understand his life. "

The way China philosophers express their thoughts.

When a western student begins to study China's philosophy, the first difficulty he encounters is the language barrier. Secondly, it is the way for China philosophers to express their thoughts. Here, let's talk about the latter question first.

When a westerner begins to read China's philosophical works, his first impression may be that their speeches and writings are often very short and even incoherent. When the Analects of Confucius is opened, each paragraph contains only a few words, and there is often no connection between paragraphs. I opened Laozi, and the whole book is only about 5,000 words, which is only equivalent to the length of an article in a general magazine, but Laozi's philosophy is all in it. Students who are accustomed to long-winded rational argumentation will feel very confused when they encounter this situation, and they don't know what these China philosophers are saying, so they will inevitably think that this is because the thoughts of China philosophers are not coherent enough. If so, China's philosophy would not exist. How can an unrelated idea be called philosophy?

It can be said that the statements and works of China philosophers are seemingly unrelated, because they are not specialized philosophical works. According to the tradition of China, studying philosophy is not a special industry. Everyone should read the Bible, just as in western tradition, everyone should go to church. Reading philosophy is to make people become people, not to be a special person. So there is no professional philosopher in China; Non-professional philosophers don't think they want to write special philosophical works. In the history of China, there are far more philosophers without special philosophical works than those with special works. However, if you want to read the works of these people, you need to compile them from their speeches and letters to friends and students. These letters were written at different times and recorded by different people. Therefore, it is not surprising that there are some inconsistencies and even contradictions among them.

The above can explain why some China philosophers' articles are incoherent, but it does not explain why some China philosophers' articles are short. In the works of some philosophers such as Mencius and Xunzi, there are indeed long articles. However, compared with the works of western philosophers, it is still short and pithy, and it does not fully explain the truth. This is because China philosophers are used to expressing their thoughts in the form of aphorisms, epigrams, metaphors and examples. Laozi is written in the form of aphorisms. Zhuangzi is full of fables and stories. Even Mencius and Xunzi, China philosophers who are good at reasoning, compare their works with those of western philosophers, and there are more proverbs, metaphors and examples in them than in western philosophical works. Mottos are always short, while metaphors and examples are always a paragraph of their own, which has nothing to do with the words before and after.

To reason with proverbs, metaphors and examples, it is inevitable that there are places that are not thorough enough and can only be supplemented by hints. Explicit statements are just the opposite of hints. The clearer a sentence is, the less it implies. Just like a speech, the more it appears in the form of prose, the less it looks like poetry. The language of China's philosophers is so unclear that its meaning is almost infinite.

The goal of China's poems, paintings and other arts is to be full of hints rather than torrents. In poetry, poets often express their meaning between the lines. In China's literary tradition, a good poem is often "well-written, with endless implications". Therefore, wise readers can read poems from outside and between the lines. This is the interest pursued by China's art, and it has also become the style for China philosophers to express their thoughts.

This style of China's art has its philosophical background. Chapter 26 of Zhuangzi's "Foreign Things" finally says: "Those who are full of fish forget that they are full; The hoof is on the rabbit, so he must forget the hoof; The speaker was so concerned that he forgot his words proudly. I am confident that my husband will forget what he said and talk to him! " People who forget words are talking to them. At this point, the two are no longer talking in words. The two saints mentioned in Zhuangzi met without saying anything, because "the witness survived." (Zhuangzi Tian Zifang) According to Taoist thought, Tao cannot be said, but only implied. The function of language lies not in its fixed meaning, but in its suggestion, which makes people understand Tao. Language should be forgotten once it has completed the function of suggestion. Why drag yourself down with unnecessary language? The words and phonology of poetry are the same, so are the lines and colors of painting.

Metaphysics (called "Neo-Taoism" in the west) is the most influential school of philosophy in China in the 3rd and 4th centuries. At that time, there was a book called Shi Shuo Xin Yu, which recorded anecdotes of celebrities at that time. The recorded speeches of celebrities are often short, and some even have only a few words. In the "literature" of this book, it is recorded that a senior official (I am also a philosopher) asked a philosopher what are the similarities and differences between Laozi and Confucius. The philosopher replied, "Will there be no difference?" The senior official was satisfied with the philosopher's answer and immediately appointed him as his secretary. The philosopher's answer is only three words, so it is called "three words" ("three words" is a general term for ancient officials). When he answered the questions of senior officials, he could not say that Laozi and Confucius had nothing in common, nor could he say that there was no difference between them. Therefore, he answered by rhetorical question, which was a clever answer.

The short sentences in The Analects of Confucius and Laozi were not originally based on some discussion premise, but now they are headless because of the lack of the first half sentence. They are proverbs full of hints. It is because they are full of hints that they have great appeal. If the concepts mentioned in Laozi are listed and repeated, it may take 50,000 words or 500,000 words, which may help readers understand the meaning of Laozi, but it will become another book in itself and will never replace the original work of Laozi.

Guo Xiang, whom I mentioned earlier, is a famous annotator of Zhuangzi. His annotation itself is an important classic document of Taoism. He expounded the fables and metaphors used in Zhuangzi in a rational way, and restated the poems in Zhuangzi in prose. His exposition is much clearer than Zhuangzi's. The original book of Zhuangzi has many hints, while Guo Xiang's annotations are clear and specific. People will ask: which is better? Later, a Buddhist monk once said, "I once saw Guo Xiang note Zhuangzi, but Zhuangzi noted Guo Xiang." (Quoted from Zen Master's Great Wisdom and Pujue, Volume 22)

language barrier

If anyone can't read a philosophical work in the original, it is really difficult for him to fully understand the original. This is due to the language barrier, and the language of China's philosophical works is more difficult because they are suggestive. It is difficult to translate all kinds of hints in the speeches and works of China philosophers. When translated into a foreign language, it becomes a clear statement from suggestion; If you lose the essence of suggestion, you lose the original flavor.

Any translated text is, in the final analysis, just an explanation. When we translate a sentence of Laozi into English, we are explaining its meaning according to our own understanding. The translation may usually express one meaning, while the original may have other meanings. The original text is suggestive, and the translation can't do this. In this way, most of the rich meanings in the original text are lost in the translation process.

There are many versions of Laozi and The Analects of Confucius. Every translator can't help thinking that other versions are not satisfied. However, the perfect translation is always inferior to the original. Only after all the translations of Laozi and the Analects of Confucius are added with various new versions can the original works of Laozi and the Analects of Confucius be displayed.

Kumarajiva in the 5th century was a great translator of Chinese Buddhist scriptures. He once said that translation work just happens to chew rice and feed people. If a person can't eat it himself, he has to eat other people's saliva. Of course, what he ate in his mouth was not as fragrant and delicious as the original meal.