1.4 Confucius (557-479 B.C.E.) The Moral Way As Thales and his students began the revolution in thinking that heralded the coming Golden Age of Greece, as Indian ages sat with their students in the forests of India to engage with the Upanishads, in China—separated from these two ancient cultures by the Himalayan mountains—there appeared a young sage named Confucius. According to some accounts he was born to a poor family in the state of Lu, present-day Shangtung. If you look at a map you will see that it is about as far away as you can get from Greece and India and still be in Asia. It is a province on the eastern seacoast of the East China Sea, where Japan lies about 500 miles away to the northeast . Other accounts make him the son of nobility. In either case, it is fairly agreed upon that Confucius's father died shortly after he was born and that he experienced great hardships growing up at a time when China itself was in a great state of inner turmoil. As a young man he supported himself by working in a granary, 谷仓 then as a herder—first of cattle, then of sheep. How he became Grand Secretary of Justice and then Chief Minister in his native state is unknown. But as a young man he had already achieved his reputation as a person of such great wisdom that throughout China princes, lords and scholars consulted him and craved to hear him speak. He became the first teacher in Chinese history to offer education to anyone who cared to listen whether they paid tuition or not. Yet, unlike most Chinese sages who had the ears of the political and social leaders at that time, Confucius did not say the things that people-the leaders especially—wanted to hear. As one recent commentator put it, “Everyone wanted to hear him but no one wanted to listen.” In that respect Confucius had much in common with a gadlfy we have already met—Socrates. What was it that Confucius taught that people so wanted to hear, even though they did not like what they heard? He who learns, but does not think, is lost, he says in his Analects; 24 He who thinks but does not learn, is in grave danger. 思而不学则殆 He was banished from Ch'i; in Sung he was threatened with execution. They drove him out of Sung and Wei. In Ch'en and Ts'ai he was arrested. They invited him, then they booed him. 轻蔑 When the Sung head of state, Huan Tuei, threatened to have him killed if he did not recant 撤回 what he said, here is what Confucius had to say about it: Heaven has endowed me with a moral destiny. What can Huan Tuei do to me? 子曰 :“ 天生德于予 , 桓魋其如予何 ?” . 桓魋 : 魋 , 音 tuí, 任宋国主管军事行政的官 . So, what did Confucius say? Let us peek into his Analects . Like Socrates and like Christ, Confucius did not write down his philosophy .The Analects contains a series of sayings written between 475 and 220 B.C.E. by unknown authors, probably his students, who compiled it mainly for the purpose of instructing others .Confucius appears in these dialogs as a teacher of virtue who tries to impart a new and different dimension to the moral, social, and political values raised by some other teacher or sage. Here are some of my favorite of his sayings: At fifteen, I set my heart on learning, At thirty had already a good grasp of the rites and morals. At forty, I could form my own judgments of things. At fifty, I began to know the objective laws of nature. At sixty, I could know a man from his words and make a dear distinction between right and wrong. At seventy, I could follow my inclinations without any of my words or deeds ever running counter to the rules. Do bear in mind, You, what I am now teaching you: when you know a thing, say that you know it . when you do not know a thing, admit you do not know it. That is wisdom. 子曰： “ 由，诲汝知之乎？知之为知之，不知为不知，是知也。 ” When you have met a virtuous person, try to follow that person as an example: when you have met an immoral person, try to examine yourself inwardly. “ 见贤思齐焉 ， 见不贤而内自省也 ” 出自《论语 · 里仁》 The superior person is even-tempered and good humored but never self-important. The inferior person is self-important but never even-tempered and good-humored. 君子泰而不骄 ，小人骄 而不 泰。 ” 意为态度安详舒泰却 不骄 傲。 Do not do to others what you would not want others to do to you. Those who are capable of sweet words and fine appearances are rarely people of true virtue. The superior person may not be observed and tested in small matters, but can be entrusted with great concerns. The inferior person cannot be entrusted with great concerns, but can be observed and tested in small matters. 君子不可小知，而可大受也；小人不可大受，而可小知也。」 翻译比较 前半部分为本书的翻译 At fifteen I set my heart on learning //upon learning. At thirty, I had already a good grasp of the rites and morals //took my stand. / I had planted my feet firm upon the ground. At forty, I could form my own judgments of things.//I no longer suffered from perplexities./ I came to be free from doubts. At fifty, I began to know the objective laws of nature// I knew what were the biddings of Heaven./understood the Decree of Heaven 吾十有五而志于学，三十而立，四十而不惑，五十而知天命， At sixty, I could know a man from his words and make a clear distinction between right and wrong.// I heard them with docile ear./my ear was atuned. At seventy, I could follow my inclinations without any of my words or deeds ever running counter to the rules. // I could follow the dictates of my own heart; for what I desired no longer overstepped the boundaries of right. /Ifollowedmyheart’sdesirewithout oversteppingtheline. 六十而耳顺，七十而从心所欲，不逾矩。 Do not do to others what you would not want others to do to you. // 己所不欲勿施于人 // Do not do to others what you don't want to be done to you *********** Consider the simple, clear insights here. Some of them you have heard before, such as the golden rule--which he espoused many centuries before its reappearance in Judaism and Christianity. What is truly remarkable about these sayings is not only how they still ring true today, but also that they still —after three thousand years –have the power to wake us up, to make us question what we might have come to take for granted. What, after all, is Confucius telling us here? He is saying to watch out, to be careful, to not be unduly guided by appearances. You can test for certain sorts of things and not others. What is truly great cannot be put to the test. Those among us who are the most fastidious and puritanical 挑剔的、清教徒式的 in their behavior may not be the most moral. Those who make a big show of how moral they are may be doing it for the sake of what other people think. If you are truly a virtuous person, what do you care what other people think of you? Are you so insecure in your knowledge of your self that your image in the mind of another can disturb you? I do not worry about people not knowing me; I am worrying that I myself do not know others. ____________ Book XV. All excerpts are from The Analects of Confucius , Lao An, trans., Jinan, China: Shandong Friendship Press, 1992. With minor emendations by the author. 25 1.5 Lao Tzu(6th Century B.C. E):The Way of Tao Part of what we are trying to do in this book is to see the greatness of the great lovers of wisdom. One of the greatest and most important lessons that we must learn, if we ourselves are to succeed in understanding wisdom and becoming wise, is that wisdom is not some one- dimensional set of“ great truths” or principles to which we must ourselves be true. On the contrary. A mind that requires that kind of simplicity can never appreciate the beauty and power of the sort of complex understanding wisdom requires. It is the ability to see things from more than one point of view that is the hallmark of wisdom. Wisdom requires a big mind in which there is room enough for many points of view .It requires a multiperspectival vision. We shall see this time and again, and here is a perfect example. In the time of Confucius there lived a man who in many respects was just his opposite, an antithesis to just about everything that Confucius taught. Yet he too was wise. To feel the contradiction between these two great sages, consider the following famous story about a meeting between Confucius and Lao Tzu that supposedly took place in Chu(present-day Honan), a province in the south of China. Lao Tzu was a little- known teacher-priest. He had gotten in trouble with the authorities for teaching the Yin people, who lived under the suppressive authority of the ruling people of Chou. the method of inaction as a way of becoming free. Lao Tzu happened to be the custodian of old documents that Confucius, who was working hard at the time trying to promote the disintegrating culture of the Chou people, went to consult about certain rituals. Lao Tzu was an old man at the time .Confucius was twenty or thirty years younger. Lao Tzu means“ the old guy.” Nobody knew his real name and he simply went by that. Supposedly, the topic of morality came up .Confucius was someone who, as you can quickly gather from the passages from his Analects ,talked a great deal about how to become a superior human being. He taught us how to attain moral excellence and virtue through cultivating correct principles of action to which one must always be true, to follow rules from which one must never veer. In that respect he had much in common with the great eighteenth-century German philosopher Immanuel Kant( Chapter 16). Lao Tzu, on the other hand, taught just the opposite: If you are immoral, he supposedly said to Confucius, only then the question of morality arises. And if you don't have any character, only then you think about character. A man of character is absolutely oblivious 忘却 of the fact that anything like character exists. A man of morality does not know what the word 'moral’ means .So don’ t be foolish. And don't try to cultivate. Just be natural .” LaoTzu and Confucius did not like each other. Indeed, by some accounts they had a great argument and ended up hating each other. Lao Tzu saw Confucius as a pompous, self-righteous disciplinarian; Confucius saw Lao Tzu as a dangerous, undisciplined radical. Often, as we shall see, some of the greatest lovers of wisdom in history had some of the greatest disagreements! But that should not prevent us from trying to understand their wisdom. Indeed, we should draw a great lesson from it. Let us take a look at some of Lao Tzu's actual writing .He wrote only one book, a short compilation of verses, called the Tao Te Ching . It has been translated into nearly every language and has become one of the most influential literary-philosophical works in the world. 1 Tao that can be described is not the universal and eternal Tao. Name that can be named is not the universal and eternal name. The beginning of Heaven and Earth is nameless; —————————————————————— From On Lao Tzu , by David Hong Cheng(Belmont, CA Wadsworth, 2000) 26 The mother of everything is naming. Thus: Be always objective, one may discover the wonders; Be always subjective, one only sees the manifestations. Both emerge from the same source, but with different names. Both are mysterious. The mystery hidden inside of mysteries Is the door to all wonders. 2 When the world knows what beauty is, then there is ugliness, When the world knows what good is, then there is evil. Thus: Being and non-being produce each other, Difficult and easy complement each other, Long and short calibrate each other, High and low contrast each other, Music and noise harmonize each other, and Front and back accompany each other. Therefore the sage chooses to: Manage affairs by taking no action; Teach without words; Allow all things to develop, but not to start; Produce, but not to possess; Care for, but not to master; Complete work, but not to claim credit, By not claiming credit, his credit will not be lost…. 4 Tao is empty, yet forever inexhaustible It is so far-reaching, the source of everything. Blunting sharpnesses, resolving conflicts, softening lights. It thus harmonizes the dusty world. So deep and profound, It has forever existed. do not know whose child it is, It has existed before the notion of god…. 8 The ultimate good is like water. Water benefits all things without competing with them. It stays at places where all people disdain, Therefore it is close to Tao. A habitat is good because of its location; A mind is good because of its profundity; A friend is good because of his kindness; A statement is good because of its credibility. A government is good because of its excellent management; A worker is good because of his productivity, and A move is good because of its timeliness. only by being not contentious, will there be no ill will. 9 Holding a cup to fill it to brim, It is better to stop in time. Making a sword extremely sharp, It is hard to keep its sharpness for long. Filling up a hall with gold and jade; It cannot be securely guarded. He who becomes arrogant with wealth and power, Sows the seeds of his own misfortune. Retire once the work is successfully completed. This is the way of heaven. 10 Command your body and soul to embrace the One, Can there be no separation? Concentrate your vital energy to achieve complete softness, Can you be like an infant? Cleanse your thoughts and purify your insight, Can you be flawless? In loving your people and governing your state, Can you be without preconception? In opening and closing the gate of Heaven, Can you behave like a female? In comprehending and penetrating the truth, Can you be mindful of taking no action against Tao? In producing and in nurturing lives, you are: To produce, but not to possess; To care for, but not to control; To lead, but not to subjugate; This is known as the profound virtue. 27 Here we see again some of the perennial ideas of ancient wisdom, except central is the mystical ineffable, inexpressible notion of the Tao. What it? It is like water –Thales would agree!—it is the One, it is the great ineffable source of everything to which the Upanishads in their own way elude, which philosophers will try to express in numerous ways up to the present day, which theologians would call God. The religion of Taoism is based on it. Lao Tzu openly rejects the Confucian teachings based on rules and discipline. His book is a great mystical ode against books and against teaching, in fact, much in the way that we will encounter again in the case of Socrates and Plato . The Tao —the ultimate “way” everything is –cannot be understood through lecture or dialog but must be experienced directly. The word itself is ambiguous in meaning and there is no good translation of it The Chinese symbol, which is supposed to be based on an impressionistic depiction of a moving head, looks like this: 道 Tao has been translated, variously, as “the way,” “truth”, and even “reason,” but the way is closest to the Chinese, where it can be used variously, to say he has his own way of doing things. that's the way I judge it, and so on. The idea is that there is some way that things go in the world that parallels the way we our selves are, think, or act; in that respect, the tao has something in common with the Greek concept of logos , which we shall study later in the chapter. According to Lao Tzu, knowledge of tao can not be achieved by any sort of ritual but can be attained only through a sort of mystical revelation, through meditation. The truth is ineffable, it cannot be expressed in words, it can only be experienced. This perennial theme was the source of another philosophical and religious revolution taking place at this time on the other side of the Himalayas, in India, where a young sage had begun to attract numerous followers .His name was Gotama Buddha. Gadfly n. 牛虻 讨人厌者 上德不德，是以有德；下德不失德，是以无德。（后面的话好像是 奥修 著作中的） 上德之人已经把德融入他们的思维以及行为模式中去了，所以他们的内心与举止协调统一，非常自然，但是他们自己却不认为自己是有德的，所以这样的人是真有德。下德之人没有把德完全的融入到自己的观念和行为举止中去，但是他们又希望让别人认为他们有德，进而刻意按照德的标准做事，那种违心做作的样子，让人觉得虚伪，所以他们不是真的有德。
标签: 老子
