华人的审美秩序The Chinese Aesthetic order

在西方，再解释宇宙秩序时，他们设想有存在者的存在或普世原理之类的一般特性，这些特性告示我们事务是如何形成秩序的。这些设想的依据是那些有关混乱如何被秩序克服的神话。

在另一方面，中国传统文化很少受到以非理性的混乱与有秩序的宇宙相对比的神话的影响。他们对以理性推理来解释混乱如何被宇宙秩序克服的兴趣不大。反而，中国思想家通过艺术性地处置事务来了解秩序，这是一种参与式的过程，并不假设具有重要特色、事先决定好的原理来当作秩序的超越来源。

传统的中国思想家在自然世界中寻找转化与变动的气之所在，发现周围个体成员差不多是和谐地联系在一起，由此而成为事务的自然状态，因而不需要借助于一个秩序原理或代理人来解释秩序。宇宙被当成是是自发性自我生成的生命过程。

所以事务的秩序并不是神灵安排，也不是一个依据自然科学规律来安排好了的关联性模式。恰恰相反，它是由各自成员自我组织而成的审美秩序。审美秩序并不是事先决定好的，而是由独特与自发性的成员在自然形成的复杂模式中协作。

自然（万物）与社会都是审美产物，它们的秩序是成员们在其境域中的创造物。审美感悟意味着人类犹如艺术家，在不断的演变中的新奇环境的内外有创意地构筑我们的生命。

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In the West, in interpreting the order of the cosmos, it is supposed that there are general characteristics – the being of beings, or universal principles – which tell us how things are ordered. They are grounded upon cosmogonic myths that celebrate the victory of an ordered cosmos over chaos.

The classical Chinese culture, on the other hand, was little influenced by myths which contrasted an irrational Chaos with an ordered Cosmos. There is therefore lack of interest in using rational reasoning to explain how the Chaos was overcome by ordered Cosmos. Instead, the Chinese thinkers sought the understanding of order through the artful disposition of things, a participatory process which does not presume that there are essential features, or antecedent-determining principles, serving as transcendent sources of order.

Classical Chinese thinkers located the energy of transformation and change within a world that is ziran, literally ‘so-of-itself’, and found the more or less harmonious interrelations among the particular things around them to be the natural condition of things, requiring no appeal to an ordering principle or agency for explanation. The universe is seen as a spontaneously self generating life process.

So the order of things is not a rational order based on a divine plan or on scientific laws of nature, a ‘pre-assigned pattern of relatedness’. Rather it is an aesthetic order arising from the self-organization of particular elements. An aesthetic order is in no way predetermined but arises from the uniqueness and spontaneity of particulars in collaboration in an emergent complex pattern.

Nature (‘the ten thousand things’) and society are both aesthetic products whose order is a creation of the elements of the contexts. An aesthetic sensibility implies that human beings, like artists, creatively construct our lives both within and out of always evolving novel situations.

华人的一个世界的世界观 The Chinese One-World Worldview

我们已经注意到华人世界观的基本假设是只有一个连续的、具体的世界，这个世界是我们所有经验的来源与所在地。作为一个最古老的活文明，中国继续运用这个整体得、有机的世界观。它不但渗透它的历史，也渗透它的文化本质、社会与社会关系。

一个世界的世界观意味着，由于只有一个世界，创造之能源就在这个世界本身中，这个世界的秩序与规则的依据并不来自或为某些独立的活跃的力量所施给，而是存在于这个世界，并成为其重新建构的来源。变化与连续性同样是真实的。这个世界就是它自己的动力因。

在缺乏外来作用的原创行动下，没有统领宇宙变化的最后目的的这种假设。由于我们不能置身于作这个世界之外，每一种东西（人与事物）都置于某一位置而被观视，所以，与其置身的位置连续的每一件东西都相互关联，并互为界定。在这种情况下，没有两样东西是相同的，有些安置会比另一些安置来的更有创意性。每一种东西都是独特的。

所以，对生命与宇宙的了解形成一个单一连续体，包含了一切，从宇宙的结构，到季节变化，到人与人之间关系的运作。用《大学》的话，就是：‘物有本末，事有终始，知所先后，则近道矣。’

自然与人为条件是没有明显分别的，它们全部都能自由地栽培、连贯与操纵。人生经验的目的就是要协调那些组成一个人在此时此地的世界的元素，并从中取得最有效的和谐。

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We have noted that the basic assumption of the Chinese worldview is that there is only one continuous, concrete world that is the source and locus of all our experience. As the oldest living civilization, China continues to operate from this wholistic, organic worldview. Not only does this view permeate their history, it permeates the very nature of their culture, society, and social relations.

This one-world worldview also means that, since there is only one world, the energy of creativity resides in the world itself, and that the order and regularity this world evidences are not derived from or imposed upon by some independent, activating power, but inhere on the world as a source of reconstrual. Change and continuity are equally real. The world is the efficient cause of itself.

In the absence of an initial creative act by an external agent, there is no assumed final purpose of goal that governs changes in the universe. Since we cannot get outside of this world, each and every thing (person or event) is perceived from some position or another, and hence is continuous with the position that entertains it, each thing is related to and a defining condition of every other. In such a situation, no two things are the same, and some dispositions are more fruitfully creative than others. All things are unique.

Therefore, the understanding of life and the universe forms a singular continuity embracing everything from the structure of the universe to the changing of the seasons to the workings of human relations. To borrow a passage from the Great Learning, ‘Things have their root and their branches. Affairs have their end and their beginning. To know what is first and what is last will lead us near to what is known as Dao (the Way).’

There is no firm distinction made between natural and man-made conditions – they are all open to cultivation, articulation and manipulation. The purpose of human experience is to coordinate the various ingredients that constitute one’s particular world here and now, and to negotiate the most productive harmony out of them.

中国：中庸之国 Middle Kingdom: The Middle Way Kingdom

在中国，中庸之道为儒家与道家的中心思想。它的意思很简单。每一种事物皆有两个极端。中庸就是两个极端之间的自然平衡、均衡与和谐。在这个和谐点达成善与美。儒家在《中庸》这部经典中阐述了这个观点。道家则言，‘反者，道之动也。’就是说，当事物达到极端时，它就开始返回另一个极端。

中庸传达了和谐地整合对立事物的动态观点，而不是通常西方所理解的妥协对立。我们可以说，‘中国’这个传统用词其实是指一个以平衡极端来维护完整生活方式的国家，而不是理解为一个把自己当成是居于世界中心的国家的这种含有霸道的潜在意识。

华人相信世界里的事物皆有竞争倾向，应该加以平衡。这些对立的元素形成一个完整个体。这种哲学包含两个既对立而又相互依赖的观念：整体主义与悖论。

整体主义是指所有的事物都是相互联系相互依赖的，把东西当成是孤立的事件是没有意义的，而我们并不能在孤立中了解事物现象。所以，‘我’与‘他人’的相互依赖，在华人的哲学中是很自然的‘自我’观念。就是说，华人倾向于把他们看成是团体中的一分子。

阴阳学说的中庸哲学接纳悖论，并使它成为这个哲学中的不可分隔的元素。华人把对立的种子包含在事物中，使对立的双方面融合为一个有活力的整体。这个世界观反映了华人把两个互依单位当成整体的这种悖论的观点。道家认为互相对立的个体如果没有对方就不能生存。‘阳极阴生，阴极阳生。’阴与阳的结合是自然的规律与事物变动的因素。这也反映了华人哲学避免把两个对立简单地偏极化。每一个事物内都包含它的对立的种子，两者一起形成一个完整个体。华人采取辩证方式把对立的元素保留起来，而不是西方那种把矛盾偏极化的思维。

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In China, the idea of the Middle Way or Golden Mean is central to both the Confucianists and Daoists. The idea is simple. Everything has extremes at both ends. The Golden Mean is the natural balance, equilibrium and harmony between these extremes. At this harmonious point goodness and beauty are achieved. The Confucianists elaborated the idea in one of their classics The Doctrine of Mean. For the Doaists, the saying that ‘reversal is the movement of Dao’ means when anything comes to its extreme, a reversal to the other extreme takes place.

Middle way conveys a dynamic concept of harmonious integration of opposites rather than a compromise between them as often understood in the West. One may therefore say that the Middle Kingdom, the traditional term for China, actually calls for a country maintaining an integrated lifestyle by balancing the extremes, rather than, as is often understood, a hegemonic undertone of a country that considers itself to be at the centre of the world.

The Chinese believe that all things in the universe contain competing tendencies that must be balanced, opposite elements constitute an integrated whole. The philosophy embraces two opposing but interdependent ideas: holism and paradox.

Holism means that all things are interconnected and interdependent so that looking at things in isolation does not make sense and that one cannot understand a phenomenon in isolation. Therefore, the idea of the self versus the other as interdependent is natural in traditional Chinese self-perception, meaning that the Chinese tend to see themselves as part of a group.

The embrace of paradoxes is an integral component of the middle way philosophy of yingyang. The Chinese see opposites containing within themselves the seed of the other, yet forming a dynamic unity. This world view captures the Chinese view of a paradox as an interdependent unity constituting a whole. In Daoism neither opposite can exist without the other. ‘The extreme of yin is yang and the extreme of yang is yin’. The combination of yin and yang is the way of nature and the seed of change. It signifies how Chinese philosophy seeks to avoid simple polarizing of contradictions. Each force contains the seed of its opposition and together they form an integrated whole. The Chinese take a dialectical approach that retains basic elements of opposing perspectives rather than polarizing contradictions as in Western thought.

华人：宇宙天人合一而生 The Chinese Anthropocosmic Vision on Creativity

天人合一的观点是有关人类与环境的关系的观点。这句话包含了‘天’与‘人’。华人的传统观念中，天地之大德曰生，而生态观念就是天地人互动的天人合一的观念。生在英语就是创造。在这个观念下，超越的神灵理则与人间世界的区别是不大的。人类被理解为包含于自然，而不是在自然之上。自然界里的每一件东西都是互相依赖、互相联系、又动力与在转变中的。

一方面，由于人类概念化、解释与想象的结果，而认识到上天不可避免地是人类的。可是，另一方面，生成动力创造了存在的各种模态，上天不可能是只限于人类为中心的宇宙。

在华人的传统观念里，上天与土地关系密切，所谓天地。土地是所有生物的栖息地，土地就是它们适当的家。充足丰富的土地就是上天创造（生）的最伟大表明。在永不停息的演变中，所有存在者的各种模态都是相互联系的。

上天是属于所有物体的。它看来并没有为人类提供特别设计。严格来说，没有迹象显示上天有什么特别目的。

人的出现就有所异了。‘天人合一’思维处理上天创造（表现于宇宙流程）与人类创造（包含于上天的生命生成的转变）之间的相互作用。人类并不单单是一种生物，他们是宇宙的共同创造者。作为共同的创造者，人类以相连关系与天地一起创造和谐社会。

用《易经》的说法，宇宙从来就不是静止的，而是生生不息的过程。在不停的展开中，创造性地秩序当前的秩序，产生新的现实，并于充满不一致之中进入不断创新和谐的过程。

其含义就是，精神修行的修身养性就是模仿上天的创造。

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An anthropocosmic vision is a vision of human relationship to the environment. The term anthropocosmic is a combination of ‘anthropological’ and ‘cosmic.’ The Chinese tradition emphasis the supreme virtue of heaven and earth is creativity and their idea of ecology is a kind of anthropocosmic vision of the dynamic interaction of heaven, earth and human. In this view, there is no radical split between the transcendent divine principle and the world of human. Human being is understood to be embedded in nature not dominant over nature. Everything in nature is interdependent, interrelated, dynamic and transformational.

It is, on one hand, recognition that heaven, as the result of human conceptualisation, interpretation, and imagination, is inescapably anthropological. Yet, on the other hand, as the generative force that has created all modalities of being, heaven cannot be confined to an anthropocentric picture of the universe.

In the Chinese tradition, heaven is intimately related to the story of earth. The earth, as the habitat of all known creatures, is the proper home for them. A great manifestation of heaven’s creativity is the plenitude of the earth. The sky, earth, mountains, and rivers are vital energies displaying the stupendous power of heaven’s life-generating process. All modalities of being are interconnected in this ceaseless evolution.

Heaven is for all beings. It does not seem to have a particular design for the human. Strictly speaking, there is no indication that heaven has a particular purpose in mind.

The advent of human being does make a difference. The anthropocosmic idea addresses the interplay between heaven’s creativity as expressed in the cosmological process and human’s creativity as embodied in heaven’s life-generating transformation. Human beings are not merely creatures, but co-creators of the cosmic process. As co-creators, human beings work with heaven and earth in correlative relationship to create harmonious societies.

In the language of the Book of Changes, the cosmos is never a static structure but rather a dynamic process. In its constant unfolding, it always generates new realities by creatively transforming the existing order, laden with inconsistencies, into an ever-innovating congruent process.

By implication, self-cultivation, a form of spiritual exercise, emulates heaven’s creativity.

科举：唯有读书高 Education as a Social Ladder: Chinese Imperial Examinations

我们注意到中华文化是身份文化。孔子之前的封建制度就已经把人民分为六级：四个统治阶级的是高高在上的王族，接着是诸侯，大夫与士。最底层的是普通庶民与奴隶。

自古以来，强大的中国王朝通常是由一般平民出生的皇帝靠着有组织的军队推翻前朝而组成。但是，一旦控制了国家，这些皇帝立刻使体会到真正的治理需要上万的官僚。科举制度的成立就是为了制造这一群人。科举制度是中国独有的任人唯贤的策略，从605年隋朝开始，直到1905年清末废除为止，共有大约1300年的历史。

科举的基本目的是要以个人的能力而不是特别的或嫡传的因素来取士。历史上流传不少书生如何苦读，最终考取到功名而获得官职的故事。这些故事一代传一代，鼓舞了书生勤力苦读。读书于是成了一种传统。

所以自古以来， 华人把教育当成是提升社会地位的梯子。宋朝（960-1279）汪洙著名的《神 童 诗》就说“天子重英豪，文章教尔曹；万般皆下品，惟有读书高。”这首诗句成为千年中国人的金科玉律。它鼓励人们读书。

宋朝另外一首鼓励人们读书的诗说，“富家不用買良田，書中自有千鍾粟；安居不必架高堂，書中自有黃金屋；娶妻莫恨無良媒，書中自有顏如玉。”意思是好好地读书就能给你带来丰足的食物、完美的屋子与漂亮的妻子。

科举造就了士的阶级。非贵族或商家的读书人渐渐成为改变社会与推翻封建贵族的主力。这些读书人协助与维持了中国封建社会，与农业社会及统一皇族政权共存长达两千年之久。

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We noted that Chinese culture is the ‘Status Culture’. In pre-Confucian China, the feudal system divided the population into 6 classes. Four noble classes are the king at the top, followed by the dukes, then the great men and finally the scholars. Below the noble classes were commoners and slaves.

Since the ancient time, the might of China was established militarily, often by emperors from humble origins who had toppled existing dynasties. However, once in control, these emperors soon realized that the actual governance of China would require the administrative services of thousands of bureaucrats. The imperial examination system was thus introduced as a means for creating such a body of men. The Imperial Examination System was a unique a meritocratic strategy in China that lasted for 1300 years, from its founding during the Sui Dynasty in 605 to its abolition near the end of the Qing Dynasty in 1905.

The fundamental justification for the Chinese Imperial Exams was that appointees to civil service positions were not to be chosen through special or inherited privilege, but through an individual's own abilities. There were numerous stories about how the scholars worked very, very hard, and finally passed the examination and succeeded in getting official positions. These stories encouraged generations of generations of youth in China to study hard, making it into a tradition.

It is therefore natural that Chinese has regarded education as a ladder of social ascendancy since ancient time. The most famous saying about "study" in China is from a poem in Song Dynasty (960-1279) by Wang Zhu, literarily translated as "The emperor values heroes, book can teach you (how to be). Everything else is low-grade, only study is above all." This poem has been considered as the golden rule in China for thousands of years. It encourages people to study.

There is also a poem persuading people to study from the Song Dynasty that says, "There is no need for the rich to buy land (to produce food), as plenty of food can be found in books. There is no need to invest in building a good house, as golden house can be found in books. There is no need to worry that no matchmaker is willing to introduce you a wife, as pretty girls can be found in books." It implies that studying can make you have enough to eat, a fancy house, and a beautiful woman.

It was the imperial examination system that created the scholar class. The scholars who were neither nobles nor merchants gradually became the main force of transforming society and uprooting the feudal nobles. These scholars helped to build and maintain a Chinese feudal society that lasted for 2000 years and co-existed with agricultural economy and unified royal power polity.

华人的阴阳概念 The Chinese yinyang Concept

阴阳概念可以说是华人的基本世界观。

阴与阳代表宇宙所能找到的所有的对立事务的原则。阳代表雄、太阳、创造、热、光、天、支配等理则，阴代表雌、月亮、完成、冷、暗、地、顺从等理则。

天以阳理创造事物之理念，地以阴理产生事物之形态，天以阳理造之，地以阴理成之，以此类之。

阴中生阳与阳中生阴的过程周期性与不断地发生，以致没有一种理则能压倒或支配另一种理则。我们所体验到的对立 -- 健康与病痛、富贵与贫穷、权利与顺从 -- 都可以一种理则暂时支配另一理则作为参照来加以解释。既然没有一种理则可以永远占有支配地位，就是说所有的状况都会变换为其对立的状况。

阴与阳的周期性，宇宙中对立力量的转变，就意识着几样东西：

第一，所有事物周期性地逆转为他们的对立事务；第二，所有的现象都具有其对立现象的种子，就是说，病痛含有潜在的健康，健康潜伏着病痛，富贵会导致贫困，等等；第三，由于一个理则会导致另一个理则，虽然对立理则并没有显现，没有一种现象可以避免对立现象。一个人不可能永远健康，因为健康本身就含有其对立的理则，那就是病痛。

所以，阴阳学说中的各种力量并不是敌对的关系。了解这点是很重要的。

它和西方的‘二元论’是不同的。‘二元论’认为世界是由本质上分开的与敌对的力量所构成，例如：真与假、好与坏。

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The concept of yin and yang is often said to be fundamental to the Chinese view of the world.

The yin and yang represent all the opposite principles one finds in the universe. Under yang are the principles of maleness, the sun, creation, heat, light, heaven, dominance, and so on, and under yin are the principles of femaleness, the moon, completion, cold, darkness, material forms, submission, and so on.

Heaven creates the ideas of things under yang, the earth produces their material forms under yin, and vice versa; creation occurs under the principle of yang, the completion of the created thing occurs under yin, and vice versa, and so on.

This production of yin from yang and yang from yin occurs cyclically and constantly, so that no one principle continually dominates the other or determines the other. All opposites that one experiences - health and sickness, wealth and poverty, power and submission - can be explained in reference to the temporary dominance of one principle over the other. Since no one principle dominates eternally, that means that all conditions are subject to change into their opposites.

This cyclical nature of yin and yang, the opposing forces of change in the universe, mean several things.

First, all phenomena change into their opposites in an eternal cycle of reversal. Second, all phenomena have within them the seeds of their opposite state, that is, sickness has the seeds of health, health contains the seeds of sickness, wealth contains the seeds of poverty, etc. Third, even though an opposite may not be seen to be present, since one principle produces the other, no phenomenon is completely devoid of its opposite state. One is never really healthy since health contains the principle of its opposite, sickness.

It is therefore essential to understand that the nature of such forces in yin-yang thought is not an antagonistic relationship.

It is different from the western ‘dualism’, an assertion that the world is comprised of forces that are intrinsically separate and hostile, like ‘truth and falsehood’, or ‘good and evil’.

中华礼乐文化 The Chinese Culture of Rites and Arts

通常说，在古代中国，社会与政治的秩序是二而一的；统治者与君子的个人品德保证国家健全。礼与乐是良好秩序的关键，因为当时的音乐是民间与官方礼仪的重点。

所以，政府如果重视实践最适宜的、在历代传统中选用的礼与乐，自然会产生有德行与快乐的百姓；律法已不必要，因为争论根本就不会发生。

在古代中国，最早的礼节是指律法条文与祭拜上天之灵的正式仪式。周朝就有了成熟仪式来规化人们的行为、协调冲突、人际关系与确保完好的人事管理。以礼促进社会秩序，终止纷争与惩罚战乱，调节奢侈与损耗。礼是人们对他的生活与工作的满意的前提。

孔子提倡礼为一种理想的准则与典范。他崇拜周礼，曾说：‘周監於二代，郁郁乎文哉！吾從周。’可是，在他那时候，人们渐渐地偏离周礼，这就是他开始再度提倡周礼的原因。

《周礼》中的《文王世子第八》（约公元前1073）就这么说：‘凡三王教世子必以礼乐。乐，所以修内也；礼，所以修外也。礼乐交错于中， 发形于外，是故其成也怿，恭敬而温文。’

就是说，所有先王都同样重视礼与乐的教育。两者关系密切，礼融于乐而乐参透所有礼节。它们纵横交错，各有重点。

这就是中国的礼乐文化。

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Generally speaking, in ancient China, social and political orders were the same, and the personal virtue of rulers and gentlemen ensured the health of the state. The keys to good order were rites (li) and music, for Chinese music of the period was central to customary and official rites.

Therefore, a government that pay great attention to practice the most fitting rites and music, selected from the various available traditions, would automatically produce virtuous and happy citizens; laws would be almost unnecessary because disputes would never arise.

The earliest rites (li) in ancient China refer to regulations on the articles and ritual formalities for offering sacrifice to heavenly spirits. A sophisticated system of li came into being in the Zhou Dynasty to regulate people’s conducts, reconcile conflicts, coordinate interpersonal relationship and ensure perfect management of personnel affairs. Li makes social order, puts an end to contentions and scourge of war and moderates extravagance and dissipation. Li is the premises of people’s happiness about their lives and work.

Confucius advocates li as a desirable standard and norm. He admired the li of Zhou and once said, 'Zhou had the advantage of learning from the two past dynasties. How complete and elegant are its regulations! I follow Zhou.' However, during his time, people gradually drifted away from the rites of the Zhou, and this is the reason why Confucius began to advocate it once more.

The Records of Rites depicts the education of Wen Wang (Civil King, c.1073 BC):

The kings of the three dynasties (Xia, Shang and Zhou, c.2100-c.771 BC) taught their princes li (rites) and yue (music). For music is used to cultivate one’s mind, and rites, to train one’s manners and behaviours. For those have internalised both Li and Yue, the result will be reflected in their pleasant appearances, respectful and gentle behaviours.

That is to say, all the early kings paid equal stress on the education of rites and music. The two are closely related to each other with rites dissolving in the form of music and music permeating through the field of rites. They are interwoven and each has its particular stress.

Such is the Chinese culture of Rites and Arts.

忧虑的哲学与务实主义 The Philosophy of Concern and Pragmatism

我们注意到中国哲学始于一种忧虑态度的结果，这种忧虑最终导致以务实智慧来引导人类命运。所以，华人在获取、组织与转递知识中，他们的动机无疑是以人类为中心的。
自古到今，中国哲学的焦点是务实关注人与社会，关注如何生活于理想生命中与关注如何最好地组织社会。孔子（公元前551-479）与他的教导被认为是古代中国哲学思想的起源与基础。
儒学在不同环境中的适应性及其魅力表现卓越，只要是好的与实用的，它都吸收。这样，与时并进的儒学就成为华人古老经验的宝屋。因此，儒学主要的力量在于它的灵活性，这种不寻常的素质令它能够抗拒压力与面对逆境。因此，虽然时不时会黯然失色，它都能从中显现出更新的光辉。
一般而言，实用主义者趋向具体、适当、事实、行动与权力。孔子的很多言说来皆自经验的观察，就是说，这些言语来自具体与适当、事实与行动。
道家亦倾向于强调生活的实用主义。道家教导是，由于所有的物体都像流水一般，他们的性质不停地由反向转向反向，以致我们不知如何把哪一种信念区分优先次序 。所以，在没有什么是好或坏的一致信念的情况下，我们应该追求自然，就是说自然的行动。道家相信，这种追求自然的务实目标，会导致最有效益的一种生活方式。
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We noted that the Chinese philosophy began as a result of an attitude of concern, which led finally to practical wisdom for guiding human destiny. Therefore, the Chinese are decidedly anthropocentric in their motivations for the acquisition, organization and transmission of knowledge.
The central focus of Chinese philosophy throughout the ages has been a practical concern with man and society, how to live an ideal life, and how best to organize society. Confucius (551-479 BC) and his teachings are generally recognised as the genesis and bedrock of much of ancient Chinese philosophical thought.
Confucianism excels in its adaptability to varying circumstances and in its magnetism, which attracts whatever is good and useful. In this way, Confucianism, ever growing with time, has become a treasure house of the age-old experiences of the Chinese people. Hence the chief strength of Confucianism is its flexibility, a remarkable quality that enables it to resist all pressures and to face all adversities. For this reason, though suffering eclipse from time to time, it has always emerged with renewed brilliance.
It is said that a pragmatist always turns towards concreteness and adequacy, towards facts, towards action and towards power. Numerous Confucian sayings are summed up from plenty of observations on experience, that is, they turn towards the concrete and the adequacy, towards facts and actions.
The Daoists also tend to emphasize a pragmatic view of life. Daoism teaches that because all things are, like running water, constantly shifting in value from opposite to opposite we cannot prioritise one belief over another. Therefore, without any consistent idea of what good or bad might really be, we must act to emulate ‘Ziran’ (acting spontaneously). The pragmatic goal of emulating Ziran, Daoists believe, leads to a way of living that gets things achieved in the most effective and efficient way possible.

智慧：怂恿，非激辩 Wisdom: Invitational, Not Argumentative

有人说，中国哲学是智慧的著述，意思是指它主要由故事与语录所组成，指引其读者采用某种生活方式，或肯定其所采用的生活方式。人们从对事物的观察来学习，而不是学习基本原理。智慧的价值是由它对日常生活的功能来形成的。
所以，在儒学来说，道德不是在教导中学到的，而是体验领悟到的。你先观察人，然后学会基本原则，包括观察情境，形势，关系网与涉及的人，等等。就如孔子所说：‘三人行，必有我师焉。择其善者而从之，其不善者而改之。’
子贡问曰：‘有一言而可以终生行之者乎？’子曰：‘其恕乎。己所不欲，勿施于人。’
在华人的传统中，贤者的角色特别重要。贤者的尊重不是来自训示的，信任不是来自指示的，激励是不必加固的，敬畏不是来自震怒的。
就如黑格尔所说，东方的曙光不是理性的曙光。看起来，孔子和老子两人都宁愿让真知模棱两可，不大愿意断言。孔子就说过：‘民可使由之，不可使知之。’老子也说：‘我不知其名，字之曰道。’
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It is said that the Chinese philosophy is ‘wisdom’ literature, composed primarily of stories and sayings designed to move the audience to adopt a way of life or to confirm its adoption of that way of life. One learns from observing the world rather than first principles. The value of wisdom consists in its usefulness for everyday life
Therefore, in Confucianism you pick up ethics rather than are taught it; you watch people and learn various ground rules, including looking at the context, the situation, the relationships, the people involved, etc. As Confucius says, 'I learn from both the good and the bad. The good I imitate, the bad I try to distance myself from.'
Zigong asked Confucius to give a single word which should guide one’s actions throughout one’s life. Confucius answered, ‘the principle of sympathy; to not ever do something to someone else that you have personally experienced to be unjust.’
In Chinese tradition the role of the sage is therefore of special importance. The sage does not have to instruct to be respected; he does not have to speak to be believed, he does not have to reinforce to be encouraging and he does not have to become angry to be feared.
As Hegel puts it, the light of the orient is not the light of reason. Both Confucius and Laozi seem to prefer to leave truth ambivalent, appear almost unwilling to pronounce it. Confucius said, 'The people may be made to follow a path of action, but they may not be made to understand it.' And Laozi said, ‘I do not know it, therefore I call it Dao.’

华人的横向超越观念 The Chinese Idea of Horizontal Transcendence

我们注意到中国哲学中并没有超越这个概念。
对柏拉图而言，我们感官所看到的和经验的世界是不真实的。在这个世界里，我们发现事物一直在改变、来了又去，可是它们并不真实。同可视世界分开的是一个理念世界。在理念世界里，一切完美，它们不会有任何改变，永不退色或死亡，保持永恒。
换句话说，西方哲学家告诉我们不能相信我们说看到的。我们只能以理性能力来发掘真实与永恒世界，而这个永恒世界超越我们每天所看到的世界。
我们说华人不认同这个超越概念，是否意味着华人相信我们所看到的世界是真实的？很明显的，答案是‘不’。
华人以经验观物，以人常所见之物来观物。既然事物在变，我们需要把事物改变前的状态与将变成的未来状态加以联系。过去与未来的事物并不在我们的眼前出现，可是它们是真实的。
换句话说，华人相信言外之意与弦外之音。要了解所显现的，就要知道所隐蔽的；而隐蔽可在过去与未来中找到。
就是说，华人观物，其实从显现超越到隐蔽。而隐蔽是无限与永恒的。我们叫这种超越为横向超越。
为了把华人的超越和西方的超越划分界限，我们把西方的超越称为纵向超越。
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We noted that the notion of transcendence is not part of the Chinese philosophical thinking.
For Plato, the world which we see and experience through our senses are not real. In it, we find things changing, coming and going, but they are not real. There is a world of ideas that is separated from our perceivable world. In the Idea World, things are perfect; they do not change in anyway, never fade or die, and remain forever.
In other words, the western philosophers say that we cannot trust what we see. We can only trust our reasoning power to discover the real and eternal world, which transcend the physical world that we see every day.
When we say the Chinese do not subscribe to the idea of transcendence, does it imply that they trust what they see and trust their experience as real? The answer is obviously no.
Chinese view of things is based on experience and what they see in their daily lives. Since things change, there is a need to relate the past state of things before they change and the future state to which they will transform. Things in past and future are things that are absent from our view, but they are real.
In other words, Chinese believe that one must read what is implied but not expressed on the surface, or the meaning behind what is said. To understand the present, one must know the absent, which can be found in the past and the future.
That is to say, the Chinese view of things actually transcend from the present to the absent. The absent is unlimited and eternal. We can call this transcendence the horizontal transcendence.
To draw a line between the Chinese idea of transcendence and the western transcendence, we shall call the western transcendence the vertical transcendence.

中国人的国家意识 The Chinese National Identity

有人说，宇宙观与中国大一统的思想是中国文化内两个最持久的结构。今天，宇宙观与统一中国还是中国的国家意识重要的思想源头。
传统的中国本土宇宙观代表文化识别，而大多数中国人还把统一中国政府当成合法政府。
秦始皇统一中国以来，中国人对国家的自我意识已有两千年了。秦以前，人民效忠与认同个别诸侯国，虽然大一统思想早已有之。秦后，内部矛盾不断，导致内战与改朝换代。但是，分裂或内战时期，一般视为混乱或不正常。
中国宇宙观的特征是联想类比，根据一对（阴阳类比），四（四方类比），五（五位或五行类比）或八（八卦类比），等等。
比如说，五行不只是一套概念、一种学说、一种思想模式、或是一种公认的符号；其实，它是一种随时代而改变的文化现象，是政治争辩与权力斗争的论证，而最重要的是，它是在这个矛盾与变换世界中行动的艺术。政客以五行宇宙学说为政权辩护，以此获取权力与权势，决定权力关系与社会阶级。
要了解中国人，就要了解他们对这两方面的想法。
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It is said that cosmology and the unified Chinese nation are two most enduring structures of the Chinese civilisation. Today, cosmology and a unified Chinese nation still serve as resources for China’s national identity.
Traditional cosmology is used to represent a cultural identity that is authentically Chinese, and a unified China continues to be held by most Chinese as the only justified form of Government for China.
There has been a self-conscious Chinese state for two thousand years, since the unification of China by the first emperor Qin Shi Huang. Before the Qin dynasty, the loyalty and identity was largely due to each state within China, although the desire for such unity had been cherished for a long time. After Qin dynasty, there were continuous internal conflicts that led to civil wars and dynastic changes. However, the periods during which the country is divided or in civil wars are generally regarded as chaotic and abnormal.
Chinese cosmology has been characterised as ‘correlative’, based on interlaced pairs (correlated to Yin-yang), fours (correlated to the four directions), fives (correlated to the Five Phases or Wuxing), eights (correlated to the Eight Trigrams), and so on.
For example, Wuxing is not simply a set of concepts, a school of philosophy, a mode of thinking, or a commonly agreed upon representation; instead, it is a cultural phenomenon that changes through history, a discourse for political argument and power struggle, and above all, an art of action in a world of conflict and change. Political actors used Wuxing cosmology in arguing about imperial sovereignty, in contesting power and authority, and in defining power relations and social hierarchy.
To understand Chinese, you have to understand these two aspects of their mind.

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.’

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.

谈天 Tan Tian: Let’s Chat

英文把天译为天堂，是值得澄清的。
天是中国宇宙学里最早用的一个字，也是中国神话，哲学里一个重要概念。据说天最早用于周朝，是指最高的天神。周朝为了说明其篡夺天下的正当性，而提出了天命的政治说辞，是说当一个统治者无道，他就应该被上天所指定的人来取而代之。
我们不难了解帝皇为什么要自称天子，或天神之子了。
孔子和他的弟子把天的概念延伸为人性化的道德之天，天为最高道德标准。中庸里首句‘天命之謂性’就是这个天。
老子则把天放到道之后：‘有物混成，先天地生…….吾不知其名，故强字之曰道。’这就把天还回凡俗，而超自然力量的天神也就从中国文化中被排除了。
中国的天与西方的天堂概念是不同的。天堂为了翻译英文Heaven才有的一个新的中文名词。
天加其他字又有新意，如天空，天性，天体，等等。
中国哲学常把天和互补的地合为天地 – 这就是我们的物质世界和宇宙。
再加上人，就形成了华人宇宙观的三才：天地人。
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The word Tian, which is usually translated as Heaven in English, needs clarification.
The Chinese word Tian is one of the oldest Chinese terms for the cosmos and a key concept in Chinese mythology, philosophy. Apparently Tian was first used during Zhou dynasty to refer to the highest deity. Zhou developed a political theory to justify their usurpation of the emperorship in a doctrine called Tian Ming, or the mandate of the highest deity, which is usually translated as the ‘Mandate of Heaven’ in English.
According to the Mandate of Heaven, whenever a ruler was no longer worthy of his position, he would be deposed and replaced by a ruler more favored by divine powers.
One can understand why emperors in China had decided to call themselves Tianzi, or the son of the highest deity.
Confucius and his disciples extended its meaning to mean an ethical Tian, that is, one having a moral principle and which is the highest principle of the universe. This is the sort of Tian which the book Zhong Yong (Doctrine of the Mean) refers to in its opening sentence when it says: ‘What Tian confers (on man) is called his nature.’
Laozi put Dao before Tian when he said: ‘There was something undifferentiated and all-embracing, which existed before Tian and Di (地 earth)….. I do not know its name, and hence call it Dao.’ With this, Tian is back to the terrestrial world and thus the mighty supernatural god is eliminated from the Chinese cultural context.
The Chinese concept of Tian is therefore different from the concept of the western Heaven. When the original English word Heaven is translated into Chinese, a new Chinese term Tian Tang (堂 hall) is used.
However, when Tian is combined with other Chinese words, the meaning may change accordingly. For example, Tian Kong (空empty, air) means the sky, Tian Xin(性 nature), inborn nature, Tian Ti (体 form, system), celestial phenomena, etc.
In Chinese philosophy, the term Tian is usually mentioned in relationship to its complementary aspect of Di (地), which is most often translated as "Earth". Put these two words together, the term Tian-Di actually means the terrestrial world, the universe. Together with Humanity (ren 人), the Chinese have therefore conceived a three-tier universe – tian, di (earth) and ren (humanity).

道德就是天神 China: From Divination to Dao & Virtue

在原始社会，人们为了生存，必须永无止境地对来自大自然，疾病，死亡，和无处不在并含有恶意和魔力的精灵的威胁，进行持续挣扎。为了对付这些威胁，古人想尽法宝。这些法宝中，很多是和原始宗教、精灵、巫术有关。在中国，到了西周末期，隐含在中国人的巫术态度和习俗已经形成。‘易经’就是一本巫术之书。
有人说，老子所说的道其实源自天道和天命，这两个观念原本都和原始巫术有关联。老子以‘道’取代了中国古人所崇拜的超自然存在者。
亦有人说，孔子把‘易经’的巫术内容传变为哲学名作，而作为儒学的导创者，他把原始文化，礼仪和音乐带入了理性实践。在这个过程中，伦理之善与行为取代了至上力量，人的德行和努力取代了个人力量。换句话说，道德就是天神。
所以，孔子把原本用来服侍天神的礼节转换为服侍人类。
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People in primal societies frequently view as an unending series of terrifying encounters on a constant struggle for survival against threats from nature, diseases, death, and above all else, malicious or demonic spirits that pervade everything. To overcome these threats, ancient people developed a wide range of strategies. Most of these strategies were closely associated with primal religions, animism and shamanism. In China, towards the end of the Western Zhou period, ideas implicit in the Chinese attitudes and practices of Shamanism were articulated. Yijing is one of those classical books on Chinese divination.
It is said that Laozi’s notion of Dao may have been derived from two pre-existing terms known as tiandao (the Way of Heaven) and tianming (the Decree of Heaven), which seem to be associated with primitive shamanism. Laozi’s concept of the Dao may have been a substitution for a supernatural being worshiped by the ancient Chinese.
It is also said that Confucius transformed the Yijing from a divination text into a philosophical masterpiece, and as a progenitor of Confucianism, he redefined primitive culture, rites and music by bringing them into the domain of ‘practical rationality’. In doing so, the supreme power was replaced with the notion of moral good and deeds, the personal power was supplanted by human virtue and human effort, and moral was the god in another sense.
Thus, Confucius turned the rites, which formally served and were subordinate to gods, to the service of human being.

物极必反 No Extreme will Hold Long

华人看世界，‘变动’是个重要的观念。所以，华人哲学习惯于万物‘变易’的观念，而西方则一直为‘存在’这个概念所牵制。
万物变动的最基本规律就是‘物极必反’的观念。
易经中对自然现象变动的观察就隐含了物极必反的观念：“日往则月来，月往则日来，日月相推而明生焉。寒往则暑来，暑往则寒来，寒暑相推而岁成焉。”
易经乾卦上九所说‘亢龙有悔’就是警告个人自我膨胀到极点，会险峻摔倒。就是说，人要知道自己的极限。
老子在‘道德经’说：‘反者道之动’和‘大曰逝，逝曰远，远曰反’，都是表示东西发展到极点，它不可避免的会回头走。
这个观念对华人影响重大，所谓居安思危，天无绝人之路。它也为儒家一个重要观念‘中庸之道’提供了依据。
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The notion of change is at the very heart of the Chinese world-view. As such, Chinese philosophy is always more comfortable with the notion of ‘becoming’ than is its Western counterpart, which frequently finds itself bogged down in the problems associated with ‘being’.
The most fundamental law that governs the change of things is the notion of wu ji bi fan (物极必反) which can be translated as ‘When a thing reaches its extreme or limit, it reverses its course’ or ‘No extreme will hold long’.
The concept had its root in Yijing when the following observation of change in nature was made: ‘The sun goes and the moon comes; the moon goes and the sun comes; the sun and moon thus take the place each of the other and their shining is the result. The cold goes and the heat comes; the heat goes and the cold comes; it is by this mutual succession of the cold and heat that the year is completed.’
This was further elaborated when Yijing said ‘Nine at the top of Qian hexagram means arrogant dragon will have cause to repent.’ This line warns against titanic aspirations that exceed one's power. A precipitous fall would follow. That means one must always observe one’s limit.
Laozi said in Dao De Jing that ‘Reversal is the movement of Dao’ (chapter 40) and that ‘To go further and further means to revert again’ or ‘Great, it passes on (in constant flow). Passing on, it becomes remote. Having become remote, it returns.’ (chapter 25). That means if something develops certain extreme qualities, these qualities invariably revert to become their opposites.
This notion has great effect on the Chinese people so that they will always remain cautious even in time of prosperity, and hopeful in time of extreme difficulty. It also provides the basis for the argument of doctrine of the golden Mean, which is advocated by Confucianists.

华人重伦理而淡宗教 Generally Speaking, Chinese People are Not Religious

中文宗教一词，由‘宗’与‘教’二字组成。宗有‘祖宗和宗派’的意思。教有‘教化，从学入道’的意思。所以宗教较有祖宗和宗派教义的意味。而儒释道三教的三教应该是指这三流派的教义多过把它们当作宗教来看待。
中国本身思想文化传统中，没有‘宗教’。佛教传入，成为佛教用语，指的是佛陀及其弟子的教诲。其中‘宗’为佛陀弟子所传，‘教’为佛陀所说，‘宗’是‘教’的分派，共合为佛教的教理。
把‘宗教’与西方宗教概念联系起来，是基督教传入中国后的事。
很多西方人其实已经注意到华人对宗教并不注重。法国汉学家Granet观察透彻：‘以中国人的智慧，他们无须上帝的概念。’
美国著名的汉学家和中国历史家Derk Bodde (1909 - 2003)在1942年说：‘宗教理念和活动，并不是中国人生活中最重要和最令他们注目的部分。中国本身并没有产生过可以被称为宗教领袖的人物。中国文明中提供给他们精神主要粮食 的是伦理（尤其是儒家伦理），而不是宗教，至少不是那些正规，有组织的宗教。’
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Religion is known as zongjiao in Chinese. It is a compound term consists of zong, which is derived from a pictogram of an ancestral altar and most commonly denotes a "sect," and jiao, meaning "teaching." Zongjiao thus carries the connotation of "ancestral" or sectarian teachings. The term sanjiao that refers to Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism, should be interpreted as ‘Three Teachings’ rather than ‘Three Religions’.
Before the late 19th Centry, Zongjiao was used as Chinese Buddhist term to mean simply the teachings of Buddha and his disciples. After the arrival of Christianity in China, the word Zongjiao was used in late 19th-century to mean Religion.
Many Westerners in fact have noticed that the Chinese people have been less concerned with religion. French sinologist Marcel Granet observed rather starkly that ‘Chinese wisdom has no need of the idea of God’.
Derk Bodde (1909 - 2003), a prominent American Sinologist and historian of China, wrote in his article ‘Dominant Ideas in the Formation of Chinese Culture’ in 1942 that the Chinese people ‘are not a people from whom religious ideas and activities constitute an all-important and absorbing part of life….China itself produced no thinker…. who could be classified as a religious leader. It is ethics (especially Confucian ethics), and not religion (at least not religion of a formal, organized type), that provided the spiritual basis in Chinese Civilization.’

中国哲学：和而不同 The Goal of Harmony

北京奥运开幕式所要表达的其中的一个概念是‘和谐’。而‘和谐’正是中国文化精神之精髓，珍贵的中国文化遗产之一。‘和谐’在儒家眼中，就是一个‘和’字，而奥运开幕式所突出表现的正是这个‘和’字。儒家经书‘中庸’就谈到了中和：

喜怒哀乐之未发，谓之中。发而皆中节，谓之和。

中也者，天下之大本也。和也者，天下之达道也。

致中和，天地位焉，万物育焉。

所以‘和’便是协调分歧，达成和睦一致，意味着和谐，但它承认不同。把不同联合起来成为和谐一致。

一个有组织的社会里，有各种不同才能，不同行业的人，各有自己的地位，完成不同的作用，各得其所，彼此没有冲突，这就是和谐社会。

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It is abvious that one of the aims of the Beijing Olympic opening ceremony was to convey the concept of "Harmony", which is an important characteristic of traditional Chinese culture, as well as a precious cultural heritage of China.

However, the concept of harmony was called by many names in the Chinese philosophy and literature.

The Confucian term for harmony is he, which was featured prominently in the opening ceremony. The word he was established in a famous passage from the Zhong Yong (Doctrine of the Mean):

"Before the feelings of pleasure, anger, sorrow, and joy are established, there is equilibrium (zhong: the mean, the centre). The establishment of these feelings in proper measure of each and proper rhythm for all is called harmony (he). This equilibrium is the greatest source of the world; this harmony is the world's universal Way (Dao). With the full attainment of equilibrium and harmony comes the proper ordering of heaven and earth and the nourishment of all things."

Harmony is the reconciling the differences into a harmonious unit. He means harmony, which is not incompatible with difference; on the contrary, it results when differences are brought together to form a unity.

A well-organised society is a harmonious unity in which people of differing talents and professions occupy their proper places, perform their proper functions, and are all equally satisfied and not in conflict with one another. This is the ideal harmonious society.

儒释道 Three Doctrines

中国人的人生哲学，有三个角度：

1。道家讲的是人与宇宙环境的关系。

2。儒家讲的是人与人间的关系。

3。佛家讲的是人的内心与世界的关系。

释儒道互补共存，合称三教。当然，中国人所谓‘教’向来不是西方心目中的宗教，而是三教九流的‘教’，有教育指导的意思。

道家是对人与物的看法。要达到快乐，人必须以正确的看待万物。了解万物之道，十分重要。这并不是说人没有可改变的地方，而是说我们应该相信我们的本性，和发掘自我。

儒家相信和谐来自正当的人伦关系。这些人伦关系就是夫妻，父子，兄弟，朋友与君臣之间的关系。文质彬彬，然后君子。而执行礼节就是达到个人高尚品质和修养的最好方法。

佛家相信人生而痛苦，因为无知和欲望，所以要除去欲望，痛苦才能解除。

释儒道三家思想引导华人生活，无所不在。可以说，它们对亚洲人文化的感染，至今未衰。

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Chinese believes that there are three basic dimensions related to the living of life:

1. The right relations with the universe and our environment which is the province of the Daoism.

2. The right relations with one's neighbour which is the province of Confucianism.

3. The search for spirituality in the inner self and its relation to the world that is the province of Buddhism.

Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism became known as the Three Doctrines, or the "Three Teachings".

Daoism is a way of looking at life and of thinking about things. One should look at life and think about things in the right way in order to reach happiness. It is therefore very important to understand The Way Things Are. This does not mean that there are not things we need to change about ourselves, but it's important to recognize and trust our own inner nature, and discover who we are.

Confucianism believes that harmony come from proper relationships. If everyone would maintain their proper roles within these relationships then the entire society would be at peace. These relationships are: (1) husband and wife (2) father and son (3) older brother to younger brother, (4) friend to friend and (5) subject to ruler. Becoming human is a cultural achievement and the formal instrument for pursuing personal refinement and self-articulation is li, ie ritual practice.

Buddhism thinks that life is suffering, which is caused by ignorance and desire and we can end suffering by ceasing our desire.

Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism shape and guide all aspects of Chinese life. Their principles and ideals still imbue Asian culture today.

庄子逍遥游 Zhuangzi's Xiaoyaoyou: Free and Easy Wandering" or "Going Rambling Without a Destination"?

昨日上苏新鋈教授的课，就讲到庄子的逍遥游。

什么是逍遥游？庄子当然没有明言。中国思想家从来就不喜欢下定义，因为下定义就是设置限定的边界。(To define is to set boundaries)。 这是西方理性思维的产物。

东方学者用的是联想思维 - 那就是求助值得仿效的典范和事例，而不是严格的定义，来唤起读者的理解能力。知识因此包含着意义丰盈，无限的模糊的要素。

《庄子·逍遥游》篇，关于“逍遥游”的含义问题，大鹏和小鸟谁自由、谁不自由的问题，圣人有待与无待的问题，无名、无功、无己的含义及其相互关系的问题等，学界众说纷纭，对于这些问题的不同解答，导致了对于《逍遥游》主旨的不同把握。

可以这么说，我们不必把世间之事都当万箭穿心，而把它们当作是百川归海，助我成长。所以万事美好。让我们当下就觉悟，随地可逍遥。

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Extracted from the website: The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy:

Steve Coutinho: The title of the first chapter of the Zhuangzi has also been translated as "Free and Easy Wandering" and "Going Rambling Without a Destination." Both of these reflect the sense of the Daoist who is in spontaneous accord with the natural world, and who has retreated from the anxieties and dangers of social life, in order to live a healthy and peaceful natural life. In modern Mandarin, the word xiaoyao has thus come to mean "free, at ease, leisurely, spontaneous." It conveys the impression of people who have given up the hustle and bustle of worldly existence and have retired to live a leisurely life outside the city, perhaps in the natural setting of the mountains.
But this everyday expression is lacking a deeper significance that is expressed in the classical Chinese phrase: the sense of distance, or going beyond. As with all Zhuangzi's images, this is to be understood metaphorically. The second word, 'yao,' means 'distance' or 'beyond,' and here implies going beyond the boundaries of familiarity. We ordinarily confine ourselves with our social roles, expectations, and values, and with our everyday understandings of things. But this, according to Zhuangzi, is inadequate for a deeper appreciation of the natures of things, and for a more successful mode of interacting with them. We need at the very least to undo preconceptions that prevent us from seeing things and events in new ways; we need to see how we can structure and restructure the boundaries of things. But we can only do so when we ourselves have 'wandered beyond' the boundaries of the familiar. It is only by freeing our imaginations to reconceive ourselves, and our worlds, and the things with which we interact, that we may begin to understand the deeper tendencies of the natural transformations by which we are all affected, and of which we are all constituted. By loosening the bonds of our fixed preconceptions, we bring ourselves closer to an attunement to the potent and productive natural way (dao) of things.