New Confucian

Getting Out of the Rabbit Hole and Getting Engaged, Analect 18.6

2009-03-01T10:49:00.000-08:00

Besides being a Confucian, I am also a Christian. One of our preachers, Dave Stevens, recently quoted Jon Johnson who said, "Many believers are 'rabbit hole' Christians. In the morning they pop out of their safe Christian homes, hold their breath at work, and scurry home to their families and then off to their Bible studies, and finally end the day praying for the unbelievers they safely avoided all day."

Dave commented on this, saying,
"Don't be fooled; it takes courage to shine like lights in a dark world."

Later Dave said,
"I believe that we should be in the world but not of the world. However, for whatever reason, many are not even in the world while they try to not be of the world."

Dave raised an excellent point that applies to all people who believe in the life of virtue and service. I mentioned in an earlier post that Confucians are engaged. Confucians and Christians alike share the need to be engaged in helping humanity and promoting the virtuous life, and we share the reluctance to become personally engaged.

The Great Learning opens this way, after Gardner,
"The Way of Great Learning lies in letting one’s inborn luminous virtue shine forth, in renewing the people, and in coming to rest in perfect goodness."

Yes, Confucians too are supposed to shine like lights in a dark world.

Some Christians have turned their back on humanity and withdrawn into monastic orders, and some Chinese suggested to Confucius that he withdraw from the troubled world. Here is the account of that meeting and Confucius' reply: that he needed to associate with people instead of birds and beasts because the Chinese state needed to change:

Analect 18.6, also known as
BOOK XVIII. WEI TSZE
CHAP. VI. (Legge's translation)
1. Ch'ang-tsu and Chieh-ni were at work in the field together, when Confucius passed by them, and sent Tsze-lu to inquire for the ford.

2. Ch'ang-tsu said, 'Who is he that holds the reins in the carriage there?' Tsze-lu told him, 'It is K'ung Ch'iu.' 'Is it not K'ung Ch'iu of Lu?' asked he. 'Yes,' was the reply, to which the other rejoined, 'He knows the ford.'

3. Tsze-lu then inquired of Chieh-ni, who said to him, 'Who are you, sir?' He answered, 'I am Chung Yu.' 'Are you not the disciple of K'ung Ch'iu of Lu?' asked the other. 'I am,' replied he, and then Chieh-ni said to him, 'Disorder, like a swelling flood,spreads over the whole empire, and who is he that will change its state for you? Than follow one who merely withdraws from this one and that one, had you not better follow those who have withdrawn from the world altogether?' With this he fell to covering up the seed, and proceeded with his work, without stopping.

4. Tsze-lu went and reported their remarks, when the Master observed with a sigh, 'It is impossible to associate with birds and beasts, as if they were the same with us. If I associate not with these people,-- with mankind,-- with whom shall I associate? If right principles prevailed through the empire, there would be no use for me to change its state.'

Virtuous people need to be engaged in helping humanity.

Robert Canright

The Five Loves and Commitments of Confucianism

2009-01-28T06:53:00.000-08:00

“Know thyself,” said the temple at Delphi. Only you can peer into your heart and know what you truly love, but others can see your actions and see your commitments. These are related. Love empowers commitment; commitment sustains love.

What are the loves and commitments of Confucianism, the Ru Jia? To become a noble person I believe one starts by loving humanity. The love of humanity leads to a love of virtue. The love of virtue leads to a love of culture. The love of culture leads to a love of learning. And the love of learning leads to a love of order.

I believe the first commitment of a noble person is to family. The commitment to family enables a commitment to self-cultivation. The commitment to self-cultivation enables a commitment to community. A commitment to community enables commitment to a state. And a true commitment to a state should enable commitment to world peace, because no state is truly secure unless all states live in harmony.

A love for humanity empowers a family. A love of virtue empowers self-cultivation. A love of culture empowers community. A love of learning empowers a state. And a love of order empowers world peace.

World peace sustains order. A successful state sustains learning. Successful communities sustain culture. Successful self-cultivation sustains virtue. And successful families sustain humanity.

I have diagrammed these relationships. You can view the diagram at this web link:
http://www.timelesswayinstitute.com/Loves_and_Commitments_of_Confucianism.pdf

Robert

Canonical Books and America's Future

2009-01-02T19:39:00.000-08:00

A canon is an accepted body of related works. Mortimer Adler, the University of Chicago, and the Encyclopedia Britannica assembled and published 60 volumes of works called Great Books of the Western World. Adler studied at Columbia University where John Erskine developed classes based on Masterworks of Western Literature. Great Books courses have been very influential. The famous philosopher Richard Rorty studied the Great Books at the University of Chicago. Thirty years after graduating from Columbia University, the writer David Denby re-enrolled in the Great Books courses at Columbia and wrote "Great Books" about the experience. More recently Alex Beam has written, "A Great Idea at the Time: The Rise, Fall, and Curious Afterlife of the Great Books." As the quality of American education has declined, so has the study of the Great Books.

For a household or for an individual, the main problem with the Great Books is their quantity. Any list you find will have 100 or more works. Who can trully absorb that much? Who can absorb Plato's Republic in one reading?

The Confucian tradition, the Ru Jia, has a much shorter list. Even though Confucian scholars have been writing for thousands of years and many brilliant works have been produced, the Confucians have as their canon The Four Books and the Five Classics.

The Four Books are The Analects, The Mencius, The Great Learning, and The Doctrine of the Mean.

The Five Classics are The Book of Poetry (also called The Book of Songs or The Odes), The Book of Rites (also called The Liki), The Spring and Autumn Annuals (a history of the state of Lu), The Book of History (ancient Chinese history), and The Book of Changes (also called The I Ching).

The Four Books are the Core Curriculum of the Confucian tradition and they are remarkably compact. The Analects and the Mencius are books, but the Great Learning and the Doctrine of the Mean are essays.

The Four Books are brilliant works. You can read them all in a month or two, but spend years studying the width and breadth of their wisdom.

The Confucian tradition is a sub-set of Chinese culture as Stoicism is a sub-set of Western philosophy, so it makes sense that the classical Confucian tradition can be represented by four books while it takes over 100 books to represent Western civilization.

The Christian tradition is represented by one canonical book, the Bible. Some Christians might have a second book like The Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin or The City of God by Augustine of Hippo, but these second books tend to identify schisms in the Christian tradition.

Except for the Christian tradition, there is little that truly unifies Americans. This is why E.D. Hirsch, Jr. wrote "Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know." His concept of cultural literacy focused on effective communication, not unity.

As Christianity becomes less influential in America, America becomes less unified. This is probably why the Russian Igor Panarin is forcasting America breaking apart in 2010, as reported in the front page of the Wall Street Journal on Monday December 29, 2008 in "As if Things Weren't Bad Enough, Russian Professor Predicts End of U.S." by Andrew Osborn.

If there were a reasonable number canonical books, say between one and ten, embraced by a large majority of Americans, the philosophy or morality within these canonical books could unify our country. We could become a stronger and better nation, more purposeful and successful if we had better direction in our lives than acquiring money and buying things.

If every person, every household, every community started reading great books and discussing great ideas, that would be a step toward finding canonical books we might all believe in.

Robert Canright

A good introduction to the Four Books is "The Four Books" by Daniel K. Gardner (ISBN 978-0872208261)

Response to the comment attributed to Max Weismann

Thank you for the feedback regarding the book by Alex Beam. The negativity you discussed was in Beam's book, not my blog. One review of Beam's book mentions he "offers childish critiques and name calling," so the negativity you mention has been noted by others.

Readers can find quotes from Robert Hutchins' essay, "The Great Conversation," at this link and can read the entire essay at this other link. Here is a link to the Great Books Academy for my readers.
-- Robert

The Sage, Perhaps Misunderstood by Americans

2009-01-01T17:37:00.000-08:00

President George W. Bush was quoted using the word "sage" in the New York Times, Friday December 19, 2008 in this article: "‘Headed Out of Town,’ Bush Turns Reflective" by David Stout.

His exact words were:
“Reflections by a guy who’s headed out of town,” Mr. Bush called his musings in a question-and-answer session. “An old sage at 62 ... headed to retirement.”

President Bush used "sage" in the sense of "old man" or "wise old man." But this is not the sense in which "sage" is used in the Confucian tradition. They remembered the sage-kings of their ancient history, like Yao, who ruled with benevolence and led their kingdom into prosperity. The ancient sage kings were revered.

Confucius might have been thought a sage by his students and admirers, but he would never call himself a sage, for example:

From the Analects of Confucius, translated by James Legge, BOOK VII, CHAP. XXXIII:

"The sage and the man of perfect virtue — how dare I rank myself with them? It may simply be said of me, that I strive to become such without satiety, and teach others without weariness."

Being a sage in the Confucian tradition is not about experience or knowledge. It is not just about wisdom. Being a sage depends upon wisdom and virtue, and virtue in the sense that refers to an "inner potency" or "divine power," as explained in the Wikipedia article about the Tao Te Ching.

Here is a link to a nice article on the Sage.

This dependence on virtue makes the Confucian sage different than the Philosopher King of Plato. Plato believed true philosophers to be the most virtuous of men, but that sense of inner power flowing from virtue, in my opinion, is missing from Plato's Philosopher King.

Lack of virtue in America's financial leaders is what crashed the American economy in the Fall of 2008. I think we can learn much from the Confucian tradition about virtue and how it should lead to prosperity for the people.

Robert Canright

The Great Learning

2008-11-23T10:32:00.001-08:00

The Great Learning is one of the most important Confucian works. It is very short. The Legge translation is 334 words long. You can read it aloud in 2 or 3 minutes, yet spend years pondering its marvelous wisdom.

I studied various translations of The Great Learning over the years, but it was not until I was preparing to discuss it in a new book that I began to understand it. I saw it having three sections, with the middle section being a blue-print for society.

I was so moved by The Great Learning that I stopped writing my book. I started The Timeless Way Foundation, and I started running for the local school board. The vision of society in The Great Learning was so compelling it became an important part of my life.

The wars in Vietnam and in Iraq, and the repeated economic meltdowns in 2001 and again in 2008, are good evidence of a serious and persistent problem in America, a problem casting a menacing shadow over the future, threatening our children's safety and prosperity, a problem demanding solution.

Something has gone wrong in America. It will be up to our children to decide the source of the problems and make corrections. I believe we need to provide them the best education and communities so they will have the right mind and heart to save America, to save themselves.

I believe The Great Learning offers valuable insight. I have expressed a few thoughts on my website where I describe one view of The Great Learning, a view I call The Winding Spring Process of Education.

Here is a copy of The Great Learning in HTML and a copy of The Great Learning in PDF. Everyone should study it, think it through for themselves, then consider how it might apply in our lives today. I believe it is most pertinent.

Robert Canright

Analects of Confucius on the Web in Nice Format

2008-11-12T11:20:00.000-08:00

Legge's translation in a nice presentation

http://afpc.asso.fr/wengu/wg/wengu.php?l=Lunyu&no=0

It's in English, French, and Chinese

Robert

Confucianism & Stoicism; Reading & Writing

2008-08-22T20:21:00.000-07:00

There is a lot of linkage between Confucianism and Stoicism. They are certainly not the same, although there are some similarities in beliefs, like a shared belief in a moral law at work in the universe.

Even some of their techniques are similar. In my blog, Education for the 21st Century, I pointed out that Han Yu, 768 - 824 A.D., recommended a simple writing style called guwen. Chu Hsi (Zhu Xi) had a lot to say about how a student should read. For example:

"There is layer upon layer [of meaning] in the words of the sages. In your reading of them, penetrate deeply. If you simply read what appears on the surface, you will misunderstand. Steep yourself in the words; only then will you grasp their meaning." 4.9 (page 129) in "Learning to be a Sage" translated by Daniel Gardner.

Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote this about his education:

"... I was to be accurate in my reading, and not content with a mere general idea of the meaning..." Meditation 7, Book 1.

In Meditation 7 he also says he was taught to use a direct style of writing, avoiding "verbal conceits."

It is good for a Westerner who is studying Confucianism to also study Stoicism in order to appreciate the universal nature of Confucianism.

Robert

What Confucius Said About Wisdom

2008-08-11T21:10:00.001-07:00

Kongzi, called Confucius by Westerners, was one of the wisest men to live.

Click here to read what Confucius said about wisdom.

Robert

Analect 6.28 ( VI.XXVIII ) of Confucius, Helping Others

2008-03-19T07:58:00.000-07:00

A friend wrote something very thoughtful in a personal blog about helping others. I was reminded of Analect 6.28, where it says, "To advance, help others to advance."

Here is 6.28 in its entirety, translated by Legge:

1. Tsze-kung said, 'Suppose the case of a man extensively conferring benefits on the people, and able to assist all, what would you say of him? Might he be called perfectly virtuous?'
The Master said, 'Why speak only of virtue in connexion with him? Must he not have the qualities of a sage? Even Yao and Shun were still solicitous about this.

2. 'Now the man of perfect virtue, wishing to be established himself, seeks also to establish others; wishing to be enlarged himself, he seeks also to enlarge others.

3. 'To be able to judge of others by what is nigh in ourselves;-- this may be called the art of virtue.'

Within this Analect you see "wishing to be established himself, seeks also to establish others," which I render as, "To advance, help others to advance."

Does this mean that if you are ambitious you should help others with the expectation they will be able to pay you back? No. In other writings Kongzi (Confucius) says you should not be calculating in your relations with others.

The Bible says, what good is it to gain the world and lose your soul? To advance yourself, you must advance as a complete human. Growing in money or possessions without growing in character or virtue is not real growth, but the illusion of advancement. You must help others selflessly and spontaneously, without calculation. It is satisfying in itself.

Allow me to share a couple of good memories.

I was on our high school chess team at Brother Martin High School in New Orleans. In a chess match agains Holy Cross High School I saw a fresman at Holy Cross demolish a senior on our team at the 1st board position. I asked the freshman if he would like to join me when I drove uptown to play chess against adults at the Echec Carre chess club, meeting at the Milton Latter Library on St. Charles Avenue. He wiped out the adults, and they were serious players. One adult, a former Louisiana State Champion, avoided playing the kid because every time he played the kid he lost and dropped rating points.

Jim Rousselle was that kid. Jim became the Louisiana State Chess Champion while he was still in high school. He defeated a tournament of strong adult players because I recognized his talent and introduced him to the adult chess world, which was very hard to discover at that pre-Fischer time.

I did not benefit materially by helping Jim into the broader chess world, but I felt joy in watching him fulfill his potential as chess player. He would read a chess game and remember all the moves. Once, when I got to his house to drive him to the club, he set up a chess board and replayed a spectacular game of Frank Marshall's. He made all the moves from memory and it truly was an amazing game. And it was amazing to see Jim's talent and love of the game. This was all decades ago, back in the 70's and it is still a fond memory.

Here's another, more recent, example. When I was teaching Math at a Charter school in Texas, I overheard a smart young man telling a classmate he wanted to go to MIT. I mentioned to him that he should make an effort to do well on a test in his future called the PSAT because he might win a National Merit Scholarship. Later, I mentioned this to his mother and she said her son had related this to her.

Wow! A young man who listens! I was impressed that he listened to me, so I next mentioned to him that he should become a proficient programmer in C and C++ before he arrives at MIT. He asked how so I gave him a book on programming in C. Next, he tells me that reading is not enough. He has to write and run programs to really learn C, and how can he do that? Wow, this boy is really applying himself and coming to the right conclusions. So I tell him he should look for a C compiler he could purchase on the internet. Yes, he takes that next step and discovers it is hard to find a C compiler to purchase on the internet.

Next, I gave him a C compiler. When the rest of his 6th grade classmates were having cookies and Cool Aid on the last day of school, he and I were in the computer lab. I showed him how to install a compiler on a computer and how to write and execute C programs with the compiler. Installing and using a new software tool is a pain in the neck. I would modify a program and try to run it again, and have trouble. "Why doesn't this work? It worked a moment ago?" I would say. He said, "Mr. Canright you pressed that other button last time." And he was right. He watched intently and remembered what I did.

Was he a great student? He sat in the very back of the class and goofed off, but he got perfect scores on his math tests. He was home schooled and his parents put him and his sister in a charter school for one year. I don't believe he came back next year. His mother felt he could advance faster with home schooling. I did not return to this school next year because I needed a higher salary. Each of us was at this school for only one year. We met. I helped him get started on his road to MIT. Then we went in different directions.

I did not profit at all by helping this young man. It cost me money to help him: I gave him a book and a compiler. But I got great satisfaction in seeing a young man with ambition and talent apply himself. How many 6th graders do you know who would give up a fun time to install a compiler onto a computer? He was a special kid and I felt enriched by just getting to see this side of him.

If we love humanity we are enriched when we help others grow.

If you calculate the profit in helping someone, you cheat yourself by the very thought of personal profit.

Robert

Richard Rorty and the Ru Jia

2008-03-01T11:35:00.000-08:00

I believe Richard Rorty is an American who exemplifies virtues of the Ru Jia. “Ru Jia” means “school of scholars” and is another name for Confucianism. Confucians are also referred to as the Ru.

Here is a quote from a lecture about Rorty:
"We do not learn moral education by the teaching of philosophy, not by rational speculation, but by becoming sensitized to the suffering of others."

That lecture also attributed these thoughts to Rorty:
1.) "Liberalism is the realization that cruelty and humiliation are the worst things we can inflict on one another."

2.) "Solidarity is the glue that holds society together, and it can be expanded through acts of identification with those previously considered as 'others.'"

Here are what I see as attributes of American Ru Jia:
a) They are compassionate and sympathetic to the suffering of others.
b) They look beyond society as a mechanism and see it as a source of identity (the "identification" mentioned above).
c) They look to improve the lives of the people.
d) They believe in morality.
e) They believe in the importance of education and culture.

Americans can look within our own American or Western tradition for people to emulate who are also in the tradition of the Ru Jia.

Robert

P.S.
The lectures I've referred to here are "Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition" from the Teaching Company. Rorty is lecture 81, found in Part 7 of the lecture series.

Wang Yangming's Community Compact

2008-01-20T12:10:00.000-08:00

If an American community wanted to write a compact, the following text from Wang Yangming would be a great preamble.

"The responsibility for all this should be shared by ... government officials and all of you, old and young.

Alas! Nothing can be done to change what has already gone by, but something can still be done in the future. Therefore a community compact is now specially prepared to unite and harmonize all of you. From now on, all of you who enter into this compact should be filial to your parents and respectful to your elders, teach your children, live in harmony with your fellow villagers, help one another when there is death in the family and assist one another in times of difficulty, encourage one another to do good and warn one another not to do evil, stop litigations and rivalry, cultivate faithfulness and promote harmony, and be sure to be good citizens so that together you may establish the custom of humanity and kindness....

All of you, both old and young, do not remember the former evil deeds of the new citizens and ignore their good deeds. As long as they have a single thought to do good, they are already good people. Do not be proud that you are good citizens and neglect to cultivate your personal life. As long as you have a single thought to do evil, you are already evil people. Whether people are good or evil depends on a single instant of thought. You should think over my words carefully. Don't forget...."

Wang Yangming, 1472-1529

This is a brilliant exposition of the right attitude to have going into a community compact. I am too humbled by Wang's brilliance to try to add anything to what he said. I will only mention American historical context: during his lifetime Columbus discovered the New World (1492) and the Jamestown colony was started in Virginia (1508).

Robert

Economics and Confucianism

2008-01-18T21:27:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking about the application of Confucianism to economics.

Here's what the Confucian scholar Yan Yuan (a.k.a. Yan Xizhai, 1635 - 1704) wrote:

"...culture is not just the Odes, History, and the Six Arts; an impressive personal presence, clear speech, the military,farming, hydraulics, the use of fire, finance, grain, labor, and risk -- anything that can refine who I am and embellish
the fundamental forces in the universe -- all are part of culture."

Finance, labor, and risk are part of economics!

There is definitely a connection between economics and Confucianism.

Robert

The quote is from page 79, "Confucian Moral Self Cultivation,
2nd Ed." by Philip J. Ivanhoe (2000)

Li as Ritual

2007-12-30T16:05:00.000-08:00

Ritual or propriety are the classical interpertations of "li." I believe many Americans have a difficult time seeing value in rituals. I have found a very good discription of the benefits of ritual in "The Happiness Hypothesis" by Jonathan Haidt (p.229):

"You can't just invent a good ritual through reasoning about symbolism. You need a tradition within which the symbols are embedded, and you need to invoke bodily feelings that have some appropriate associations. Then you need a community to endorse and practice it over time. To the extent that a community has many rituals that cohere across the three levels, people in the community are likely to feel themselves connected to the community and its traditions. If the community also offers guidance on how to live and what is of value, then people are unlikely to wonder about the question of purpose within life. Meaning and purpose simply emerge from the coherence, and people can get on with the purpose of living."

That paragraph can use a little explanation. His "three levels" are three levels describing humanity: the physical, the psychological, and the sociocultural (p. 227).

The "question of purpose within life" is something of personal importance to the author. In his youth he suffered existential angst and questioned the "meaning of life." As an adult he has refined the question of the meaning of life from "What is the meaning of life" to "Tell me something enlightening about life" and and two sub-questions: (1) "What is the purpose for which human beings were placed on earth? Why are we here?" and (2) "How ought I to live? What should I do to have a good, happy, fulfilling, and meaningful life?"

Confucianism certainly contributes to helping us answer that second sub-question in a flexible, non-dogmatic way.

I believe Jonathan Haidt would appreciate Confucianism if he studied it. So many of his studies have led him to Confucian ideas. He has developed a Confucian understanding of ritual!

What he has not mentioned is how ritual strengthens community. He still has an individualistic view, not a communitarian view.

Robert

Confucians are Engaged

2007-11-29T18:58:00.000-08:00

Analect 13.9, also called Book XIII Chap IX in Legge says:

CHAP. IX. 1. When the Master went to Wei, Zan Yu acted as
driver of his carriage.
2. The Master observed, 'How numerous are the people!'
3. Yu said, 'Since they are thus numerous, what more shall be
done for them?' 'Enrich them,' was the reply.
4. 'And when they have been enriched, what more shall be
done?' The Master said, 'Teach them.'

Notice the 1st question: what more shall be done for them?'
and the answer: ' 'Enrich them,'

One reason I like Confucianism is that Confucianism is engaged.

Confucian scholars who believe only in studying are missing, I think, an important aspect of Confucianism: the Unity of Knowledge and Action.

Robert

Education and Confucianism

2007-11-25T16:19:00.001-08:00

I was chatting with a lady one day and she said, "Life is learning." How true that is! I was reminded of this line from Chu Hsi, "Everything is a matter of learning."

The wise, older lady I spoke with echoed a Confucian sentiment because true wisdom is universal.

The Chu Hsi quote is 7.27, p. 186, from "Learning to by a Sage, Selections from the Conversations of Master Chu, Arranged Topically," translated by Daniel K. Gardner, ISBN 0-520-06525-5.

That title is quite a mouth full, isn't it! But this book is a treasure of good thoughts.

Robert

We Need to Speak

2007-11-11T16:01:00.000-08:00

Chu Hsi said, (7.39)"... If you just spoke about and immersed yourself in human nature and principle, there'd naturally be a difference in your dealings with matters."

I liked this emphasis on speaking. So many who study Confucianism keep their learning to themselves. We live in communities and we must speak out.

Chu Hsi said, (7.45) "... Only the superior man is able to connect with the will of all under Heaven, opening up [his mind] so that its scope becomes vast, thus allowing everyone to feel a sense of plenitude in their hearts. How content they'll be!"

How does one open one's mind and affect others? Through writing and speaking, I believe.

How does one immerse oneself in moral principle? Is it a pool that one can dive into? Does one possess such a large amount of moral principle that is seems like a lake? I think the immersion is into the love of and the investigation of moral principle. Chu Hsi said (7.19), "In all matters examine into the right and wrong."

If you go to the Timeless Way, Dallas, yahoo group, you can search for the "Four Step Process of Self-Transformatin" and see that step 1 is seek truth and step 4 is share hope.

Investigating moral principle is one way to seek truth. Speaking and writing about moral principle is one way to share hope.

The lessons of the ancient sages are as profound and useful today as they ever were.

Robert
The quotes are from "Learning to be a Sage, Selections from the Conversations of Master Chu, Arranged Topically", translated by Daniel K. Gardner, a book I heartily recommend.

Good and Evil in Confucianism

2007-09-03T17:24:00.001-07:00

You do not see evil discussed much in Confucian writings. I have posted some quotations of Chu Hsi (Zhu Xi) on evil on this web page link.

Robert

More on the Shun's Message of the Mind

2007-08-12T19:49:00.000-07:00

I had mentioned Shun's Message of the mind earlier. Here are two versions of it:

de Bary translates it thusly:
"The human mind is precarious: the mind of the Way is subtle.
Be refined and single-minded. Hold fast to the Mean." [de Bary]

Gardner translates it thusly:
"The human mind is precarious. The ontological mind is
almost imperceptible. Be discriminating, be undivided, that
you may sincerely hold fast to the Mean." [Gardner]

You can go to this link to delve deeper into this message.

Robert

Mencius: Good Leaders Promote Good People

2007-07-14T21:31:00.000-07:00

Mencius has many good lessons on leadership. Here is one, in Book 3, Part A.4 [1],

"To share one's wealth with others is generosity; to teach others to be good is conscientiousness; to find the right man for the Empire is benevolence. Hence, it is easier to give the Empire away than to find the right man for it."

When the President of the USA has to choose between commuting the sentence or pardoning entirely the Vice President's Chief of Staff because of his crimes, there obviously a problem in the White House when selecting staff.

Leaders who cannot pick honest men to work for them would seem to have a problem themselves with honesty.

Mengzi and Kongzi gave us lessons to teach leadership. We can use these lessons also to judge our leaders.

Robert
[1] Mencius, translated by D.C. Lau, Penguin Books, 1970, page 103.

Paul Yingling, Lynn Turner, and Confucian Leadership

2007-07-08T13:00:00.000-07:00

I have written previously about Lt. Col. Paul Yingling. He is an excellent example of Confucian leadership. Col. Yingling wrote an article, A Failure in Generalship, that discusses deeply entrenched problems within the American General staff. Both Confucius (Kongzi) and Mencius (Mengzi) encouraged leaders to listen to criticism and taught that it was, at times, a minister's duty to criticize his lord.

The sage Chu Hsi (Zhu Xi) said, "...we would not dare criticize our elders recklessly, but what harm is there in discussing the rights and wrongs of what they did?" [1]

The Wall Street Journal, Friday June 29, 2007, ran an article on the front page: "Critiques of Iraq War Reveal Rifts Among Army Officers" by Greg Jaffe. The article said Maj. Gen. Jeff Hammond, the commanding officer of Fort Hood, assembled 200 Army captains to tell them Lt. Col. Yingling was not competent to judge generals because he was not a general: "He has never worn the shoes of a general."

General Hammond's comment flies in the face of the all the great sages: Kongzi, Mengzi, and Zhu Xi. Every organization, including the U.S. military, should study the leadership principles of the ancient sages in the Analects and the Mencius.

Another Confucian leadership principle is that you dismiss a subordinate who does wrong or you resign if your superior insists on doing wrong. The Wall Street Journal, July 7, 2007, article "Riding the Tiger" by James T. Areddy and David Reilly mentioned that on May 17 Lynn Turner, the former chief accountant of the SEC, resigned from Glass, Lewis & Co. when it was purchased by Xinhua Finance. Furthermore, he said in his resignation letter that he was resigning because of the purchase by Xinhua Finance. He was explicit when others go silently. The new Chief Financial Officer of Kendall Square Research, a supercomputer company, took one look at the books and promptly resigned. Within a year the company was caught cooking their books and went into bankruptcy.

When leaders do not take action, events run them over. The May 17, 2007 Wall Street Journal article on page 1, "How a Bid to Boost Profits Led to a Law Firm's Demise" by Nathan Koppel, describes how the leadership at Jenkins & Gilchrist knew they had a problem with their Chicago office. They discussed the problem. Five of six directors voted in 2001 to ask a Mr. Daugerdas to leave the firm, but they never did take that step. Eventually, their lack of action drove their law firm into bankruptcy.

Contemporary America can learn leadership principles from the ancient Chinese sages.

Robert
reference [1] Learning to be a Sage, translated by Daniel Gardner, 5.46, page 154

Wen and a Texas Renaissance

2007-07-08T12:28:00.001-07:00

Wen, culture, is very important in Confucianism. An example of relating Wen to America is when we encourage Texas to broaden its expectation of good education beyond skilled workers to better leaders and better culture.

Click here to read more about a Texas Renaissance. Confucianism has the power to transform society.

Robert

Who or What is a New Confucian?

2007-06-28T10:55:00.001-07:00

A New Confucian, in my view, is someone who believes the West can learn from Confucianism. Here is a Wikipedia article on New Confucianism. John Berthron, Robert Cummings Neville, and Tu Wei-Ming are considered New Confucians.

John Berthrong wrote a book, All Under Heaven, Transforming Paradigms in Confucian-Christian Dialogue where he discusses academic Theology along with Confucianism.

Robert Cummings Neville wrote Boston Confuciansim: Portable Tradition in the Late-Modern World where he expresses the thought that one can be a Confucian and a Christian. Neville's book introduced me to the work of Tu Wei-ming.

So a New Confucian believes Confucianism has much to offer the whole world and would probably be a classical or Neo-Confucian.

One American intepretation of Confucianism is called the Timeless Way, which has a website and a blog. I would say the Timeless Way is a sub-set of New Confucianism.

Robert

The Sixteen Word Message of the Mind

2007-06-28T10:48:00.000-07:00

In my studies I ran across a reference to a "sixteen word message of the mind." The book would not tell me what those words were.

I found the words and posted those words at this link.

Robert

The Five Virtues of Confucianism

2007-04-19T20:05:00.000-07:00

If you have been curious about the Five Virtues of Confucianism, check them out here

Education is Important to Confucians

2007-03-11T18:49:00.000-07:00

Education is one of the core values in Confucianism. This link discusses how morality is the root of education.

People say knowledge is power. Education divorced from ethics and morality is reduced in its power.

Robert

Li as Ritual

2007-01-27T15:36:00.000-08:00

Li often refers to rituals or rites which were important to ancient Chinese culture. In American culture we have public and private rituals, but we do not speak of them as rituals. Singing the national anthem at a sporting event is a public ritual. A family meal can be a private ritual.

Rituals bind us together in a society, but we do not talk about them. The Dallas Morning News, December 24, 2006, printed Alan Jacob's interview with P.D. James, the author of "The Children of Men," recently made into a movie. The author, P.D. James, spoke of the uses and importance of ritual.

The musician David Byrne (of the Talking Heads) published a photography book called Strange Ritual. He picked that title because he understood ritual is important to people.

We do not want to be bound to silly or excessive ritual, but the rituals in our life, like a family meal, are important for us to live satisfying lives. It is important we talk about them and respect them.

Robert

Li , Propriety or Decorum, is Still Important

2007-01-05T20:07:00.000-08:00

Li is an important concept in Confucianism. Here is a Wikipedia article on li. It originally referred to ritualistic rites. Then it came to mean propriety. Eventually the Neo-Confucianists changed the meaning to "principle."

To show how this ancient concept of propriety is still relevant, let me direct your attention to an article on the front page of the New York Times (Tuesday January 2, 2007): "Lock the Library! Rowdy Students are Taking Over" by Tina Kelley. The article reported that some of the public libraries in Maplewood, New Jersey, have to lock their doors to keep out rowdy middle-school children. The students fight, urinate on the bathroom floor, put graffiti on the walls, and are disrespectful to the librarians.

You might think Maplewood is a ghetto, but it is not. It was selected by Money magazine in 2002 as one of the "Best Places to Live" in America. How did the children of Maplewood, New Jersey, sink so low? They were not taught about propriety, polite behavior, by their parents.

What can Maplewood, New Jersey, do to teach their children good manners? They can teach their children Confucianism. You might think that Confucianism is an ancient, foreign religion, but it is not. It is a vibrant system of universal ethics. There is even a book, Achieve Lasting Happiness, that shows how Confucianism is a good fit for contemporary America.

America needs Confucianism.

Robert

American Culture and Confucianism

2006-12-31T19:44:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, December 30, the Metropolitan Opera broadcast a live production of the Magic Flute to movie theaters across America. The Cinemark theater in Plano called Tinseltown was, to my understanding, the only venue in the Dallas metroplex. Cinemark put the Magic Flute in on one screen and it sold out. Then they added a 2nd screen and sold that out. I was lucky to get tickets.

As I listened to Sarastro sing how knowledge and virtue would uplift humanity, I realized he was singing about Confucian ideas.

There is much in Western and American culuture that is compatible with Confucian culture. In my Yahoo group I have many Western examples of Confucian ideals. Robert Owen, for example, manifested Confucian ideals.

Confucianism will be the new wave in American culture.

Robert

Propriety and Graduations

2006-12-17T19:12:00.000-08:00

I went to my neice's college graduation recently. I was surprised by the poor behavior of some of the students.

Some students were whooping and hollering during a violin perfomance. The violinist was a graduating senior who was graduating summa cum laude with a 4.0 average. He was playing a complicated and challenging piece for the audience and you could not hear his playing over some of the hollering by some jerks.

Then the president of the university went to the microphone and told the students this was not a basketball game, but the rude behavior continued. Those students had no concept of appropriate behavior.

Confucians, I thought to myself, would not act like that -- cat-calling during an artist's performance. Propriety, Li, is a Confucian virtue. The Confucian tradition, also called the Ru Jia tradition, has a lot to offer America.

Robert

How I got Hooked on Confucianism

2006-12-15T20:35:00.000-08:00

I read a couple of books on Confucianism and was very impressed. The ideas were solid. I was very impressed that Confucius never claimed to have received his ideas as a revelation from god. Then I read "Boston Confucianism" by Robert Cummings Neville. This book presented the idea that a person could be a Christian and a Confucianist. I had to agree that I saw no conflict.

Neville's book made reference to books by a professor named Tu Weiming (sometimes spelled Tu Wei-ming). I read one of Dr. Tu's books and found it intriguing. Other professors made Confucianism seem like a relic from the past. Dr. Tu made it seem alive. I have read many of his books and I was hooked.

Now, Confucianism is not only alive to me, it seems to me to offer great hope for moving our country forward. We need to bring a commitment to ethical behavior back into the public dialogue. Confucianism, viewed as a philosophy or an ethical system, is well suited for public discussion.

Now I am promoting Confucianism for Americans.

Robert

Confucianism in America

2006-12-14T19:20:00.000-08:00

I have not seen a blog about Confucianism in America, so I am starting this one.

I have a strong interest in Confucianism (Ru Jia). I ran for my local school board on a platform of Confucianist educational principles.

I've started a website to promote the application of Confucian principles, like the love of learning. The URL is:

http://www.timelesswayfoundation.org/

More later. I look forward to hearing your comments.

Robert