Transcendence in the Confucian Perspective
2024-11-18
The term 'transcendence' as a modern term is an imported concept, meaning to go beyond one's current situation and aspire to a more ideal spiritual world. Although the term "transcendence" is not used in traditional Chinese philosophy, the issue of transcendence has already been touched upon. The spiritual transcendence commonly referred to by people has two paths: one is external transcendence in the religious sense; The other is the philosophical sense of inner transcendence, which was originally created by Confucianism. Firstly, let's talk about the first type, which is external transcendence in the religious sense. Its characteristic is to emphasize the sense of transcendence of the other shore towards this shore, and to regard the other shore as the ultimate value goal of life. Any religion is based on the worldview of 'two worlds', which means denying the value of one side and highlighting the value of the other. Buddhism believes that the meaning of life is like falling into hell or a sea of suffering. The sea of suffering is boundless, and turning around is the shore. Where is the shore? Across from this shore, on the other side of the Buddhist kingdom. There are Chang, Le, I, and Jing, it is a paradise world. Unfortunately, people born on this shore are inevitably plagued by many troubles, but if they accept the guidance of Buddha, they can become Buddhas and transcend from this shore to the other shore. Although Taoism is a native religion in China, it still advocates external transcendence and regards the other shore as the ultimate goal. Taoism believes that living on this shore is truly unfortunate and inevitably subject to the torment of life and death, and is not worth lingering on. The ultimate goal of human transcendence is the immortal realm across from life. There is only joy and no suffering, as the saying goes, 'Happiness is like a god'! However, in order to become a god, one must take an inner path and not rely on external help. Only through personal cultivation can one achieve success. The path of transcendence chosen by Taoism is internal, while its goal of transcendence remains external. Christianity also believes in the existence of two worlds, where humans are placed on this shore and God is placed on the other shore. The ancestors of humanity, Adam and Eve, originally lived carefree in the Garden of Eden. One day, Eve was tempted by the devil Satan and stole the fruit of wisdom, causing her to feel ashamed. She seduced Adam and also stole the fruit of wisdom, which made her feel ashamed. After discovering this, God drove them both out of the Garden of Eden and punished them to become human beings in the world. It can be seen that humans were originally products of sin, called original sin. People come into this world to redeem themselves, without any value to speak of. Before death, a person must go through a religious judgment process: if someone has done many good deeds during their lifetime, God will help them return to heaven and become a chosen person; If someone does too many bad things during their lifetime, God will punish them to hell or continue to be human. Buddhism believes that life is suffering, while Christianity regards life as sin, both firmly denying the value of life and denying the value of this side. In religious thinking, some sects advocate the path of inner cultivation, such as the Huayan sect which emphasizes "one is everything, everything is one", advocating that this shore and the other shore are two aspects of a whole; Zen Buddhism teaches that 'without enlightenment, the Buddha is a sentient being, and with a single thought of enlightenment, sentient beings are Buddha', advocating for enlightenment and becoming a Buddha; Taoism believes that the secular world and the immortal world are connected by qi, and that 'following the natural order leads to the mundane, while going against it leads to immortality'. Although it advocates inner cultivation, the set value goal is external enlightenment or immortality, but it has not yet freed itself from the goal of external transcendence. How to achieve external goals through internal paths? They are speechless. In religious thinking, the theory of inner transcendence does not make sense. In fact, without the theory of external transcendence of religion, the theory of internal transcendence of philosophy would also be insufficient. The theory of internal transcendence is a theoretical creation of Confucianism, distinct from the theory of external transcendence. The Confucian theory of inner transcendence originated from Mencius and matured in the Neo Confucianism of the Song and Ming dynasties. Mencius was the first to propose the theory of human goodness, fully affirming the value of human nature, which is completely opposite to religion's denial of the value of life. Mencius believed that 'the goodness of human nature is like the flow of water.' The pursuit of goodness in human nature is like the flow of water. Good human nature does not mean that all human beings are good in reality. In fact, human nature has both good and evil. The reason why humans are different from animals is that the common people go there, while the gentlemen remain. "Good human nature specifically refers to saints or gentlemen, and does not include" petty people ". Human goodness refers to ideal human nature, excluding real human nature. However, the fact that human nature has both good and evil cannot refute the theory of human goodness. Mencius once gave an example that the trees on Niushan used to be lush, but because it was located in the outskirts of most cities, people often went there to cut them down, resulting in the lush Niushan becoming less lush; However, the vegetation on the less lush Niushan still receives nourishment from rain and dew, growing day and night, with tender shoots and green branches emerging. Unfortunately, the newly grown shoots and green branches have become the "meal" for cattle and sheep, causing the less lush Niushan to become barren. When people see the bare Niushan, they think that Niushan is already bare, and "bare" is the "nature" of Niushan. That is to say, we cannot deny the "beauty" of Niushan just because it is bare in reality; Similarly, we cannot deny the goodness of human nature just because it is both good and evil in reality. In the era of Mencius, the standardized form of religion had not yet been formed. He only proposed the theoretical premise of the theory of internal transcendence, and has not yet formed a mature theory of internal transcendence. Buddhism was introduced to China in the 1st century AD, and the theory of external transcendence was also introduced to China. It once dominated the ideological field, and Chinese philosophy entered the era of religious philosophy. In the Song Dynasty, Neo Confucianism, also known as Song Ming Neo Confucianism, followed the teachings of Mencius and opened a new era of Confucian philosophy of life. Mencius' prestige greatly increased during the Song Dynasty, rising to the status of a "sub saint"; Mencius' works were also popular and revered as one of the "Four Books". The theory of inner transcendence must be based on the theory of goodness of nature in order to make sense, which is why the theory of goodness of nature has received attention from Neo Confucian scholars. Under the premise of Mencius' theory of good nature, Song and Ming Neo Confucian scholars jointly constructed the theory of internal transcendence. Neo Confucian scholars in the Song and Ming dynasties accepted the concept of transcendence from Buddhism, but provided a Confucian style philosophical interpretation of it. In contrast, Cheng Zhu Neo Confucianism focuses on transcendence and also talks about internalization. The study of Lu Wang's mind focuses on internalization, but does not overlook transcendence. What Cheng Zhu said about transcending first is only logic first, not direction first. In fact, 'reason is in the matter' and 'reason is different'. Reason is one, and there are many things, and the two are inseparable. As the saying goes, 'a person crossing a horse is similar', reason cannot be separated from qi, and qi cannot be separated from reason. Visible transcendence refers to internalization. The Lu Wang School of Mind emphasizes that inner nature is more important than transcendence. Lu Jiuyuan believed that "the universe is my heart, and my heart is the universe," while Wang Yangming believed that "there is nothing outside the heart, and there is no reason outside the heart." He only discussed reason from a value perspective and did not deny the transcendent nature of heavenly principles. Cheng Zhu Neo Confucianism talks about internalization from transcendence, while Lu Wang Xin Xue talks about transcendence from internalization. The two paths lead to the same goal: jointly constructing the theory of internal transcendence. The theory of inner transcendence, as a creation of Neo Confucianism during the Song and Ming dynasties, has greatly influenced the spiritual way of life of the Chinese nation. The reason why the Chinese nation has become a non religious community with a strong sense of identity and cohesion is closely related to the theoretical contributions of Confucianism. In the new era and new journey, it is an important task for our Chinese philosophy researchers to combine the basic principles of Marxism with the essence of Confucian classic theory in adhering to the "two combinations". (New Society)
Edit：Momo Responsible editor：Chen Zhaozhao
Source：
Special statement: if the pictures and texts reproduced or quoted on this site infringe your legitimate rights and interests, please contact this site, and this site will correct and delete them in time. For copyright issues and website cooperation, please contact through outlook new era email：lwxsd@liaowanghn.com
Recommended Reading Change it 
Home
