Balanced Discourses: A Bilingual Edition (The Classical Library of Chinese Literature and Thought) - Hardcover

Xu, Gan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0300092016 ISBN 13: 9780300092011

Verlag: YALE UNIV PR, 2003

Inhaltsangabe

<div><div>Written by the Han philosopher Xu Gan (A.D. 170–217), <i>Balanced Discourses</i> is an inquiry into the causes of political breakdown. It provides a unique contemporary account of the social, intellectual, and cosmological factors that Xu Gan identified as having precipitated the demise of the Han order. This edition of <i>Zhonglun </i>(or <i>Balanced Discourses) </i>contains the original Chinese text with annotations and, on facing pages, an English translation also accompanied by annotations.<br><br>This collection of essays spans a range of topics, from Confucian cultivation to calendrical calculation. Xu’s perspectives are of not only historical but also philosophical interest, for they reveal his belief in a special correlative bond that should exist between names and actualities and his understanding of what happens when that bond is broken. The translator, John Makeham, argues in his introduction that the essays display the same quality of balance that Xu Gan sees as essential to social and political equilibrium.<br></div></div>

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

<div><div><b>John Makeham </b>is senior lecturer in Chinese, University of Adelaide. <b>Dang Shengyuan </b>is a senior Chinese scholar. <br></div></div>

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Balanced Discourses

A Bilingual EditionBy Xu Gan

Yale University Press

Copyright © 2002 Yale University Press and Foreign Language Press
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-300-09201-1

Contents

Acknowledgements............................................................ixTranslator's Note on the Chinese Text.......................................xIntroductionsDang Shengyuan..............................................................xiJohn Makeham................................................................xxix1 Ordering Learning.........................................................32 Establishing Models and Exemplars.........................................173 Cultivating the Fundamental...............................................314 The Way of Humility.......................................................515 Valuing Proof.............................................................616 Valuing Words.............................................................737 The Fundamental Principles of the Arts....................................858 An Examination of Disputation.............................................979 Wisdom and Deeds..........................................................10510 Titles and Emoluments....................................................12111 Examining Falsity........................................................13512 A Rebuke of Social Connections...........................................15313 Astronomical Systems.....................................................17514 Distinguishing Between Premature Death and Longevity.....................18715 Attend to the Fundamentals...............................................20516 Examining the Selection of High Officials................................21917 Be Careful of the Advice One Follows.....................................23518 Destruction of the State.................................................24919 Rewards and Punishments..................................................26520 Population Figures.......................................................27121 Reinstitute the Three-Year Mourning Period...............................27722 Regulate the Allotment of Corve Laborers................................283Notes.......................................................................291Bibliography................................................................343Index.......................................................................357

Chapter One

Ordering Learning

Like a number of Confucian writings edited in the Han dynasty, Discourses opens with an essay on the importance of learning. Other books in this tradition include the Analects, Xun Qing's (c. 335-c. 238) Xunzi, Yang Xiong's (53 BCE-18 CE) Fayan, and Wang Fu's (c. 90-165) Qianfulun.

Xu Gan's model curriculum for the aspiring gentleman (junzi) is based on a range of standard Confucian virtues and the six arts (liu yi), the cultivation of which is essential to the development of his virtue. In Mencius, although it is implicit that education plays a role in the development and refinement of a person's incipient moral tendencies, the more explicit claim is that innate moral tendencies sprout of their own accord without having to be learned (Mencius, 2A.6). Xu Gan, on the other hand, maintains that only through learning are people able to recognize that they have these "treasures" in their heart. The place that he gives to learning draws on the views presented in Xun Qing's essay "Exhortation to Learn." Xu Gan also stresses the importance of the teacher, commitment (zhi), the sagely models, and a willingness to be eclectic in one's approach to learning. Of particular interest in this essay is his critique of the two main styles of commentary practiced by Han classical scholars: zhangju (section and sentence) and xungu (glossing of old terms). Xu Gan rejects the pedantic philological concerns of the Han scholiasts who had concentrated on the written word at the expense of the message behind it, seeking instead to elucidate the "fundamental meaning" (dayi). For him, it was the original and essential meaning of the classics that was of foremost importance.

The gentleman of past times would perfect his virtue and establish good deeds through his conduct; when he died, his name would not be forgotten. What is the reason he was able to do this? Learning! Learning is the means to channel one's spirit, to be penetrating in one's reflections, to be at ease with one's emotional responses, and to order one's innate tendencies. Learning is the highest undertaking of the sage.

At the beginning of their lives, people are ignorant, not yet possessing understanding. Take the analogy of some valuables inside a dark room; although they are sought after, they cannot be seen. If daylight illuminates the room, however, then all the things therein can thereby be discerned. Learning is the daylight of the heart. For this reason the former kings established teaching officials, making them responsible for educating the sons of the ruler's kinsmen and high officials. They instructed them in the six virtues: wisdom, humaneness, sageliness, rightness, balance, and harmony; in the six types of virtuous conduct: filial respect, friendship, maintaining harmony with one's nine degrees of relatives, being close to one's in-laws, trusting one's friends, and commiserating with the sufferings of others; and in the six arts: ritual, music, archery, charioteering, writing, and arithmetic. With these three teachings in place, the human way is complete.

Learning is like an adornment. If a vessel is not adorned, then there will be no way for it to be beautiful to contemplate. Similarly, if one does not learn, then there will be no way for one to be endowed with exemplary virtue. Being endowed with exemplary virtue thus enables the bonds of human relationships to be put in good order; being beautiful to contemplate, the vessel can thus be used to make offerings to the spirits of heaven and earth. Accordingly the Book of Documents says: "It is just like fashioning something from catalpa wood; when the bark has been chopped off and the raw wood exposed, then some red lacquer should be applied." It is only after hearing the sound of the yellow bell pitch pipe that one realizes how thin the sound of an earthenware pot is; and it is only after seeing the dragon design on the ritual vestments of the emperor and senior officials that one realizes how coarse a hemp cloak is. Similarly, it is only after making one's way through proper schooling that one realizes the hindrance caused by not learning. Learning is thus like climbing a mountain: as one moves the higher one ascends. It is also like sleeping: as time passes the more one is satisfied. If one looks back to where one came from, it seems hazy in its remoteness. It is mistaken and wrong to slacken off should learning become difficult. The Book of Odes says: "The high mountains, I look up at them/ The high road, I travel it." This is what is meant by a love of learning.

One will be more certain of arriving if one travels swiftly rather than just standing there in a slump, thinking how far one still has to go. One will be more certain of catching a bird if one tracks down the female [on her nest], rather than craning one's neck to gaze up at birds flying in the air. Similarly, one will be more certain of reaching one's goal if one applies oneself to learning rather than residing in solitude, hoping for...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: YALE UNIV PR
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2003
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0300092016
• ISBN 13: 9780300092011
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 416
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: preigu; mail@preigu.de; ; Lengericher Landstr. 19; Osnabrück; 49078; Deutschland