Chinese Humanism.ppt

Chinese Humanism,Background Information,About the author,Lin YutangMoment in PekingThe Importance of LivingMy Country and My People,1st part:4 chapters the Chinese Peoplethe Chinese Character(mellowness,patience,indifference,old roguery,pacifism,contentment,humor,conservatism)the Chinese Mind(intelligence,femininity,lack of science,logic,intuition,imagination)Ideals of Life(Chinese humanism,religion,the doctrine of the golden mean,Taoism,Buddhism)2nd part:womens life,social and political life,literary life,the artistic life and the art of living.,Some Quotations,Jesus was a romanticist,Confucius a realist;Jesus was a mystic,Confucius a positivist;Jesus was a humanitarian,Confucius a humanist.An educated man should,above all,be a reasonable being,who is always characterized by his common sense,his love of moderation and restraint,and his hatred of abstract theories and logical extremes.The Chinese ideal of happiness was,the enjoyment of this simple rural life,together with the harmony of social relationships.,The Chinese roof suggests,therefore,that happiness is first to be found in the home.There is no doubt that the Chinese are in love with life,in love with this earth,and will not forsake it for an invisible heaven.They are in love with life,which is so sad and yet so beautiful,and in which moments of happiness are so precious because they are so transient.They are in love with life,with its kings and beggars,robbers and monks,funerals and weddings and childbirths and sicknesses and glowing sunsets and rainy nights and feasting days and wine-shop fracas.,Detailed Study,Para 1Main ideas in Para 1to understand the Chinese ideal of life(the purpose of the article)To understand Chinese humanism(ambiguous)Chinese humanism has a definite meaningthe ends of human life(what)a devotion to these ends the attainment of these ends by the spirit of human reasonableness(how)Chinese ideal of life is based on substantial life the purpose of the article:from ambiguous term“humanism”to a specific idea,Para 2when one starts out from the teleological point of view,according to which all things,including mosquitoes and typhoid germs,are created for the good of this cocksure humanity.There is a final end of life;all the existing things are designed to serve this endAll the existing things include mosquitoes and typhoid germs.Mosquitoes and typhoid germs are harmful,no help for human beings.According to teleology,they exist for the final end of life.This proves the overconfidence of those who maintain this kind of humanity.,This way of dodging horns of the dilemma sometimes gives peace of mind for a moment,but then the eternal question,“What is the meaning of life?”comes back.this earthly life is a preparation for the after life:avoid the confrontation of this earthly lifein the next life there is still the question about the meaning of life,Others,like Nietzsche,take the bull by the horns,and refuse to assume that life must have a meaning and believe that progress is in a circle,and human achievements are a savage dance,instead of a trip to the market,but still the question comes back eternally,like the sea waves lapping upon the shore:“What is the meaning of life?”Nietzsche:against reason;God is deadtake the bull by the horns:confront the question about the meaning of life fearlesslyprogress is in a circle:progress would frequently go back to the starting point;progress leads nowherea savage dance:rotate in a circlea trip to the market:straightforward and with a purposeNietzsche refused to admit there is meaning in life;everything in life leads nowhere and without purposeHe cannot stop people from asking the question.,Main ideas in Para 2The question of the meaning of life has perplexed Western philosophers,and it has never been solved.(topic sentence)Why has it perplexed them and never been solved?Teleology:put emphasis on the next life;neglect the meaning of this lifeNietzsche:refuse to admit the meaning of life;neglect the meaning of this lifethe limitation of the Western philosophy in answering the question of the meaning of lifeneglect this life,Words and Expressions,carry over(Line 6,Para 2):continue to exist or apply in new situation carry away(Line 4,Para 5):to fill with strong feeling or excitement,especially so as to cause unreasonable behaviorferocious adj.(1st Line,Page 178):fierce,cruel,violent ferocity n.dodge v./n.(Line 2,Page 178):to avoid,Para 3for the idea that we live in order to die,as taught by Christianity,is incomprehensible;nor in Nirvana,for that is too metaphysical;nor in the satisfaction of accomplishment,for that is too vainglorious;yet in progress for progress sake,for that is meaningless.Christianity:accept all the suffering in this life so as to go to the heaven after one dies this life is meaningless;people eager to dieNirvana(Buddhism):the transcendent state of freedom achieved by extinction of desire and of individual consciousness too abstract;beyond the knowledge of most people,The satisfaction of accomplishment:the meaning of life is to accomplish or to establish fame encourage human vain gloryThe progress for progress sake:keep on making progress without knowing what for progress is meaninglessChinese people do not believe in all these ideas.Chinese people:the end of life is in the enjoyment of a simple life,as the peaceful and leisurely life in the quoted poemWords and expressions:waft v./n.(Line 1,the poem):(formal or literary)(cause to)move or go slightly(as if)on wind or waves,Para 4yet one often wonders how the West could have failed to see that the meaning of life lies in the sane and healthy enjoyment of it.The true endlies in the enjoyment of a simple life(Para 3)define the manner of enjoyment to avoid distorting Chinese humanism,Main ideas in Para 4Chinese peoples answer to the question of the meaning of life:the sane and healthy enjoyment of itThe characteristics of this answer:neither ambitious nor metaphysical but real and simpleWhy do Chinese people have such an answer?the matter-of-fact Chinese mind:a comparison between China and the West:the Chinese have a greater determination and capacity to enjoy the few things they havethe absence of religionWords and Expressions:drunk adj.(Line 2,Para 4):in a state of great excitement because of a strong emotion or an experience,Para 5From this a humanism has developed which frankly proclaims a man-centered universeChinese ideal of lifeTo understand the Chinese ideal of life one must try to understand Chinese humanism.(Para 1)Chinese ideal of life is related with Chinese humanism.Shift from the Chinese ideal of life to Chinese humanismThe humanizing of knowledge is not an easy thing,for the moment man swerves,he is carried away by his logic and becomes a tool of his own knowledge.to adjust the knowledge for the purpose of human beingsto adjust the knowledge,one has to use logicbecome controlled by the logic and used by the knowledge,Only by a sharp and steadfast holding to the true end of human life as one sees it can humanism maintain itself.the substantial and tangible image of the end of human life,Main ideas in Para 5 Chinese humanism:the end of all knowledge is to serve human happinessto avoid logic but hold fast to the tangible and substantial end of human life between the other-worldliness of religion(for example:Buddhism,an escape from life or a negation of human life and the materialism of the modern world(in Para 6)Words and Expressions:lay down(Line 2,Para 5):to put down to lose willingly in order to help others to declare or state firmly or officially,Para 6Jesus famous dictum about the SabbathSabbath:God created the heavens and the earth in 7 days.And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done.God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it,because on it God rested from all the work that he had done creation.,(Mark 2:23)One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grain fields;and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain.The Pharisees said to him,“Look,why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”And he said to them,“Have you ever read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food?He entered the house of God,when Abiathar was high priest,and ate the bread of the Presence,which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat,and he gave some to his companions.”Then he said to them,“The Sabbath was made for humankind,and not humankind for the Sabbath;so the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”The machine is made for man and not man made for machineThe machine is invented to serve man.Man should not be controlled by the machine.,Textual StructurePart I(Para 1):introductionPart II(Para 2-4):Chinese ideal of life Para 2:the failure of Western philosophers in answering the meaning of lifePara 3 difference from religionPara 6:difference from materialism,More Quotations,Nothing is more striking than the Chinese humanist devotion to the true end of life as they conceive it,and the complete ignoring of all theological or metaphysical phantasies extraneous to it.When our great humanist Confucius was asked about the important question of death,his famous reply was,“Dont know lifehow know death?”Typical of the humanist temperament is the fact that though idols were made of Kuan Yu,a brave and loyal general in the time of the Three Kingdoms,idols were not made of Confucius,nor of the ancestors in the halls of ancestral worship.,The Chinese have been adjusted a matter-of-fact people.Yet there is a romantic side to their character which is even deeper,and which shows itself in their intense individuality,in their love of freedom and their happy-go-lucky view of life,which so often completely mystifies the foreign observersFor Taoism is the playing mood of the Chinese people,as Confucianism is their working mood.That accounts for the fact that every Chinese is a Confucianist when he is successful and a Taoist when he is a failure.,Buddhism,in short,means to the Chinese people what religion means to people in other countries,namely,something that comes to the rescue when human reason falters or fails.Buddhism has conquered China as a philosophy and as a religion,as a philosophy for the scholars and as a religion for the common people.This brings us to the topic of the actual service of the Buddhistic religion as an emotional outlet for the Chinese people.First,it makes the seclusion of women not so complete and more endurableSecond,its spring pilgrimages provide legitimate outlet for the very much atrophied Chinese WanderlustThirdly,it provides Chinese with a chance to enjoy mountain scenery,for most Buddhist temples are situated on high mountains at scenic spots,Writing Technique,Cross-Culture,The celebrated Cambridge in Britain may remind us of a university layout in China todaythe university towns.They are two extremes:one university fused in a town and one town which harbors a cluster of universities.In our following suit with the western developed countries in building university towns,we neglect one fact:theirs are out of accumulation of time and culture,while ours are just some hasty works in pursuit of quick success and instant benefits.,