What is Philosophy for the Ancient Chinese

What is Philosophy for Ancient Chinese?

T.S. Molding a person to become good.

        I.            For Confucius:  Living life in a rightly manner.

A.     One should live accordingly.

-          When one lives his name, people will be in order because everyone know what to do and not confused what should they do. Like in the Analect 13:3 “If names are not rectified, then language is not accord with truth. If the language is not in accord with the truth, then things cannot be accomplished. If things cannot be accomplished, then ceremonies and music will not flourish. If ceremonies and music will not flourish, then punishment will not be just. If the punishments are not just, then the people will not know how to move hand and foot.” It just means that when one does not know what his name stands, he will not know what to do, and when one does not know what to act, he will be confused and when one is confused, one will be in chaos. When one does not know what to act, he will be confused and when one is confused, it will create disorder in the society. Knowing what the right thing to do means living life in a rightly manner. Like in incorrect names, when one does not know how to live his names, things will be in chaos, like when the politicians don’t live there name, people in the society will also don’t know what to do and things will be in chaos. People in the society are in chaos because they don’t know what to do or what they are doing is not fitted for them and this chaos caused the absence of the social harmony in the society. One must act according to his name because when one acts according to his name, he will know what to do and one will not be confused and when one is not confused, he will really do what he is according to do and when one does what he is accord to do, he will do the right and doing right things means living the life in a rightly manner.

B.      Education is the key.

-          Confucius then lays down the solution to the philosophical problem which is educating on how to act rightly. By educating a man on how to act rightly, he will know what to properly act. Educating a person means giving him the knowledge about what are the good things and the bad things. Educating a person makes him ponder about the things around him and he can know whether things are good or not. Educating him means allowing him learn good things that could make him a noble man. When one becomes a noble man he becomes righteous and when one become righteous, he will always do what is right and not do the wrong things. When one becomes a noble man, he will always think about the great things or beyond things and will not think about the superficial things. It is to become noble man that makes the society in harmony because when one become a noble man, he can distinguish the right thing do to and when he knows the right thing to do, he will actually do it because he knows that it is the proper thing to do and when people in the society is educated and become a noble people, they will start to do good things and they will actually know what to do for the greater good of the society and when they exactly know what to do good, they will create a harmonious society.

-          When one becomes a nobleman, he is understood to know what the right thing from the wrong thing. When one is educated on what is right and wrong, one knows what action he will do because he already know what right from wrong.

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-          We can learn things from the old tradition, tradition gives us insight on the proper things to do and what we should not do. Almost all of the traditions has a good implication on a person, because traditions are being done according to what is right and when one does right, he does the proper thing to do.

-          In the basic goodness and intelligence, it is said that man is good by nature and only becomes bad when presented with many bad things but he will find the light and return to goodness. One must not be deprive form education, one must be educated because education gives us learning from what is right and what is wrong and if one is educated from what is right and what is wrong, he will know what is the proper or good thing to do and when people do good things, society will be in harmony and people will live a harmonious lives.

-          The last one is the development of Chun Tzu. When one becomes a superior man, it means he understands righteousness and when one understands righteousness he knows that he should always do what is good. When all becomes a superior man, all will do what is right and when all will do what is right, they will live a harmonious life in the society.

-          Therefore man should be educated to become a noble man because noble man is educated on what is wrong and what is not. When man is educated, he can now distinct what the right act to do and doing the right action means not hurting someone and when one does not hurt someone, he and the other person around him will live a harmonious lives which will eradicate the problem of the absence of the social harmony in the society. When one does the right thing, it means that he is living the right way.

C.      Instilling the virtues.

-          Third Confucius characterizes the ideal human being. If one puts Jen as a cardinal virtue to himself, he will always be good to others because Jen means love, when one loves others, it means that he will not do a thing to hurt him but he will do good things to him. Hsiao makes a person be respectful to others because if one practiced filial piety within his home, he will always bring it whenever place he may be. He will always respect others because he practiced it at home and when one respect others, it is a trait of being good and when one respect others, they will respect you back and when both of you respected each other, it will create harmony in both of you and there will be no harm. T’I also makes a person respectful to others and as I have said, when one pays respect, he will also beget respect and when both respect each other; there will be harmony in both of them. Chung makes a person faithful to others or it makes a person to be faithful to others when one is faithful to others, he will never do harm to them. Faithfulness begets respect, if a person sees you as a faithful man, he will respect you and be good to you, when both of you are good to each other, both of you will create harmony. Altruism makes a person becomes unselfish and always available for others. When one always helps, he will be admired by everyone and if everyone sees or notices his doings, they will also start to be available for others and becomes unselfish, it is so pleasant to see that everyone is helping each other and does not hurt each other, which would create harmony in them.

-          When one is Righteous or possesses Yi, he knows how to act properly or what to do because he knows what is right, and when one knows what is right, he will not create harm to others because he knows that harming others is not the right thing to do. Propriety or Li is really good when being act upon because propriety is doing the things which is actually good or morally accepted and things that are morally accepted is usually good and does benefit everyone. When one do knows that the thing he is doing is morally good, it means that the thing he is doing is not hurting someone but rather it benefits someone. When one does always do good things, he will be appreciated by other, and others will also do good things, which would eventually create a harmony to them.

-          When one has the Wisdom or Chih, he is understood to have knowledge of things and having the knowledge of many things means having the knowledge wether the act or thing is good or bad, when he has the knowledge that the act or things is bad, he would actually not do it because first and foremost he knew that is is not the proper thing to do, so he would actually do the good things because he knew that it is good and would benefit everyone from it. And when one has the knowledge of good things, he will apply it to others and when others feel that you are doing good, they will also do good things and when all of you do good things, it will create a harmony between them. He must then instill to himself all the character that are said, when one has the characteristic of the ideal man, he would actually be followed by others because other will see what would be the effect when doing good things and when all will instill in their self the characteristic of the noble man, they will always do the good things and it will make the society harmonious and harmony will be felt by everyone.

-          Therefore when one has the characteristic of the ideal man, he would actually be followed by others because other will see what would be the effect when doing good things and when all will instill in their self the characteristic of the noble man, they will always do the good things and it will make the society harmonious and harmony will be felt by everyone. Instilling virtues in you means doing the right thing and living the right way.

D.     Cultivating oneself

-          Fourth Confucius lays out the step of self cultivation. One must learn to follow the step on becoming a Chun Tzu to achieve social harmony in the society and to know what one should act because the steps make the Chun Tzu a philosopher king. In investigating things, you should look closer to see what the whole thing is composed of. One should learn to know all things or the principle of things, as it is said in the power point “instruct the learners in regard to all things in the world, to continue from what knowledge he has of their principles and investigate further until he reaches the limit and it is called the investigation of things”.

-            Extension of knowledge is extending the knowledge to the highest point and dedicates oneself on learning things well. Perfection of knowledge is when you investigate things for a long time and after investigating things, you understand it all and understand the qualities of all things. The superior man studies to reach the principle of all things. In making the will sincere, superior man will always be watchful over himself when alone, it means that he is doing the right things when he is alone as if there is someone looking at him, he does not only show good things when someone is looking but also does good things when he is alone therefore it makes him sincere. Being sincere is not fooling yourself about what you feel and you are not pretending about the things you does.

-          In rectification of the mind, cultivation of personal life depend on what you does, when you are doing the right things, it means that you are cultivating your personal life well. Superior man does his duties well and always associates himself to the men of principles. It gives us the idea that we should always do what is right, and doing what is right means living life accordingly.

E.      Becoming a Noble Man.

-          Family is basic social unit because different family creates a society. Peace and harmony cannot be promoted in a society when there is no peace and harmony in family first. How can one implement harmony to everyone if he/she himself does not have in his family. There is a saying “Charity begins at home”. One cannot give charity when charity is not implemented or practiced at home. Family molds its member first before one of its members can mold another into good. Second is the State as big family.

-           State as a big family means biological family is no different from a big state. You treat the state as if you are treating your family. When one is ruler of the state, he/she must rule the state and implement laws as if he/she is implementing it to his/her family. He/she must take care of the state as if he/she is taking care of his family.  If one is ruling the state and the one who rules it, takes care of the people that under him/her, in return people will give their loyalty.

-           Third is the Regulation by Virtue, Not Law or Force. One must regulate his people with virtue because if people is regulated with virtue, people will not do things which will harm someone or the community because they knew themselves that the things that they will do is bad or is not good for everyone. If the people is regulated by virtue there will be the feeling of being ashamed because they know that what they will do bad, will make the people look at them in a shameful way and they will feel   ashamed. If the people are regulated by force, people will follow the rules because they will fear that they will be hurt or punished when they will not follow the rules but when people are regulated by virtue, they will do the right things because they know that what they should do is always right. When things are regulated by virtue, things will run or flow according to what is right.

-          And the last one is Chun Tzu as Philosopher King. A Philosopher king is like a North Star because North Star is the reference and fixed. If you are a king, you must be a role model and if you are a role model, you are to be modeled by some, and if you are modeled by someone, you should do what is right and what is good for the people to do what you are doing. A Philosopher king is fixed like the North Star and when he is fixed, everyone can rely on him. If people in the community is lost and don’t do what to do. People usually look for someone as a reference, and if there is someone they can refer, like the philosopher king, people can know what to do. A leader like the philosopher king can inspire others to do something good. If a leader is full of virtue and people see that their leader is full of virtue and practices it, people will emulate what their leader is doing and there will be social harmony in the society. When all have virtue in them, all will do what is right and doing what is right means not hurting or harming someone, and if there is no harming, there comes the harmony to each and everyone.

F.       Summary and Conclusion (Living The Philosophy)

-          Philosophy in the way he perceives the philosophical problem is living the responsibility of your name. The problem is the absence of social harmony, social harmony is absent because people don’t know how to act or what should they act because of the incorrect names. They become confused because they don’t know what to act and when one don’t know how to act, one cannot perform the right thing to do and if one cannot perform the right thing to do, the tendency is that man cannot do the right things and if man will cannot do the right things, man will create chaos and if there is chaos, there will be no harmony in the society. When one lives the responsibility of his name, he will know what to do. And when one knows what to do, he will not be confused and when one is at proper mind, one can perform good things and performing good things will result in creating harmony in the society and can live a harmonious living.

-          The Philosophy in the way Confucius lays down the assumption of the solution to the Philosophical problem is the educating on how to act rightly. When one is educated, one can know whether things are right or not, and if one is educated with the right things, he will act according to it and when one act according to what is good, he will not inflict harm and will create a harmonious society and live a harmonious living. When one is educated, he will know what to do and he will know what his name should be acted.

-          The Philosophy of Confucius in the way he characterizes the ideal of human being is instilling the traits of ideal human being. When one instills the traits of ideal man, he can be good to others and will create a good relationship with others, because the traits of ideal being is that one should be good to others, and when one is good to others, he will create a harmonious relationship with others and when one establishes harmonious relationship with others, both will create a harmonious living.

-          The philosophy in the way he lays out the step of self cultivation is to follow the step on becoming a Chun Tzu becoming a Chun Tzu means doing what is right and proper because a Chun Tzu is always on what is right and he always does the right things.

-          The philosophy in the way he specifies the solution to the Philosophical problem is becoming a philosopher king. A Philosopher king is like a North Star because North Star is the reference and fixed. If you are a king, you must be a role model and if you are a role model, you are to be modeled by some, and if you are modeled by someone, you should do what is right and what is good for the people to do what you are doing. A Philosopher king is fixed like the North Star and when he is fixed, everyone can rely on him. If people in the community is lost and don’t do what to do. People usually look for someone as a reference, and if there is someone they can refer, like the philosopher king, people can know what to do. A leader like the philosopher king can inspire others to do something good. If a leader is full of virtue and people see that their leader is full of virtue and practices it, people will emulate what their leader is doing and there will be social harmony in the society. When all have virtue in them, all will do what is right and doing what is right means not hurting or harming someone, and if there is no harming, there comes the harmony to each and everyone.

When one lives the kind of philosophy, he will always do what is the proper thing and the proper thing means the right thing. When one does good things, he can influence others and make others to also do good things and it will lead to the harmony of the society and a harmonious society will leads to a harmonious living. Confucius promotes that one should do good things to have a harmonious living and to live accordingly.                                                                               

      II.            For Lao Tzu: Following the right thing.

A.     Against the way of nature

-          First Lao Tzu perceives the philosophical problem which is the natural disorder and this disorder is the interfering of the people on the way of nature. He considered it as a problem because the way of nature is destroyed because of the interference of the human actions. The absence of the way of nature makes things not in its proper order. Man interferes too much on what the nature is doing, as a result, imbalance comes. 

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B.      Knowing the Virtue

-           Second Lao Tzu revealed the assumptions for the solution which can be seen in the Nature of opposites, Tao as the origin, Essence of the Tao, Expression of the Tao and The Virtue (Te). In the nature of opposite, the opposite of each thing makes our world balance because opposites complement each other. In the Tao as the origin, Lao Tzu said that the Tao alone should always be followed. Tao makes things on its proper order or it let things to work what things should naturally be. In the essence of Tao, there are two main points, the emptiness and the openness. In the emptiness, it is more likely good to be empty because when it is empty, there is something to fill in; emptiness is always open to new possibilities because being empty means having the capability to learn things. In openness, the Tao is always present to anyone and to anything and it does not choose whom it will side because it considers all as equal. In the Expression of Tao, there are two main points, the weakness and humility. In weakness, it is considered good to be weak because to be weak is not a threat to others and you will not be noticed and when one is not noticed he don’t need to reveal or prove himself and namelessness should be practiced in Taoism. We can see humility in the line “Therefore the sage knows himself but makes no show, has self-respect but is not arrogant.” It is said in this part that the sage knows himself but makes no show, it means that the sage knows many things but he make no show because he don’t want to have fame or he really don’t want to be known because the sage is humble and don’t want to be notice or recognize. ‘He has self-respect but is not arrogant’, this part also shows that the sage is also humble and not arrogant. He knew himself well and knew good things about himself but he doesn’t brag about it and boast about it because as I have said, the sage don’t want to be noticed or don’t want to be recognized. In the virtue or te, virtue is always accompanied by Tao or both Tao and virtue is one because the virtue is to become one with the nature and not doing a thing to prove yourself.

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C.      Instilling the Virtue

-          Third Lao Tzu characterizes the sage. He characterized the sage as the one who don’t desire, being spontaneous and having the character of humility. The character of having no desire means not acquiring things to prove yourself. Having no desire means letting the way of nature work on things and letting it do what naturally things will be. In spontaneity, things will never cease to become because it is the way of nature that making things who or what they really are and it will not stop and only because the interference of human that makes things stop and not work but when there is only the way of nature, things will be according to what they are. Lastly is that the sage has the character of humility and the characteristic of being humble is seen in Tao Te Ching 72, especially in the line “Therefore the sage knows himself but makes no show, has self-respect but is not arrogant.”. It is said in this part that the sage knows himself but makes no show, it means that the sage knows many things but he make no show because he don’t want to have fame or he really don’t want to be known because the sage is humble and don’t want to be notice or recognize. ‘He has self-respect but is not arrogant’, this part also shows that the sage is also humble and not arrogant. He knew himself well and knew good things about himself but he doesn’t brag about it and boast about it because as I have said, the sage don’t want to be noticed or don’t want to be recognized.

D.     Following the way of nature.

-          Fourth Lao Tzu lays out the steps for the development of the sage which is the unlearning and the non-action. In the unlearning when knowing things, you should not hurry yourself because when you hurry yourself, the more you will not know things. Knowing comes naturally, it doesn’t come when you are conscious about it, you will not able to sustain it. For example, when studying, when you force yourself to study, it is when you will know little things but when you let yourself relax and not think about it, it is the time when things will flow to your mind and realize things.  It is when you force things, it doesn’t happen. . In non-action, you will achieve your goal when not over doing things and just wait for the proper time and just let things on its own. When starting a thing without doing, it is when you realize that you have accomplished what you have done. For example, when growing a tree, when you will not notice it every day and just letting it grow by itself, you will be surprised someday that the seed you have planted, grows so tall and healthy. While when you notice it every day, water it every day, you will be surprised that it died and did not grow. In non-action, you will not notice that you accomplish a thing, without doing a thing. Sometimes, not doing a thing is the best thing to be done, because when you do things in a hurry, it is when it will have bad result or no result at all.

E.      Becoming one with the nature.

-          And Lastly Lao Tzu specifies the solution to the problem which is becoming a philosopher king and being a philosopher king means being a sage. The sage follows the way of nature, following the way of nature means letting things do by its own because it is when you do things that things are done. When starting a thing without doing, it is when you realize that you have accomplished what you have done. For example, when growing a tree, when you will not notice it every day and just let it grow by itself, you will be surprised someday that the seed you have planted, grows so tall and healthy. While when you notice it every day, water it every day, you will be surprised that it died and did not grow. You will not notice that you accomplish a thing, without doing a thing. Sometimes, not doing a thing is the best thing to be done, because when you do things in a hurry, it is when it will have bad result or no result at all.

-           The way of nature is the best way to follow because when one interferes on the way of nature it will ruin the natural set of things. Too much involvement of human also ruined what is natural, like before when the Tao flows on earth, living things live peacefully and with harmony, but when people or human interest for too much money and wealth, the digging of the earth starts, just to get the gold and other minerals, and living things starts to die because their habitat is gone and the resources starts to deplete. When the way of nature if flowing, things are on its natural and proper order until only when man interferes that made things not on its proper order and things became improper like in the Tao Te Ching 39 (Second Paragraph) When man interferes with the Tao, The sky becomes filthy, the earth becomes depleted, the equilibrium crumbles, creatures become extinct. This statement is true because when there is only the way of nature, flow of harmony is balance and there is nothing ruining the sky but because of man, the sky becomes filthy because of their different innovations, like the chemical that the planes emit and the smoke coming from the factories. When man interferes with the way of nature, the earth becomes depleted. This statement is true because the earth is solid and whole when only the way of nature is flowing in the earth but when the man interferes; the earth becomes depleted because of man’s different activities, like mining, drilling and some activities that involve getting or destroying the earth.

-          In mastering things, it is also best that letting the way of nature makes you a master in different skills, like in the Tao Te Ching 48 (Second Part) ‘True mastery can be gained by letting things go their own way. It can’t be gained by interfering’. When you are learning something, you cannot learn what you are trying to learn when you will do it fast because you want to learn fast. You will not master what you are trying to learn because you cannot master something in just a short span of time because mastering something needs time, patience and effort. While when you are patient learning it and letting time run by it self, you will eventually master and learn it in its true way. While when you learn it in a fast way, you cannot master it because as I have said, mastering something needs time and patience.

-          When the way of nature is prevailing in the world things will be according to what they should be, like in the Tao Te Ching 46 ‘When Tao prevails in the world, galloping horses are turned back fertilize the fields with their dung. When Tao does not prevail in the world, war horses thrive in the suburbs. When way of nature prevails in the world, galloping horses are turned back fertilize the fields with their dung, horses are in farms and being used by the farmers or ranchers. It is like, when the way of nature is prevailing, men are with their families and attending their family needs. But when the way of nature is interfered, war horses thrive in the suburbs; horses are no longer in farm and ranches. It is also like men who are no longer with their families and cannot attend to their families because of war, and because of war, you can almost see them in their designated area, protecting all possible entries and we can see if only the way of nature is prevailing, things will be on their proper order and live a harmonious lives. It is to follow the way of nature because the problem is the too much interference of man and Lao Tzu wants things to go back to its original way which is the way of nature.

F.       Summary and Conclusion (Living the way of nature)

-          The philosophy in the way he perceives the philosophical problem is that one should not interfere and allow the way of nature to do its work. Allowing the way of nature will create balance and there will no trouble or conflict that will happen because it is the way of nature that is best and must prevail.

-          The philosophy in the way Lao Tzu revealed the assumptions for the solution is that one should know the virtue, because the virtue will help you attain your goal and it will lead you to become one with the nature and when one knows the virtue, he will not do a thing that would ruin the way of nature that will lead to conflict and trouble.

-          The philosophy in the way Lao Tzu characterize the sage is that one should instill the virtues in him, when one instill the virtues in him, he will always follow what the way of nature is and will not interfere to the way of nature because he knows that interfering will lead to imbalance and trouble. Instilling virtues will lead you to become one with the nature.

-          The philosophy in the way Lao Tzu lays out the steps of the development of the sage is that one should live the way of nature, when one live according to nature, he will not do a thing that is against the way of nature. Living according to the way of nature will give you peace of mind and it will not lead you to trouble. Allowing the way of nature as your way of living will make you at ease and things that are for you will eventually come when you only let the nature do the work for you because allowing the nature do the work will lead to goodness and not on trouble.

-          The philosophy in the way Lao Tzu is becoming a philosopher king or sage. When one becomes a sage, it means that he know what exactly the right thing to do and the right thing to do is to allow the nature work on things and not doing things which could lead you to conflict with the way of nature and will lead you to trouble. Becoming a philosopher king means being one with the nature or following the way of nature and being one with the nature is the right thing to do.

    III.            Summary and Conclusion (Lao Tzu and Confucius)

-          Confucius and Lao Tzu are both concerned on how should one act to become a good man. Confucius teaches us to always follow what is good and always do what is right to promote or to achieve social harmony in the society and to become a good man. Lao Tzu teaches us how to act according to the way of nature and not going against its will because the way of nature makes things in order and when things are in order means things are at peace.

-          Both promote ways on how to become a Philosopher King. Confucius way on becoming a Philosopher King is by following the virtue which is to be always good and act what is good while Lao Tzu’s way on becoming a Philosopher King is by allowing the way of nature act on it and by not being against the will of nature, because following the way of nature is the right thing to do that will lead you to become a good man. Being a Philosopher King makes a man virtuous and when one practices virtue, he always does what is the proper way to do, and doing the proper way will make you to become truly good.

-          Confucius stated that only becoming a noble man is the solution to the problem of the absence of harmony in the society because a noble man has the virtue of doing what is right. To Lao Tzu, becoming a sage is the answer to the natural disorder because the disorder is brought by the man’s interest and becoming a sage means being humble, being humble means not doing a thing to be known, when one does not do a thing, he will not commit error and when one does not commit error, he does not ruined the way of nature and just allowing the way of nature on continuing to do what it supposed to do. Both teachings lead to a harmonious living and will make you a truly good man, which make the philosophy for the Ancient Chinese, molding a person to become good.