BEFORE CONFUCIUS

CHINESE PREHISTORY

Civilization comparable to Mesopotamia came comparatively late to China--about 1800 BCE. Agriculture based on millet. Rice cultivation not perfected until 1000 BCE, 1,000 years after its discovery in East India and Thailand. Inception of plowing with water buffalo led to a veritable explosion of rice cultivation in the Yangtse River valley.

Increased urbanization and sophisticated crafts, but signs of brutal enforcement of political authority. Human sacrifice, including mass internment of live subjects at aristocratic funerals.

Expert astronomers. Beautiful jade astronomical instruments. Accurate reports of lunar eclipses in 1373, 1344, 1311, 1282, 1279 BCE. Also an eclipse of the sun in 776 BCE. A calender that recorded a near perfect year: 365.25 days.

Development of language from first inscriptions (divination marks) on bones to 3,000 characters.

 MYTHICAL DYNASTIES

THREE SOVEREIGNS OR CULTURAL HEROES

2852 BCE--FU XI (Fu Hsi, sometimes known as the "Ox-Tamer"), domesticated animals and invented writing, fishing, trapping.

Fuxi sometimes paired with a goddess Nugua. Takes the place of Huang Di. The principal goddess is called Nugua and her origins, like Panhu's, are theriomorphic; she is most closely associated with snakes, snails, and frogs. She is most often paired with Fuxi the "ox-tamer" and is credited with repairing the damage from the Great Deluge. Significantly, she is also associated with a time in China when people knew "their mothers rather than their fathers." (Girardot, Myth and Meaning in early Taoism, 177). After the Great Deluge she is said to have given birth to a son, a "queer thing" called hundun with no anus or urinary opening. After pondering the matter for a while husband and wife decided to cut up their child and the pieces became the people of the world.

2727 BCE--SHEN NONG (Shen Nung, sometimes known as the Divine Farmer), inventor of agriculture, commerce.

2697 BCE--HUANG DI (Huang Ti, sometimes known as the Yellow Emperor), builder of cities, inventor of ceramics and writing.

YAO (2357-2256)--devised a calender, noted for moral cultivation, and was deified.

SHUN (2255-2206)--succeeded Yao because he was the most worthy, not because of blood connection. In fact, he came from a very inauspicious background. Is known as great model of filial piety--remaining loyal to a blind father, a deceitful mother, and an arrogant half brother. Also an fervent sacrificer. Set a calender and systematized weights and measures. Ruled by wu wei (no effort), sitting with his face turned south.

YU (2205-?)--again succeeded because of worth. Founder of the Xia (Hsia) Dynasty. Tamed or created the major rivers of China. At this point the crown becomes hereditary. Yu born of a virgin: Shing Mon. A star indicates the birth place of Yu, and like many other Oriental saviors, he is born out of his mother's side. Yu threatened in infancy and hidden, like Moses, near a river. Miraculously calmed great floods.

Sage kings mentioned by Confucius and others as the only true sages.

FIVE CLASSICS

Yi Jing (I Ching)--The Book of Changes. Divination by milfoil stalks originates in the Shang dynasty.

Shu Jing (Shu Ching)--The Book of History or Book of Documents. Scholars have determined that some of this material is very late, from the Common Era (after Christ). Much, however, is from the middle or late Zhou period. Confucius is traditionally named the editor of this book.

Shi Jing (Shih Ching)--The Book of Odes or Book of Poetry. Anthology of over 300 poems, which scholars have dated from early Zhou dynasty. Confucius is also supposed to have been the editor of this book, too. These poems were recited at sacrifices and banquets.

Li Ji (Li Chi)--Book of Rites. Rules of all sorts of conduct--from the major sacrifices to the details of everyday life. Confucian editorship. He was also considered to be an expert in all these rules.

Chun Qiu (Ch'un Ch'iu)--Spring and Autumn Annals. Chronicle of events of the state of Lu from 722 to 481BCE. Lu was Confucius' own home state.

UTOPIAN VISION FROM THE BOOK OF RITES

When Da Tong (the Great Togetherness) becomes effective, all men everywhere will live for the common good; leaders of worth and ability will be selected; their words will be trusted and they will be makers of peace. Men will not love their parents to the exclusion of parents of others, nor there own sons to the exclusion of sons of others. They will provide sustenance as long as they live to the aged, employment to the able-bodied, opportunity for development to the young, friendly care to widows, orphans, childless men and the disabled; for each man a task and for each woman a home. Not wishing to be wasteful of their possessions, they will nevertheless not keep them for purely personal use; not wishing to be inactive in the application of their strength, they will at the same time not exert it merely in their own behalf. Thus evil devices will cease or fail to prosper, robbers and traitors will be out of work, and outside doors will not need to be closed. This will be what we call Da Tong.

EXAMINATION OF THE TEXTS  (Chan, Source Book in Chinese Philosophy)

The Zhou kings are also considered to be divine. Read about King Wen from deBary text (handout). Note mention of the Shang and how they had lost the mandate of heaven (tian ming). One maintains it by de (virtue), a new term in the Chinese vocabulary of the Zhou period. Read also Chan text on page 6.

Key difference between Shang and Zhou views on spiritual beings (shen, lit. departed spirits). Read Chan text (3-4). Change of deities as well: from Shang Di--Lord on High--to Tian, literally Heaven, although the character was originally drawn as a giant man. For most instances "Providence" is a very good translation of tian.

Second text on page 5. All things have internal principles (ze or tse), including humans, from which their virtue springs. Neo-Confucian philosophers called ze li, in its second meaning as principle, essence, or reason.

Whether tian ming lasts "depends on ourselves" (p. 6, bottom).

Page 7: rejection of ancestor worship? Humanism--i.e., self-reliance--at its peak.

But more traditional religious language on page 8, but still the humanistic theory of virtue assumed.

Question of human nature and its need to be regulated.

"Heaven has. . . made men with certain hidden springs of character, aiding also the harmonious development of it in their various conditions." Mencius' theory of the virtues as seeds.

P. 9: The Great Norm and the Nine Categories. Chinese love correlations. Philosophy of interrelation and interdependence. Correlative thinking.

Heaven, Earth, and Humans are interrelated. The five elements are related to five human activities, which in turn have corresponding virtues. The Cosmic Triad.

This document may come from later times, but Chan believes that it is entirely possible that it comes from the 12th Cent. BCE. If so it shows a very sophisticated proto-science and philosophy.

P. 11: 7th Century and quite traditional religious belief, but with a strong emphasis on the virtue of the king. Gods coming down directly and also committing retribution.

The gods "cleave only to virtue." Still a virtue-centered religion. "August Heaven has no affections; it helps only the virtuous." No grace for sinners and the unvirtuous. Tian here as impersonal Providence--no eyes, no ears, and no affections.

NB: It's not the fragrance of the millet sacrifice that the gods like; it's the fragrance of the virtue of the sacrificer. Note also that it is millet, not rice, that is the principal grain here.

P. 12: the psychology of po and hun, the former the "earthly" aspect of the soul, the latter the spiritual aspect. Sometimes called "yin soul" and "yang soul" respectively. Roughly parallel to nephesh and ruah in Hebrew psychology. Except hun is breath and intelligence (nephesh is breath) and po is connected to physical body and physical activities.

With those who meet a violent death, their po and hun will hang around as "hungry ghosts (gui)." "When spiritual beings (shen) have a place to return to, they will not become malicious." If souls are properly buried and celebrated, then they become shen and not gui-ghosts.

The po-soul would remain peacefully in the earth, while the hun-soul would send down blessings from heaven. Dualistic implications here. What do you think? The Hebrews are actually more consistent on this, insisting that there is no soul without "mind" and body.

Immortality only by genealogy or real spiritual immortality? The last text in Chan is not clear.

THE DECLINE OF TIAN IN THE LATE ZHOU DYNASTY

In the texts in Chan we can occasionally see a some skeptical motifs, such as "Heaven is not to be trusted" or "Don't mind your ancestors" (p. 7). By the 9th Century BCE, some Chinese did not blame themselves or their kings for their misfortunes, but accused tian instead. The poets of the period were particularly harsh. Here is one who might be called the Chinese Job:

Oh, universal tian, whom we call parent!

I am innocent and blameless,

Yet I suffer from such great disorders.

Majestic Heaven, you are too stern;

for truly I am innocent.

Majestic Heaven, you are too cruel;

for truly I am blameless?

As a result of complaints such as these, the Zhou people deposed their god, and tian did not have a revival until the time of Confucius.