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Catastrophe and Renaissance of Chinese Traditional Culture (Part I) By Danchen
(Clearwisdom.net) Mankind has come to the present day after going through
several thousand years of ups and downs and numerous tribulations. The cultures
that mankind has created are complete and rich. I believe that in terms of a
culture's essence, origin, manifestation, and impact, mankind's cultures can
roughly be divided into two major categories of belief or disbelief in gods. For example, whether it is in their inheritances and manifestations or in
their essences and impacts, Chinese traditional culture and the Chinese
Communist Party (CCP) cultures are drastically different. They are vastly
different in both content and format. Let us look at the two cultures' historic
origins, developments, and manifestations, so as to have a clear understanding
of China's traditional culture. 1. Preliminary understanding of the origin of the Chinese traditional
culture Chinese traditional culture stresses belief in gods. Gods created mankind, and at the same time, imparted mankind with a culture
that people can rely upon to live and develop. So, the belief in gods is the
core of the Chinese traditional culture. Chinese traditional culture includes cultivation-centered cultures, such as
Buddhism and Taoism, as well as a culture that praises gods. Despite various
cultural phenomena that are not related to gods, these cultures contain nothing
against the belief in gods. By tracing back their roots, we can find that they
are all somehow related to cultures imparted by gods and contain traces of
divinely-imparted cultures. As the story goes, the god Pangu created heaven and earth and laid down the
foundation of Chinese traditional culture, a culture imparted by gods. The Eight
Diagrams, which was invented and passed down by the ancient Chinese emperor Fu
Xi, the father of the Chinese traditional culture, is the source of the broad
and profound Chinese culture. The god Nuwan created man with earth. Emperor
Huang gained control over China, and ever since then, the Chinese people, under
gods' blessings, have had a place to live and a stage to play out their
existence upon. Emperor Huang's historical chronicler Cang Jie (1) invented the
Chinese characters, and mankind could then pass down the heavenly-imparted
culture in their writings. Simple and unadorned, ancient Chinese people were pure and compassionate.
Their belief in gods originated from the bottom of their hearts. Because of
this, the lengths of the three early Chinese Dynasties (Xia, Shang, and Zhou
Dynasties) were extremely long. The contents of the oracle bones (from Shang
Dynasty) were mostly about beliefs in gods, worshiping rituals, foretelling,
plain and simple customs, and compassion of people. Shi Jing (i.e., Book
of Lyrics, the first anthology of poetry in China, was divided into Feng,
Ya, and Odes according to melody and subject matter). A
considerable part of Odes was for the eulogy of gods. Over 2,500 years ago, the teachings of Confucius and Lao Zi in China, and
those of Shakyamuni in India (who lived during the same time as Confucius and
Laozi) later became the three great schools of thought in China; that is to say,
Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. Of course, beliefs in gods are obvious in
the Tao School and the Buddha School, as they are doctrines that people use to
guide their cultivation to reach divinity. Strictly speaking, the cultures of
the Buddha School and the Tao School are about the knowledge of "going
beyond the secular world;" that is, the knowledge does not apply to the
secular world. Buddhist monks live in temples, isolated from society; they go
outside just to beg for alms, which, in itself, is also a part of the
cultivation. Furthermore, once monks enter temples, they change their names and
sever themselves from the secular world. Many Taoists cultivate themselves in
solitary ways; some stay far away from the secular world; some stay inside it,
but their hearts are beyond it. In history, the cultivation processes of many
great cultivators in the Buddha School and the Tao School, and their
achievements of consummation, have enriched the cultures of the Buddha School
and the Tao School. Confucianism talks about knowledge within the secular world, and it is also
the most orthodox culture in China. However, the core of Confucianism is the
Tao. Confucius said, "Upon hearing the Tao in the morning, one can pass
away in the evening without regret." The most well known of Confucian texts
is the Book of Changes. Confucius liked reading the Book of Changes
so much in his late years that the leather string that bound his copy of the
book broke three times. The Book of Changes describes Yin and Yang
and the Eight Diagrams that are of the highest wisdom and are the most
essential parts of Chinese traditional culture. They are in themselves parts of
the divinely-imparted Chinese culture. The Tao School and Confucianism share the
same origin. When Confucian practitioners reach a high realm in cultivation,
they belong to the Tao School. Confucius selected a portion of the
"Tao" that he felt was suitable to spread in the secular world at the
time, and taught it to others. As a result, many highly accomplished Confucian
scholars in history were also great hermits; they not only had the talents of
governing the country, but also knew of heaven and earth, and had profound
knowledge; they had the character of "Tao." Many highly accomplished scholars in history mustered all the three
teachings, Confucianism, Tao School, and Buddha School. However, Buddha School
and Tao School cannot be mixed together. Tao School stresses
"nothingness," while Buddha School emphasizes "emptiness."
On the surface, the two schools seem to be similar, but in fact, they are
drastically different, and each constitutes an independent cultivation system.
Through mutual exclusion, they have maintained and enriched their own respective
cultures. Scholars can learn the two schools as knowledge; however, genuine
cultivators cannot mix the two in their cultivation. Traditionally, Chinese
culture does not name any of the three schools of thought as being better than
the others. Each is an essential part in the development of the Chinese
traditional culture. Because Chinese traditional culture is imparted by gods, the realm of
"gods" is naturally reflected in the culture, which has endowed
Chinese traditional culture with the characteristics of profundity, an
all-encompassing nature, etherealness, elegance, nobility, beauty and
sacredness. (1) According to legend, Cang Jie was the inventor of the Chinese character
system. He also is claimed to be the official historian for the Yellow Emperor.
In Chinese legend, he had four eyes, with two pupils in each eye. As he created
the character system, it is said that malicious deities cried out in the night
and the sky poured forth millet. He is not considered to be the sole inventor of
Chinese characters. (To be continued) February 16, 2008 Posting date: 3/18/2008 |