Hand-outs: Zen Buddhism (Southern School oriented presentation, including a summary on the Platform Scripture)

2004-01-10

3 major schools of 'thought': Confucionism, Taoism, and Buddhism. Though the last one, Buddhism, originated from India.

Chinese Buddhism is a combination of Chinese Philosophy and Buddhism.

Recently, especially in Japan, there is a rise of Critical Buddhism. According to Critical Buddhism, Chinese Buddhism is pseudo-Buddhist. Professor Chan disagrees, and will explore this topic further. It has nothing to do with nationality, but rather philisophical issues.

Chronologically, the rise of Confucionism is the first.

I Ching is still one of the most popular texts in China. It is a popular fortune-telling book. Represents a cosmological system. We will understand this text strictly philisophically. Related to Nature and human beings.

Confuscious is the first philosopher in Chinese history. Related more to society – humanistic. Ethical relation between individuals (interpersonal) and/or relation between individuals and society.

Jen: character translated as 'man' and 'two'. Humanity, benevolence

Taoism: Important concept is Tao. One translation is 'way' related to 'how' for philosiphising. Tao is beyond any computational method, beyond the power of any computer (too much to model?).

According to Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) the essence of the age of technology is danger. Danger means surprises. Modern man is enslaved by technology, imprisoned. For technology we will forgo our well-being. The only way to overcome a danger of the age of technology is to listen to Tao. With advancement of technology we can capture methods, but never the Tao.

Kant – philosophy is unteachable

Socrates – as a teacher in philisophy teachers should work like a midwife helping the student develop their own talent

According to Tao, if you know how to raise the 'how' question, then you are able to philosiphise.

Second meaning of Tao is 'speech'/'language'. One work of Heidegger is titled “On the way toward language”.

A lot of major concepts of Buddhism are in Sanscript. One of the major concepts is Nirvana. Etymological meaning is 'End of Suffering'.

Today, Indian Buddhism is totally gone, according to Prof. Chan. He will explain why later on. Hinduism is the Orthodox in India, and they are glad Buddhism is gone; it was the 'other', the 'enemy'. With regards to Brahma(God)nism, Buddhists recognize no God as their creator, which was welcomed by the Chinese; it fits their mentality. Chinese Buddhism is unique in the sense that you can never find it in India.

In Chinese Buddhism there are three major schools. Chronologically, T'ien-t'ai Buddhism, next was [something I didn't understand], and then Ch'an (Zen) Buddhism. The original temple for the first-mentioned school still exists, and there is a mountain with that name. Middle is from Indian Scripture, Chinese interpretation. Ch'an is pretty much gone in China, but found in Japan.

Prof. Chan recommends going to Japan if you are studying Buddhism.

Buddhism is extremely critical of a hiearchical society. In an ideal society, in the Buddhist sense, must be egalitarian. Brahmanism and Buddhism both used Sanscript, but Shakyamuni taught in the local Thai dialect. It's dangerous that each use the same language, since the meanings get distorted between them.

Four major periods in Chinese Philosophy:
(slides shown by Professor Chan on an overhead/laminate projector will generally be displayed as black text on white background):

* We'll focus on these schools, for others, see The Source Book.

The I Ching is Confucian. Lao Tzu is the author of Tao-te Ching of Tao. Chuang Tzu is the 2^nd major founder of Taoism. His text is self-titled, Chuan Tzu. Wang Pi died at 23 and his work is very important to Neo-Taoism. Wang Yang-ming has been identified as the last philosopher in Chinese Traditional Philosophy, but Prof. Chan disagrees (he thinks there is one more guy since then: See chapter 36, page 692 Wang Fu-chih (1619-1692)).

Yu-lan Fung, A History of Chinese Philisophy. Originally in Chinese in two volumes. Published by Princeton University Press. 1952

Like a modern version of Plato. Prof. Chan will use some material from [t]his text.

Hedon (Greek for happiness)

Immenent telos of Chinese Philosophy: Harmony (connected with balance), the perfect balance among different things.

The 'Other' is most important concept in post-modern philosophy

Harmony is created, identity is non-productive. Harmony is like oneness, the one in the many, unity in difference. Identity implies the exclusion of other, uniqueness.

Prof. Chan says that for the USA, terrorism is the other, and once they eliminate terrorism there is no other.

Chinese Philosophy is a philosophy of Harmony (inauthentic). It is not a philosophy of identity. In a downside (like during it's development), it becomes a philosophy of identity (authentic).

Leibniz (1646-1716) was mainly interested in the I Ching. Developed another definition for Harmony, a Western definition:

"Harmonia est diversitas identitate compensata. Sed Harmonicum est uniformitor difforme"

"Harmony is a balanced identity of difference. Or, Harmony is the uniform diversity"

2005-01-17

Harmony is the unity [of identity] of the many

apart from other, there is no harmony

concept of proportionality is important.

Logic, the pattern of Chinese thinking... How to reach harmony is the most important task of the Chinese philosophers. How to attain this? Eventually you come to the idea of proportionality. Analogy is the next logical step. Ana(according to) Logon(comes from Logus) in Greek.

Proportionality will come up later. On to other things...

back to our topic, Chinese Logic:

Theory of reasoning/inference.

The table above demonstrates Syllogism - [definition on Dictionary.com]

Aristotle started that formal logic stuff. "This form of reasoning only in the Western world." So, what is Chinese Logic??

Pattern of thinking -> Logic = theory of inference. It's the product, like the cooked dish on the table. In order to attain the goal of harmony, the Chinese Philosophers thought in a certain way. The result is Chinese Logic.

Chan says there are only 3 kinds of thinking (his theory/thesis) - 3 patterns of thinking: Three Basic Types of Logic:

Charles Peirce (1839-1914) "The only genius of Philosophy in America"
Semiotics = study of signs

Note: As of this writing (2005-04-10), the only thing I could find on Google by searching "sign thinking" icon index symbol was 1 Word Document (with no clear author and titled "ASA Conference 2003 The Problem of Culture") that I saved for reference from some seemingly-abandoned (not updated since 2002) web-site for "MSSRbooks"

Analogy --> creative thinking

Prof. Chan gives analogy of N. Bohr using the solar system as an analogy for atomic theory.

Basically understood in terms of similarity.

Back to SIGN THINKING (Peirce)... What is an Icon? Madonna is the icon of some music, Einstein is the icon of some science, Ghandi and Indian culture...

1. Icon: "I call a sign which stands for something merely because it resembles it."
2. Index: "The indexical sign signifies its object by virtue of being really connected with it. Of this nature are all natural signs and physical symtoms."
3. Symbol: "A symbol is a sign which refers to the object that it denotes by virtue of a law, usually an association of general ideas which operates to cause the symbol to be interpreted as referring to the object." i.e. referring a word to represent something, such as 'dog' in English, German, & French

Chinese language is basically iconic. Why is Chinese Logic analogical?

Deduction: When the premesis is true, the conclusion must be true.

Max Weber was the founder [the father] of Sociology, German Sociology. Part of Modernity is rationalization. Rationalization is related to the rise of Capitalism. Doing business in the capitalist way is rational, according to Max Weber. Capitalism is the typical product of Western civilization. According to Weber, Confucianism and Taoism resulted in the Chinese failing in producing Capitalism, same as with Indian/whatever and Middle East and Islam. Capitalism in the West is the result of Christianity, Protestant ethics. Michel Foucault forefather of Post Modernism raised the same question, asked Why only in the West there is a science of sexuality? Rise of Freudian analysis is the first example of this. Chinese identified sexuality as a technique, related to Chinese medicine. Sexuality as a technique in prolonging life. Chinese don't identify sexuality as an object of scientific knowledge. In India, sexuality has been identified as an art, a means of attaining enlightenment, serving religion.

Why is Chinese Logic analogical? The language underlies the way of thinking, serving basic principle of similarity.

Argument I has to do with identity (Lung was a "friend of Western philosophy", trying deductive reasoning).

A=A is the root of Western culture, demonstrated by computers and Computer Science.

2005-01-24

Aristotle: Topica

Spinoza: Ethica
Written after Euclid developed geometry

Western Philisophy is mathematical. Substance is important in Western philosophy. Substance is self-generated. The rise of Buddhism aims to attack this concept. Brahma is substance.

Western Philosophy is primarily deductive.

Aristotle's Three Basic Laws of Thought:

1. Law of identity:

   A is A, non-A is not A

2. Law of self-contradiction:

   A and non-A are contradictory, it is impossible for them to both be at the same time

3. Law of excluded middle:

   Either A or non-A

Apart from this, there is no computer science, which is why the Indians and Chinese never produced a computer. This is the theoretical foundation of computers.

Aristotle failed to recognize one law that is more fundamental; Lung's principle.

In Chinese Philosophy: practice > theoretical

Practice is more important than the theoretical.

Leibniz is a contemporary of Newton. In a sense, Leibniz is a philosopher of principle.

Example of Leibniz's Principle of Substitutivity salva veritate:

1. The bachelor is 41
2. The unmarried man is 41

A can be substituted with B; same is still true.

Today, Leibniz is a philosopher of identity. However, Leibniz is really a philosopher of harmony, but on the way took care of identity.

Kung-sun Lung in the history of Chinese Philosophy, like Leibniz, but he did not successfully create a system of logic.
The Mohists come later and have something to do with the development of logic.

Mohists are cheap. They argued with Confucians. "Theodicy" [on Dictionary.com]

2005-01-31

I was unable to come to the lecture on this day.

2005-02-07

Student hand-outs for their seminars today:

I Ching was identified as belonging to Confucianism. The Taoists have their own understanding of the text.

Philolophy of Nature:

1. I Ching : Confucian --> change
2. Tao Te Ching : Taoist

What is nature? What is the nature of nature. Nature is basically change. The nature of nature is change. Change can be represented mathematically to a large extent, and is simple.

Today we look at Confucianism. Until now, Confucianism was the orthodox of Chinese philosophy. Their idea/point was elegance. They were intellectual/scholarly; emphasis was on education and scholarship. Confucius (551-479 BCE) has been identified as the greatest teacher in the history of China. Before him, education was not open to the public, it was primarily for the nobles. Anyone could become a student of Confucius, and he had 3,000 students. He loved to travel and went to small countries promoting his political ideas. His aim was to rehabilitate the social order. His approach was mainly ethical. Humanist turn [from Nature to Society] rose with Confucianism. The aim was to solve practical problems - socio-political issues. But what is "an ideal society"? In the hand of confucius an idea of a well-ordered society was introduced. Here we can discover a kind of socio-political harmony. There is analogy between nature and society - an ordered cosmos.

3 major stages in development of Confucianism:

1. The Pre-Ch'in Confucianism : (500-200 BCE)
2. Sung-Ming Neo-Confucianism : (1150-1700 CE)
3. Contemporary Neo-Confucianism : (1930-present)

Confucian major founders and philosophers they were like:

Confucius	|	Mencius	|	Hsun Tzu
Socrates		Plato		Aristotle

During the 1^st period, no one would 'buy' Confucianism. It enjoyed popularity, but just in society. During 2^nd period, gradually Neo-Confucianism became an official philosophy. The Neo-Confucian are at the same time politicians, and politically powerful. Scholars tried to revive Confucianism in China in the 1930s. During the 2^nd period, the major task is to defend Confucianism in the face of the challenge coming from Taoism and Buddhism. In the contemporary the major task is to defend against the challenge coming from the West; creating high tension between Chinese and Western philosophy. We will focus on the first two periods in this course.

Hegel mainly criticized Confucianism. Even though he criticized Taoism and Buddhism, he mainly targets Confucianism. Leibniz was into Confucianism, but with the transition from him to Hegel, the attitude towards Chinese philosophy changed. Heidegger was a friend of Taoism rather than Confucianism. In defending Taoism, Heidegger finds what is wrong with Hegel's understanding of Taoism.

Leibniz	-->	Hegel	-->	Heidegger
Friendly to Confucianism		criticized Chinese philosophy in general		sees the future of Chinese philosophy [practical implications to our contemporary world]

Confucianism is community oriented. If there is a conflict, it should be resolved for the good of the community. Taoism is more about the individual - individuals' rights and freedoms. Confucianism is part of why Communism rose in China. Apart from social relations, there is no individual.

Moral self-consciousness defines human nature, this shift of focus was attributed to Mencius. Confucius was primarily a teacher/master, Mencius was a philosopher.

Student hand-outs for their seminars today:

2005-02-21

Student hand-outs for their seminars today:

Wang Fu-chih (1615-1692)

Human nature is always in the making

K. Marx

Human nature is a product of history

2005-02-28

Student hand-outs for their seminars today:

2005-03-07

Student hand-outs for their seminars today:

yin = passive, concealed
yang = active, unconcealment

yang = noumena -> super-sensible
vs.
yin = phenomenon -> sensible

Heidegger: "Nature loves to hide itself" [Heraclitus]

Society and nature is the goal of Confucianism. On the other hand Taoism is mainly interested in nature. It signifies a kind of retreat from society. Lao Tzu's major concern is to search for some comprehensive principles underlying the development of history. Tao is a general pattern or principle. Originally Taoism and Confucianism are in a conflict situation, or at least tense. Neo-Taoist attempt to harmonize the two schools. Signifies return from nature to society - Neo-political or neo-social order. Taoist political philosophy, is what you get when you combine Taoism with Confucianism. Taoism is for hermits in a forrest. Neo-Taoism signifies the return of the hermits to this world.

Before Neo-Taoism, was the rise of religious Taoism. There is a difference between philosophical and religious Taoism. The purpose of the religious is to prolong their lives. To reach this goal they try to practice some rituals. Huge litterature on this topic, but it's nothing philosophical. How to become an angel, in a sense, is the major concept. In order to purify themselves from the religious Taoism, they try to clarify the basic ideas of Taoism philosophically. In the time of Lao Tzu there was no "religious Taoism" or people practicing like that. Neo-Taoists try to argue that the idea of a simple life is possible in this world.

Neo-Taoism's important figures: Wang Pi, Kuo Hsiang

"you are more than [just] what you are" more than your individuality, you have to go beyond yourself, society, blah blah.
Chang Tzu: being both A and non-A
you can't submit the other to yourself, that is the opposite of Tao; just be open to it

Neo-Taoism thesis of Wang Pi (that Kuo Hsiang attacked)
(1) Nothingness as a ground of the world
(2) The pre-existance of Nothingness

Principle of Sufficient Reason - Leibniz
Nothing is without ground(reason)

2005-03-14

Buddhism originally came from India. umm.... the founder of um, Buddhism, ya? It's called, Shakyamuni. I have a chart of this. Nowadays india is much bigger. Its' the eastern part of indua. uh, north eastern [grumble]... As I mentioned in the introduction of the first week. particularly right now in Japan, um there's a very uh ahm uh .... many Japanese scholars claimed that when Buddhism was transimited from india to China, there was a kind of distortion under the influence of Taoism. Chinese created their own way in understanding Buddhism.

Critical Buddhism. Instead, ya? Critical Buddhism would claim that it's not eh Chinese Buddhism eh rather Tibetan Buddhism. which represents the original indian Buddhism. so um in a sense because the tibetan language was invent by sanscit. instead of translating sutras their language is developed from the Sutra. From a symantecs standpoint, Chinese sutras have been translated back into sanscrit; sometimes when scripts were lost or whatever.

Tibetan sutras are more faithful to the original sanscrit ones. for this reason tibetan Buddhism would be most authentic.

Professor Chan takes a moment to belittles us [the class], by telling us about our limited Canadian mentality and the fact that he is older so he knows more and understands better.

Indians cared about Brahmanism over Buddhism. Buddhism is the other of Brahmanism; there was tension right from the start.

Now he will go on to defend Chinese philisophical understanding of Buddhism. Chiense was radicalization of Indian Budhism. In the hands of Chinese, Buddhism came under influence of Taosim, so Buddhism was deepend in it's development in China. So I let you see how my justification would run.

So the Buddha Shakyamuni, historical Buddha. He was a prince. um, according to legend ah um he lived in the 6th century BC. So um in terms of uh uhm geography actually uh the historic Buddha was born in the um Nepal rather than India. the close to the himalaya. so um actually he got married before becoming a Buddha. um it's a legend i mean the in oriental world there's so many stories like this. the Buddha when he was born ya he could speak already. and speak loudly. i've become the lord/law of the whole world. that's legendary, i don't think so. so um actually he has a son even ya? His son's name is lohara. At age of 29 he [the Buddha] depart his palace to search for the darhma. Just like Tao in Chinese philosophy, dharma can be compared to Tao, but the meaning of darhma is ambiguous. Right now there are two major meanings principle/law and secondly just like existance/being. This two we should keep in mind. In sanscript truth is tatha. At age 35 he [the Buddha] attained enlightenment under a bodhi-tree, and age 80 he enter Nirvana that means be pass away. Major thing for us to understand [shows picture of temple] in 12th century when Islams/Muslims invade India, Buddhism was destroyed. In Sri Lanka is Hinayana Buddhism. In China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, [...] Buddhism was Mahayana. the main thing about the essential teachings of Buddhism it's so called 3 darhmas or um i can give you a glimpse on the life of Buddha before we move on. his original name is Gotama, um can you see?

The Buddha:

• Gautama/Gotama
• Siddhartha/Siddhata
• Shakyamuni

623-543 BC (Theravada)
563-483 BC (Western Scholars)
463-383 BC (Japanese Scholars)

Born in Kapilavatthu

Father: King Suddhodana
Mother: Queen Maya
Wife: Princess Yosodhara
Son: Prince Rahula

In challenging Brahamanism or Hinduism Buddhism brought in 3 dharhmas.

1. Dukkha/Suffering
2. Anitya/Impermanence
3. Anatman/Non-Ego

Sometimes instead of the 3 dharmas we also define the essence of Buddhism in the Four Noble Truths:

1. dukha (suffering)
2. Samudaya (cause of suffering: desire)
3. Nirodha (extinction of Suffering: Nirvana)
4. Marga (path)

God = Brahman = world = atman

Professor Chan compares Brahman to God, and negative stuff about man never becoming or reaching God in Christianity, and about manifestation... impermanence vs. creator

37 stages of Marga? or to get rid of suffering/desire.

Buddhists are Atheist. Theo is Greek term for God. but then how can you explain the origin of this world. Leibniz: "Is there something rather than nothing?" Pratitya-sam-utpada. dependant co-origination. pratitya means conditions. sam is co . utpada means to arise. nothing is self-sufficient. nothing is self-subsistant. everything must depend on everything else to arise. there's no actual beginning, and there is no end-point. the arising of anything must depend on the other.

Note: I conceive that "God" is the other of consciousness and reality.

So, there is Mahayana and Hinayana. Historically Mahayana came first.

samsara = this world, Nirvana = the other world. there is a distinction between these two. samsara is the world of birth and death.

niv(no)sva(self)bhava(being)

on the other hand we have Mahayana Buddhism. maha means great.

Mahayana Buddhism

1. Bodhisattva is a prerequisite for attaining Buddhahood

2. Non-dweeling Nirvana

3. Nirvana is identical with samsara

4. Aims at the emancipation of all

5. The primacy of ethics: Compassion

6. Sunyata of human being and the world as well

7. Sunyata-asvabhava

Hinayana is selfish - individual emancipation - they don't care about the other. in contrast, with the rise of Mahayana, there's a turn to the idea of great compassion. there is a kind of great love, you can say. so if the other suffers, the bodhisatva suffers as well; the ideal of great compassion. Mahayana Buddhists are ethical in character because of the concern for the other.

2005-03-21

I did not manage to type all of Prof. Chan's talking, due to using my laptop in presenting.

The T'ien-t'ai <-> Heidegger

(I)

All the three thousand worlds are imminent in the mind of a simple instance

(II)

"All beings emerge from the non-dwelling ground" (Vinabhirti-nidesa-sutra)

2005-03-28

"Zen Buddhism" presentation continued today, followed by presentations on "Chu Shi", and finally "The Complete Works of Lu Hsiang-Shan".

I did not manage to type notes for today (like last week), due to my laptop's use in presenting.

Hand-outs:

2005-04-04

Student hand-outs for their seminars today:

Chinese Buddhism is a continuation of Indian Buddhism. First regarding debate between Chu Hsi and Lu Hsiung-Shan in Neo Confucianism. It was held in a place called Goose Lake. Sometimes called Goose Lake debate. Very famous debate and place. Important thing is to understand the philosophical significance of this debate. Scholars like Win Tsit Chan (who even claimed that Chu Hsi was most important Chinese Philosopher) would appreciate Chu Hsi. Rise of Chu Hsi's philosophy signifies the completion of Chinese philosohpy. Personally Prof Chan does not buy this thesis, but in conclusion some indications why such a thesis might be contraversial in a sense. ya? I can give the highlight of this debate.

In comparison with Western Philosophy, Chu Hsi is like Chinese Fable (like Plato), on other hand Lu Hsiang-shan looks like Kant (Plato vs. Kant). Why? because essence, item #6, in Chu Hsi can be compared to Platos Idea/Eidos. According to Plato, everything manifests from idea. But according to Plato, prior to our cognition of these concepts, they existed already. In the case of Chu Hsi in contrast to Plato the content the knowledge of an idea/eidos serve our modern practices. there's an element of morality/ethics, and same with Plato. For Plato, every idea has an absolute value. an idea is at the same time a value. so it has a kind of axiological meaning on top of ontological meaning. an idea explains the grounds of what a being things. at same time it set an absolute standard for the beings. for example, every triangle... axiological -> the highest and/or most perfect [significance, value, standard, measure]. Ontological -> why. agathon = The Highest Good in Greek. Chu Hsi used term Principle or Nature instead of idea. Plato's buddy Aristotle preferred Essence. The Principle functions as the standard (the moral principle, [ethical/social] norms), so you know how to behave yourself in order to be moral/ethical. So, you have to learn! For Chu Hsi you can say so, our moral knowledge is not innate - you have to learn.

Eidetic(non-sensible) seeing - goes on about a piece of chalk, writing function is essential to a piece of chalk, a triangle is something of three lines, a cup most work as a container

Puts up slide of The Hsun Tzu, Chapter 29.

Kant's categorical imperative
To act according to a maxim as it can be willed to be universalizable
Mother Teresa and universalizability

Ethos (Greek) means Ethics, but originally meant customs/heritage.

Hegel: Moralitay (subject, individual) vs Sittlichkeit (intersubjective, social)

Chan: "Praying is the communication between Human Beings and God"

Last of Neo Confucian stuff... Wang Yang-ming