Mencius

In all the above instances, the term used for God is tian.

Only in one single passage does Mencius use shangti.

Though a man may be wicked, if he duly prepares himself by fasting and abstinence and purification by water, he may sacrifice to God.

The statesman poet Chiu Yuan, B.C. 332-295, who drowned himself in despair at his country's outlook, and whose body is still searched for annually at the Dragon Boat Festival, frequently alludes to a supreme being.

This English version of the Diamond Sutra, translated from the Chinese text of Kumarajiva, owes its inception to successive conversations with a friend profoundly interested in the interpretation of Oriental systems of philosophy.

During those conversations, renderings into English were made of numerous passages from the works of Confucius, Mencius, and Lao Tzu.

Having surveyed briefly those fertile fields of thought, we passed by a natural transition into the delectable Buddhist realm.

Some passages from the Chinese sutras, comprising texts and annotations, were consecutively examined and variously considered.

So they're not lectures and they're not parables.

Some of the later Confucians, like a few generations later, there are some writers like Mencius or Mengzi, who has some great kind of parable-like developments of Confucius' teachings.

And then Xunzi and has these kind of essays or lecture type developments of it.

But for Confucius, they're short, compact expressions and or mostly in conversational form.

But it's a fascinating work.

I remember when I first read it in college, I was like, I just don't get this.

Because I much preferred Mencius and Xunzi, the later ones who wrote in longer, more...

But I think the way it was, perhaps that says something about the way it was used.

section zero of the diamond sutra chin kang ching or parajna paramita by unknown the diamond sutra by unknown translated from the chinese with an introduction and notes by william gemmel preface introduction preface This English version of the Diamond Sutra, translated from the Chinese text of Kumara Jiva, owes its inception to successive conversations with a friend profoundly interested in the interpretation of Oriental systems of philosophy.

During those conversations renderings into English were made of numerous passages from the works of Confucius, Mencius, and Lao Tzu.

having surveyed briefly those fertile fields of thought we passed by a natural transition into the delectable buddhist realm some passages from the chinese sutras comprising texts and annotations were consecutively examined and variously considered eventually it was suggested that the diamond sutra perhaps one of the most metaphysical of the works ascribed to buddha be conveniently rendered into the english language in order that the rather unfamiliar text might assume due intelligibility parallel passages and numerous annotations were subjoined as the pleasant work of translating proceeded the idea of printing and publishing the text seemed to follow as a natural sequence already there exist in the english language renderings of the diamond sutra from the sanscrit by max muller and from the chinese by this new version does not seek to enter into rivalry with those erudite works and a possible apology which might readily be offered for the publication of this modest volume is that the scholarly production of mller and biel in their present forms are perhaps slightly inaccessible to the general english reader it would appear that the peculiar charm of the buddhist philosophy and the remarkable purity of the buddhist faith are becoming more generally appreciated in europe should this imperfect rendering of the diamond sutra even in the faintest degree confirm this just sense of appreciation or prove a gentle incentive to further inquiry then its unexpected publication may prove to be not entirely unjustified in recording our many obligations to those scholars whose works were frequently consulted we also give expression to a hope that nothing of importance is omitted which ought to be gratefully acknowledged it may also be permissible to express admiration of the piety appreciation of the friendship of those learned monks in central china to whom we are everlastingly indebted for even a slight initiation into those inexhaustible truths which are alike the heritage and the glory of the disciples of buddha Amongst those we should like to specify are Chang Ming, the chief monk Sun Quan of Chenchao Prefecture, Hunan, and the aged and affectionate Qiu Hien.

W. M. Gemmel.

With chagrin, he saw that Lao Tzu's teaching had never obtained any firm hold on the masses, still less on the rulers of China, whereas the star of Confucius was unmistakably in the ascendant.

Within his own recollection, the propagation of Confucian ethics had received a powerful impetus from Mencius, the second of China's orthodox sages.

Now Chuang Tzu was imbued to the core with the principles of pure Taoism, as handed down by Lao Tzu.

He might more fitly be dubbed the Tao-saturated man than Spinoza, the God-intoxicated.

So the new kingdom in Egypt... was coming to an end the Phoenicians and the great city of Carthage were on the rise this was a time of incredible changes going on in the world In China, the Zhou Dynasty, 1046 to 256 BC, was one of the most dynamic periods in the development of Chinese culture and one of the most creative periods in the history of Chinese philosophy.

These were the days of Laozi, Confucius, Mengzi, and Sunzi.

The greatest of the literary works, revered from dynasty to dynasty, were produced.

The five classics and the four books, which comprise the nine classics, were all produced during this period.

Fan Li in Yue.

And Guan Zhong's successor, Yan Ying.

All the great philosophers like Laozi, Zhuangzi, Liezi, Confucius, Mengzi, Xunzi, and the list goes on, all from the spring and autumn period that got its name again from the official chronicle of the state of Lu between the year 722 and 481 B.C. And I'll say this once more, word on the street, going back to the Han Dynasty, was that these spring and autumn annals, the chunqiu, were compiled and edited by Confucius personally.

The hegemons were the five rulers who, as the name suggests, had hegemony over the other less powerful states of the spring and autumn period.

When the Mandate of Heaven passed to the Han dynasty, its rulers embraced Confucian philosophy and established it as the official ideology of the imperial state.

Confucianism survived the chaos of the Warring States and Qin periods thanks to key successors like Mencius, who expanded on Confucius's foundational ideas and transmitted them to future generations.

From the Han dynasty onward, nearly every imperial dynasty embraced Confucianism as the instrument of statecraft.

Confucianism became a living philosophy as other philosophers added to the body of knowledge and, in some cases, modified its original teachings.

This is where Taoism begins to develop a spiritual metaphysics and cosmology with these ideas.

This is when you get Mencius and Xunzi, the Confucius scholars after Confucius, where Mencius' human nature is fundamentally inclined towards the goodness.

It becomes cemented within Confucianism.

Shunzi develops that human desires require education and ritual discipline, that to control that innate goodness through education and ritual discipline, that goodness can be directed towards larger affairs.

...

Mencius, uh, who said that every human being, there isn't a normal adult on the planet, if they see a child that's sitting on the edge of a well and about to fall in, the adult will naturally want to run over and save that child.

Yeah.

Everybody has that urge.