Table Of ContentThe Humanist Spirit of Daoism
Modern Chinese Philosophy
Edited by
John Makeham (La Trobe University)
VOLUME 15
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/mcp
The Humanist Spirit of Daoism
By
Chen Guying
Translated by
Hans-Georg Moeller
Edited by
David Jones
Sarah Flavel
LEIDEN | BOSTON
Original publication: 陳鼓應 Chen Guying, 道家的人文精神 Daojia de renwen jingshen, 北京 Beijing:
中華書局 Zhonghua publishing house, 2012.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Chen, Guying, author. | Moeller, Hans-Georg, 1964– translator. |
Jones, David Edward, editor. | Flavel, Sarah, editor.
Title: The humanist spirit of Daoism / by Chen Guying ; translated by
Hans-Georg Moeller ; edited by David Jones, Sarah Flavel.
Description: Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2018. | Series: Modern Chinese
philosophy ; Volume 15 | Translation of: Dao jia de ren wen jing shen.
2012. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017059780 (print) | LCCN 2017060804 (ebook) | ISBN
9789004361980 (E-book) | ISBN 9789004361973 (hardback : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Taoist philosophy.
Classification: LCC B162.7 (ebook) | LCC B162.7 .C4613 2018 (print) | DDC
181/.114—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017059780
Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill-typeface.
issn 1875-9386
isbn 978-90-04-36197-3 (hardback)
isbn 978-90-04-36198-0 (e-book)
Copyright 2018 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
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Contents
Preface vii
Editors’ Introduction 1
Part 1
On the Social Concern of Daoism
1 The Social Concern of Daoism 17
2 The Daoist Notion of Harmony 42
3 The Notion of “Ritual Propriety” in Early Daoism 61
4 Harmony in a World of Conflict and Crises: What We Can Take from
Laozi’s Notion of Harmony 91
Part 2
The Humanist Thought of Laozi and Zhuangzi
5 Dao: A Spiritual Home 113
6 Tracing the Origins of Humanist Philosophy in Early China 138
7 Laozi and Zhuang’s Humanist World: The Humanist Perspective
of the Dao 169
8 A Daoist Perspective on the Humanist Spirit of Religion 198
9 On Intercultural Dialogue 211
Index 233
Preface
This book includes work developed from papers presented at various national
and international academic conferences between 1995 and 2011. Although the
essays were written over a relatively long period of time, they all convey my
thoughts on two major aspects of Daoist philosophy: the Daoist concern for
social issues and the humanist spirit of Laozi and Zhuangzi.
As the title of this book suggests, its aim is to point out the humanist senti-
ments and ideas of historical Daoism. In this view, humanism and nature mu-
tually entail one another within the Daoist realm of thinking. Laozi’s dictum
in Chapter 25 that “The Dao follows the natural” (dao fa ziran 道法自然) is re-
plete with humanist connotations; and when Zhuangzi pronounces that “there
is the great beauty of heaven and earth and it does not speak” (Zhi Bei You,
Knowinghood Journeyed North, Chapter 22.2),1 he implies that material nature
is permeated with humanist meanings and indicates the ascent of human na-
ture to the spiritual dimension of naturalness. In the words of Fang Dongmei,
Daoist naturalness is, from the perspective of Chinese humanism, “the infinite
realm wherein the universal flux of life is revealing itself.”2
Following New Essays on Laozi and Zhuangzi 老莊新論 (Hong Kong:
Zhonghua, 1991), this book is also about early Daoism. The two books follow
one basic line of thought, but explore different areas. New Essays on Laozi and
Zhuangzi has several key features. On the one hand, it is an exposition of the
original texts, but readers will notice preference for Laozi and Zhuangzi over
Confucianism, Mohism, Legalism, and the School of Names. On the other hand,
my interpretations of Laozi’s and Zhuangzi’s philosophy are quite strongly in-
fluenced by a contemporary perspective. As a young man, I lived under the
rule of an authoritarian regime and within the confinements of Confucian or-
thodoxy. Consequently, I am strongly opposed to absolutism, idolatry, and uni-
lateralism. Additionally, I am also opposed to traditional philosophical forms
of inflexibility, exclusion, and decisionism, the belief that what is morally right
is what political or legal bodies determine them to be.3 The open-mindedness
of Laozi and Zhuangzi embraces a diverse plurality of values. I not only find
1 If not indicated otherwise, references to passages from ancient Chinese texts follow the
database http://ctext.org/.
2 Thomé H. Fang, The Chinese View of Life: The Philosophy of Comprehensive Harmony. Hong
Kong: Union Press, 1957. Quoted from: http://digitalcommons.law.wustl.edu/lawreview/
vol65/iss4/6/, 681.
3 Editors’ note: Definition added.
viii Preface
these ideals when interpreting the Laozi and Zhuangzi, they are also present
in the depths of my heart. Thus, the conviction to freedom, contentment, and
the spirit of the equalization of things often unintentionally come to the fore
in my writings. In short, the difference between this book and New Essays on
Laozi and Zhuangzi is that here these issues are addressed more openly. First,
probably every single chapter in this book expresses the socio-political con-
cerns that I have as an intellectual via Laozi and Zhuangzi. Second, as a scholar,
they show the philosophers who exerted the strongest formative influence on
me are Nietzsche and Zhuangzi. Both thinkers praise and regard life as central.
With these thinkers, I look at the brilliance of Western culture, but also at the
evils of Eurocentrism. The final chapter “On Intercultural Dialogue” outlines
this view.
I apologize to readers for some repetitions regarding the topics discussed
and the viewpoints presented. These repetitions spring inadvertently from my
thoughts and the memories that have been with me throughout my life. For
example, when looking at contemporary international affairs, I often cannot
avoid the resurgence of childhood memories of the atrocities I witnessed with
my own eyes and ears during the Japanese invasion of China. And when talk-
ing about events in today’s “global village,” my pen seems to be drawn auto-
matically to engage in the deconstruction of Eurocentrism and the analysis
of the historical origins of totalitarian religiosity. These examinations of the
actual world from a Daoist perspective profoundly leave me with the feeling
that “writing does not fully express speech, and speech does not fully express
thoughts.”
Chen Guying
Mid-December 2011 at the Philosophy Department of Beijing University
Editors’ Introduction
Chen Guying 陳鼓應 is one of China’s foremost voices of Daoist philosophy.
In the 1990’s, he almost singlehandedly brought forward the awareness of the
fact that Daoism was indeed China’s national religion and philosophy. Such
an accomplishment is underscored by a statement made by the celebrated
historian of Chinese philosophy Zhang Dainian 張岱年 (1909–2004). In the
introduction to his translation of Zhang Dainian’s Key Concepts in Chinese
Philosophy, Edmund Ryden recounts a conversation he had with Professor
Zhang: “Professor Chen Kuying [Guying] suggested that Zhang Dainian be con-
sidered the founder of New Daoism, but, when I put this to Professor Zhang in
1996, he replied that the title should go to Chen.”1 Throughout his illustrious
career and the many challenges his spirited work has spawned, Chen Guying
has been a consistent and strong voice advocating the living role of Daoist phi-
losophy in the evolution of Chinese thought and culture and its contemporary
significance. Although the role of Confucius and what has come to be known
in the West as Confucianism is not denied by Chen Guying, but he is adamant
they have supplanted the magnitude of contributions made by Daoism. In this
regard, he argues steadfastly for recognition of the contributions of classical
Daoist thinkers from Laozi to Zhuangzi to the Huang-Lao School. Even though
the School of Laozi, School of Zhuangzi, and the Huang-Lao School differ in
degree and approach to social matters, it is argued they all keep a close watch
on the process of society’s transformation. In other words, Daoist philosophy
always had a reverent respect for moral excellence and societal stability.
This view is often at odds with the views of most contemporary historians.
His image of ancient Daoism differs substantially from others because Chen
Guying’s committed project is to reinstate Daoism’s presence as China’s first
philosophy, a presence that had been appropriated, even misappropriated, by
Confucianism. At times, his writing is unapologetically aggressive, but never
is he offensive toward Confucius or Confucians. He writes as only an ardent
believer can, but nevertheless displays an abiding respect for the Confucian
project, which he sees in many ways as the same as Daoism’s, albeit lesser in
philosophical stature. Daoists too were concerned with the significance of li
(禮 ritual propriety), especially Laozi, and Chen Guying is insistent this as-
pect of his thinking be acknowledged. By recognizing the human and soci-
etal dimensions of Daoist thinkers, allows a more integrated accounting of the
1 Key Concepts in Chinese Philosophy, translated and edited by Edmund Ryden. Yale University
Press, 2013, xvii.
© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2018 | doi 10.1163/9789004361980_002
2 Editors’ Introduction
tradition where Daoism and Confucianism (as well as Mohism) are conjoined
and promote a more honest and truthful account of the evolution of Chinese
philosophy—this is one of his goals as a scholar and philosopher. Chen Guying
is keen on situating the fundamental aspects, such as xiao (孝 filial responsi-
bility or reverence), de (德 power, virtue, or excellence), and ren (仁 consum-
mate conduct or benevolence), of Confucius’ thought as part of a grander
philosophic mosaic. By first showing the development of li in pre-Qin philoso-
phy from the time of standardized codes and ethical norms of the clan-based
feudal society to all the philosophical schools, Chen Guying’s work illustrates
through a textual exegesis the requisite grounding needed by placing such
practices in the context of the natural world. This grounding, he claims, is
what makes Daoism a genuine philosophy and rescues it from the “fixed heart”
(cheng xin 成心) often displayed in the practice of Confucianism. Zhuangzi’s
philosophy is relied on for this emancipation.
This is the place for his departure to not only advance Daoism to the fore-
ground of Chinese culture and philosophy, but for his analysis of the evils of
contemporary Western culture, the degradation of environmental systems
around the world, hegemonic militarization, homogenization of culture in the
age of globalization, religious intolerance, and the general malaise of human
dignity worldwide. Although these issues remain on the sidelines in this book
and there is no real attempt to connect them systematically to each other or
to Daoist philosophy itself, they remain a vital concern for Chen Guying—he
does embrace Daoist solutions as a cure for the poisonous maladies of the
world that are destroying human and other forms of life on our planet. His
work is always a reflection of his philosophy of life, a philosophy informed by
Daoist principles, his caring, and compassionate spirit for all others.
The various strands of Western humanist thought are determined in a man-
ner dissimilar to the way in which Chen Guying expresses this notion in the
Chinese tradition. For example, the classical humanist pedagogy of Erasmus
included recommending study of language, literature and history, as well as
what was considered to be moral philosophy. But this appears in an approach
that is distinctive from what we find in the Chinese tradition. In the Western
tradition, humanism developed alongside a primary concern with human
freedom and notions of an individual’s contribution to fulfilling progress (for-
merly conceived in terms of divine providence). Although the humanism of
Confucius placed the utmost value on education as crucial to self and societal
development, the emphasis was not placed on human agency (either on the
individual or collective level). The Confucian humanist spirit can therefore
be understood more through the idea of a continuum between the individual
mind and body and the ensuing harmony between one’s self and others, and
