Abstract
This discussion looks into two alternative models of cultivating wisdom for a good life. One is Plato’s analogy of the beauty ladder, which implies a process of cognitive development ranging from the cultivation of wisdom to the pursuit of ultimate truth, and the other is Zhuangzi’s (Chuang-tse’s) analogy of the mind-heart excursion, which features a process of spiritual cultivation comprising a series of mental enlightenment in search for the supreme Dao. Even though the modes of thinking in these two alternatives are distinct from each other, they have the common pursuit of wisdom for a good life. Moreover, they appear complementary to one another when examined from the perspectives of Hellenic Quietism and Chinese Daoism (Taoism).
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Notes
- 1.
Psacal, Pensées (Paris: Librairie Générals Française, rep. 1962), p. 333. The original statement follows: “Je blâme également, et ceux qui prennent de parti de louer l’homme, et ceux qui le prennent de le blamer, et ceux qui le prennent de se divertir; et je ne puis approuver que ceux qui cherchent en gémissant.” The English rendering is cited from Pascal, Pensées (trans. W. F. Trotter, New York: E. P. Dutton, 1904).
- 2.
Karl Jaspers, The Origin and Goal of History (London: Routledge, 1953), pp. 1–2.
- 3.
The Academie in Athens was founded in 387 B.C. and closed in 629. The Jixia Literati Palace (Jixia Xuegong) was founded during the period from 374 B.C. to 357 B.C., reached its prime time during the period from 319 B.C. to 301 B.C., and declined gradually to its end from 264 B.C. to 221 B.C.
- 4.
Plato, Symposium, 210a–211d (trans. A. Nehamas and Paul Woodruff, W. R. M. Lamb). The citation is here given with minor modifications.
- 5.
Ibid., 212c.
- 6.
Ibid., 207a–b.
- 7.
Ibid., 203b–c.
- 8.
Ibid., 212b–c.
- 9.
Ibid., 204b–c.
- 10.
Ibid., 205a–e.
- 11.
Ibid., 210a.
- 12.
Ibid., 211b.
- 13.
Ibid., 210a–b.
- 14.
Marsilius Ficinus, De Amore: Commentarium in Convivium Platonis (trans. Liang Zhonghe and Li Yang, Shanghai: East China Normal University Press, 2012), 6:8, pp. 168–169 (Chinese version). Ficinus talks about five kinds of love in this section. I think three kinds of them relevant to the Platonic love of beauty in the analogy of the beauty ladder. They include the humanus amore that is essentially active, the ferinus amore that is voluptuous, and the divinus amore that is contemplative.
- 15.
Plato, Symposium, 210b–c.
- 16.
Ibid.
- 17.
Ibid., 210c.
- 18.
Ibid., 210c.
- 19.
Ibid., 210c–d.
- 20.
Marsilius Ficinus, De Amore: Commentarium in Convivium Platonis, 6:8.
- 21.
Plato, Symposium, 211c.
- 22.
Ibid., 211e.
- 23.
Ibid., 211d–212a.
- 24.
Zhuangzi, The Zhuangzi (trans. Wang Rongpei, Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1999), Ch. 6, pp. 97–99. The citation is condensed and modified in accord with the Chinese original.
- 25.
Guo Xiang and Cheng Xuanying (eds.), Zhuangzi zhu shu [The Works of Zhuangzi Annotated and Explained] (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, rep. 2013), p. 139.
- 26.
Zhuangzi, The Zhuangzi (trans. Wang Rongpei, Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1999), Ch. 6, p. 89.
- 27.
Ibid., Ch. 3, p. 43.
- 28.
Ibid., Ch. 6, pp. 89–90.
- 29.
Ibid., Ch. 5, p. 73.
- 30.
Ibid., Ch. 11, p. 163.
- 31.
Ibid., Ch. 13, p. 217.
- 32.
The Great Learning (Da xue), one of the Confucian classics, advocates a sense of mission to do whatever possible for actualizing this sociopolitical objective. This sense of mission is condensed into four Chinese notions that stand for four cardinal tasks: personal cultivation (xiu shen), regulating the family (qi jia), governing the state well (zhi guo), and bringing order to the world (ping tian xia). Wing-Tsit Chan (trans.), The Great Learning, in A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1973), p. 86.
- 33.
Zhuangzi, The Zhuangzi, Ch. 6, p. 105.
- 34.
Zhuangzi, The Zhuangzi, Ch. 4, p. 55.
- 35.
Zhuangzi’s notion of “having a clear mind” seems to share something with the Schopenhauerian idea of “the pure subject of knowledge” in spite of the discrepancy that the former is oriented toward the Dao whereas the latter toward the idea. Neither of them could be actualized without serene contemplation in distinct mode each due to the different philosophical backgrounds involved. Cf. Arthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Idea (trans. R. B. Haldane and J. Kemp, London: Kegan Paul, 1909), Third Book, pp. 231–233.
- 36.
Zhuangzi, The Zhuangzi, Ch. 33, p. 603.
- 37.
Zhuangzi, The Zhuangzi, Ch. 22, p. 363; Ch. 6, p. 91; Ch. 19, pp. 297–301.
- 38.
Ibid., Ch. 6, p. 95.
- 39.
Ibid., Ch. 18, p. 289.
- 40.
Zhuangzi, The Zhuangzi, Ch. 6, p. 99.
- 41.
Laozi, Dao De Jing (trans. Wang Keping, Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 2008), Ch. 15, pp. 32–33. Comparatively speaking, these two rhetorical questions contain a crucial and instructive message. “The muddy” has rich connotations. On one level, it means “muddy water,” but metaphorically it signifies a muddy mind, turbid situation, chaotic order, confused environment, decadent morality, etc. All this is the opposite of “the clear” as its antithetical counterpart. Likewise, “the still” is regarded as denoting “the dead,” “the static,” “the inert,” “the inactive,” etc. All this is antithetical to the qualities of “the alive” or “the dynamic.” As regards, these two pairs of opposite categories—the muddy and the clear, the still and the alive—a vehicle of transformation is highly desirable. The vehicle itself seems to be made up of such essential but contradictory elements as “tranquility” and “activity.” As has often been observed in practice and experience, it is through concentration and tranquility that one is able to get out of the mire of muddiness and confusion on the one hand, and eventually become clear-minded and remain at ease on the other. This is often true of the natural process during which muddy water becomes clear through tranquility or freedom from disturbance. However, in terms of psychology and development, the involvement in tranquility and peace for too long a time can turn into a state of stillness, during which one may grow slack, inert or indolent. At this stage, activity is required as a stimulus. When activated and motivated, one becomes renewed, energetic, and creative again. This can be seen as an exposition of the reason why stillness (static state) taken to its extreme degree will turn into activity (dynamic state) and vice versa in the existence of all beings. The dialectical form of their transformation is actually extended from the general principle that “Reversion is the movement of the Dao.” It is said that Martin Heidegger (1889–1976) was deeply impressed by the two rhetoric questions. He had them written on a wall scroll and hung it in his study for contemplation. We guess that the German philosopher may have had a profound reason to do so, because he himself was at the time preoccupied with seeking the possibility of “clarity.” Cf. Wang Keping, The Classic of the Dao: A New Investigation (Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 2011), pp. 193–194.
- 42.
Stanley Rosen, Plato’s Symposium (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987), Ch. 7. Also see the simplified Chinese version (trans. Yang Junjie, Shanghai: East China Normal University Press, 2011), p. 239.
- 43.
Plato, Republic (trans. Paul Shorey), 621c–d.
- 44.
Yang Anlun, Zhongguo gudai jingshen xiangxiangxue--Zhuangzi sixiang yu zhongguo yishu [The Phenomenology of Spirit in Ancient China: Zhuangzi’s Thought and Chinese Art] (Changchun: Northeast Normal University Press, 1993), pp. 152–153.
- 45.
Laozi, Dao De Jing, Ch. 48, p. 83.
- 46.
Zhuangzi, The Zhuangzi, Ch. 6, pp. 95–97.
- 47.
Cui Dahua, Zhuang xue yan jiu [A Study of Zhuangzi’s Thought] (Beijing: Renmin Press, 1992), p. 302.
- 48.
Zhuangzi, The Zhuangzi, Ch. 6, p. 89.
- 49.
Ibid., Ch. 6, p. 111.
- 50.
Friedrich Nietzsche, Aurore (Paris: Gallimard, 1980), p. 162. The statement referred to in this passage follows: “Puet-être ira-t-on alors chercher des Chinois: et ceux-ci apporteraient la façon de penser et de vivre qui convient à des fourmis travailleuses. Oui, dan l’ensemble ils pourraient contribuer à infuser dans le sang de l’Europe instable qui s’exténue elle-même un peu de la tranquilité et de l’esprit contemplative de l’Asie et--ce qui est bien le plus nécessaire--un peu de la ténacité asiatique.”
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Wang, K. (2019). Two Models of Cultivating Wisdom for a Good Life. In: Chinese Culture of Intelligence. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3173-2_6
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