The passage really concerns the Supreme Ultimate of Tao, of Ying and Yang:
'These various aspects of Chinese language and script have had a major influence on Chinese thought. There is not only the pictorial quality of the characters, but the various tones in which words are pronounced, which in particular, for example, give Chinese poetry added elements or dimensions that are quite lacking in Western languages..
'Movement', for example, is rendered in Chinese as 'advance-retreat', and 'politics' as 'rule-chaos'. The experience of Chinese is, in some circumstances, quite different from other languages, often reflecting the Confucian idea of antonyms, ying/yang. To give another example, 'Mountain big' is a complete sentence in Chinese. It is not necessary to use the verb 'to be'.
This reflects comparisons I made between Martin Heidegger's philosophy of Sein und Dasein, 'Being' and 'being-in-the-world' and the Sinic concept of Qi in an essay earlier referred to.
....
According to Zhou Yougang, therefore, 'the Chinese did not develop the idea of the law of identity in logic or the concept of substance in philosophy. And without these concepts, there could be no idea of causality or science. Instead, the Chinese developed correlational logic, analogical thought, and relational thinking, which, though inappropriate to science, are highly useful in socio-political theory. That is why the bulk of Chinese philosophy is philosophy of life'.
Again, this refracts Jung's thought in relation to the I Ching, which I outlined in a previous post.
In conclusion, Watson admonishes, 'Always, however, in considering China, one comes back to the practical'.
At the same time, I find it fascinating that the Song Dynasty conceptualised the common currency of the Realm, a copper coin, as fei qian, or "flying money". There is much musicality contained in this term, with its adjectival rush. Apparently, the Song and Mongol periods enhanced the circulation of Bills of Exchange and other promissory notes known as jiao zi, qian zi, or guan zi. In fact, the Song Dynasty instituted a Bureau of Exchange Medium, a very early example of banking and, perhaps, well in advance of European civilization on this subject.
To follow on from this flight metaphor - On the topic of money and interest, I am struck by the conceptual similarity/affinity of fei to the Roman root 'fetus'.
Hence Julius Paulus indicated:
'The law concerning loans [is] called 'fenebris' from the word 'fetus', since money on loan gives birth to money: for the same reason the Greeks call this process TOKOS'.
(Both Greek and Latin roots relate to the cognate notion of childbirth).
Of course, these are speculations on my part. Nevertheless, I find the likeness curious.
To return to the oppositional logic of Chinese language and, supposedly, classical Chinese thought. Interestingly, I see parallels to common law reasoning also. Common law 'logic' proceeds analogically - case-by-case - though a process of 'abduction'. Derived partly from deduction and partly from induction, 'adbductive' reasoning proceeds by pratical example through real-world experience. Thus James A Holland and Julian S Webb, in Learning Legal Rules, describe the common law as a contained system of 'practical reasoning'. Similiarly, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes famously observed, 'The life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience'.
On the other hand, the sublime jurist, Sir Owen Dixon recommended the closest adherence to a 'strict and complete legalism', a position with which I largely agree - in the right context. In this regard, I would pay heed to Lord Devlin's dictum in the celebrated case, Hedley Byrne v Heller & Partners in which his Lordship cautioned,
'The common law is tolerant of much illogicality, especially on the surface; but no system of law can be workable if it has not got logic at the root of it'.
In many respects, the Chinese linguistic "feel" for opposites resembles the nature of music, especially in the Western classical tradition. I will discuss this more fully in a later post.
Finally, I found (to my mind) two spectacular descriptions of the Zhou Empire and the attendant concept of Qi.
The "Zhou Conquest of Shang": Cambridge History of Ancient China
'The Yin-Shang legions,
Their battle flags like a forest,
Were arrayed on the field of Muye.
"Arise, my lords,
The Lord on High looks down on you;
Have no second thoughts".
The field of Muye was so broad.
The sandalwood chariots were so gleaming.
The teams of four were so pounding.
There was the general Shangfu.
He rose as an eagle,
Aiding that King Wu,
And attacked the great Shang,
Meeting in the morning, clear and bright'.
The 'Masters of Hainan'
'Heaven (seen here as the ultimate source of all being) falls (duo, i.e., descends into proto-immanence) as the formless. Fleeting, fluttering, penetrating, amorphous it is, and so it is called the Supreme Luminary. The dao begins in the Void Brightening. The Void Brightening produces the universe (yu-zhou ). The universe produces qi. Qi has bounds. The clear, yang [qi] was ethereal and so formed heaven. The heavy, turbid [qi] was congealed and impeded and so formed earth. The conjunction of the clear, yang [qi] was fluid and easy. The conjunction of the heavy, turbid [qi] was strained and difficult. So heaven was formed first and earth was made fast later. The pervading essence (xi-jing) of heaven and earth becomes yin and yang. The concentrated (zhuan) essences of yin and yang become the four seasons. The dispersed (san) essences of the four seasons become the myriad creatures. The hot qi of yang in accumulating produces fire. The essence (jing) of the fire-qi becomes the sun. The cold qi of yin in accumulating produces water. The essence of the water-qi becomes the moon. The essences produced by coitus (yin) of the sun and moon become the stars and celestial markpoints (chen, planets)'.
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