Chinese spiritual writers

Baizhang Huaihai

2008-09-20T18:49:00.005-07:00

Baizhang Huaihai was a Zen master during the Tang Dynasty. He was a of Mazu Daoyi . Baizhang's students included and Lingyu.

Traditional Chan/Zen mythology holds Baizhang established an early set of rules for discipline, the ''Pure Rules of Huai Hai'', which are used today in many Zen monasteries, but in reality these rules developed much later in Chan history.

Baizhang is remembered for the aphorism: "A day without work is a day without food." His teachings and sayings have been translated by Thomas Cleary in ''Sayings and Doings of Pai-Chang'' . Another book translated by John Blofeld in ''' Buddhist Publishing Group, Totnes'', has been erroneously attributed by some to Baizhang Huaihai, but was in fact a work by his dharma brother, Ta-chu Hui-hai

The Wild fox koan is attributed to Baizhang.

Zou Yan

2008-09-20T18:49:00.003-07:00

Zou Yan was the representative thinker of the School of Yin-Yang during the Hundred Schools of Thought era in Chinese philosophy. Joseph Needham, a British sinologist, describes Zou as "The real founder of all Chinese scientific thought."

Zou Yan is commonly associated with Daoism and the origins of Chinese alchemy, going back to the Book of Han that calls him a ''fangshi'' . Holmes Welch proposes the ''fangshi'' were among those whom Sima Qian described as "unable to practice" Zou Yan's arts, and says while Zou "gradually acquired alchemistical stature, he himself knew nothing of the art. It was probably developed by those of his followers who became interested in physical experimentation with the Five Elements."

Zhuangzi

2008-09-20T18:49:00.001-07:00

Zhuangzi was an influential who lived around the 4th century BCE during the Warring States Period, corresponding to the Hundred Schools of Thought philosophical summit of thought. His name is sometimes spelled Chuang Tsu, Chuang Tzu, Zhuang Tze, Chouang-Dsi, Chuang Tse or -- in English -- Master Chuang.

Zhuangzi allegedly lived during the reign of and King Xuan of Qi, in the span from 370 to 301 BCE. Zhuangzi was from the Town of Meng in the . His given name was Zhou . He was also known as Meng Official, Meng Zhuang, and Meng Elder .

The book

The book ''Zhuangzi'' was named after its purported author. Since 742 CE, when Emperor Xuanzong of Tang mandated honorific titles for Taoist texts, it has also been known as the Nán huá zhēn jīng , literally meaning "True Classic of Southern Florescence," alluding to the tradition that Zhuangzi came from South China. Another explanation is that the place that Zhuangzi was born was placed within the administrative unit Nán huá County during the Tang dynasty.

The text is a composite of writings from various sources. The traditional view is that Zhuangzi himself wrote the first seven chapters and his students and related thinkers were responsible for the other parts . Strong proof of direct authorship by Zhuangzi of any of the text is difficult. The recension by Guo Xiang is the basis for practically all extant editions of the ''Zhuangzi''.

The inner chapters have great grammatical and conceptual coherence and are believed to have been primarily written by one hand, even if not by Zhuangzi himself. Zhuangzi has been categorized as a "Taoist" by the Chinese tradition, but especially in the inner chapters, he stands out from the rest. He also writes comparatively little about Tao in the inner chapters of the work, even less than Mencius and other prominent , prompting scholar A.
C. Graham to note, "Zhuangzi never knew he was a Taoist".

Zhuangzi's philosophy

In general, Zhuangzi's philosophy is mildly skeptical, arguing that our life is limited and the amount of things to know is unlimited. To use the limited to pursue the unlimited, he said, was foolish. Our language and cognition in general presuppose a to which each of us is committed by our separate past—our paths. Consequently, we should be aware that our most carefully considered conclusions might seem misguided had we experienced a different past. "Our heart-minds are completed along with our bodies." Natural dispositions to behavior combine with acquired ones—including dispositions to use names of things, to approve/disapprove based on those names and to act in accordance to the embodied standards. Thinking about and choosing our next step down our dao or path is conditioned by this unique set of natural acquisitions.

Zhuangzi's thought can also be considered a precursor of relativism in systems of value. His relativism even leads him to doubt the basis of pragmatic arguments since this presupposes that life is good and death bad. In the fourth section of "The Great Happiness" , Zhuangzi expresses pity to a skull he sees lying at the side of the road. Zhuangzi laments that the skull is now dead, but the skull retorts, "How do you know it's bad to be dead?"

Another example about two famous courtesans points out that there is no universally objective standard for beauty. This is taken from Chapter 2 "On Arranging Things", or "Discussion of Setting Things Right" or, in Burton Watson's translation, "Discussion on Making All Things Equal".
Men claim that Mao and Lady Li were beautiful, but if fish saw them they would dive to the bottom of the stream; if birds saw them they would fly away, and if deer saw them they would break into a run. Of these four, who knows how to fix the standard of beauty in the world?

However, this subjectivism is balanced by a kind of sensitive holism in the conclusion of the section called "The Happiness of Fish" . The names have been changed to romanization for consistency:

Zhuangzi and were strolling along the dam of the Hao Waterfall when Zhuangzi said, "See how the minnows come out and dart around where they please! That's what fish really enjoy!"

Huizi said, "You're not a fish — how do you know what fish enjoy?"

Zhuangzi said, "You're not I, so how do you know I don't know what fish enjoy?"

Huizi said, "I'm not you, so I certainly don't know what you know. On the other hand, you're certainly not a fish — so that still proves you don't know what fish enjoy!"

Zhuangzi said, "Let's go back to your original question, please. You asked me ''how'' I know what fish enjoy — so you already knew I knew it when you asked the question. I know it by standing here beside the Hao."

The butterfly dream

Another well-known part of the book, which is also found in Chapter 2, is usually called "Zhuangzi dreamed he was a butterfly" . Again, the names have been changed to romanization for consistency:
Once Zhuangzi dreamt he was a butterfly, a butterfly flitting and fluttering around, happy with himself and doing as he pleased. He didn't know he was Zhuangzi. Suddenly he woke up and there he was, solid and unmistakable Zhuangzi. But he didn't know if he was Zhuangzi who had dreamt he was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming he was Zhuangzi. Between Zhuangzi and a butterfly there must be ''some'' distinction! This is called the Transformation of Things.
This hints at many questions in the philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, and epistemology. The name of the passage has become a common , and has spread into Western languages as well. It appears, inter alia, as an illustration in Jorge Luis Borges' famous essay "A New Refutation of Time", and may have inspired H. P. Lovecraft's 1918 short story "".

Zhuangzi's philosophy was very influential in the development of Chinese Buddhism, especially Chán .

Anarchy

According to Murray Rothbard, Zhuangzi was "perhaps the world's first anarchist"; Zhuangzi said, the world "does not need governing; in fact it should not be governed," and, "Good order results spontaneously when things are let alone." Rothbard claims that Zhuangzi was the first to work out the idea of spontaneous order, before Proudhon and .

Alan Watts, who in his mature and later years was sympathetic to , declared that Zhuangzi was a libertarian .

Evolution

In Chapter 18, Zhuangzi also mentions life forms have an innate ability or power to transform and adapt to their surroundings. While his ideas don't give any solid proof or mechanism of change such as Alfred Wallace and Charles Darwin, his idea about the transformation of life from simple to more complex forms is along the same line of thought. Zhuangzi further mentioned that humans are also subject to this process as humans are a part of nature.

-Points that Zhuangzi makes-

* everything is everything

* there is no good or bad, only thinking makes it so

* The world around us may be perceived as an illusion from our senses our experiences and our interpretations, thus illusions are irrelevant to conclude a definite right or wrong way.

* Death is just a passage of the illusion of life.

Translations

The ''Zhuangzi'' text is widely regarded as both deeply insightful in thought and as an achievement of the Chinese poetical essay form. It uses the Chinese language in complex, multi-layered, and often playful ways, and is notoriously difficult to translate. Nevertheless, some have tried. There are complete English translations of all thirty-three chapters by Frederic Balfour, James Legge, Herbert Giles, James Ware, Burton Watson, Martin Palmer, Victor H. Mair, Wang Rongpei, and Nina Correa. There are selected translations of the seven "inner chapters" by Fung Yu-lan, Burton Watson, Gia-Fu Feng, A. C. Graham, Thomas Cleary, and David Hinton. There is also a translation of the seven "inner chapters" and twelve additional chapters by Jerome Seaton and Sam Hamill. There are interpretations of selected ''Zhuangzi'' passages by Thomas Merton and Brian Bruya. Graham's is, to date, the most academically thorough, but Watson's is highly praised for its poetic style. Mair's translation also has its highlights, including his decision to translate the poetic parts of the text into English poetry.

Wumen Huikai

2008-09-20T18:48:00.006-07:00

Wumen Huikai is a Song period Chán master most famous as the compiler of and commentator on the 48-koan collection ''The Gateless Gate'' . Wumen was at that time the monastery.

Wumen was born in Hangzhou and his first master was Gong Heshang. However, it was Zen master Yuelin Shiguan who gave Wumen the koan "Zhaozhou’s dog", with which Wu-men struggled for six years before he finally attained realization. After his understanding had been confirmed by Yuelin, Wumen wrote his enlightenment poem:

:A thunderclap under the clear blue sky

:All beings on earth open their eyes;

:Everything under heaven bows together;

:Mount Sumeru leaps up and dances.

He received Dharma transmission in the Linji line of Zen from his master, Yuelin.

In many respects, Wumen was the classical eccentric Chan master. He wandered for many years from temple to temple, wore old and dirty robes, grew his hair and beard long and worked in the temple fields. He was nick-named ‘Huikai the Lay Monk’. At the age of 64, he founded Gokoku-ninno temple near West Lake where he hoped to retire quietly but visitors constantly came looking for instruction.

His teachings as revealed in his comments in the Mumonkan closely followed the teachings of Dahui Zonggao . The importance of ‘Great Doubt’ was one of his central teaching devices. Wumen said, “…it’s just a matter of rousing the mass of doubt throughout your body, day and night, and never letting up.” In his comment on Case 1, Zhaozhou’s dog, he called ''mu'' “a red-hot iron ball which you have gulped down and which you try to vomit up, but cannot”. Wumen believed in blocking all avenues of escape for the student, hence the ‘gateless barrier’. Whatever activity the student proposed, Wumen rejected: “ If you follow regulations, keeping the rules, you tie yourself without rope but if you act any which way without inhibition you’re a heretical demon. … Clear alertness is wearing chains and stocks. Thinking good and bad is hell and heaven. … Neither progressing nor retreating, you’re a dead man with breath. So tell me, ultimately how do you practice?”

Muhammad Ma Jian

2008-09-20T18:48:00.005-07:00

Muhammad Ma Jian, or Muhammad Makin was a Chinese Islamic scholar and translator.

Born in Yunnan, Ma Jian went to Shanghai to pursue his studies in 1928. In 1931, he left China for Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, becoming one of the first Chinese students to study in Al-Azhar. While in Cairo, he wrote a book in Arabic about Islam in China, and translated the ''Analects'' into Arabic. He returned to China in 1939. There he edited the ''Arabic-Chinese Dictionary'' and translated the ''Qur'an'' and other Islamic works. He became a professor of Beijing University in 1946. In 1981, the China Social Science Press published his Chinese version of ''the Qur'an''; an Arabic-Chinese bilingual version was later published by the Madinah-based King Fahd Holy Qur'an Printing Press.

Mantak Chia

2008-09-20T18:48:00.003-07:00

Mantak Chia is an author, teacher and self-described healer. He is the founder of the Universal Tao as well as International Healing Tao. He is known for his books and teachings on Taoism, qigong and Taoist . Mantak Chia is a controversial figure in Taoism, alternately praised for public disclosure of long-held secrets and condemned for idiosyncrasies such as giving undue weight to sexual practices and lore. His wife Maneewan Chia is the co-author of many of his books.

Born in Bangkok to parents, Chia was born into a Christian family and identifies himself as Christian as an adult. His father was a Baptist minister. Initially,
he taught the "Healing Tao" in New York.

Mantak Chia claims to make esoteric Taoist practices more accessible to a modern Western audience. He has closely worked with several students with a background in Western esoteric studies, especially Michael Winn, Eric Yudelove and Dennis Lewis. He has also led workshops on Taoist practices. Recently, in May of 2008, he led a workshop at the New York Open Center called 'Wisdom Chi Kung,' which described certain meditative techniques to help calm the mind and increase mental capacity and clarity.

Mantak and Maneewan Chia live in Thailand and have one child.