Abstract
With reference to the rediscovery of ecumenism by Toynbee et al., this section looks into the idealized tendency and the intrinsic drive of the ecumenical case concerned. It touches upon the historical fact, the sense of compassion, the virtue of humaneness, and the teleology of harmony in terms of reciprocal and inter-benefiting rationale, benevolent and pragmatic reason, among others. Moreover, it proceeds to expose the essential stratum of harmonism as the key to the possibility of ecumenical policy and application from the past to the present.
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Notes
- 1.
The Chinese notion of tian-xia is rendered in English by all under heaven, all below heaven, all-under-heaven, or all-under-sky, etc.
- 2.
Sebastian Harnisch, “China’s Historical Self and Its International Role,” in S. Harnisch and J.-C. Gottwald (eds.), China’s International Roles: Challenging or Supporting International Order? (New York and London: Routledge, 2016), pp. 39–40.
- 3.
The Historical Records (Shiji) by Sima Qian is also rendered as The Records of the Historian in the Han.
- 4.
Sima Qian, “Qu Yuan and Jia Yi,” in The Historical Records.
- 5.
Sima Qian, “Peace and Development Documents,” in The Historical Records.
- 6.
Shan’xi Institute of Archeology, Xi Han jingshi cang [The Capital Barns of the Western Han Dynasty] (Beijing: Cultural Relics Press, 1990). Also see Zhang Kaisheng, “Han dai liangcang chu tan” [An Initial Inquiry into the Barns of the Han Dynasty], in Zhongyuan Wenwu [Journal of Cultural Relics in Central China], No. 1, 1986.
- 7.
Arnold Toynbee, Mankind and Mother Earth: A Narrative History of the World (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1976), p. 589.
- 8.
Ibid., pp. 591–592.
- 9.
Ibid., p. 593.
- 10.
Ibid., p. 595.
- 11.
Arnold Toynbee and Daisaku Ikeda, Choose Life: A Dialogue (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977).
- 12.
Holy Bible (Nanking: National TSPM & CCC, 2000), Deuteronomy 30.19.
- 13.
Eric Voegelin, The Ecumenical Age (ed. Michael Franz, Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2000), p. 352.
- 14.
Eric Voegelin, The Ecumenical Age, p. 354.
- 15.
Ibid., p. 361.
- 16.
Ibid., pp. 361–362.
- 17.
Sima Qian, “The Huns,” in The Historical Records.
- 18.
Arnold Toynbee, Mankind and Mother Earth: A Narrative History of the World, pp. 594–595.
- 19.
Wang Keping, “Humane Governance and Pragmatic Reason,” in Wang Keping (ed.), Rediscovery of Sino-Hellenic Ideas (Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 2016), pp. 159–165.
- 20.
Wang Keping, “Reconsidering Harmonism in China Today,” in Wang Keping (ed.), Rediscovery of Sino-Hellenic Ideas, pp. 111–112, 119–134.
- 21.
The English translation is modified with a particular reference to that of the same passage in these two versions: (1) “Of the things brought about by the rites, harmony is the most valuable. Of the ways of the Former Kings, this is the most beautiful, and is followed alike in matters great and small, yet this will not always work: to aim always at harmony without regulating it by the rites simply because one knows only about harmony will not, in fact, work.” See Confucius, The Analects (trans. D. C. Lau, London: Penguin Books, 1979), 1:12. (2) “In practicing the rules of propriety, appropriateness is to be prized. In the ways prescribed by the ancient kings, this is the excellent quality, and in things small and great we follow them. Yet it is not to be observed in all cases. If one, knowing how such appropriateness should be prized, manifests it, without regulating it by the rules of propriety, this likewise is not to be done.” See Confucius, The Confucian Analects, in The Four Books (trans. James Legge, Changsha: Hunan Press, 1995), 1:12.
- 22.
Wang Fuzhi, Zhangzi zhengmeng zhu [Commentary on Zhang Zai’s Works] (Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1975), p. 25. The English rendering is slightly modified with a particular reference to Wing-tsit Chan’s translation. Cf. Wing-tsit Chan, A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1973), p. 506.
- 23.
Zuo Qiuming, Zuozhuan (Zuo’s Commentaries on the Spring and Autumn Annals, ed. Wang Shouqian et al. Guizhou: Guizhou Renmin Press, 1992), p. 1303. The translation is mine. “Harmony (hé) is different from uniformity (tong). Seeking harmony is like making a soup. One uses water, fire, vinegar, soy source and prunes all together to stew with fish and meat. The chef mélanges harmoniously all the ingredients for a tasteful soup. In the process of making, he adds something more into it when finding its taste a bit too light; and he reduces something less when finding its taste a bit too heavy. The gentleman enjoys such a soup because it keeps one’s mind in peace. The interrelationship between the ruler and his courtier should be correspondingly similar in this case. When observing what the ruler thinks right contains something wrong, the courtier points out the wrong aspects and meanwhile reinforces the right aspects. When observing what the ruler thinks wrong contains something right, the courtier points out the right factors and meanwhile rules out the wrong factors. By so doing, the governance is retained in peace and harmony without violating the rites such that the masses are freed from the mind of competitiveness and contentiousness…. The ancient sage-rulers used to adjust the five flavors (sweet, sour, bitter, spicy, salty) for soup and harmonize the five sounds (gong, shang, jue, zhi, yu that parallel to the five-note scale of 1, 2, 3, 5, 6) for music in a metaphorical sense that they did this in order to ensure the calmness of their minds and accomplish their conduct of state affairs…. But there arises a problem if what the ruler thinks right or wrong is readily and repeatedly considered right or wrong by the courtier called Ju. This is just like making a soup with water only. It will be tasteless and no one would like to have it. It is also like playing the same note by the musical instrument of qin-se. It will be boring and no one would like to listen to it. The same is true of the idea of uniformity (tong).”
- 24.
The English rendering of the original Chinese expression is rephrased with reference to the above two versions apart from a bilingual one by Cai Xiqin and Lai Bo. Cf. Confucius, Analects of Confucius (trans. Cai Xiqin and Lai Bo, Beijing: Sinolingua, 1994), 13:23.
- 25.
Confucius, Analects of Confucius, 17:13.
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Wang, K. (2019). What Matters Behind Ecumenism?. In: Chinese Culture of Intelligence. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3173-2_2
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