A Philosophical Translation of the Heng Xian

Brindley, Erica Fox; Goldin, Paul R.; Klein, Esther Sunkyung

doi:10.1007/s11712-013-9322-5

Cited by 13 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…I have discussed the likely meaning and nature of such desire elsewhere, suggesting that it seems to refer to something very elemental, not emotional, comparable perhaps to our genetic codes and potentials. 12 The concept of a natural destiny-that is, a destiny derived singularly through the unfolding of our most natural, inherent responses to the outside world-may be close to what the author of Heng Xian means here. The key point about such a desire, however, is that it does not choose in a rational sense.…”

Section: Non-action Theory In the Heng Xianmentioning

confidence: 76%

“…Consider the following statement about the term shi 事, which we have translated as "endeavor": 13 "When there is arising, there is an endeavor; when there is no arising, there is no endeavor作焉有事；不作無事." 14 Given that contemporary scholars are not privy to the context for these later, pithy statements in the text, it is very difficult to assign a meaning with certainty to this sort of sentence. I would argue that the author is trying to relate human action (as endeavors) in the world to the cosmic process of arising by drawing up a simple causal relationship between the two.…”

Section: Non-action Theory In the Heng Xianmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Authoring Non-Action in Early China

Brindley

2015

Journal of Chinese Philosophy

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This essay explores a call for non‐action in certain ancient Chinese texts that, contrary to expectation, implicitly upholds definitions of action that are comparable to Western understandings of the term. The call for non‐action in ancient Chinese texts differs significantly, however, from what Western theorists usually define as legitimate, agent‐led action through its negation of viewing means‐end calculations as the basis of action. Closer analysis of such formulations on non‐action reveal that that there is room for a broader definition in action theory of what constitutes a coherent, unified, creative agent.

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Section: Non-action Theory In the Heng Xianmentioning

confidence: 76%

Section: Non-action Theory In the Heng Xianmentioning

confidence: 99%

Authoring Non-Action in Early China

Brindley

2015

Journal of Chinese Philosophy

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“…Once there is space, there is Qi, once there is Qi there is existence, there is a beginning, once there is a beginning, there is the passage of time. 19 While Constancy is the primary situation of the cosmos, the next is space. Space is not generated, nor does Constancy generate it, rather it arises, hence the usage of "arise" (zuo作) instead of the terms we often encounter in cosmogonic descriptions such as "generate" (sheng生), or "completion" (cheng成).…”

Section: Cosmogonymentioning

confidence: 99%

Creativity and Diversity: Generating a Universe in Early Daoist Texts

Small

2019

Journal of Chinese Philosophy

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Early Daoist thought, beginning from the Laozi, can be roughly divided into three sections: cosmology, politics and bodily practices. I argue that cosmogony is the root, offering a basis for both political and bodily practices. The questions I raise concentrate on cosmogony-what are the models suggested by these texts, what are the key concepts, and do the texts discussed develop from and expand Laozi's philosophy of Dao? To answer the last question, I take a step further and look not only at cosmogony but also at political practices.Dao generates one, one generates two, two generates three, three generates the myriad beings. (42) This phrase describes the generation of the world from Dao which is the nameless nonbeing emptiness, to the concrete one, and finally to the myriad things. 6 This is not the linear process described in Chapter Forty of the Laozi:Reversal is the movement of Dao, weakness is the function of Dao. The myriad beings under heaven were generated from something, something was generated from nothing. 7

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“…Given that both were published in the late 1990s, they oddly never mention the more recently excavated Huang-Lao manuscripts. More recent work added to this body of scholarship worthy of note includes Perkins (2013Perkins ( , 2016, Brindley (2013), Brindley et al (2013), andGomouline (2013).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Fiercely Debated Questions of a Chinese Metaphysics and a Tradition of Early Daoism: Western and Chinese Perspectives on the Daodejing and Huang-Lao Daoism

Michael

2023

Religions

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Two long-standing and fiercely debated issues remain central to contemporary studies on Chinese philosophy. The first concerns whether there was an early tradition of metaphysics, and the second concerns whether there was an early tradition of Daoism. This study engages with both issues simultaneously, since if there was a tradition of early Chinese metaphysics, then it is identifiable with Huang-Lao Daoism, and if Huang-Lao Daoism constituted an early Chinese tradition, then it is identifiable with the tradition of Chinese metaphysics. This study engages with these issues in two parts. The first part examines Western and Chinese perspectives concerning what is entailed by claims that there was or was not an early tradition of Chinese metaphysics and that there was or was not an early tradition identifiable as Huang-Lao Daoism. The second part is an analysis of contemporary Chinese scholarship that, deeply grounded in the growing collection of early Chinese excavated manuscripts, both affirms the dynamic existence of early Chinese metaphysics and the vibrant existence of an early tradition identifiable with Huang-Lao Daoism. Throughout, this study attempts to concurrently build on the work of contemporary Chinese scholars for reading certain early Chinese writings often held as Daoist, but instead of agreeing with them that Laozi’s Daodejing represents an early blossoming of metaphysics, it argues that his work is grounded in an originally non-metaphysical philosophy of the Dao that Huang-Lao Daoism transformed into a metaphysics, thereby originating the tradition of early Chinese metaphysics.

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A Philosophical Translation of the Heng Xian

Cited by 13 publications

References 0 publications

Authoring Non-Action in Early China

Authoring Non-Action in Early China

Creativity and Diversity: Generating a Universe in Early Daoist Texts

On the Fiercely Debated Questions of a Chinese Metaphysics and a Tradition of Early Daoism: Western and Chinese Perspectives on the Daodejing and Huang-Lao Daoism

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