EDWARD'S LECTURE NOTES:
More notes at http://tanguay.info/learntracker
C O U R S E
Chinese Thought: Ancient Wisdom Meets Modern Science
Edward Slingerland, University of British Columbia
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C O U R S E L E C T U R E Yang Zhu and Mid-Warring States' Focus on the Body Notes taken on October 24, 2019 by Edward Tanguay |
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the physiological turn
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Yang Chu (440–360 BCE) [yahng JEW]
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the discovery of the body
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the body becomes a philosophical topic
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we don't know much about him
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we've lost his writings
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rivals referred to his teachings as egoism
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the teaching of being for yourself only
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an individualist primativist
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not happy with society
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wants to drop out of society
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all about individual survival
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no big plan
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xing [shing] "human nature"
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related etymologically to life
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only living things have xing
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it's dynamic
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the natural tendencies of some living thing
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tendencies it has over the course of its life
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not a static quality
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contains what it's prone to develop into over time
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it's prone to harm
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it's fragile
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needs to be protected
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it needs to be nourished
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he's concerned about humans
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the central part of his philosophy
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the vessel that holds our xing is the physical body
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keep nature intact, keep it whole, nourish it, and don't harm it
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we have been given this from heaven
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stay physically healthy
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exercises
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eating well
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don't get killed, e.g. in Warring States wars
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if you are engaged in politics, you putting your body at risk
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so disengage from society
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he is opposed to the idea that we are going to be engaged in saving the world in any way
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being a busy body and getting involved with other people is a sure way to get your head chopped off or be harmed in some way
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you really want to be just looking out for yourself
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we don't have the Yangzi anymore
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but we do have bits of his teaching embedded in other texts
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some of the chapters of the Zhuangzi have been picked out as Yang Zhu chapters
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they express more the views of the Yang Zhu school
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but all the chapters are vaguely Daoist, about dropping out of society and not buying into Confucius values
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The Zhuangzi Yang Zhu chapters
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Yellow Emperor ruling all of Heaven, a good ruler
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Wants to be a good Laozian ruler, get in touch with the Dao
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wants to bring people in harmony with nature and each other
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but Master Kkuang Ch'eng comes and says: the more you try to rule things, the more you bring them out of order
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so emperor gives up his throne, goes to live in a hut, then comes back and asks, "I venture to ask about the governing of the body. What should I do in order to live a long life?"
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and the Master is now pleased
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this is clearly a Yang Zhuian master
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then the master teaches him secrets of preserving the body and bodily health
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"Keep your nature intact, protect your genuineness (zhen, your real essence and nature uncorrupted by society, all the bad things we learn from the Confucians), and don't involve your body in trouble for the sake of external things."
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this can sound like selfishness, just look out for yourself
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but there is a deeper religious idea here
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your body and nature has been given to you as a gift, and it's your religious duty for you to protect it
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when you harm your body or harm your genuineness, you are going against heaven's will
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the Confucian's are wrong, heaven's will has nothing to do with politics or society
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what heaven wills for us is the same thing that heaven wills for the fish swimming in the lakes, i.e. they don't have to worry about other fish, it's just every fish for themselves
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people who are concerned with society are critical of him
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the Moists see him as a horrible egoist
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religion, biology and the individual
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focusing philosophical attention on the physical, biological body in a way that hadn't been done before in Warring States thought
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physical health
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the flow of your chi
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how the organs are working
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the individual
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this was the first time in Warring States that we had a philosopher saying that the individual is important in and of themselves
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they don't need to save the world
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they don't need to be anything particular in society
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this focus on the physical body became a way people talked in the Warring States period
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terms like human nature become common
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the physiological-turn texts
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terms for body
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terms for organs
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talking about the chi in a physiological, technical sense
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chi
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vital energy
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vital essence
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pervades the universe and animates living things
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why the physiological turn happened
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the results of philosophers mixing with other specialists
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rulers would set up think tanks
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invite intellectuals of various kinds
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be resident and debate about what the best way to rule is
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the ruler got ideas from them
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so scholars of various schools start meeting and debating
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also why people started to be concerned about the rules for formal debate during this time
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early medical specialists
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Bian Que (died 310 BCE)
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macrobodic hygiene
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breath control
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diet
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physical exercise
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precursors to Tai chi
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fortune tellers
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astrologers
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demonologists
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if you have some kind of sickness, what demon is responsible for it and what you have to do to get the demon off your back
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all this had an impact on philosophers
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a new model for the body and self
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xin [sheen], connection between heart and mind
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which organ we should pay attention to