#104 Another Way? Laozi and Zhuangzi

A stream flowing through Potatso National Park (普達措國家公園), the first national park in China to meet International Union for Conservation of Nature standards (Photo by Mr. Hall)

Our structure today will be as simple and flowing as possible—perhaps in the spirit of our texts?

Our rules/pattern:

• Each student identifies and reads a passage.
• Summarize what is important.
• Ask a question (or two).
• Feel free to break the pattern at any time, but let’s emphasize today the importance of democratic use of time.

Example:

We will use an example from Mengzi as a way to review our last two discussions.

Reading:

• “The reason why I say that all humans have hearts that are not unfeeling toward others is this. Suppose someone suddenly saw a child about to fall into a well: anyone in such a situation would have a feeling of alarm and compassion—not because one sought to get in good with the child's parents, not because one wanted fame among one's neighbors and friends, and not because one would dislike the sound of the child's cries. From this we can see that if one is without the feeling of compassion, one is not human.” (Mengzi 2A6; Van Norden 2008, 46)

Summary:

• In this story, Mengzi illustrates his commitment to seeing the core goodness in all people. It’s vivid because when encountering a “child about to fall into the a well,” even if we have not felt the feeling before (most of us probably have?), it is easy to imagine and share Mengzi’s conclusion.

Question:

• How is Mengzi's illustration of "benevolence" (ren 仁) distinct from Mozi’s notion of “universal love” (jian’ai 兼愛)? Is there a way to tweak the story to illustrate the difference between Mengzi and Mozi?