EACS-2016. Book of Abstracts

Philosophy 21st Biennial Conference of the European Association for Chinese Studies 108 The goodness section emphasizes active engagement with others, goodness as an inherent feature of imperfect humans and describes the partial beginning point of self-cultivation. Its discussion of the conducts demonstrates that they are not discrete entities but domains of related dispositions and behaviours. The virtue section focuses on developing the conducts through contemplation and depicts the unified endpoint of self-cultivation: the complete harmonization of the five conducts so that they may be endlessly recombined in order to appropriately respond to any situation. This timely harmony is the definition of virtue, which is a trait of Heaven tian 天 . However, the text demonstrates that Heaven is a distant figure and that the ideal of the sage shengren 聖 人 (one who understands the Way of Heaven tiandao 天道 ) is almost unobtainable. Therefore, it focuses on the gentleman junzi 君子 , an imperfect but achievable goal. The two sections explain how the gentleman might reach a state of virtue by emulating Heaven in accordance with the Way of the Gentleman (junzidao 君子道 ), which is the true goal of the text’s program of self-cultivation. He Fan (Nanyang TechnologicalUniversity) Two Visions of Ming 明 in Zhuangzi: Epistemological Engagement and Inward Cultivation Key words: Zhuangzi, Ming, Self-cultivation, ethics, epistemological enlightenment, Dao The “illumination” (ming 明 ) in the inner chapters of Zhuangzi, usually associated with the pivot of dao( 道樞 ), has been considered as a crucial way to detach from debates of correct and incorrect views, thereby reaching a state of epistemological enlightenment and thus enlightened engagement in the world. This paper tries to suggest that there are two visions of ming in inner chapters and the miscellaneous chapter, “Gengsang Chu” ( 庚桑楚 ), respectively, in Zhuangzi. First, based on the recognition of the epistemologi- cal meaning of ming in inner chapters, I will further argue that ming, not only associated with the pivot of dao, but also with the “heavenly reservoir” ( 天府 ) and “heavenly transition” ( 天倪 ), should understood as a process being illuminated by heaven. This means that, because of the heaven’s limitlessness, when seen from and illuminated by heaven, all distinctions and boundaries in the world have vanished and hence, the debates of correct and incorrect are therefore meaningless. The second vision of ming in “Gengsang Chu” displays a process of inward cultivation. Ming is associated with the phases of internal practice, such as “being upright”, “still”, “emptiness” and “doing nothing and yet there will be nothing that is not done”. If resting in the Great Serenity, the ideal state, one could send forth “heavenly light”, a state of ming. In this sense, ming is not only one of the phases for inward cultivation, but an ideal mental state also. This paper aims to display that the epistemological and psychological visions have formed two different understand- ings of ming in Zhuangzi. Indraccolo Lisa (University of Zurich) Cuts Like a Knife — Sword and Dagger Metaphors in Classical Chinese Literature Key words: Early China, sword metaphors, analogy, rhetoric, virtue. Swords and, in particular, the double-edged sword are commonly used in a metaphorical way as part of the imagery of virtue in pre-imperial and early imperial Classical Chinese texts. The double-edged sword is a symbol of distinction and superiority — social (Hsu 1965) but also moral. Swords occasionally appear also in binomial expressions together with the dagger-axe or, more rarely, the knife. Despite the inherently dangerous nature of white arms, these metaphors are not necessarily associated with a military context. They typically express a positive appreciation of the moral stance, integrity, and clarity of scope and mind of an individual (Crump 1970). By way of analogy, they allude to the capacity to act in a timely and effec- tive manner, to embody manly “virtus”, or to act ethically. Like a blade can be cast or forged (Needham 1956; Mei and Rehren 2009), similarly the intrinsic nature of a human being can be molded according to