As 201 Song Dynasty and Neo-Confucianism
"Maturation of Chinese spirit"
"Triumph of Scholar-Official Class"
--Examination System Perfected - 3 levels
----Local/District Exams = "flowering talent"
----Provincial/Metropolitan Exams = chu-jen"Recommended talent"
----Palace Exam chin-shih
Curriculum widened to include technical/scientific problems, problem-solving
So, the Definition of Elite Status effectively redrawn: Scholar-Official class =
non-hereditary, literate, Confucian elite;
special attire, no manual labor required,
a managerial class,
a "Gentry" though NOT tied to land-holding
In Song, it became Urban, intellectual, cultured class;
a new urban bourgeosie--but NOT based on commerce or business
Medieval Commercial Revolution
New Technologies:
Printing, spread of literacy
Gunpowder
Compass, magnet
Use of Water wheel, windmills,
metalurgical bellows;
use of Coal;
Iron ore from coke; iron agricultural implements Forged nails, needles, stoves, drill bits for wells, spears, armor, arrow tips,
chains for suspension bridges
Textile machinery powered by water - 32 spindles; Meterological equipment to check river levels, rain/snow gauges,
Astronomical clocks
Maps,
Water Lock Canals
Stone segmented arched Bridges
Shipbuilding - watertight bulkheads, buoyancy compartments
waterproofing with tung oil, anchors, floats, ventilated cabins--much healthier
Pharmaceutical advances,
Disection, advances in anatomy,
Nationwide Market
Increase in Agricultural Production,
New businesses, trade, and commerce,
Spread of money economy,
Population doubles to 120 million
Confucianism Revised: Zhu Xi (1130-1200)
ー"Investigation of Things" (理)
ーThe Supreme Polarity or Supreme Ultimate (太極); Known as the Taiji, also thought of as an Axis, a Pole; not outside or Beyond the world, but ever-present in the myriaad of things which each have their li (理) or principle that cvan be subjected to "rational investigation"
= The Taiji is an aggregate of perfect abstract forms--everything has its individual "principle," li (理) so if you investigate the li of things, then eventually you can see the larger, complete picture, the Supreme Ultimate
= a way of talking about a universal power or energy much like the Dao functioned in early China; Reintegrated Daodejing and Yijing into Confucian philosophy.
yin-yang still operates as a determinate of how things unfolds in life
Some of Buddhism's capacity to ask metaphysical questions can be integrated into Confucianism now.
Plus the reading list for Confucianism simplified:
The Four Books
1. Analects
2. Mencius
3. The Doctrine of the Mean -- from Book of Rites
4. The 大學--Daxue-- or The Great Learning - a chapter drawn from the larger Book of Rites or Li (禮) which is famous for talking about the "Investigation of Things" (理) in the following way, utilizing the associative, "chain reasoning" logic:
Things have their root and their branches. Affairs have their end and their beginning.
To know what is first and what is last will lead near to what is taught in the Great Learning. (物有本末，事有終始，知所先後，則近道矣)
The ancients who wished to illustrate illustrious virtue (明德) throughout the world (天下), first ordered well their own States (國). (古之欲明明德於天下者，先治其國)
Wishing to order well their States, they first regulated their families (家). (欲治其國者，先齊其家)
Wishing to regulate their families, they first cultivated their persons (身). (欲齊其家者，先修其身)
Wishing to cultivate their persons, they first rectified their hearts (心) or minds. (欲修其身者，先正其心)
Wishing to rectify their minds/hearts, they first sought to be sincere (誠) in their thoughts (意). (欲正其心者，先誠其意)
Wishing to be sincere in their thoughts, they first extended to the utmost of their knowledge (知). (欲誠其意者，先致其知)
Such extension of knowledge lay in the investigation of things (物).(致知在格物)
Things being investigated (格物), knowledge (知) became complete. (物格而後知至)
Their knowledge being complete, their thoughts were sincere (誠). (知至而後意誠)
Their thoughts being sincere, their hearts were then rectified (正). (意誠而後心正)
Their hearts being rectified, their persons were cultivated (修). (心正而後身修)
Their persons being cultivated, their families were regulated. (身修而後家齊)
Their families being regulated, their States were rightly governed. (家齊而後國治)
Their States being rightly governed, the entire world was at peace. (國治而後天下平)
From the Son of Heaven down to the mass of the people, all must consider the cultivation of the person the root of everything besides. (自天子以至於庶人，壹是皆以修身為本)
There is a clear sequencing going on here and in the process, an essential vocabulary for talking about personal cultivation and correct governance is established: First, States must be ordered; but in order to do this, Families and Villages must first be ordered; to order Families, one' own Person must be Cultivated first. In order to cultivate one's person, one must rectify one's Heart; in order to do this, one must be Sincere in one's Thoughts; and in order to do this, one must Extend One's Knowledge to the Utmost; and how do you do this?
You must "Investigate Things,"of course! In so doing, Knowlege will become complete, Thoughts will be Sincere, Hearts/Minds will be rectified, the Self or the Person will be Cultivated, Families will be regulated, and on this basis, all the way out to the level of the State, everything will function properly.
The point? Song scholars re-imagined Confucianism, reconfigured it, revitalized it, energized it, made it more sophisticated and encompassing, tied it into the education system through a regularized, 3-tier Examination System, so it continued to satisfy Chinese thinkers for another 1,000 years
Instructions