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幸会幸会, It is a great honour to have you join us on the journey to discover and explore the 5000 years old Chinese Culture, History, Literature and Martial Arts.
Our club 星洲国术 (Pinyin : Xing Zhou Guo Shu) is a Chinese Culture, Martial Arts and Kickboxing Appreciation Group in Singapore.
Our club 星洲国术 (Pinyin : Xing Zhou Guo Shu) is a Chinese Culture, Martial Arts and Kickboxing Appreciation Group in Singapore.
Chinese Philosophers who Shaped the Chinese Culture
For millennia, Chinese unlike the Westerners have been culturally conditioned to suppress personal desires and think in terms of collective responsibility. First, to their families, then organization, community and nation at large. In this rapidly changing era, Chinese cultural values are remarkably persistent. For instance, Chinese despite Westernization continue to have a strong value around modesty and humility. Overt displays of individualism and bragging are still extremely repelling to the Chinese.
It is said that Chinese cultural values are a complex system of moral and social ethics based on filial piety, kinship, loyalty, benevolence, righteousness and harmony. To understand the Chinese mind, you need to start with Ko Zi 孔子 (Confucius) and Lao Zi 老子 (Lao Tze), arguably the two most influential person in Chinese history, their teachings had exert a profound influence on the Chinese culture for the last two thousand over years.
It is said that Chinese cultural values are a complex system of moral and social ethics based on filial piety, kinship, loyalty, benevolence, righteousness and harmony. To understand the Chinese mind, you need to start with Ko Zi 孔子 (Confucius) and Lao Zi 老子 (Lao Tze), arguably the two most influential person in Chinese history, their teachings had exert a profound influence on the Chinese culture for the last two thousand over years.
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Confucius
The ideas of Ko Zi 孔子 (Confucius) and his followers have guided the lives of Chinese people and leaders for over two millennia. Ko Zi 孔子 (Confucius) was born in 551BC, and though he received little recognition during his lifetime, he may be said to have become the most famous Chinese philosopher and teacher. His teachings, compiled mainly in the text known as Lun Yu 论语 (Analects), inspired a rich tradition, known to the World as Ru Jia 儒家 (Confucianism). It is said that Ru Jia 儒家 (Confucianism) philosophers, scholars, political leaders and religious figures not only shaped the Chinese culture, they helped shaped the Koreans, Japanese and Vietnamese cultures as well.
Ko Zi 孔子 (Confucius) was a teacher, editor, politician and philosopher of the warring Spring and Autumn period 春秋时代 (771BC - 476BC) in Chinese history. He lived at a time in which the society was highly fragmented into competing principalities. He believed that in order to stem the tide of social decay and to promote a flourishing and humane society, the Dao 道(The Way), of the ancient Zhou Dynasty 周朝 sage-kings needed to be revived. |
To accomplish his vision, Ko Zi 孔子 (Confucius) advocated the institution of cultured and virtuous scholar-officials who would advise the kings to rule justly. His social vision did not apply only to the ruling class, his stress on moral character influenced every level of society. While Ru Jia 儒家 (Confucianism) is not technically a religion, its emphases on personal virtue and on ethical action within human society continue to influence Chinese spiritual life till today.
Lao Tze
The other great Chinese tradition that has its roots in Spring and Autumn period 春秋时代 is Dao Jia 道家 (Daoism). Like Confucianism, Dao Jia 道家 (Daoism) emerged as a vision for stopping social decline and promoting good government but it took a different track. Instead of a particular Dao 道(The Way) for political leaders, Dao Jia 道家 (Daoism) thinkers stressed the Dao 道(The Way) that generated the cosmos as the appropriate model for human action.
The Dao De Jing 道德经, a philosophical and spiritual text attributed to the Spring and Autumn period 春秋时代 sage Lao Zi 老子(Lao Tze), emphasized on Wu Wei 无为 (Non-Action). The word Wu Wei 无为 (Non-Action) meant the people, and particularly the rulers, should not do what is contrary to nature, they should cultivate attunement with the natural fluctuation of the cosmos. In later centuries, this more naturalistic spiritual sense of attunement with the universe became increasingly religious. The Dao Jiao 道教 (Daoist) religion was formed at around 200AD during the Han Dynasty 汉朝 and Lao Zi 老子(Lao Tze)became revered as the Shen Xian 神仙 (Chinese Deity) known as Tai Shang Lao Jun 太上老君.
The Dao De Jing 道德经, a philosophical and spiritual text attributed to the Spring and Autumn period 春秋时代 sage Lao Zi 老子(Lao Tze), emphasized on Wu Wei 无为 (Non-Action). The word Wu Wei 无为 (Non-Action) meant the people, and particularly the rulers, should not do what is contrary to nature, they should cultivate attunement with the natural fluctuation of the cosmos. In later centuries, this more naturalistic spiritual sense of attunement with the universe became increasingly religious. The Dao Jiao 道教 (Daoist) religion was formed at around 200AD during the Han Dynasty 汉朝 and Lao Zi 老子(Lao Tze)became revered as the Shen Xian 神仙 (Chinese Deity) known as Tai Shang Lao Jun 太上老君.