•  254
    Butcher Ding : A meditation in flow
    In Karyn Lai & Wai Wai Chiu (eds.), Skill and Mastery Philosophical Stories from the Zhuangzi, Rowman and Littlefield International. 2019.
    In this paper, I argue that the performance stories in the Zhuangzi, and the Butcher Ding story, emphasize an activity meditation practice that places the performer in a mindfulness flow zone, leading to graceful, efficacious, selfless, spontaneous, and free action. These stories are metaphors showing the reader how to attain a meditative state of focused awareness while acting freely in a flow experience. From my perspective, these metaphors are not about developing practical or technical skill…Read more
  •  8
    Explores proper timing and the arts of rulership in the work that inspired China's first emperor.
  • The Lüshi chunqiu was written for and inspired the king who united the warring state to become China's first emperor in 221 BCE. This book explicates the concept of "proper timing," proposing that it helps bring unity to the diverse eclectic content of the text. The book analyzes the roles of human nature, the justification for the existence of the state, and the significance of personal, historical and cosmic timing. An organic instrumental position emerges from the diverse theories contained i…Read more
  •  1082
    Zhu Xi and Daoism
    In Kai-Chiu Ng & Yong Huang (eds.), Dao Companion to Zhu Xi, . 2019.
    This chapter argues that ZHU Xi was influenced by Daoism. His philosophy begins with the Diagram of the Great Polarity or Taijitu 太極圖 which has Daoist origins. Later in life he studied two Daoist texts, namely, The Seal of the Unity of the Three in the Zhou Book of Changes or the Zhouyi Cantongqi 周易參同契, and The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of the Secret Talisman or the Huangdi Yinfujing 黃帝陰符經. The chapter begins with a discussion about the nature of Daoism and inner meditative alchemy. Then I discus…Read more
  •  245
    Shen Gua's Empiricism by Ya ZUO (review)
    Philosophy East and West 70 (1): 1-5. 2020.
    History of science students will want to read this book. Professor Zuo animates the life, career, and thought of SHEN Gua in this delightful historical, biographical work. SHEN Gua embodied the classical spirit of the scholar-official during the Song dynasty. Shen is the author of Brush Talks from Dream Brook, a canonical text in the study of the history of science in China and in the Notebook style of writing. Zuo argues, using a double-narrative structure, that Shen’s intellectual life and car…Read more
  •  284
    Beyond Dualism: A Review of Mind and Body in Early China (review)
    Journal of World Philosophies 4 (2): 166-172. 2019.
    This book rightly argues for greater inclusion of the natural and social sciences in the humanities, especially philosophy. The author draws from psychology, especially folk psychology, to show that a basic trait of universal human cognition contains a form of weak dualism. It is a dualism based on the embodied awareness that one’s own thoughts are different from external objects, which generates the belief in a mind/body dualism. The book offers a great deal of evidence that the ancient Chinese…Read more
  •  234
    Robert E. Carter., Becoming Bamboo: Western and Eastern Explorations of the Meaning of Life (review)
    International Studies in Philosophy 26 (4): 115-116. 1994.
    This is a book review of Becoming Bamboo....
  •  28
    The Way of Water and Sprouts of Virtue (review)
    Philosophy East and West 49 (4): 527. 1999.
    This is a book review.
  •  344
    The Early Han enjoyed some prosperity while it struggled with centralization and political control of the kingdom. The Later Han was plagued by the court intrigue, corrupt eunuchs, and massive flooding of the Yellow River that eventually culminated in popular uprisings that led to the demise of the dynasty. The period that followed was a renewed warring states period that likewise stimulated a rebirth of philosophical and religious debate, growth, and innovations. Alan K. L. Chan and Yuet-Keung …Read more
  •  405
    Three models of self-integration (tzu te) in early china
    Philosophy East and West 37 (4): 372-391. 1987.
    This paper examines Confucian, Daoist and Legalist view of self-realization zide 自得.
  •  64
    To study the L shi chunqiu (or L -shih ch'un-ch'iu. Master L 's Spring and Autumn Annals is to enter into the tumultuous but progressive times of the Warring States period (403-221 BCE). 1 This period is commonly referred to as 'the pre-Qin period' because of the fundamental changes that occurred after the Qin unification. Liishi chunqiu was probably completed, in 241 BCE, by various scholars at the estate of L Buwei (L Pu-wei) the prime minister of Qin and tutor to the Qin child King, Zheng. 2 …Read more
  •  413
    On the Myth of Cosmogony in Ancient China
    Analecta Husserliana 47 211. 1995.
    Following Xiao Gongchuan and F. Mote, this paper discussed the reasons why there is no myth of cosmogony in China. It was written before the tomb excavations that contain some cosmogony essays.
  •  141
    Livia Kohn. The Taoist Experience. State University of New York Press, 1993. pp. 391 (review)
    Journal of Chinese Philosophy 22 (2): 239-244. 1995.
    This is a book review.
  •  35
    Asian insights on violence and peace
    Asian Philosophy 19 (2). 2009.
    This paper challenges the view that justice leads to or generates peace. Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist, Confucian, Daoist and Chinese military philosophical perspectives on violence and peace are reviewed. Based on insights derived from these Asian traditions concerning the relationship between violence and peace, the author argues that the quest for world peace is not attainable. The author proposes that people need to direct their attention, energy and action to support personal and community peace…Read more
  •  37
    On the origin of Shang and Zhou law
    Asian Philosophy 16 (1). 2006.
    This paper refutes the hypothesis that Shang and Zhou law or penal law originated with the Miao tribe. After examining the sociological theory that custom is the basis of law, I focus on the role of ritual-action and law in Shang and Zhou China embodied in the military, the administrative operations at court, and in the records and literature, to show that the scientific position provides a reasonable interpretation that the Shang people originated their own law. The evidence for Shang and Zhou …Read more
  •  44
    A belated response to Hu Shih and D. T. Suzuki
    Philosophy East and West 45 (1): 97-104. 1995.
    This essay attempts to reconcile the debate between Hu Shi's historical perspective and D.T. Suzuki's practice perspective concerning Zen Buddhism.
  •  89
    A Belated Response to Hu Shih and D.T. Suzuki Comment and discussion
    Philosophy East and West 45 (1): 97-104. 1995.
    This essays attempts to bridge the debate between Hu Shih and D.T. Suzuki concerning the role of history vs. practice in Chan/Zen Buddhism.
  •  246
    Liberating Language in Linji and Wittgenstein
    with Hans Julius Schneider
    Asian Philosophy 13 (2-3): 103-113. 2003.
    Our aim in this paper is to explicate some unexpected and striking similarities and equally important differences, which have not been discussed in the literature, between Wittgenstein's methodology and the approach of Chinese Chan or Japanese Zen Buddhism. We say ?unexpected? similarities because it is not a common practice, especially in the analytic tradition, to invest very much in comparative philosophy. The peculiarity of this study will be further accentuated in the view of those of the ?…Read more
  •  160
    Free-will and Non-attachment in the Bhagavad Gita
    Indian Philosophical Quarterly 14 (4): 375. 1987.
    The paper argues that there is a unique from of free will in the Gita based on the universal presence of the ultimate reality.