Sol 太阳 쏠 Profile picture
Jan 29 12 tweets 3 min read
A thread on Neo-Confucian “quiet-sitting.” 🧵 #靜坐 #정좌

I’ll cover the most illuminating quotes from Zhu Xi’s correspondence on the matter of Confucian “jìngzuò” vs Sino-Buddhist meditation. Image
For China, meditation wasn’t a tradition in ancient times (500 BC). It was introduced by Buddhism (~400 AD). But those ritual structures were largely dismantled by the “Zen” Buddhist revolution (~900 AD), which were then effectively vanquished by the Neo-Confucians (1200 AD). /2
Zhu Xi noted the lack of this tradition in ancient times, yet masters were able to penetrate reality without it…

“You raised the question that Cheng Yi at times also taught people quiet-sitting. However, Confucius, Mencius, and earlier stages did not have such a teaching.” /3
For Zhu Xi, as a teacher, formal ritual was mostly removed…

“Quiet-sitting is simply quiet-sitting, without any unnecessary bother or thought.”

“If one can not cut off thought, one might as well leave the matter alone. There will be no harm.” /4
His differentiation was made clear here…

“Quiet-sitting is not like Buddhist meditation, cutting off all thought. It is merely to collect the mind. If one purposefully engages in quiet-sitting as a special task, that would be Buddhist meditation.” /5
Zhu Xi was big on quiet time in association with reading, to synthesize and internalize knowledge…

“The defect of people today lies precisely in the fact that the task of quiet-sitting and the task of book reading are not unified. That is their mistake.” /6
Neo-Confucians constantly attacked Buddhist intention as escapism:

“Nowadays, people generally insist on quiet-sitting in order to avoid things. That will not do.”

“One must not close the door and sit quietly and hold onto oneself rigidly. When things occur, deal with them.” /7
“One must be quiet before the principals of nature emerge. What is called quiet-sitting simply means not to have anything on one’s mind. Only then will the principals come out. When the principals have come out, one’s mind will be even clearer and more quiet.”—Zhu Xi /8
In summary: post-Buddhism things moved away from meditation as deliberate activity: no technique, no cutting off thoughts, no removing oneself from the world, nor striving to reach a supreme meditative state.

Just literal “sitting quietly,” casual, when there’s nothing to do. /9
And this “meditation” wasn’t just different in practice, but also in intention: not trying to escape or deny reality’s nature, that “everything is an illusion,” but rather to understand nature’s principles (天理) and use them to shape society (the classic Confucian focus). 10/10
By the way, I see a lot of weird stuff from the Anglo-world on “the meditative tradition of Asia which has been a thing for thousands of years.” These people lump Asia together (China, India, etc), and read meditation/self into everything (e.g. Laozi). No, that’s just incorrect.
Seriously, I bet the minority of people in East Asia who do formally meditate learned it on YouTube!

Anglo-Buddhism-meditation-yoga, is totally a thing. It’s very popular, with “mindfulness” apps in tech, and it’s a huge market. That’s fine. But that’s not Sino/Korean, it’s you.

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More from @Solzi_Sez

Jan 31
Thousands of years ago, Chinese civilization already had this debate: “individualism vs society.” 🧵

There’s something relevant here, in these conversations from 300 BC, for understanding both 1) East Asia, and 2) America’s failed path.
Do we even destroy our human relationships, and cannibalize our nation state, all for the sake of individualistic profit?

Or, do we strengthen human relationships, with applied moral philosophy, and then profit as a whole civilization down the road?

Two ways, 二道! /2
Yang Zhu was essentially Milton Friedman “the only moral responsibility (of business) is profits for ourselves.” But how did that work? That philosophy of selfishness was that of the Warring States, which was a time of war and chaos lasting hundreds of years. /3
Read 7 tweets
Jan 30
“Yang Zhu's choice was 'everyone for himself.' Though he might benefit the entire world by plucking out a single hair, he would not do it.”—Mencius, Jin Xin I, 26 [Chan]
#individualism #liberalism

楊子取為我,拔一毛而利天下,不為也。
楊子取為我,
Yang • zi • gains • for sake of • self,

拔一毛而利天下,不為也。
pull • one • hair • and then • benefit • heaven • under, • not • do.

The directness of classical is better—the entire philosophy explained in three characters: 取為我 (“gains for me!”).
Yang Zhu said:

人人不损一毫,人人不利天下,天下治也
Everyone • not • lose • one • hair, • everyone • not • benefit • heaven • under, • heaven • under • order • is.

Thanks to @Mariusj001 for posting the original classical of what Yang Zhu is recorded saying.
Read 4 tweets
Feb 23, 2022
“If everyone refrains from sacrificing even a single hair on their own head and if everyone refrains from benefiting the world, the world will be in order.”—Yang Zhu (d.360 BC) #楊朱

Q: Is this not Milton Friedman’s doctrine?
Discussion: It occurs to me how similar this Warring States philosophy is to the current philosophy of liberalism, especially Friedman’s neoliberalism. They are all extremist doctrines of selfishness which deny responsibility to, or even recognition of, civilization. /2
As Friedman famously said “There is one and only one social responsibility of business: to increase its profits.”

In his philosophy, if everyone pursues their own greed an “invisible hand” will magically bring the world into order. This is indeed Yang Zhu’s same doctrine! /3
Read 6 tweets
Jul 7, 2021
“The world was well governed in earlier ages because of sages. It was well governed in later ages because of sages. The virtue of sages earlier or later was not different, and therefore good government in earlier ages and today is not different.”—Wang Chong, Han dynasty Image
“The nature of earlier ages was the same as the nature of later ages. Nature does not change, and its material forces do not alter. The people of earlier ages were the same as those of later ages.”—Wang Chong 2/4
What Wang Chong points out is key in macro historic analysis and forecasting—in our understanding of eternal forces: assume nature, and human nature, have not changed. At least as far as the core rules of the game; this time is probably not different. 3/4
Read 5 tweets
Mar 28, 2021
The Anglosphere’s entire 300-year model [capitalism + imperialism] is breaking. #SundayThoughts ☕️ Image
2. First, we need an objective review of history. It started with the British—navel based war, colonizing, and “forcing markets open.” Uhh, “free trade,” over the barrel of a white person’s gun.
3. After the British Empire, their model migrated to the United States—today it’s the U.S. military occupying 150 countries, media propaganda to infiltrating societies, forced democracy, USD hegemony, sanctions, and by these means the achievement of globally controlled markets.
Read 9 tweets
Mar 10, 2021
British academic David Harvey lists typical explanations for capitalism’s crisis:

1. just human nature; greed
2. anglo-cultural origins
3. based on false theory; neoliberalism
4. institutional failure requires reconfiguration
5. failure of govt policy
2. He claims these all have truth. Partly human nature, certain parts are nurtured by American/British cultural roots, it features a central theory which is flawed, and it’s now seeing widespread institutional failures with a lack of policy response.
3. He then offers his British Marxist perspective—it’s a problem of capital accumulation, and resultant excess power of finance capital which crowds out labor and other interests. He concludes we have to first admit this system “is crap,” then change our “mode of thinking.”
Read 9 tweets

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