September 15, 2010.
GLS 800, Class 2
Bhagavad Gita
Mencius
Mencius
How does one live a virtuous life? Last week this question was central to our discussion which focused on Plato (Timaeus) and the Bible (Genesis). We want a system in place that answers the unanswerable so that we can get on with our daily lives feeling assured that the mysteries that life and its aftermath bring are not mysteries at all. Ironically, Life itself is the mystery, and what better way to unravel the unknown than methodically and diligently. The Mencius, the Timaeus and the Bhagavad Gita, through vastly different outlooks, delve into the mystery of existence and offer instruction on how to live.
Each of these works can be said to propose a way of life that will train one to be in synchronization with the underlying blueprint of existence. In the Timaeus, the blueprints are the revolutions of the universe and Forms; in the Bhagavad Gita, Brahman; and in Mencius, Ch’i. To use the hackneyed metaphor of “many paths leading to the summit of a mountain”, these books take different routes in making very similar points and prescriptions, some of which are moderation, control of desires/emotions, duty and the need of an inner foundation.
This is a spiritual question and one that focuses on spiritual and abstract ideas. At times, during my first reading of the Gita, I was jeering at the text, believing that it was encouraging the full denial of one’s senses and desires. I happen to enjoy my vices. If the creator gave me desires and senses that he now wants me to deny and forgo, frankly he should have created a different type of homo sapiens! Why should I have to deny my humanity in this way? How am I a better, virtuous person for not desiring? And why, on this planet, is Krishna so “down” on life? 8.15 “...birth - that impermanent place of sorrow”. What a stark outlook!
The more of the Gita I read, the more obvious it became that, in fact, one of its messages is that the body and its senses are tools for spiritual growth. To use our senses and desires with awareness is the key. If we are aware of the trappings of the material world, aware of our weaknesses and the many (many!) aspects of our human nature that can lead to downfall, we can then be our true authentic Selves, not controlled by anything that is not us. 13.1 (Gita) “The body is the site of all knowing”; to attain higher knowledge, know (understand) the senses. Similarly, Mencius said that one must work through hardship - lures of the senses, in this example - to gain enlightenment. The learning is a process that takes a lifetime (or lifetimes). “The sole concern for learning is to go after and find the strayed heart” as Mencius said, referring to our “birth hearts”. Likewise, to fall out of rhythm with the cosmos brings disease upon the body until one’s being gets back in synch, as it was at birth. “There is nothing better for the nurturing of the heart than to reduce the number of one’s desires” because the desires can easily be given priority over your heart. 3.7 - “Rein in the senses through the mind”. Perhaps this is good advice.
3.37-3.41:
“Learn the enemy, here on earth:
it is desire and anger…
each is all-consuming and evil
…The wisdom of the wise is covered by this eternal enemy;
covered by a fire in the shape of desire, a fire which is always hungry.
…Desire covers wisdom and confuses the embodied self.”
It is desire, passion, emotions (gunas) that are sources of doing harm. Understanding these base emotions and seeing them for what they are - detaching yourself from them - allows one to penetrate their fire and attain the inner Wisdom.
Really, though, who can fault Arjuna’s desire not to kill his family? The Gita unfolds with Sanjaya recounting Arjuna’s inner turmoil and his heart-to-heart with Krishna. Arjuna’s initial reaction to having to go to war with relatives is emotional. Krishna represents a detached, reasoned approach of the situation from a deeper perspective. One lesson is that in order to stay authentic and be genuine, sometimes decisions that bring grief have to be made.
Arjuna’s struggle is presented as a thought experiment to explore the intricacies involved in making a decision. Rigorous contemplation can be applied to any decision, large or small and if Arjuna can act in a spiritual manner in the face of having to go to war, well there are no excuses for followers of Krishna, then! By using such an emotionally-charged example, one that involves family, history, killing, duty, honour, sacrifice etc… the Gita busts the concept wide open to explore the minutiae of decision-making and, therefore, how one must conduct oneself every day. “Even after we’ve killed them we would not want to live!”, Arjuna exclaims at the beginning of his conversation with Krishna. Life sometimes forces hard decisions on us that might have unpopular consequences even if correctly acted upon. Performing duties for the greater good, but without attachment to results (rajas), is the appropriate course of action, according to Krishna. There is no Yoga or Dharma where the baggage of emotional passion exists. They cannot coexist because emotion muddles the mind. Plato would agree. Arjuna’s duty as a warrior must not allow it.
So, without spoiling the ending, Arjuna gets schooled by Krishna on how to make decisions with composure, balance, equanimity and honour to his social group (he is a warrior).
Now, moving from warrior to sage: Mencius was a wandering sage in China (around 350 BCE) willing to counsel political leaders and land owners who would listen. His encounters with these leaders are summed up in the form of parables, most no more than half a page in length. In these homilies, he tries to convince them to be benevolent rulers instead of greedy, vain, warmongering tyrants. In doing so, he appealed to their vanity, a deadly sin which they are gripped by. Be benevolent as I say and people will flock to your borders, begging entry into your kingdom of ten thousand li! He talks a lot about the importance of maintaining good agricultural practices, which speak to his humble beginnings and the warring times that he lived in. Unlike Plato, he was not a privileged aristocrat.
Mencius experienced first-hand the harsh consequences of war on the people around him and yet he still had faith in the human heart. He believed that the seeds required to become a great sage are in all of us; they only need to be cultivated. It is only natural for the being to drift towards benevolence just as it is natural for “river water to flow downward” (to use Mencius’ metaphor). Similarly, Mencius would have said that any society that needed laws to make people behave morally is a failed society. Such laws are like dams in a river, blocking the flow of something intrinsic to human nature (I’ll take credit for that metaphor).
But in nurturing these seeds, what makes the right decision clear? “Try your best to treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself, and you will find that this is the shortest way to benevolence”. (Book VII.A.4). Follow the golden rule - practice empathy. Mencius speaks a lot about the heart and the good heart. When I do something good, my heart is warmed. When there is goodness about, one feels a warmth deep within. One should get in the habit of acting like a sage, sacrificing to do good, and the benefit will be returned in spades. The term sacrifice means that you forgo immediate satisfaction to do something for someone else. It is not a “sacrifice” in the Western sense of the word (often a wholly negative concept, leaving one “in debt”) but one with the promise of that which is sacrificed to be reimbursed one hundred-fold.
Each of these works can be said to propose a way of life that will train one to be in synchronization with the underlying blueprint of existence. In the Timaeus, the blueprints are the revolutions of the universe and Forms; in the Bhagavad Gita, Brahman; and in Mencius, Ch’i. To use the hackneyed metaphor of “many paths leading to the summit of a mountain”, these books take different routes in making very similar points and prescriptions, some of which are moderation, control of desires/emotions, duty and the need of an inner foundation.
This is a spiritual question and one that focuses on spiritual and abstract ideas. At times, during my first reading of the Gita, I was jeering at the text, believing that it was encouraging the full denial of one’s senses and desires. I happen to enjoy my vices. If the creator gave me desires and senses that he now wants me to deny and forgo, frankly he should have created a different type of homo sapiens! Why should I have to deny my humanity in this way? How am I a better, virtuous person for not desiring? And why, on this planet, is Krishna so “down” on life? 8.15 “...birth - that impermanent place of sorrow”. What a stark outlook!
The more of the Gita I read, the more obvious it became that, in fact, one of its messages is that the body and its senses are tools for spiritual growth. To use our senses and desires with awareness is the key. If we are aware of the trappings of the material world, aware of our weaknesses and the many (many!) aspects of our human nature that can lead to downfall, we can then be our true authentic Selves, not controlled by anything that is not us. 13.1 (Gita) “The body is the site of all knowing”; to attain higher knowledge, know (understand) the senses. Similarly, Mencius said that one must work through hardship - lures of the senses, in this example - to gain enlightenment. The learning is a process that takes a lifetime (or lifetimes). “The sole concern for learning is to go after and find the strayed heart” as Mencius said, referring to our “birth hearts”. Likewise, to fall out of rhythm with the cosmos brings disease upon the body until one’s being gets back in synch, as it was at birth. “There is nothing better for the nurturing of the heart than to reduce the number of one’s desires” because the desires can easily be given priority over your heart. 3.7 - “Rein in the senses through the mind”. Perhaps this is good advice.
3.37-3.41:
“Learn the enemy, here on earth:
it is desire and anger…
each is all-consuming and evil
…The wisdom of the wise is covered by this eternal enemy;
covered by a fire in the shape of desire, a fire which is always hungry.
…Desire covers wisdom and confuses the embodied self.”
It is desire, passion, emotions (gunas) that are sources of doing harm. Understanding these base emotions and seeing them for what they are - detaching yourself from them - allows one to penetrate their fire and attain the inner Wisdom.
Really, though, who can fault Arjuna’s desire not to kill his family? The Gita unfolds with Sanjaya recounting Arjuna’s inner turmoil and his heart-to-heart with Krishna. Arjuna’s initial reaction to having to go to war with relatives is emotional. Krishna represents a detached, reasoned approach of the situation from a deeper perspective. One lesson is that in order to stay authentic and be genuine, sometimes decisions that bring grief have to be made.
Arjuna’s struggle is presented as a thought experiment to explore the intricacies involved in making a decision. Rigorous contemplation can be applied to any decision, large or small and if Arjuna can act in a spiritual manner in the face of having to go to war, well there are no excuses for followers of Krishna, then! By using such an emotionally-charged example, one that involves family, history, killing, duty, honour, sacrifice etc… the Gita busts the concept wide open to explore the minutiae of decision-making and, therefore, how one must conduct oneself every day. “Even after we’ve killed them we would not want to live!”, Arjuna exclaims at the beginning of his conversation with Krishna. Life sometimes forces hard decisions on us that might have unpopular consequences even if correctly acted upon. Performing duties for the greater good, but without attachment to results (rajas), is the appropriate course of action, according to Krishna. There is no Yoga or Dharma where the baggage of emotional passion exists. They cannot coexist because emotion muddles the mind. Plato would agree. Arjuna’s duty as a warrior must not allow it.
So, without spoiling the ending, Arjuna gets schooled by Krishna on how to make decisions with composure, balance, equanimity and honour to his social group (he is a warrior).
Now, moving from warrior to sage: Mencius was a wandering sage in China (around 350 BCE) willing to counsel political leaders and land owners who would listen. His encounters with these leaders are summed up in the form of parables, most no more than half a page in length. In these homilies, he tries to convince them to be benevolent rulers instead of greedy, vain, warmongering tyrants. In doing so, he appealed to their vanity, a deadly sin which they are gripped by. Be benevolent as I say and people will flock to your borders, begging entry into your kingdom of ten thousand li! He talks a lot about the importance of maintaining good agricultural practices, which speak to his humble beginnings and the warring times that he lived in. Unlike Plato, he was not a privileged aristocrat.
Mencius experienced first-hand the harsh consequences of war on the people around him and yet he still had faith in the human heart. He believed that the seeds required to become a great sage are in all of us; they only need to be cultivated. It is only natural for the being to drift towards benevolence just as it is natural for “river water to flow downward” (to use Mencius’ metaphor). Similarly, Mencius would have said that any society that needed laws to make people behave morally is a failed society. Such laws are like dams in a river, blocking the flow of something intrinsic to human nature (I’ll take credit for that metaphor).
But in nurturing these seeds, what makes the right decision clear? “Try your best to treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself, and you will find that this is the shortest way to benevolence”. (Book VII.A.4). Follow the golden rule - practice empathy. Mencius speaks a lot about the heart and the good heart. When I do something good, my heart is warmed. When there is goodness about, one feels a warmth deep within. One should get in the habit of acting like a sage, sacrificing to do good, and the benefit will be returned in spades. The term sacrifice means that you forgo immediate satisfaction to do something for someone else. It is not a “sacrifice” in the Western sense of the word (often a wholly negative concept, leaving one “in debt”) but one with the promise of that which is sacrificed to be reimbursed one hundred-fold.
With the frequent appearance of the word “benevolence” in the text, I thought that that word must hit very close to what Mencius meant. Interestingly, Mencius’ definition is more complex and beautiful. Perhaps it was my Western thinking that wanted his idea nicely packaged in a single word. His definition of “benevolence” would have been more accurately described with: "Characteristics of someone who is looked up to and revered". There are far too many things that make a sage a sage and benevolence does not capture them all; benevolence is but one admirable attribute.
I couldn’t help but question the truth of the historic figures - Mencius often refers to the past as through rose-coloured spectacles. Examples are throughout the text - VI.B.9. “The good subject of today would have been looked upon in antiquity as a pest on the people”. This is something I might hear from my grandparents, and it would make me skeptical. Apparently, Mencius is referring to Odes written about these sages/rulers/kings of times long past (500 years before his day). Since we know that those in power and the winners of wars write the books, there’s no question that these Odes are not completely truthful but that they are complimentary. Regardless, they are a useful device to Mencius and he gives his brethren ideals, examples to live up to.
Most of the course’s texts, so far, have ignored women’s viewpoints. The contempt for women in ancient China was so profound that not even Mencius and Confucius could break with the norm of their day. Chinese ideograms that include the character for 'woman' mean: “evil, slave, anger, jealousy, avarice, hatred, suspicion, obstruction, demon, witch, bewitching, fornication, and seduction”. Confucius even classified women in a group with “the lower orders.” Here is a fragment from the poet Fu Xuan, who lived 500 years after Mencius:
I couldn’t help but question the truth of the historic figures - Mencius often refers to the past as through rose-coloured spectacles. Examples are throughout the text - VI.B.9. “The good subject of today would have been looked upon in antiquity as a pest on the people”. This is something I might hear from my grandparents, and it would make me skeptical. Apparently, Mencius is referring to Odes written about these sages/rulers/kings of times long past (500 years before his day). Since we know that those in power and the winners of wars write the books, there’s no question that these Odes are not completely truthful but that they are complimentary. Regardless, they are a useful device to Mencius and he gives his brethren ideals, examples to live up to.
Most of the course’s texts, so far, have ignored women’s viewpoints. The contempt for women in ancient China was so profound that not even Mencius and Confucius could break with the norm of their day. Chinese ideograms that include the character for 'woman' mean: “evil, slave, anger, jealousy, avarice, hatred, suspicion, obstruction, demon, witch, bewitching, fornication, and seduction”. Confucius even classified women in a group with “the lower orders.” Here is a fragment from the poet Fu Xuan, who lived 500 years after Mencius:
How sad it is to be a woman!
Nothing on earth is held so cheap.
That our conception of marriage should include at least some affection makes the ancient Chinese institution seem worse than slavery: A new bride would see little of her husband, would rarely leave the home and would be psychologically (if not physically) abused by her mother-in-law. The mother-in-law, finally free to exercise some power, could now abuse, blame and ridicule her son’s wife with the aim of getting closer to her son. The cycle would then repeat itself in the next generation. Mencius - “Golden rule”?
When Mencius makes any mention members of the other sex, they are mere objects, concubines. What is more, it is written (about Mencius’ mother, Appendix 2) that a woman’s guiding principle is the “three submissions”: In youth she submits to her parents; after marriage, to her husband; after the death of her husband, to her son. This is in accordance to the rites.”
I wonder if Mencius would have agreed with Timaeus and say that women have their destiny and men, theirs. This idea of Destiny, although not wholly clear to me, is different in each of this week’s readings. From Mencius, I don’t get the feeling that he believes that ‘all is written’. Rather, if something cannot be controlled, let it happen because it will happen anyway and nothing can be done to stop it. In the meantime, we will do our best and act correctly, righteously. Do not waste time trying to explain something that happened inexplicably. It is fate, Heaven’s decree.
With the Gita - “I’ve already destroyed them. You who sling arrows … be an instrument and nothing more” - Everything has been written. Since Destiny is the result of past action - karma - there is no need to fear consequences, just act in good faith, towards Me (Krishna). This kind of thinking can lead to atrocity. There is no doubt that people have read the Gita with agendas for fighting war and have justified their actions through this holy text. Gandhi had a very different interpretation.
However, some maxims did seem to point towards “free will” - “Those who choose gods go to the gods. Those who choose ancestors go to the ancestors. Those who honour the ghosts go to the ghosts. Those who sacrifice to me go to me.” No better examples can be given to show the malleability of this text and how it can be interpreted to support one’s agenda.
Some might say that today’s world is based on reason, which is a good thing only when the reason has values (humanism, morality, common sense) attached to it. Today, Power is the value, the purpose, the goal, at all costs and this is acceptable. The Mencius opens with a dialogue on “profit”. Whereas today, profit and power are near-equivalents to advancement and success, Mencius can see their destructive paths and their origins in want and greed. Both want and greed are fuelled by misguided senses. Mencius’ philosophy is a middle ground - a Middle Way - that is founded on reason for the benefit of all (men) and this is in large part due to the importance he places on morality.
It is hard to reconcile and balance the idea of restraining or denouncing our senses and desires while maintaining our fundamental humanity. We are, after all, material beings. Balance is to know yourself well enough to know when your desires are taking you for a ride, when they have the reins. The senses can be misleading because, like sugary sweet foods, one craves them, while blind to the possibility of diabetes. (18.38 “that joy which is like nectar in the beginning, and poison when transformed through contact between the senses and their objects, is known as rajasic”.)
When Mencius makes any mention members of the other sex, they are mere objects, concubines. What is more, it is written (about Mencius’ mother, Appendix 2) that a woman’s guiding principle is the “three submissions”: In youth she submits to her parents; after marriage, to her husband; after the death of her husband, to her son. This is in accordance to the rites.”
I wonder if Mencius would have agreed with Timaeus and say that women have their destiny and men, theirs. This idea of Destiny, although not wholly clear to me, is different in each of this week’s readings. From Mencius, I don’t get the feeling that he believes that ‘all is written’. Rather, if something cannot be controlled, let it happen because it will happen anyway and nothing can be done to stop it. In the meantime, we will do our best and act correctly, righteously. Do not waste time trying to explain something that happened inexplicably. It is fate, Heaven’s decree.
With the Gita - “I’ve already destroyed them. You who sling arrows … be an instrument and nothing more” - Everything has been written. Since Destiny is the result of past action - karma - there is no need to fear consequences, just act in good faith, towards Me (Krishna). This kind of thinking can lead to atrocity. There is no doubt that people have read the Gita with agendas for fighting war and have justified their actions through this holy text. Gandhi had a very different interpretation.
However, some maxims did seem to point towards “free will” - “Those who choose gods go to the gods. Those who choose ancestors go to the ancestors. Those who honour the ghosts go to the ghosts. Those who sacrifice to me go to me.” No better examples can be given to show the malleability of this text and how it can be interpreted to support one’s agenda.
Some might say that today’s world is based on reason, which is a good thing only when the reason has values (humanism, morality, common sense) attached to it. Today, Power is the value, the purpose, the goal, at all costs and this is acceptable. The Mencius opens with a dialogue on “profit”. Whereas today, profit and power are near-equivalents to advancement and success, Mencius can see their destructive paths and their origins in want and greed. Both want and greed are fuelled by misguided senses. Mencius’ philosophy is a middle ground - a Middle Way - that is founded on reason for the benefit of all (men) and this is in large part due to the importance he places on morality.
It is hard to reconcile and balance the idea of restraining or denouncing our senses and desires while maintaining our fundamental humanity. We are, after all, material beings. Balance is to know yourself well enough to know when your desires are taking you for a ride, when they have the reins. The senses can be misleading because, like sugary sweet foods, one craves them, while blind to the possibility of diabetes. (18.38 “that joy which is like nectar in the beginning, and poison when transformed through contact between the senses and their objects, is known as rajasic”.)
Think of the consumers of our society engaging in “retail therapy”. They have created meaning in accumulating things for themselves. 16.16 “Wandering away with many thoughts, they are covered by a net of confusion. Clinging to the enjoyment of desire, they fall into impure hell”. This becomes the raison d’être itself: To fill the gaps of life with want and expectation; to have a desire to fulfill and to then fulfill it. This cat and mouse chase of creating and fulfilling masks our discontent and in turn we are masked from ourselves. (Wow, I never before sounded like such a theologian!)
The proverbial rat race, where principles are forsaken for the sake of one’s job; “work” the most acceptable and commonplace excuse to deny our humanity, deny our health and families. “The way of Loss is the way of manic activity, of ambition and of accumulation. It is the way of aggression” (Thomas Merton). This, a complete opposite of wu-wei, which is enlightened non-action rather than needless bustle and "busy-work" for its own sake (Taoism).
16.11 (Gita) "With no end of anxious thoughts, clinging to an end which is dissolution, their highest goal is the enjoyment of desire. 'This has been gained by me today! And I will get this desire - a desire which carries the mind like a chariot...I will be joyful!' Thus say those confused by ignorance."
This describes well what I have said.
The Gita teaches that when we are not living in the present, one has expectations of the future and that person will be disappointed when these expectations are not met. Only by living in the present can one be satisfied and at peace, keeping desires such as greed (that pull one’s thoughts into the future) at bay.
My initial impression of Mencius, after reading the Gita, was that his goal is an uphill battle, to put it mildly. The Gita implied that finding peace within oneself may take many lifetimes, so the prospect of creating a peaceful state by starting with the individual will take much more time! Mencius has a point, though, that being that conflict between states is a reflection of human nature. It’s a macrocosm of the conflicts experienced on an individual level. Especially today, the avarice of human nature on a global scale isn’t hard to see.
The Gita teaches that when we are not living in the present, one has expectations of the future and that person will be disappointed when these expectations are not met. Only by living in the present can one be satisfied and at peace, keeping desires such as greed (that pull one’s thoughts into the future) at bay.
My initial impression of Mencius, after reading the Gita, was that his goal is an uphill battle, to put it mildly. The Gita implied that finding peace within oneself may take many lifetimes, so the prospect of creating a peaceful state by starting with the individual will take much more time! Mencius has a point, though, that being that conflict between states is a reflection of human nature. It’s a macrocosm of the conflicts experienced on an individual level. Especially today, the avarice of human nature on a global scale isn’t hard to see.
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