When Conf. agreed with the disciple about going to the river with young boys, what was their purpose in being there, were all these "bigger than life characters" PEDOPHILES ???
You talk of Socrates abstaining from the flesh, but there is a written story of him talking to a friend about having sex with a slave bouy who is serving him.....
This is hilarious. I like watching your Buddhist lectures and was scrolling through the video list and was like, "Shit...I am a poker player and I have no idea how that really works!" Cool. I have been to places that will just blind you in from your stack while you go take a squirt, have a smoke, etc. We also do that for home games. I have never bought a button in a casino but I am more of a tournament guy and we NEVER leave unless on break.
I have seen people eliminate the "lesser and greater" yana appellations for "Sravakayana and Bodhisattvayana" which is a little more accurate for the two paths. Neither is "better." Also, to perform nianfo (the recitation of Amiuofo) is just that; Amituofo being the Chinese word for Amitabha Buddha. The Western Pure Land is not a heaven per se but a training ground to become a Buddha - which sounds like fun to me; Earth kinda sucks. Don't worry about being "enlightened" or whatever the hell that is supposed to really mean. Enter the stream (sotapanna) and the Dharma will never be lost to you no matter how many incarnations you endure. Greetings from Northern Cali. Namo Amituofo!
I appreciate this lecture a lot. It gave me a glimps of the global picture of Confusianism, which as you say requires studying the actual text in repeat. Thanks a lot. Now I would like to listen to all your lectures.
Thank you! Great video. Nothing personal but I believe a comment could be useful regarding what you say 37:10 : i don’t believe faith has a direct causality to your lack of enlightenment. I believe you (just like the rest of us) are not enlightened because we haven’t put in the work to become enlightened. The faith is only required in order for us to keep putting in the massive amount of exercise required to become enlightened constantly. But its the work that gets us to the final goal, not the mere knowledge of the path. This reminds me of a similar situation when it comes down to working out. One complains that although one has attended many weightlifting, seminars, and has read all or many of the major bodybuilding techniques and books and has even spoken one-to-one with master bodybuilders like Arnold Schwarzenegger, yet, they have not become like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Was it their lack of faith in Arnold Schwarzenegger that prevented them to become like him? Is that your argument here? To me, it would be more rational to believe that that individual has not become like Arnold Schwarzenegger simply because he hasn’t been working out at the gym every day like Arnold Schwarzenegger and those like him teach to do. Clearly, the individual needs to believe in these master trainers and have faith that their technique works, otherwise how are they going to be able to overcome those darker and lazier moments and be able to still go to the gym every day despite not feeling like it? We also similarly need some level of faith to keep our butts on the cushion every day. Ideally, at least for me, I try not to dwell in blind face, but I try to have faith in my own past experiences. The faith is just an aid. I mean, hypothetically, if you were somehow able to practice the technique as taught properly, you should be able to reach the final goal of full enlightenment also without faith.
Think you are over thinking it - lol - the staue was ugly and too small. To see the proper staue vist Confucius' hometown in Jining in East China. The whole Chinese consitution is based on confusious and dowosim where collectiism and socialy structure and harmony with sociaity and nature is the Chinese way. Not some liberal idiology on indiviualism - lol - which leads to corruption of the indivual and division with familiy, religion,society and nature.
I would guess that the main reasons for so few Chinese philosophy programs would be 1) perceived difficulty of the subject, as it comes from a tradition a lot of westerners aren't familiar with and Chinese is a lot harder to learn than Greek or German, 2) it's not what people are used to so it's not thought of as important to include, especially with the limited resources that philosophy departments have, and 3) there's not as much demand for it. This kind of creates a vicious cycle that keeps it more obscure.
1) It's not intrinsically harder to learn than Western philosophy or its languages. 2) People weren't used to Aristotle when Aquinas re-introduced him to the European curriculum. 3) Actually, students are begging for courses on Chinese philosophy.
Great lecture! I think my big question is why didn't the Chinese use/develop an alphabet system? Obviously I'm kinda biased here, as my native language is English and every language I've had classes in uses an alphabet, but it seems that alphabets are really efficient in that they are flexible, easy and quick to write, and can be learned very quickly. I was thinking that maybe the Chinese language is just uniquely suited for its characters, or that they allow for what would be larger paragraphs of text to be written in a smaller space.
The alphabet has been developed only once or twice in history (by the Phoenicians and possibly independently by the Koreans). By the time China encountered alphabets, there was already a long tradition of writing in Chinese and a huge literature written in it, so there was no felt need to adopt an alphabetic system and replace their own literature. A push to alphabetization did develop with the May Fourth Movement of the 20th century, though.
every now and then, dr sachs gets near reality in his public speech, which is reassuring. normally, he is more polite, in hope of making progress, however small. but reality is real. the usg is hopelessly corrupt, and widely separated from notion of public good, still less concerned with world peace and justice. if you think words will work, play close attention to him. but i think the public speeches of v. putin are more useful. and the nonsense you hear from j. biden also very useful, in a consistent negative sense. whoever is pulling his strings, lately necessary to direct his steps, is likely to start a war. no amount of reason from dr sachs can save usa from starting a war. greed and arrogance direct usa, and no element of fear.
i'd rather be present and learn from a lecture of Chinese Phylosophy by the Chinese, rather than from an American propogandised persepctive! The fatal flaw is, I do not know Mandarine nor Cantonese, however I do know American bullshitery!
Mr Moderator, Professor Sachs exposed in a nutshell the diabolical nature of the white American imperialism in just 5 minutes. The cat's out of the bag. You're way too late to shut him off! 😡😡😡😡
This was awesome! Fascinating and hugely informative. Re the first questioner …. There is a psychosis called parasitosis, a psychiatric condition, involving the delusional sensation of insects crawling all over one’s body. Was diagnosed with it. Treatable.
Hi, Prof. Norden. I'm studying Mengzi in class, but I'm still confused about 「自賊者也；謂其君不能者，賊其君者也。」What does 賊 mean here in English instead of "steal"? probably "damage"?
Liars hate the TRUTH. The TRUTH hurts and many oppose it and will do anything to keep you from hearing it. A hog loves filth and those who hide truth dwell in filth. It takes boldness and courage to speak TRUTH. Those who protect lies are cowards and weak.
All is one is the wool being pulled over your eyes by the snake. Only fools believe in a single force of complete power omnipresent and cruel god who sends both good and evil. The Cathars represent the Gnostic denial of false unity consciousness (the wool pulled over your eyes.) which is the illusion that their is one all powerful cruel god controlling everything when in fact the Good Creator Amen Ra (which means the Light From Stars) and Osiris (father of man)is battling for our souls with Seth (Satan)and Apophis (the 7 headed dragon). Satan and the Dragon-snake.
I'm watching this series as an introduction to Chinese Philosophy , and I'm gaining much more insight than I was anticipating. Thank you for making these videos - they deserve much more attention than they have received so far.
In Japan, Confucianism is often vilified as one school of thought that has done a lot of harm to the integrity of Japan and still continues to exert undesirable influences to the people's ideological background. I bought into that idea so I've been blindly against anything Confucianism especially the ethics even though, as you've pointed out, it comes in different flavours. This is a fascinating lecture and is making me reconsider the way I look at Confucianism. Thank you.
Thank you professor Van Norden , Very clear delivery and Im grateful for the summary - structure and spirit - this is only the second lecture of yours which I have watched But I look forward to the opportunity to following some of the others - you had mentioned the separation between Confucianism and Buddhism that Neo Confucianism bridges but I’m curious to know more about the conceptual idealogical premise for these differences and the their alignments? 🙏 thank you
That was fascinating. My own projection onto the 13:3 passage is that it is, at one level, an injunction to rationality, on the principle that one cannot have moral order without intellectual order.
Deeply grateful - although I am aware of Confucius and have read the Analects - your lucid delivery has really put his life and the Analects into perspective - I wish I’d been introduced to his work so concisely when I was younger 🙏
@@BryanVanNordenPhilosophy he misquoted or twisted kongzi's words intended to mean human nature should gravitate towards benevolent, compassion and kindness, into that kongzi preached that origins of human nature is benevolent, kind and good, which kongzi never insinuated.
Sadly, Zhu Xi had some major flawed thoughts, had made his name associated with 猪糞。He had introdiced major corruption of Confucius ideology, he twisted the observation of the goodness of human nature into the belief that human nature is good erroneously ! Then he had been used to legitimize dictatorship, and had poisoned the Chinese minds for over à thousand years.
This was good. And you can actually pronounce Chinese, so I know your research and commentary come from a viewpoint of honest interest. That's my litmus test - it's like a proof of applied integrity. Edit - didn't like the Schrodinger's cat part. You could ask a physicist about that. But overall I really liked the presentation.
