Emerson and Neo-Confucianism: Crossing Paths over the Pacific Paperback – 20 February 2014
by Lawrence Buell (Foreword), Y. Takanashi (Author)
Edition: 1st ed. 2014
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Foreword by Lawrence Buell
1. Neo-Confucianism, Japan, and 'Nature is Principle': Foundations for a Comparison of Emerson and Zhu Xi
2. The Fundamental Principle and the Generation of the Universe
3. Cosmic Law and Human Ethics??? ??
4. Realization of the Self???
Conclusion
Edition
1st ed. 2014
Publisher
Palgrave Macmillan
Product description
Review
“Takanashi’s comparative work is detailed and thought-provoking, and the book stands as a welcome contribution toward addressing the importance of neo-Confucian influences on the reception of Asian philosophy in America.” (Leah Kalmanson, Religious Studies Review, Vol. 44 (01), March, 2018)
Review
"Yoshio Takanashi's excellent comparative study of Emerson and Zhu Xi, the central philosopher of Neo-Confucianism, illuminates the relationship between American Transcendentalism and Asian philosophical traditions.
Emerson's influence in Japan arose from the neo-Confucian attributes of his work, which share much with Zhu Xi's concepts of moral sincerity and self-development.
Takanashi cogently explains their shared recognition of the interplay of 'cosmic law and human ethics,' and substantiates the growing appreciation of Emerson as an ethical and social philosopher."
-- David M. Robinson, Distinguished Professor of American Literature, Oregon State University, USA and author of Emerson and the Conduct of Life and Natural Life: Thoreau's Worldly Transcendentalism
"Emerson has long been known for his assimilation of the Hindu and Confucian traditions of spiritual wisdom. But Yoshio Takanashi offers new insight with this in-depth study of Emerson's affinity with Neo-Confucian Zhu Xi, discovering their kindred readings of the ethical self as well as natural universe across time and culture. It is exciting to see contemporary scholars catching up with writers of the past in tracing such paths across the Pacific." - Phyllis Cole, Past President of Ralph Waldo Emerson Society and Professor of English, Women's Studies, and American Studies, Penn State Brandywine, USA
About the Author
Author Yoshio Takanashi: Yoshio Takanashi is Professor of English and American Language and Literature at Nagano Prefectural College, Japan. Foreword by Lawrence Buell: Lawrence Buell is Powell M. Cabot Research Professor Emeritus of American Literature at Harvard University, USA.
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Luke rated it liked it
Shelves: philosophy, history
Detail-oriented comparison of Emerson's writings and Zhu Xi's 12C commentaries on Confucianism, along with historical reception and setting of these ideas in Japan in Emerson's time. So, narrower than most will be looking for. (less)
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Introduction
1 . Learning to Be a Sage: Selections from the Conversations of Master Chu,
Arranged Topically by Chu Hsi, trans. with a commentary by Daniel K.
Gardner (Berkley: Univ. of California Press, 1990), 9:8a, 125.
2 . Ibid., 12:6b, 168.
3 . Joseph-Marie de G é rando, Histoire comparée des systémes de philosophie
(Paris: Henrichs, 1804). See JMN , 3:362–63 (October 27, 1830): The
rule “Do as you would be done” is found in the “Invariable Medium”
of the Chinese . . . So the Inv. Med. begins with these promising definitions. “The order established by heaven is called Nature . What is
conformed to nature is called law. The establishment of law is called
instruction .”
4 . The Works of Confucius; Containing the Original Texts, trans. Joshua
Marshman (Serampore: Mission Press, 1809), vol. 1. According to
JMN , 5: 120, n. 372, Emerson borrowed Marshman’s Confucius from
the Boston Athenaeum from February 16 to March 1, 1836. He copied many sentences from this into his journal (Ibid., 120–22, March
3, 1836), which shows that he was much impressed with Confucius’
teachings. See also Frederic I. Carpenter, Emerson and Asia (Cambridge,
Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1930), 233; Arthur Christy, The Orient in
American Transcendentalism: A Study of Emerson, Thoreau, and Alcott
(New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1932), 123–27, 317–18; and Arthur
Versluis, American Transcendentalism and Asian Religions (Oxford and
New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1993), 70–71.
Joshua Marshman (1768–1837) was an English Baptist missionary
and Orientalist in Serampore in India.
5 . The Chinese Classical Work Commonly Called the Four Books, trans.
and illust. with notes by David Collie (Malacca: Mission Press,
1828). See L , 3:179 (June 7, 1843); JMN , 9:7–8 (August 25, 1843),
32–35 (September 13, 1843); Christy, The Orient in American
Transcendentalism, 318–19; and Carpenter, Emerson and Asia, 234.
David Collie (?–1828) was an English Christian missionary belonging to the London Missionary Society, and principal of the AngloChinese College in Malacca.
6 . The Dial: A Magazine for Literature, Philosophy, and Religion (New York:
Russel & Russel, 1961), vol. 4, “Ethnical Scriptures,” 205–10 (October
1843). The Dial, a quarterly journal published between July 1840 and
April 1844, served as the chief publication of the Transcendentalists.
Margaret Fuller continued the editorship until March 1842, when
Emerson took her place.
7 . The Chinese Classics , trans. James Legge, 2 vols. (London: Truber,
1861). Emerson copied many sentences from Legge’s translation of the
Doctrine of the Mean into his journal ( JMN, 15:367–72, October 7,
1863). See also Christy, The Orient in American Transcendentalism,
321, and Carpenter, Emerson and Asia, 242.
James Legge (1815–97) was a Scottis h sinologist and representative
of the London Missionary Society in Malacca and Hong Kong (1840–
73), and first professor of Chinese at Oxford University (1876–97).
Convinced of the need for missionaries to be able to comprehend the
ideas and culture of the Chinese, he began in 1841 a translation in
many volumes of the Chinese classics. The first volume was Confucius:
Confucian Analects, the Great Learning, and the Doctrine of the Mean
(1861) and the second The Works of Mencius (1861).
In addition, concerning the translation of the Four Books recently
published, see Daniel K. Gardner, trans. with introduction and commentary, The Four Books: The Basic Teachings of the Later Confucian
Tradition (Indianapolis and Cambridge: Hackett, 2007).
8 . Zhu Xi first attracted attention in Europe as early as the seventeenth
century, and such philosophers and scholars as Leibniz, Malebranche,
de Harlez, Le Gall, J. P. Bruce, and Joseph Needham have studied
his philosophy. The translations of the writings of Zhu Xi to date are
“Notices of Chinese Cosmogony: Formation of the Universe, Heaven,
Earth, Man, Beasts, etc.,” trans. Elijah C. Bridgman [Bridgman (1801–
61) was the first American Protestant missionary to China and laid the
foundations of American sinology], Chinese Repository 18 (1849), 342–
70; The Philosophy of Human Nature by Chu Hsi, trans. J. Percy Bruce
(London: Probsthain, 1922); and Reflections on Things at Hand: The
Neo-Confucian Anthology , trans. Wing-tsit Chan (New York: Columbia
Univ. Press, 1967). See also Shushigaku nyūmon [An introduction
==
to the philosophy of the Zhu Xi school], vol. 1 of Shushigaku taikei
[The complete writings of the Zhu Xi school], ed. Morohashi Tetsuji,
Yasuoka Masahiro et al. (Tokyo: Meitoku-shuppansha, 1974–83),
491–98. Some Western scholars have made comparative studies of
Zhu Xi and such philosophers as Aristotle, Aquinas, Spinoza, Leibniz,
Bergson, and Whitehead; see Shushigaku nyūmon, 514–17.
In contrast, studies of Wang Yangming in Europe and America
have been far fewer than those of Zhu Xi. In the twentieth century,
scholars including F. G. Henke, Wing-tsit Chan, Carsun Chang, and
Tu Wei-ming have studied the philosophy of Wang Yangming. The
translations of Wang’s writings to date are The Philosophy of Wang
Yang-ming , trans. Frederick G. Henke (Chicago: Open Court, 1916);
and Instructions for Practical Living and Other Neo-Confucian writings
by Wang Yang-ming, translated with notes by Wing-tsit Chan (New
York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1963). See also Yōmeigaku nyūmon [An
introduction to the philosophy of the Wang Yangming school], vol. 1
of Yōmeigaku taikei [The complete writings of the Wang Yangming
school], ed. Uno Tetsuto, Yasuoka Masahiro et al. (Tokyo: Meitokushuppansha, 1971–74), 385–405.
9 . Confucius: Confucian Analects, the Great Learning, and the Doctrine
of the Mean , trans. James Legge (New York: Dover, 1971), vi. James
Legge wrote, “He[Legge] had seen it objected to his translations that
they were modeled on the views of the great critic and philosopher of
the Song dynasty, the well-known Zhu Xi. . . . He soon became aware,
however, of the beauty and strength of Zhu’s style, the correctness of
his analysis, and comprehension and depth of his thought.”
10 . Concerning the influence of Hinduism on Emerson, see Shanta
Acharya, The Influence of Indian Thought on Ralph Waldo Emerson
(Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen Press, 2001); Phyllis Cole, Mary Moody
Emerson and the Origins of Transcendentalism: A Family History(Oxford
and New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1998), 169–70, 177–78; Ralph L.
Rusk, The Life of Ralph Waldo Emerson (New York: Columbia Univ.
Press, 1949), 93; Christy, The Orient in American Transcendentalism,
86–112; and Carpenter, Emerson and Asia , 103–60.
11 . For the study of Emerson and Buddhism, especially Zen Buddhism,
see John G. Rudy, Emerson and Zen Buddhism (Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin
Mellen Press, 2001); Sh ō ei And ō , Zen and American Transcendentalism:
An Investigation of One’s Self (Tokyo: Hokuseido, 1970), 136–46; and
Van Meter Ames, Zen and American Thought (Honolulu: Univ. of
Hawaii Press, 1962)
===
to the philosophy of the Zhu Xi school], vol. 1 of Shushigaku taikei
[The complete writings of the Zhu Xi school], ed. Morohashi Tetsuji,
Yasuoka Masahiro et al. (Tokyo: Meitoku-shuppansha, 1974–83),
491–98. Some Western scholars have made comparative studies of
Zhu Xi and such philosophers as Aristotle, Aquinas, Spinoza, Leibniz,
Bergson, and Whitehead; see Shushigaku nyūmon, 514–17.
In contrast, studies of Wang Yangming in Europe and America
have been far fewer than those of Zhu Xi. In the twentieth century,
scholars including F. G. Henke, Wing-tsit Chan, Carsun Chang, and
Tu Wei-ming have studied the philosophy of Wang Yangming. The
translations of Wang’s writings to date are The Philosophy of Wang
Yang-ming , trans. Frederick G. Henke (Chicago: Open Court, 1916);
and Instructions for Practical Living and Other Neo-Confucian writings
by Wang Yang-ming, translated with notes by Wing-tsit Chan (New
York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1963). See also Yōmeigaku nyūmon [An
introduction to the philosophy of the Wang Yangming school], vol. 1
of Yōmeigaku taikei [The complete writings of the Wang Yangming
school], ed. Uno Tetsuto, Yasuoka Masahiro et al. (Tokyo: Meitokushuppansha, 1971–74), 385–405.
9 . Confucius: Confucian Analects, the Great Learning, and the Doctrine
of the Mean , trans. James Legge (New York: Dover, 1971), vi. James
Legge wrote, “He[Legge] had seen it objected to his translations that
they were modeled on the views of the great critic and philosopher of
the Song dynasty, the well-known Zhu Xi. . . . He soon became aware,
however, of the beauty and strength of Zhu’s style, the correctness of
his analysis, and comprehension and depth of his thought.”
10 . Concerning the influence of Hinduism on Emerson, see Shanta
Acharya, The Influence of Indian Thought on Ralph Waldo Emerson
(Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen Press, 2001); Phyllis Cole, Mary Moody
Emerson and the Origins of Transcendentalism: A Family History(Oxford
and New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1998), 169–70, 177–78; Ralph L.
Rusk, The Life of Ralph Waldo Emerson (New York: Columbia Univ.
Press, 1949), 93; Christy, The Orient in American Transcendentalism,
86–112; and Carpenter, Emerson and Asia , 103–60.
11 . For the study of Emerson and Buddhism, especially Zen Buddhism,
see John G. Rudy, Emerson and Zen Buddhism (Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin
Mellen Press, 2001); Sh ō ei And ō , Zen and American Transcendentalism:
An Investigation of One’s Self (Tokyo: Hokuseido, 1970), 136–46; and
Van Meter Ames, Zen and American Thought (Honolulu: Univ. of
Hawaii Press, 1962).
==
12 . Suzuki played a prominent role in introducing Zen Buddhism to the
Western world during the first half of the twentieth century through
his translations of the Mahā y ā na Buddhist scriptures into English, his
extensive English writings, and his lectures at European and American
universities. In 1868 Suzuki published “Emason no zengaku-ron”
[Emerson’s view of Zen Buddhism] in Zen shū [The Zen sect], no. 14.
Japanese and Chinese names follow the order of family name first
and given name second.
13 . Suzuki Daisetz T., Zen and Japanese Culture (Princeton: Princeton
Univ. Press, 1959), 343–44. For the influence of Emerson on Suzuki,
see Lawrence Buell, Emerson (Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of
Harvard Univ. Press, 2003), 196–97.
14 . For the concept of emptiness of Indian Mah ā y ā na Buddhism, see
Nakamura Hajime, Ryūju [N ā g ā rjuna, ca.150–ca.250] (Tokyo:
Kodansha, 2002); and concerning the influence of the Daoist concept
of “non-being” on Chinese and Japanese Zen and J ō do Buddhism,
see Mori Mikisabur ō , Rōshi Sōshi [Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu] (Tokyo:
Kodansha, 1994), 375–442.
15 . Suzuki Daisetzu T., Essays in Zen Buddhism: First Series, ed. Christmas
Humphreys (London: Rider, 1970), 233.
16 . For Neo-Confucianism, see Zhang Dainian, Key Concepts in Chinese
Philosophy, trans. and ed. Edmund Ryden (New Haven: Yale Univ.
Press, 2002); Tu Wei-ming, Centrality and Commonality: An Essay on
Chung-yung (Honolulu: Univ. Press of Hawaii, 1976); Classics in Chinese
Philosophy, ed. Wade Baskin (New York: Philosophical Library, 1972);
Shimada Kenji, Shushigaku to Yōmeigaku [The philosophies of Zhu Xi
and Wang Yangming] (Tokyo: Iwanami-shoten, 1967); Carsun Chang,
The Development of Neo-Confucian Thought (New York: Bookman
Associates, 1957); and Fun Yu-lan, The Spirit of Chinese Philosophy, trans.
E. R. Hughes (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Truber, 1947), 175–201.
17 . See Carpenter, Emerson and Asia ; Christy, The Orient in American
Transcendentalism; Carl T. Jackson, The Oriental Religions and
American Thought: Nineteenth-Century Explorations (Westport, Conn.:
Greenwood Press, 1981), 45–62; and Arthur Versluis, American
Transcendentalism and Asian Religions, 51–79.
18 . For a comparative examination between Emerson and Yi Hwang’s
(a Korean Neo-Confucian scholar, 1501–70) poetry, see Shin YeonWoo,
“From Nature to Morality in Emerson and Yi Hwang’s Literature,”
Review of Korean Studies, vol. 11, no. 2 (2008), 75–95.
19 . Carpenter, Emerson and Asia, 247.
==
20 . Joseph Needham, History of Scientific Thought (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1956), vol. 2 of Science and Civilisation in China,
291–293, 496–505. See also Wing-tsit Chang, “Ōbei no shushigaku”
[The studies of the Zhu Xi school in Europe and America], Shushigaku
nyūmon , 491–529; Chung-Ying Cheng, “Ultimate Origin, Ultimate
Reality, and the Human Condition: Leibniz, Whitehead, and Zhu
Xi,” Journal of Chinese Philosophy, vol. 29, no. 1 (2002), 93–118; and
Albert Ribas, “Leibniz’s Discourse on the Natural Theology of the
Chinese and the Leibniz-Clarke Theology Controversy,” Philosophy
East & West , vol. 53, no. 1 (2003), 68–86.
21 . Yoshio Takanashi, “Emerson, Japan, and Neo-Confucianism,” ESQ:
A Journal of the American Renaissance, vol. 48, nos. 1–2 (Pullman:
Washington State Univ. Press, 2002), 41–69; and “Emerson and Zhu
Xi: The Role of the ‘Scholar’ in Pursuing ‘Peace,’” Japanese Journal of
American Studies , no. 20 (2009), 113–30.
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