Synthesis philosophica, Vol. 29 No. 1, 2014.
Original scientific paper
Emptying the Mind and Stilling the Body. Syncretism in the Concept of Self-Regulation in Chapter 22 of the Chunqiu fanlu
Ivana Buljan
orcid.org/0000-0003-4538-0791
; University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The concept of shen 身, meaning a person in all his or her physiological, psychological, and sociological aspects, is an important concept in Chinese philosophy. What the nature of shen is, and consequently how to maintain, regulate, and cultivate one’s own body/self/ person, has been a prominent philosophical issue in China. This article examines how this issue was comprehended in Chapter 22, the “Tong guo shen” 通 國身 (“Linking the State and the Body”) chapter, of the important Chinese philosophical compendium the Chunqiu fanlu 春秋繁露, traditionally ascribed to Dong Zhongshu 董仲舒 (c. 179 to 104 BCE). This article follows and expands upon research conducted by Sarah Queen, who suggested that some of the chapters of the unit to which the “Tong guo shen” belongs are characterised by a syncretic approach and suggest familiarity with inner-cultivation techniques. This article particularly focuses on syncretism in the notion of selfregulation in the “Tong guo shen” chapter. It examines the core principles, values, concepts, and ideas of self-regulation in the context of the Chunqiu fanlu’s earlier sources. Through an examination of texts and documents produced from the Spring and Autumn period to the end of the Eastern Han dynasty, this paper reconstructs the idea of self-regulation through a mutually corroborative philological and philosophical analysis. The purpose of this research is to contribute to our academic understanding of the concept of selfregulation in Chinese philosophy as well as of the nature of the Chunqiu fanlu in general.
Keywords
body/self/person (shen); self-regulation (zhi shen); Chunqiu fanlu (Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals); longevity (shou); clear-sightedness (ming); emptiness (xu); stillness (jing)
Hrčak ID:
138230
URI
Publication date:
26.11.2014.
Visits: 4.002 *