You-Sheng Li The Western and the Eastern cultures have evolved along different paths to reach their present forms. Kwang-chih Chang (2000) and C.C. Lamberg-Karlovsky (2000) pointed out that the Mesopotamian civilization from which the Western culture has derived represented a breakout from an earlier primitive pattern, and such breakout was absent in the emergence of Chinese and Maya civilizations. Thus many civilizations did not evolve according to the conventionally presumed technology-driven, man-conquers-nature Near Eastern model. This article introduces the concept of primary society and secondary society to delineate the different courses along which the Western and the Chinese civilizations have …

You-Sheng Li (edited 25/2/08) In Chinese history, intellectuals were Confucian in the government office but Taoist at home. Taoism became the guiding philosophy of Chinese spare time activities, including fine arts such as painting, music, calligraphy, and various ways to keep us in good health such as medicine and physical exercises. Typically Taoists were nonofficial hermits who devoted their talents to admiring nature and the Chinese landscape. The moral spirit of Chinese swordsmanship was to cut the throat of social power and wealth to help the poor, therefore nonofficial. Martial arts are also a form of physical exercise. As a …

You-Sheng Li (rewritten, April 30, 2010) (from A New Interpretation of Chinese Taoist Philosophy Chapter 15 by You-Sheng Li) Apart from political tricksters and manipulators, or elixir-seekers who said they were Taoist followers but they were not, there were occasionally emperors in Chinese history who sincerely believed in Taoism and used Taoist principles to guide this huge empire. Although Lao Tzu listed some principles running a country, he, from a Taoist view, only asked the government not to interfere with life at the primary society level. Neither Lao Tzu nor Chuang Tzu was a politician or a political philosopher. They …

Written by You-Sheng Li (Rewritten June 2007, edited 28 March 2009) I think the best words to describe Mao Zedong (1893-1976), the founder of Communist China, are those he said when he was young: Battling with heaven, the joy is limitless; battling with Earth, the joy is limitless; battling with people, the joy is limitless. As far as his life and his impact on the country he controlled from 1949 to 1976, Mao was as good as those words. The West and the former Soviet Union used to complain about the bellicose cock like China under the Communist rule. It …

( From A New Interpretation of Chinese Taoist Philosophy, Chapter 15 by You-Sheng Li) Humans have long realized the tragic nature of civilized life on earth. Hindu-Buddhist traditions teach that life itself is suffering, and the only way to stop suffering is to give up all desires and extricate oneself from the secular world. According to the Judaic-Christian Bible, Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and God drove them out of the Garden of Eden. There is no death but only happiness inside the Garden while death and suffering are …