INTRODUCTIONThe Religion of Good-citizenship
Sage, thun ivir nicht rechtl Wir mussen den Pobel betrugen,
Scih nur, ivie ungeschickt, sich nur ivie wild er sich zeigt\ Ungeschick und
wild sind alle rohen Betrogenen ;
Seid nur redlich und fiihrt ihn zum Menschlichen an.
Goethe
THE great war at the present moment is absorbing all the attention of the
world exclusive of everything else. But then I think this war itself must make
serious thinking people turn their attention to the great problem of
civilisation. All civilisation begins by the conquest of Nature, i.e. by
subduing and controlling the terrific physical forces in Nature so that they can
do no harm to men. The modern civilisation of Europe to-day has succeeded in the
conquest of Nature with a success, it must be admitted, hitherto not attained by
any other civilisation. But there is in this world a force more terrible even
than the terrific physical forces in Nature and that is the passions in the
heart of man. The harm which the physical forces of Nature can do to mankind, is
nothing compared with the harm which human passions can do. Until therefore this
terrible force,_the human passions_is properly regulated and controlled, there
can be, it is evident, not only no civilisation, but even no life possible for
human beings.
In the first early and rude stage of society, mankind had to use
_ Aren't we just doing the right thing? the mob we must befool them;
See, now, how shiftless! and look now how wild! {or such is the mob-Shiftless
and wild all sons of Adam are when you befool them;
Be but honest and true, and thus make human, them all.
physical force to subdue and subjugate human passions. Thus hordes of savages
had to be subjugated by sheer physical force. But as civilisation advances,
mankind discovers a force more potent and more effective for subduing and
controlling human passions than physical force and this force is called moral
force. The moral force which in the past has been effective in subduing and
controlling the human passions in the population of Europe, is Christianity. But
now this war with the armament preceding it, seems to show that Christianity has
become ineffective as a moral force. Without an effective moral force to control
and restrain human passions, the people of Europe have had again to employ
physical force to keep civil order. As Car-lyle truly says, " Europe is Anarchy
plus a constable. " The use of physical force to maintain civil order leads to
militarism. In fact militarism is necessary in Europe to-day because of the want
of an effective moral force. But militarism leads to war and war means
destruction and waste. Thus the people of Europe are on the horns of a dilemma.
If they do away with militarism, anarchy will destroy their civilisation, but if
they keep up militarism, their civilisation will collapse through the waste and
destruction of war. But Englishmen say that they are determined to put down
Prussian militarism and Lord Kitchner believes that he will be able to stamp out
Prussian militarism with three million drilled and armed Englishmen. But then it
seems to me when Prussian militarism is thus stamped out, there will then arise
another militarism, _the British militarism which again will have to be stamped
out. Thus there seems to be no way of escape out of this vicious circle.
But is there really no way of escape? Yes, I believe there is. The American
Emerson long ago said, "I can easily see the bankruptcy of the vulgar musket
worship, _though great men be musket worshippers; and 'tis certain, as God
liveth, the gun that does need another gun, the law of love and justice alone
can effect a clean revolution." Now if the people of Europe really want to put
down militarism, there is only one way of doing it and that is, to use what E-merson
calls the gun that does not need another gun, the law of love and justice, _in
fact, moral force, With an effective moral force, militarism will become
unnecesary and disappear of itself. But now, that Christianity has become
ineffective as a moral force the problem is where are the people of Europe to
find this new effective moral force which will make militarism unnecessary?
I believe the people of Europe will find this new moral force in China, _in
the Chinese civilisation. The moral force in the Chinese civilisation which can
make militarism unnecessary is the Religion of good citizenship. But people will
say to me, "There have also been wars in China. " It is true there have been
wars in China; but, since the time of Confucius ,years ago, we Chinese have had
no militarism such as that we see in Europe to-day. In China war is an accident,
whereas in Europe war has become a necessity. We Chinese are liable to have
wars, but we do not live in constant expectation of war. In fact the one thing
intolerable in the state of Europe, it seems to me, is not so much war as the
fact that every body is constantly afraid that his neighbour as soon as he gets
strong enough to be able to do it, will come to rob and murder him and he has
therefore to arm himself or pay for an armed policeman to protect him. Thus what
weighs upon the people of Europe is not so much the accident of War, but the
constant necessity to arm themselves, the absolute nec-cessity to use physical
force to protect themselves.
Now in China because we Chinese have the Religion of good citizenship a man
does not feel the need of using physical force to protect himself; he has seldom
the need even to call in and use the physical force of the policeman, of the
State to protect him. A man in China is protected by the sense of justice of his
neighbour; he is protected by the readiness of his fellow men to obey the sense
of moral obligation. In fact, a man in China does not feel the need of using
physical force to protect himself because he is sure that right and justice is
recognised by every body as a force higher than physical force and moral
obligation is recognised by every body as something which must be obeyed. Now if
you can get all mankind to agree to recognise right and justice, as a force
higher than physical force, and moral obligation as something which must be
obeyed, then the use of physical force will become unnecessary; then there will
be no militarism in the world. But of course there will be in every country a
few people, criminals, and in the world, a few savages who will not or are not
able to recognise right and justice as a force higher than physical force and
moral obligation as something which must be obeyed. Thus a-gainst criminals and
savages a certain amount of physical or police force and militarism will always
be necessary in every country and in the world.
But people will say to me how are you to make mankind recognise right and
justice as a force higher than physical force. I answer the first thing you will
have to do is to convince mankind of the efficacy of right and justice, convince
them that right and justice is a power; in fact, convince them of the power of
goodness. But then a-gain how are you to do this? Well, _in order to do this,
the Religion of good citizenship in China teaches every child as soon as he is
able to understand the meaning of words, that the Nature of man is good. *
Now the fundamental unsoundness of the civilisation of Europe to-day, it
seems to me, lies in its wrong conception of human nature;
its conception that human nature is evil and because of this wrong
conception, the whole structure of society in Europe has always rested upon
force. The two things which the people of Europe have depended upon to maintain
civil order are Religion and Law. In other words, the population of Europe have
been kept in order by the fear of God and the fear of the Law. Fear implies the
use of force. Therefore in order to keep up the fear of God, the people of
Europe had at first to maintain a large number of expensive idle persons called
priests. That, to speak of nothing else, meant so much expense, that it at last
became an unbearable burden upon the people. In fact in the thirty years war of
the Reformation, the people of Europe tried to get rid of the priest. After
having got rid of the priests who kept the population in order by the fear of
God, the people of Europe tried to maintain civil order by the fear of the Law.
But to keep up the fear of the Law, the people of Europe have had to maintain
another class of still more expensive idle persons called policemen and
soldiers. Now the people of Europe are beginning to find out that the main-tainence
of policemen and soldiers to keep civil order, is still more ruinously expensive
than even the maintainence of priests. In fact, as in the thirty years war of
the Reformation, the people of Europe wanted to get rid of the priest, so in
this present war, what the people of Europe really want, is to get rid of the
soldier. But the alternatives before the people of Europe if they want to get
rid of the policeman and soldier, is either to call back the priest to keep up
the fear of God or to find something else which, like the fear of God and the
fear of the Law, will help them to maintain civil order. That, to put the
question broadly, I think, everybody will admit, is the great problem of
civilisation before the people of Europe after this war.
Now after the experience which they have had with the priests, I do not think
the people of Europe will want to call back the priests. Bismarck has said, "We
will never go back to Canossa." Besides, even if the priests are now called
back, they would be useless, for the fear of God is gone from the people of
Europe. The only other alternative before the people of Europe therefore, if
they want to get rid of the policeman and soldier, is to find something else,
which, like the fear of God and the fear of the Law, can help them to maintain
civil order. Now this something, I believe, as I have said, the people of Europe
will find in the Chinese civilisation. This something is what I have called the
Religion of good citizenship. This Religion of good citizenship in China is a
religion which can keep the population of a country in order without priest and
without policeman or soldier. In fact with this Religion of good citizenship,
the population of , China, a population as large, if not larger than the whole
population r of the Continent of Europe, are actually and practically kept in
peace and order without priest and without policeman or soldier. In China, as
every one who has been in this country knows, the priest and the , policeman or
soldier, play a very subordinate, a very insignificant ( part in helping to
maintain public order. Only the most ignorant class in China require the priest
and only the worst, .the criminal class in China, require the policeman or
soldier to keep them in order. Thus I say if the people of Europe really want to
get rid of Religion and Militarism, of the priest and soldier which have caused
them so much trouble and bloodshed, they will have to come to China to get this,
what I have called the Religion of good citizenship.
In short what I want to call the attention of the people of Europe and
America to, just at this moment when civilisation seems to be threatened with
bankruptcy, is that there is an invaluable and hitherto unsuspected asset of
civilisation here in China. The asset of civilisation is not the trade, the
railway, the mineral wealth, gold, silver, iron or coal in this country. The
asset of civilisation of the world today, I want to say here, is the
Chinaman,_the unspoilt real Chinaman with his Religion of good citizenship. The
real Chinaman, I say, is an invaluable asset of civilisation, because he is a
person who costs the world little or nothing to keep him in order. Indeed I
would like
here to warn the people of Europe and America not to destroy this invaluable
asset of civilisation, not to change and spoil the real Chinaman as they are now
trying to do with their New Learning. If the people of Europe and America
succeed in destroying the real Chinaman, the Chinese type of humanity; succeed
in transforming the real Chinaman into a European or American, i.e., to say, a
person who will require a priest or soldier to keep him in order, then surely
they will increase the burden either of Religion or of Militarism of the world,
_this last item at this moment already becoming a danger and menace to
civilisation and humanity. But on the other hand, suppose one could by some
means or other change the European or American type of humanity, transform the
European or American into a real Chinaman who will then not require a priest or
soldier to keep him in order,;_just think what a burden will be taken off from
the world.
But now to sum up in a few plain words the great problem of civilisation in
Europe arising out of this war. The people of Europe, I say, at first tried to
maintain civil order by the help of the priest. But after a while, the priest
cost too much expense and trouble. The people of Europe then, after the thirty
years war, sent away the priest and called in the policeman and soldier to
maintain civil order. But now they find the policeman and soldier are causing
more expense and trouble even than the priests. Now what are the people of
Europe to do? Send away the soldier and call back the priest? No, I do not
believe the people of Europe will want to call back the priest. Besides the
priest now would be useless. But then what are the people of Europe to do? I see
Professor Lowes Dickinson of Cambridge in an article in the Atlantic Monthly,
entitled "The War and the Way out, " says: "Call in the mob." I am afraid the
mob when once called in to take the place of the priest and soldier, will give
more trouble than even the priest and the soldier. The priests and soldiers in
Europe have caused wars, but the mob will bring revolution and anarchy and then
the state of Europe will be worse than before. Now my advice to the people of
Europe is: Do not call back the priest, and for goodness sake don't call in the
mob, _but call in the Chinaman; call in the real Chinaman with his Religion of
good citizenship and his experience of ,years how to live in peace without
priest and without soldier.
In fact I really believe that the people of Europe will find the solution of
the great problem of civilisation after this war, _here in China. There is, I
say here again, an invaluable, but hitherto unsuspected asset of civilisation
here in China, and the asset of civilisation is the real Chinaman. The real
Chinaman is an asset of civilisation because he has the secret of a new
civilisation which the people of Europe will want after this great war, and the
secret of that new civilisation is what I have called the Religion of good
citizenship. The first principle of this Religion of good citizenship is to
believe that the Nature of Man is good; to believe in the power of goodness; to
believe in the power and efficacy of what the American Emerson calls the law of
love and justice. But what is the law of love? The Religion of good citizenship
teaches that the law of love means to love your father and mother. And what is
the law of justice? The Religion of good citizenship teaches that the law of
justice means to be true, to be faithful, to be loyal; that the woman in every
country must be self-lessly, absolutely loyal to her husband, that the man in
every country must be selflessly, absolutely loyal to his sovereign, to his King
or Emperor. In fact the highest duty in this Religion of good citizenship I want
to say finally here is the Duty of Loyalty, loyalty not only in deed, but
loyalty in spirit or as Tennyson puts it,
To reverence the King as he were
Their conscience and their conscience as their King,
To break the heathen and uphold the Christ.
THE SPIRIT OF THE CHINESE PEOPLE
A Paper that was to have been read before the Oriental Society of Peking
LET me first of all explain to you what I propose, with your permission, this
afternoon to discuss. The subject of our paper I have called "The Spirit of the
Chinese people."! do not mean here merely to speak of the character or
characteristics of the Chinese people. Chinese characteristics have often been
described before, but I think you will agree with me that such description or
enumeration of the characteristics of the Chinese people hitherto have given us
no picture at all of the inner being of the Chinaman. Besides, when we speak of
the character or characteristics of the Chinese, it is not possible to
generalize. The character of the Northern Chinese, as you know, is as different
from that of the Southern Chinese as the character of the Germans is different
from that of the Italians.
But what I mean by the spirit of the Chinese people, is the spirit by which
the Chinese people live, something constitutionally distinctive in the mind,
temper and sentiment of the Chinese people which distinguishes them from all
other people, especially from those of modem Europe and America. Perhaps I can
best express what I mean by calling the subject of our discussion the Chinese
type of humanity, or, to put it in plainer and shorter words, the real Chinaman.
Now, what is the real Chinaman? That, I am sure, you will all agree with me,
is a very interesting subject, especially at the present moment, when from what
we see going on around us in China today, it would seem that the Chinese type of
humanity_the real Chinaman_is going to disappear and, in his place, we are going
to have a new type of humanity_the progressive or modern Chinaman. In fact I
propose that before the real Chinaman, the old Chinese type of humanity,
disappears altogether from the world we should take a good last look at him and
see if we can find anything organically distinctive in him which makes him so
different from all other people and from the new type of humanity which we see
rising up in China today.
Now the first thing, I think, which will strike you in the old Chinese type
of humanity is that there is nothing wild, savage or ferocious in him. Using a
term which is applied to animals, we may say of the real Chinaman that he is a
domesticated creature. Take a man of the lowest class of the population in China
and, I think, you will agree with me that there is less of animality in him,
less of the wild animal, of what the Germans call Rohheit, than you will find in
a man of the same class in a European society. In fact, the one word, it seems
to me, which will sum up the impression which the Chinese type of humanity makes
upon you is the English word "gentle." By gentleness I do not mean softness of
nature or weak submissiveness. "The docility of the Chinese," says the late Dr.
D. J. Macgowan, "is not the docility of a broken-hearted, emasculated people. "
But by the word " gentle" I mean absence of hardness, harshness, roughness, or
violence, in fact of anything which jars upon you. There is in the true Chinese
type of humanity an air, so to speak, of a quiet, sober, chastened mellowness,
such as you find in a piece of well-tempered metal. Indeed the very physical and
moral imperfections of a real Chinaman are, if not redeemed, at least softened
by this quality of gentleness in him. The real Chinaman may be coarse, but there
is no grossness in his coarseness. The real Chinaman may be ugly, but there is
no hideousness in his ugliness. The real Chinaman may be vulgar, but there is no
aggressiveness, no blatancy in his vulgarity. The real Chinaman may be stupid,
but there is no absurdity in his stupidity. The real Chinaman may be cunning,
but there is no deep malignity in his cunning. In fact what I want to say is,
that even in the faults and blemishes of body, mind and character of the real
Chinaman, there is nothing which revolts you. It is seldom that you will find a
real Chinaman of the old school, even of the lowest type, who is positively
repulsive.
I say that the total impression which the Chinese type of humanity makes upon
you is that he is gentle, that he is inexpressibly gentle. When you analyse this
quality of inexpressible gentleness in the real Chinaman, you will find that it
is the the product of a combination of two things, namely, sympathy and
intelligence. I have compared the Chinese type of humanity to a domesticated
animal. Now what is that which makes a domesticated animal so different from a
wild animal? It is something in the domesticated animal which we recognise as
distinctively human. But what is distinctively human as distinguished from what
is animal? It is intelligence. But the intelligence of a domesticated animal is
not a thinking intelligence. It is not an intelligence which comes to him from
reasoning. Neither does it come to him from instinct, such as the intelligence
of the fox, _ the vulpine intelligence which knows where eatable chickens are to
be found. This intelligence which comes from instinct, of the fox, all,_even
wild, animals have. But this, what may be called human intelligence of a
domesticated animal is something quite different from the vulpine or animal
intelligence. This intelligence of a domesticated animal is an intelligence
which comes not from reasoning nor from instinct, but from sympathy, from a
feeling of love and attachment. A thorough-bred Arab horse understands his
English master not because he has studied English grammar nor because he has an
instinct for the English language, but because he loves and is attached to his
master. This is what I call human intelligence, as distinguished from mere
vulpine or animal intelligence. It is the possession of this human quality which
distinguishes domesticated from wild animals. In the same way, I say, it is the
possession of this sympathetic and true human intelligence, which gives to the
Chinese type of humanity, to the real Chinaman, his inexpressible gentleness.
I once read somewhere a statement made by a foreigner who had lived in both
countries, that the longer a foreigner lives in Japan the more he dislikes the
Japanese, whereas the longer a foreigner lives in China the more he likes the
Chinese. I do not know if what is said of the Japanese here, is true. But, I
think, all of you who have lived in China will agree with me that what is here
said of the Chinese is true. It is well-known fact that the liking_you may call
it the taste for the Chinese_grows upon the foreigner the longer he lives in
this country. There is an indescribable something in the Chinese people which,
in spite of their want of habits of cleanliness and refinement, in spite of
their many defects of mind and character, makes foreigners like them as
foreigners like no other people. This indescribable something which I have
defined as gentleness, softens and mitigates, if it does not redeem, the
physical and moral defects of the Chinese in the hearts of foreigners. This
gentleness again is, as I have tried to show you, the product of what I call
sympathetic or true human intelligence_an intelligence which comes not from
reasoning nor from instinct, but from sympathy_from the power of sympathy. Now
what is the secret of the power of sympathy of the Chinese people?
I will here venture to give you an explanation_a hypothesis, if you like to
call it so_of the secret of this power of sympathy in the Chinese people and my
explanation is this. The Chinese people have this power, this strong power of
sympathy, because they live wholly, or almost wholly, a life of the heart. The
whole life of Chinaman is a life of feeling_not feeling in the sense of
sensation which comes from the bodily organs, nor feeling in the sense of
passions which flow, as you would say, from the nervous system, but feeling in
the sense of emotion or human affection which comes from the deepest part of our
nature_the heart or soul. Indeed I may say here that the real Chinaman lives so
much a life of emotion or human affection, a life of the soul, that he may be
said sometimes to neglect more than he ought to do, even the necessary
requirements of the life of the senses of a man living in this world composed of
body and soul. That is the true explanation of the insensibility of the Chinese
to the physical discomforts of unclean surroundings and want of refinement. But
that is neither here nor there.
The Chinese people, I say, have the power of sympathy because they live
wholly a life of the heart_a life of emotion or human affection. Let me here,
first of all, give you two illustrations of what I mean by living a life of the
heart. My first illustration is this. Some of you may have personally known an
old friend and colleague of mine in Wuchang_known him when he was Minister of
the Foreign Office here in Peking_Mr. Liang Tun-yen, Mr. Liang told me, when he
first received the appointment of the Customs Taotai of Hankow, that what made
him wish and strive to become a great mandarin, to wear the red button, and what
gave him pleasure then in receiving this appointment, was not because he cared
for the red button, not because he would henceforth be rich and independent,
_and we were all of us very poor then in Wuchang, _but because he wanted to
rejoice, because this promotion and advancement of his would gladden the heart
of his old mother in Canton. That is what I mean when I say that the Chinese
people live a life of the heart_a life of emotion or human affection.
My other illustration is this. A Scotch friend of mine in the Customs told me
he once had a Chinese servant who was a perfect scamp, who lied, who "squeezed,
" and who was always gambling, but when my friend fell ill with typhoid fever in
an out-of-the-way port where he had no foreign friend to attend to him, this
awful scamp of a Chinese servant nursed him with a care and devotion which he
could not have expected from an intimate friend or near relation. Indeed I think
what was once said of a woman in the Bible may also be said, not only of the
Chinese servant, but of the Chinese people generally:_"Much is forgiven them,
because they love much. " The eyes and understanding of the foreigner in China
see many defects and blemishes in the habits and in the character of the
Chinese, but his heart is attracted to them, because the Chinese have a heart,
or, as I said, live a life of the heart_a life of emotion or human affection.
Now we have got, I think, a clue to the secret of sympathy in the Chinese
people_the power of sympathy which gives to the real Chinaman that sympathetic
or true human intelligence, making him so inexpressibly gentle. Let us next put
this clue or hypothesis to the test. Let us see whether with this clue that the
Chinese people live a life of the heart we can explain not only detached facts
such as the two illustrations I have given above, but also general
characteristics which we see in the actual life of the Chinese people.
First of all let us take the Chinese language. As the Chinese live a life of
the heart, the Chinese language, I say, is also a language of the heart. Now it
is a well-known fact that children and uneducated persons among foreigners in
China learn Chinese very easily, much more so than grown-up and educated
persons. What is the reason of this? The reason, I say, is because children and
uneducated persons think and speak with the language of the heart, whereas
educated men, especially men with the modern intellectual education of Europe,
think and speak with the language of the head or intellect. In fact, the reason
why educated foreigners find it so difficult to learn Chinese, is because they
are too educated, too intellectually and scientifically educated. As it is said
of the Kingdom of Heaven, so it may also be said of the Chinese
language:_"Unless you become as little children, you cannot learn it. "
Next let us take another well-known fact in the life of the Chinese people.
The Chinese, it is well-known, have wonderful memories. What is the secret of
this? The secret is: the Chinese remember things with the heart and not with the
head. The heart with its power of sympathy, acting as glue, can retain things
much better than the head or intellect which is hard and dry. It is, for
instance, also for this reason that we; all of us, can remember things which we
learnt when we were children much better than we can remember things which we
learnt in mature life. As children, like the Chinese, we remember things with
the heart and not with the head.
Let us next take another generally admitted fact in the life of the Chinese
people_their politeness. The Chinese are, it has often been remarked, a
peculiarly polite people. Now what is the essence of true politeness? It is
consideration for the feelings of others. The Chinese are polite because, living
a life of the heart, they know their own feelings and that makes it easy for
them to show consideration for the feelings of others. The politeness of the
Chinese, although not elaborate like the politeness of the Japanese, is pleasing
because it is, as the French beautifully express it, la politesse du coeur, the
politeness of the heart. The politeness of the Japanese, on the other hand,
although elaborate, is not so pleasing, and I have heard some foreigners express
their dislike of it, because it is what may be called a rehearsal politeness_a
politeness learnt by heart as in a theatrical piece. It is not a spontaneous
politeness which comes direct from the heart. In fact the politeness of the
Japanese is like a flower without fragrance, whereas the politeness of a really
polite Chinese has a perfume like the aroma of a precious ointment_instar
unguenti fra-grantis_ which comes from the heart.
Last of all, let us take another characteristic of the Chinese people, by
calling attention to which the Rev. Arthur Smith has made his reputation, viz.
:_want of exactness. Now what is the reason for this want of exactness in the
ways of the Chinese people? The reason, I say again, is because the Chinese live
a life of the heart. The heart is a very delicate and sensitive balance. It is
not like the head or intellect, a hard, stiff, rigid instrument. You cannot with
the heart think with the same steadiness, with the same rigid exactness as you
can with the head or intellect. At least, it is extremely difficult to do so. In
fact, the Chinese pen or pencil which is a soft brush, may be taken as a symbol
of the Chinese mind. It is very difficult to write or draw with it, but when you
have once mastered the use of it, you will, with it, write and draw with a
beauty and grace which you cannot do with a hard steel pen.
Now the above are a few simple facts connected with the life of the Chinese
people which anyone, even without any knowledge of Chinese, can observe and
understand, and by examining these facts, I think, I have made good my
hypothesis that the Chinese people live a life of the heart.
Now it is because the Chinese live a life of the heart, the life of a child,
that they are so primitive in many of their ways. Indeed, it is a remarkable
fact that for a people who have lived so long in the world as a great nation,
the Chinese people should to this day be so primitive in many of their ways. It
is this fact which has made superficial foreign students of China think that the
Chinese have made no progress in their civilisation and that the Chinese
civilisation is a stagnant one. Nevertheless, it must be admitted that, as far
as pure intellectual life goes, the Chinese are, to a certain extent, a people
of arrested development. The Chinese, as you all know, have made little or no
progress not only in the physical, but also in the pure abstract sciences such
as mathematics, logic and metaphysics. Indeed the very words "science" and
"logic" in the European languages have no exact equivalent in the Chinese
language. The Chinese, like children who live a life of the heart, have no taste
for the abstract sciences, because in these the heart and feelings are not
engaged. In fact, for everything which does not engage the heart and feelings,
such as tables of statistics, the Chinese have a dislike amounting to aversion.
But if tables of statistics and the pure abstract sciences fill the Chinese with
aversion, the physical sciences as they are now pursued in Europe, which require
you to cut up and mutilate the body of a living animal in order to verify a
scientific theory, would inspire the Chinese with repugnance and horror.
The Chinese, I say, as far as pure intellectual life goes, are to a certain
extent, a people of arrested development. The Chinese to this day live the life
of a child, a life of the heart. In this respect, the Chinese people, old as
they are as a nation, are to the present day, a nation of children. But then it
is important you should remember that this nation of children, who live a life
of the heart, who are so primitive in many of their ways, have yet a power of
mind and rationality which you do not find in a primitive people, a power of
mind and rationality which has enabled them to deal with the complex and
difficult problems of social life, government and civilisation with a success
which, I will venture to say here, the ancient and modern nations of Europe have
not been able to attain_a success so signal that they have been able practically
and actually to keep in peace and order a greater portion of the population of
the Continent of Asia under a great Empire.
In fact, what I want to say here, is that the wonderful peculiarity of the
Chinese people is not that they live a life of the heart. All primitive people
also live a life of the heart. The Christian people of medieval Europe, as we
know, also lived a life of the heart. Matthew Arnold says:_"The poetry of
medieval Christainity lived by the heart and imagination." But the wonderful
peculiarity of the Chinese people, I want to say here, is that, while living a
life of the heart, the life of a child, they yet have a power of mind and
rationality
which you do not find in the Christian people of medieval Europe or in any
other primitive people. In other words, the wonderful peculiarity of the Chinese
is that for a people, who have lived so long as a grown-up nation, as a nation
of adult reason, they are yet able to this day to live the life of a child_a
life of the heart.
Instead, therefore, of saying that the Chinese are a people of arrested
development, one ought rather to say that the Chinese are a people who never
grow old. In short the wonderful peculiarity of the Chinese people as a race, is
that they possess the secret of perpetual youth.
Now we can answer the question which we asked in the beginning:_What is the
real Chinaman? The real Chinaman, we see now, is a man who lives the life of a
man of adult reason with the heart of a child. In short the real Chinaman is a
person with the head of a grown-up man and the heart of a child. The Chinese
spirit, therefore, is a spirit of perpetual youth, the spirit of national
immortality. Now what is the secret of this national immortality in the Chinese
people? You will remember that in the beginning of this discussion I said that
what gives to the Chinese type of humanity_to the real Chinaman_his
inexpressible gentleness is the possession of what I called sympathetic or true
human intelligence. This true human intelligence, I said, is the product of a
combination of two things, sympathy and intelligence. It is a working together
in harmony of the heart and head. In short it is a happy union of soul with
intellect. Now if the spirit of the Chinese people is a spirit of perpetual
youth, the spirit of national immortality, the secret of this immortality is
this happy union of soul with intellect.
You will now ask me where and how did the Chinese people get this secret of
national immortality_this happy union of soul with intellect, which has enabled
them as a race and nation to live a life of perpetual youth? The answer, of
course, is that they got it from their civilisation. Now you will not expect me
to give you a lecture on Chinese civilisation within the time at my disposal.
But I will try to tell you something of the Chinese civilisation which has a
bearing on our present subject of discussion.
Let me first of all tell you that there is, it seems to me, one great
fundamental difference between the Chinese civilisation and the civilisation of
modern Europ. Here let me quote an admirable saying of a famous living art
critic, Mr. Bernard Berenson. Comparing European with Oriental art, Mr. Berenson
says:_"Our European art has the fatal tendency to become science and we hardly
possess a masterpiece which does not bear the marks of having heen a battlefield
for divided interests. " Now what I want to say of the European civilisation is
that it is, as Mr. Berenson says of European art, a battlefield for divided
interests; a continuous warfare for the divided interests of science and art on
the one hand, and of religion and philosophy on the other; in fact a terrible
battlefield where the head and the heart_the soul and the intellect_come into
constant conflict. In the Chinese civilisation, at least for the last , years,
there is no such conflict. That, I say, is the one great fundamental difference
between the Chinese civilisation and that of modern Europe.
In other words, what I want to say, is that in modern Europe, the people have
a religion which satisfies their heart, but not their head, and a philosophy
which satisfies their head but not their heart. Now let us look at China. Some
people say that the Chinese have no religion. It is certainly true that in China
even the mass of the people do not take seriously to religion. I mean religion
in the European sense of the word. The temples, rites and ceremonies of Taoism
and Buddhism in China are more objects of recreation than of edification; they
touch the aesthetic sense, so to speak, of the Chinese people rather than their
moral or religious sense; in fact, they appeal more to their imagination than to
their heart or soul. But instead of saying that the Chinese have no religion, it
is perhaps more correct to say that the Chinese do not want_do not feel the need
of religion.
Now what is the explanation of this extraordinary fact that the Chinese
people, even the mass of the population in China, do not feel the need of
religion? It is thus given by an Englishman. Sir Robert K. Douglas, Professor of
Chinese in the London University, in his study of Confucianism, says:_"Upwards
of forty generations of Chinamen have been absolutely subjected to the dicta of
one man. Being a Chinaman of Chinamen the teachings of Confucius were specially
suited to the nature of those he taught. The Mongolian mind being eminently
phlegmatic and. unspeculative, naturally rebels against the idea of
investigating matters beyond its experiences. With the idea of a future life
still unawakened, a plain, matter-of-fact system of morality, such as that
enunciated by Confucius, was sufficient for all the wants of the Chinese. "
That l_amed English professor is right, when he says that the Chinese people
do not feel the need of religion, because they have the teachings of Confucius,
but he is altogether wrong, when he asserts that the Chinese people do not feel
the need of religion because the Mongolian mind is phlegmatic and unspeculative.
In the first place religion is not a matter of speculation. Religion is a matter
of feeling, of emotion; it is something which has to do with the human soul. The
wild, savage man of Africa even, as soon as he emerges from a mere animal life
and what is called the soul in him, is awakened, _ feels the need of religion.
Therefore although the Mongolian mind may be phlegmatic and unspeculative, the
Mongolian Chinaman, who, I think it must be admitted, is a higher type of man
than the wild man of Africa, also has a soul, and, having a soul, must feel the
need of religion unless he has something which can take for him the place of
religion.
The truth of the matter is, _the reason why the Chinese people do not feel
the need of religion is because they have in Confucianism a system of philosophy
and ethics, a synthesis of human society and civilisation which can take the
place of religion. People say that Confucianism is not a religion. It is
perfectly true that Confucianism is not a religion in the ordinary European
sense of the word. But then I say the greatness of Confucianism lies even in
this, that it is not a religion. In fact, the greatness of Confucianism is that,
without being a religion, it can take the place of religion; it can make men do
without religion.
Now in order to understand how Confucianism can take the place of religion we
must try and find out the reason why mankind, why men feel the need of religion.
Mankind, it seems to me, feel the need of religion for the same reason that they
feel the need of science, of art and of philosophy. The reason is because man is
a being who has a soul. Now let us take science, I mean physical science. What
is the reason which makes men take up the study of science? Most people now
think that men do so, because they want to have railways and aeroplanes. But the
motive which impels the true men of science to pursue its study is not because
they want to have railways and aeroplanes. Men like the present progressive
Chinamen, who take up the study of science, because they want railways and
aeroplanes, will never get science. The true men of science in Europe in the
past who have worked for the advancement of science and brought about the
possibility of building railways and aeroplanes, did not think at all of
railways and aeroplanes. What impelled those true men of science in Europe and
what made them succeed in their work for the advancement of science, was because
they felt in their souls the need of understanding the awful mystery of the
wonderful universe in which we live. Thus mankind, I say, feel the need of
religion for the same reason that they feel the need of science, art and
philosophy; and the reason is because man is a being who has a soul, and because
the soul in him, which looks into the past and future as well as the present_
not like animals which live only in the present_feels the need of understanding
the mystery of this universe in which they live. Until men understand something
of the nature, law, purpose and aim of the things which they see in the
universe, they are like children in a dark room who feel the danger, insecurity
and uncertainty of everything. In fact, as an English poet says, the burden of
the mystery of the universe weighs upon them. Therefore mankind want science,
art and philosophy for the same reason that they want religion, to lighten for
them "the burden of the mystery, ....
The heavy and the weary weight of All this unintelligible world. "
Art and poetry enable the artist and poet to see beauty and order in the
universe and that lightens for them the burden of this mystery. Therefore poets
like Goethe, who says: "He who has art, has religion, " do not feel the need of
religion. Philosophy also enables the philosophers to see method and order in
the universe, and that lightens for them the burden of this mystery. Therefore
philosophers, like Spinoza, "for whom, " it has been said, "the crown of the
intellectual life is a transport, as for the saint the crown of the religious
life is a transport," do not feel the need of religion. Lastly, science also
enables the scientific men to see law and order in the universe, and that
lightens for them the burden of this mystery. Therefore scientific men like
Darwin and Professor Haeckel do not feel the need of religion.
But for the mass of mankind who are not poets, artists, philosophers or men
of science; for the mass of mankind whose lives are full of hardships and who
are exposed every moment to the shock of accident from the threatening forces of
Nature and the cruel merciless passions of their fellow-men, what is it that can
lighten for them the
"burden of the mystery of all this unintelligible world?" It is religion. But
how does religion lighten for the mass of mankind the burden of this mystery?
Religion, I say, lightens this burden by giving the mass of mankind a sense of
security and a sense of permanence. In presence of the threatening forces of
Nature and the cruel merciless passions of their fellowmen and the mystery and
terror which these inspire, religion gives to the mass of mankind a refuge_a
refuge in which they can find a sense of security ; and that refuge is a belief
in some supernatural Being or beings who have absolute power and control over
those forces which threaten them. Again, in presence of the constant change,
vicissitude and transition of things in their own lives_birth, childhood, youth,
old age and death, and the mystery and uncertainty which these inspire, religion
gives to the mass of mankind also a refuge_a refuge in which they can find a
sense of permanence; and that refuge is the belief in a future life. In this
way, I say, religion lightens for the mass of mankind who are not poets,
artists, philosophers or scientific men, the burden of the mystery of all this
unintelligible world, by giving them a sense of security and a sense of
permanence in their existence. Christ said: " Peace I give unto you, peace which
the world cannot give and which the world cannot take away from you." That is
what I mean when I say that religion gives to the mass of mankind a sense of
security and a sense of permanence. Therefore, unless you can find something
which can give to the mass of mankind the same peace, the same sense of security
and of permanence which religion affords them, the mass of mankind will always
feel the need of religion.
But I said Confucianism, without being a religion can take the place of
religion. Therefore, there must be something in Confucianism which can give to
the mass of mankind the same sense of security and permanence which religion
affords them. Let us now find out what this something is in Confucianism which
can give the samesense of security and sense of permanence that religion gives.
I have often been asked to say what Confucius has done for the Chinese
nation. Now I can tell you of many things which I think Confucius has
accomplished for the Chinese people. But, as to-day I have not the time, I will
only here try to tell you of one principal and most important thing which
Confucius has done for the Chinese nation_the one thing he did in his life by
which, Confucius himself said, men in after ages would know him, would know what
he had done for them. When I have explained to you this one principal thing, you
will then understand what that something is in Confucian-ism which can give to
the mass of mankind the same sense of security and sense of permanence which
religion affords them. In order to explain this, I must ask you to allow me to
go a little more into detail about Confucius and what he did.
Confucius, as some of you may know, lived in what is called a period of
expansion in the history of China_a period in which the feudal age had come to
an end; in which the feudal, the semi-patriarchal social order and form of
government had to be expanded and reconstructed. This great change necessarily
brought with it not only confusion in the affairs of the world, but also
confusion in men' s minds. I have said that in the Chinese civilisation of the
last ,years there is no conflict between the heart and the head. But I must now
tell you that in the period of expansion in which Confucius lived there was also
in China, as now in Europe, a fearful conflict between the heart and the head.
The Chinese people in Confucius' s time found themselves with an immense system
of institutions, established facts, accredited dogmas, customs, laws_in fact, an
immense system of society and civilisation which had come down to them from
their venerated ancestors. In this system their life had to be carried forward;
yet they began to feel_they had a sense that this system was not of their
creation, that it by no means corresponded with the wants of their actual life;
that, for them, it was customary, not rational. Now the awakening of this sense
in the Chinese people ,years ago was the awakening of what in Europe to-day is
called the modern spirit_the spirit of liberalism, the spirit of enquiry, to
find out the why and the wherefore of things. This modern spirit in China then,
seeing the want of correspondence of the old order of society and civilisation
with the wants of their actual life, set itself not only to reconstruct a new
order of society and civilisation, but also to find a basis for this new order
of society and civilisation. But all the attempts to find a new basis for
society and civilisation in China then failed. Some, while they satisfied the
head_the intellect of the Chinese people, did not satisfy their heart; others,
while they satisfied their heart, did not satisfy their head. Hence arose, as I
said, this conflict between the heart and the head in China ,years'ago, as we
see it now in Europe. This conflict of the heart and head in the new order of
society and civilisation which men tried to reconstruct made the Chinese people
feel dissatisfied with all civilisation, and in the agony and despair which this
dissatisfaction produced, the Chinese people wanted to pull down and destroy all
civilisation. Men, like Laotzu, then in China as men like Tolstoy in Europe
to-day, seeing the misery and suffering resulting from the conflict between the
heart and the head, thought they saw something radically wrong in the very
nature and constitution of society and civilisation. Laotzu and Chuang-tzu, the
most brilliant of Laotzu' s disciples, told the Chinese people to throw away all
civilisation. Laotzu said to the people of China: "Leave all that you have and
follow me; follow me to the mountains, to the hermit's cell in the mountains,
there to live a true life_a life of the heart, a life of immortality."
But Confucius, who also saw the suffering and misery of the then state of
society and civilisation, thought he recognised the evil was not in the nature
and constitution of society and civilisation, but in the wrong track which
society and civilisation had taken, in the wrong basis which men had taken for
the foundation of society and civilisation. Confucius told the Chinese people
not to throw away their civilisation. Confucius told them that in a true society
and true civilisation_in a society and civilisation with a true basis men also
could live a true life, a life of the heart. In fact, Confucius tried hard all
his life to put society and civilisation on the right track; to give it a true
basis, and thus prevent the destruction of civilisation. But in the last days of
his life, when Confucius saw that he could not prevent the destruction of the
Chinese civilisation_what did he do? Well, as an architect who sees his house on
fire, burning and falling over his head, and is convinced that he cannot
possibly save the building, knows that the only thing for him to do is- to save
the drawings and plans of the building so that it may afterwards be built again;
so Confucius, seeing the inevitable destruction of the building of the Chinese
civilisation which he conid not prevent, thought he would save the drawings and
plans, and he accordingly saved the drawings and plans of the Chinese
civilisation, which are now preserved in the Old Testament of the Chinese
Bible_the five Canonical Books known as the Wu Ching, five Canons. That, I say,
was a great service which Confucius has done for the Chinese nation_he saved the
drawings and plans of their civilisation for them.
Confucius, I say, when he saved the drawings and plans of the Chinese
civilisation, did a great service for the Chinese nation. But that is not the
principal, the greatest service which Confucius has done for the Chinese nation.
The greatest service he did was that, in saving the drawings and plans of their
civilisation, he made a new synthesis, a new interpretation of the plans of that
civilisation, and in that new synthesis he gave the Chinese people the true idea
of a State_a true, rational, permanent, absolute basis of a State.
But then Plato and Aristotle in ancient times, and Rousseau and
Herbert Spencer in modern times also made a synthesis of civilisation, and
tried to give a true idea of a State. Now what is the difference between the
philosophy, the synthesis of civilisation made by the great men of Europe I have
mentioned, and the synthesis of civilisation_the system of philosophy and
morality now known as Confu-cianism? The difference, it seems to me, is this.
The philosophy of Plato and Aristotle and of Herbert Spencer has not become a
religion or the equivalent of a religion, the accepted faith of the masses of a
people or nation, whereas Confucianism has become a religion or the equivalent
of a religion to even the mass of the population in China. When I say religion
here, I mean religion, not in the narrow European sense of the word, but in the
broad universal sense. Goethe says:_" Nur saemtliche Menschen erkennen die
Natur; nur saemtliche Menschen leben das Menschliche * . Only the mass of
mankind know what is real life; only the mass of mankind live a true human
life." Now when we speak of religion in its broad universal sense, we mean
generally a system of teachings with rules of conduct which, as Goethe says, is
accepted as true and binding by the mass of mankind, or at least, by the mass of
the population in a people or nation. In this broad and universal sense of the
word Christianity and Buddhism are religions. In this broad and universal sense,
Confucianism, as you know, has become a religion, as its teachings have been
acknowledged to be true and its rules of couduct to be binding by the whole
Chinese race and nation, whereas the philosophy of Plato, of Aristotle and of
Herbert Spencer has not become a religion even in this broad universal sense.
That, I say, is the difference between Confucianism and the philosophy of Plato
and Aristotle and of Herbert Spencel_the one has remained a philosophy for the
learned, whereas the other has become a religion or the equivalent of a religion
for the mass of the whole Chinese nation as well as for the learned of China.
In this broad universal sense of the word, I say Confucianism is a religion
just as Christianity or Buddhism is a religion. But you will remember I said
that Confucianism is not a religion in the European sense of the word. What is
then the difference between Confucianism and a religion in the European sense of
the word? There is, of course, the difference that the one has a supernatural
origin and element in it, whereas the other has not. But besides this difference
of supernatural and non-supernatural, there is also another difference between
Confucianism and a religion in the European sense of the word such as
Christianity and Buddhism, and it is this. A religion in the European sense of
the word teaches a man to be a good man . But Confucianism does more than this;
Confucianism teaches a man to be a good citizen. The Christian Catechism
asks:_"What is the chief end of man'?" But the Confucian Catechism asks:_"What
is the chief end of a citizen ?" of man, not in his individual life, but man in
his relation with his fellowmen and in his relation to the State? The Christian
answers the words of his Catechism by saying:" The chief end of man is to
glorify God. " The Confucianist answers the words of his Catechism by saying:
"The chief end of man is to live as a dutiful son and a good citizen. " Tzii Yu,
a disciple of Confucius, is quoted in the Sayings and Discourses of Confucius,
saying: "A wise man devotes his attention to the foundation of life_the chief
end of man. When the foundation is laid, wisdom, religion will come. Now to live
as a dutiful son and good citizen, is not that the foundation_the chief end of
man as a moral being?" In short, a religion in the European sense of the word
makes it its object to transform man into a perfect ideal man by himself, into a
saint, a Buddha, an angel, whereas Confucianism limits itself to make man into a
good citizen_ to live as a dutiful son and a good citizen. In other words, a
religion
in the European sense of the word says:_"If you want to have religion, you
must be a saint, a Buddha, an angel;" whereas Confucian-ism says:_"If you live
as a dutiful son and a good citizen, you have religion."
In fact, the real difference between Confucianism and religion in the
European sense of the word, such as Christianity or Buddhism, is that the one is
a personal religion, or what may be called a Church religion, whereas the other
is a social religion, or what may be called a State religion. The greatest
service, I say, which Confucius has done for the Chinese nation, is that he gave
them a true idea of a State. Now in giving this true idea of a State, Confucius
made that idea a religion. In Europe politics is a science, but in China, since,
Confucius' time, politics is a religion. In short, the greatest service which
Confucius has done for the Chinese nation, I say, is that he gave them a Social
or State religion. Confucius taught this State religion in a book which he wrote
in the very last days of his life, a book to which he gave the name of Ch'un
c/i'im(^^, Spring and Autumn. Confucius gave the name of Spring and Autumn to
this book because the object of the book is to give the real moral causes which
govern the rise and fall_the Spring and Autumn of nations. This book might also
be called the Latter Day Annals, like the Latter Day Pamphlets of Carlyle. In
this book Confucius gave a resume of the history of a false and decadent state
of society and civilisation in which he traced all the suffering and misery of
that false and decadent state of society and civilisation to its real cause_to
the fact that men had not a true idea of a State; no right conception of the
true nature of the duty which they owe to the State, to the head of the State,
their ruler and Sovereign. In a way Confucius in this book taught the divine
right of kings. Now I know all of you, or at least most of you, do not now
believe in the divine right of kings. I will not argue the point with you here.
I will only ask you to suspend your judgment until you have heard what I have
further to say. In the meantime I will just ask your permission to quote to you
here a saying of Carlyle. Carlyle says: "The right of a king to govern us is
either a divine right or a diabolic wrong. " Now I want you, on this subject of
the divine right of kings, to remember and ponder over this saying of Carlyle.
In this book Confucius taught that, as in all the ordinary relations and
dealings between men in human society, there is, besides the base motives of
interest and of fear, a higher and nobler motive to influence them in their
conduct, a higher and nobler motive which rises above all considerations of
interest and fear, the motive called Duty; so in this important relation of all
in human society, the relation between the people of a State or nation and the
Head of that State or nation, there is also this higher and nobler motive of
Duty which should influence and inspire them in their conduct. Bnt what is the
rational basis of this duty which the people in a State or nation owe to the
head of the State or nation? Now in the feudal age before Confucius' time, with
its semi-patriarchal order of Society and form of Government, when the State was
more or less a family, the poeple did not feel so much the need of having a
clear and firm basis for the duty which they owe to the Head of the State,
because, as they were all members of one clan or family, the tie of kinship or
natural affection already, in a way, bound them to the Head of the State, who
was also the senior member of their clan or family. But in Confucius' time the
feudal age, as I said, had come to an end; when the State had outgrown the
family, when the citizens of a State were no longer composed of the members of a
clan or family. It was, therefore, then necessary to find a new, clear, rational
and firm basis for the duty which the people in a State or nation owe to the
Head of the State_ their ruler and sovereign. Now what new basis did Confucius
find for this duty? Confucius found the new basis for this duty in the word
Honour.
When I was in Japan last year the ex-Minister of Education, Baron Kikuchi,
asked me to translate four Chinese characters taken from the book in which, as I
said, Confucius taught this State religion of his. The four characters were Ming
fen to. yi (^'^_^fo^C) . I translated them as the Great Principle of Honour and
Duty. It is for this reason that the Chinese make a special distinction between
Con-fucianism and all other religions by calling the system of teaching taught
by Confucius not a chiao (^_the general term in Chinese for religion with which
they designate other religions, such as Buddhism, Mohammedanism and
Christianity_but the ming chiao (^ ^C)_the religion of Honour. Again the term
chum tzu chih too (^ ^.$lM) in the teachings of Confucius, translated by Dr.
Legge as "the way of the superior man, " for which the nearest equivalent in the
European languages is moral law_means literally, the way_the Law of the
Gentleman. In fact, the whole system of philosophy and morality taught by
Confucius may be summed up in one word: the Law of the Gentleman. Now Confucius
codified this law of the gentleman and made it a Religion, _a State religion.
The first Article of Faith in this State Religion is Ming fen ta yi_the
Principle of Honour and Duty_which may thus be called: A Code of Honour.
In this State religion Confucius taught that the only true, rational,
permanent and absolute basis, not only of a State, but of all Society and
civilisation, is this law of the gentleman, the sense of honour in man. Now you,
all of you, even those who believe that there is no morality in politics_all of
you, I think, know and will admit the importance of this sense of honour in men
in human society. But I am not quite sure that all of you are aware of the
absolute necessity of this sense of honour in men for the carrying on of every
form of human society; in fact, as the proverb which says: "There must be honour
even among thieves, " show_even for the carrying on of a society of thieves.
Without the sense of honour in men, all society and civilisation would on the
instant break down and become impossible. Will you allow me to show you how this
is so? Let us take, for example, such a trivial matter as gambling in social
life. Now unless men when they sit down to gamble all recognise and feel
themselves bound by the sense of honour to pay when a certain colour of cards or
dice turns up, gambling would on the instant become impossible. The merchants
again_unless merchants recognise and feel themselves bound by the sense of
honour to fulfil their contracts, all trading would become impossible. But you
will say that the merchant who repudiates his contract can be taken to the
law-court. True, but if there were no law-courts, what then? Besides, the
law-court_how can the law-court make the defaulting merchant fulfil his
contract? By force. In fact, without the sense of honour in men, society can
only be held together for a time by force. But then I think I can show you that
force alone cannot hold society permanently together. The policeman who compels
the merchant to fulfil his contract, uses force. But the lawyer, magistrate or
president of a republic_how does he make the policeman do his duty? You know he
cannot do it by force; but then by what? Either by the sense of honour in the
policemen or by fraud.
In modem times all over the world to-day_and I am sorry to say now also in
China_the lawyer, politician, magistrate and president of a republic make the
policeman do his duty by fraud. In modem times the lawyer, politician,
magistrate and president of a republic tell the policeman that he must do his
duty, because it is for the good of society and for the good of his country; and
that the good of society means that he, the policeman, can get his pay
regularly, without which he and his family would die of starvation. The lawyer,
politician or president of a republic who tells the policeman this, I say, zises
fraud. I say it is fraud, because the good of the country, which for the
policeman means fifteen shillings a week, which barely keeps him and his family
from starvation, means for the lawyer, politician, magistrate and president of a
republic ten to twenty thousand pounds a year, with a fine house, electric
light, motor cars and all the comforts and luxuries which the life blood labour
of ten thousands of men has to supply him. I say it is fraud because without the
recognition of a sense of honour_the sense of honour which makes the gambler pay
the last penny in his pocket to the player who wins from him, without this sense
of honour, all transfer and possession of property which makes the inequality of
the rich and poor in society, as well as the transfer of money on a gambling
table, has no justification whatever and no binding force. Thus the lawyer,
politician, magistrate or president of a republic, although they talk of the
good of society and the good of the country, really depend upon the policeman' s
unconscious sense of honour which not only makes him do his duty, but also makes
him respect the right of property and be satisfied with fifteen shillings a
week, while the lawyer, politician and president of a republic receive an income
of twenty thousand pounds a year. I, therefore, say it is fraud because while
they thus demand the sense of honour from the policeman; they, the lawyer,
politician, magistrate and president of a republic in modem society believe,
openly say and act on the principle that there is no morality, no sense of
honour in politics.
You will remember what Carlyle, I told you, said_that the right of a king to
govern us is either a divine right or a diabolic wrong. Now this fraud of the
modern lawyer, politician, magistrate and president of a republic is what
Carlyle calls a diabolic wrong. It is this fraud, this Jesuitism of the public
men in modem society, who say and act on the principle that there is no
morality, no sense of honour in politics and yet plausibly talk of the good of
society and the good of the country; it is this Jesuitism which, as Carlyle
says, gives rise to "the widespread suffering, mutiny, delirium, the hot rage of
sansculottic insurrections, the cold rage of resuscitated tyrannies, brutal
degradation of the millions, the pampered frivolity of the units" which we see
in modern society to-day. In short, it is this combination of fraud and force,
Jesuitism and Militarism, lawyer and policeman, which has produced Anarchists
and Anarchism in modem society, this combination of force and fraud outraging
the moral sense in man and producing madness which makes the Anarchist throw
bomb and dynamite against the lawyer, politician, magistrate and president of a
republic.
In fact, a society without the sense of honour in men, and without morality
in its politics, cannot, I say, be held together, or at any rate, cannot last.
For in such a society the policeman, upon whom the lawyer, politician,
magistrate and president of a republic depend to carry out their fraud, will
thus argue with himself. He is told that he must do his duty for the good of
society. But he, the poor policeman, is also a part of that society_to himself
and his family, at least, the most important part of that society. Now if by
some other way than by being a policeman, perhaps by being an anti-policeman, he
can get better pay to improve the condition of himself and his family, that also
means the good of society. In that way the policeman must sooner or later come
to the conclusion that, as there is .no such thing as a sense of honour and
morality in politics, there is then no earthly reason why, if he can get better
pay, which means also the good of society_no reason why, instead of being a
policeman, he should not become a revolutionist or anarchist- In a society when
the policeman once comes to the conclusion that there is no reason why, if he
can get better pay, he should not become a revolutionist or anarchist_that
society is doomed. Mencius said:_"When Confucius completed his Spring and Autumn
Annals"_the book in which he taught the State religion of his _and in which he
showed that the society of his time_in which there was then, as in the world
to-day, no sense of honour in public men and no morality in politics_was doomed;
when Confucius wrote that book, "the Jesuits and anarchists (lit. bandits) of
his time, became afraid."
But to return from the digression, I say, a society without the sense of
honour cannot be held together, cannot last. For if, as we have seen, even in
the relation between men connected with matters of little or no vital importance
such as gambling and trading in human society, the recognition of the sense of
honour is so important and necessary, how much more so it must be in the
relations between men in human society, which establish the two most essential
institutions in that society, the Family and the State. Now, as you all know,
the rise of civil society in the history of all nations begins always with the
institution of marriage. The Church religion in Europe makes marriage a
sacrament, i.e.,something sacred and inviolable. The sanction for the sacrament
of marriage in Europe is given by the Church and the authority for the sanction
is God. But that is only an outward, formal, or so to speak, legal sanction. The
true, inner, the really binding sanction for the inviolability of marriage_as we
see it in countries where there is no church religion, is the sense of honour,
the law of the gentleman in the man and woman. Confucius says, "The recognition
of the law of the gentleman begins with the recognition of the relation between
husband and wife. "** In other words, the recognition of the sense of honour_the
law of the gentleman_in all countries where there is civil society, establishes
the institution of marriage. The institution of marriage establishes the Family.
I said that the State religion which Confucius taught is a Code of Honour,
and I told you that Confucius made this Code out of the law of the gentleman.
But now I must tell you that long before Confucius' time there existed already
in China an undefined and unwritten code of the law of the gentleman. This
undefined and unwritten code of the law of the gentleman in China before
Confucius' time was known as li (U) the law of propriety, good taste or good
manners. Later on in history before Confucius' time a great statesman arose in
China_the man known as the great Law-giver of China, generally spoken of as the
Duke of Chou (^^_) (B.C. )_who first defined, fixed, and made a written code of
the law of the gentleman, known then in China as li, the law of propriety, good
taste or good manners. This first written code of the gentleman in China, made
by the Duke of Chou, became known as Chou li_the laws of good manners of the
Duke of Chou. This Code of the laws of good manners of the Duke of Chou may be
consideral as the pre-Confucian religion in China, or, as the Mosaic law of the
Jewish nation before Christianity is called, the Religion of the Old
Dispensation of the Chinese people. It was this religion of the old
dispensation_the first written code of the law of the gentleman called the Laws
of good manners of the Duke of Chou_which first gave the sanction for the
sacrament and inviolability of marriage in China. The Chinese to this day
therefore speak of the sacrament of marriage as Chou Kung Chih Li (J^^-^l^L)_the
law of good manners of the Duke of Chou. By the institution of the sacrament of
marriage, the pre-Confucian or Religion of the Old Dispensation in China
established the Family. It secured once for all the stability and permanence of
the family in China. This pre-Confucian or Religion of the Old Dispensation
known as the laws of good manners of the Duke of Chou in China might thus be
called a Family religion as distinguished from the State religion which
Confucius afterwards taught.
Now Confucius in the State religion which he taught, gave a new Dispensation,
so to speak, to what I have called the Family religion which existed before his
time. In other words, Confucius gave a new, wider and more comprehensive
application to the law of the gentleman in the State religion which he taught;
and as the Family religion, or Religion of the Old Dispensation in China before
his time instituted the sacrament of marriage, Confucius, in giving this new,
wider, and more comprehensive application to the law of the gentleman in the
State religion which he taught, instituted a new sacrament. This new sacrament
which Confucius instituted, instead of calling it li_the Law of good manners, he
called it ming fen to. yi, which I have translated as the Great Principle of
Honour and Duty or Code of Honour. By the institution of this ming fen to. yi or
Code of Honour Confucius gave the Chinese people, instead of a Family religion,
which they had before_a State religion.
Confucius, in the State religion which he now gave, taught that, as under the
old dispensation of what I have called the Family religion before his time, the
wife and husband in a family are bound by the sacrament of marriage, called Chou
Kung Chih Li, the Law of good manners of the Duke of Chou_to hold their contract
of marriage inviolable and to absolutely abide by it, so under the new
dispensation of the State religion which he now gave, the people and their
sovereign in every Slate, the Chinese people and their Emperor in China, are
bound by this new sacrament called ming fen to. yi_ the Great Principle of
Honour and Duty or Code of Honour established by this State religion_to hold the
contract of allegiance between them as something sacred and inviolable and
absolutely to abide by it. In short, this new sacrament called ming fen to. yi,
or Code of Honour which Confucius instituted, is a Sacrament of the Contract of
Allegiance, as the old sacrament called Chou Kung Chih Li, the Law of Good
Manners of the Duke of Chou which was instituted before his time, is a sacrament
of marriage. In this way Confucius, as I said, gave a new, wider, and more
comprehensive application to the law of the gentleman, and thus gave a new
dispensation to what I have called the Family religion in China before his time,
and made it a State religion.
In other words, this State religion of Confucius makes a sacrament of the
contract of allegiance as the Family Religion in China before his time, makes a
sacrament of the contract of marriage. As by the sacrament of marriage
established by the Family Religion the wife is bound to be absolutely loyal to
her husband, so by ihis sacrament of the contract of allegiance called ming fen
ta yi, or Code of Honour established by the State religion taught by Confucius
in China, the people of China are bound to be absolutely loyal to the Emperor.
This sacrament of the contract of allegiance in the State religion taught by
Confucius in China might thus be called the Sacrament or Religion of Loyalty.
You will remember what I said to you that Confucius in a way taught the Divine
right of kings. But instead of saying that Confucius taught the Divine right of
kings I should properly have said that Confucius taught the Divine duty of
Loyalty. This Divine or absolute duty of loyalty to the Emperor in China which
Confucius taught derives its sanction, not as the theory of the Divine right of
kings in Europe derives its sanction from the authority of a supernatural Being
called God or from some abstruse philosophy, but from the law of the
gentleman_the sense of honour in man, the same sense of honour which in all
countries makes the wife loyal to her husband. In fact, the absolute duty of
loyalty of the Chinese people to the Emperor which Confucius taught, derives its
sanction from the same simple sense of honour which makes the merchant keep his
word and fulfil his contract, and the gambler play the game and pay his gambling
debt.
Now, as what I have called the Family religion, the religion, the religion of
the old dispensation in China and the Church religion in all countries, by the
institution of the sacrament and inviolability of marriage establishes the
Family, so what I have called the State religion in China which Confucius
taught, by the institution of this new sacrament of the contract of allegiance,
establishes the State. If you will consider what a great service the man who
first instituted the sacrament and established the inviolability of marriage in
the world has done for humanity and the cause of civilisation, you will then, I
think, understand what a great work this is which Confucius did when he
instituted this new sacrament and established the inviolability of the contract
of allegiance. The institution of the sacrament of marriage secures the
stability and permanence of the Family, without which the human race would
become extinct. The institution of this sacrament of the contract of allegiance
secures the stability and permanence of the State, without which human society
and civilisation would all be destroyed and mankind would return to the state of
savages or animals. I therefore said to you that the greatest thing which
Confucius has done for the Chinese people is that he gave them the true idea of
a State_a true, rational, permanent, and absolute basis of a State, and in
giving them that, he made it a religion, _a State religion.
Confucius taught this State religion in a book which, as I told you, he wrote
in the very last days of his life, a book to which he gave the name of Spring
and Autumn. In this book Confucius first instituted the new sacrament of the
contract of allegiance called ming fen ta yi, or the Code of Honour. This
sacrament is therefore often and generally spoken of as Chun Chiu ming fen to.
yi (^i-^.^^^. JO, or simply Chun Chiu ta yi_(^^C^CjiC) i. e., the Great
Principle of Honour and Duty of the Spring and Autumn Annals, or simply the
Great Principle or Code of the Spring and Autumn Annals. This book in which
Confucius taught the Divine duty of loyalty is the Magna Charta of the Chinese
nation. It contains the sacred covenant, the sacred social contract by which
Confucius bound the whole Chinese people and nation to be absolutely loyal to
the Emperor, and this covenant or sacrament, this Code of Honour, is the one and
only true Constitution not only of the State and Government in China, but also
of the Chinese civilisation. Confucius said it is by this book that after ages
would know him_know what he had done for the world.
I am afraid I have exhausted your patience in taking such a very long way to
come to the point of what I want to say. But now we have got to the point where
I last left you. You will remember I said that the reason why the mass of
mankind will always feel the need of religion_I mean religion in the European
sense of the word_is because religion gives them a refuge, one refuge, the
belief in an all powerful Being called God in which they can find a sense of
permanence in their existence. But I said that the system of philosophy and
morality which Confucius taught, known as Confucianism, can take the place of
religion, can make men, even the mass of mankind do without religion. Therefore,
there must be, I said, something in Confucianism which can give to men, to the
mass of mankind, the same sense of security and sense of permanence which
religion gives. Now, I think we have found this something. This something is the
Divine duty of loyalty to the Emperor taught by Confucius in the State religion
which he has given to the Chinese nation.
Now, this absolute Divine duty of loyalty to the Emperor of every man, woman,
and child in the whole Chinese Empire gives, as you can understand, in the minds
of the Chinese population, an absolute, supreme, transcendent, almighty power to
the Emperor; and this belief in the absolute, supreme, transcendent, almighty
power of the Emperor it is which gives to the Chinese people, to the mass of the
population in China, the same sense of security which the belief in God in
religion gives to the mass of mankind in other countries. The belief in the
absolute, supreme, transcendent, almighty power of the Emperor also secures in
the minds of the Chinese population the absolute stability and permanence of the
State. This absolute stability and permanence of the State again secures the
infinite continuance and lastingness of society. This infinite continuance and
lasting-ness of society finally secures in the minds of the Chinese population
the immortality of the race. Thus it is this belief in the immortality of the
race, derived from the belief in the almighty power of the Emperor given to him
by the Divine duty of loyalty, which gives to the Chinese people, the mass of
the population in China, the same sense of permanence in their existence which
the belief in a future life of religion gives to the mass of mankind in other
countries.
Again, as the absolute Divine duty of loyalty taught by Confucius secures the
immortality of the race in the nation, so the cult of ancestor-worship taught in
Confucianism secures the immortality of the race in the family. Indeed, the cult
of ancestorworship in China is not founded much on the belief in a future life
as in the belief of the immortality of the race. A Chinese, when he dies, is not
consoled by the belief that he will live a life hereafter, but by the belief
that his children, grandchildren, great-grand-children, all those dearest to
him, will remember him, think of him, love him, to the end of time, and in that
way, in his imagination, dying, to a Chinese, is like going on a long, long
journey, if not with the hope, at least with a great "perhaps" of meeting again.
Thus this cult of ancestor-worship, together with the Divine duty of loyalty, in
Confucianism gives to the Chinese people the same sense of permanence in their
existence while they live and the same consolation when they die which the
belief in a future life in religion gives to the mass of mankind in other
countries. It is for his reason that the Chinese people attach the same
importance to this cult of ancestor-worship as they do to the principle of the
Divine duty of loyalty to the Emperor. Mencius said: "Of the three great sins
against filial piety the greatest is to have no posterity." Thus the whole
system of teaching of Confucius which I have called the State religion in China
consists really only of two things, loyalty to the Emperor and filial piety to
parents_in Chinese, Chung Hsiao. Intact, the three Articles of Faith, called in
Chinese the san kang, three cardinal duties in Con-fucianism or the State
religion of China, are, in their order of importance_first, absolute duty of
loyalty to the Emperor; second, filial piety and ancestor-worship; third,
inviolability of marriage and absolute submission of the wife to the husband.
The last two of the three Articles were already in what I have called the Family
religion, or religion of the old dispensation in China before Confucius' time;
but the first Article_absolute duty of loyalty to the Emperoi_was first taught
by Confucius and laid down by him in the State religion or religion of the new
dispensation which he gave to the Chinese nation. This first Article of
Faith_absolute duty of loyalty to the Emperoi_ in Confucianism takes the place
and is the equivalent of the First Article of Faith in all religions_the belief
in God. It is because Confucianism has this equivalent for the belief in God of
religion that Confucianism, as I have shown you, can take the place of religion,
and the Chinese people, even the mass of the population in China, do not feel
the need of religion.
But now you will ask me how without a belief in God which religion teaches,
how can one make men, make the mass of mankind, follow and obey the moral rule
which Confucius teaches, the absolute duty of loyalty to the Emperor, as you can
by the authority of God which the belief in God gives, make men follow and obey
moral rules given by religion? Before I answer your question, will you allow me
first to point out to you a great mistake which people make in believing that it
is the sanction given by the authority of God which makes men obey the rules of
moral conduct. I told you that the sanction for the sacrament and inviolability
of marriage in Europe is given by the
Church, and the authority for the sanction, the Church says, is from God. But
I said that was only an outward formal sanction. The real true inner sanction
for the inviolability of marriage as we see it in all countries where there is
no Church religion, is the sense of honour, the law of the gentleman in the man
and woman. Thus the real authority for the obligation to obey rules of moral
conduct is the moral sense, the law of the gentleman, in man. The belief in God
is, therefore, not necessary to make men obey rules of moral conduct.
It is this fact which has made sceptics like Voltaire and Tom Paine in the
last century, and rationalists like Sir Hiram Maxim today, say, that the belief
in God is a fraud or imposture invented by the founders of religion and kept up
by priests. But that is a gross and preposterous libel. All great men, all men
with great intellect, have all always believed in God. Confucius also believed
in God, although he seldom spoke of it. Even Napoleon with his great, practical
intellect believed in God. As the Psalmist says: "Only the fool_the man with a
vulgar and shallow intellect_has said in his heart, ' There is no God. '" But
the belief in God of man of great intellect is different from the belief in God
of the mass of mankind. The belief in God of men of great intellect is that of
Spinoza: a belief in the Divine Order of the Universe. Confucius said: "At fifty
I knew the Ordinance of God" * _i.e., the Divine Order of the Universe. Men of
great intellect have given different names to this Divine Order of the Universe.
The German Fichte calls it the Divine idea of the Universe. In philosophical
language in China it is called Tao_the Way. But whatever name men of great
intellect may give to this Divine Order of the Universe, it is the knowledge of
this Divine Order of the Universe which makes men of great intellect see the
absolute necessity of obeying rules of moral conduct or moral laws which form
part of that Divine
Order of the Universe.
Thus, although the belief in God is not necessary to make men obey the rules
of moral conduct, yet the belief in God is necessary to make men see the
absolute necessity of obeying these rules. It is the knowledge of the absolute
necessity of obeying the rules of moral conduct which enables and makes all men
of great intellect follow and obey those rules. Confucius says: "A man without a
knowledge of the Ordinance of God, i.e., the Divine Order of the Universe, will
not be able to be a gentleman or moral man."* But then, the mass of mankind, who
have not great intellect, cannot follow the reasoning which leads men of great
intellect to the knowledge of the Divine Order of the Universe and cannot
therefore understand the absolute necessity of obeying moral laws. Indeed, as
Matthew Arnold says:
"Moral rules, apprehended as ideas first, and then rigorously followed as
laws are and must be for the sage only. The mass of mankind have neither force
of intellect enough to apprehend them as ideas nor force of character enough to
follow them strictly as laws. " It is for this reason that the philosophy and
morality taught by Plato, Aristotle and Herbert Spencer have a value only for
scholars.
But the value of religion is that it enables men, enables and can make even
the mass of mankind who have not force of intellect nor force of character, to
strictly follow and obey the rules of moral conduct . But then how and by what
means does religion enable and make men do this? People imagine that religion
enables and makes men obey the rules of moral conduct by teaching men the belief
in God. But that, as I have shown you, is a great mistake. The one and sole
authority which makes men really obey moral laws or rules of moral conduct is
the moral sense, the law of the gentleman in them. Confucius said: "A moral law
which is outside of man is not a moral law.
Even Christ in teaching His religion says: "The Kingdom of God is within
you." I say, therefore, the idea which people have that religion makes men obey
the rules of moral conduct by means of teaching them the belief in God is a
mistake. Martin Luther says admirably in his commentary on the Book of Daniel:
"A God is simply that where-on the human heart rests with trust, faith, hope and
love. If the resting is right, then the God, too, is right; if the resting is
wrong, then the God, too, is illusory. " This belief in God taught by religion
is, therefore, only a resting, or, as I call it, a refuge. But then Luther says:
"The resting, i.e. the belief in God, must be true, otherwise the resting, the
belief, is illusory. In other words, the belief in God must be a true knowledge
of God, a real knowledge of the Divine Order of the Universe, which, as we know,
only men of great intellect can attain and which the mass of mankind cannot
attain. Thus you see the belief in God taught by religion, which people imagine
enables the mass of mankind to follow and obey the rules of moral conduct, is
illusory. Men rightly call this belief in God_in the Divine Order of the
Universe taught by religion_a faith, a trust, or, as I called it, a refuge.
Nevertheless, this refuge, the belief in God, taught by religion, although
illusory, an illusion, helps towards enabling men to obey the rules of moral
conduct, for, as I said, the belief in God gives to men, to the mass of mankind,
a sense of security and a sense of permanence in their existence. Goethe says:
"Piety, (From-migkeit) i.e., the belief in God, taught by religion, is not an
end in itself but only a means by which, through the complete and perfect
calmness of mind and temper (Gemuethsruehe) which it gives, to attain the
highest state of culture or human perfection." In other words, the belief in God
taught by religion, by giving men a sense of security and a sense of permanence
in their existence, calms them, gives them the necessary calmness of mind and
temper to feel the law of the gentleman or moral sense in them, which, I say
again, is the one and sole authority to make men really obey the rules of moral
conduct or moral laws.
But if the belief in God taught by religion only helps to make men obey the
rules of moral conduct, what is it then upon which Religion depends principally
to make men, to make the mass of mankind, obey the rules of moral conduct? It is
inspiration. Matthew Arnold truly says: "The noblest souls of whatever creed,
the pagan Empedocles as well as the Christian Paul, have insisted on the
necessity of inspiration, a living emotion to make moral actions perfect." Now
what is this inspiration or living emotion in Religion, the paramount virtue of
Religion upon which, as I said. Religion principally depends to make men, to
enable and make even the mass of mankind obey the rules of moral conduct or
moral laws?
You will remember I told you that the whole system of the teachings of
Confucius may be summed up in one word; the Law of the Gentleman, the nearest
equivalent for which in the European languages, I said, is moral law. Confucius
calls this law of the gentleman a secret. * Confucius says: "The law of the
gentleman is to be found everywhere, and yet it is a secret. " Nevertheless
Confucius says:
"The simple intelligence of ordinary men and women of the people even can
know something of this secret. The ignoble nature of ordinary men and women of
the people, too, can carry out this law of the gentleman. " For this reason
Goethe, who also knew this secret_the law of the gentleman of Confucius, called
it an "open secret. "Now where and how did mankind come to discover this secret?
Confucuis said, you will remember, I told you that the recognition of the law of
the gentleman began with the recognition of the relation of husband and wife_the
true relation between a man and woman in marriage. Thus the secret, the open
secret of Goethe, the law of the gentleman of Confucius, was first discovered by
a man and woman. But now, a-gain, how did the man and the woman discover this
secret_the law of the gentleman of Confucius?
I told you that the nearest equivalent in the European languages for the law
of the gentleman of Confucius, is moral law. Now what is the difference between
the law of the gentleman of Confucius and moral law_I mean the moral law or law
of morality of the philosopher and moralist as distinguished from religion or
law of morality taught by religious teachers. In order to understand this
difference between the law of the gentleman of Confucius and the moral law of
the philosopher and moralist, let us first find out the difference that there is
between religion and the moral law of the philosopher and moralist. Confucius
says: "The Ordinance of God is what we call the law of our being. To fulfil the
law of our being is what we call the Moral Law. The Moral Law when refined and
put into proper order is what we call Religion. " * Thus, according to
Confucius, the difference between Religion and moral law_the moral law of the
philosopher and moralist_is that Religion is a refined and well ordered moral
law, a deeper or higher standard of moral law.
The moral law of the philosopher tells us we must obey the law of our being
called Reason. But Reason, as it is generally understood, means our reasoning
power, that slow process of mind or intellect which enables us to distinguish
and recognise the definable properties and qualities of the outward forms of _
things. Reason, our reasoning power, therefore, enables us to see in moral
relations only the definable properties and qualities, the mores, the morality,
as it is rightly called, the outward manner and dead form, the body, so to
speak, of right and wrong, or justice. Reason, our reasoning power alone, cannot
make us see the undefinable, living, absolute essence of right and wrong, or
justice, the life or soul, so to speak, of justice. For this reason Laotzu says:
"The moral law that can be expressed in language is not the absolute moral law.
The moral idea that can be defined with words is not the absolute moral idea. "
* The moral law of the moralist again tells us we must obey the law of our
being, called Conscience, i.e., our heart. But then, as the Wise Man in the
Hebrew Bible says, there are many devices in a man's heart. Therefore, when we
take Conscience, our heart, as the law of our being and obey it, we are liable
and apt to obey, not the voice of what I have called the soul of justice, the
indefinable absolute essence of justice, but the many devices in a man' s heart.
In other words Religion tells us in obeying the law of our being we must obey
the true law of our being, not the animal or carnal law of our being called by
St. Paul the law of the mind of the flesh, and very well defined by the famous
disciple of Auguste Comte, Monsieur Littre, as the law of self preservation and
reproduction; but the true law of our being called by St. Paul the law of the
mind of the Spirit, and defined by Confucius as the law of the gentleman. In
short, this true law of our being, which Religion tells us to obey, is what
Christ calls the Kingdom of God within us. Thus we see, as Confucius says.
Religion is a refined, spiritualized, well-ordered moral law, a deeper higher
standard of moral law than the moral law of the philosopher and moralist.
Therefore, Christ said: "Except your righteousness (or morality) exceed the
righteousness (or morality) of the Scribes and Pharisees (ie., philosopher and
moralist) ye shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. "
Now, like Religion, the law of the gentleman of Confucius is'also a refined,
well-ordered moral law_a deeper higher standard of moral law than the moral law
of the philosopher and moralist. The moral law of the philosopher and moralist
tells us we must obey the law of our being called by the philosopher, Reason,
and by the moralist, Conscience. But, like Religion, the law of the gentleman of
Confucius tells us we must obey the true law of our being, not the law of being
of the average man in the street or of the vulgar and impure person, but the law
of being of what Emerson calls "the simplest and purest minds" in the world. In
fact, in order to know what the law of being of the gentleman is, we must first
be a gentleman and have, in the words of Emerson, the simple and pure mind of
the gentleman developed in him. For this reason Confucius says: "It is the man
that can raise the standard of the moral law, and not the moral law that can
raise the standard of the man. " *
Nevertheless Confucius says we can know what the law of the gentleman is, if
we will study and try to acquire the fine feeling or good taste of the
gentleman. The word in Chinese li (U) for good taste in the teaching of
Confucius has been variously translated as ceremony, propriety, and good
manners, but the word means really good taste. Now? this good taste, the fine
feeling and good taste of a gentleman, when applied to moral action, is what, in
European language, is called the sense of honour. In fact, the law of the
gentleman of Confucius is nothing else but the sense of honour. This sense of
honour, called by Confucius the law of the gentleman, is not like the moral law
of the philosopher and moralist, a dry, dead knowledge of the form or formula of
right and wrong, but like the Righteousness of the Bible in Christianity, an
instinctive, living, vivid perception of the indefinable, absolute essence of
right and wrong or justice, the life and soul of justice called Honour.
Now, we can answer the question: How did the man and woman who first
recognised the relation of husband and wife, discover the secret, the secret of
Goethe, the law of the gentleman of Confucius? The man and woman who discovered
this secret, discovered it because they had the fine feeling, the good taste of
the gentleman, called when applied to moral action the sense of honour, which
made them see the undefinable, absolute essence of right and wrong or justice,
the life and soul of justice called Honour. But then what gave, what inspired
the man and woman to have this fine feeling, this good taste or sense of honour
which made them see the soul of justice called Honour? This beautiful sentence
of Joubert will explain it. Joubert says: "Les hommes no sont justes qu' envers
ceux qu' ils aiment. Man cannot be truly just to his neighbour unless he loves
him. Therefore the inspiration which made the man and woman see what Joubert
calls true justice, the soul of justice called Honour, and thus enable them to
discover the secret_the open secret of Goethe, the law of the gentleman of
Coufucius _is Love_the love between the man and the woman which gave birth, so
to speak, to the law of the gentleman; that secret, the possession of which has
enabled mankind not only to build up society and civilisation, but also to
establish religion_to find God. You can now understand Goethe's confession of
faith which he puts into the mouth of Faust, beginning with the words:
Lifts not the Heaven its dome above? Doth not the firm-set Earth beneath us
lie?
Now, I told you that it is not the belief in God taught by religion, which
makes men obey the rules of moral conduct. What really makes men obey the rules
of moral conduct is the law of the gentleman_the Kingdom of Heaven within us_to
which religion appeals. Therefore the law of the gentleman is really the life of
religion, whereas the belief in God together with the rules of moral conduct
which religion teaches, is only the body, so to speak, of religion. But if the
life of religion is the law of the gentleman, the soul of religion, the source
of inspiration in religion, _is Love. This love does not merely mean the love
between a man and a woman from whom mankind only first learn to know it. Love
includes all true human affection, the feelings of affection between parents and
children as well as the emotion of love and kindness, pity, compassion, mercy
towards all creatures; in fact, all true human emotions contained in that
Chinese word Jen('\~H), for which the nearest equivalent in the European
languages is, in the old dialect of Christianity, godliness, because it is the
most godlike quality in man, and in modern dialect, humanity, love of humanity,
or, in one word, love. In short, the soul of religion, the source of inspiration
in religion is this Chinese word Jen, love_or call it by what name you
like_which first came into the world as love between a man and a woman. This,
then, is the inspiration in religion, the paramount virtue in religion, upon
which religion, as I said, depends principally to make men, to enable and make
even the mass of mankind obey the rules of moral conduct or moral laws which
form part of the Divine Order of the universe. Confucius says: "The law of the
gentleman begins with the recognition of husband and wife; but in its utmost
reaches, it reigns and rules supreme over heaven and earth_the whole universe. "
We have now found the inspiration, the living emotion that is in religion.
But this inspiration or living emotion in religion is found not only in
religion_I mean Church religion. This inspiration or living e-motion is known to
everyone who has ever felt an impulse which makes him obey the rules of moral
conduct above all considerations of self-interest or fear. In fact, this
inspiration or living emotion that is in religion is found in every action of
men which is not prompted by the base motive of self-interest or fear, but by
the sense of duty and honour. This inspiration or living emotion in religion, I
say, is found not only in religion. But the value of religion is that the words
of the rules of moral conduct which the founders of all great religions have
left behind them have, what the rules of morality of philosophers and moralists
have not, this inspiration or living emotion which, as Matthew Arnold says,
lights up those rules and makes it easy for men to obey them. But this
inspiration or living emotion in the words of the rules of conduct of religion
again is found not only in religion. All the words of really great men in
literature, especially poets, have also this inspiration or living emotion that
is in religion. The words of Goethe, for instance, which I have just quoted,
have also this inspiration or living emotion. But the words of great men in
literature, unfortunately, cannot reach the mass of mankind because all great
men in literature speak the language of educated men, which the mass of mankind
cannot understand. The founders of all the great religions in the world have
this advantage, that they were mostly uneducated men, and, speaking the simple
language of uneducated men, can make the mass of mankind understand them. The
real value, therefore, of religion, the real value of all the great religions in
the world, is that it can convey the inspiration or living emotion which it
contains even to the mass of mankind. In order to understand how this
inspiration or living emotion came into religion, into all the great religions
of the world, let us find out how these religions came into the world.
Now, the founders of all the great religions in the world, as we know, were
all of them men of exceptionally or even abnormally strong emotional nature.
This abnormally strong emotional nature made them feel intensely the emotion of
love or human affection, which, as I have said, is the source of the inspiration
in religion, the soul of religion. This intense feeling or emotion of love or
human affection enabled them to see what I have called the indefinable, absolute
essence of right and wrong or justice, the soul of justice which they called
righteousness, and this vivid perception of the absolute essence of justice
enabled them to see the unity of the laws of right and wrong or moral laws. As
they were men of exceptionally strong e-motional nature, they had a powerful
imagination, which unconsciously personified this unity of moral laws as an
almighty supernatural Being. To this supernatural almighty Being, the
personified unity of moral laws of their imagination, they gave the name of God,
from whom they also believed that the intense feeling or emotion of love or
human affection, which they felt, came. In this way, then, the inspiration or
living emotion that is in religion came into religion; the inspiration that
lights up the rules of moral conduct of religion and supplies the emotion or
motive power needful for carrying the mass of mankind, along the straight and
narrow way of moral conduct. But now the value of religion is not only that it
has an inspiration or living emotion in its rules of moral conduct which lights
up these rules and makes it easy for men to obey them. The value of religion, of
all the great religions in the world, is that they have an organisation for
awakening, exciting, and kindling the inspiration or living emotion in men
necessary to make them obey the rules of moral conduct. This organisation in all
the great religions of the world is called the Church.
The Church, many people believe, is founded to teach men the belief in God.
But that is a great mistake. It is this great mistake of the Christian Churches
in modern times which has made honest men like the late Mr.J.A. Froude feel
disgusted with the modern Christian Churches. Mr. Froude says: "Many a hundred
sermons have I heard in England on the mysteries of the faith, on the divine
mission of the clergy, on apostolic succession, etc., but never one that I can
recollect on common honesty, on those primitive commandments, 'Thou shalt not
lie' and 'Thou shalt not steal. '" But then, with all deference to Mr. Froude, I
think he is also wrong when he says here that the Church, the Christian Church,
ought to teach morality. The aim of the establishment of the Church no doubt is
to make men moral, to make men obey the rules of moral conduct such as " Thou
shalt not lie" and "Thou shalt not steal." But the function, the true function
of the Church in all the great religions of the world, is not to teach morality,
but to teach religion, which, as I have shown you, is not a dead square rule
such as "Thou shalt not lie" and" Thou shalt not steal," but an inspiration, a
living emotion to make men obey those rules. The true function of the Church,
therefore, is not to teach morality, but to inspire morality, to inspire men to
be moral; in fact, to inspire and fire men with a living emotion which makes
them moral. In other words, the Church in all the great religions of the world
is an organisation, as I said, for awakening and kindling an inspiration or
living emotion in men necessary to make them obey the rules of moral conduct.
But how does the Church awaken and kindle this inspiration in men?
Now, as we all know, the founders of all the great religions of the world not
only gave an inspiration or living emotion to the rules of moral conduct which
they taught, but they also inspired their immediate disciples with a feeling and
emotion of unbounded admiration, love, and enthusiasm for their person and
character. When the great teachers died, their immediate disciples, in order to
keep up the feeling and emotion of unbounded admiration, love, and enthusiasm
which they felt for their teacher, founded a Church. That, as we know, was the
origin of the Church in all the great religions of the world. The Church thus
awakens and kindles the inspiration or living emotion in men necessary to make
them obey the rules of moral conduct, by keeping up, exciting and arousing, the
feeling and emotion of unbounded admiration, love, and enthusiasm for the person
and character of the first Teacher and Founder of religion which the immediate
disciples originally felt. Men rightly call not only the belief in God, but the
belief in religion a faith, a trust; but a trust in whom? In the first teacher
and founder of their religion who, in Mo-hammedanism is called the Prophet and
in Christianity the Mediator. If you ask a conscientious Mohammedan why he
believes in God and obeys the rules of moral conduct, he will rightly answer you
that he does it because he believes in Mohammed the Prophet. If you ask a
conscientious Christian why he believes in God and obeys the rules of moral
conduct, he will rightly answer you that he does it because he loves Christ.
Thus you see the belief in Mohammed, the love of Christ, in fact the feeling and
emotion, as I said of unbounded admiration, love, and enthusiasm for the first
Teacher and Founder of religion which it is the function of the Church to keep
up, excite and arouse in men_is the source of inspiration, the real power in all
the great religions of the world by which they are able to make men, to make the
mass of mankind obey the rules of moral conduct.
I have been a long way, but now I can answer the question which you asked me
awhile ago. You asked me, you will remember, how without a belief in God which
religion teaches_how can one make men, make the mass of mankind, follow and obey
the moral rule which Confucius teaches in his State religion_the absolute duty
of loyalty to the Emperor? I have shown you that it is not the belief in God
taught by religion which really makes men obey moral rules or rules of moral
conduct. I showed you that religion is able to make men obey the rules of moral
conduct principally by means of an organisation called the Church which awakens
and kindles in men an inspiration or living emotion necessary to make them to
obey those rules. Now, in answer to your question I am going to tell you that
the system of the teachings of Confucius, called Confucianism, the State
Mencius, speaking of the two purest and most Christlike characters in Chinese
history, said: "When men heard of the spirit and temper of Po-yi and Shu-ch*i,
the dissolute ruffian became unselfish and the cowardly man had courage. "
Mencius Bk. Ill, Part II, IX, religion in China, like the Church religion in
other countries, makes men obey the rules of moral conduct also by means of an
organisation corresponding to the Church of the Church religion in other
countries. This organisation in the State religion of Confucianism in China
is_the school. The school is the Church of the State religion of Confucius in
China. As you know, the same word " chiao" in Chinese for religion is also the
word for education. In fact, as the Church in China is the school, religion to
the Chinese means education, culture. The aim and object of the school in China
is not, as in modern Europe and America to-day, to teach men how to earn a
living, how to make money, but, like the aim and object of the Church religion,
to teach men to understand what Mr. Froude calls the primitive commandment,
"Thou shalt not lie" and" Thou shall not steal" ;in fact, to teach men to be
good. "Whether we provide for action or conversation, " says Dr. Johnson.
"whether we wish to be useful or pleasing, the first requisite is the religious
and moral knowledge of right and wrong; the next, an acquaintance with the
history of mankind and with those examples which may be said to embody truth and
prove by events the reasonableness of opinions. "
But then we have seen that the Church of the Church religion is able to make
men obey the rules of moral conduct by awakening and kindling in men an
inspiration or living emotion, and that it awakens and kindles this inspiration
or living emotion principally by exciting and arousing the feeling and emotion
of unbounded admiration, love, and enthusiasm for the character and person of
the first Teacher and Founder of religion. Now, here there is a difference
between the school_the Church of the State religion of Confucius in China_and
the Church of the Church religion in other countries. The school_ the Church of
the State religion in China_it is true, enables and makes men obey the rules of
moral conduct, also like the Church of the Church religion, by awakening and
kindling in men an inspiration or living emotion. But the means which the school
in China uses to awaken and kindle this inspiration or living emotion in men are
different from those of the Church of the Church religion in other countries.
The school, the Church of the State religion of Confucius in China, does not
awaken and kindle this inspiration or living emotion in men by exciting and
arousing the feeling of unbounded admiration, love, and enthusiasm for
Confucius. Confucius in his lifetime did indeed inspire in his immediate
disciples a feeling and emotion of unbounded admiration, love, and enthusiasm,
and, after his death, has inspired the same feeling and emotion in all great men
who have studied and understood him. But Confucius even while he lived did not
inspire, and, after his death, has not inspired in the mass of mankind the same
feeling and emotion of admiration, love, and enthusiasm which the founders of
all the great religions in the world, as we know, have inspired. The mass of the
population in China do not adore and worship Confucius as the mass of the
population in Mohammedan countries adore and worship Mohammed, or as the mass of
the population in European countries adore and worship Jesus Christ. In this
respect Confucius does not belong to the class of men called founders of a
religion. In order to be a founder of a religion in the European sense of the
word, a man must have an exceptionally or even an abnormally strong emotional
nature. Confucius indeed was descended from a race of kings, the house of Shang,
the dynasty which ruled over China before the dynasty under which Confucius
lived_a race of men who had the strong emotional nature of the Hebrew people.
But Confucius himself lived under the dynasty of the House of Chow_a race of men
who had the fine intellectual nature of the Greeks, a race of whom the Duke of
Chou, the founder, as I told you, of the pre-Confucian religion or religion of
the old dispensation in China was a true representative. Thus Confucius was, if
I may use a comparison, a Hebrew by birth, with the strong emotional nature of
the Hebrew race, who was trained in the best intellectual culture, who had all
that which the best intellectual culture of the civilisation of the Greeks could
give him. In fact, like the great Goethe in modern Europe, the great Goethe whom
the people of Europe will one day recognise as the most perfect type of
humanity, the real European which the civilisation of Europe has produced, as
the Chinese have acknowledged Confucius to be the most perfect type of humanity,
the real Chinaman, which the Chinese civilisation has produced_like the great
Goethe, I say, Confucius was too educated and cultured a man to belong to the
class of men called founders of religion. Indeed, even while he lived Confucius
was not known to be what he was, except by his most intimate and immediate
disciples.
The school in China, I say, the Church of the State religion of Confucius,
does not awaken and kindle the inspiration or living emotion necessary to make
men obey the rules of moral conduct by exciting and arousing the feeling and
emotion of admiration, love, and enthusiasm for Confucius. But then how does the
school in China awaken and kindle the inspiration or living emotion necessary to
make man obey the rules of moral conduct? Confucius says: "In education the
feeling and emotion is aroused by the study of poetry; the judgement is formed
by the study of good taste and good manners; the education of the character is
completed by the study of music. " The school_ the Church of the State religion
in China_awakens and kindles the inspiration or living emotion in men necessary
to make them obey the rules of moral conduct by teaching them poetry_in fact,
the works of all really great men in literature, which, as I told you, has the
inspiration or living emotion that is in the rules of moral conduct of religion.
Matthew Arnold, speaking of Homer and the quality of nobleness in his poetry,
says: "The nobleness in the poetry of Homer and of the few great men in
literature can refine the raw, natural man, can transmute him. " In fact,
whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are
pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if
there be any virtue and if there be any praise_the school, the Church of the
State religion in China, makes men think on these things, and in making them
think on these things, awakens and kindles the inspiration or living e-motion
necessary to enable and make them obey the rules of moral conduct.
But then you will remember I told you that the works of really great men in
literature, such as the poetry of Homer, cannot reach the mass of mankind,
because all great men in literature speak the language of educated men which the
mass of mankind cannot understand. Such being the case, how then does the system
of the teachings of Confucius, Confucianism, the State Religion in China, awaken
and kindle in the mass of mankind, in the mass of the population in China, the
inspiration or living emotion necessary to enable and make them obey the rules
of moral conduct? Now, I told you that the organisation in the State Religion of
Confucius in China corresponding to the Church of the Church Religion in other
countries, is the School. But that is not quite correct. The real organisation
in the State Religion of Confucius in China corresponding exactly to the Church
of the Church Religion in other countries is_the Family. The real Church_of
which the School is but an adjunct_the real and true Church of the State
Religion of Confucius in China, is the Family with its ancestral tablet or
chapel in every house, and its ancestral Hall or Temple in every village and
town. I have shown you that the source of inspiration, the real motive power by
which all the great Religions of the world are able to make men, to make the
mass of mankind obey the rules of moral conduct, is the feeling and emotion of
unbounded admiration, love and enthusiasm which it is the function of the Church
to excite and arouse in men for the first Teachers and Founders of those
Religions. Now the source of inspiration, the real motive power by which the
State Religion of Confucius in China is able to make men, to enable and make the
mass of the population in China obey the rules of moral conduct is the " Love
for their father and mother." The Church of the Church Religion, Christianity,
says: "Love Christ." The Church of the State Religion of Confucius in China_the
ancestral tablet in every family_says "Love your father and your mother. " St.
Paul says:_"Let every man that names the name of Christ depart from iniquity. "
But the author of the book on Filial Piety(^^), written in the Han dynasty, the
counterpart of the lm.ita.tio Christi in China, says: "Let everyone who loves
his father and mother depart from iniquity. " In short, as the essence, the
motive power, the source of real inspiration of the Church religion,
Christianity, is the Love of Christ, so the essence, the motive power, the
source of real inspiration of the State Religion, Confucianism in China, is the
"Love of father and mother"_ Filial Piety, with its cult of ancestor worship.
Confucius says: "To gather in the same place where our fathers before us have
gathered; to perform the same ceremonies which they before us have performed; to
play the same music which they before us have played: to pay respect to those
whom they honoured; to love those who were dear to them; in fact, to serve them
now dead as if they were living, and now departed, as if they were still with
us, that is the highest achievement of Filial Piety." Confucius, further
says:_"By cultivating respect for the dead, and carrying the memory back to the
distant past, the good in the people will grow deep. " Cogitavi dies antiques,
et annos eternos in menti habui. That is how the State Religion in China,
Confucianism, awakens and kindles in men, the inspiration or living emotion
necessary to enable and make them obey the rules of moral conduct, the highest
and most important of all these rules being the absolute Duty of Loyalty to the
Emperor, just as the highest and most important rules of moral conduct in all
the Great Religions of the world is fear of God. In other words, the Church
Religion, Christianity, says:_"Fear God and obey Him." But the State Religion of
Confucius, or Confucianism, says:_"Honour the Emperor and be loyal to him. " The
Church Religion, Christianity, says:_"If you want to fear God and obey Him, you
must first love Christ. " The State Religion of Confucius, or Confucianism,
say:_"If you want to honour the Emperor and be loyal to him, you must first love
your father and mother. "
Now I have shown you why it is that there is no conflict between the heart
and the head in the Chinese civilisation for these last , years since
Confucius'time. The reason why there is no such conflict is because the Chinese
people, even the mass of the population in China, do not feel the need of
Religion_I mean Religion in the European sense of the word; and the reason why
the Chinese people do not feel the need of religion is because the Chinese
people have in Confucianism something which can take the place of Religion. That
something, I have shown you, is the principle of absolute Duty of Loyalty to the
Emperor; the Code of Honour called Ming fen ta yi, which Confucius teaches in
the State Religion which he has