The Needs of Our Age: Chinese and Baha'i Viewpoints

What are the Needs of Our Age?

What are the Needs of Our Age?Some Viewpoints found in Baha’i Writings and in China’s Sacred Literature

Globalization: We live in an increasingly interconnected world.

Material/Scientific Development

India

Chi

na

Indigenous North America

Jew

ish

/ Chr

istia

n / W

este

rn

IslamA

frica

Social/Administrative Development

The Evolution of Social and Political Order

China was the leader of our collective

development until about AD1300.

Sir Joseph NeedhamScience and Civilisation in China

1954-

Robert Temple, The Genius of China, 1998.

Agriculture

Astronomy

Engineering

Technology

Medicine 医药卫生

农业

天文地理

工程

轻工业

Robert Temple, The Genius of China, 1998.

Mathematics

Magnetism

Physical Sciences

Transportation

Sound & Music

Warfare

数学

磁学

物理科学

交通能力

音乐与声响

军事能力

Prince Chu Cai Yu invented the tempered scale in 1584.Johann Sebastian Bach, used it for The Well-tempered Clavier, 1722.Twelve fifths = (1.0136) Seven octaves

Some Examples: The Decimal System, the compass, paper, explosives, wheelbarrow,….

Columbus and Zheng He Sailing into the wind

Voyages of exploration and exchange not conquest.

From about 600 to 1500, development continued

with Islam building a civilization - a knowledge

bridge - that stretched from Fuzhou to Seville.

The fruits of the Chinese, Hindu, Persian, Jewish,

Greek and Christian worlds – and everything in between – was absorbed

and shared across all that same territory.

Needham argued that modern science could not

have come into being except out of the shared

experience of all humanity.

“It would be better if the nations and peoples of the world had a clearer understanding of each other, allowing the mental chasm between East and West to be bridged. After all they are, and have been for several centuries, intimate partners in the business of building a world civilization. The technological world of today is a product of both East and West to an extent which until recently no one had ever imagined. It is now time for the Chinese contribution to be recognized and acknowledged, by East and West alike. When that happens, Chinese and Westerners will be able to look each other in the eye, knowing themselves to be true and full partners. Robert Temple, The Genius of China, 1998, p. 12

Modern Science & Technology

European Industrial Revolution

European Agricultural Revolution

Chinese Ideas and Inventions

The Islamic world was a vital link between China and Europe.

The Evolution of Science and Technology

A western materialistic development paradigm dominates the world today.

"The Age of Nations is past. The task before us now,

if we would not perish, is to build the Earth.”

T. de Chardin

The Great Unity (China) All Under Heaven is One Family (China)Maturation of Humanity (Baha’i)All-inclusive Family (Toynbee)Omega Point (de Chardin)Grand Synthesis (Lazlo)Majestic House (Du Fu)Global Village (McLuhan) New World Order

India

Chi

na

Indigenous North America

Jew

ish

/ Chr

istia

n / W

este

rn

IslamA

frica

A Shared DreamA Common History

A Common HeritageA Common HomeA Common Future

A Common Faith

Evolution has a purpose

McGill Poet, Frank Scott “The world is my country

The human race is my race”

Map of Human Evolution

Arnold J. Toynbee This British historian referred to civilization as a process, an endeavor...

“….to create a state of society in which the whole of mankind will be able to live together in harmony as members of a single all-inclusive family. This is, I believe, the goal at which all civilizations so far have been aiming unconsciously, if not consciously.“

Arnold Toynbee, A Study of History, abridged one-volume edition, p.44.

英国历史学家阿诺德汤因比 (Arnold J. Toynbee) 将文明指认为一个过程，一种进取…

“… 来开创一种社会状态，可让人类全体都能和谐地共同生活，有如一个包容全体的大家庭的成员。我相信，这是迄今所文明，即便不是自觉地，也是在无意中一直朝向的目标。”Arnold Toynbee, A Study of History, abridged one-volume edition, p.44.

What are the needs of our age?

We need to enlarge our consciousness and our allegiance to include the whole planet; recognize the human race as one family.

全球范内的富差没有小，而在加大围贫别缩

“The global economy has grown sevenfold since 1950. Meanwhile, the disparity in per capita gross domestic product between the 20 richest and 20 poorest nations more than doubled between 1960 and 1995.

Of all high-income nations, the United States has the most unequal distribution of income, with over 30 percent of income in the hands of the richest 10 percent and only 1.8 percent going to the poorest 10 percent.”

Source: Worldwide Institute Rich-Poor Gap Growing, Vital Signs 2003, pp. 88-89.

些努力的果不尽人意：这结

How will we get there? Contemporary Development Discourse

我们从来没有如此接近环境生态的崩溃

“In 1992, governments at the Rio Earth Summit made a historic commitment to sustainable development—an economic system that promotes the health of both people and ecosystems. Twenty years and several summits later, human civilization has never been closer to ecological collapse, a third of humanity lives in poverty, and another 2 billion people are projected to join the human race over the next 40 years.”

Source: Worldwide Institute State of the World 2012

些努力的果不尽人意：这结


“Until both the material and the spiritual needs and aspirations of individuals are acknowledged, development efforts will largely continue to fail.

Baha’i International Community, United Nations, Comments on the Draft Declaration and Draft Programme of Action for Social Development (A/CONF.166/PC/L.13) presented at the second session of the Preparatory Committee for the World Summit for Social Development, 22 August, 1994, New York.

Growing Consensus: Broaden the criteria that guides development activity to include spiritual dimensions of life.

“….material advancement is properly understood not as an end in itself, but rather as a vehicle for moral, intellectual and social progress. Recognition of the inseparable connection between the material and spiritual aspects of life therefore gives rise to a fundamentally different notion of development.


Examples of spiritual principles or virtues related to social, economic, and environmental problems.

Spiritual Principle or Virtue Problem

Unity, Peace War, violence, struggles between nations

Justice Economic instability, Corruption,Increasing gap between rich and poor

Independent thinking, Self-reliance

Dictatorship, Blind Obedience, Apathy

Creativity Rigidity

Honesty, Trustworthiness Moral degradation

Unity in diversity, Open-mindedness Conflict: National, Religious, Racial, cultural minorities

Equality Sex and Race Prejudice

Stewardship, Responsibility Environmental Degradation

Cleanliness, Sharing knowledge, Trusteeship (I am my brother’s keeper)

Disease, epidemics


We need to build a global community that is both materially and spiritually advanced, and that draws on all of our collective heritage.


What are the needs of our age?

We need to enlarge our consciousness and our allegiance to include the whole planet; recognize the human race as one family.

We need to build a global community that is both materially and spiritually advanced, and that draws on all of our collective heritage.

1. Advances in knowledge across an ever-expanding range of disciplines, 2. The emergence of international mechanisms that promote collective

decision-making and action, and 3. The increasing ability of the masses of humankind to articulate their

aspirations and needs, portend a great surge forward in the social evolution of the planet.”

Science, Religion and Development: Some Initial Considerations, Prepared by the Institute for Studies in Global Prosperity

Do we have the capacity to accomplish these tasks?A New Definition of the INDIVIDUAL (The Responsible Protagonist)

个人的新定义（负责任的主人公）

当我们对“发展目标”再下定义的时候﹐重新审视当事人在发展过程中所扮演的角色是很必要的。各层政府机构在社会发展方面的重要作用不言而喻。然而﹐在一个称颂平等主义原则以及相关的民主原则的时代里﹐发展规划应把广大民众视为援助和训练的接受者﹐远而我们的后代将会对此感到不可理解。尽管“民众参与”是公认的原则﹐然而留给世界绝大多数人民的决策范围充其量是次要性的：他们的抉择范围被高不可及的机构所规定﹐并常常受那些与他们的现实观背道而驰的目标所制约。

The Prosperity Of Humankind, A Statement Prepared by the Baháí International Community's Office of Public Information

“Future generations, however, will find almost incomprehensible the circumstance that, in an age paying tribute to an egalitarian philosophy and related democratic principles, development planning should view the masses of humanity as essentially recipients of benefits from aid and training. Despite acknowledgement of participation as a principle, the scope of the decision making left to most of the world's population is at best secondary, limited to a range of choices formulated by agencies inaccessible to them and determined by goals that are often irreconcilable with their perceptions of reality.”

A New Definition of the INDIVIDUAL (The Responsible Protagonist)

个人的新定义（负责任的提倡者）

Why has the number of International Non-Governmental Organizations Exploded since 1960?

Edward Turner, Cliodynamics: The Journal of Theoretical and Mathematical History, 2010 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/97p470sx

What are the Needs of Our Age?Some Viewpoints found in Baha’i Writings and in China’s Sacred Literature

The important needs of our age include:

1.Enlarge our consciousness and our allegiance to include the whole planet.

2.Build a global community that is both materially and spiritually advanced, and that draws on all of our collective heritage.

Chinese Viewpoint

Chinese Philosophical-Spiritual ResourcesChina’s Sacred Literature

• Mahayana Buddhism taught the unity and oneness of all beings. • Confucius: Reciprocity. Moral order is the foundation of social order. • Lao Ze (Daoism): Inner and Outer Balance, the unity of opposites• Poets (for example: Li Bai, Du Fu), themes of justice

1950 – Establishment of the United Nations

Liang Si Cheng, founder of the School of Architecture at Qinghua University, states Buddhism inspired the arts and architecture of China. In the introduction to his book, A Pictorial History of Chinese Architecture, he says:

"The reader should not be surprised that the overwhelming number of architectural examples presented here are Buddhist temples, pagodas and tombs. In all times and at all places religion has provided the strongest impetus to architectural creation. [1]

“Buddhism reached China at approximately the beginning of the Christian era. Though there are records of the erection of a Buddhist pagoda as early as the beginning of the third century A.D, we possess today no Buddhist monument before the middle of the fifth century. However, from then on until the later fourteenth century, the history of Chinese architecture is chiefly the history of Buddhist (and a few Taoist) temples and their pagodas.”[2]

[1] Liang Si Cheng, A Pictorial History of Chinese Architecture, MIT Press, 1984, p.3.[2] Liang Se Cheng, A Pictorial History of Chinese Architecture, MIT Press, 1984, p. 31.

Fo Guang Si in Shanxi Province, A Tang Dynasty temple built in 857 AD, one of the two oldest wooden structures in China. Discovered by Liang Si Cheng & his wife Lin Hui Yin In June 1937

Shi Jing Shan, southwest Beijing. Caves contain 1000 year old Buddhist scriptures carved in stone tabletsThe beauty of the script was out of respect for the beauty of the words.

MaitreyeIs the name of the Future Buddha

“Another Buddha will arise in the world…., 'How shall we know Him?' The Blessed One replied: 'He will be known as Maitreya, which means He Whose name is "kindness”.Baha'u'llah's given name, Husayn, is Arabic for "kindness.“ Bah’u’llah is the Maitreye, the fifth Buddha, the Future Buddha.

Amit-abha Amit-abha is the main object of devotion of the Pure Land (Jing Tu/Holy Land) School of Chinese Buddhism. He is considered to preside over a Pure Land to the west. The name "Amit-abha" can be translated as “Light of the Infinite”--very similar to the title "Baha'u'llah““Glory or Light of God”. The word "ABHA" ("most glorious") is the superlative form of the word BAHA (Glory).Chinese people often repeat: “Na Mo Amitofu” or “Praise Amit-abha” (Praise Baha’u’llah) Statue of Maitreye, the Future Buddha

At Yong He Gong, Beijing.The statue is 18 meters high and is made from one piece of wood

Note: The Hindu language has the same source as Persian,

both belong to Arian language.

The Great UnityVision and Goal

The Great LearningMethod of Implementation

Selections from China’s traditional sacred literature concerning the Great Unity as a goal of development and the Great Learning as the path to achieve it.

China’s Sacred Literature

Confucius孔子 551 - 479 BC

The Great Unity begins with Social-Spiritual Goals and Principles

“The period of the Great Unity (Da Tong) is characterized by:

• Universal openness and fairness; • All the world will be a common possession; • The whole world is bent upon the common good.• Leaders of society will combine talent, virtue, and ability. • The wise and able are elected (selected).• The cultivation of sincerity and harmony; and • Love extends beyond the family to the society at large. • All men will be bound by equal ties of intimacy.”

What is the vision of development?What are the goals of development?

The Great Unity

Ta T’ungShu, The One World Philosophy of Kang You Wei, Translated by LaurenceThompson, George Allen and Unwin, 1958, p. 49. Kang You Wei 康有爲(1858-1927)

“All within the four seas are brothers” Confucius, Analects 12:5

The passage continues by describing the practical implementation and indicators of the above goals and principles.

• Sufficient provision shall be secured for the aged till their death and competent employment for the able-bodied and

• Adequate means of upbringing for the young.

• Kindness and compassion shall be shown to widows, orphans, childless people, and those who are disabled by disease, so that they will have the wherewithal for support.

• Men will have their proper works and women will have their homes.

• They shall hate to see the wealth of natural resources under-developed, but also dislike to see the hoarding of wealth for their own pleasures.

• They shall regret of not exerting themselves (of their given talents) but also hate to exert themselves only for their own benefit. Thus, the selfish schemes shall be repressed and found no development.

• Robbers, filchers, and the rebellious traitors shall not appear, and hence the outer doors shall be left open.”

Ta T’ungShu, The One World Philosophy of Kang You Wei, Translated by LaurenceThompson, George Allen and Unwin, 1958, p. 49. Kang You Wei 康有爲(1858-1927)

The Great Unity

Confucius孔子 551 - 479 BC

Suppose that everyone in the world practiced universal love, so that everyone loved every other person as much as he loved himself. Would anyone then be lacking in filial devotion? If everyone regarded his father, his elder brother, and his ruler just as he does himself, towards whom could he be lacking in devotion? Would there then be anyone who was not affectionate....Would there be any thieves and robbers? If everyone looked upon other men’s houses as if they were his own, who would steal?...Would noble clans contend among themselves? Would states attack each other...then the whole world would enjoy peace and good order.

Mo Zi 墨子 470 - 391 BC

长夜沾湿何由彻！

安得广厦千万间，

大庇天下寒士俱欢颜，

风雨不动安如山！

呜呼！何时眼前突兀见此

屋，

吾庐独破受冻死亦足！

——

杜甫

The Roof Whirled Away by Winds When will this long night of drizzle come to an end?Now I dream of an immense mansion, tens of thousands of rooms,Where all the cold creatures can take shelter, their faces alight;Not moved by the wind or the rain, a mansion as solid as the mountainAlas, when shall I see such a majestic house?If I could see this, even though my poor house were torn down,Even though I were frozen to death I would be content.

Du Fu 杜甫 721-770

Behind the Red-painted Doors

"Behind the red-painted doors wine and meat are stinking.On the wild roads lie corpses of people frozen to death.A hair breadth divides wealth and poverty.This strange contrast fills me with unappeasable anguish.”

"Heaven is my father and earth is my mother..all people are my brothers and sisters, and all things are my companions...”

Zhang Zai 张载 1020-1077

In the Age of Great Peace, since man’s nature is already good and his ability and intelligence is superior, they only rejoice in matters of wisdom and humanity. New institutions appear every day. Public benefits increase every day. The human mind gets stronger every day. And knowledge becomes clearer every day. People in the whole world together reach the realm of humanity, longevity, perfect happiness, and infinite goodness and wisdom...

All people are equal, and do not consider position or rank as an honour either. Only wisdom and humanity are promoted and encouraged. Wisdom is to initiate things, accomplish undertakings, promote utility and benefits and advance people, while humanity is to confer benefits extensively on all the people and to bring salvation to them, to love people and to benefit things. There is no honour outside of wisdom and humanity...

Water and fire possess power but no life, grass and trees have life but cannot know, birds and animals know but are without the sense of righteousness. Man has power, life, knowledge and the sense of righteousness. Therefore, he is the most precious of all species. His strength is not equal to that of an ox. He cannot run as fast as a horse. Yet horse and oxen are used by man. Why? Because man has the ability and intelligence for organization and community.

Li Zhi 李贽 1527-1602

[1] Li Chi, cited in Chiu, Tao of Chinese Religion, p.389. [2] Mei, Works of Motse, pp. 79-78[3]

Kong You Wei wrote the first draft of Da Tong Shu in 1884-5. He finished it in 1902, changing the name from “Universal Principles of Mankind” to “The Book of Great Unity.

“In the first of these (three stages of social evolution) , the Disorderly Stage, primitive civilization is just rising from chaos, and the social mind is still very rude….In the second, the Advancing Peace Stage (Lesser Peace), there is a distinction only between all the civilized countries and the barbarians….in the third, the Extreme Peace Stage (The Most Great Peace), there is no distinction at all….the whole world is one unit, and the character of mankind is on the highest plane.

Ta T’ung Shu, The One World Philosophy of Kang You Wei, Translated by Laurence Thompson, George Allen and Unwin, 1958, p. 49.

Kang You Wei 康有爲 (1858-1927)

Sun Zhong Shan (Sun Yat Sen) 1866-1925 The World Belongs to the People


“Fraternity is the as yet unrealized ideal of humanity. Liberty has no safe foundation except human brotherhood. Equality can never be anything but a dream until we feel towards each other as brothers. It may be for China, to point the way to this fraternity. Napoleon Bonaparte said, ‘When China moves, she will move the world’. For centuries, the Chinese have been a peace-loving people. China with its multitudinous population and its love of peace cannot but be instrumental in bringing about Universal Peace – when rights need not be backed by armies and dreadnoughts.

Song Qing Ling, Woman in World History: Song Qing Ling, Israel Epstein, Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, 2003, p.5.

In June 1947, Song Qing Ling wrote to Nehru saying, referring to the civil war in China and pre-independence convulsions in India, “Perhaps this is the tempering process from which our peoples will emerge with awareness and new spirit for their task in the future civilization.”

She suggests the suffering of China has helped it acquire capacity.

Song Qing Ling 1893 –1981), Madame Sun Yat Sen

同一个世界同一个梦想 Beijing 2008 Olympic Theme: One World One Dream




Baha’i Viewpoint

"… That all nations should become one in faith and all men as brothers; that the bonds of affection and unity between the sons of men should be strengthened; that diversity of religion should cease, and differences of race be annulled — what harm is there in this? … Yet so it shall be; these fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away, and the 'Most Great Peace' shall come.… Let not a man glory in this, that he loves his country; let him rather glory in this, that he loves his kind." Baha’ullah

“The Earth is One Country and Mankind its Citizens”Baha’u’llah

Oneness of Humanity: The Consummation of Human Evolution

“Let there be no mistake. The principle of the Oneness of Mankind…..represents the consummation of human evolution - an evolution that has had its earliest beginnings in the birth of family life, its subsequent development in the achievement of tribal solidarity, leading in turn to the constitution of the city-state, and expanding later into the institution of independent and sovereign nations.

[1] The Universal House of Justice, The Promise of World Peace, paragraph 1, 1985.

The Great Peace is now within reachWorld Peace is Inevitable;it is the next stage in our evolution

“The Great Peace towards which people of good will throughout the centuries have inclined their hearts, of which seers and poets for countless generations have expressed their vision, and for which from age to age the sacred scriptures of mankind have constantly held the promise, is now at long last within the reach of the nations. For the first time in history it is possible for everyone to view the entire planet, with all its myriad diversified peoples, in one perspective. World peace is not only possible but inevitable. It is the next stage in the evolution of this planet--in the words of one great thinker, "the planetization of mankind“.

[1] The Universal House of Justice, The Promise of World Peace, paragraph 1, 1985.

Baha’i Viewpoint

The Maturation of Humanity

All created things have their degree or stage of maturity. The period of maturity in the life of a tree is the time of its fruit-bearing...The animal attains a stage of full growth and completeness, and in the human kingdom man reaches his maturity when the light of intelligence attains its greatest powerand development... Similarly there are periods and stages in the collective life of humanity. At one time it was passing through its stage of childhood, at another its period of youth, but now it has entered its long predicted phase of maturity, the evidences of which are everywhere apparent...That which was applicable to human needs during the early history of the race can neither meet nor satisfy the demands of this day, this period of newness and consummation. Humanity has emerged from its former state of limitation and preliminary training. Man must now become imbued with new virtues and powers, new moral standards, new capacities. New bounties, perfect bestowals, are awaiting and already descending upon him. The gifts and blessings of the period of youth, although timely and sufficient during the adolescence of mankind, are now incapable of meeting the requirements of its maturity.

一切造物皆有其成熟的阶段

或时期。一棵树的生命中的

成熟期，是其结果之时。…

…

动物则是达到完全长大的阶

段，

而在人类王国中，当理智之

光获得极致发展并达到最大

能力

时，人乃臻于成熟…

…

。类似

地，人类的集体生活亦分阶

段和

时期。一时，它在经历童年

阶段，一时经历青年时期，

而今它已

进入预示已久的成熟状态，

其迹象处处可见…

…

。适用于

人类

历史早期之所需的，既不符

合也不能满足今日这崭新而

圆满的

时期之要求。人类已从先前

的局限状态和初步训练中破

茧而

出。现在，人必须拥有新的

道德标准，新的能力。人在

青年阶

段所拥有的能力和品格今天

已不能满足其成熟期的需求

了。

性人的熟性成向走

Social Character

Characteristics World View Emotional and Intellectual

Characteristics

Relationships with Others

1. Authoritarian Power- oriented DichotomousPerceptions

Rigidity Authoritarian Submission

2. Indulgent Pleasure-oriented Indiscriminate Perceptions

Promiscuity Anarchic Relationships

3. Integrative Growth-oriented Unity in Diversity Creativity Responsibility and Cooperation

Three Kinds of Social Relationships

Challenge: To Mature from authoritarian to “integrative” social relations

Chart by psychologist Dr. Hossain Danesh

三种社会关系

人格类型( 民族性

格）

特征世界观情感与理智特征与他人的关系

专制型以权力为导向二元分立的感知刻板僵化屈从于专制

放纵型以享乐为导向不加分辨的感知混乱无法无天的关系

整合型以成长为导向存多样求团结有创造性负责与合作

A New Definition of INIVIDUAL and COMMUNITY Relationship

The Human Body: A Unified System

人体 : 一个统一的统系

Society is also a Mutual Helpfulness System社会也是一个相互帮助的统系

"Today, humanity has entered on its collective coming-of-age, endowed with the capacity to see the entire panorama of its development as a single process.

"The primary question to be resolved is how the present world, with its entrenched pattern of conflict, can change to a world in which harmony and co-operation will prevail.

We are at a Turning Point.What is the vision of development?




Chinese Viewpoint

The Method of Development

“The ancients who wished to illustrate illustrious virtue throughout the kingdom, first ordered well their own states. Wishing to order well their states, they first regulated their families. Wishing to regulate their families, they first cultivated their persons. Wishing to cultivate their persons, they first rectified their hearts. Wishing to rectify their hearts, they first sought to be sincere in their thoughts. Wishing to be sincere in their thoughts, they first extended to the utmost their knowledge. Such extension of knowledge lay in the investigation of things. Things being investigated, knowledge became complete. Their knowledge being complete, their thoughts were sincere. Their thoughts being sincere, their hearts were then rectified. Their hearts being rectified, their persons were cultivated. Their persons being cultivated, their families were regulated. Their families being regulated, their states were rightly governed. Their states being rightly governed, the whole kingdom was made tranquil and happy.” Confucianism, LiJi, DaXue 2:

The Great Learning

The Great Learning

The process relates the accomplishment of peaceful development with the internal life of the nation, the well-being of society to the spiritual health of the individual.

"From the son of Heaven down to the mass of the people, all must consider the cultivation of their person as the root of everything besides."

The investigation of reality by the individual is the fulcrum upon which the inner and outer balance depends.

The Great Learning puts the individual, the family, the state, and the kingdom,all on the same Path, the establishment of the Great Unity.

Individual transformation is achieved through investigation, learning, and self-cultivation,

and by participation in the transformation of society.

“Desiring to maintain one, one sustains others;

desiring to develop oneself, one develops others”.Doctrine of the Mean (Zhong Yong), 22

“The virtuous man wants others to succeed”.

The Analects 15:23

There is a reciprocal relationship between individual transformation

and social transformation.There is an implied twofold purpose: 1. Develop individual spiritual and intellectual capacity2. Transform Society

The Great Learning (The Individual as a protagonist)

Heaven Authority

The Great Unity is Heaven’s Plan

The Individual, The Family, The Community, RulersThe Great Unity is the protagonist’s goal

“He who obeys the will of Heaven, loving universally and benefiting others, will obtain rewards. He who opposes the will of Heaven, by being partial and unfriendly and harming others, will incur punishment.” Confucianism, Li Ji, Li Yun.

“Therefore when the principle of obeying the will of Heaven is understood and widely practiced in the world, then justice and government will be orderly, the multitudes will be harmonious, the country will be wealthy, the supplies will be plenteous, and the people will be warmly clothed and sufficiently fed, peaceful and without worry”. Mozi

Co

ven

ant

Relatio

nsh

ip

The protagonists of social development must follow the Will of Heaven to achieve the Great Unity.

The Protagonists of Development and their Relationships




Baha’i Viewpoint

A pivotal concept in the Baha’i teachings is that the refinement of one’s inner character and service to humanity are inseparable facets of life. Shoghi Effendi, in a letter written on his behalf, states:

We cannot segregate the human heart from the environment outside us and say that once one of these is reformed everything will be improved. Man is organic with the world. His inner life moulds the environment and is itself also deeply affected by it. The one acts upon the other and every abiding change in the life of man is the result of these mutual reactions. In light of this, Bahá’is have come to appreciate the operation of a two-fold purpose that is fundamental to their lives: to attend to their own spiritual and intellectual growth and to contribute to the transformation of society.

A sign of maturity is the capacity to be of service to others. 成熟的标志是有能力为他人服务。

The very young and the very old rely most on the service of others.

Infant / Child / Youth / Adult / Senior

幼小的和衰老的依靠他人的服务

婴儿 / 儿童 / 青年 / 成年 / 长者

The Individual has a two-fold purpose: Individual transformation and social transformation Deeds performed in the context of a moral purpose, as acts of service toward the construction of a peaceful world, contribute both to spiritual and material progress and, as expressions of individual initiative, are a source of learning and growth for the individual as well.

一个成熟和谐的社区定义为：“ 文明的综合单位，由个人家庭和机构组成是对体制、部门和组织的发起者和激励者、机构和组织等为一个共同的目标、为内部和外部的福祉而协同运作的个人、家庭和机构组成；由多样化的、彼此互动的、在为灵性和社会进步而不懈追求中实现团结的参与者组成。

The Universal House of Justice, The Four Year Plan, pp.34-35

社区的新定义

A New Definition of COMMUNITYWe can define a mature harmonious community as….

“a comprehensive unit of civilization composed of individuals, families and institutions that are originators and encouragers of systems, agencies and organizations working together with a common purpose for the welfare of people both within and beyond its borders; it is a composition of diverse, interacting participants that are achieving unity in an unremitting quest for spiritual and social progress.”

世界正义院《四年计划》 34-35

Human beings were not created to exist alone. We live in communities and must work together to build the new civilization.

It is in the local community where we learn to cooperate with one another, to grow together and become united.

Second Participant – Community

人类生来就不是为了独自生活的。我们生活在社团里，应一起工作，建立新的文明。

在地方社团里，我们学会与人合作，一起成长，走向团结。

其次是社团其次是社团

“If governing institutions do, in fact, provide for the meaningfulparticipation of citizens in the conceptualization, implementation and evaluation of public programs and policies, then a community's capacity to effect and manage change will indeed be greatly enhanced. This is true whether the institutions operate at the village or international level”.

A New Definition of INSITUTIONS

Science, Religion and Development: Some Initial Considerations, Prepared by the Institute for Studies in Global Prosperity 摘自《科学、宗教与发展，最初始的考虑》全球繁荣研究所

“如果统治机构确实能够为公民提供机会，使他们有意义地参与公共事务和政策的观念形成、具体实践和效果评估，那么社团影响和应对变化的能力必将大在增强。事实就是如此，无论机构是在村庄还是国际范围内运行。”

机构的新定义

A New Definition of INSITUTIONS

Dynamic System Hierarchy

Traditional Hierarchy

"...the earth's inhabitants are now challenged to draw on their collective inheritance

• to take up, consciously and systematically, the responsibility for the design of their future…..• to..."erect.....a social system at once progressive and peaceful, dynamic and harmonious, a system giving free play to individual creativity and initiative but based on co-operation and reciprocity.[2]

[2] To the Peoples of the World: A Baha’i Statement on Peace, Introduction, The Universal House of Justice, October 1985.[3] Ibid, Part 3.

We are at a Turning Point.What are the goals of development?

SUMMARY:Development Pattern as seen in China’s Sacred Literature and in Baha’i Writings

1. Both identify the goal of social evolution as an era of global peace and justice called the Great Unity (China) or the Most Great Peace (Baha’i) . In the Baha’i view, the time is now.

2. Both propose a dynamic balance between material and spiritual development. The goal of development is “to illustrate illustrious virtue”, to renovate the people; and to rest in the highest excellence. (China) ; to develop and release of the spiritual nature and moral capacity of human beings. (Baha’i)

3. Both agree on need for a reciprocal relationship between the life of the individual and the welfare and prosperity of society; the development of spiritual capacity through responsible and thoughtful responses to the will of Heaven. In the time of Confucius, the role and impact of individual protagonists was limited. In the Baha’i view, all humanity now has the capacity, and is acquiring the means, to be proactive social protagonists. The Baha’is are building a world community based on their beliefs.

Yan Yang Chu

".....through the last forty centuries China must have matured her thought and learned many lessons in the art of living. Maybe China has something to contribute. Surely there must be a better way, a more humane way of settling international disputes than just by cutting each other's throats.

Surely, with China's four hundred million people (in 1930), four thousand years of culture and vast resources, she must have something to contribute to the peace and progress of mankind.“

Yan Yang Chu (James Yen) was the founder, in China of the Mass Education Movement. In the 1930s, of a rural development education program in Ding Zhou, south of Beijing. In 1943, he was awarded a Copernicus Citation, on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of Copernicus. The awards were given in Carnegie Hall, New York City, to ten outstanding modern revolutionaries; the others included: Albert Einstein, Orville Wright, Henry Ford, and John Dewey.

John Fairbank

This noted Sinologist, in the introduction to his recent book, China: A New History, refers to China as a latecomer to modernity. And, he asks whether China has emerged from isolation just in time

to participate in the demise of the world or,

with millennia of survival experience,

to rescue it?

What will China’s contribution be to the New World Order?

“China has the most great capability. The Chinese people are most simple-hearted and truth-seeking…Truly, I say, the Chinese are free from any deceit and hypocrisies and are prompted with ideal motives. China is the country of the future.

…first be imbued with their spirit, know their sacred literature, study their national customs and speak to them from their own standpoint and their own terminologies.”Abdu’l-Baha, Reported in "Star of the West", vol. 8, April 28, 1917, No.3, p.37

Abdu’l-Baha

“ 中国有最大的潜力，中国人追求真理也最为诚挚。…… 诚然，我说，中国人能免于任何狡诈伪善，为崇高的理想奋斗。中国是未来的国家。”


“China, a land which has its own world and civilization, whose people (in 1923) constitute one-fourth of the population of the globe, which ranks foremost among all nations in material, cultural, and spiritual resources and potentialities, and whose future is assuredly bright.Letter from Shoghi Effendi to the Baha'is of the East, 23 January 1923.

China Pop: 1.3 billion (2007), World Pop: 6.6 billion (2007), China = 19.7%

Shoghi Effendi

“ 中国，这片土地有其自己的世界与文明，其人口占全球的四分之一（ 1923 年），其在物质、文化、精神资源与潜力方面列居各国之首，其未来无疑是光明的。”

What are China’s Material, Cultural, and Spiritual Resources and Potentialities for?

Social evolution has arrived at the beginning of its maturity, to be expressed in a New World Order, a global civilization.

China has been prepared through its long history to make its own valuable contributions to that Order.

The best of Chinese culture will be preserved, renewed and refreshed

to the extent that China helps build the New World Order.

True Modernization

“O Thou Provider! The dearest wish of this servant of Thy Threshold is to behold the friends of East and West in close embrace; to see all the members of human society gathered with love in a single great assemblage, even as individual drops of water collected in one mighty sea; to behold them all as birds in one garden of roses, as pearls of one ocean, as leaves of one tree, as rays of one sun.”

Abdu’l-Baha

Other Chinese and Baha’i Viewpoints

“Behind the red-painted doors wine and meat are stinking.On the wild roads lie corpses of people frozen to death.A hair breadth divides wealth and poverty.This strange contrast fills me with unappeasable anguish.”[3]

[3] 朱门酒肉臭，路有冻死骨。荣枯咫尺异，惆怅难再述。

The government of the countries should conform to the Divine Law which gives equal justice to all. This is the only way in which the deplorable superfluity of great wealth and miserable, demoralizing, degrading poverty can be abolished. Not until this is done will the Law of God be obeyed. ‘Abdu’l Bahá / 46. The Sixth Principle—Means of Existence ‑

O Son of Spirit! The best beloved of all things in My sight is Justice; turn not away therefrom if thou desirest Me, and neglect it not that I may confide in thee. …..justice is My gift to thee and the sign of My loving-kindness. Set it then before thine eyes. Bahá’u’lláh / Part One: From the Arabic : Number 2

Justice

O people of God! That which traineth the world is Justice, for it is upheld by two pillars, reward and punishment. These two pillars are the sources of life to the world. Bahá’u’lláh, Bishárát (Glad-Tidings) ̲ ̲


FREEDOM"At fifteen my heart was set on learning; at thirty, I stood firm in the society; at forty I had no more doubts; at fifty, I knew the mandate of heaven; at sixty, my ear can tell the good from the bad; at seventy I could follow my heart's desire without transgressing the norm”.

(Another translation of this last part: "At seventy, I could follow the dictates of my own heart, for what I desired no longer overstepped the boundaries of right.)

This quotation from Confucius is so well known to Chinese people that they often identify the age of a person not by years, but by the maturity of his relationship to freedom.

Someone in their thirties is referred to as being in the "er li" - "stand firm" stage of development; in their forties, the "hu huo" - "not confused" stage; in their fifties, "zhi tian ming" - "understand the meaning of life"; sixties, "er shun", "can distinguish good from bad"; and in their 70s, "er cong xin suo yu" - "follow desire from the heart without transgressing the norm". It is understood that real freedom is attained after a life-long learning process, that it has limits. Freedom should not overstep "the boundaries of right".

A related passage from a Baha’i source:“The quality of freedom and of its expression -- indeed, the very capacity to maintain freedom in a society -- undoubtedly depends on the knowledge and training of individuals and on their ability to cope with the challenges of life with equanimity."[1]

“This (individual-society) relationship, so fundamental to the maintenance of civilized life, calls for the utmost degree of understanding and cooperation between society and the individual;

Responsible Freedom


"No calamity is greater than not knowing what is enough No fault worse than wanting too much Whoever knows what is enough Has enough. Attachment comes at wasteful cost; Hoarding leads to a certain loss; Knowing what is enough avoids disgrace; Knowing when to stop secures from peril. Only thus can you long last.

Lao Zi, Dao De Jing, ch. 46 and 44

In his summary of significant Bahá’í teachings, Shoghi Effendi wrote that Bahá’u’lláh “inculcates the principle of ‘moderation in all things’; declares that whatsoever, be it ‘liberty, civilization and the like,’ ‘passeth beyond the limits of moderation’ must ‘exercise a pernicious influence upon men’; observes that western civilization has gravely perturbed and alarmed the peoples of the world. The Universal House of Justice / 29 December 1988 – To the Followers of Bahá’u’lláh in the United States of America

Moderation

“Social advancement, we know, arises from the ideals and shared beliefs that weld society together. Meaningful social change results as much from the development of qualities and attitudes that foster constructive patterns of human interaction as from the acquisition of technical capacities. True prosperity - a well-being founded on peace, cooperation, altruism, dignity, rectitude of conduct and justice – flows from the light of spiritual awareness and virtue as well as from material discovery and progress.

A related passage from a Baha’i source:

Such qualities as trustworthiness, compassion, forbearance, fidelity, generosity, humility, courage, and willingness to sacrifice for the common good have constituted the invisible yet essential foundations of progressive community life.]

Overcoming Corruption and Safeguarding Integrity in Public Institutions: A Baha’i Perspective "Global Forum on Fighting Corruption II", May 2001, the Hague, Netherlands.

“From the son of Heaven down to the mass of the people, all must consider the cultivation of their person as the root of everything besides.“ From the Confucian text, “The Great Learning”.

The Importance of Spiritual Development


“In hearing litigation, I feel, like anybody else, the necessity to cause the people to have no litigation.” Confucius

If a relationship descended to the need for litigation, it was a sign of a lack of moral education.

Spiritual Civilization (1)

"If the people be led by laws, and uniformity sought to be given them by punishments, they will try to avoid the punishment, but have no sense of shame.

If they be led by virtue, and uniformity sought to be given them by the rules of propriety, they will have the sense of shame, and moreover will become good."[2]

[1] Sayings of the States 16, Sayings of Zheng, pp. 515-516,[2] The Analects, Wei Zheng 3.[3] 朱门酒肉臭，路有冻死骨。荣枯咫尺异，惆怅难再述。

Spiritual Civilization (2)

A related passage from a Baha’i source:

“….the communities are day and night occupied in making penal laws, and in preparing and organizing instruments and means of punishment. They build prisons, make chains and fetters, arrange places of exile and banishment, and different kinds of hardships and tortures, and think by these means to discipline criminals, whereas, in reality, they are causing destruction of morals and perversion of characters.

The community, on the contrary, ought day and night to strive and endeavor with the utmost zeal and effort to accomplish the education of men, to cause them day by day to progress and to increase in science and knowledge, to acquire virtues, to gain good morals and to avoid vices, so that crimes may not occur.

Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, p. 270

“If voices are the same no one will listen; if things are alike none have decoration; If tastes are the same there is no fruit; if things are the same there is nothing to talk about. [1]

[1] Sayings of the States 16, Sayings of Zheng, pp. 515-516,[2] The Analects, Wei Zheng 3.[3] 朱门酒肉臭，路有冻死骨。荣枯咫尺异，惆怅难再述。

“…..the principle of the oneness of humankind, as proclaimed by Bahá’u’lláh, is inconsistent with any attempt to impose uniformity. Its watchword is unity in diversity……

The Universal House of Justice / 28 July 2008 – To the Believers in the Cradle of the Faith

Unity in Diversity

Thank you!

The Needs of Our Age: Chinese and Baha'i Viewpoints

Spiritual

Transcript of The Needs of Our Age: Chinese and Baha'i Viewpoints