LAS341AD Contemplation and Action

Assignment #4: Reflect on your own ethical values in the context of selected Confucian and Taoist writings.

This assignment is worth 100 points.

This assignment is designed to help you satisfy two of the Liberal Arts learning outcomes on Religious Traditions and Ethical Integration that read in part:

“Students will be able to identify sacred narratives and texts, beliefs, practices and moral values associated with some of the world’s major religious traditions,” and

“Given a situation, students will be able to identify any ethical issues involved [and]… be able to suggest an ethical response to an issue and explain the basis for deciding the response.”

In particular, it focuses on the moral values of ancient China, where today 1.4 billion of the world’s 7.2 billion people live.

In addition, it asks you to demonstrate the following aspects of these LAS learning outcomes:

think critically, including o supporting relevant facts to support ideas o evaluating and synthesizing informationo exploring big ideas and asking nuanced questions

communicate effectively, includingo expressing ideas, facts and research in comprehensible and grammatically

correct written… formats understand the diversity and interdependence of cultures, including

o recognizing important points of convergence and difference among various cultures.

Part One: Working in pairs, research the religious and philosophical traditions of Confucianism by defining each of the following terms in one or two sentences.

You will be able to find many of these terms at the following websites. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucianism#Ethicshttp://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/562171/Sishu

To conduct additional Internet research, use Google and enter one of the terms plus the term Confucian. Better sources will include encyclopedias, .edu, and .org websites. If you use a wiki site such as Wikipedia.com make sure there are credible citations within the article that lead you to trust the information.

__________________________________________________________________This assignment is based on an essay by Asian Studies Professor Russell Kirkland from the University of Georgia, titled, “Responsible Non-Action in a Natural World: Perspectives from the Nei-Yei, Chuang-Tzu, and the Tao-Te Ching.” https://faculty.franklin.uga.edu/kirkland/sites/faculty.franklin.uga.edu.kirkland/files/ECO.pdf

Kong Qui (a.k.a. Kongzi)

Ru and Ruism

Wuchang

1. Rén (the five translations at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren_(Confucianism)

a.

b.

c.

d.

e.

2. Yì 

3. Lǐ 

4. Zhì 

5. Xìn 

Sìzì (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucianism#Ethics)

1. Zhōng

2. Xiào 

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3. Jié

Sishu (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Books_and_Five_Classics)

1. Dà xué

2. Zhōng yōng

3. Lúny ǔ

4. Mèngz ǐ

Part Two: Read the following Confucian parables and, based on what you just learned about Confucian thought, summarize what you think they mean in the margin of these pages:

The Works of Mencius, Book 1, Part 1, from Chapter 7, lines 3-8:

The king asked, 'What virtue must there be in order to attain royal sway?' Mencius answered, 'The love and protection of the people; with this there is no power which can prevent a ruler from attaining it.'

The king asked again, 'Am I competent enough to love and protect the people?' Mencius said, 'Yes.' 'How do you know that I am competent for that?' 'I heard the following incident from Hû Ho: "The king," he said, "was sitting aloft in the hall, when a man appeared, leading an ox past the lower part of the wall. The king saw him, and asked, ‘Where is the ox going?’ The man replied, ‘We are going to consecrate a bell with its blood.’ The king said, ‘Let it go. I cannot bear its frightened appearance, as if it were an innocent person going to the place of death.’ The man answered, ‘Shall we then omit the consecration of the bell?’ The king said, ‘How can that be omitted? Change it for a sheep.’” I do not know whether this incident really occurred.'

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The king replied, 'It did occur,' and then Mencius said, 'The heart seen in this is sufficient to carry you to the royal sway. The people all supposed that your Majesty disliked the animal, but your servant knows surely, that it was your Majesty's inability to bear the sight, which made you do as you did.'

The king said, 'You are right. And yet there really was an appearance of what the people condemned. Although Chî is a small and narrow State, how should I dislike one ox? Indeed it was because I could not bear its frightened appearance, as if it were an innocent person going to the place of death, that therefore I changed it for a sheep.'

Mencius pursued, 'Let not your Majesty deem it strange that the people should think you disliked the animal. When you changed a large one for a small, how should they know the true reason? If you felt pained by its being led without guilt to the place of death, what was there to choose between an ox and a sheep? The king laughed and said, 'What really was my mind in the matter? I did not dislike the expense of the ox, and changed it for a sheep!-- There was reason in the people's saying that I disliked it.'

'There is no harm in their saying so,' said Mencius. 'Your conduct was an act of benevolence. You saw the ox, and had not seen the sheep. Similarly, the superior man is affected towards animals, that, having seen them alive, he cannot bear to see them die; having heard their dying cries, he cannot bear to eat their flesh. Therefore he keeps away from his slaughter-house and cook-room.'

http://nothingistic.org/library/mencius/mencius03.html (with some editing)

Analectics of Confucius 10:11:

There was a fire in the stables. When the Master returned from court, he asked: ‘Was anybody hurt?’ He didn't ask about the horses.http://www.acmuller.net/con-dao/analects.html

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Part Three: Working in pairs, research the religious and philosophical traditions of Taoism and define each of the following terms in one or two sentences.

To conduct Internet research, enter one of the following terms plus the term Tao. Better sources will include encyclopedias, .edu, and .org websites. If you use a wiki site such as Wikipedia.com make sure there are credible citations within the text of the article that lead you to trust the information.

You will be able to find many of these terms at the following website:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_Xing

Tao [or Dao]

Lao Tzu [or Laozi]

Tao Te Ching [or Dao De Jing] 

Chuang Chou [or Zhuangzi] 

Huai-nan-Tzu [or Huáinánzǐ ]

Yin & Yang

Wu Xing

1. mù

2. huǒ

3. tǔ

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4. jīn

5. shuǐ

Part Four: Read the following Taoist parables and, based on what you just learned about Taoist thought, summarize what you think they mean in the margin of these pages:

From the Huainanzi:

Once upon a time a peasant had a horse. This horse ran away, so the peasant's neighbors came to console him for his bad luck. He answered: "Maybe." 

The day after the horse came back, leading six wild horses with it. The neighbors came to congratulate him on such good luck. The peasant said: "Maybe."

The day after, his son tried to saddle and ride on one of the wild horses, but he fell down and broke his leg. Once again the neighbors came to share that misfortune. The peasant said: "Maybe." 

The day after, soldiers came to conscript the youth of the village, but the peasant's son was not chosen because of his broken leg. When the neighbors came to congratulate, the peasant said again: “Maybe."

http://www.conures.net/stories/horse.shtml (with some editing)

Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, "Chapter 80": 

A small country has fewer people. Though there are machines that can work ten to a hundred times faster than man, they are not needed. The people take death seriously and do not travel far. Though they have boats and carriages, no on uses them. Though they have armor and weapons, no one displays them. Men return to the knotting of rope in place of writing. Their food is plain and good, their clothes fine but simple, their homes secure; they are happy in their ways. Though they live within sight of their neighbors, and crowing cocks and barking dogs are heard across the way, yet they leave each other in peace while they grow old and die.

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Translation by Gia-fu Feng and Jane English http://www.wussu.com/laotzu/laotzu80.html

From The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu, translated by Buron Watson, section 18, “Perfect Happiness”:

…Chuang Tzu's wife died. When Hui Tzu went to convey his condolences, he found Chuang Tzu sitting with his legs sprawled out, pounding on a tub and singing. "You lived with her, she brought up your children and grew old," said Hui Tzu. "Not only did you not weep at her death. But now you are pounding on a tub and singing. This is going too far, isn't it?"

Chuang Tzu said, "You are wrong. When she first died, do you think I didn't grieve like anyone else? But I looked back to her beginning and the time before she was born. Not only the time before she was born, but also the time before she had a body. Not only the time before she had a body, but the time before she had a spirit. In the midst of the jumble of wonder and mystery a change took place and she had a spirit. Another change and she had a body. Another change and she was born. Now there's been another change and she's dead. It's just like the progression of the four seasons: spring, summer, fall, and winter.

"Now she's going to lie down peacefully in a vast room. If I were to follow after her bawling and sobbing, it would show that I don't understand anything about fate. So I stopped."…http://terebess.hu/english/chuangtzu2.html (with some editing)

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Part Five: Contemplate the following three scenarios from the point of view of a Confucian and Taoist based on the texts that you have read above. Then write a single, unified, essay, about five pages in length, answering two of the four questions that appear below. Make clear distinctions between the points of view of the Taoists and Confucians by providing at least one quote from one of the selected Taoist passages and at least one quote from the selected Confucian passages that appear earlier in this assignment. When you add the quotes to your essay, be sure to tell the reader whom you are quoting and why you selected that particular passage. Regardless of which two questions you select, below, you must also write about your own point of view and what experiences in your life have led you to hold them.

The Three Scenarios:1. You are sitting on a riverbank enjoying a conversation with a

friend when you see a baby being carried down a river to certain death. http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/05/world/africa/mingi-ethiopia/

2. You learn about the construction of a large hydroelectric dam that would destroy the only ecosystem that supports the world's last surviving school of Irrawaddy Dolphins. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/mar/13/laos-hydroelectric-dam ; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nam_Theun_2_Dam

3. You discover that the tallest North American bird, the Whooping Crane, is on the brink of extinction because of over-hunting and loss of habitat. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whooping_crane

The Four Questions:Speculate about how both the Taoists and Confucians would respond to two of the following four questions:

1. What is one’s moral responsibility; is one morally obligated to take action to intervene in events that seem to threaten life; is one obliged to try to save life?  

2. Is the life of the baby more valuable than the life of the cranes or dolphins?  

3. Are human beings morally obligated to intervene in life's events because we are different from other creatures (such as fish or birds), and endowed either by God or by evolution to assume responsibility for the stewardship of the planet?

4. What if the baby later turned out to be a mass murderer? Should one’s uncertainty about the baby’s potential for future harm influence one’s decision to act?

In addition to answering two of the questions, above, you must also answer the following: Do you personally agree more with the Taoists or the Confucians about what needs to be done? Describe a specific experience in your background, akin to one of the Chinese parables , that has shaped your ethics?

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LAS341AD Contemplation & Action ____________________________________________Name

Assignment #4 Assessment RubricAttach this rubric and your worksheets to your completed paper.

Ethical IntegrationDid you explain the basis for the Confucian, Taoist, and your own responses to the assigned questions?

…Thoroughly…….Sufficiently........Somewhat...........A Little....................None20…..19.......18..........17.......16.............15........14............13…...12....................0

EvidenceDid you support your ideas with relevant facts by quoting from the selected texts—at least one well-selected quote from the Taoist passages and at least one well-selected quote from the Confucian passages? Did you tell the reader in the body of the essay the sources of your quotes and why you selected them? Did you describe a specific event in your own life, akin to one of the Chinese parables, that has shaped your ethics?

…Thoroughly…….Sufficiently........Somewhat...........A Little....................None20…..19.......18..........17.......16.............15........14............13…...12....................0

Following DirectionsDid you write a single, unified, essay, about five pages in length, addressing at least two of the four questions from the point of view of Confucians and Taoists? (You may answer more than two of the questions, if you want; just do two thoroughly.) Did you also discuss a specific event in you life that has shaped your own ethics as they relate to these questions?

…Thoroughly…….Sufficiently........Somewhat...........A Little....................None20…..19.......18..........17.......16.............15........14............13…...12....................0

Critical ThinkingDid you provide an introductory paragraph and a conclusion that synthesizes and summarizes your entire essay? Did you organize your essay into paragraphs—each with a topic sentence? Do the topic sentences reinforce the thesis of the essay?

…Thoroughly…….Sufficiently........Somewhat...........A Little....................None20…..19.......18..........17.......16.............15........14............13…...12....................0

CommunicationDid you communicate effectively by expressing ideas, facts and research in comprehensible and grammatically correct written formats? Did you proofread, eliminating sentence fragments, comma splices, and run-on sentences? Is it clear that you used spell-check and scanned for commonly misspelled words such as its, it’s, there, their, they’re, then, than, sense, since, passed, past, as well as plurals and possessives?

…Thoroughly…….Sufficiently........Somewhat...........A Little....................None20…..19.......18..........17.......16.............15........14............13…...12....................0

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