INTRODUCTION

            China. The term evokes a sense of vastness in time and space, in people and culture. In time, its museums contain examples of fine arts from a time that rivals those of Egypt and precedes by thousands of years most other regions of the world. In space, it stretches from the frozen lands of the northern Pacific to the lush jungles of Southeast Asia, and from the towering peaks of the Himalayas--the roof of the world--to the vast steppes of the Republics of the old Soviet Empire. In people, it contains over one in five of every person alive today. In culture, it enjoys an ancient and sophisticated tradition, richly articulated in terms of administrators and scholars, businessmen and farmers.        

            In the present day of open communication and egalitarian spirit, it may seem too much to dwell on the meaning of the term "China" as "Middle Kingdom" with all others moved to the periphery, but, as the previous paragraph illustrated, perhaps no other nation could lay more valid claim to the term.

            In the last century, however, the interest and emphasis of people everywhere in the world shifted in a subtle but dramatic manner. There is a sense that, no matter how great the way of life developed in the past, it is important--indeed essential--to develop, to move, to change. In this context, ancient cultures have come to be called upon to do new things, and principles of stability are called upon to provide for the integration of motion. The throne room has been transferred into a cockpit; order has become equilibrium in executing difficult maneuvers; power has become thrust.

            In so great a transformation there is danger that old strengths, unless carefully nurtured and transformed, might become new weaknesses. Thus, the ability to look back into a long and rich history can distract one from the challenges to be met today; respect and deference to elders can lock one's actions to sensibilities formed in a time which, if not distant, is nonetheless superseded; ancient harmonies achieved by conflating different dimensions of reality, such as heaven, man and nature, can reduce the tensions which hold open our horizons, found our hopes and inspire new efforts. By fascinating the human mind, an ideal can hold one captive, allowing past experiences of the good to generate repetition, which, in turn, can lead to stagnation. This can have most deleterious effects, for stagnation in a period of change and progress generates frustration; though present needs push for action, actions poorly planned and understood tend to exacerbate the situation and lead to decisions which are ever more inept; panic and social instability ensue in a devolving cycle.

            To overcome this it is essential to rethink in new terms which, if not necessarily better than the past, reflect and respond to the aspirations and possibilities of people today and thus make possible concrete progress in facing the urgent issues of our times.

            In this I would make two particular. First, in most cases the refer-

ences to the Confucian tradition are intended in the broad sense in which the general Confucian outlook, especially in the last centuries, has tended also to assimilate and adapt elements of Taoism and Buddhism which continue to be operative in the culture of the people precisely as thus assimilated.

            Second, while often the Confucian sense of harmony is seen merely as cohesion of the many offspring with their one father or of many people with the one governor, it is taken here in the sense of a dynamic cohesion of many social components and orientations. In this sense its potentialities for service as a principle for democratic pluralism are sought. Whether this is the original sense or a latent one which could now be evolved must be judged by others specialized in the theory and practice of the Chinese tradition and creatively concerned about its future.

            Accordingly, the following chapters study a number of themes.

            Chapter I looks into the character of tradition as constituted from the cumulative creative freedom of a people in the past and consisting now in the exercise of its creative freedom in applying learning from the past to the challenges of our day.

            Chapter II is devoted to the notion of person. The evolution of this notion and emergence into consciousness appears to have been the most dynamic force for change in the last half of the 20th century. In order to move ahead in the 21st century, we need to identify the component dimensions of the sense of person and its implications for social life.

            Chapter III studies the coordinating notion of harmony in terms of Kant's third Critique as a context for the urgent realization both of the possibilities of science in the first Critique and of freedom in the second Critique. In this light, the traditional sense of harmony, rather than being abandoned as retrogressive, could be rethought from within and could manifest more of its richness; in the process, it could make possible a constructive realization of the twin aspirations for science and democracy which have characterized the hopes of China in this century.

            Chapter IV concerns the sense of transcendence in order to see in the history of peoples how "inner" transcendence is founded upon the sense of an "outer" transcendent which can ground identically the dignity of the person and the relation of persons in community, and how, at the same time, this provides a creative tension between possibility and achievement that can enliven human creativity, lead to achievement and generate self-fulfillment.

            The above speaks of challenge and human response, of progress and fulfillment. But, clearly, human history and our life contain failure as well as success, evil as well as good. Chapter V looks into this to see if the reality of evil can be recognized without it destroying or compromising the sense of truth, justice and good. We must see how, by integrating evil into the struggle to realize human life, even the tragedies of a person or a people can become roads to a resurgence, of person and society

            Finally, Chapter VI, by reflecting upon simple everyday components of our experience, will attempt to look more deeply into the nature of our being in order to discover its open dynamism and creative power. Here, the analysis will focus upon the nature of gift in the hope that this might lead us back once again to a deeper sense of the creative thrust of tradition for the life of persons (II) living together in Freedom (III) and in the enlivening context of the Transcendent (IV) in a process of transforming evil into good and death into resurrection and new life.