Han Yu
China must return to the moral Way of Confucius and Mencius, handed down from the ancient sages, and turn away from Buddhism and Daoism.
Placement
Tang scholar-official: in “Tracing the Way” he defended the Confucian Way against Buddhism and Daoism and traced its transmission through Mencius – a forerunner of Neo-Confucianism.
Key ideas
- Transmission of the Way (daotong)
- Critique of Buddhism
- Return to Mencius
Influence
Influenced by 2
Confucius
influenced by
In ‘Essentials of the Way’ (Yuan Dao) Han Yu defined the Way by Confucius’ humaneness and righteousness and traced its transmission from the sage-kings through Confucius to Mencius. Han Yu, Yuan Dao; C. Hartman, Han Yü and the T’ang Search for Unity (1986)
Evidence: AI draft
Confucius › traditionally 551–479 BCE
Mengzi (Mencius)
influenced by
Han Yu made Mencius the last bearer of the Way and in ‘Reading Xunzi’ judged him wholly pure, Xunzi and Yang Xiong pure with small flaws. Han Yu, Yuan Dao; Du Xunzi; C. Hartman, Han Yü and the T’ang Search for Unity (1986)
Evidence: AI draft
Mengzi (Mencius) › c. 372–289 BCE
Criticism
Criticizes 2
Laozi
criticised
Han Yu’s ‘Essentials of the Way’ (Yuan Dao) accused Laozi of belittling benevolence and righteousness and so emptying ‘the Way’ of its Confucian content. Han Yu, Yuan Dao; C. Hartman, Han Yü and the T’ang Search for Unity, 1986
Evidence: AI draft
Laozi › legendary figure
Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha)
criticised
Han Yu attacked Buddhism as a foreign teaching that dissolves the bonds of ruler and subject, father and son (‘Memorial on the Buddha’s Bone’, 819; ‘Yuan Dao’). Han Yu, Lun Fogu biao (819); Yuan Dao; C. Hartman, Han Yü and the T’ang Search for Unity, 1986
Evidence: AI draft
Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) › c. 480–400 BCE · conventionally dated 563–483 BCE
Works
An essay that defines the Way as humaneness and rightness and attacks Buddhism and Daoism for withdrawing from family and state.
Position
Han Yu led the “ancient prose” (guwen) movement and was a forerunner of Neo-Confucianism. In “Tracing the Way” he defined the Way as humaneness and rightness, lived in family and state, and attacked Buddhists and Daoists for abandoning ruler, father and work for private salvation. He traced a transmission of the Way from the sage-kings through Confucius to Mencius, after whom it was broken – implicitly casting himself as its restorer. He ranked Mencius above Xunzi and taught three grades of human nature. The Song Neo-Confucians took up his idea of a transmission of the Way (daotong) and his elevation of Mencius, though they found his own thought shallow.
Life & context
Han Yu was born in 768 in Heyang (present-day Henan); orphaned early, he was raised by his elder brother’s family. He passed the jinshi examination in 792 and had a stormy official career. In 819 his memorial against honouring a relic of the Buddha so angered the emperor that he was banished to Chaozhou in the far south. Recalled in 820, he held high office until his death in 824.
Further main works
- Tracing Human Nature (Yuan xing, early 9th century)
- On Teachers (Shi shuo, c. 802)
- Memorial on the Buddha’s Bone (Lun Fogu biao, 819)
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