Lu Xun, nearing his death, wrote two essays commemorating Zhang Taiyan. Both are rather unconventional eulogies, which engage the style, themes, and conventions of traditional biographies. Keenly aware of the depictio...Lu Xun, nearing his death, wrote two essays commemorating Zhang Taiyan. Both are rather unconventional eulogies, which engage the style, themes, and conventions of traditional biographies. Keenly aware of the depictions of his teacher as a conservative Confucian scholar and a political reactionary, Lu Xun provides a counter image. By associating his teacher with prominent revolutionaries and framing his idiosyncratic behaviors and political choices in later life as the product of failed ambition, Lu Xun harks back to the figure of the ＂mad genius＂ lauded as exemplars in the classical literary tradition, an image that resonates as well with the gallery of ＂modem＂ misanthropes and madmen in his short stories. Cast within a lineage of awakened eccentrics often deemed insane in their own times, Zhang emerges in Lu Xun＇s essays as a revolutionary par excellence： an outspoken rebel who, after the founding of the Republic, remained a fearless critic of the establishment; an uncompromising radical at heart, who remained committed to the ideals of a true social transformation long since forgotten by those around him. In making the ＂worthiness＂ and relevance of Zhang Taiyan as a historical figure legible to modem readers through his engagement with traditional biographical conventions, Lu Xun also affirms the value of a traditional literati culture which continued to structure his worldview as a modem intellectual and writer. For his portrait of the ＂master of classical studies＂ as a radical revolutionary, however partial, was an attempt to ensure that Zhang＇s name would remain relevant to posterity, leaving open the possibility that his teacher＇s ＂precious records＂ might also be transmitted and still find knowing readers in later ages.展开更多
Historians generally describe Zhang Taiyan 章太炎 （Binglin 炳麟, 1869-1936） as an anti-Manchu revolutionary and treat his Buddhism as subordinate to this larger political project. Far less commonly understood is Zh...Historians generally describe Zhang Taiyan 章太炎 （Binglin 炳麟, 1869-1936） as an anti-Manchu revolutionary and treat his Buddhism as subordinate to this larger political project. Far less commonly understood is Zhang＇s role in preparing the groundwork for the establishment of Chinese philosophy as an academic discipline. Against the backdrop of an intellectual climate in Japan and China during the decades either side of 1900, in which a premium had come to be placed on logic as a precondition for the development of philosophy, Zhang was one of the first Chinese intellectuals to follow the lead of Japanese scholars in maintaining that classical Chinese philosophers had developed indigenous forms of logic. Significantly, he further argued that Chinese versions ofYogac^ratexts on Buddhist logic and epistemology （yinming ~t~; Skt. hetu-vidya） made it possible once again to gain a proper understanding of China＇s earliest writings on logic. In this paper I argue that Zhang sought to establish that early Chinese texts ＂bear witness＂ to insights into realities that transcend individual cultures but are most fully and systematically articulated in ~og^c^ra systems of learning; and that classical Chinese philosopher-sages had attained an awareness of the highest truths, evidence of which can be found in their writings. In short, I will show that Zhang used Yogac^ra to affirm the value of ＂Chinese philosophy＂ and, in doing so, helped shape its early definition.展开更多
文摘Lu Xun, nearing his death, wrote two essays commemorating Zhang Taiyan. Both are rather unconventional eulogies, which engage the style, themes, and conventions of traditional biographies. Keenly aware of the depictions of his teacher as a conservative Confucian scholar and a political reactionary, Lu Xun provides a counter image. By associating his teacher with prominent revolutionaries and framing his idiosyncratic behaviors and political choices in later life as the product of failed ambition, Lu Xun harks back to the figure of the ＂mad genius＂ lauded as exemplars in the classical literary tradition, an image that resonates as well with the gallery of ＂modem＂ misanthropes and madmen in his short stories. Cast within a lineage of awakened eccentrics often deemed insane in their own times, Zhang emerges in Lu Xun＇s essays as a revolutionary par excellence： an outspoken rebel who, after the founding of the Republic, remained a fearless critic of the establishment; an uncompromising radical at heart, who remained committed to the ideals of a true social transformation long since forgotten by those around him. In making the ＂worthiness＂ and relevance of Zhang Taiyan as a historical figure legible to modem readers through his engagement with traditional biographical conventions, Lu Xun also affirms the value of a traditional literati culture which continued to structure his worldview as a modem intellectual and writer. For his portrait of the ＂master of classical studies＂ as a radical revolutionary, however partial, was an attempt to ensure that Zhang＇s name would remain relevant to posterity, leaving open the possibility that his teacher＇s ＂precious records＂ might also be transmitted and still find knowing readers in later ages.
文摘Historians generally describe Zhang Taiyan 章太炎 （Binglin 炳麟, 1869-1936） as an anti-Manchu revolutionary and treat his Buddhism as subordinate to this larger political project. Far less commonly understood is Zhang＇s role in preparing the groundwork for the establishment of Chinese philosophy as an academic discipline. Against the backdrop of an intellectual climate in Japan and China during the decades either side of 1900, in which a premium had come to be placed on logic as a precondition for the development of philosophy, Zhang was one of the first Chinese intellectuals to follow the lead of Japanese scholars in maintaining that classical Chinese philosophers had developed indigenous forms of logic. Significantly, he further argued that Chinese versions ofYogac^ratexts on Buddhist logic and epistemology （yinming ~t~; Skt. hetu-vidya） made it possible once again to gain a proper understanding of China＇s earliest writings on logic. In this paper I argue that Zhang sought to establish that early Chinese texts ＂bear witness＂ to insights into realities that transcend individual cultures but are most fully and systematically articulated in ~og^c^ra systems of learning; and that classical Chinese philosopher-sages had attained an awareness of the highest truths, evidence of which can be found in their writings. In short, I will show that Zhang used Yogac^ra to affirm the value of ＂Chinese philosophy＂ and, in doing so, helped shape its early definition.
