Yin-Yang Enchantments
This evening, I was having a casual chat with one of my colleagues working in the Academic Office of the seminary I teach in. I never used to be one for small talk (I think I’ve blogged about this before), but of course by now I’ve learned that you never know what small talk might lead to.
To my amazement, this colleague revealed her secret interest to me – she’s interested in the reconciliation of the Chinese Yin and Yang principles with the Christian worldview. This caused my heart to skip a beat. The Chinese Yin and Yang speak of “opposite factors” in the scheme of life. They are not to be understood as opposites in the sense of “good” waging war against “evil”, for neither is morally superior to the other. They are merely opposite forces at work in the processes inherent within the scheme of the universe.
The thing is this – any talk about the Yin and Yang almost immediately brings the well-meaning Christian into a furious negativity about how it’s related to Taoism (or at best, Chinese medicine!) Hardly would anyone dare to venture into the possibility that the principles of the Yin and Yang can be somewhat reconciled with the Christian paradigm of life in the universe. And this is precisely what this colleague of mine finds herself interested in. For her, it’s simply about reconciling one philosophy to another. Whoosh!
The problem that unsuspecting Westerners have about learning Asian philosophies is this – if Westerners talk about their philosophies, Asians most often simply live their philosophy. You cannot “read” Asian philosophy from afar and assume to understand it the way you can read Western philosophy from a distance. To understand Asian philosophy, you’ve simply got to come and live among us for an extended period of time and be one of us – you don’t study Asian philosophy. You catch it by watching the things we do every day and doing those things with us. Geddit?
Comments (5)
Sorry, sk. I don't geddit.
I see the problems Christians in general will have in accepting the yin-yang symbol.However, I do not understand your second part about living their philosophy. How is it related to the first second section.
BTW, Lee uses the Chinese symbol of Yin-Yang to express his understanding of the Trinity. He starts with Jesus whose dual nature as man and God is reflected in the two portions of the Yin-Yang symbol. The feminine Yin represents the Holy Spirit which is female and Mother. The Yang represent the masculine and hence God the Father. Lee, J. Y. (1996). The Trinity in Asian Perspective. Nashville, Abingdon Press. May I have your comments on this?
Posted by Alex Tang | April 30, 2007 2:48 AM
Hi Dr Tang!
The final paragraph of this short post is basically an observation on how difficult it might be for our Western counterparts to actually come to understand Eastern philosophies (using the present case in point as a particular example, the Yin and Yang) in the light of the lack of cognitive articulations of such philosophies among Asians.
This doesn't mean we don't have philosophies - we just don't talk as much about them as the Western people talk about theirs. We simply live our philosophies - they undergird our everyday living expressions. It's perhaps those of us Asians who're trained in the Western paradigm of thinking who're trying to articulate what our people believe.
Regarding Lee's The Trinity in Asian Perspective, as of now, I don't have a particular sentiment about it. I (perhaps too simplistically) see it as a contribution to the various other contributions seeking to understand the divine triunity from an Asian communitarian experience which remains a central dimension of societal life in Asia.
As far as the Trinitarian perspective is concerned, I believe together with Robert Jenson that this doctrine "is not a separate puzzle to be solved but the framework within which all theology's puzzles are to be solved".
Posted by sk | April 30, 2007 3:09 AM
Hi sk,
Thanks for the clarification. Now I get the drift of your post.
It is interesting that you feel that Asians do not articulate their philosophies. Most Asian nations have their own philosophers and their corpus of work. It is just not written in English. Whatever in available in English are rather poor translation.
I fully support the idea that "the divine triunity from an Asian communitarian experience which remains a central dimension of societal life in Asia."
I also believe with Jenson that the Trinity is the framework from which all theology should be derived from.
Posted by Alex Tang | April 30, 2007 6:27 PM
Hi again, Dr Tang! Thanks for your response!
Yes, in Asia we do have our scores of "philosophical" works. I'm inclined to think that much of these works are expressed in terms of ethical instructions on ways of living rather than abstract descriptions of fundamental philosophical principles the way they're usually described in Greek and Western philosophy - what do you think?
Posted by sk | April 30, 2007 7:04 PM
Hi sk,
I agree with your observation. Eastern philosophers are more pragmatic and emphazise on ethical living while the Greeks more on ethical talking (no disrepect meant).
Remember Robert Nisbett's The Geography of Thought? Westerners think in a straight line while Easterners think in circle.
Posted by Alex Tang | May 3, 2007 1:57 AM