Session 2 - March 24

[Cynthia Jackson]

At my district’s other middle school, one of the teachers created a series of lessons about Buddhism in India. Last year, I remember us discussing a lesson she did on comparing some of Buddha’s quotes with a few of Martin Luther King Jr.’s quotes and possibly a few of Gandhi's as well. I think we discussed having students first identify who said what and then interpret the meaning and connection between the quotes. The final idea was to have students understand the principles of Buddhism and the transmission of ideas. Building off of this idea, I think it would be helpful for students to compare and contrast Confucius’ and Socrates’ philosophies. Since kids learn about Socrates in 6th grade at my school, doing this compare and contrast activity would be a good way to connect different social studies courses and build off of prior knowledge.

[Cynthia Jackson]

When watching this week’s lectures, I began wondering: What prompted Confucius to begin developing and recording his philosophies? He is so detailed and specific with his expectations for society that I wanted to know what was happening socially and politically that he could have been responding to. At first I thought that he had been alive during a significant number of years in the Warring States Period, but he lived from the 6th-5th centuries B.C.E. and that period was from the 5th-3rd centuries B.C.E. Once it occurred to me that Confucius lived in a time shortly before the Warring States Period, and not during this period, it made even less sense to me. Did Confucius live at a time when the region was disintegrating into the warring states or did it suddenly happen in the final years of his life? I think understanding the answer to this last question can help determine if Confucius was responding more to political turmoil or the need for creating a central “Chinese” identity.

[Cynthia Jackson]

When you think that Mo Tzu lived during the Warring States Period, unlike Confucius, then the difference between the schools of thought make a lot of sense. Mohism rejecting a Confucian emphasis on the family as the most important societal dynamic could reflect that instability of the time and the focus on matters outside of the home. Additionally, his idea that individual interests should serve the general interests could also reflect the need for more community unification and a realization that strong family hierarchies and traditions, while creating a central “Chinese” identity did not prevent regional chaos.

[Cynthia Jackson]

Logic tells us that Taoism had to be created by a group of individuals, however this group opted to invent a “front man” instead of electing one of them to serve as the face of this school of thought. I have two theories about why this happened. The first theory is that the group declined to elect one individual as the face of this philosophy because this went against “the way”. The way may have discouraged the uplifting of individuals as that can lead to jealousies and corruptions in society and government. With Taoism rejecting the elevation of leaders or heroes, the first Taoists may have thought it was better to invent a folk story- one in which a humble but admirable character learned about Taoism and changed his life to align with the way. The second theory is that there was a sort of class issue with the individuals that could have become the face of Taoism. It’s possible that they wished to draw attention away from their families and themselves being members of the upper class or that they were considered members of the lower class and couldn’t draw people towards taoism if that was widely known.

[Cynthia Jackson]

Popular mental health practices are heavily influenced by religions that originated in South and East Asia. Some examples of this include yoga, meditation, self-talk and positive affirmations. These practices combine thought, speech, and physical movement to develop skills such as quieting your thoughts, being present in the moment, physical health, and intentions. To me, all these practices seem most closely related to Buddhism and Taoism as they emphasize reaching a version of enlightenment or good living. For people, looking for cross-curricular learning opportunities, exploring the origins of these practices and their benefits could be done by partnering with one of your school’s health or P.E. teachers.

[Cynthia Jackson]

It makes sense that Taoists were wary of Buddhism, which was a spreading religion and could possibly be more persuasive than a school of thought. Given that they had similarities and Buddhism and Confucianism were founded around the same century, it also wouldn’t be difficult to surmise that Taoism was an interpretation of Buddhism that was seen through the lens of early Chinese tradition. It seems to draw from Buddhism’s main ideas but differentiate itself from other Chinese philosophies by rejecting the focus on highly structured societal and political expectations. It could be valuable to have students compare and contrast Buddhism and Taoism, helping them further understand the differences between philosophies and religions. It can help them understand another higher level concept as well- that culture can inform religions or philosophies and vice versa.

[Cynthia Jackson]

Legalism probably ended the debate and helped end the Warring States Period because it was the most pragmatic. As such, legalism could be implemented immediately as it solely focused on developing laws and systems for society and government to run smoothly, with more emphasis on government since that was the organization most in crises. Legalism provided something that the other schools of thought could not- it provided encouragement for a centralized empire and leaders wanting to take strong action without incurring social rebellions. The only other school of thought that came close to this goal was Mohism, which probably served as the foundation for the legalists' success with driving the Qin Dynasty. Their emphasis on studying agriculture to grow resources and produce riches also draws from the scientific practices of Taoism. Lastly, like in some educational practices, legalism uses operative conditioning to train citizens how to behave. As this is based on the idea that people are inherently bad and you need to make sure their individual interests align with the general interests, we see more references to Confucianism and Mohism. Although legalism helped end the Autumn and Spring Period and was a driving force during the Qin Dynasty unlike the other schools of thought, it was able to do this because it drew from their strengths and combined them with rational and efficient ways of centralizing power.

[Cynthia Jackson]

I think it would be worth getting students a translated and modified version of this story to help them understand Legalism more in depth. If you were teaching the four schools of thought before assessing students with the role-play debate, then this could be Day 6 or Day 7 (if you include the comparison lessons I mentioned in my previous post, you’ll at least need this many days). This day would focus on helping students analyze cultural stories by blending in ELA standards such as identifying main characters, central plot points including the conflict, and summarizing the end. Depending on your comfort with the ELA standards, you could also lead students in examining sentence structure and word choice to determine the author’s purpose and audience. Lastly students could complete two reflections before a discussion with the class. The first would ask students to reflect on the story’s plot and its overall moral or meaning. The second would ask students to reflect on the story’s literary structure and what it indicates about the legalists and Chinese society overall in the 4th-3rd centuries B.C.E.

[Cynthia Jackson]

I imagine that the Qin Dynasty didn’t immediately need a softer face because their role in the list of dynasties became the power that unified China and ended the wars and lawlessness of the time period before. However, each empire afterwards would not be able to claim that accomplishment again and as time passed on, there was less of a need for such intensity with crimes and punishment. A loyal and safer China meant that people would eventually become dissatisfied with laws that they could stifle or inconvenience their lives. Most people are like this. If they do not immediately see the need for the law and it happens to inconvenience them, they discount the original purpose of the law. Blending legalism with popular Confucianism, which helped shape court and family values, and Taoism, which encouraged people to love and live in good ways would mean that China could remain united and cultured, and rulers could temper social unrest caused as a result of total legalism across all facets of empire life.

[Cynthia Jackson]

Sean, I agree with the several good points you make here. Confucianism, Taoism, Legalism, and Sun Tzu’s philosophies are still prevalent in China today and have spread to other countries throughout the common era because each of them is distinct enough to be remembered but can also be used collectively to promote balance in all areas of life. Alone they can’t be successful because they focus too much on family and home life or too much on government and building empires. However, together they provide strong and detailed philosophies for building an empire that protects educated and cultured communities sustained by China’s families and class structure. Mohism has sunk to lesser recognition over the centuries because it attempted to be the blending of these philosophies without having as strong identifying characteristics as the other schools and without being effective for empire building.

[Bin He]

 

For the last debate, I have some new ideas, which I would like to share with you all here.

1. The topic of the debate can be a current hot topic in the United States. For example, gun control, abortion or environmental protection, etc. It can shorten the distance between students and the knowledge they have learned.

2. The form of debate can be more diversified. For example, let students role-play great men in history and discussion around a common topic.

3. Regarding the setting of the scoring system, you can ask students and teachers to make it together. Teachers can give students some necessary evaluation items, such as their understanding of their scholars, analysis of specific issues, the number of questions, the number of participation, etc. You can even invite students on campus to come to class and listen to debates to vote for students.

 

[Deirdre Harris]

It was such a pleasure to stop during the 2nd video and read this tale written two hundred years after the fall of the Han Dynasty.  It's a simple fable that my 4th graders could easily enjoy, and delve into some of the questions posed.  The fisherman who is relaxing, thinking of not much at all, who doesn't seem highly motivated or worried about his responsibilities, who is drinking wine, and drifts off, dropping his cup into the river suddenly spots some peach trees in a part of the river he has never seen before.  What does he find?  After some exploration through a cave, he comes upon Utopia!  Heaven on Earth...a beautiful, colorful village full of perfect and happy people, living harmoniously amongst themselves.  He is immediately greeted and taken to meet the leader of the village with whom he has a conversation about how there is only happiness and prosperity in this valley and no war.  That they had escaped the horrors of the warring states, and were all just quietly living a happy, trouble-free life.  The ask him to not tell anyone about it, as he leaves. 

What does he lose?  He loses the cup into the water, and this is when he sees the peach trees, and at first I thought this might have had some significance.  But what he really loses is the ability to keep the secret to the people of the Happy Valley.  He does tell of it, albeit luckily, no one had ever found it.  But even so, his inability to keep the promise leaves him feeling badly about himself perhaps?   I know that others wrote about how this tied into philosophical ideaton. 

 Why did they write about it two hundred years after the fall of the Han Dynasty?  I think it was to give people hope of a new world order.  It was written to inspire the Chinese people not to give up hope on reunification.  People need hope to keep on living their lives, and this story does that.  That's why I think there were numerous paintings, songs, and other recreations of this wonderful fable.  In my 4th grade class, we could easily compare this fable with Aesop's fables, and see if there are any that inspire us to be better people.  We could look across the folklore of other cultures, and compare lessons taught.  We could look for hidden lessons in the Peach Blossom Spring beyond just what's on the page, but teaching students to read between the lines.  The best part is at the end, when it leaves us with the visual of peach blossom petals floating down the river and leaving us with the wondering of where they originated.  A perfectly lovely story with a hopeful ending.  

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