The Concept of Harmony in Chinese Culture and Philosophy

In Chinese culture，the concept of harmony has always been emphasized，in terms of the real life，and literary works of Chinese，including relationships between man and heaven，emperor and ministers，and external relationships.Chinese have adopted all kinds ofmeasures and means in order to achieve the harmony，and considered harmony as their ultimate pursuit，which are closely related with their national traits and world outlook preconceived in their historical evolution.

Harmony between Man and Heaven

The Book of Changes says，”The great man is he who is in harmony，in his attributes，with heaven and earth；in his brightness，with the sun and moon；in his orderly procedure，with the four seasons；and in his relation to what is fortunate and what is calamitous，in harmony with the spirit-like operations of Providence.He may precede Heaven，and Heaven will not act in opposition to him；he may follow Heaven，but act only as Heaven at the timewould do.If Heaven will not act in opposition to him，how much less will men！How much less will the spirit-like operation of Providence！”）.

This expresses the idea of”Heaven-and-Human Oneness”，and naturally the highest ideal state that man expects to attain in his lifetime.Confucius’view of Heaven seemed somewhat contradictory as he regarded heaven as natural，and as an objective existence，and also considered heaven a god-like figure determining man’s fate at same time，but he himself did not believe in god sincerely.Mencius says，”When a thing is done without a known agent，then it is Heaven who does it.When a thing happens without a cause，then it is Fate that makes it happen.”）He believes that man can understand heaven through the cultivation of his character.

Dong Zhongshu was the first Confucian scholar who had clearly expressed the idea of“Heaven-and-Human Oneness”.Actually，other schools of thought，besides Confucianists，had had their brilliant interpretations of”Heaven-and-Human Oneness”.Lao Zi says，“Man takes Earth as his model；Earth takes Heaven as its model；Heaven takes Tao as its model；Tao takes what is natural as its model.”And Zhuang Zi also expresses his view in this way，”The heaven and the earth and I came into existence at the same time；all things in the world and I are one uniformity.”

Therefore，both Confucianism and Taoism have quite similar ideas concerning“Heaven-and-Human Oneness”，that is，the idea of harmony between man and heaven.It may be said that idea of harmony between man and heaven had a fundamental theme in ancient Chinese philosophy，which diffused into Chinese life penetratingly.Then how did Chinese demonstrate their idea of”Heaven-and-Human Oneness”or”Heaven-and-Man Harmony”in their real life？

The idea of“Heaven-and-Human Oneness”，as the highest ideal and the fundamental spirit，had been the life principle of scholar-officials in their thinking，behaviours and personality，and even affected the ordinary people.They had been permeated with the idea of “Heaven-and-Human Oneness”in their designing of living quarters，choice of human life，way of life，religious beliefs，literary and artistic interests.First，in the building of their mansions，scholar-officials attempted to imitate nature，make them resemble natural hills and rivers，even little woods，and in designing royal gardens，emperors also preferred the“naturalness of man-made gardens”，which revealed the sense of“Heaven-and-Human Oneness”，where they could live and tour at the same time，sauntering along the streams among little hills，experiencing the beauty of forests without going out.Second，in religion，they believed in Zen Buddhism，a Sinicized religion，which holds that since man is in the universe，universe is also in the hearts of people；the relationship between man and nature is not only mutually participating，but also an integral whole.Here Zen Buddhism is not so religious，but man is even closer to nature，which is the kind of religion Chinese scholar-officials felt intimate with and at ease.Third，in Chinese paintings，painters pursued the state of the loss of both the painters themselves and objects they intend to paint，or the merging of the subjective and the objective.Painters are notdrawing the specific mountains，rivers，grasses and trees，but the personified nature，nature appeared in their eyes and crystalized in their hearts；they finally produced theirartistically transformed nature，with their understanding and feelings on the canvas，where the line between the objective and the subjective became blurred.Fourth，in literary works，writers also intended to capture the ideal image of“Heaven-and-Human Oneness”or“Heaven-and-Human Harmony”.Cheng Hao，a philosopher and also a literary man，wrote a poem entitled“Autumn Days”，expressing his philosophical understanding of“Heaven-and-Human Oneness”

In these lateyears there is nothing that comes That is not easy and simple；

Each morning through my window shines the sun，As I awake.

qingquang

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