Ancient Chinese Philosophy and Neville Goddard

I read in Neville Goddard's lecture "A Lesson in Scripture" that Abdullah told him they had been philosophers together in ancient China (http://realneville.com/txt/a_lesson_in_scripture.htm). I wondered, "What would they have believed and taught in ancient China?" I happened to have a copy of A History of Chinese Philosophy by Fung (1952, Princeton University Press) on my shelf, so I perused the book. I am learning a lot more from it with this reading! Confucius was so brilliant because he was so devout. Tien, "Heaven," for him was God. Heaven doesn't say much, but life here is the effect of Its will, because Heaven and Earth are one thing! The severity of the Emperor's devotion to Heaven and his love for man, jen, should strike both terror and awe in his subjects and his opponents and inspire them to lead noble lives.

We have probably all been Chinese at one time or another. When I was baptized in the Holy Spirit, I recognized the language I spoke to be an East Asian tongue, probably a dialect of Chinese (I used to live in San Francisco's Chinatown). Confucius was born in 551 B.C. His inspiration were three dynasties of sage kings who lived more than five hundred years before him, and of course thousands of philosophers followed him. Lu Chiu-yuan (1139-1193) and Yang Chien (1140-1225) stand out in my mind as having the same philosophical bent as Abdullah and Neville. Below are samples of things these ancient Chinese philosophers taught (from Fung, volume 2, pages 572-585ff).

"When he (Lu) first read the Analects, he suspected Master Yu's (a disciple of Confucius) words of being involved and complicated. Another day, in his reading of ancient books, he encountered the words yu and chou, on which the commentary stated: 'The four directions, together with what is above and what is below, are called yu; and the bygone past and the coming future are called chou.' Then, with a sudden onrush of great insight, he said: 'Those affairs which are in the universe are those which fall within my duty; those affairs which fall within my duty are those which are within the universe.'

"Again he once remarked: 'The universe (yu chou) is my mind, and my mind is the universe. If in the Eastern Sea there were to appear a sage, he would have this same mind and this same Principle (li). If in the Western Sea there were to appear a sage, he would have this same mind and this same Principle. If in the Southern or Northern Sea there were to appear sages, they (too) would have this same mind and this same Principle. If a hundred or a thousand generations ago, or a hundred or a thousand generations hence, sages were to appear, they (likewise) would have this same mind and same Principle.'"

Lu had a predilection toward Ch'ung Hao, who maintained that the student's first need in self-cultivation is to comprehend love (jen), and that once he comprehends this truth and cultivates it with sincerity (ch'eng) and earnestness (ching), there is no need for anything further. Lu said, "Recently there was someone who criticized me, saying, 'Aside from the one sentence, Let a man first firmly establish the nobler part of his constitution, he has no other tricks.' Hearing it, I replied: 'True indeed!'"

"Let a man first firmly establish the nobler part of his constitution," means, as far as Lu is concerned: Let him first understand that Truth or Tao is nothing more than the mind, and the mind is nothing more than the Truth. For, as he explains: "Beyond the Truth, no thing exists; outside of things, no Truth exists." . . . "The ten thousand things are profusely contained within a square inch of space (i.e., the mind). Filling the mind and, pouring forth, filling the entire universe (yu chou), there is nothing that is not this Principle (li)". . . "Mencius said, 'He who has developed completely his mind knows his nature. Knowing his nature, he knows Heaven.' Mind is only one mind" . . . "The extent of the mind is very great. If I can develop completely my mind, I thereby become identified with Heaven. Study consists of nothing more than to apprehend this."

"The universe has never limited and separated itself from man, but it is man who limits and separates himself from the universe." The purpose of study is to rid the mind of all those things by which it is blinded, in this way enabling it to return to its original condition. . . . "It is you yourself who have sunk and buried yourself, obscured and blinded yourself. Lying deep down within a dark pit, one knows nothing of what is called the high and distant. You must tear yourself out of that pit and look for a way to break your bonds."

"In the Analects there are many statements that suffer from the lack of context. Thus, in such a saying as, 'one may attain to it with knowledge and yet be unable to preserve it with love,' one does not know what 'it' is that is to be attained to and preserved. Or again, in the saying, 'to learn is to practice constantly,' one does not know what it is that is to be practiced constantly. Unless one has ability for study, it is not easy to read. But if one does have ability for study, then one will know that what is to be attained to is this (mind); that what is to be preserved is to preserve it; and that what is to be practiced constantly is to practice it. )In other words), to talk is to talk about it, and to rejoice is to rejoice in it." . . . "To investigate all things (ko wu) is to investigate this (mind). Fu Hsi looked up to (contemplate the brilliant) forms (exhibited in Heaven), and looked down to (survey) the patterns (shown on Earth). He was, indeed, the first to exert his efforts in (thus apprehending) this (mind). If it were not so, what is called the 'investigation of things' would be an insignificant matter."

Granted that "to learn is to practice constantly," one must first know what it is that is thus to be practiced -- in the words of Mencius, that man must "first firmly establish the nobler part of his constitution." This means to "know what is fundamental," and then, with all one's energies, to practice it, preserve it, and rejoice in it.

As for Yang Chien (page 579ff), Lu Chiu-yuan's chief follower, "In (1169), an assembly met one evening in the Hall of Double Enlightenment, at which (Lu) several times mentioned the two words, 'original mind.' (pen hsin).  Thereupon (Yang) asked in a measured tone, 'What is meant by the original mind?' It so happened that early that morning he (Yang Chien) had heard the lawsuit of a fan (vendor). (Lu Chiu-yuan) replied loudly: 'In the case of that fan (vendor), there must have been one (of the disputants) who was right and one who was wrong. Since you were able to see who was right and who wrong, and then to pronounce judgment that so-and-so was right and so-and-so was wrong, what is this if not (knowledge that comes from) the original mind? On hearing this, the Master (Yang Chien) suddenly realized the pure clarity of his mind. 'Is that all?' he immediately pressed. (Lu) again replied loudly, 'What else can it be?'
"One evening, when I asked about the original mind, (Lu) mentioned by way of reply the right and wrong involved in that day's case of the Fan (vendor). I then suddenly came to realize the pure and clear quality of our mind. I suddenly realized that this mind has no beginning and no end, and that it penetrates everywhere." . . . "The process of change is self and none other. It is not right to regard simply as a book and not as the self. Nor is it right to regard it as the transformation of the cosmos and not the self. The Cosmos (lit., "Heaven and Earth") is my own cosmos, and its transformation is my own transformation; they are in no way external (to the self). Selfishness sunders it (the self) from (the cosmos), and results in diminution of the self. . . . The constituents of the self are something more than mere blood, breath, and physical form. My nature is limpid and pure, and not a mere physical thing. It is penetrating and limitless, and not a mere physical quantity.  Heaven is a symbol that lies within my own nature; Earth is a shape that lies within my own nature. That is why it is said, 'In Heaven there are the (different) symbols completed, and on Earth there are the (different) shapes there formed.' All are equally produced by me. Undifferentiably intertwined, they are neither internal nor external (to the self); all permeate one another, without distinction or difference. . . . The sage is unable to impart the Truth (Tao) to men, but he is able to dispel their becloudings."

Abdullah and Neville? Not necessarily. Maybe they were you. What would they have believed and taught in ancient China? The exact same things they believed and taught here today, except now it is our turn.