The etymology of Sheng (sage) and its Confucian conception in early China

Journal of Chinese Philosophy

Volumn 27, Issue 4, 2000, Pages 409-427

  Chen, Ning ^a  

^a SANTA CLARA UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 61049276137     PISSN: 03018121     EISSN: 15406253     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/0301-8121.00024     Document Type: Article

References (36)

1. David Hall and Roger Ames, Thinking Through Confucius (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1987), pp. 257-259
2. Rodney Taylor, The Religious Dimensions of Confucianism (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1990), p. 24
3. Julia Ching, "The Ancient Sages (sheng): Their Identity and their Place in Chinese Intellectual History," Oriens Extremus 30 (1983-1986): 14
4. William Boltz, "The Religious and Philosophical Significance of the 'Hsiang Erh' Lao Tzu in the Light of the Ma-wang-tui Silk Manuscripts," Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 45 (1982): 101. Hall and Ames, p. 362, note 13
5. Yu Shengwu, ed.,Jiagu wenzi gulin (Explanations of the oracle bone inscriptions), vol. 1 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1996), pp. 657-664
6. Yao Xiaosui, ed., Yinxu jiagu keci leizuan (Categorized compilation of the oracle bone inscriptions from the Yin wastes) (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1989), pp. 236-237
7. Yao Xiaosui, ed., Yinxu jiagu keci leizuan (Categorized compilation of the oracle bone inscriptions from the Yin wastes) Ibid., 1:660, 664
8. Zhou Fa-gao, ed., Jinwen gulin (Explanations of the bronze inscriptions), vol. 13 (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1974), p. 6582
9. Yu Shengwu, 1:12
10. See Teng Rensheng, Chuxi jianbo wenzi bian (A compilation of the characters written in silk and bamboo texts unearthed in the Chu cultural area) (Wuhan: Hubei jiaoyu, 1995), pp. 848-849
11. and Jingmenshi bowuguan, Guodian chumu zhujian (Bamboo texts discovered in the Chu tomb at guodian) (Beijing: Wenwu, 1998)
12. Hereafter cited as GDCMZJ. The character sheng transcribed as sheng 8 appears in many texts in the Guodian collection, for example, in p. 4, strip 17; p. 9, strip 5; p. 13, strip 11; p. 32, strip 20
13. For characters in bamboo texts, see Teng Rensheng, pp. 848-849
14. and for characters in seals, see Gao Ming, Guwenzi leibian (A sorted compilation of ancient chinese characters) (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1980), p. 135
15. Zhou Fa-gao, ed., Jinwen gulin bu (A supplement to the explanations of the bronze inscriptions), vol. 6 (Taipei Zhongyanyuan: Zhongyanyuan shiyusuo zhuankan, 1982), p. 3019
16. Tsu-lin Mei, "Notes on the Morphology of Ideas in Ancient China," in The Power of Culture: Studies in Chinese Cultural History, edited by Willard J. Peterson, Andrew Plaks, and Ying-shih Yu (Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1994), p. 38
17. Yu Shengwu, p. 659
18. Tsu-lin Mei, pp. 44-45
19. Yao Xiaosui, pp. 236-237
20. Shirakawa is quoted by Wang Wenliang in his Zhongguo shengrenlun (Discussion of the Chinese sage) (Beijing: Zhongguo shenhui kexue chubanshe, 1993), p. 5
21. Rao Tsung-i, "Speaking of 'sages': The Bronze Figures of San-hsing-tui," in Sages and Filial Sons Mythology and Archaeology in Ancient China, edited by Julia Ching and R. W. L. Guisso (Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1991), pp. xiii-xvii
22. Wang Wenliang, p. 10. English translation is by Julia Ching, p. 13
23. See, for example, Ching, p. 14
24. Wang Wenliang, pp. 5-6
25. Tsu-lin Mei, p. 45
26. The word sheng as in Sheng Jiang and Sheng Ji is used as a posthumous name. See Zhang Shoujie, "Shiji zhengyi" (Correct meanings of the Shiji), in Sima Qian, Shiji, vol. 10 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1982), p. 19
27. James Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 4, The She King (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1960), "K'ae fung," p. 50
28. James Legge Ibid., "Shih yueh che keaou," p. 323
29. Robert Eno, The Confucian Creation of Heaven (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1990), p. 84
30. Taylor, p. 41
31. Tzu-lin Mei, pp. 45-46
32. For a discussion of tiandao in these two works, see Ikeda Suetoshi, "Tendo to tenmei" (The way of Heaven and the decree of Heaven) in his Chukoku kodai shukyo shi kenkyu (Study of the history of Chinese ancient religion) (Tokyo: Tokai Daigaku Shuppankai, 1981), pp. 965-1000
33. GDCMZJ, strips 4-5, 20, p. 149, 150
34. Taylor, pp. 42-43
35. Hall and Ames, p. 256
36. "Tang yu zhi dao," in GDCMZJ, strip 6. Mencius 5A:7