Introduction: five trends in confucian studies

 
JOHN H. BERTHRONG
 
 
Journal of East-West Thought 
Buddhism was not Daoism but something entirely new in the world of Chinese 
philosophy and religion. Over the centuries a distinctive form of Buddhism with 
Chinese characteristics arose and flourished. Along with Confucianism Buddhism 
continues it globalization today as the most rapidly growing religion in North 
America. Christianity appears to be growing in China also at a rapid rate. Religion is 
definitely not just philosophy but religious people are drawn to philosophy as moth to 
the flame. Frederick Streng (1985), in a most economical and yet ecumenical fashion, 
defined religion as “ultimate transformation.” Philosophers, of course, will by their 
very inquisitive natures, want to ask the saint, guru, avatar, mendicant, nun or sage 
just what she or he means by the ‘ultimate’ and ‘transformation’. The Buddha would 
often chide philosophers for asking questions that do not conduce to liberation from 
the toils of illusion, but he too gave what can fairly be construed as philosophical 
responses to some kinds of queries. 
Extrapolating from the example of Buddhism in China, what is the future of a 
globalized Confucianism? Actually we already know that the globalization has 
happened before and is continuing to happen. An example is the profound 
globalization of the philosophies of Mou Zongsan and Tang Junyi—among many 
others of their generation and later generations of scholars, now on both sides of the 
Pacific. Both of these celebrated thinkers of the second generation of New 
Confucianism were profoundly committed to the revival of Confucianism in the 
modern world. Moreover, as we have seen, both scholars were equally committed to a 
careful and sustained engagement with Western philosophy. Through translations of 
their own works and the ongoing influence of their students, Confucianism is 
becoming globalized beyond its traditional East Asian world. 
Of course being abstract philosophy is not some kind of conceptual panacea. 
Mistakes can and are made. The history of the interpretation from the time Jesuits in 
the 17
th
Century down to the modern era is littered with blunders. Easy assumptions 
were and are made about how to define terms and translate them across and between 
cultures. Is 
xing
性
really ‘human nature’? And which of the many Confucian views 
of human nature are we talking about because there are surely as rich a plethora of 
definitions of human nature in the history of Western philosophy as there are in 
Chinese intellectual history. Just because Zhu Xi thought that 
xing
was intertwined in 
the texture of being human as 
li
理
does not bring more clarity—it merely complicates 
the discussion. Yet the vague, general and abstract nature of philosophical discourse 
about topics like human nature allows for a conversation to begin. Of course there 
will be transformations. Such was the case of Buddhism in China. Yet the 
transformations that produced Tiantai and Huayan Buddhism were remarkable 
examples of the globalization of a highly complex religio-philosophical tradition 
moving from one culture to another. 
What will be the transformations, the transitions, the transmissions of the 
Rudao 
儒道
in China? No one now knows because the question of the future of Confucianism 
boils with a new intensity. Will there be something like Boston Confucianism? What 
could the dialogue across the Pacific possibly become? Nonetheless, the dialogue will, 
if it happens, be part of the ongoing process of globalization. 

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GLOBALIZING CONFUCIANISM
 
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