Centrality and Commonality: An Essay on Confucian Religiousness (Suny Series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture) [Hardcover]

Wei-Ming Tu (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 165 pages
• Publisher: State Univ of New York Pr; Rev Enl edition (June 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0887069274
• ISBN-13: 978-0887069277
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,717,238 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A pleasing hermeneutical exegesis on the Zhongyong, October 21, 2000

By 

Alexander M. Moir "Lt. Moir" (Huntington, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Centrality and Commonality: An Essay on Confucian Religiousness (Suny Series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture) (Paperback)

Tu Wei-ming's brilliant essay on the sociopolitical, religious and personal dimensions of the Chinese Confucian classic "Doctrine of the Mean" is not only the perfect companion for the original text, but stands alone as a useful analytical text. Tu's treatment of the profound person, fiduciary community and the moral metaphysics as propounded by the esoteric text attributed to Confucius' grandson are enlightening. His final analysis of Confucianism as a religious system is eye-opening and convincing, and rings with his personal beliefs. Not perhaps the most easy text to follow for the uninitiated novice, but highly informative to those who would seek to understand this ancient system through a different lense.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fabulous book, but not exactly about the Chung-yung, January 7, 2007

By 

From_Plano_TX "a_customer_from_plano" (Plano, TX USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Centrality and Commonality: An Essay on Confucian Religiousness (Suny Series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture) (Paperback)

This book does not include a copy of the Chung-yung, the Doctrine of the Mean. You should read the Doctrine of the Mean before you read this book. There are multiple copies for free viewing on the internet, so you do not have to buy a second book.

This book has 5 chapters: (1) The Text, (2) The Profound Person, (3) The Fiduciary Community, (4) The Moral Metaphysics, and (5) On Confucian Religiousness. It would not be precise to say this book is about the Chung-yung. I would say this book is Dr. Tu Wei-ming's vision of Confucianism as seen through the Chung-yung. This book is so full of ideas I will only describe the ideas at the book's conclusion.

The book ends with a discourse on the great-body versus the small-body, establishing the will, and developing the heart-mind (hsin). This book develops important concepts in Confucianism, but it is not a comprehensive view of Confucianism. What is lacking is a discourse on culture (wen) and on being a good minister/administrator. Many of the scholars who followed Confucius (Mencius, Chu Hsi, Wang Yangming) developed the spiritual side of Confucianism while tending to neglect those aspects of socially practicality. This book is also in the spiritual vein of Confucianism (Chu Hsi being the most practical). A book that looks more at the social aspects of Confucianism is "Achieve Lasting Happiness" by Robert Canright, which is a vision of an American Confucianism.

Every student of Confucianism should read this book by Dr. Tu Wei-Ming, but if you have not yet studied the concepts of the great-body, establishing the will, and developing the heart-mind (hsin), then you might want to re-read this book after having studied Confucianism in more depth.