Under the stimulus of Western hermeneutics, Chinese scholars have begun to reflect upon the basis of their own tradition of hermeneutical interpretation. This paper discusses the hermeneutic basis of interpreting the Chinese classics with reference to the Chunqiu, in four sections: (1) Introduction, (2) Forms of interpretation, (3) Changes of direction in interpretation, (4) Aims of interpretation, (5) Methods of interpretation, (6) Conclusion. Hermeneutical studies of the Chunqiu raise the following questions: why and how Confucius composed the Chunqiu, was this a composition or revision of history, did he use events to reveal ethical meaning or did he record events faithfully, did he aim to revitalize the Zhou or simply followed the Zhou? These questions involve aims and methods of hermeneutical interpretation. Traditional works on the Chunqiumanifestly concern interpretation, forms of writing, criticism and evidence. These involve, respectively, meaning, literary form, origins of text and meaning, and accuracy of historical events. Thus, traditional interpretations are inseparable from aims and methods. Aims could be based on motive of use or application and methods could be based on analogical comparisons. However, these lead to subjective interpretations and misunderstandings. This gives rise to the thought that there is a need to go back to understanding original meanings. Thus, in terms of aims, we invariably find these two extremes of motive of use or application on the one hand, and understanding original meaning on the other. Similarly, in terms of method, there is the idea of preserving the truth of events on the one hand, and the motive of use or application on the other. This is the underlying basis of the problem of hermeneutic interpretation of the Chinese classics.

In a certain sense, this article is a continuation of the main themes of our two previous essays, namely, “Above, he Seeks Delight in the Creator — a Dialogue with Chuang-Tzu on Mysticism” in Philosophical Review xxii, 1999： 137~172, and “Solely Communicating with the Spirit of the Universe — a Dialogue with Chuang-Tzu on Epistemology of Mystical Experience” in Philosophical Perspective for the Third Millennium： the Dialogue between Christian Philosophy and Chinese Culture (Taipei: Fu Jen Catholic University, 2002) 105~156. We start with the following sentences from Chuang-Tzu’s “Tien xia”, “(He) did not try to rise above the myriads of things. He did not condemn the agreements and differences of others so that he might live in peace with the prevalent views.” (James Legge’s Translation) We compare the meaningsembedded within these sentences with Chuang-Tzu’s “Ch’u Wu Lun”. We get to the affirmation that a person who attains Mystical Enlightenment may be able to make appropriate adjustment concerning any possible contradiction among things and any possible contention of arguments.

The Four Texts of the Yellow Emperor , unearthed 1973 in Mawangdui, leads the way of the study of Huang-lao thought since. And with it, the Huang of historian’s Huang-lao came to the eyes of scholars nowadays.Contents of The Four Texts of the Yellow Emperor are exactly the description of Taoists by Tai Shi Gong (Historian of the Emperor) that “bending to the alternation of Yin and Yang, adopting the positive aspects of Confucianism and Mohism, summing up the essentials of the school of Min (Names) and Fa (Legalist).” Therefore the philosophy of Lao Tzu integrated thoughts of all school of Chung Qiu Era, and lading the foundation of the study of Huang-lao thought in the following Warring States period.Zichan casted the Penal code, Jin Dynasty had the Penal Tripod, and Li Kui wrote Bible of Legalists, all spelled out the transformation of the society of patriarchal feudalism to that of legalist monarchy. In The Four Texts of the Yellow Emperor we see the thought of that era, that is thoughts of every school of that period integrated with Lao Tzu Philosophy, which had its effect on Shen Dao, Sheng Bu Hai and Han Fei, legalists of the Warring States Period.

The purpose of this paper is to present Nondual Middle Way as guidance in ways of navigating to unfold Thorough Reality of the Life World, and to explain the intent and rationale of Nondual Middle Way in Buddhist doctrine.With expediency and prevalence of comparison and contrast, dichotomous ways of thinking and viewpoints have not only taken root in philosophical thinking and religious discourses, but have also been absorbed into the basic structure of everyday life, and are easily taken for granted and thus hard to detect or throw away. With its uniqueness of basic concepts and basic issues, Nondual Middle Way, originating from the inclination to spot and drop dichotomous ways of thinking, offers a creative point of view for bothphilosophy and religion. This unusual way of thinking is able to provide an extraordinary viewpoint to inspect the basic structures of philosophy and religion, and thus point out a way that might lead to further and deeper discussion in both fields.The undertaking of this paper is to answer the following questions： “Why should we view the life world as Nondual Middle Way?”, “How can we view it as Nondual Middle Way?”, and “As what kind of Nondual Middle Way should we view it?” In order to answer the series of questions, the major methods employed in this paper focus on differentiating concepts, analyzing issues, elucidating connotation, and constructing argument.Concerning the configuration of discourses, this paper firstly define and make clear major concepts by emphasizing that Nondual Middle Way and Thorough Reality are very innovative basic concepts for philosophy of religion and philosophy of life. In order to emphasize the idea of non-substantiality and to drop dichotomous ways of thinking from the very beginning, Nondual Middle Way is distinguished from dualism, monism, and pluralism. Then this paper seeks to exclude easy borrowings and rough copies of ideas. In addition, experience of practicing Buddhist teachings as a profession in accordance with related scriptures is also taken seriously as a reference for interpretation.Moreover, for the sake of making a more pertinent interpretation and to reveal Thorough Reality layer by layer, great emphasis is put on the explanation ofmethods of unlocking multi-faceted ways of thinking.The main subject matter of this paper is composed in sequence of concepts such as not-self, impermanence, birth and death, dependent arising (dependent origination), emptiness, and middle way. These distinctive concepts in Buddhist philosophy collectively form an axis that is set to remove shades, limits, and seals, such as problems of objectification, reification, individualization, demarcation, discrimination, and conceptualization, which derive from the daily language that are commonly used. From the point of view of conditioned arising and ceasing, the Thorough Reality of the life world is revealed layer by layer. And it is precisely Nondual Middle Way that pushesthese basic concepts rolling, settles problems of comparison and contrast, breaks free from the tension and limitation of discrimination, makes a breakthrough in a series of conditioned arising and ceasing, and leads to Enlightenment and Nirvā a in the end. Various examples in the Āgama Sūtras show that the idea of non-substantiality helps to free Nondual Middle Way from seals of individualization, and by non-dichotomous ways of thinking, borders around Nondual Middle Way are removed. Nondual Middle Way is thus able to approach the variations of causal conditions, and the Thorough Reality of the life world is thus unfolded.

Based on Taoism, Lu shi chun qiu and Huai-nan tzu are two classics of the Qin and Han dynasties. This study is centered on the thinking regarding “Resonance” (Kan-Ying) and the philosophical views it involves. The study also analyzes and discusses the statements of resonant thinking in these two literary texts to offer an insight into this issue.Starting with explaining the concept of “Resonance”, the study then points out the philosophical issues that resonant thinking focuses on. In this context, the study analyses the resonant statement of “Essence-Energy” (Jing-Qi), which is a fundamental principle of “similarity and sameness” in Lu shi chun qiu. Then, it discusses the resonant thought of the “joint movement of Energy” and “Communication between humans and the universe” in Huai-nan tzu. In addition, it illustrates that the inherited concepts of “single-hearted devotion” and “complete sincerity” can achieve the maximum effect of resonance in Lu shi chun qiu, and the idea that the “complete sincerity” emphasizes the ability to exercise “non-action” and to maintain “emptiness-tranquility” in detail.Finally, the study explores the concepts of “Diachrony” and “Synchronicity” related to resonant thinking so as to develop some other possible issues of philosophical research in the field of resonant thinking.

In Wharheit und Methode, Gadamer claims that his hermeneutical inquiry is guided by the metaphysics of light. It is therefore reasonable to suggest that this kind of metaphysics also guides his concept of truth. This essay is an attempt to elucidate the Gadamerian concept of truth in tenns of his metaphysics of light.I first point out that the light in the metaphysics of light is the light of word. Since the nature of light is to illuminate, the Being of word is illumination rather than presence. Moreover, as whatever is illuminated is an event, the meaning of truth is not the correspondence of proposition to fact, but an event illuminated by the light of word. I then continue to suggest that analysis of the light of word can reveal a full view of the Gadamerian concept of truth. This concept of truth is approached in tenns of the nature of light, the source of light, and the direction of light. Finally, I briefly indicate the priority of the Gadamerian concept of truth to the traditional concept of truth as correspondence and coherence.

What characteristics the long-standing tradition of Chinese classics interpretation nlanifests? The author suggests that, though largely neglected, the interpretations of Chinese classics can be categorized into two prototypes. To bring these two prototypes into light, the author will analyze a variety of interpretations of The Book of Change (I Ching). In the first section, the author gives an overview of the issue. In section 2 and 3, the author defines the two prototypes at stake and investigates their relationships with various forms of interpretations of some selected texts in The Book of Change. The author then goes on to discuss the merits and costs of the two prototypes in section 4 and 5, before concluding in section 6. It will be argued that both internal interpretations-interpretations that seek internal coherence within a particular writing-and crossover interpretations--interpretations that seek overall coherence among several different but related writings---are flowers growing out of efforts to understand the philosophy of classic Chinese writings. They are fundamental to the everlasting life of the tradition of Chinese classics interpretation, just as as Qián and Kūn are fundamental to the change of every entity.

Xunzi was a renowned leading scholar following in the footsteps of Mencius in the Warring States period. WIllie Xunzi's Confucian teaching took a central focus that all people were evil, and emphasized an etiquette and morality-led doctrine that mainly featured a predominant focus on accumulating study and following later kings' teaching. Nevertheless, among Xunzi's teachings, a significant concept of his that set it apart from the aforesaid characteristics but served essentially to integrate his practical theory, moral doctrine and humanistic ideology had been the “categorization/class", which is containing the abundant philosophic theory， so that should be paid attention to and probing into by more scholars. In light of which, the thesis has attempted to interpret its main significance in philosophy through analyzing and interpreting the meaning of "categorization" , and to explore methods of knowing the “intergration of categorization統類"Upon undergoing a theoretic study premise primarily adopting literature analysis and interpretation, the thesis has initially discerned and recapped the philosophical significance of the phrase “categorization" other than its common usages, meaning that in Xunzi's teachings, the phrase "categorization" has three distinct meanings of, (I) logical doctrine in the sense of knowledge acquiring theory; (2) the cultural doctrine in the sense of morality; and (3 ) the legal doctrine in the sense of the science of the law. And the preeminent criterion in what Xunzi's had criticized of the assertion, people and things of ignorance and inability to understand the “intergration of categorization統類"， or achieving an adaptable ideal character through reduction reasoning lies in how one needs to possess an undivided, humble clear mind, before one is able to perfect oneself through accumulated learning and disciplinary training.