17_(282-290) Confucian SelfCultivation.pmd


CONFUCIAN SELF-CULTIVATION AND CULTURAL

DIALOGUE

Tran Tuan Phong

Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, Vietnam

Abstract

This paper deals with the concept of self-cultivation within the

Confucian tradition. This idea provides a foundation for the understand-

ing of what human nature holds in common. Though cultural traditions

are different but they are equal because they all share the common root of

human nature as the original source for their specific interpretations of

human development. It concludes that this commonality of human nature

which lies beneath cultural difference can be the foundation for inter-

cultural dialogue.

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In the Confucian tradition, the idea of self-cultivation could be

interpreted as the development or unfolding of human nature. While a

particular cultural tradition is the context within which human nature is

embedded or embodied (or being concretized and determined), the rich

282 Prajna Vihara, Volume 13, Number 1-2, January-December, 2012, 282-290

  c 2000 by Assumption University Press

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variety of cultural tradtions demonstrates the manifestation of human cre-

ativity in interpretating and developing human nature. Although cultural

traditions are different, in another sense they are equal because they all

share the common root of human nature as the original (and common)

source for their specific (and therefore different) interpretations and de-

velopments of human nature. This is the very foundation of inter-cultural

dialogue, in which different cultural traditions are to participate equally

to contribute to forming the common culture of humanity and to the cause

of peace and development of Humanity.

Human Nature, Human Development and Cultural Tradition

Before showing that the Confucian idea of self-cultivation could

be understood as the process of human development, I would like fist to

clarify the notion of human nature and how human development could be

understood as the development of human nature, within the historical

context of a particular cultural tradition.

To say that all human beings share a common human nature, I do

not mean that human nature as something fixed or a priori given or a

potential to be made actual. On the contrary, human nature should be

understood ontologically as the original source and the infinite potential-

ity for human development. It means that human nature should not be

understood as an abstract universal existing above and away from the

life of human beings. On the contrary, it should be seen as a concrete

universal that manifests or unfolds dynamically in the history of human-

kind as a whole, and as the whole, it exists immanently in the life of

human beings. Thus, as the original source, human nature offers both the

possibility and the commonality for human development. It is the point of

reference and shared background for the whole of human existence. As

such, human nature offers both a dynamic feature and unity of the whole

process of human development. The full development of human nature,

or the full realization (or unfolding) of human nature, could serve as the

ideal and ultimate meaning for human striving. The idea of human devel-

opment mentioned in Marx’s writing also means the full development of

human powers and capacities “The cultivation of all the qualities of the

Tran Tuan Phong  283



social human being, production of the same in a form as rich as possible in

needs, because rich in qualities and relations-production of this being as

the most total and universal social product for, in order to take gratifica-

tion in a many__sided way, he must be capable of many pleasures, hence

cultured to a high degree”.1

As infinite potentiality, human nature is open for human beings to

interpret and choose. The variety of interpretations demonstrates the va-

riety of expressions of human creativity in the development of human

nature within different cultural contexts or traditions. A cultural tradition

is both the manifestation of human creativity and the particularization of

human nature in concrete historical contexts. Human creativity here has

much to do with human self-awareness, the very awareness of the poten-

tiality of human nature and the ability to choose a particular option and

act in particular situation to unfold further (the potentiality of) human

nature. Of course self-awareness is not given to human beings at the

moment of birth but the result of education and socialization in the form

of social life of a certain community. As such human creativity is the

cultivation and manifestation of human nature in a given community but

is also the driving force contributing to further developing of human na-

ture and transforming of the cultural tradition in which is was formed. So,

it is the openness of human nature as infinite potentiality that contributes

to the dynamic character of human development and the diversity of cul-

tural traditions.

Thus, through the creative process of human development, hu-

man nature is made, defined and concretized in the various forms of cul-

ture (or cultural tradition). In other words, human nature does not exist

apart from cultural traditions but realizes or embodies in them through

the creative activity of concrete human agencies. The concrete realiza-

tion or embodiment of human nature in a specific cultural tradition can be

seen in the way people of a community organize their collective life. As

such the embodiment of human nature is the emerging quality in the life

of a community. It serves as a pattern of organization that gives order,

co-ordination and stability to the life of the people of that community and

consequently to help the people of the community to develop their talents

and abilities to the fullness. As the pattern or form of organization of a

given community, the manifestation of human nature offers both oppor-

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tunities and limitations for the people of the community to develop their

potentiality.

So we can see that human development, as the process of unfold-

ing of human nature, is mediated through different stages and in different

historical contexts of cultural traditions. Cultural traditions here serve as

the historical and social space, within which human individuals are born

and they become human persons during the process of socialization,

through education and training that initiate and engage them into the so-

cial life of the community. Thus the formation of human beings as social

beings is conditioned by traditional cultures but once they are (more or

less) formed, they can continue to develop further the potentiality of hu-

man nature and transform the traditional culture in which they are born

and being socialized. Human beings, therefore, are in a constant dialogue

with their own traditions to be formed and educated as well as in a dia-

logue with human nature to transform their own traditional culture.

While being located between a given cultural tradition and human

nature, human beings are both the passive receivers of that tradition and

the active agencies who can change and transform the given tradition.

Here we can see the dialectical relation between cultural tradition as a

normative system (structure) of values, customs and norms…and cul-

tural tradition as a living social practice for human development. Thus

system determines the formation of man: in order to become a member of

a given cultural community, an individual has to undergo a process of

learning and training (cultivation and self-cultivation) to obtain necessary

social skills and faculties. But only through the course of the social prac-

tice of these very members the system can exist and renewed or changed.

As C. Taylor writes “Social tradition can continue to exert an influence

through individuals only to the extent that it is continually renewed by

them __ like all structures, it continues to exist by virtue of practice”.2

That practice, as C. Taylor rightly points out, “relies on a never exhausted

background which can simultaneously be the source of innovative state-

ments and articulations”.3

Thus in order to maintain and develop further cultural tradition

human beings must be properly cultivated and developed through the

process of learning and training, through the practical engagement in real

life. The real knowledge or standards of truth based on which one can

Tran Tuan Phong  285



strive to cultivate and improve oneself can only be given, accepted and

transmitted by cultural tradition in which one lives. Through the self-

cultivation man can learn to know how to relate meaningfully and prop-

erly to other human beings and things to the world around him. It is the

cultural tradition that serves the foundation for individuals to cultivate

themselves and engage in the world but only through the active engage-

ment of human individuals that cultural tradition is transformed and re-

newed constantly. The renovation and transformation of cultural tradi-

tion is, at the same time, the further unfolding and development of human

nature, which serves as the original source and the ultimate purpose for

human striving. As J. Grondin rightly says, “What distinguishes our hu-

manity, is not a rational capacity that would catapult us into a divine

world of pure ideas. Rather it is the ability to go beyond our particularity

by taking account the heritage that can help us grow above and beyond

our limited selves”.4

So we can see how human development as the unfolding of hu-

man nature is mediated through different cultural traditions. While being

located within that dynamic process of human development, cultural tra-

ditions are the concretizations of human nature. So here we can see the

dialectical relationship between human development and cultural tradi-

tions: without cultural traditions human nature remains potential and form-

less, only through the formation of cultural traditions that human nature

is given shape and form (or being determined), however, human nature

serves as the source and condition of possibility for cultural traditions to

be developed. The concrete contents of cultural traditions are the mani-

festations of human nature in different contexts. The human character of

cultural traditions is the product of the creative interpretation of human

beings about human nature.

Confucian self-cultivation and cultural dialogue

The formation of man as a social being is a process of socializa-

tion, in which human individuals engage with the world and participate in

living social practice. It is a continuous process of transformation of the

self, both ethically and ontologically, and is the very process in which

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self-openness (self-discovery) and the disclosure of the things and the

world around are taken place simultaneously. For example, Foucault no-

tices that for both the Greeks and the Romans “In order to behave prop-

erly, in order to practice freedom properly, it was necessary to care for

self, both in order to know one’s self…and to improve one’s self, to sur-

pass one’s self, to master the appetites that risk engulfing you”.5 Or ac-

cording to Gadamer, Bildung (education or cultivation), is the “properly

human way of developing one’s natural talents and capacities”6 and “the

rise of the word ‘Bildung’ evokes the ancient mystical tradition accord-

ing to which man carries in his soul the image of God, after whom he

fashioned, and which man cultivate in himself”.7  Gadamer also agrees

with Hegel that “the being of Geist (spirit) has an essential connection

with the idea of Bildung’, through which man ‘acquiring a “capacity”, a

skill’ and therefore, ‘gains the sense of himself’7 because ‘it is the univer-

sal nature of human Bildung to constitute itself as a universal intellectual

being’.8 Thus through the process of human Bildung man overcomes his

own particularity and rise to the universal. It is the process of gaining

both the sense of himself and the sense of the world around him.

The similar approach to human development could be seen in the

idea of self-cultivation within the classics of Confucianism, especially in

the Chung-yung we can see that the full development of human nature

can be achieved through the self- cultivation or the realization of ‘human

nature’ endowed by Heaven. “What Heaven (T'ien, Nature) imparts to

man is called human nature. To follow our nature is called the Way (Tao).

Cultivating the Way is called education”.9 Education or self-cultivation is

the cultivation of the human nature in us. In Confucianism, therefore,

self-cultivation is very crucial because “when the personal life is culti-

vated, the family will be regulated; when the family is regulated, the state

will be in order; and when the state is in order, there will be peace through-

out the world”.10 Self-cultivation is a kind of life-long dialogue, both with

“Heaven” (or human nature endowed by Heaven) and with a given cul-

tural tradition (in which the Way has already been unfolded). As Tsai Yen-

Zen rightly sums up “Self-cultivation as a lifelong moral effort is both a

deepening and a broadening process. It involves two dimensions that are

simultaneously interrelated. Vertically it elevates one toward Heaven by

delving into the depth of one’s inner nature. Horizontally it expands one’s

Tran Tuan Phong  287



narrow self to include other human beings whom one may or may not be

acquainted with. Self-cultivation then is not a solitary or privatized exer-

cise that seeks joy in spiritual ecstasy or finds consolation in inner peace.

Rather, the highest state of personality achieved by this kind of moral

effort, popularly attributed to a sage, culminates in the commonality that

is sharable among all human beings. This is the point where our universal

human nature lies and the platform upon which we humans mutually com-

municate”.11 Thus upon a proper process of self-cultivation a man will

know how to manage his family, bring order to the state and pacify the

world. Thus self-cultivation should be understood both ethically and

ontologically, this is the task for everyone “From the Son of Heaven down

to the common people, all must regard cultivation of the personal life as

the root or foundation”.12

Through the process of self-cultivation man gets access to the

True Knowledge, the very ‘knowledge’ of the Tao, the Way, or the Order,

which regulates the life of every thing in the world. In Confucian tradition

living according to the Tao means living harmoniously. Here Harmony is

the Way for all creatures to follow. It is clearly stated in the Doctrine of

Means that “Equilibrium is the great foundation of the world, and har-

mony its universal path. When equilibrium and harmony are realized to

the highest degree, heaven and earth will attain their proper order and all

things will flourish”.13  Here harmony is not a static state but rather a

dynamic process. And talking about a dynamic process means talking

about its relational aspect: the relationship and interconnection between

different elements. Harmony or solidarity is the process in which human

beings strive for a dynamic balance.

Thus we can see through the self-cultivation man can learn to

know how to relate meaningfully and properly to other human beings and

things to the world around him. It is the cultural tradition that serves the

foundation for individuals to cultivate themselves and engage in the world

but only through the active engagement of human individuals that cul-

tural tradition is transformed and renewed constantly. It is the very pro-

cess when social solidarity of human beings, peace and human flourishing

could be established and maintained.

As the concretizations of human nature in concrete historical and

social contexts through the process of human creative activities, cultural

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traditions are plural and different. Cultural traditions are different but

they are equal because they are all the manifestations of human nature.

The differences between cultural traditions depend not only on the cre-

ativity of human agencies but also on concrete historical contexts and the

needs of concrete human communities. Cultural development should be

oriented to solve concrete issues and problems encountered by the people

in concrete communities. The differences mean differences in focus, dif-

ferences in orientations of how to develop human nature in different con-

texts. It means that the differences between cultural traditions could be

complimentary to each other. So though cultural traditions are different

but they are equal because they all share the common root of human

nature as the original (and common) source for their specific (and there-

fore different) interpretations and developments of human nature. This is

the very foundation of inter-cultural dialogue, in which different cultural

traditions are to participate equally to contribute to forming the common

culture of humanity.

Therefore, the sustainability of human development should be

founded on cultural traditions, not merely on a specific cultural traditions

but also on the very culture of humanity. In this context, human develop-

ment is also the process of learning from others, the process of dialogue

aiming at the sustaining and further unfolding of human potentiality. The

Good Life or the Life of Peace is the goal and guiding principle for hu-

man development understood as a kind of growing beyond one’s limited

self. This is a kind of self-transcendence can be archived through the dy-

namic process of self-cultivation understood both in its moral and onto-

logical senses. We can say that the noble goal of the Good Life, the Life

of Peace, determines the formation of human beings, but it is only through

the active self-cultivation of human beings that the concept of the good

life can be realized. As it is said in Confucian classic of Analects: “A

person can make the Way great, but the Way cannot make a person great”.

Tran Tuan Phong  289



Endnotes

1K. Marx. Grundrisse, trans. Martin Nicolaus, Harmondsworth: Penguin,

1973. P. 409.
2C. Taylor. Language and Society, in Communicative Action. Edited by Axel

Honneth and Hans Joas. MIT Press, Cambridge, 1991, p. 25.
3C. Taylor. Ibid. p. 25.
4J. Grondin. Sources of Hermeneutics. State University of New York Press,

New York, 1995.
5J. Bernauer and D. Rasmussen, eds.  The Final Foucault. (MIT Press, Cam-

bridge, 1994), p. 5.
6H. Gadamer. Truth and Method. Second Revised Edition (Translated by

J.Weinsheimer and D.G.Marshall, Continuum, New York. 2003) p. 10.
7H. Gadamer. Truth and Method. Second Revised Edition (Translated by

J.Weinsheimer and D.G.Marshall, Continuum , New York. 2003) p. 11.
8H. Gadamer. Truth and Method. Second Revised Edition(Translated by

J.Weinsheimer and D.G.Marshall, Continuum, New York. 2003) p. 10.
9Chan, Wing-tsit. 1963. A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy. Princeton:

Princeton University Press, p. 98.
10Chan, Wing-tsit. 1963. A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy. Princeton:

Princeton University Press, p. 86-87.
11Tsai Yen-Zen (2008).  Selfhood and Fiduciary Community: A Smithian

Reading of TU Weiming’s Confucian Humanism in Dao: A Journal of Comparative

Philosophy 7(4), p. 358.
12Chan, Wing-tsit. (1963). A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy. Princeton:

Princeton University Press, p. 87.
13Chan, Wing-tsit. (1963). A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy. Princeton:

Princeton University Press, p. 98.

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