The Great Harmony

The Great Harmony has Already Begun

The Great Harmony has Already Begun

A. The Great Harmony as Described in Chinese Philosophy
B. All History has been a Preparation for The Great Harmony
C. The Great Harmony needs One Common Faith
D. China’s Contribution to The Great Harmony

Confucius 孔子 551 - 479 BC

I have never seen the realization of the Great Tao and the eminent sage rulers of the Three
dynasties, but I have always envisioned them. When the Great Tao is realized, the spirit of
openness and fairness will prevail all under the sky. The men of talents, virtue, and ability shall
be chosen equally, and sincerity and harmony shall be cultivated. Therefore, men did not only
love their parents and not treat their children as only children. A sufficient provision shall be
secured for the aged till their death and competent employment for the able bodied and
adequate means of upbringing for the young. Kindness and compassion shall be shown to
widows, orphans, childless people, and those who are disabled by disease, so that they will
have the wherewithal for support. Men will have their proper works and women will have their
homes. They shall hate to see the wealth of natural resources under-developed, but also dislike
to see the hoarding of wealth for their own pleasures. They shall regret of not exerting
themselves (of their given talents) but also hate to exert themselves only for their own benefit.
Thus, the selfish schemes shall be repressed and found no development. Robbers, filchers,
and the rebellious traitors shall not appear, and hence the outer doors shall be left open. This
shall be the period of what I called the Great Unity (Da Tong).

Mo Zi 墨子 470 - 391 BC

Suppose that everyone in the world practiced universal love,
so that everyone loved every other person as much as he loved himself.
Would anyone then be lacking in filial devotion? If everyone regarded his father,
his elder brother, and his ruler just as he does himself,
towards whom could he be lacking in devotion?
Would there then be anyone who was not affectionate....
Would there be any thieves and robbers? If everyone looked upon other
men’s houses as if they were his own, who would steal?...
Would noble clans contend among themselves? Would states attack each
other...
then the whole world would enjoy peace and good order.

Du Fu 杜甫 721-770

呜
吾呼大 The Roof Whirled Away by Winds
庐！风庇安长 When will this long night of drizzle come to an end?
独何雨天得夜 Now I dream of an immense mansion, tens of thousands of
破时不下广沾 rooms,
—受眼动寒厦湿 Where all the cold creatures can take shelter, their faces alight;
—冻，前安士千何 Not moved by the wind or the rain, a mansion as solid as the
杜死突如俱万由 mountain
甫亦兀山欢间彻 Alas, when shall I see such a majestic house?
足见！颜，！ If I could see this, even though my poor house were torn down,
！此， Even though I were frozen to death I would be content.
屋

Zhang Zai 张载 1020-1077

"Heaven is my father and earth is my mother..
all people are my brothers and sisters,
and all things are my companions...”

Li Zhi 李贽 1527-1602

All people are equal, and do not consider position or rank as an honour either. Only
wisdom and humanity are promoted and encouraged. Wisdom is to initiate things,
accomplish undertakings, promote utility and benefits and advance people, while humanity
is to confer benefits extensively on all the people and to bring salvation to them, to love
people and to benefit things. There is no honour outside of wisdom and humanity...

In the Age of Great Peace, since man’s nature is already good and his ability and
intelligence is superior, they only rejoice in matters of wisdom and humanity. New
institutions appear every day. Public benefits increase every day. The human mind gets
stronger every day. And knowledge becomes clearer every day. People in the whole world
together reach the realm of humanity, longevity, perfect happiness, and infinite goodness
and wisdom...

Water and fire possess power but no life, grass and trees have life but cannot know, birds
and animals know but are without the sense of righteousness. Man has power, life,
knowledge and the sense of righteousness. Therefore, he is the most precious of all
species. His strength is not equal to that of an ox. He cannot run as fast as a horse. Yet
horse and oxen are used by man. Why? Because man has the ability and intelligence for
organization and community.

Kang You Wei 康有爲
(1858-1927)

Kong You Wei wrote the first draft of Da Tong Shu in 1884-5. He finished it in 1902,
changing the name from “Universal Principles of Mankind” to “The Book of Great
Unity.

“In the first of these (three stages of social evolution) , the Disorderly Stage,
primitive civilization is just rising from chaos, and the social mind is still very
rude….In the second, the Advancing Peace Stage (Lesser Peace), there is a
distinction only between all the civilized countries and the barbarians….in the third,
the Extreme Peace Stage (The Most Great Peace), there is no distinction at all….the
whole world is one unit, and the character of mankind is on the highest plane.

Ta T’u ng Shu, The One World Philosophy of Kang You Wei, Translated by Laurence Thompson, George Allen
and Unwin, 1958, p. 49.

Sun Zhong Shan (Sun Yat Sen)
The World Belongs to the People

Song Qing Ling 1893 –1981),
Madame Sun Yat Sen

“Fraternity is the as yet unrealized ideal of humanity.
Liberty has no safe foundation except human brotherhood.
Equality can never be anything but a dream until
we feel towards each other as brothers.
It may be for China, to point the way to this fraternity.
Napoleon Bonaparte said, ‘When China moves,
she will move the world’.
For centuries, the Chinese have been a peace-loving people.
China with its multitudinous population and its love of peace
cannot but be instrumental in bringing about Universal Peace –
when rights need not be backed by armies and dreadnoughts.

Song Qing Ling, Woman in World History: Song Qing Ling,
Israel Epstein, Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, 2003, p.5.

In June 1947, Song Qing Ling wrote to Nehru saying,
referring to the civil war in China and pre-independence
convulsions in India,
“Perhaps this is the tempering process from which our peoples will emerge
with awareness and new spirit for their task in the future civilization.”
1950 – Establishment of the United Nations
She suggests the suffering of China has helped it acquire capacity.

同一个世界同一个梦想
Beijing 2008 Olympic Theme: One World One Dream

World Community
Globalization
Empire/Nation

City/City-State

Tribe

Family

The Evolution of Social and Political Order
Greater and greater release of human capacity

“It would be better if the nations and peoples of the world had
a clearer understanding of each other, allowing the mental chasm between East and West to be bridged.
After all they are, and have been for several centuries,
intimate partners in the business of building a world civilization.
The technological world of today is a product of both East and West to an extent which until recently no one
had ever imagined. It is now time for the Chinese contribution to be recognized and acknowledged,
by East and West alike. And, above all, let this be recognized by today’s school children, who will be
the generation to absorb it into their fundamental conceptions about the world. When that happens,
Chinese and Westerners will be able to look each other in the eye,
knowing themselves to be true and full partners.
Robert Temple, The Genius of China, 1998, p. 12

Modern Science
& Technology

European Industrial Revolution

European Agricultural Revolution
The Islamic world was a vital link between China and Europe.

Chinese Ideas and Inventions

The Evolution of Science and Technology

Robert Temple, The Genius of China, 1998.

Agriculture

Astronomy

Engineering

Technology

Medicine

Robert Temple, The Genius of China, 1998.

Mathematics
Magnetism

Physical Sciences

Transportation

Sound & Music

Warfare

The Maturation of Humanity

All created things have their degree or stage of maturity.
The period of maturity in the life of a tree is the time of its fruit-bearing...The animal
attains a stage of full growth and completeness, and in the human kingdom man
reaches his maturity when the light of intelligence attains its greatest power
and development... Similarly there are periods and stages in the collective life of
humanity. At one time it was passing through its stage of childhood, at another its
period of youth, but now it has entered its long predicted phase of maturity, the
evidences of which are everywhere apparent...That which was applicable to human
needs during the early history of the race can neither meet nor satisfy the demands of
this day, this period of newness and consummation. Humanity has emerged from its
former state of limitation and preliminary training. Man must now become imbued with
new virtues and powers, new moral standards, new capacities. New bounties, perfect
bestowals, are awaiting and already descending upon him. The gifts and blessings of
the period of youth, although timely and sufficient during the adolescence of mankind,
are now incapable of meeting the requirements of its maturity.

Arnold J. Toynbee
This British historian referred to civilization as a
process, an endeavor...

“….to create a state of society in which the whole of
mankind will be able to live together in harmony as
members of a single all-inclusive family.
This is, I believe, the goal at which all civilizations so far
have been aiming unconsciously, if not consciously.“

Arnold Toynbee, A Study of History, abridged one-volume edition, p.44.

The trend of social, political, scientific, and technological
evolution is toward a global community.
This global community has been referred to as:

• Da Tong, Tian Xia Yi Jia, Tian Xia Wei Gong, Majestic House
• He Xie (Harmony)

• The Most Great Peace, The New World Order (Baha’u’llah)
• Maturation of Humanity (Abdu’l-Baha)
• The reign of righteousness and justice upon the earth (Shoghi Effendi)
• All-inclusive Family (Toynbee)
• Omega Point of Evolution (de Chardin)
• Global Village (McLuhan)
• Grand Synthesis (Lazlo)

•The “Return” mentioned in all the great religions.
"The Age of Nations is past. The task before us now, if we would not perish, is to build the Earth.”
T. de Chardin
“The Earth is One Country and Mankind its Citizens”
Baha’u’llah

Maitreye
Is the name of the Future Buddha

“Another Buddha will arise in the world….,
'How shall we know Him?'
The Blessed One replied:
'He will be known as Maitreya,
which means He Whose name is "kindness”.
Baha'u'llah's given name, Husayn, is Arabic for "kindness.“
Bah’u’llah is the Maitreye, the fifth Buddha, the Future
Buddha.

Amitabha
Amitabha is the main object of devotion of the
Pure Land (Jing Tu/Holy Land) School of Chinese Buddhism.
He is considered to preside over a Pure Land to the west.
The name "Amitabha" can be translated as
“Light of the Infinite”--very similar to the title "Baha'u'llah“
“Glory or Light of God”. The word "ABHA"
("most glorious") is the superlative form
of the word BAHA (Glory).
Chinese people often repeat:
“Na Mo Amitofu” or “Praise Amitabha” (Praise Baha’u’llah) Statue of Maitreye, the Future Buddha
At Yong He Gong, Beijing.
Note: The Hindu language has the same source as Persian, The statue is 18 meters high and
both belong to Arian language. is made from one piece of wood

The New World Order: A Turning Point….new goals

"...the earth's inhabitants are now challenged to draw on their collective inheritance

• to take up, consciously and systematically, the responsibility for the design of their future…..

• to..."erect.....a social system at once progressive and peaceful, dynamic and harmonious, a system
giving free play to individual creativity and initiative but based on co-operation and reciprocity.[2]

The challenge of maturity is to:
• Accept that we are one people,
• Free ourselves from the limited identities and creeds of the past,
• Build together the foundations of global civilization.

"Today, humanity has entered on its collective coming-of-age,
endowed with the capacity to see the entire panorama of its development as a single process.

"The primary question to be resolved is how the present world, with its entrenched pattern of
conflict, can change to a world in which harmony and co-operation will prevail.

[2]
To the Peoples of the World: A Baha’i Statement on Peace, Introduction, The Universal House of Justice, October 1985.
[3]
Ibid, Part 3.

If the trend of

Social
Political
Scientific
Technological

evolution
is toward a global community,

Then why are we having such difficulty achieving Peace and
Security?

Mencius 孟子 372 - 289 BC

“When heaven is about to bestow a great mission or charge
upon someone, it invariably begins by exercising his mind with
suffering, toughening his sinews and bones with toil, exposing
his body to hunger, subjecting him to extreme poverty, and
frustrating all his plans. All these methods are meant to stimulate
his mind, strengthen his nature, and increase his abilities.”

Our One World needs a Common Faith

“….religion is an indispensable source of knowledge and motivation - a wellspring of values,
insights, and energy without which social cohesion and collective action are difficult if not
impossible to achieve.

Through the teachings and moral guidance of religion, great segments of humanity have
learned to discipline their baser propensities and to develop qualities that conduce to social
order and cultural advancement.

Such qualities as trustworthiness, compassion, forbearance, fidelity, generosity, humility,
courage, and willingness to sacrifice for the common good have constituted the invisible yet
essential foundations of progressive community life.

Religion provides the bricks and mortar of society - the ethical precepts and vision that unite
people into communities and that give tangible direction and meaning to individual and
collective existence.

Overcoming Corruption and Safeguarding Integrity in Public Institutions: A Bahá’í Perspective

Muhammad Abraham
Moses
Zoroaster Jesus Christ

Krishna

Buddha

The Founders of the world’s great religions are the sources of civilization

God’s University
A Process of Spiritual Education
Progressive Revelation
Religion is One
Humanity is One

The Manifestation of God
The Manifestations of God reveal the Word
and Will of God and to listen to Them is to
respond to the Call of God.

The Manifestations of God are like perfect
Mirrors that reflect the Light of God in all its
Splendor. And all these Mirrors reflect the
same Light.

While God is beyond our reach, these perfect
Beings come to us from time to time, live
among us, give us guidance, and fill us with
the energy we need to progress, materially
and spiritually.

Muhammad Abraham
Moses
Zoroaster Jesus Christ

The Bab
Krishna Baha’u’llah

Buddha

Religion must be
renewed, refreshed

History is the record Truth is Relative
of our response, to the capacity
and lack of response, of humanity
to the Manifestations of God. to understand.

The Founders (the Manifestations) of the world’s great religions are the sources of civilization

Spiritual Vision
provided by
the Manifestations

The Elements of Civilization were all Present in China’s History

China’s Cycle of Civilization

Dialogue between science and religion

Dialogue needed between Scientific and Spiritual Knowledge

"When words and action are not directed by a moral force,
scientific knowledge and technical know-how
conduce as readily to misery as they do to prosperity and happiness.1

“....the challenge is the empowerment of humankind through a vast increase in
access to knowledge, the strategy that can make this possible must be
constructed around an ongoing and intensifying dialogue between science and
religion......the insights and skills that represent scientific accomplishment must
look to the force of spiritual commitment and moral principle to ensure their
appropriate application.” 2

1. Position Statement on Education, prepared by Baha’i International Task Force on Education, 1989.
• Baha'i International Community, Office of Public Information, The Prosperity of Humankind, Part 4, 1995.


Religion must be renewed.
The sacred literature of the past
may resonate with the present,
but its power to inspire and
to govern behaviour has waned.

“Bahá'u'lláh, like the Manifestations before, has:
 Imbued mankind with a new and regenerating Spirit,
 Enunciated certain universal principles, and
 Propounded a particular philosophy.

In addition, unlike the Manifestations before, He has:
 Clearly and specifically laid down a set of Laws,
 Established definite institutions, and
 Provided for the essentials of a Divine Economy.

A Divine Design for Unity

“Bahá'u'lláh has drawn the circle of unity, He has made
a design for the uniting of all the peoples, and for the
gathering of them all under the shelter of the tent of
universal unity. This is the work of the Divine Bounty,
and we must all strive with heart and soul until we have
the reality of unity in our midst, and as we work, so will
strength be given unto us.”

All Peoples – One Common Faith

The Bahá’í Faith is a world religion
whose purpose is to unite all the races
and peoples in one universal Cause and
one common Faith.
Bahá’ís are followers of Baha’u’llah,
Who they believe is the Promised One
of all Ages.

“That which the Lord hath
ordained as the sovereign remedy
and mightiest instrument for the
healing of all the world is the union
of all its peoples in one universal
Cause, one common Faith.”

Spiritual and Administrative World Center

The Universal House of Justice

The Baha’is of the world elected the Universal House of Justice,
as envisioned by Baha’u’llah and clearly described by ‘Abdu’l-
Baha and the Guardian.
The Universal House of Justice is the supreme institution of the
Faith to which all the Baha’is of the world now turn.

The World (except China) God

Jesus “Render unto Caesar what
is Caesar's”

Abuses of the Popes, resistance to knowledge,
beginning of split between science and religion The
God-King
Reunion
The Enlightenment, The Rise of Science of Moral
&
American Revolution. Rejection of Kings,
Temporal
Separation of Church and State, God is Dead
Division of Powers, Party Systems. Authority

Russian Revolution.
Rejection of God and Kings

King

The Cultural Revolution
Challenges to Authority
May 4 Movement
Lu Xun
China

Chinese Ancient Governance: One Center, one Leader, Spiritual and temporal ruler combined
Mandate of Heaven (not Mandate of the People), Hierarchical Organization
One country, one script, Poets and philosophers (Learned Individuals) as their conscience.

A Brief History of Authority

Institutions
Building a World
Civilization

个人

First Participant – Individual

It is the duty of an individual Baha’i to remain
firm in the Covenant, to strive daily to bring his
or her life in line with Baha’u’llah’s Teachings,
and to serve humanity, always conscious of the
fact that life does not end with death and that
one’s relation with God is eternal.
After death, our souls become free and continue Individual
to progress towards God for all eternity.

Second Participant –
Community
Human beings were not created
to exist alone. We live in
communities and must work
together to build the new
civilization.

The community closest to us is
the local one which consists of
the Baha’is of our village or town.

It is in the local community where
we learn to cooperate with one
another, to grow together and
become united.

Diagram of the Confucian “Great Learning”
Add an institutional layer at the community level
to channel safely, productively, and creatively the increasing capacity of humanity.

Third Participant –
Institutions
Baha’u’llah has brought His own Administrative
Order, which means that He has told us what
institutions we must create, how they should function,
and how humanity should be governed.

There are no priests or clergy in the Baha’i Faith, and
it is the Local Spiritual Assembly that guides the
affairs of the local community.

A Local Spiritual Assembly consists of nine members
elected in a prayerful atmosphere by secret ballot by
all the adult believers in the community.

Abdu’l-Baha
“China has the most great capability.
The Chinese people are most simple-hearted and truth-seeking…
Truly, I say, the Chinese are free from any deceit and hypocrisies
and are prompted with ideal motives.
China is the country of the future.
Abdu’l-Baha, Reported in "Star of the West", vol. 8, April 28, 1917, No.3, p.37

Shoghi Effendi

“China, a land which has its own world and civilization,
whose people (in 1923)
constitute one-fourth of the population of the globe,
which ranks foremost among all nations
in material, cultural, and spiritual resources and potentialities,
and whose future is assuredly bright.
Letter from Shoghi Effendi to the Baha'is of the East, 23 January 1923.
China Pop: 1.3 billion (2007)
World Pop: 6.6 billion (2007)
China = 19.7%

Chinese Philosophical-Spiritual Resources

• Mahayana Buddhism taught the unity and oneness of all beings.
• Confucius: Reciprocity. Moral order is the foundation of social order.
• Lao Ze (Daoism): Balance, the unity of opposites
• Poets (for example: Li Bai, Du Fu), themes of justice

A Selection of Some of China’s Spiritual Concepts & Characteristics

• Love of justice expressed in the words of its poets and philosophers.
• Daoism: Belief in harmony through dynamic balance, complementary poles: male-female, material-
spiritual, inside-outside, light-dark, logic-intuition….capacity to merge opposites and resolve paradoxes,
balanced ying and yang, an attitude toward systems, such as in healing and the human body, that allows it
to see “wholes” more than dichotomies.
• The long Confucian tradition that moral order is the foundation of social order and harmony. The well-
being of society depends on the spiritual health of the individual. Confucius said if he had to summarize his
teachings in one word it would be “reciprocity”. “Do not impose on others what you do not wish for
yourself.” “In hearing litigation, I feel, like anybody else, the necessity to cause the people to have no
litigation”. An appetite for consensus-seeking, not litigation, to resolve conflicts.
• From Buddhism, China has a received high-minded spirituality and a keen sense of the coherence
between the material and the spiritual. An emphasis on the importance of the group.
• Love of perfection that generated so many centuries of civilized beauty.
• Capacity for obedience.
• Open-mindedness, tolerance, a lack of prejudice, desire to learn and "seek truth from facts“.
• Love for the practical application of knowledge; the admiration for deeds not words.
• Importance given to family relationships, especially respect for parents and elders.
• A belief in the harmony between man and nature, as seen in China's art, much of its poetry, and, in
particular, its garden design. These prefigure the essential concerns of sustainability.
• Belief in "Tian Xia Yi Jia" (All under heaven is one family).
• Freedom should not overstep "the boundaries of right".
• Moderation
• Modesty

Confucianism
“From the son of Heaven down to the mass of the people, all must consider
the cultivation of their person as the root of everything besides.“
From the Confucian text, “The Great Learning”.

A related passage from a Baha’i source:
Such qualities as trustworthiness, compassion, forbearance, fidelity,
generosity, humility, courage, and willingness to sacrifice for the common good
have constituted the invisible yet essential foundations of progressive community life.]
“Social advancement, we know, arises from the ideals and shared beliefs that
weld society together.
Meaningful social change results as much from the development of qualities and attitudes
that foster constructive patterns of human interaction
as from the acquisition of technical capacities.
True prosperity - a well-being founded on peace,
cooperation, altruism, dignity, rectitude of conduct and justice –
flows from the light of spiritual awareness and
virtue as well as from material discovery and progress.
Overcoming Corruption and Safeguarding Integrity in Public Institutions:
A Baha’i Perspective "Global Forum on Fighting Corruption II", May 2001, the Hague, Netherlands.

Confucianism
“Wo Bu Pa Ben, Wo Pa Huai

I don’t fear stupid (behaviour); I fear bad (behaviour).
Miss Zhang, Grade 3 teacher, Black Sesame Lane Elementary School, Beijing, 1997.

“…unless the moral character of a nation is educated, as well as its brain and its
talents, civilization has no sure basis."

Abdu’l-Baha, Paris Talks, Baha’i Publishing Trust, London, 1979, p. 31.

Confucianism
“In hearing litigation, I feel, like anybody else, the necessity to cause the
people to have no litigation.” Confucius
If a relationship descended to the need for litigation, it was a sign of a lack of moral
education.
“….the communities are day and night occupied in making penal laws, and in
preparing and organizing instruments and means of punishment. They build
prisons, make chains and fetters, arrange places of exile and banishment, and
different kinds of hardships and tortures, and think by these means to discipline
criminals, whereas, in reality, they are causing destruction of morals and
perversion of characters.

The community, on the contrary, ought day and night to strive and endeavor with
the utmost zeal and effort to accomplish the education of men, to cause them day
by day to progress and to increase in science and knowledge, to acquire virtues,
to gain good morals and to avoid – Establishment of the United Nations not occur.
1950
vices, so that crimes may

Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, p. 270

Confucianism
FREEDOM
"At fifteen my heart was set on learning;
at thirty, I stood firm in the society;
at forty I had no more doubts;
at fifty, I knew the mandate of heaven;
at sixty, my ear can tell the good from the bad;
at seventy I could follow my heart's desire without transgressing the norm”.

(Another translation of this last part: "At seventy, I could follow the dictates of my own heart, for what I
desired no longer overstepped the boundaries of right.)

This quotation from Confucius is so well known to Chinese people that they often identify the age of a
person not by years, but by the maturity of his relationship to freedom.

Someone in their thirties is referred to as being in the "er li" - "stand firm" stage of development; in their
forties, the "hu huo" - "not confused" stage; in their fifties, "zhi tian ming" - "understand the meaning of
life"; sixties, "er shun", "can distinguish good from bad"; and in their 70s, "er cong xin suo yu" - "follow
desire from the heart without transgressing the norm". It is understood that real freedom is attained after
a life-long learning process, that it has limits. Freedom should not overstep "the boundaries of right".

A related passage from a Baha’i source:– Establishment of the United Nations
1950
“The quality of freedom and of its expression -- indeed, the very capacity to maintain freedom in a
society -- undoubtedly depends on the knowledge and training of individuals and on their ability to cope
with the challenges of life with equanimity."[1]
“This (individual-society) relationship, so fundamental to the maintenance of civilized life,
calls for the utmost degree of understanding and cooperation between society and the individual;

Confucianism

“All within the four seas are brothers”
Confucius, Analects 12:5

“The Earth is One Country and Mankind its Citizens”
Baha’u’llah


Daoism

"No calamity is greater than not knowing what is enough
No fault worse than wanting too much
Whoever knows what is enough
Has enough.
Attachment comes at wasteful cost;
Hoarding leads to a certain loss;
Knowing what is enough avoids disgrace;
Knowing when to stop secures from peril.
Only thus can you long last.

Lao Zi, Dao De Jing, ch. 46 and 44

"The sage does not hoard,
The more he does for others,
The more he has himself.
The more he gives,
The more he gets.
[1] Lao Zi, Dao De Jing, ch. 8.

Poets Du Fu (AD 713-770)

"Behind the red-painted doors wine and meat are stinking.
On the wild roads lie corpses of people frozen to death.
A hair breadth divides wealth and poverty.
This strange contrast fills me with unappeasable anguish.”

The Roof Whirled Away by Winds
"When will this long night of drizzle come to an end?
Now I dream of an immense mansion, tens of thousands of rooms,
Where all the cold creatures can take shelter, their faces alight;
Not moved by the wind or the rain, a mansion as solid as the mountain.
Alas, when shall I see such a majestic house?
If I could see this, even though my poor house were torn down,
Even though I were frozen to death I would be content.

Yan Yang Chu

".....through the last forty centuries China must have matured
her thought and learned many lessons in the art of living.
Maybe China has something to contribute.
Surely there must be a better way, a more humane way of settling
international disputes than just by cutting each other's throats.

Surely, with China's four hundred million people (in 1930),
four thousand years of culture and vast resources,
she must have something
to contribute to the peace and progress of mankind.“

Yan Yang Chu (James Yen) was the founder, in China of the Mass Education Movement.
In the 1930s, of a rural development education program in Ding Zhou, south of Beijing.
In 1943, he was awarded a Copernicus Citation, on the occasion of the
400th anniversary of Copernicus. The awards were given in Carnegie Hall, New York City,
to ten outstanding modern revolutionaries; the others included:
Albert Einstein, Orville Wright, Henry Ford, and John Dewey.

What are China’s Material, Cultural, and Spiritual Resources and Potentialities for ?

Social evolution has arrived at the beginning of its maturity,
to be expressed in a New World Order, a global civilization.
China has been prepared through its long history
to make its own valuable contributions to that Order.
The best of Chinese culture will be preserved, renewed and refreshed
to the extent that
China helps build the New World Order.
The parts of the world will not grow until the whole is formed.

What will China’s contribution be to the New World Order?

John Fairbank
This noted Sinologist, in the introduction to his recent book,
China: A New History, refers to China as a latecomer to modernity.
And, he asks whether China has emerged from isolation just in time

to participate in the demise of the world or,

with millennia of survival experience,

to rescue it?

Fear Hope
Cynicism Despair
Sense of superiority Prompted
Indifference with ideal motives
Fanaticism TASK Simple-hearted
Doubt Build together Truth-seeking
the foundations of
Rigidity Free from deceit
global civilization
Flexibility (True Modernism) and hypocrisies
Suspicion Open-mindedness
Sense of Purpose Magnanimity
Chauvinism Tolerance
Moderation
Examples of qualities and attitudes to the great task before us
Qualities in green above are Chinese characteristics identified by Abdu’l-Baha
“In the world there are many different roads but the destination is the same.
There are a hundred deliberations but the result is one.
The Book of Changes, cited in Legge, The Four Books, pt. 2, ch. 5

"As China becomes more and more involved with other nations, it can,
through its own example and its concerted efforts to foster world peace,
become a most effective participant in the development of a new, world civilization.
China does not need to follow the same path already trodden by other nations;
it can open a new path that will lead it directly to an honored position in a
New World Order that China, itself, will have helped to build.”
Dr. Farzam Arbab

It may be a confirmation and a joy, lifting the hearts of the Chinese people,
to find so much of their vast cultural, philosophical, and spiritual heritage
is in tune with the genuine requirements of this new age,
to find they have valuable contributions to make to “true” modernization.

True Modernization

“O Thou Provider! The dearest wish of this servant of Thy Threshold
is to behold the friends of East and West in close embrace;
to see all the members of human society
gathered with love in a single great assemblage,
even as individual drops of water collected in one mighty sea;
to behold them all as birds in one garden of roses,
as pearls of one ocean, as leaves of one tree, as rays of one sun.”

Abdu’l-Baha

The Great Harmony

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The Great Harmony