A short history of China philosophy  by:Fung Yu-Lan

The sentences deserve to be noted.

Chapter 1: The Spirit of Chinese philosophy

The place which philosophy has occupied in chinese civilization has been comparable to that of religion on other civilizations.

Place of philosophy in Chinese Civilization

A present it is known to many Westerners that the Chinese people have been less concerned with religion than other people are. ……. When one says it is ethics, not religion, that has provided the spiritual basis of Chinese civiliztion, does it imply that the Chinese are not conscious of those values which are highter than moral ones? ……To answer ther above questions, I would say that the craving for something beyond the present actual world is one of the innate desires of mankind, and the Chinese people are no exception to the rule. They have not had much concern with religion because thay have had so much concern with pphilosophy. They are not religious because they are philosophical. in philosophy they satisfy their craving for what is beyond the present actual world. In philosophy also they have the super-moral values expressed and appreciated, and in living according to philosophy these super-moral values are experienced.

Problem and Spirit of Chinese philosophy

“不离日用常行内，直到先天未画前”. “It is not divorced from the daily ordinary activities, yet it gose straight to what antedated Heaven.” This is what Chinese philosophy has striven for.

The man who accomplishes this synthesis, not only in theory but also in deed, is the sage.

The Way in which Chinese Philosophers Expressed Themseleves

According to the chinese trandition, the study of philosophy is not a profession. Everyone should study philosophy just like in the West every on should go to church. The purpose of the study of philosophy is to enable a man, as man, to be a man, no some ……

“言者所以在意，得意而忘言,吾安得夫忘言之人而与之言哉！”
Words a for holding on ideal, but when one has got the ideal, one need no longer think about the words. If only I could find someone who had stopped thinking about words and could have him with me to talk to! –”when their eyes met, the Tao was there” or “the Tao cannot be told, but only suggested.”

Chapter 2: The Background of Chinese philososphy

Chinese Art and Poetry

The Confucianists took art as an instrument for moral education. The Taoists admiration of the free movement of the spirit and their idealization of nature gave profound inspiration to the great artists of China. ……Likewise in Chinese poetry we find suck poems as that by T’ao Ch’ien(A.D.372-427):“结庐在人境，而无车马喧。问君何能尔，心远地自偏。采菊东篱下，悠然见南山。山气日夕佳，飞鸟相与还。此中有真意，欲辨已忘言。 ”

I built my hut in a zone of human habitation,
Yat near me there sounds no noise of horse or coach,
Would you know how that is possible?
A heart that is distant creates a wilderness round it.
I pluck chrysanthemums under the eastern hedge,
Then gaze long at the distant summer hills.
The mountain air is fresh at the dusk of day;
The flying birds two by two return.
In these thing there lies a deep meaning;
Yet when we would expressit, words suddenly fail us.