KEY CONCEPTS

TERMBASES

Open-mindedness, Concentration, and Tranquility

This refers to a state of mind Xunzi (313?-238 BC)proposed as a way to master the dao of general morality. He believed that one gets to know dao through the action of one’s heart and mind. But since the human heart and mind are often closed, they can only function normally when one is open-minded, concentrated, and consequently tranquil. Xu (虚), or open-mindedness, prevents prior knowledge from hindering the acquisition of new knowledge. Yi (壹), or concentration, allows one to assimilate knowledge of different categories while keeping them from interfering with each other. Jing (静), or tranquillity, is to keep the false and confusing knowledge from obstructing one’s normal process of contemplation.

CITATION
1
How can people learn to know dao? The answer is to use one’s heart and mind. How can the heart and mind know? The answer is to achieve open-mindedness, concentration, and tranquillity.
TAGS:

CORRELATION