Great Harmony of One World: Asian Renaissance and Prosperity of Unity in Diversities

—From the Perspectives of Mutual Learning of Civilizations, Renaissance, an Internal Saint Exploring External King and the One World Family

Thock Kiah Wah

Executive Advisor and Director, Professor, Southern University College, Malaysia

1 Foreword: explanation and changing of the world

In this fast-changing era of globalization, the speed of communication, the civilization of material comfort and the advent of artificial intelligence machines have improved human lives tremendously. However, the distance between people and people has seemed even further; the hatred among the races has increased, and the fighting among nations has never ended. Civilizations, still, do not much understand among each other. Worse still, the conflict of civilizations is seemed going to happen like what had been predicted by Samuel P. Huntington in the book The Clash of Civilization and the Remaking of World Order.^[1] The fundamental question of today’s problems: Is mankind able to live together? Is the world able to be changed for the better in the future? The basic question of whether mankind can survive and prosper together has yet to be realized and practiced thoroughly. Therefore, we have to come back to the famous quote of Karl Marx: “The philosophers in the past were explaining the world, but what was important was to change the world.” Nevertheless, I personally think that the world of mankind seems to need a totally new understanding, and then only trying to change the world fundamentally. The explanation is always important and will bring about significant changes. With the profound changes, then only we can live together truly and change the world for a better future. Before we further discuss these important issues, I would like to quote a symbolic report on our current civilization:-

At present, the pattern for the world to rely on their living is no longer viable. It does not function any more; neither will one think that it will continue to function. In a country like ours, it is full of people who embrace the luxury of material comfort. However, they are living a quiet, (sometimes noisy), desperate life. They only understand a fact, that is there is a hole in their heart, no matter how many cars and TV are poured into the hole, or no matter how many adorable kids and faithful friends are there beside the hole … this hole is painful. Those who came to take part in the “Body and Mind Festival” are looking for something—not something that is necessary, but a kind of understanding, that is the understanding of themselves. Almost every way that is reachable is the beginning of a location. That is to start from the heart of the seekers.^[2]

2 Is the attitude for mutual learning of civilizations ready?

The theme of this conference is “Mutual learning among Asian civilizations and building a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind.” It contains good hope and a sincere intention, but it has simultaneously preset the fact that among the civilizations, there are needs to understand and learn among the different civilizations mutually. These are what we called civilization dialogues and mutual learning among civilizations. Why is there a need for mutual learning among civilizations? The most basic understanding is: each of the civilizations is, in fact, the wisdom and experiences practiced by the people living together of each community for a few or ten over thousands of years, having essence and dross through the river of time. We have to learn mutually, learning the strengths and making up for the weaknesses of ourselves, in order to improve the vision of living together. So, the core value of co-existence is that civilizations need to learn from each other. Although the philosophy is so simple, to mutually admit the shortcomings and problems faced by each other is yet another big problem. It is because some people would understand that some of the cognition and adjustment of their culture and living philosophy are probably shaking their whole civilization. They are afraid of this to occur. However, as the saying goes, “All matters can be solved if only the attitude is right.” Therefore, if the attitude of mutual learning among civilizations is correct, the remaining problems are the cognition of knowledge, how to understand and explain the world. Certainly, there must be practice after understanding and advancement of knowledge. But just as what is well said by Mr. Sun Yat Sen^[3], it is difficult to know something but easy to put into practice. As long as you have a new understanding of something, practice is easier from the angles of political will and daily endeavors. So, the fundamental question is we need to know some missing links and the new knowledge that could open up our new horizon of ourselves and our own civilizations.

3 The European Renaissance and the Asian Renaissance

The most important result of the European Renaissance was to bring the human from the ruling of god to be back to the human world. This proposition was also one of the modernity projects which Jürgen Habermas ^[4] had yet to accomplish, i.e. human must obtain liberation from the ruling of God. The proposal of Asian Renaissance is just to enable us to understand the important traditions of Asian civilizations again and to discover the great traditions and common heritage of humanity in Asian civilizations again. The fruitful result of the said tradition is beyond words. In this respect, the Buddha said, “You are your only reliance, so let the precept be your teacher”; the prophet Mohamed said, “If you pray sincerely, and yet the mountain does not come to you, what you can do is to move over to the mountain.” These sayings are all stone breaking to the human world after discoveries of the subjectivity of humanity. The former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim mentioned, “Being the cradle of several great civilizations, Asia is anything but monolithic. The Asian Renaissance must not be about cultural jingoism but rather about cultural rebirth and empowerment. Jingoism presupposes a sense of superiority of one’s own culture over others, and with it the connotation that others are less civilized, if at all. The offshoot is cultural imperialism. If allowed to spread, the flames of jingoism may eventually engulf Asians themselves. He who sows the wind will reap the whirlwind. This is not a hypothetical issue but a stark reality. The fact is that there are Asian nations today still struggling to tame religious, ethnic and tribal hostilities within their boundaries. ^[5]”Therefore, the mutual learning of civilizations should let us discover the common human world of Asia again; however, this human world and human subjects that we understand again is a subject without self (emptiness subjectivity)^[6]. We rely on teaching of dharma but not the teaching by a human (yi fa bu yi ren), and this must be led into the way of thinking not to highlighting their own civilization but creating common consensus with great rules (dharma) to make future possible!

4 Quantum-seed life and new internal saint explores new external king

Only a new explanation on the external world is not enough at all, because the external world is the extension of internal life, and all changes on the internal life are started from soul revolution. With the waking up of mutual learning among civilizations, renaissance and humanity world, how do we understand individuals and the life that is passed down from generation to generation? The crucial key to becoming an awakening subject up to practicing new internal saint and new external king is the work of environmental protection. The environmentalism raises the problem of generation of justice, i.e. contemporary people should not dry out the living environment of the next generation. Isn’t it our individual life should also sustain the karma of next generation? Some of the recent scientific knowledge development, especially the new understanding of life science and quantum theory, shows that individual life phenomenon is not a one-time life. Life, consciousness, and soul are quantum phenomena. The advancement of human’s spiritual world is the growth of quantum world, and this conforms to the order of universe is an order of morality (yu zhou de zhi xu shi dao de de zhi xu) proposed by contemporary Neo-Confucianism^[7]. Through quantum theory, individual life is able to join the universal transformation, and every life has the internal life past from one generation to another generation. The new understanding of the generations of life will bring about new changes in education and new perspective of the world. I call this as “New Internal Saint Explores New External King” (xin nei sheng kai chu xin wai wang). The core idea of this New Internal Saint that individual life is having the life phenomenon of quantum-seed shows that there is an extension of life between generations. Therefore, our generation lives are having the common karma of cause and effect, and the world view of the common karma of new internal saint will bring about new thinking and new dawn to the world civilization.

5 To build a consensus on “One World Family Community”

Following the new understanding of the continuity of lives, a new world community will come into being. Martin Luther King once said that we were not searching for consensus, but building consensus. From the new internal saint to new external king is really the process of building a new consensus. On the understanding of the new internal saint, we proposed the idea of “One World Family (Tian Xia Yi Jia).” It is just like how a saying goes, “All men are brothers.” The global village in the world is one world family; each life connected and continued with each other. Each ethnic group has a collective internal life. Therefore the one world family is the definite attribution. The key idea is to transcend individual shortcomings and our own civilizations’ limitations. Huston Smith, an authority on our comparative religion studies said:

In shifting the center of one’s concern from oneself to one’s family, one transcends selfishness. The move from family to community transcends nepotism, and the move from community to nation transcends parochialism, and the move to all humanity counters chauvinistic nationalism. ^[8]

So, plurality ethnicity and multi-civilization are just like the one world family, similar to the natural phenomenon of the blooming of hundreds of flowers. It is just that we are lack of full understanding of individual life and collective life. We do not only continue our lives generation by generation, but severely, this is the reality that our community is relying on. With the understanding and realization of “All families are close together in the world; all lives are the same in the world”, we can practice to build the consensus of a community that is One World Family Community—a new Asian community will be emerging and will further develop until a One World Family Community could be realized gradually!

6 The foundation and movement of “Tomorrow @ One World Family Community”

Thich Nhat Hanh, a renowned international monk, once wrote a book with the title of “For the future to be possible.” By using the five precepts of Buddhism, this book presented just what problems our globalized generation should treat seriously: Will the future world be possible and be better? We know that the power of today is invincible. However, tomorrow is forever good to be expected. We should use the power of today to create the beauty of tomorrow. Therefore, under the call for the civilization dialogue, we shall build together the “One World Family Community” (tian xia yi jia she qun) consensus, which includes the new interpretations for mutual learning among civilizations, Asian Renaissance and new internal saint exploring new external king. But, building consensus is not enough. We should construct what Bahai faith practice, to establish a Local Spiritual Assembly^[9]. We need to build together a consensus of “Tomorrow @ One World Family Community” foundation and an international movement. First of all, we should follow the footstep of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank to build a strong foundation for Asian infrastructure development. China President Xi Jinping always emphasizes on the common fate of the world (shi jie ming yun gong tong ti), this is a profound statement which ties together all of us in the material and spiritual world. So, to build the spiritual power of “Tomorrow @One World Family Community” and its foundation and movement, this surely is the beginning of the new vision of Asia, and the multi-world civilizations could blossom under the prosperity of unity in diversities. When plurality civilizations manage to complete the common prosperity for the beautiful scenery of the blooming of hundreds of flowers, under the practice of “One World Family Community,” it is time we enjoyed the great harmony of the one world.

7 Conclusion: The great harmony of one world and the plurality of civilizations with the prosperity of unity in diversities

As a conclusion, we would like to cite a famous quote of the great harmony of one world (tian xie da tong) written by Prof Fei Xiaotong. Prof Fei had outlined the vision of the great harmony of the world of human society when he proposed plurality culture of “every form of beauty has its uniqueness; precious is to appreciate other forms of beauty with openness. If beauty represents itself with diversity and integrity, the world will be blessed with harmony and unity.” ^[10] However, of course this is, after all, a far-away dream. We need to reflect on the “Gene, Spirit and Culture”^[11] co-evolution theory proposed by Prof Edward Wilson, from Harvard University. The new internal saint exploring the new external king mentioned above is in fact, restricted by our human gene. We hope the spiritual revolution of the new internal saint, and the cultural practice of “One World Family Community,” will be definitely, in the long run, playing a very important part for the community of plurality in one. In the end, we will manage to realize the plurality civilization and prosperity of unity in diversities in the great harmony of one world. Let us quote some sayings from the “Declaration Toward a Global Ethic” to share with all of us:

In conclusion, we appeal to all the inhabitants of this planet. Earth cannot be changed for the better unless the consciousness of individuals is changed. We pledge to work for such transformation in the individual and collective consciousness, for the awakening of our spiritual powers through reflection, meditation, prayer, or positive thinking, for a conversion of the heart. Together we can move mountains! Without a willingness to take risks and a readiness to sacrifice, there can be no fundamental change in our situation! Therefore we commit ourselves to a common global ethic, to better mutual understanding, as well as to socially beneficial, peace-fostering, and Earth-friendly ways of life.^[12]

A famous Indian scholar, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888-1975), also has a similar statement:

Social and political conditions in several areas of the world depend, in the final analysis, upon the philosophical and spiritual thought and ideals of the peoples of the world. The future of civilization depends upon the return of spiritual awareness to the hearts and minds of men.^[13]

Yes, we can move a mountain if we work whole-heartedly together! last but not least, revolution always starts with our mind and heart. The beginning of dialogue and mutual learning among civilizations always start from our mind within. We shall start from the awakening of emptiness subjectivity and the journey of the reflections on our own civilizations, and move on to the mind and heart revolution until we meet with the One World Family Community!

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[1]Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilization and the Remaking of World Order, (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2002).

[2]Translated from Tan Swie Hian, The West Was Close to the East because of Its Enlightenment. Singapore: Lian He Zaobao, Cross – Century Cultural Dialogue, Singapore: Lianbang Publisher, 1999. P39-40.

[3]Dr. Sun Yat Sen suggested that to know is far more difficult than to practice, so to pave the way to support revolution, it is better we know the meaning and important of revolution, then to carry out the revolution is far more easy than to know the course and meaning of revolution. Similarly, if we set the attitude right for mutual learning among civilizations, practice shall be carried out accordingly.

[4]Please refer to Maurizo Passerin. D’ Entrieves & Seyla Benhabib (eds.) Habermas and the Unfinished Project of the Philosophical Discourse of Modernity, USA: MIT Press, 1997.

[5]Anwar Ibrahim, The Asian Renaissance, (Singapore: Times Books International, 1996). pp. 20-21.Mr. Anwar is a well-known Islamic scholar and keen to promote civilization dialogue work.

[6]This emptiness subjectivity (kong xing zhu ti ) first proposed by me several years ago and this help to understand the true meaning of Buddhism’s no-self (wu wo) concepts.

[7]Contemporary Neo-Confucianism thinker Mou Zongshan (Mou Zongsan) made this suggestion in his books in the years of 1970s. This statement is a very important breakthrough in the contemporary philosophy development.

[8]Please refer to Smith, Huston, The Religions of Man, New York: Harper and Row, 1986.

[9]Bahai faith is one of the fastest grown new religions, which emphasizes the one family of all religions. This philosophy is very similar to the One World family. One world family community could follow the Local Spiritual Assembly to carry out its movement.

[10]Prof Fei first proposed this statement on his 80th birthday in December 1990; and this phrase (ge mei qi mei, mei ren zhi mei, mei mei yu gong, tian xia da tong) became a symbolic statement for prosperity of unity in diversities (duo yuan wen hua gong cun gong rong) and the great harmony of one world.

[11]For the “Gene, mind and culture coevolution” theory, please refer to Edward O. Wilson and Charles J. Lumsden, Genes, Mind and Cultures – The Coevolution Process, Cambridge. Mass: Havard University, 1981.

[12]Please refer to https://www.global.ethic.org, the English version.

[13]Radhakrishnan, Sarvepalli and Moore, Charles A. (eds.), A Sourcebook in Indian Philosophy, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1957, p. xxxi.