Inseparable Nature, Tian Ren He Yi
370-319 BCE • China
The Confucian scholar Mencius counseled King Hui of Liang: "Plant your crops according to the changes of season, you will have more food than you want; limit the size of the holes in your net, you will have more fish than you want; bide your time to fell the trees, you will have more fuelwood than you want." The Confucian scholars Mencius and Zi Si (Tsu-Ssu) developed the idea that humankind and nature were inseparable (tian ren he yi),and suggested that tian, encompassing the sky, God, and nature, was superior to humans.
Mao, "Evolution of Environmental Ethics."
Elizabeth Economy, The River Runs Black: The Environmental Challenge to China's Future (thaca, NY: Cornell UP, 2004).
Image: Book Copied on Silk – Book of Political Strategists of the Warring States Period
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