Héguanzî, the Dao of Unity

Over two millennia ago, in troubled times not unlike our own, a mysterious figure, distinguished by a pheasant feather in his cap, emerged with poetic visions of a future world of peace and justice. Like Laozi, Pheasant Cap (Héguanzî) understood the underlying unity in things and the power of Dao to make things happen. Welcome […]

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Over two millennia ago, in troubled times not unlike our own, a mysterious figure, distinguished by a pheasant feather in his cap, emerged with poetic visions of a future world of peace and justice. Like Laozi, Pheasant Cap (Héguanzî) understood the underlying unity in things and the power of Dao to make things happen.

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram.

If you’ve ever been curious about ancient China and its cultural history then this is your show. Here for the first time, we are going to get an insider’s view of early Daoism as it influenced philosophy.

Let’s start with a simple question, “How did a young boy named Chin (Qin) growing up in exile become China’s First Augustan Emperor (Qin Shihuangdi)?

Marnix Wells  – Well this is all the best of a mystery because most of the records were destroyed after the fall of Qin which ended in a bit of a holocaust or an inferno when the future Han dynasty took over. This is now being remedied somewhat by the discovery of tombs with silk manuscripts miraculously preserved from that period and they show a lot of connections with the Héguanzî and his writings which I estimate in the period from about 250BC to 221BC which was the date in which Qin conquered the last of the six  kingdoms and started the unified Chinese Empire and they still see this as the foundation of the unified China. 

So not as simple a question as I thought but the discovery of new material is painting a clearer picture of the past.  It’s all available now in Dr. Marnix Wells’ book Héguanzî, the Dao of Unity, Linking Politics, Philosophy and Religion in Ancient China. 

Marnix Wells – This boy who actually grew up, was born in the state of Chow which is where this book is centered. Later he managed to get back to Qin and claim the crown and  from there he became the emperor and the conqueror of the whole Chinese world and founded the Empire. 

Dr. Wells knows a great deal about Chinese history. He has a first degree in Chinese from Oxford and a PhD from London School of Oriental and African Studies. He also spends time working as a shipping manager in the Far East where he acquired first-hand knowledge of the people and their heritage. As you know — one way to better understand a country is not only to visit there but to have a look at its history and Chinese History paints a unique picture of Unity. 

Marnix Wells  – The Qin that founded the Chinese empire was basically in some sense tapping into Héguanzî, because he has this vision of old nations and racism coming together and while it wasn’t done peacefully as sit turned out, none the less they did adopt this idea of sort of centralized unity which China has enjoyed for the last 2000 years so it’s a good lesson of the world  at the same time it’s also something we need to be careful about because it’s also a potential threat for the rest of us unless we can somehow work things out. 

Yes, we do have an issue with Unity in this country right now but I am optimistic that the tide is turning on all that. We have had our differences over the years and we usually find a way to unite. 

So if you find Ancient Chinese culture fascinating or you just want to broaden your worldview. Maybe you’re curious about early dismissed writings, now vindicated by some new archaeological discoveries — then this is probably a great resource for you. 

Marnix Wells – I’m attempting to kind of bridge the gap between academia and the man on the street. Of course this is very dangerous because on the one hand you get the reaction from many ordinary people saying that, oh well  this is something outside their understating and on the other hand you get the  academics saying we haven’t peer reviewed it and so forth I would welcome any academic challenge because I’ve put in a lot of footnotes to back up what i say so if someone has a different interpretation that would be great. 

We live in a global world. We do a great bit of business with China. We hear something about China in the news almost everyday but I wonder how much we really know about the country, its people and its origins. 

Marnix Wells – Indeed, we need to learn more about the rest of the world. We need to know more about China and its culture. not from the propaganda  so much as from the actual history and also into Asia, Africa, South America you know we mustn’t shut ourselves away in our Western paradise, or not so paradise. We must engage with the world. 

So jump into your time machine and head back to the China of warring kingdoms in 250 B.C. on the eve of imperial conquest. The key to your travels is the internet where you’ll find a book about how the Chinese empire and Chinese mindset was formed. It’s called (Heguansa) Héguanzî, the Dao of Unity, Linking Politics, Philosophy and Religion in Ancient China by Dr. Marnix Wells available at Barnes and Noble or Amazon and we’ve put links in the show notes for you. And that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com. 

Listen to the Books On Air podcast for a more in depth interview  with Marnix Wells or check out the Talking Books podcast where you can see a video interview conducted by JT Crowley. 

The post Héguanzî, the Dao of Unity appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.