Conventional accounts of Zhuangzi’s concept of fate are limited to only a certain aspect of it. At the same time, they seem to be mutually contradictory. This essay investigates this concept afresh based on textual analysis and elucidates Zhuangzi’s real concerns about fate. This analysis reveals that Zhuangzi laid stress on the virtue demonstrated in confronting the unavoidable. More specifically, the important meaning of fate encompasses, on the one hand, a whole acceptance of the facts facing us by forgetting oneself, and on the other hand, responding positively to the facts by following the “Heavenly Way” until a spontaneous state is reached. We shall see as well how Zhuangzi’s views on the relation between Heaven and the Human, and on certain moral values, help to validate his theory on fate. Thus, through exploring his underlying thoughts and showing how their various aspects are logically connected, we shall show that Zhuangzi’s concept of fate is imbued with a humanistic spirit in the face of affairs in the real world.

This paper is an attempt to understand structural aesthetical expression by the sociological perspective of “body turn”. Architectural space is essentially a three-dimensional space shaped by various structural elements. The article employs the “body turn” to reinterpret the artistic expression of structure through the lens of materiality and spirituality, examining how structural design can positively influence people's experience of space. The article starts with a theoretical review and then moves on to concrete cases that illustrate how structures can generate volumetric sensations in the space where the body resides and to offer architects and structural engineers a new perspective on how to achieve a more artistic expression of structures.

JDTREA (Journal of Daesoon Thought and the Religions of East Asia)

Genuine Humans can achieve a way of existence in harmony with the “Way of Heaven” and open up a meaningful world where Heaven and humanity are integrated. Therefore, the “Way of Heaven”, as the true source of value for true knowledge, highlights the “transcendental” aspect of true knowledge. On the other hand, true knowledge includes the compassionate understanding and sincere empathy of a Genuine Human towards the unavoidable fact of the human world, thereby manifesting its “practical” dimension in a harmonious sense.

Since sudden enlightenment in the Platform Sutra is over-emphasized and gradual practice is comparatively ignored by quite a number of scholars, this article is primarily intended to illustrate that for Huineng, gradual practice and sudden enlightenment are practically integrated, which has profound ethical implications. Furthermore, it goes a step further to explore how gradual practice is made possible, by using original material in the text and by introducing relevant theory from Daoism. It also addresses the question about transcendence of morality that some scholars raise. Through exploring the topics of virtue and knowledge in Huineng’s thought with the help of Daoist wisdom, I aim to show that, as sudden enlightenment is accompanied by gradual practice, virtue together with knowledge appear hand in hand in a “perfect” form, which also strengthens the feature of perfection revealed in Huineng’s ethical doctrine.