Hundred Schools of Thoughts

There was a time when the Central Plain was in chaos. The feudal system started to dissolve as the king lost his power over his nobles. Five of the states rose to power. Historians call this period the Spring and Autumn Period.

The condition worsened when the smaller states were absorbed by the larger ones, and then the larger states started to fight each other over the smaller ones. The five superpowers became seven. Historians call this period of time the Warring States Period.

The constant warfare of those times bred the rise of scholars. They thought the society was ill, and it needs a good ideology to treat its illness. So they came out with various philosophies encompass a broad range of disciplines including ethics and morality, sociology, politics, military, culture and religion etc. They voiced and published their ideas and thoughts, debated them and preached for the adoption of their philosophies by various states to end the warfare. The amount of philosophers was so many that the time was called a time of Hundred Schools of Thoughts.

I think the state of Malaysia now, although not in warfare like those times, has a lot in common with the times. Many knowledgable and patriotic people of all walks of life rise to speak their minds. Views and opinions are aplenty and in varieties, but injustice and misconducts are not uncommon, too. Associating our times with the times of Hundred Schools of Thoughts may be too much of flattering to ourselves, but there are definitely a lot of things we can learn from the history and wisdom of the ancient people.

10 comments:

  1. Hopefully Malaysia will learn.. :)

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    1. Yeah I'm sure we will, but not sure how long will it take..

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  2. yeah, there are lot of people start to speak of their minds but the only difference btw now and the ancient time is that there is no mass media to control the society at that time.

    oh well, let pray for the best for the country

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    1. I'm not sure if they used the media to control the society at that time, but there were definitely information censorship and use of ethically challenged means to shut people up. The infamous incidents of burning of books and burying of scholars was one of them. The scholars who criticised the ruler were buried alive and their publications were burned.

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    2. yeah, i heard of that..every era and civilisation had their period where knowledge and information are suppressed to sustain the power of current ruling just like what is happening right now in Malaysia

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    3. btw, I seen ur recent tweet. What is it that u want to know about been all those three at the same time?

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    4. Demographically speaking, based on what I'm seeing, it is quite high compared to what I thought previously. But due to intense pressure of race and religion, you would not see them in public as compared with other races. I remembered someone ask me whether I'm truly sure that I'm gay since he never encounter a malay gay from malaysia but lot of chinese and indian. And I think u knew about the incident of when a malay guy posted a video on youtube said "Saya gay, saya okey" and he received lot of threat b'coz of that.

      In term of family, I would say it depends on how orthodox/traditional the family is in term of religion. The old school will never accept the notion of their son been gay as it is against the religion just like my family. I will never ever come out to my family because my family is a bit traditionalist in this regard. I know it will end up with they disown me.

      For me, personally, it's a constant struggle. I am a practiced Muslim. So, I still follow my religion's rule and adhere to the practice strictly but at the same time, I acknowledge the fact that I'm gay. It's hard not to be depress when I realized that no matter how hard I pray every single day, it won't save me from hell(according to the scholars). I will never entertain the notion of abandoning my religion for the sake of living my life as a gay.

      Sorry for the long reply. I was thinking to email u but it seems like u didn't provide one. So, there it goes =) If there is anything that is not clear, feel free to ask. I would try to answer to the best of my knowledge (:

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    5. Woah thank you so much for answering my queries!

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  3. Herm... You took your time to think and wrote... Shows that you do care... well, better than many us who choose instead to live in ignorance...
    =)

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    1. Well that's gotta be someone who cares

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