Fang Dongmei

Author: Liu Mengxi, Editor-in-Chief
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 1996-10-01
Features: The Spirit of Chinese Philosophy and Its Development (Volume 1) (originally in English, the second volume has not yet been translated) is the magnum opus of Fang Dongmei's over 50-year academic career. The book is vast in scope and profound in vision, with every discussion on the 4,000-year history of the spirit of Chinese philosophy deeply rooted in the author's life experiences. The renowned Zen master D.T. Suzuki once praised Fang's paper The Cosmos and the Individual in Chinese Metaphysics, which he delivered at the Fourth, calling it "unparalleled in its time and truly exceptional." This book is an expansion and development of that praise in a more integrated form. In addition to selecting works from The Spirit of Chinese Philosophy and Its Development, it also includes Fang's other renowned essays such as Three Wisdoms of Philosophy, The Wisdom of the Chinese People, and The Cosmos and the Individual in Chinese Metaphysics, making the spiritual essence of this "great philosopher of the generation" vividly visible.
Fang Dongmei (1899–1977) was a scholar from Tongcheng, Anhui, who dedicated over 50 years to education and excelled in philosophy, earning a high reputation as the "great philosopher of the generation." After his passing, his students established the "Committee for the Compilation of Fang Dongmei's Complete Works" and published over 4 million words of his lifetime writings. His major works include: The Virtue of Life, Philosophy of Life, Science, Philosophy, and Life, The View of Life of the Chinese People, An Outline of the Philosophy of Life of the Chinese People, Pre-Qin Confucian and Daoist Philosophy, Greater Vehicle Buddhism in China, The Philosophy of the Huayan School, Philosophy of the Song, Ming, and Qing Dynasties, The Spirit of Chinese Philosophy and Its Development (Volumes 1 and 2), Lectures by Fang Dongmei, Correspondence on Philosophy, and Selected Poems of Jianbai Jing She (among others).