China India Clash of Philosophies

'China thinks India is a democratic mess'

Richard McGregor, former Financial Times China bureau chief and the author of the illuminating

The Party: The Secret World of China's Communist Rulers.

Has published this unique book, which explains 'the party's functions, structures and how political power is exercised through them' in a deeply engaging way with the aid of a rich cast of characters. The book has of course been banned in mainland China.

In the book, the author states that China thinks India is a democratic mess, without really seeking to understand why it is a democracy in the first place.

The book review is available on

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/23/AR2010072302424.html

Here is an objective assessment of the Chinese view of India:-

China is right and wrong in its perception of India. Right because world over, democracy does imply a certain degree of anarchy. The degree of anarchy is higher in representative democracies and lower in participatory democracies. Since India still has not graduated to a participatory model and is content with the representative model, messiness is bound to be on the higher side. So China perceiving India as a democratic mess is right to a certain degree. However this model is far superior to the totalitarian model they have adopted. Since any FREEDOM is better than COMFORTABLE SLAVERY.

Also HOME RULE is superior to DICTATORSHIP, be it of an individual or a group, which is what China is. But herein lies the red light for us. If we continue our present model, very likely WE ourselves may start to doubt democracy as anarchy escalates. The only way to offset this possible scenario is to migrate to a better model of democracy that is participatory in nature.

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China has a deep rooted cultural distrust towards India because when Buddhism arrived in China around 2000 years ago, it overshadowed their existing indigenous Confucionism which in itself is a 2500 year old culture.

    Philosophically too​, both are antithetical mutually. Confucionism propagated existentialism (synergy with the universe around) while Buddhism is nihilistic (everything is baseless).

    Existentialist religions are usually ritual heavy while nihilistic religions are more ascetic. Rituals give rise to different classes in society  leading to exploitation over time ​-while asceticism displays immediate equality leading to more people joining it.

​    In India too, Buddha & Mahavira thrived because they offered an easy alternative of equality to masses compared to prevalent Brahminical superiority over other stratas of society of the day.

    This was also one of the main reasons why ritual heavy Vedic Hinduism ceded space to Buddhism & Jainism around 2300 years ago in India. An epoch of around 1000 years followed when even emperors like Ashoka & Chandragupta converted from Vedic Hinduism to Buddhism & Jainism. During this period, in most of Indian plains, Vedic Hind​uism went into a shell compared to ​expanding Buddhists & Jains.

    Since similar ritual heavy Confucionism existed in China too at that time, Buddhism easily substituted Chinese indigenous philosophies as common people found Buddhism easy & more welcoming.

    In India​, Adi Shankaracharya​, who came around 1200 yrs ago redefined ritual heavy Vedic Hinduism with an Upanishadic version which redefined it as "aham brahmasmi" where supreme being was to be found within oneself & didn't need any rituals. His theory also had space for Maya which was nearer to Buddhism's illusion.

    This revolutionary new definition of Hinduism coupled with the fact that Adi Shankara travelled far & wide indulging in scholastic debates with Buddhist as well as Vedic scholars resulted in ​a lot of Hindus ​f​orgoing Buddhism & returning back to a reformed Hinduism minus old​-dated rituals.

    China didn't have such an indigenous Adi Shankara who could reinvent & reestablish their old Confucius. Hence their ancient philosophy withered away giving more & more space to Buddhism.

    Post World War II, when imperialism ended & ​the British left China, Mao, the 1st premier of free China realized that imported Indian Buddhism had gobbled up ancient Chinese philosophy. To correct it, he went on systematically demolishing social religiosity, substituting it with refurbishing ancient Chinese symbols like the Great Wall, Han dynasty iconism, etc, ideas, monuments, scriptures & cultures which predated Buddhism in China.

    Over the next few decades, Buddhism was systematically erased from China & ancient Chinese pride was steadily seeded.

    Even today, Chinese BRI is an exact retracing of the 2200 year old ancient Silk route which preceded Buddhism in China. 2200 year old pre buddhism Han iconoclasts have​ been made an integral part of regular syllabus for school kids, while other cultures/religions are not let to flourish even amongst diverse ethnic races like Uighyurs.

    China is culturally fascinated about establishing ancient Chinese culture as the "oldest thriving culture in the world".India too claims the same with its Hinduism. That India has the world's oldest unbroken culture of Sanatana Dharma.

    This clash of who represents a more ancient culture is the latent  clash of perspectives between India & China.

    So, whenever India or China starts to gain in stature, especially internationally, the other gets naturally jittery.

    China sees India's rise as a precursor to expansion with potential to do a Buddhist encore. This is why China exerts its brute physical force to contain India from time to time. Because it believes in nipping a problem in the bud.

    China demoralizes contemporary Indian Nehrus & Modis who work for India's enhanced international image.

    Sadly, what both China & India fail to understand is that Buddhism was a philosophical invasion, not a physical one. And that Buddhism had also entrenched itself in India. But to game that philosophy, India came up with a better, more refined philosophy -by AdiShankara.

    The day Sino-Indian leaders understand that between the two, China & India represent a diverse yet complimentary ancient cultural ethos, they can stop competing and start mutual cooperation for the better of humanity.

    The day China realizes that philosophies are not a physical threat, & India dumps its delusional urge of Vishwaguru name & fame, IndoChina will start a peerless coexistence which will automatically enrich all of humanity.

​After all, between the two, Chinese & Indians are nearly half of humans on this earth.