The Vagabond's Credo

What follows is a bit of the Vagabond's credo. Not that your Old Fellow's stint around your heads--but it's one way of suggesting to you gentlemen who would be on the scholastic road this morning something about the Chinese philosophy of life. So, bless his soul, the Vagabond is not a Taoist or a Buddhist or a Confucian--though they serve as a basis for the popular religion in China today--no, the Old Rover's way is to make a system of systems. Prithee, "What is truth?"

The Old Hag

Admittedly, living in a philosophical Tower, an old hag to tend one--a dab of wood, gentle soul!--warm friends about, the treasures of the past at one's finger tips--and a sensitive mind to feel the world--'tis all so easy to warm one's toes and say: "The purpose of life is to live!" Live, mind you, as an artist paints a picture--not modernistic, if you please--harmoniously, a little color here and there, purposively, and as omits the fancy, in contemplation.

Yang and Vin

The Chinese are masters of the art of living. It's as much their religion as their belief in the dualistic animism of the universe. Man is made up of two souls: "Yang" a "good soul"; "Vin" the soul of darkness and evil. No harm comes to a good man; that's the way the universe is constituted. With this belief and the worship for the dead the Chinese manage to live a life tranquil and indifferent to the "ways of the world". Strength of character more than strength of mind; knowledge is important as it affects the character of the knower. And that pithy bit, gentle readers, delights the Vagabond.

Professor Bixler

Professor Bixler will discuss present day Chinese religion this morning in Emerson A at 11. The Vagabond suggests this lecture as a vital and stimulating subject. The present crisis in China is only another example of the many forces which are hastening the collapse of her precious social customs. The patriarchal family is beginning to disintegrate; students are demanding freedom from the customs of the past. To save the gold of China's art of living; and yet give her what enlightenment modernity offers is no mean problem.