Great Conversion Stories. John Janaro
The immense labours of Matteo Ricci and other Jesuits to evangelise and “inculturate” Christianity in 17th century China initiated a small but enduring presence of the Catholic Church.
Among the first dynamic Chinese converts, we know especially the stories of the remarkable men known as “the Three Pillars of the Chinese Church: Li Zhizao, Yang Tingyun, and Xu Guangqi. We have already considered the great friendship between Li Zhizao and Matteo Ricci in a previous article (see Magnificat June 2015)
Unlike Li and Xu – who were both drawn to the Jesuits initially by scientific and mathematical interests – Yang Tingyun
1557-1627) was primarily a seeker of religious truth in the Chinese cultural context of his time. Chinese religion integrated popular pagan traditions with Confucian ethics and Daoist and Buddhist mysticism. This resulted in a broad “Way” of approaching life, and a variety of sectarian efforts to combine reason, poetic intuition, and the paradoxical expression of transcendence into a meaningful synthesis.
Born in Hangzhou into a family long dedicated to scholarship and civil service, Yang also studied the Confucian classics, passed examinations, and eventually became an official of the Imperial court. The last years of the Ming dynasty troubled many educated people. The wisdom of Confucius seemed buried beneath mountains of commentary, while Buddhism had degenerated into superstition and a pretext for intellectual and moral ignorance. Like others, Yang searched for a reform that would purify Confucian ethics and join it to the obscure longing for transcendent and enduring meaning that the best traditions of Chinese Buddhism aimed for.
In 1602, Yang met Ricci and the Jesuit mission through his Hangzhou compatriot and civil service colleague Li Zhizao, and collaborated with them in publishing Chinese translations of
Western texts. Ultimately, Rica’s friendship and charity would move LiZhizao to conversion and baptism, but before these events transpired, Yang Tingyun retired from civil service and returned home to Hangzhou in 1609. He dedicated himself scholarship and the practice of what seemed to him to be sincere and dedicated form of Buddhism.
Though Yang had become aware of the teaching of the “western sages” (the Jesuits) regarding the Lord of heaven, it was his friend Li who would prove to be the decisive witness for his own life. In 1611, Li’s father died. The zealous new Christian returned to his home in Hangzhou to prepare a different kind of funeral for his father, without traditional idolatry and under the leadership of Jesuit priests. Thus, Yang finally learned of Li’s conversion and was fascinated by the radical and compelling new turn in his friend’s life. As Yang engaged in deeper discussion with the Jesuits, the superabundant light of Christian Faith shined upon his mind and heart. He discovered the eminently supreme compassion of a God who came to dwell among us so that we could find the way to him. Yang was convinced also by Li’s example to embrace monogamy (giving his concubines their own households). Indeed, after his own baptism, Yang preached ardently to many of his family members, and most of them joined him in following Jesus. Thereafter he wrote numerous treatises explaining and defending Christianity in relation to Chinese wisdom and traditions, in a way that resembled the efforts of the earliest Church Fathers in a new time and place.
John Janaro is associate professor emeritus of theology at Christendom College, and author of Never Give Up: My Life and Gods Mercy (Servant) He blogs at www.johnjanaro.com.