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{kuhn - fue' - shuhn - izm}
General Information
Confucianism, the philosophical system founded on the teaching of Confucius (551 - 479 BC), dominated Chinese sociopolitical life for most of Chinese history and largely influenced the cultures of Korea, Japan, and Indochina. The Confucian school functioned as a recruiting ground for government positions, which were filled by those scoring highest on examinations in the Confucian classics. It also blended with popular and imported religions and became the vehicle for articulating Chinese mores to the peasants. The school's doctrines supported political authority using the theory of the mandate of heaven. It sought to help the rulers maintain domestic order, preserve tradition, and maintain a constant standard of living for the taxpaying peasants. It trained its adherents in benevolence, traditional rituals, filial piety, loyalty, respect for superiors and for the aged, and principled flexibility in advising rulers.
Advanced Information
Confucius was born of a poor family, but secured an education. His Chinese name was K'ung Fu - tze. He acquired such a reputation as a teacher that he was appointed to a position in the government, and eventually became Minister of the State of Lu. Some years later, after becoming disgusted with his ruler and the government, he resigned and spent the rest of his life studying and teaching.
Confucianism became the basis of the Chinese State during the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD). Chinese society recognized a relatively classless society, only recognizing two: the educated and theuneducated. Scholarship was revered.
Confucius was not a religious thinker like Buddha, Christ or Mohammed, but a social reformer. "I am not an originator but a transmitter." He edited, compiled or wrote the 'Five Canons' and the 'Four Books' which contain the morals and philosophy that the Chinese people have followed consistently for the past 2500 years.
Priorities are: First - family (or family clan); Second - community. The individual is unimportant. Ancestors are worshipped as part of the religion.
Importance is placed on adherence to the traditional ways of doing things. He discussed at length the five important relationships:
A modern Chinese scholar suggested that the core of Confucian philosophy is contained in these words:
The men of old, when they wished their virtues to shine throughout the land, first had to govern their states well. To govern their states well, they first had to establish harmony in their families. To establish harmony in their families, they first had to discipline themselves. To discipline themselves, they first had to set their minds in order. To set their minds in order, they first had to make their purpose sincere. To make their purpose sincere, they first had to extend their knowledge to the utmost. Such knowledge is acquired through a careful investigation of things. For with things investigated knowledge becomes complete. With knowledge complete the purpose becomes sincere. With the purpose sincere the mind is set in order. With the mind set in order there is real self discipline. With real self discipline the family achieves harmony. With harmony in the family the state becomes well governed. With the state well governed there is peace throughout the land.
General Information
Confucius, (551 - 479 BC), was the Chinese sage who founded Confucianism. Born of a poor but aristocratic family in the state of Lu (now Shantung province), he was orphaned at an early age. As a young man, he held several minor government posts; in later years, he advanced to become minister of justice in his home state. But he held these positions only intermittently and for short periods because of conflicts with his superiors. Throughout his life, he was best known as a teacher. When he died at the age of 72, he had taught a total of 3,000 disciples who carried on his teaching.
Three doctrines of Confucius are particularly important. The first is benevolence (jen). Confucius considered benevolence as something people cultivate within themselves before it can affect their relations with others. The best way to approach benevolence is in terms of enlightened self interest, that is, putting the self in the position of the other and then treating the other accordingly. Two sayings of Confucius best express this idea: "Do not do to others what you would not like yourself"; and "Do unto others what you wish to do unto yourself." Benevolence means the practice of these two sayings. The second doctrine concerns the superior man (chun - tzu). The superior man is one who practices benevolence regardless of family background. Ritual propriety is the third doctrine. Confucius emphasized right behavior in one's relations; man should act in accordance with propriety. Thus one behaves ritualistically with the other. Such behavior is called li; it refers to social and aesthetic norms that guide people in their social relations.
The sayings of Confucius were later incorporated into the book called the Analects. Confucius is also considered the author of the Book of Rites and the Spring and Autumn Annals, a history of the state of Lu from 771 to 579 BC.
David C Yu
Bibliography:
H G Creel, Confucius and the Chinese Way (1960);
W C Liu, Confucius, His Life and Time (1955);
A Waley, The Analects of Confucius, (1938).
Westerners use Confucius as the spelling for K'ung Fu - tzu - Master K'ung - China's first and most famous philosopher. Confucius had a traditional personal name (Ch'iu) and a formal name (Chung - ni). Confucius' father died shortly after Confucius' birth. His family fell into relative poverty, and Confucius joined a growing class of impoverished descendants of aristocrats who made their careers by acquiring knowledge of feudal ritual and taking positions of influence serving the rulers of the fragmented states of ancient China. Confucius devoted himself to learning. At age 30, however, when his short lived official career floundered, he turned to teaching others. Confucius himself never wrote down his own philosophy, although tradition credits him with editing some of the historical classics that were used as texts in his school. He apparently made an enormous impact on the lives and attitudes of his disciples, however.
The book known as the Analects, which records all the "Confucius said. . . " aphorisms, was compiled by his students after his death. Because the Analects was not written as a systematic philosophy, it contains frequent contradictions and many of the philosophical doctrines are ambiguous. The Analects became the basis of the Chinese social lifestyle and the fundamental religious and philosophical point of view of most traditionalist Chinese intellectuals throughout history. The collection reveals Confucius as a person dedicated to the preservation of traditional ritual practices with an almost spiritual delight in performing ritual for its own sake.
Confucian philosophy presupposes a view of human nature in which humans are essentially social animals whose mode of social interaction is shaped by li (convention or ritual), which establishes value distinctions and prescribes activities in response to those distinctions. Education in li, or social rituals, is based on the natural behavioral propensity to imitate models. Sages, or superior people - those who have mastered the li - are the models of behavior from which the mass of people learn. Ideally, the ruler should himself be such a model and should appoint only those who are models of te (virtue) to positions of prominence. People are naturally inclined to emulate virtuous models; hence a hierarchy of merit results in widespread natural moral education.
Then, with practice, all people can in principle be like the sages, by acting in accordance with li without conscious effort. At that point they have acquired jen (humanity), the highest level of moral development; their natural inclinations are all in harmony with tao (way). The world is at peace, order abounds, and the harmony between the natural and the social sphere results in material well being for everyone. This is Confucius' utopian vision, which he regards as modeled on the practice of the ancient sage kings.
Confucianism rose to the position of an official orthodoxy during the Han dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD). It absorbed the metaphysical doctrines of Yin (the female principle) and Yang (the male principle) found in the I Ching (Book of Changes) and other speculative metaphysical notions. With the fall of the Han, the dynastic model, Confucianism fell into severe decline. Except for the residual effects of its official status, Confucianism lay philosophically dormant for about 600 years.
With the reestablishment of Chinese dynastic power in the T'Ang dynasty (618 - 906) and the introduction of the Ch'an (Zen Buddhist) premise that "there is nothing much to Buddhist teaching," Confucianism began to revive. The Sung dynasty (960 - 1279) produced Neo Confucianism - an interpretation of classical Confucian doctrine (principally that of Mencius) that addressed Buddhist and Taoist issues. The development of this philosophy was due mainly to Cheng - hao (1032 - 85) and Cheng - i (1033 - 1107), but for the orthodox statement of Neo Confucianism, one turns to Chu Hsi (1130 - 1200). His commentaries on the four scriptures of Confucianism were required study for the imperial civil service examinations.
Neo Confucianism focuses on the term li, which here means "lane" or "pattern." Correct behavior is held to follow a natural pattern (li) that is apprehended by hsin (heart - mind). Mencius' theory of the innate goodness of man is a theory of the innate ability of this heart - mind to apprehend li in situations and to follow it. To become a sage, one must study li and develop the ability to "see" it by a kind of intuition. Later, in the Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644), Wang Yang - Ming claimed that the heart projects li on things rather than just noticing external li. To become a sage, one cannot just study situations, one must act before li becomes manifest. Thus the heart - mind, which guides the action, is the source of li (moral patterns).
After the disastrous conflicts with Western military technology at the dawn of the 20th century, Chinese intellectuals blamed Confucianism for the scientific and political backwardness of China. Chinese Marxism, nonetheless, differs from Western Marxism in ways that reveal the persistence of Confucian attitudes toward politics, metaphysics, and theories of human psychology. Anti Confucianism has been a theme in various political campaigns in modern China - most notably during and just after the Cultural Revolution. Increased toleration for all religions since Mao Tse - tung's death may lead to a moderate revival of Confucianism, although the interest seems to be mostly in historical issues.
In Taiwan, by contrast, Confucian orthodoxy has survived and serves to underpin an anti Marxist, traditional authoritarianism. Serious, ongoing Confucian philosophy, however, is found mainly in Hong Kong and among Chinese scholars working in the West.
Chad Hansen
Bibliography:
W Chan, trans., A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy
(1963); H G Creel, Confucius, the Man and the Myth (1949); H
Fingarette, Confucius: The Secular as Sacred (1972); Y Fung, A
History of Chinese Philosophy (1952); D Y Lee, An Outline of
Confucianism (1987); D J Munro, The Concept of Man in Ancient China
(1972); B I Schwartz, The World of Thought in Ancient China (1985).
confucius
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