Confucianism 儒学

Confucianism is the cornerstone of traditional Chinese culture. It is, to a large extent, an ideological system, more a philosophy than a religion, but somehow for Chinese people it is some sort of “state religion”. Confucianism was first created by Confucius, and then developed by Mencius, the only two ancient Chinese scholars who enjoy Latinized names. 

Confucius, whose personal name was Qiu and styled Zhongni, was a great thinker of the state of Lu in the Spring and Autumn Period and also the first educator who popularized private schools. In his late years, Confucius, in the company of his disciples, left Lu and traveled in several other states of his time in the hope of finding a ruler who might employ him and practice his doctrines. He, however, met with difficulty and occasionally severe hardship and danger. 

The Confucian philosophy, mostly encoded in the Confucian classics—namely the “Four Books and Five Classics”, forms the foundation of much of the subsequent Chinese speculation on the education and behaviors of the ideal man, how such an individual should live his life and interact with others, and the forms of society and government in which he should participate. 

“Four Books” came into existence before the Qin Dynasty, although they were not called “Four Books” at that time. The Analects, one of the “Four Books”, is a collection of Confucius teachings compiled by his disciples. The other three are the Mencius, the Great Learning and the Doctrine of the Mean. They were regarded as the elementary textbooks for Confucianism study. “Five Classics” refer to five ancient classics: the Book of Changes, the Book of Documents, the Book of Songs, the Records of Rites and the Spring and Autumn Annals. These Confucian classics functioned as the basis of scholarly education in China up to the early 20th century. In the dynasties of Ming and Qing, the sentences from “Four Books and Five Classics” were the basis of the Imperial Examinations. 

In analyzing Confucius’ philosophical concepts, we need to realize that he did not take a definitive approach. One main difficulty in understanding Confucian ethics lies in the absence of systematic exposition of its basic ideas, such as ren (humanity), li(propriety), and yi(rightness).Confucius did not think that there could be a universal definition for a moral concept, which would be applicable to everyone in every situation. When students asked him to explain an ethical principle, Confucius would give an answer appropriate to each one’s particular strengths, shortcomings, or personal background. Hence, we often see him giving different answers to the same question, when such questions were raised by different students, concerning the meaning of a certain ethical concept such as “filial piety(孝道).”

Another difficulty in understanding Confucianism is the doctrine of the Mean（中庸之道）. The doctrine of the Mean advocated by Confucius plays an important role in shaping Chinese national character and approaches to their life problems. It does not mean to compromise or take the neutral position in case of conflicts. “The Mean” in the mind of Confucius implies moderation of one’s behavior, and standing “central and balanced” in dealing with things or human beings. The Mean endorses（赞同） “balanced” living, without extremes of action, emotion or thought, with emphasis on the cultivation of the mind through meditation, and cautions against bodily pleasures. The Chinese values of harmony, modesty, stability and endurance can all find their roots in the Confucian concept of the Mean. 

In modern and contemporary times, although Confucianism is said to have degenerated(衰退), the Chinese culture has never walked out of its influence. Confucianism as the dominant force of thought and code of life seems to have outlived all time for the Chinese. 

Abridged and revised from 

Liao Huaying, A Glimpse of Chinese Culture, Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2014.

JeeLoo Liu, An Introduction to Chinese Philosophy:from ancient philosophy to Chinese Buddhism,  Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2006.