Confucianism
Confucianism, the philosophical system
founded on the teaching of Confucius, who
lived from 551 BC to 479 BC,
dominated Chinese sociopolitical life for most of
the 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 important
religions and
became the vehicle for presenting Chinese values to the
peasants. The school's
doctrine supported political authority using the
theory of the mandate of
heaven. It sought to help rulers maintain domestic
order, preserve tradition,
and maintain a constant standard of living for the
tax paying peasants. It
trained its followers in generous giving, traditional
rituals, family order,
loyalty, respect for superiors and for the aged, and
principled flexibility in
advising rulers. Confucius was China's first and
most famous philosopher. He had
a traditional personal name (Qiu) and a
formal name (Zhoghi). Confucius's father
died shortly after Confucius's
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 many separate states of ancient
China.
Confucius devoted himself to learning. At the age of 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. Confucianism combines a political
theory and a theory of human nature
to yield "dao," a prescriptive doctrine
or way. The political theory
starts with a Doctrine of political authority
from heaven's command: the ruler
bears responsibility for the well being of
the people and therefore for peace
and order in the empire. Confucianism
emerged as a more coherent philosophy when
faced with intellectual
competition from other schools that were growing in the
schools that were
growing in the fertile social climate of pre-imperial China
(400-200 BC).
Daoism, Mohism and Legalism all attacked Confucianism. A common
theme of
these attacks was that Confucianism assumed that tradition and
convention was
always correct. Mencuis (372-289 BC) developed a more idealistic
inclination
to good behavior that does not require education. Xun Zi (313- 238
BC)
argued that all inclinations are shaped by acquired language and other
social
forms. 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 Book
of
Changes and other speculative metaphysical notions. With the fall of
the Han
Dynasty, Confucianism fell into severe decline. Except for the
residual effects
of its official status, Confucianism remained
philosophically dormant for
approximately 600 years. Confucianism began to
revive with the reestablishment
of the Chinese dynastic power in the Tang
Dynasty (618- 906 AD). The Zen
Buddhist, Chan felt that "There is nothing
much to Buddhist teaching."
And, the education offered by Confucist
teaching filled the intellectual gap.
The Song Dynasty (960 - 1279 AD)
produced Neo-Confucianism, which is an
interpretation of classical
Confucianism doctrine that addressed both Buddhist
and Daoist issues. Its
development was due mainly to Zhenglo (1032) and Zhengi
(1033-1107), but for
the orthodox statement of Neo-Confucianism, one turns to
Zhu Xi (1130-
1200). His commentaries on the four scriptures of Confucianism
were required
study for the imperial civil service examinations. From the
beginning of the
1200's to about 1949 and the communist era in China,
Confucianism was the
belief that told the peasants of China that the mandate of
heaven said that
emperors were to rule the Chinese Empire. Because of this
philosophy,
westerners often viewed the Chinese lifestyle as odd and referred to
the
Chinese officials as
inscrutable.