Confucianism

Confucius' Life

Confucius, also known as Kong Fuzi in Chinese which translates to "Master Kong", was born on September 28, 551 BC at the beginning of a philosophical movement in "Qufu" in China's state of "Lu."  He grew up being in between noble class, and a commoner.  Confucius wasn't a "theologian," but a "thinker and social philosopher"1 spreading his teachings throughout China, and largely impacting huge numbers of people.  Being involved in governmental jobs, he obtained his spark for radical new ways of thinking.  He thought that he was living in a highly corrupted world, and hoped to change that through his ideas and teachings.  His teachings focused on "morality,"2 "social realtionships,"3 "justice,"4 and "sincerity."5  Attempting to establish his ideas, he traveled around China searching for the meaning of "the Way," also known as "dao."  Confucius was able to preserve his ideas before his death in a set of books known as "the Five Classics."  His different way of thought earned him many enemies, and he was even banished from his home state at one point.  Confucius died in 479 BC.

All footnotes and quotes of this section came from www.wikipedia.com, keyword Confucius.

Confucius' Four Virtues

The Four Virtues that Confucius taught were at the very core of his ideas, and perhapswere some of the most important that he had. The First Virtue: "Jen," or "human heartedness, or goodness."1  This was the most important of the virtues to Confucius.  It led to the other three stemming from it, however, he was never convinced that he saw anyone truly living it out.  Jen was considered the "foundation of all human relationships" and even viewed as more important than life itself.  The men attempting to live out the virtue of Jen had to do all they could to preserve it.  Jen is "the ultimate guide to human action."2 The Second Virtue: "Li," or "principle of gain, or benefit."3  Li consists of "the rules of proper action" and "the general principle of social order."  It stressed that things should be done with a positive outlook rather than negative.  Also, being open to other people and their ideas was emphasized.  Some main parts of Li are "accordance with the truth of things (the reification of names), the Doctrine of the Mean, a book about proper action, the Five Relationships (which will be addressed later), and respect for age."  Other important aspects were knowing how to behave, order, and importantness of one's actions. The Third Virtue:  "Chun Zu," or "the ideal man," or "the superior man."  This man that confucius described is there to be a servant to the world.  He doesn't seek anything for himself, nor does he need anything.  It stressed power coming from within, and the ability to relate with other people, their desires, and needs of you. Chun Zu is also another difficult virtue to obtain. The Fourth Virtue: "Te," or "power by which men are ruled," or "the power of moral example."  Te taught that important qualities of people, and those that are regarded highly, and thought of with much respect, should use their virtue to aid the government.  Confucius also stated that in this belief, "government is good if it can maintain economic suffeciency, military sufficiency, and confidence in the people."

All of the quoted material,footnotes, and many ideas found in this section have come from the website http://philosophy.lander.edu/oriental/main.html.

The Five Relationships

The Five Relationships "are all variations of 'xiao,' which means filial piety."  They represent the '"religious respect that children owe their parents."  The first three are direct family relationships.  They consist of father with son, husband with wife, and older brother with younger brother.  The first of which in all of these pairs being the "superior," the second the "subordinate."  The other two relationships are just outside of the family, yet ones that still impact everyday life, and were still held with just as much importance.  These two are prince with minister, and friend with friend.  There is a sixth relationship that is often omitted, but is that of teacher with student.  The "superior memeber" in each of the relationships "has the duty of benevolenceand care for the subordinate" and the "subordinate member's duty is that of obedience."  In my own personel opinion, these relationships are virtually missing in our life today, and I think that it would be very good if more people learned of them and began practicing them.

All quoted material and many ideas from this section came from, and can be found at http://www.friesian.com/confuci.htm.

A good page to visit contaning good quotes from Confucius is http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Confucius/