PHIL 312 Columbia College Confucianism Moral Theory Paper Topics:
explain Confucian moral theory a practice explain the five constant virtues and the concept of ren
explain the characteristics of modernity and apply them to Confucian East Asia
write 7 pages to explain the topic from the book
1. Write a minimum of seven full, double-spaced, one-sided pages; you may write more than seven pages if you wish
a. Page total does not include cover and sources pages, nor does it include illustrative tables, charts and images
Set your margins at 1” and your font as Times new roman (no larger than 12 point)
Include appropriate citations for your sources (if any); citations should follow MLA style
Write this paper like you would write a business document, polished, error-freeand in a well-organized, clear style
use this website to organize the answer, don’t use any concept from it, use the book(intro confucianism) to write, use the website to organize it.
https://philosophy.lander.edu/oriental/main.html Taking into account the long history and wide range of Confucian
studies, this book introduces Confucianism – initiated in China
by Confucius (c. 552–c. 479 bc) – primarily as a philosophical
and religious tradition. It pays attention to Confucianism in both
the West and the East, focusing not only on the tradition’s doctrines,
schools, rituals, sacred places and terminology, but also stressing
the adaptations, transformations and new thinking taking place in
modern times.
While previous introductions have oCered a linear account of Confucian intellectual history, Xinzhong Yao presents Confucianism as
a tradition with many dimensions and as an ancient tradition with
contemporary appeal. This gives the reader a richer and clearer view
of how Confucianism functioned in the past and of what it means in
the present.
There are important diCerences in the ways Confucianism has been
presented in the hands of diCerent scholars. This problem is caused
by, and also increases, the gap between western and eastern perceptions of Confucianism. Written by a Chinese scholar based in
the West, this book uses both traditional and contemporary scholarship and draws together the many strands of Confucianism in a style
accessible to students, teachers, and general readers interested in one
of the world’s major religious traditions.
xinzhong yao is Senior Lecturer in and Chair of the Department
of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Wales,
Lampeter. He has doctorates from the People’s University of China,
Beijing, and from the University of Wales, Lampeter. Dr Yao has
published widely in the area of philosophy and religious studies
and is the author of five monographs including Confucianism
and Christianity (1996) and Daode Huodong Lun (On Moral
Activities; 1990), four translations (from English to Chinese), and
about fifty academic papers. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of
Arts.
i
ii
An introduction to
Confucianism
XINZHONG YAO
University of Wales, Lampeter
iii
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge , United Kingdom
Published in the United States by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
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© Cambridge University Press 2000
This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of
relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place
without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published in print format 2000
ISBN-13
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Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of
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guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
Contents
List of illustrations
Preface
Confucianism in history: chronological table
1
page viii
xi
xiv
Introduction: Confucian studies East and West
Stages of the Confucian evolution
Methodological focuses
Structure and contents
Translation and transliteration
1
4
10
12
14
Confucianism, Confucius and Confucian classics
‘Confucianism’ and ru
Ru and the ru tradition
Confucius
Confucianism as a ‘family’ (jia)
Confucianism as a cult (jiao)
Confucianism as a form of learning (xue)
Ethics, politics and religion in the Confucian tradition
An ethical system?
An oAcial orthodoxy?
A religious tradition?
Confucian classics
Ancient records and the classics
Confucius and the Confucian classics
16
16
17
21
26
28
29
30
32
34
38
47
49
52
v
List of contents
Confucian classics in history
The Thirteen Classics
The Five Classics
The Four Books
2
54
56
57
63
68
68
71
76
81
Evolution and transformation – a historical perspective
Confucianism and three options
Mengzi and his development of idealistic Confucianism
Xunzi: a Great Confucian synthesiser
The victory of Confucianism and its syncretism
Dong Zhongshu and the establishment of Han
Confucianism
Classical Learning: controversies and debates
The Confucian dimension of ‘Mysterious Learning’
The emergence of Neo-Confucianism
Five masters of early Neo-Confucianism
Zhu Xi and his systematic Confucianism
The Idealistic School: Lu Jiuyuan and Wang Shouren
Korea: the second home for Confucianism
Japanese Confucianism: transfiguration and application
83
86
89
96
98
105
109
115
125
3
The Way of Confucianism
The Way of Heaven
Heaven and the Confucian Ultimate
Heaven and moral principles
Heaven as Nature or Natural Law
The Way of Humans
Morality as transcendence
Good and evil
Sacred kingship and humane government
The Way of Harmony
Harmony: the concept and the theme
Oneness of Heaven and Humans
Humans and Nature
Social conflicts and their solutions
139
141
142
147
149
153
155
160
165
169
170
174
175
178
4
Ritual and religious practice
Confucianism: a tradition of ritual
Ritual and sacrifice
190
191
191
vi
List of contents
5
Sacrifice to Heaven
Sacrifice to ancestors and filial piety
The cult of Confucius
Learning and spiritual cultivation
Learning as a spiritual path
Spiritual cultivation
Confucianism and other religious traditions
The unity of three doctrines
Confucianism and Daoism
Mutual transformation between Confucianism
and Buddhism
Confucianism and Christianity
196
199
204
209
209
216
223
224
229
Confucianism and its modern relevance
Confucianism: survival and renovation
Stepping into the modern age
The rise of modern Confucianism
Unfolding of the Confucian project
The themes of modern Confucian studies
Confucianism and the fate of China
Confucianism and western culture
Confucianism and modernisation
Confucianism and its modern relevance
The revival of Confucian values
An ethic of responsibility
A comprehensive understanding of education
A humanistic meaning of life
245
246
247
251
255
261
263
266
270
273
274
279
280
284
Select bibliography
Transliteration table
Index
287
309
330
233
237
vii
List of illustrations
An inscribed portrait of Confucius travelling around to teach,
supposedly painted by Wu Daozi, a famous painter in the Tang
Dynasty (618–906)
frontispiece
(Located between pages 138 and 139)
1 The statue of Confucius at the main hall of the Temple of Confucius, Qufu, the home town of Confucius
2 The Apricot Platform where Confucius is said to have taught, in
the Temple of Confucius, Qufu, Confucius’ home town
3 The Sacred Path leading to the tomb of Confucius, the number of
trees at one side symbolising his seventy-two disciples and at the
other his life of seventy-three years
4 The tablet of Confucius in front of his tomb
5 The tablet and tomb of Zisi (483?–402? bce), the grandson of
Confucius
6 People meditating in front of the hut at the side of the tomb
of Confucius where Zigong (502?–? bce), a disciple of Confucius,
is said to have stayed for six years mourning the death of his
master
7 The tablet and statue of a Former Worthy (xian xian), Master Yue
Zheng (?–?) who is traditionally regarded as a transmitter of the
Confucian doctrine of filial piety, in the Temple of Confucius at
Qufu
viii
List of illustrations
8 The Temple of the Second Sage (Mengzi, 372?–289? bce), at Zou,
Mengzi’s home town
9 Korean scholars paying homage to Confucius in the ceremonies of
sacrifice to Confucius at Songgyun’gwan, the National Academy
of Confucius (from: Spencer J. Palmer’s Confucian Rituals in Korea,
Berkeley: Asian Humanities Press and Seoul: Po Chi Chai Ltd, 1984,
plate 66)
10 Two semicircular pools in front of a hall in the Songyang Confucian Academy, near the famous Chan Buddhist monastery, Shaolin
Si, Henan Province
11 The spiritual tablet and statue of Zhu Xi (1130–1200) in White
Cloud Temple, a Daoist Temple, Beijing. The inscription on the
tablet reads ‘The Spiritual Site of Master Zhu Xi’. His hand gesture
is certainly a kind of variation of Buddhist ones
12 The stage of the Global Celebration of Confucius’ 2549th birthday
held by the Confucian Academy Hong Kong, 17 October 1998
ix
x
Preface
As a schoolboy I read an Indian story about four blind men and an elephant: each of these men gave a diCerent and highly amusing account
of the elephant after touching only a specific part of the animal, and, of
course, not one of them was able to describe the animal correctly. To my
young mind, they couldn’t do so because they weren’t able to touch the
whole of the elephant in one go. In other words, I believed that if any of
them had had an opportunity to do this, then he would certainly have
been able to generate a correct image of it. As I grew up, and had an
opportunity to read more on philosophy and religion, I realised that it
was perhaps not as simple as this. Could a blind man, who had never
seen or heard about such an animal as an elephant, tell us what it is, even
if we suppose that he could have physical contact with all the parts of
the animal? Besides the limitation of sense experience, there are many
other factors that would hinder us from acquiring full knowledge of such
an object, and in addition to intellectual inability, there are many other
elements that would distort our image.
Having fully understood the problem arising from the intellectual process of knowing things, Zhuangzi, a Daoist philosopher of around the
fourth century bce, argues that our vision has been blurred by our own
perceptions when coming to grasp things, and that true knowledge is
possible only if we take all things and ourselves to be a unity, in which
no diCerentiation of ‘this’ and ‘that’ or of ‘I’ and ‘non-I’ is made. Shao
Yong, a Confucian scholar of the eleventh century ce, approached this
problem from a similar perspective. For him, error in human knowledge
xi
Preface
is due to the fact that we observe things from our own experience. He
therefore proposed that we must view things, not with our physical eyes,
but with our mind, and not even with our mind, but with the principle
inherent in things. When the boundary between subject and object disappears, we will be able to see things as they are.
The majority of scholars who have been trained in the West, however,
find it diAcult to accept the underlying philosophy of the Chinese methodology proposed above. A much appreciated intellectual tradition in
the West maintains that an investigation must start from a separation of
subject and object, and that experience along with a critical examination
of experience is the only guarantee of the ‘objectivity’ of the investigation. According to this view, a diCerentiation of values from facts is
therefore central to any presentation of a religious and philosophical
system.
Neither of these two seemingly diCerent and even contradictory methodologies alone can assure us of a true knowledge of religion and philosophy. More and more people are coming to appreciate that we would
benefit from a combination of these two approaches in our investigation of religious and philosophical traditions. Although this is a topic far
beyond the parameters of a short preface, suAce it to say, that the
inquiry into religious phenomena should involve empathy to some
degree, and that an inquirer should be able to enter into the doctrine and
practice of a religion almost as an ‘insider’, as well as to step outside as
a critical observer. Indeed this methodology underlies the structure and
contents of my introduction to Confucianism, and readers may easily
see that the nature and image of the Confucian tradition as revealed
in this book have been the result of a ‘double’ investigation, with the
author being both a ‘bearer’ of the values examined and a ‘critic’ of the
doctrine presented.
The formation of the book took place whilst lecturing on Confucianism in the University of Wales, Lampeter. I have run this course for a
number of years, and the last time I did it was during the first term of the
1998/9 academic year, when I had just completed the first draft of this
book. Conveniently, I took the manuscript as the textbook for the course,
and I was pleased to know that it functioned well in this capacity both in
and outside the class. Looking back at the writing process, I realise how
much I have benefited from teaching and from the questions asked and
suggestions made by the students.
xii
Preface
I am grateful to Clare Hall, University of Cambridge for awarding me
a Visiting Fellowship in 1998, which, supported also by the Pantyfedwen
Fund and the Spalding Trust, made a significant contribution to the completion of the first draft of the book. Intellectually, I benefited from conversations and discussions with colleagues both at Lampeter and at Clare
Hall, whose knowledge and insight added much value to the formation
and reshaping of my original presentation. A number of colleagues, friends
and students read various parts of the book. I would especially like to
thank Oliver Davies, Gavin Flood and Todd Thucker, for their comments
and advice, which have enabled me to avoid errors and oversights and to
correct infelicities of English style throughout the book. Any that remain
are, of course, my own responsibility.
Various sections of this book originally appeared as papers in academic
journals or as part of research projects. Among them, ‘Peace and Reconciliation in the Confucian Tradition’ (Reconciliation Project, Gresham
College) becomes the basis of the third section in chapter 3, and ‘Confucianism and its Modern Values’ (Journal of Beliefs and Values, no. 1,
1999) has been incorporated into the third section of chapter 5. I wish to
thank the editors for allowing me to reuse the materials in this book.
I would also like to thank the editors of Cambridge University Press,
especially Mr Kevin Taylor, for their eCorts in nurturing the project and
bringing this book to the readers.
xiii
Confucianism in history: chronological table
In the world
xiv
Chinese history
Confucianism
Legendary ages
Sage–kings: Yao, Shun,
Yu the Great
Xia Dynasty
(2205?–1600? bce)
Jie, the last king, a
condemned tyrant
Shang or Yin Dynasty
(1600?–1100? bce)
Tang, the founding father
Zhou, the last king, a
condemned tyrant
Zhou Dynasty
(1100?–249 bce)
Western Zhou
(1100?–771 bce)
Eastern Zhou
(770–256 bce)
Spring and Autumn
period (770–476 bce)
Warring States period
(475–221 bce)
King Wen, King Wu,
Duke of Zhou, the three
Zhou sages;
Confucius
(551–479 bce)
The Confucian
classics
School of Zisi
(483?–402 bce)
The Great Learning
and the Doctrine of
the Mean
Mengzi (372–289 bce)
Xunzi (313?–238? bce)
Confucianism in history: chronological table
In the world
Chinese history
Confucianism
Qin Dynasty
(221–206 bce)
First emperor
(r. 221–210 bce)
Burning of books and
the killing of Confucian
scholars
Han Dynasty
(206 bce–220 ce)
Former Han
(206 bce–8 ce)
Liu Bang
(r. 206–195)
Emperor Wu
(r. 140–87)
Xin Dynasty (9–23)
Later Han (25–220)
Confucianism became
the state orthodoxy
Classics annotated
Grand Academy
established
Old Text School
Dong Zhongshu
(179?–104 bce)
New Text School
Yang Xiong
(53 bce–18ce)
Liu Xin (?–23 ce)
Huan Tan
(23 bce–50 ce)
Wang Chong (27–100?)
Ma Rong (79–166)
Zheng Xuan (127–200)
Chenwei Literature
Wei–Jin Dynasties
(220–420)
Wei (220–265)
Western Jin
(265–316)
Eastern Jin
(317–420)
Mysterious Learning
Wang Bi (226–249)
He Yan (d. 249)
Xiang Xiu (223–300)
‘Pure Conversation’
Ruan Ji (210–263)
Ji Kang (223–262)
Daoist Religion
incorporated Confucian
ethics
Southern and Northern
Dynasties (386–581)
Buddhism flourished
and debates between
Confucianism and
Buddhism intensified
Confucianism was
introduced to Vietnam,
Korea and Japan
Indian Buddhism was
introduced to China
and interacted with
Confucianism
National Academy
in Korea established
(372)
The Analects were
brought to Japan in
405(?) by a Korean
scholar Wang In.
xv
Confucianism in history: chronological table
In the world
Chinese history
Confucianism
Nestorians came to
Sui-Tang Dynasties
China (635)
(581–907)
Korean Silla Kingdom
Sui (581–618)
(365–935) established
Tang (618–906)
Confucian Studies
First Japanese
Constitution (604)
incorporated Confucian
ideas
Confucianism gradually
regained its prestige;
civil service examination
system established
Han Yu (768–824)
Li Ao (772–841)
Liu Zongyuan
(733–819)
Korean Koryo Dynasty Song Dynasties
(918–1392): civil service (960–1279)
examination system;
Northern Song
national university
(960–1126)
Southern Song
(127–1279)
Renaissance of
Neo-Confucianism
Zhou Dunyi
(1017–1073)
Zhang Zai
(1020–1077)
Rationalistic School
Zhu Xi (1130–1200)
Idealistic School
Lu Jiuyuan
(1139–1193)
Practical School
Chen Liang
(1143–1194)
Yuan Dynasty
(1260–1368)
xvi
Harmonising
Rationalism and
Idealism
Wu Cheng
(1249–1333)
Zhu Xi’s annotated
Four Books as standard
version for civil service
examinations (1313)
Confucianism in history: chronological table
In the world
Chinese history
Confucianism
Korean Yi Dynasty
(1392–1910):
Neo-Confucianism
Yi Hwang
(1501–1570)
Yi I (1536–1584)
Japanese bakufu system
Fujiwara Seika
(1561–1619)
Hayashi Razan
(1583–1657)
Japanese Shushigaku
Yamazaki Ansai
(1618–1682)
Kaibara Ekken
(1630–1714)
Japanese Yômeigaku
Nakae Tôju
(1608–1648)
Ming Dynasty
(1368–1644)
Chen Xianzhang
(1428–1500)
Wang Yangming
(1472–1529)
Schools of Wang
Yangming
Li Zhi (1527–1602)
Donglin School
Gao Panlong
(1562–1626)
Liu Zongzhou
(1578–1654)
Korean Practical
Learning
Korean Eastern
Learning
Japanese Kogaku
Itô Jinsai
(1627–1705)
Ogyû Sorai
(1666–1728)
James Legge (1815–
1897) translated the
Confucian classics into
English
Qing Dynasty
(1644–1911)
Learning of the Han
School of Evidential
Research
Gu Yanwu
(1613–1682)
Wang Fuzhi
(1619–1692)
Huang Zongxi
(1610–1695)
Dai Zhen
(1724–1777)
New Learning
Kang Youwei
(1858–1927)
xvii
Confucianism in history: chronological table
In the world
Chinese history
Confucianism
Wing-tsit Chan
(1901–1994)
W. T. de Bary
Okada Takehiko
Cheng Chung-yin
Tu Wei-ming
Republic of China
(1911– )
People’s Republic of
China (1949– )
Modern New
Confucianism
Xiong Shili
(1885–1968)
Fung Yu-lan
(1895–1990)
Tang Junyi
(1909–1978)
Mou Zongsan
(1909–1995)
xviii
Introduction: Confucian studies East and West
Introduction
Confucian studies East and West
If we were to characterize in one word the Chinese way of life
for the last two thousand years, the word could be ‘Confucian’.
No other individual in Chinese history has so deeply influenced
the life and thought of his people, as a transmitter, teacher
and creative interpreter of the ancient culture and literature
and as a moulder of the Chinese mind and character.
(de Bary, et al., 1960, vol. 1: 15)
At the end of the sixteenth century, an Italian Jesuit Matteo Ricci (1552–
1610) arrived in China. Ricci soon realised that the first task for him
should not be to win over a great number of people to conversion and
baptism, but instead to try to secure a stable and respectable position
for himself within Chinese society. So Ricci and his fellow missionaries
strenuously attempted to integrate themselves into the community. The
Jesuits saw a similarity between Christianity and Buddhism – both were
religions from the West – and therefore they presented themselves as
‘Monks from the West’, shaving their heads and changing their clothes
to Buddhist robes in order to win the support from the Chinese, just as
they thought the Buddhists had done a thousand years…
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