Confucianism

Early Confucianism

Kung-Fuzi (Confucius) was born in eastern China to an aristocratic family during the Zhou Dynasty. Supposedly founding his own school when he was 22 years old and teaching up to 3,000 students, Confucius is most commonly associated with the Analects of Confucius (Lunyu), a collection of his sayings composed by his followers between 500 and 300 BCE. Confucius believed he was rediscovering and promoting a philosophy that extended back to ancient times. This philosophy tried to explain the roots and develop theories of human relationships to promote collective and individual stability, prosperity, and harmony. Confucius did not make theological assertions about deities, gods/god, or the afterlife, although Confucianists did discuss heaven's relation to humanity. Confucius's work, along with that of his followers Meng-zi (Mencius) (372–289 BCE), author of the Four Books (Si Shu), and Xun-zi (310?–211? BCE), formed the backbone of classical Confucian thought. Confucius has been referred to as “the sage of all times.”

Generally, collective well-being was prioritized over fulfilling individual desires and aspirations. Humans were essentially social creatures who could attain fulfillment by perfecting their individual and social moral natures, which was a self-realizing process. Confucian scholars debated the essence of human nature, whether it was inherently good and moral (Mencius) or not (Xunzi), [Page 267]and whether all individuals had the potential to reach sagehood. They stressed several values believed to be unchanging in natural laws and essential in forming social bonds: humaneness/humanity/compassion (ren), ritual/propriety/etiquette (li), righteousness/moral sense (yi), wisdom (zhi), and faithfulness/honesty/heart (xin). In addition, the Way (dao), virtue (de), filial piety/love for the family (hsiao), loyalty (chung), reciprocity, empathy (shu), and courage (yung) were central. Each of these concepts tended to be broadly interpreted, encompassing numerous aspects and forms.

Within the Confucian worldview, a ranked pattern of society was visible—of rulers over subjects, parents over children, and husbands over wives. Observing these clearly defined hierarchical relationships, which could include the deceased, and one's duties maintained social, and therefore divine, harmony. In general, subordinates were expected to respect their superiors, and Mencius asserted that those of “higher order” were to protect those below, displaying “benevolent hege-mony”/humane government (ren sheng) along with socially and morally exemplary behavior. Confucianists believed that this true moral virtue of the rulers could effectively govern and maintain order. Emperors were said to be “Sons of Heaven” (tien tzu) and were expected to uphold the “Mandate of Heaven.” Proper conduct, morality, virtue, and ethics, along with each individual's fear of “loss of face” or shame, would necessarily ensure obedience to authorities. That said, mass uprisings against particular governments have occurred in Vietnam and China on the basis that rulers were not acting benevolently or virtuously.

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