It has spread to Korea,Taiwan and Vietnam. Confucianism is not a religion in the customary sense. It has neither priesthood nor any monastic order. In Confucianism, people are taught and moulded through personal and communal influence According to Confucianism, death does not mean the annihilation of man. Confucianists believe that, the spirit which wanders in space as an exile should be brought back to the family altar and be worshiped.
Besides,respecting the elders, is the primary duty of all Confucianists. That the reason why, on all solemn occasions, the ancestral spirit is invoked and offered liquors, flowers and fruit, accompanied with prayers and incense.
It is developed from the Chinese philosopher,"Confucius" BC ,born in the feudal State of Lu,on the north-eastern seaboard of China. The name of Confucius in Chinese is Kung-fu-tse the statesman-philosopher Kung.
However,he was called by Latin name- "Confucius",since the Europian scholars found the Chinese name difficult to pronounce. Confuciasm existed in China long before the time of Confucius. As per the records, he speaks of himself as a 'transmitter' and not a 'maker' or 'originator'.
He did not give a new religion or a new ethical code to the world. He gave to the world was a powerful restatement of the fundamental principles of human morality or ethics. The moral code he framed was most admirable,which contained grand ethical truths. At the age of eighteen, Confucius was married and had a son and later a daughter. From there, he gradually moved up. The power of this account is that the extended mourning period is exactly what Confucius would have done based on his philosophy of life, and we will examine this later as we look at his basic precepts.
Following the mourning period, Confucius in his mid-twenties began his teaching career. Confucius taught a wide variety of subjects, something much easier to do in his day than now, because his library consisted of what are known as the Five Classics.
Based on these, Confucius taught history, poetry, government, moral conduct, and music. Government would not change unless his students assumed governmental posts, for they would bring the values required to govern.
Lest one think that Confucius was merely a bookworm, we should note that he loved hunting and fishing, and it is said that he could knock down a duck in flight with a bow and arrow. Many cannot do that with a shotgun! Basically, Confucius enjoyed life and probably would have been pleasant company.
Confucius's goal was to train students to become moral government officials. Confucius had to live. But if a student really wanted to learn, whether he could pay or not, Confucius would accept him, perhaps reflecting his own desire to learn as a young man but being thwarted from formal education because of his poverty.
Fundamentally, Confucius believed that anyone who wanted to learn should be permitted to do so. Thus, 2, years ago, he believed in universal public education, something which first occurred in the twentieth century in the United States with the growth of public school systems, community colleges, and state universities. A divergence in the story occurs when Confucius is approximately fifty years old. Some accounts say that although Confucius sought all his life for a government position for himself, he never found one.
Thus, at the end of his life, he felt that he had failed in his life mission. The other tradition, represented by Annping Chin, holds that at age fifty, Confucius gained the major position of Minister of Crime in the government of Lu. Probably the idea of moral government was no more popular 2, years ago than it is today, and to suggest that a ruler should rule for all his subjects and not for just a few may have caused Confucius to have to leave Lu.
According to this tradition, Confucius wandered for thirteen years, teaching here and there and looking for a government position. Finally through the good offices of one of his students, he was invited to return to Lu. There he lived the last three years of his life teaching a little and giving occasional counsel to the duke.
He died, however, feeling that he had failed. How does one determine which of these two stories is historically correct? What creates a sense of failure? Suppose a person wanted to be president of an organization, submitted his or her resume, but never received a call back.
That certainly need not cause a sense of failure. One can just say the organization did not know what it was missing and go on with life.
If one gained the position, however, and then failed to lead others to catch his or her vision, that would create a sense that one had failed. Confucius truly believed that one Confucian gentleman in the midst of a barbarian society, merely by his presence, could change that society.
If Confucius was Minister of Crime and was forced out of office through court intrigue, that would create a strong sense of failure, given his belief in the influence of the Confucian gentleman. In both accounts, he had to leave Lu around the age of fifty-five. The first account has no reason to explain this, while the second does. Thus it seems most likely that Confucius did have an opportunity to serve in government between the ages of fifty and fifty-five but failed to create the environment he had hoped to create.
Hence, his life ended with a feeling that he had not succeeded as he had hoped he would. Confucius, however, did not live long enough to see his dreams realized.
During this period, a pivotal figure was born who prepared the way for stabilization in China. Initially, they lived near a cemetery. To avoid this, she moved near a school, hoping that he would copy the behavior of the teachers and students, and this seems ultimately to have led to Mencius becoming a great scholar like his model, Confucius.
He firmly believed in the goodness of human beings and their ability to follow the good when they saw it in others because he believed each person is predisposed to that which is good. He also believed, like Confucius, that he was following the guidance of heaven in his teaching.
During the reign of emperor Wu Di —87 BCE , Dong Zhong-shu, a Confucian scholar, encouraged the emperor to look closely at the principles of Confucianism in order to end confusion among the people concerning what school or standard they should follow. The emperor agreed and established an academy for the teaching of Confucian values. From this point until the fall of the Manchu-Ching dynasty in CE, Confucianism was the philosophy that guided China.
Tradition says that Confucius edited these, and they are as follows, beginning with the oldest. The first is the Classic of Changes and is used by diviners to determine whether persons should do things at certain times. Confucius recommended it for finding moral and metaphysical meaning in life. The second book is the Classic of History and contains material from the early Chou dynasty — BCE , which Confucius held to be the golden age in China.
The third book is the Classic of Poetry , containing about three hundred poems all set to music. Finally, there is the Classic of Rites , which contains an account of rituals that were both public and private. In addition to the Five Classics, there are also the Four Books. Most of these postdate Confucius, and the first of the books is the Analects , the sayings of Confucius.
Second is the Book of Mencius , which is well organized and about twice as long as the Analects. The introductory chapter is considered to be from Confucius, with the following ten chapters being commentaries on the first by Tseng-tzu. The focus is on the moral ruler as an example for his people. Finally is the Doctrine of the Mean , also a chapter in the Classic of Rites , which teaches that persons should avoid going to the extremes in any aspect of life.
His model ruler was the Duke of Chou, who ruled in this time frame. Thus, the place to look for the values that had been lost from China, whose loss had led the country to the edge of the Warring States Period, was the discipline of history.
According to Confucius, persons cannot teach until they embody that which they teach. Li is the foundational principle of Confucianism. It is the glue which holds society together. Failing to practice Li is much like having a stack of canned corn in a grocery store. Someone decides to pull out a bottom can, and the whole structure tumbles down. So it is with Li. This is the formal announcement. The dowry is the third stage.
Gifts by the groom to the bride, equal in value to the dowry, are sent to her. Procession is the fourth stage. It is brief but important. The procession is accompanied by a great deal of singing and drum beating. The marriage ceremony and reception is the stage in which the couple recite their vows, toast each other with wine, and then take center stage at a banquet. The morning after the ceremony is the final stage. This completes the marriage. Death rituals seem elaborate to many Westerners.
At the time of death, the relatives cry loudly. This is a way of informing the neighbors. The family begins mourning. They dress in clothes made of rough material. The corpse is washed and placed in a coffin. Mourners bring incense and money to offset the cost of the funeral. Food and significant objects of the deceased are placed in the coffin.
A Buddhist, Christian, or Taoist priest performs the burial ceremony. Liturgies are performed on the seventh, ninth, and forty-ninth days after the burial. On the first and third anniversaries of the death, friends, and family follow the coffin to the cemetery. They carry a willow branch which symbolizes the soul of the person who has died.
Throughout the imperial period an extensive knowledge of the fundamental texts of Confucianism was a necessity in order to pass the civil service selection examinations. Portrait prints were also popular, especially those taken from the lost original attributed to Wu Daozi or Wu Taoutsi and made in the 8th century CE.
Unfortunately, no contemporary portrait of Confucius survives but he is most often portrayed as a wise old man with long grey hair and moustaches, sometimes carrying scrolls. The teachings of Confucius and his followers have, then, been an integral part of Chinese education for centuries and the influence of Confucianism is still visible today in contemporary Chinese culture with its continued emphasis on family relationships and respect, the importance of rituals, the value given to restraint and ceremonies, and the strong belief in the power and benefits of education.
Temple rituals can vary from region to region and have changed over time. Contemporary rituals often involve the burning of incense and kneeling and bowing before images of Confucius or other important ancestors and spirits. Offerings, such as cups of tea, are made and donations may also be made to the temple. Those worshiping at the temple will often make wishes for themselves and for others during such rituals. Regardless of how old we are, we never stop learning.
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