What is confucianism

His father died when he was quite young, and he was raised by a single mother. But we know very little about his childhood. What we do know is that he turned himself into an expert on the literature and history and poetry of an earlier age in China, and with that he created his own doctrine.

The purpose of the doctrine was to restore peace and order. The time in which he lived was a time of war and conflict in China between numerous feudal states, and he believed he had devised a doctrine of virtue that could bring prosperity back to China.

In his own life, unfortunately, he failed in that vision, because he could not find the dukes and kings to adhere to his ideas. But where he did succeed was as a very successful teacher. But it is interesting that, even though he considered the family to be so important, we know so little about his own family. There are a few mentions in The Analects of a son and a daughter. Part of the reason may be the way the records were left. The Analects is really a collection of snippets of conversation that Confucius had with his disciples.

But it is odd that a guy who thought the family was the foundation of society spent most of his time with his students, whom he was clearly very close with. The most famous was the former president of South Korea, Kim Dae Jung , who spent decades as a democracy advocate in Korea and believed that Confucius gave people the right to choose their leadership and also overthrow a leader who was immoral or tyrannical.

Today there are several societies that are highly influenced by Confucianism but are also democratic, like South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. So I think history is telling us that you can be both Confucian and democratic. Later, during the Tang dynasty, two female scholars created a text based on his ideas, which became known as the Analects for Women.

It enshrined the idea that the roles of men and women should be highly separated. The outer realm of politics, business, and civic life was for men. The inner realm of caring for children and managing the home was for women.

This became deeply entrenched in Chinese society, and unfortunately lingers to this day. The International Monetary Fund did a study in that showed that only 9 percent of corporate management positions in Japan and South Korea were held by women, compared with 43 percent in the United States. This is demeaning for women and a national problem. In an age where you want to make your economies as competitive as possible, these societies are marginalizing a lot of their best talent.

I started by walking around with a copy of The Analects in my bag. But I had an image of Confucius in my head that was quite negative, which I think many people in modern times hold: that he was arch-conservative, anti-women, and pro-autocracy. But in the course of doing this book and reading the Confucian writings, I had a change of heart.

If you go back and read The Analects and some of the early writings, you realize the way we see Confucius today is really not the Confucius who lived 2, years ago. A lot of his ideas are universal and timeless. He believed that people should do the right thing because it was the right thing to do. And that trying to do the right thing would have a ripple effect through society. When you read this positive message, you realize that Confucius has value for us today, even though he first uttered these ideas thousands of years ago.

We interpret it for our needs today and continue to find value in it. Follow Simon Worrall on Twitter or at simonworrallauthor. He did not express any desire to create a way of life but his influence was so great that it could not be ignored of forgotten. The tradition which developed is usually considered as a religion in as much as it does exhibit the characteristics of a religion, although there are many raised in the West who have doubts about calling Confucianism a "religion" because t does not have a deity or deities that feature prominently in the tradition.

On the other hand it does convey clearly what matters most and and it does hold the focus on humanity and basic human virtues as being of "ultimate concern" and thus has an idea or concept of an Absolute which serves as bedrock belief for an entire way of life.

Confucianism , major system of thought in China, developed from the teachings of Confucius and his disciples, and concerned with the principles of good conduct, practical wisdom, and proper social relationships. Confucianism has influenced the Chinese attitude toward life, set the patterns of living and standards of social value, and provided the background for Chinese political theories and institutions.

It has spread from China to Korea, Japan, and Vietnam and has aroused interest among Western scholars. Although Confucianism became the official ideology of the Chinese state, it has never existed as an established religion with a church and priesthood.

Chinese scholars honored Confucius as a great teacher and sage but did not worship him as a personal god. Nor did Confucius himself ever claim divinity. Unlike Christian churches, the temples built to Confucius were not places in which organized community groups gathered to worship, but public edifices designed for annual ceremonies, especially on the philosopher's birthday. Several attempts to deify Confucius and to proselyte Confucianism failed because of the essentially secular nature of the philosophy.

The principles of Confucianism are contained in the nine ancient Chinese works handed down by Confucius and his followers, who lived in an age of great philosophic activity. These writings can be divided into two groups: the Five Classics and the Four Books. The I Ching is a manual of divination probably compiled before the 11th century BC; its supplementary philosophical portion, contained in a series of appendixes, may have been written later by Confucius and his disciples.

The Shu Ching is a collection of ancient historical documents, and the Shih Ching, an anthology of ancient poems.

The Li Chi deals with the principles of conduct, including those for public and private ceremonies; it was destroyed in the 3rd century BC, but presumably much of its material was preserved in a later compilation, the Record of Rites. The Ch'un Ch'iu, the only work reputedly compiled by Confucius himself, is a chronicle of major historical events in feudal China from the 8th century BC to Confucius's death early in the 5th century BC.

The keynote of Confucian ethics is jen, variously translated as "love," "goodness," "humanity," and "human-heartedness. In human relations, construed as those between one person and another, jen is manifested in chung, or faithfulness to oneself and others, and shu, or altruism, best expressed in the Confucian golden rule, "Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself. Politically, Confucius advocated a paternalistic government in which the sovereign is benevolent and honorable and the subjects are respectful and obedient.

The ruler should cultivate moral perfection in order to set a good example to the people. In education Confucius upheld the theory, remarkable for the feudal period in which he lived, that "in education, there is no class distinction. Mencius continued the ethical teachings of Confucius by stressing the innate goodness of human nature. He believed, however, that original human goodness can become depraved through one's own destructive effort or through contact with an evil environment.

The problem of moral cultivation is therefore to preserve or at least to restore the goodness that is one's birthright. In political thought, Mencius is sometimes considered one of the early advocates of democracy, for he advanced the idea of the people's supremacy in the state. He believed that desires should be guided and restrained by the rules of propriety and that character should be molded by an orderly observance of rites and by the practice of music.

This code serves as a powerful influence on character by properly directing emotions and by providing inner harmony. The Confucian works, copies of which had been destroyed in the preceding period, were restored to favor, canonized, and taught by learned scholars in national academies.

The works also formed the basis of later civil service examinations; candidates for responsible government positions received their appointments on the strength of their knowledge of classic literature.

As a result, Confucianism secured a firm hold on Chinese intellectual and political life. The success of Han Confucianism was attributable to Tung Chung-shu, who first recommended a system of education built upon the teachings of Confucius. Tung Chung-shu believed in a close correspondence between human beings and nature; thus a person's deeds, especially those of the sovereign, are often responsible for unusual phenomena in nature. Because of the sovereign's authority, he or she is to blame for such phenomena as fire, flood, earthquake, and eclipse.

Because these ill omens can descend on earth as a warning to humanity that all is not well in this world, the fear of heavenly punishment proves useful as a curb to the monarch's absolute power. In the political chaos that followed the fall of the Han dynasty, Confucianism was overshadowed by the rival philosophies of Taoism and Buddhism, and the philosophy suffered a temporary setback. Nevertheless, the Confucian Classics continued to be the chief source of learning for scholars, and with the restoration of peace and prosperity in the Tang dynasty , the spread of Confucianism was encouraged.

The monopoly of learning by Confucian scholars once again ensured them the highest bureaucratic positions. Each had its own contribution to the region. During the Zhou Dynasty, for example, writing was standardized, iron working refined, and famous thinkers like Confucius and Sun-Tzu lived and shared their philosophies.

Learn more about the history and rich culture of Ancient China with this curated resource collection. From the mythic origins of the Chinese dynasties to the eventual fall of the last imperial house, Chinese emperors have long fought to maintain control over one of the most enduring empires on Earth.

The rise and fall of various imperial families oversaw waves of innovation and cultural advancement. Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism were the three main philosophies and religions of ancient China, which have individually and collectively influenced ancient and modern Chinese society.

Taoism is an ancient Chinese philosophy and religion that instructs believers on how to exist in harmony with the universe. Join our community of educators and receive the latest information on National Geographic's resources for you and your students. Skip to content. Image Confucian Philosopher Mencius Confucianism is an ancient Chinese belief system, which focuses on the importance of personal ethics and morality.

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Related Resources. Ancient Civilization: China. View Collection. Imperial China's Dynasties. View leveled Article. Chinese Religions and Philosophies.