Religion (Confucianism)

Six Arts

Rites (Rituals) Music Archery Charioteering Writing (calligraphy) Mathematics (numeracy) study of rites and music would give dignity and harmony in social interactions; music: "to educate somebody you should start with poetry, go to ceremony, and finish with music" individuals who excelled in Six Arts--closest to cultural perfection; arose well before the rise of Confucian philosophy--however, reinforced by Confucianism

Chunqiu

Spring and Autumn Annals; incorporated into canon later; no direct reference to it in Analects; sparse account of state of Lu; traditionally considered to have been compiled by Confucius; used to demonstrate decadence of age; traditional aim of Chinese historians to hold up a mirror to humankind; historical figures might provide examples either to follow or to avoid; this philosophy inspired by Spring and Autumn period

ren

a sense of humaneness, human-heartedness, kindness, empathy, goodness, the good, benevolence, person-to-personness --combination of two words: ren (person) and er (two)--two people; connotes ideal relationship between people --was the virtue of virtues for Confucius --sublime and transcendental perfection --Confucius claims he'd never seen it fully incarnated --virtue so exalted, one cannot be too slow or cautious in speaking of it --to the noble, it is dearer than life itself; some will sacrifice their lives for it --both respect for oneself and dignity for human life --meant one was magnanimous, inclined toward charity --it is everything that separates man from beast; makes him distinctly human --in public life, man of such is untiring in his diligence; courteous and empathic in private life; able to measure feelings of others by his own --Silver Rule: what you do not wish done to you, do not do to others --man of such seeks to enlarge others; largeness of heart knows no national boundaries --a matter of a person's deciding to commit to it; no step-by-step process, it just happens; "if you desire it, it is there"

feiming

against fate; Mohist doctrine; contra Confucius, any belief in fate or destiny is bad--produces negative consequences of defeatism; everything fixed according to Confucius--man can do nothing; Mozi--if so, neglect, disorder, laziness with agriculture will result in poverty; C. destroyers of the people of the world

feiyue

against music; Mohist doctrine; for Mozi, good = useful; thus, negative attitude toward elaborate expression of li, such as music; music extraneous--not useful

Analects (Lunyu)

an essentialist text--essential to understanding Chinese culture; without it, would know nothing of Confucius; treats Confucius as an ordinary human being--no later mythologizing; compiled after his death by disciples of disciples; served as a written record necessary to replace their fading memories of him; composition is early enough to preserve something of the real spirit of Confucius; appears slap-dash to modern reader--some sayings too short, some duplicated, some attributed to disciples, much material from alien sources has infiltrated the work; some content seems to have been derived from some other work on ritual--Confucius represented as a stickler about finicky details; some language too elaborate and sophisticated to be original; Books 3 through 9 of 20 books may form the oldest stratum, even they may contain later insertions; impossible to vouch for genuineness for any particular saying; some books treat it all of equal value to extract coherent pictures general guidelines for reading Analects: --many of the ideas expressed typify Chinese civilization generally--foundational ideas, not necessarily unique to Confucius; this is main importance of the work --earliest appearance of ren as a philosophical term --earliest writings from Chinese civilization that deal with ethics for their own sake, not for practical expedience--important breakthrough in history of Chinese thought --does not debate about terms like Western philosophy, but rather assists individual in process of self-cultivation

Daoism

best known rival to Confucianism; relationship to it very complex; philosophical tradition almost total antithesis of Confucianism; *advocated withdrawal from society and absorption with self*; takes name from Dao; Daodejing (Classic of the Way and Its Power)--first of its two great classics; Laozi--most scholars now agree on his mythical and at best legendary status; best way to live was natural way; Zhuangzi (360 to 280 BCE); book written after Daodeching; *people happiest when in accordance with nature*; humans can be free when liberated from all constraints; *simplicity; spontaneity*; Dao lacks shape; shape without shape; unseen power beneath life and movement of physical nature; quiet unconscious power; attributed their principles to a Golden Age; people once lived naturally--only eating food they grew, wearing clothes they made; *virtue was practiced unconsciously; knowledge not valued; no unnatural desires*; all things were in harmony; abhors social restraints; society contrary to dictates of nature; society--deliberate exert themselves toward unnatural ends, like fame, fear of death, envy; sage never had intention of seeking or doing anything, did all things naturally and without purpose; *impassioned rejection of society*, but historical theory of politics--Daoism would be become attractive to sage rulers; would restore felicity of golden age; wuwei = not doing, non-action; principal failings of Confucianism--took itself far too seriously; satirized Confucius--made him spokesperson for its ideas Dao: gives birth to all things in the universe; is eternal; not a thing but a process; does not have rules or plans; Dao has no emotions; you die by going against it; Dao like water--soft and predictable but can still kill you; no ego associated with it civilization is the artificial imposition of our will over the world " Education is largely artificial and unnatural " Forgetting is important " Still idea of a sage; many pictures; no desires; may be a recluse " L written as advice to ruler during WS era " Criticizes upper class " Golden age had no big gov. controlling people " Blame Confucius for making people think about right and wrong and have desires; got rid of Dao; made r and g necessary to fix it where it was fine before " Z questions whether there is a right and a wrong like C thought; all depends on point of view " C teach unnatural behavior like ritual " C wrong on two points: civilizations always fail because they are artificial, and there is no right and wrong

Tu Wei-ming

better to talk about religious aspects of Confucianism than to define it as religion

Lu

birth state of Confucius; small

Mozi (book)

book of Mozi

Zhou dynasty

c. 1100 to 221 BCE; Spring and Autumn period (722 to 479 BCE) Birth of Confucius Warring States period (c. 480 to 221 BCE) --overthrew Shang around 1027 BCE--feudal state; birth not merit for gov. offices; complex bureaucracy; 50 million people; complex society with money and tech and writing --rulers were warrior aristocracy--honor paramount --mysticism surrounding ancestors--tributes and rituals to them; ghosts --Heaven was primary supernatural power; alternately deistic and theistic; interchange between divine and material worlds --Mandate of Heaven: Heaven overthrows bad leaders with natural disasters if they don't reform; Mandate of Heaven by being emperor; also in overthrowing Shang --king killed in 771 BCE; began gradual decline; loss of prestige; decentralization --local lords had no political legitimacy; ruling families plotting against one another --fewer and fewer states; leaders of remaining states were capricious and lived in luxury --moneyed class replaced old nobility --military innovations like crossbow and iron

Shang dynasty

c. 1700 to c. 1100 BCE;

Xia dynasty

c. 2200 to c. 1700 BCE; formerly considered legendary

Xunzi

c. 312 to 230 BCE Biography: --has no Latinized name--Mencius was considered proper interpreter of Confucius, so missionaries heard little about him --extremely impressive scholar--head of Jixia Academy; had several gov. positions --proclivity for structured argument --actually did write ideas down; wanted them to be spread to as many people as possible --taught two famous Legalists; bad for reputation --very serious in his reverence for Confucius; sole purpose was to defend the teachings of Confucius; battled with Daoists, Mohists, Legalists, Strategists, and Logicians; most irate at teachings of Mencius --Hundred Schools; could harness thought of other traditions Views: --Human nature: claims that Mencius is completely wrong; Confucius believed that human nature was inherently selfish; cannot just follow what is natural to our human nature; evil is self-interest; impulses of one's xing, without moderation or reflection, will lead one to evil acts; contra Mencius, human nature is what you receive, not what is developed or ideal; includes desires and emotions; desires develop when senses tell us about the things we want; when emotions lead our actions, we are led to evil; chaos results from acting according to our nature; mind keeps desires in check by choosing between them--artificiality, not natural to humans; desires not inherently bad, but must be mindful of them; do not extinguish them; can be developed through ritual and models and effort; conscious exertion--everyone can become a sage with great effort; *rhetorical point of distinction for Xunzi was to highlight that proper models for moral behavior were external, not internal; point was to look outward; for most people, this was rituals handed down by sages*; diverged from Mencius by arguing that morality was not natural to us; sage-kings of the past created morality to bring order; criticism of Mencius--why did we need sage-kings if humans naturally moral?; we are a warped piece of wood that must be steamed and straightened; education and teaching is essential --Ritual: used to control desires; deals with scarcity--limited resources; respect ways in which society is ordered--all of us will get some of our desires met; divide up scarce resources; teach us how to practice morality and control our emotions; no Confucian believed more in the civilizing effect of Confucian ritual and education; it refines human nature --Heart-mind: critical concept; people used to think that the mind was located in the heart; organ we use to discover the Way; emptiness = capacity to store unlimited information; unity = can synthesize data; tranquility = can discern fantasy from reason; heart-mind is only organ that has self-consciousness, only one that can command others--font of "artifice," which corrects our xing; is empty, unified, and still: empty of preconceptions --Government: like Mencius and Confucius, blames current troubles on bad rulers; people taxed unmercifully; class divisions are necessary; ruler is responsible to people; gov. should provide education and defend state from invasion; need rewards and punishments at first to correct bad behavior; did not immediately dismiss dictators, but thought they infrequently won hearts of people; better than corrupt kings; social decay: decline of agricultural production, gov. interference in economy, and social disharmony was due to neglect of ritual --Heaven: heaven is nature and is amoral; does not give us a good human nature; heaven does not make decisions about when states collapse; good gov. result of good planning, not divine sanction; heaven deals with all people equally; does not send omens; nature is impartial; no union between human beings and heaven; skeptic on ghosts and physiognomy; great secularizer of Confucian concept of Heaven; had a robust theory of the universe and its relation to moral philosophy; considered morality impossible without understanding the cosmos --Confucius: morality not ordained by heaven, just an artificial construct to restrain emotions; education is crucial and difficult; discusses gentleman as well; believes he is humane and wise and follows ritual; model of behavior; ritual controls emotions and divides resources; most like Mencius concerning gov.: rulers must care for people, not overtax, provide education; heaven has no intentions; music brings harmony to people --Language: thought words should be put right as well; naming things is practical and for our convenience; words must be the same for everyone or chaos will follow Legacy: --reputation has fluctuated drastically over time; slow but continuous decline after death for several centuries then quick decline; rehabilitated in 21st century-lots of work still left and human nature is evil claim not as distasteful

Zhuangzi

c. 360 to 280 BCE; second great classic and great thinker of the Daoist tradition

Mencius

c. 370 to 290 BCE Biography: --second sage of Confucian tradition --father died while young; Mother Meng worked hard to provide him education and teach him the classics --born in small state Zou near Lu --tried to work in gov. but rejected; mostly just taught --viewed himself as sole transmitter of teachings of Confucius; tried to convince people of them --had to defend Confucianism from moral relativism of Daoists--no reason to care about morality or being a gentleman --lived in Warring States Period--Mencius believed China needed to be united under enlightened monarch --didn't write the Mencius; compiled after his death; historical difficulties same as Confucius --most of book written during his lifetime; not a lot of personal detail recorded out of respect; more philosophical debate in Mencius, more tension --more of a religious preacher than disinterested scholar --was a harsh critic of Mozi; Mozi objected to ritualism of him; he objected to utilitarianism of Mozi Significance: it is with him that Confucian tradition looks at how to cultivate mind-heart toward sagehood Views: --Human nature: great debate over xing with Gaozi--need to know how to improve humans for gov.; set of characteristics everyone has, or ideal state of individual in conducive environment?; 1. human nature good--everyone can become good with proper nourishment of seeds or tendencies of Four Beginnings: humanity, righteousness, ritual, and wisdom; does not entail that most humans are actually good; 2. no difference between sage and another except that sage had cultivated seeds--like growing barley; same seeds, different conditions; rudimentary, need development; 3. all have potential for good by directly applying the inner resources of their hearts for their own moral and spiritual cultivation: everyone, even the mean, feel alarm when looking at a baby about to fall into a well; we can see signs of sprouts in natural reactions; 4. Truly evil people? We can lose our innate goodness to the point where it looks like we didn't have any to begin with; 5. Gaozi argued human nature is water--neutral, will flow east or west depending on circumstances; Mencius: always flows downward though, toward the good; *foundation of moral behavior is internal*; appeals neither to the existence of God nor to the immortality of the soul, but sees the spontaneous feelings of the heart as sufficient for cultivation; even the mature person does not cease to learn, for the development of our innate qualities necessitates continuous refinement; suggests that we can best nourish the heart by making our desires few; fully recognizes the importance of such instinctual demands as the appetite for food and sex, but he insists that human fulfillment requires a holistic vision in which other equally compelling propensities ought to be satisfied as well; could recast human not as static but as dynamic, developing creatures; humanity is a manner of becoming, not of being; thought most people would be unable to develop nature without having basic needs like food met --Heaven: gives us humanity; basic human nature is good because of its relation to Heaven; Heaven is the metaphysical basis of morality; morality is innate and unique to human beings; objective morality; a full realization of our minds can lead us to a comprehension of our nature and eventually to an understanding of Heaven--predicated on the belief that our selfhood is a necessary and sufficient condition for us to appreciate in total the subtle meanings of the Mandate of Heaven --Heart-mind: source of our sensitivity is our mind-heart, or hsin; can change our decisions; *repository of all emotions, appetites, and reflective abilities; must cultivate to be a good guide of passions; final act of hsin will be good government;* the way of learning to be human is primarily a purification and nourishment of the heart; gentleman preserves mind-heart through practicing humanity and ritual; to seek the lost heart is a spiritual discipline whereby primordial feelings, such as commiseration, shame, deference, and a sense of right and wrong are transformed into moral qualities, such as humanity, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom; unflagging faith in human perfectibility through self-effort is a direct result of his commitment to the view that no matter how disturbed and destroyed the human heart has become, its inner strength for rejuvenation can never be subdued --Government: similar to Confucius'--purpose must be to cultivate morality of people; Confucius willing to let people die of famine in order to preserve righteousness of state; rather, said king must promote material welfare to certain level before moral suasion can take place; one needs of people met, basic, universal education needs to be provided; Heaven sanctions rulers--provides unambiguous signs; people will always choose obeying virtuous king to coercive despot; some states cannot be saved, however; ideal ruler not authoritarian; ruler is placed in position by heaven; ruler should not be chosen based on ancestry; ruler should act in interest of people and people should trust gov.; ruler is model for people; ideal state should provide economic well-being for all people; gov. should not overtax people; four evils of gov.: cruelty, oppression, injury, and meanness; ruler's primary concern must be economy--people cannot be expected to behave well in bad times; did not discuss military matters; fine to protect, but should not invade; generals are criminals; C. said nothing about actually considering views of people; believes people should be canvassed about promotions, terminations, and capital punishment--consultation with people became central Confucian idea; strength of doctrine derived from political situation--needed to attract larger populations to build up military; needed to win confidence of people with humane gov.--naturally be attracted there by righteous ruler; gov. by the people incompatible with idea that people have distinct roles in society--let minister be a minister, prince a prince; direct conflict with hierarchy and rectification of names; C. looked upon people as largely passive force--most important that they be molded and influenced rather than simply consulted; junzi with moral education beyond that of ordinary people; the ruler must demonstrate fatherly concern for his subjects; subjects will give him loyalty; promotion on merit; some consolation to be given to those with no political powers: family contributing to gov. by contributing to social harmony; they secure harmony locally --Filial piety: also saw filial piety as basis of learning morality; rejected notion of Mozi that you can deny special relationships between family members --Ritual: increased regulations regarding specific procedures; stronger set of rules regarding separation between men and women --Music: since all authentic music is said to arise from the human heart, it can shape the movements of the body into a graceful manifestation of the inner self --Way: sees Way as a standard of inspiration that must be reenacted by ceaseless effort

Warring States period

c. 480 to 221 BCE the great political philosophical question--what would help a noble hold onto state?; ended with unification by Qin Shihuang; classical movements and texts of Confucianism formed; Confucianism one of many schools throughout period--did not enjoy any privileged position; frequently mocked and attacked; did not show any advantage over any other schools

Mozi

c. 480 to 390 BCE; biography: probably of quite humble origins--maybe even artisan class; may have studied under immediate disciples of C; first great critic of C; charismatic leader; saw factionalism everywhere he looked--primary source of human suffering philosophies of both him and Confucius were group instead of individually oriented; C was family; M was collective population of state impartial care was no more egalitarian than was the C. reverence for gradated relationships; M believed in absolute monarchy both men looked to a past golden age for precedents and legitimacy; said during that time, his own ideas practiced

wen

culture, civility --arts of peace as opposed to arts of war --music, art, and poetry --sum of culture in aesthetic mode --Confucius valued arts tremendously; one song so entranced him that for months he could not distinguish taste of meat --people immune to art have no place in human society --Confucius cherished book of odes as an instrument of moral education --odes stimulate the mind-induce contemplation --wen is what makes you distinctive--your finish, your polish --comes to mean literature--only you could write it --use in international relations; ultimate victory goes to state that develops the greatest wen, highest art, best philosophy, grandest poetry; these things elicit spontaneous admiration of people everywhere --Roman soldiers considered barbarians, but once these experienced Roman culture, never had an uprising; wen conquers all --music most direct path to emotion; can edify someone --would give dignity and harmony in social interactions; music: "to educate somebody you should start with poetry, go to ceremony, and finish with music" (A)

xiao

filial piety --treat parents well when living, give them good burial, honor them when dead with rituals --Confucius emphasized moral more than ritual aspects --seems he thought filial piety trumped all else: protect father above abiding by law --children must honor decisions of parents --son may remonstrate prior to decision, but must honor it afterward --first learn virtues in family: put others' interests before yours --starting point of all virtues, though humaneness is ultimate goal

Mohism

first great rivals were the Confucians; initiated by Mozi (480-390 BCE); part of an organized utopian movement; social justice; led austere and demanding lives; provided military defense of smaller states unjustly attacked; factionalism primary source of human suffering; criticized familial based system of ethics--partiality; founder advocated for three basic goods--wealth, order, population of the state; argued for concept jian'ai, or impartial care or caring (also universal love); ai = to regard as valuable; to cherish; to treat kindly or with consideration; excess of partiality and bias led to factionalism, which led to suffering; way to get rid of partiality--must foster jian'ai; must regard the states of others as his own--if so, who would attack other states?; optimizes wealth, order, and population of the state; maximizing basic goods will maximize individual goods; right hand holding two stalks of grain of equal length--two things of relatively equal value; *good is always useful--some kind of material benefit*; *impartial care directly benefits world and so is good*; any belief in fate or destiny (C believed in) is bad--produces negative consequences of defeatism; everything fixed according to C--man can do nothing; M--if so, neglect, disorder, laziness with agriculture, poverty; C destroyers of the people of the world; feiming = against fate; good = useful; thus negative attitude toward elaborate expression of li, such as music; feiyue = against music; music extraneous--not useful; extreme utilitarianism; Confucius and Mozi were more similar than either would admit: philosophies of both were group instead of individually oriented; C. was family; Mozi was collective population of state; impartial care was no more egalitarian than was the C. reverence for gradated relationships; Mozi believed in absolute monarchy; both men looked to a past golden age for precedents and legitimacy

xing

human nature

jian'ai

impartial care or caring; universal love must regard the states of others as his own--if so, who would attack other states?; optimizes wealth, order, and population of the state; directly benefits world and so is good; character: right hand holding two stalks of grain of equal length--two things of relatively equal value

shi

knight --in between junzi and lower people; used to be class of lower aristocrats; no hope of gov. positions due to birth; served as officers in time of war; administrative positions in times of peace; schooled in Six Arts; had math and literary and ritual--reservoir of talent; late Zhou period was more egalitarian and more complex; more in need of special skills of shi--talent and ambition; facilitated rise of meritocracy; through A--see essential qualities: oblivious to comfort; only shi capable of maintaining constant heart without constant livelihood; in affairs of state, must be counterpart to junzi, who employed them; must be supreme defender of humaneness at the cost of his life; call to martyrdom actually took roots; came to be used for first of four classes in China--scholar official; succeeded by farmers, artisans, and last, merchants; still very much man of action; heart set on Way; willing to sacrifice his life for humaneness; system of open examinations owed much to C's own ideals; for intellectuals of imperial China--provided model for morality; echoed in Yan Hui; purpose of learning fit oneself to position of ruling; if not, teach others to do so; cases of men of humble background rising to the very top of gov.; some received charity for education from wealthy relatives or worked to fund study; there should be no class distinctions in education

goujia

literally, state + family; by extension, country, nation;

tianming

mandate of heaven; the principle that a legitimate ruler derives authority from heaven's command; ruler bears responsibility for the well-being of the people and therefore for peace and order in the empire

zhongyong

mean, moderation, normality --comparable to Golden Mean of Aristotle --zhong = middle; yong = constant; way that is constantly in the middle --between life in extremes --checks depravity; prevents indulgence --following mean brings balance; inclines people to compromise --must act with a becoming reserve --causes world to be in a better place; recoils to everything approaching fanaticism or dogmatism

Yan Hui

most beloved disciple of Confucius; contentment in poverty, love for learning; died at 41; Confucius broke down and wept; "Heaven has turned against me"; Confucius sank into deep depression; used to scorn those who retreated from world

Mount Tai

mountain of cultural significance Confucius heard wail of mourning woman; her husband's father killed here by tiger; husband and son have just met same fates; why are you still here?; because here there is no oppressive ruler; Confucius turned to disciples-remember, oppressive rule is more cruel than a tiger

wuwei

not doing, non-action; Daoist doctrine

Chu

one of last three Chinese states before unification by Qin

ru

originally, shaman priests; later, scholars; eventually Confucian --emerged as identifiable professional group in early Zhou period; allegiance to sage-kings; devoted to Six Classics and educating people --likely that Confucius stood in this tradition --originally specialists in: religious rituals and political ceremonies; communication with spirits, especially ancestors; practicing astrology; dance and performance; music; archery; poetry --by time of Confucius, such masters were primarily making living by conducting ceremonies and advising rulers and teaching private students --in Han period, Confucius' teachings became to stand for all of them --tradition never much practiced outside education --became obsolete around 1911; people equated Confucius with backwardness; Mao Zedong began methodical attack on all aspects of classical China including Confucianism

zhengming

rectification of names --if terms not correct, language not in accordance with truth of things; thus, things cannot be carried out with success --superior man requires that in his words there may be nothing incorrect --all human thought proceeds through words; *if words are askew, thought cannot be straight* --*nothing is more important than that a father be a faster, ruler be a ruler, etc--requires we know what they mean* --do not call people fathers who are not operatively fulfilling actual roles of fatherhood; cautionary device meant to keep people socially in line --behind concept of li, concepts and roles normatively delineated by words --father of child out of wedlock--can still be father, but must act duties of father --can be a legitimate father and still not pass zhengming test --it is a linguistic obligation--do not LABEL people who do not live up to roles

Lionel M. Jensen

scholar of Confucius; no such thing as Confucianism before arrival of Jesuit missionaries in 16th century; ru enjoyed monopoly on education--civil service; "Manufacturing Confucianism: Chinese Traditions and Universal Civilization" (1997); Jesuits recast tradition as religion based on Confucius-Christian morality in silver rule and monotheism in one person; missionaries promoted Christianized version of ru doctrine back to West; Enlightenment philosophes embraced him--his apparent lack of superstition appreciated; believes Confucius never existed; believed Confucianism had no single author

E. Bruce Brooks and A. Taeko Brooks

scholars of Confucius; argued that Confucius was not actually a scholar but a warrior; noble birth but few means collapse of feudalism and rise of mass conscripted armies; skills as a bowman and charioteer became obsolete; personality attracted younger warriors; only 16 of 480 sayings in Analects actually came from his mouth; only a few more came from his disciples; conception of him as a learned man only arose after his death; probably had a bit of education--consequence of nobility; had nothing to do with writing or editing classic texts attributed to him; did not associate with many values attributed to him; ren not cultivation of moral virtue, but loyalty to comrades in arms; only later was he "civilianized"; arguments laid out in "The Original Analects: Sayings of Confucius and His Successors" (1998); believed Confucianism had no single author

Legalism

school of thought; put great emphasis on laws (fa), regulations, and models; prescribed harsh punishments for those who broke them; not meant to dispense justice--meant to instill fear in potential criminals; wanted people to understand terror of law; no moral desert in thought either--just deterrence; it was okay if innocent person was killed as an example; sociopolitical control achieved by using law and fear as instruments; power must be centered in a ruler; rule impartially and coldly; ruler should be hidden and mysterious; centralize control; power more important than virtue or wisdom; ministers chosen on merit; all power in the ruler certainly the school that most approaches pure behavioral science; pain-pleasure model of human nature; human nature basically self-interested; gov. can use this to motivate people and control behavior; law should apply to all equally; use rewards and punishments; useless occupations like scholar banned; moral self-cultivation not even a concern; *chief concern--how do we get and stay on top*; took no interest in commoners except to degree they affected ruler class; no concern for customs or moral value of past; religious beliefs and ceremonies--silly and distracting, mark of a doomed state; wanted to teach the ruler how to survive; strengthening of the central gov.; replacement of aristocracy by bureaucrats; encouragement of agriculture and warfare to expand state; suppression of ways of life that impeded its aims; people kept in a state of ignorance and fear; criticized Confucius for emphasis on family too; Han Feizi--most important scholar and book of tradition; two anecdotes; Chu--one of last three states before unification; *shouldn't protect father if he commits a crime*; Mr. Upright reports father; conflict of duties between subject and son; cannot safeguard family above state; soldier not going into battle because if he died no one to take care of father; esteeming of Confucius because of low regard for rest of humanity; its belief that human nature was evil made achievements of C look all the more exceptional; Han Feizi: "Confucius one of the greatest sages of the world"; to honor benevolence is a rare thing; only Confucius was truly benevolent and righteous; sui generis; overcame evil nature even if ideas were bad

xue

study, learning, to study, to learn learning did not mean the accumulation of facts for oneself, meant knowledge for guiding conduct; someone who had learned certain moral lessons could be learned; xue (study, learning)--study and imitation of moral exemplars, like C himself; imitation at root of idea; most important role for teacher was to serve as model himself

junzi

superior man, gentleman, noble man; true personhood, superior personhood, personhood at its best --etiquette in French = ticket or label on package on outside of package that indicates what's inside --noble man in most significant sense; opposite of petty, mean, or little man --attitude toward life of being an ideal host--in home, in his surroundings, or wherever he is --he needs nothing himself--wholly at disposal of others --at home in universe at large; never at a loss as to how to behave; no fret or fear --approach to others: not what he can get, but what he can do to accommodate them --poised, confident, and competent; no violence in movement; speech free of lewdness; does not talk too much; does not boast; does not display superiority (except occasionally in athletics) --holding always to his own standards --temper not soured by adversity --Confucius thought only society of junzis could compose a society of peace --can practice both humanity and ritual --best to be involved in politics to help others --life-long process of cultivating virtues

New Confucians

teachings fully compatible with liberal democracy and technology; believed in merit over birth; fled to universities during Mao period; many immigrated to US and became professors there mostly university professors; promoters of Confucian values and a Confucian ethic; minus cult of ancestor worship; better attitude toward women best known of American New Confucians is Tu Wei-ming; mission to re-Confucianize East Asia; perfectly suited to Asian modernity; did make inroads

dao

the Way; a prescriptive doctrine or way

Yao

the fourth of the legendary Five Emperors

Hundred Schools

the great political philosophical question--what would help a noble hold onto state? we may conclude Confucianism was by means no dominant but certainly a contending school--attracted a lot of criticism; ignoring it not an option certain antagonists forced Confucians into debate; Confucius would have deplored these debates; however, school became stronger; forced to defend itself we should reject any notions that Confucianism was somehow outside the process of debate--the idea that they were only criticized, not criticizing; certainly dished it out clear indication of higher stakes; social level--desire for universal state; desire arose for adoption of one preeminent philosophy--all thinkers knew this

de

virtue, power; virtue = power --important in Analects regarding concept of gov. --power by which men ruled--only beginning of definition --famous story from Analects: on Mount Tai, Confucius heard wail of mourning woman; her husband's father killed here by tiger; husband and son have just met same fates; why are you still here?" "Because here there is no oppressive ruler"; Confucius turned to disciples--remember, oppressive rule is more cruel than a tiger --*no state could restrain all of its citizens all of the time; must depend on widespread acceptance of will*; depends on positive fund of faith; economic and military sufficiency and popular trust; confidence of people most important of these --trust only arises when people believe gov. officials are good and faithful--thus power of moral example --goodness not embodied by law or force, but imprint of great personality; everything depends on character of person at the top; righteous people will flock to righteous person--cabinet surrounds leader --leader was representative of this concept --he who exercises gov. by this may be compared to north star--keeps place while all the stars around it pay it homage

Analects (book)

¢ True goodness foundational to human character ¢ Neo-Confucians-all born with same human nature ¢ Lead with virtue, regulate with ritual, people will have a sense of shame and arrive at good; ritual useful for habit ¢ Good government resorts to least degree to laws and punishment ¢ There must be genuine feeling behind the form; rites must be performed with feeling of respect ¢ Virtue of ruler consists in choosing right men to serve him ¢ Music has function of ritual-promotes harmony ¢ Feeling essential to ritual ¢ Person must hold to true goodness at all times ¢ Deficiency of will or desire prevents us from practicing true good ¢ Emulate worthy man, learn from mistakes of small man ¢ Superior man not without faults, but confronts faults ¢ Likes Yan Hui ¢ Familiarity with Chinese tradition is important for learning right from wrong ¢ Confucius insists he is transmitter of knowledge ¢ Confucius feels affinity with Duke of Zhou ¢ Raise up one corner and come back with three ¢ Dried meat ¢ Autobiographical ¢ Everyone is a teacher! ¢ Ren never precisely defined ¢ Junzi is calm; small person is apprehensive ¢ Only with death does challenge of reaching true goodness stop ¢ Not knowledge but pursuit of knowledge that is important ¢ Yet to meet a person who loves virtue as much as hotties ¢ Do not befriend those unlike you ¢ If a mat was not straight he would not sit on it ¢ Confucius does not offer abstract principles but tailors advice to individual ¢ Faith, food, military ¢ Ruler ruler, minister minister, father, father ¢ Junzi promotes goodness in others ¢ Virtue = wind; grass sure to bend when it blows ¢ Reality and words must accord ¢ Confucius presents qualities of ren, not definition ¢ Junzi ashamed if his words surpass his deeds ¢ Learning is for oneself, not to impress others! ¢ Empathy is critical ¢ Laissez-faire government best ¢ Erring and not reforming is real erring ¢ Ren more valuable than externals like fire and water; Stoicism? ¢ Only most wise and most stupid don't change ¢ Ritual must be sustained by inner feelings of respect and harmony! ¢ Cycle of seasons reflects heaven ¢ Recluses ridicule Confucius for thinking he can reform world " Wind-grass passage " Peasant tells Confucius to separate himself from the world; Confucius discontent with world though

Mencius (book)

1. Mencius berates king for using the word profit: promotes idea that moral leadership of the ruler has a powerful effect-speaking of profit will make others speak of profit; speak rather of righteousness and goodness 2. Question about government: Mencius replies in detail and prescriptively regarding agriculture and such; ruler must provide material needs to people-wins their mind-hearts; concrete kingship 3. Prescribes more concrete measures of a good king--wins devotion of people; win devotion of people-they will fight for you against larger states; people of these larger states will be drawn to your own state; good gov. leads to stronger and larger state 4. Long passage: seeing ox and not letting it die; substituting a sheep; difference between not doing and being incapable (lifting Mount Tai-incapable); everyone can be a good king; extend benefits to animals like an ox, but not your people; not acting in accordance with desire--climbing a tree in search of a fish 5. People begin with goodness, but it must be developed; this is the responsibility of the gov.--it must provide for the material well-being of the people if it hopes that people will behave well; people concerned about mere survival will not behave well; only the junzi can live without a livelihood and still have a constant mind-heart; must be kind toward people, and natural kindness will extend animals--king has it reversed 6. Asked king about what happens if people in various positions do not do their duties; king replies to remove them; asks king what should be done if kingdom not well-governed; king talked of other things--wants him to think on the responsibilities of the king 7. Question about someone killing kings: criminals are those who kill righteousness; killing good-for-nothings is not regicide but punishment " Speaks to rectification of names; kings are only those who act like kings; also suggests that it is acceptable to depose bad ruler ¢ Quote about qi and about father who pulled up his sprouts " For Neo-Confucians, qi is vital energy, psychophysical stuff, that constitutes the entire universe; everything has qi; qi in our body follows mind-and-heart; mind-and-heart directed by will; the source of righteousness is therefore internal; we must maintain firm control over our will We often fail to nurture qi; must do so with righteousness; impulse to nurture it must be natural though; our qi will merge with universal qi with cultivation--brings harmony with cosmos " Also, must become good at understanding words--can do so by cultivating qi ¢ All people have a mind-and-heart that doesn't like to see other people harmed; everybody will be alarmed if a child is about to fall into a well " Everyone born with MH but most people dampen it with own desires; moral contest between human nature and creaturely desires; if desires win out, we will not reach ideal of human nature; never says that everyone will actually save the child-though we all feel alarm at first sight, selfish desires can corrupt our actions (what if I fall in?) ¢ Question about good gov.: must set agricultural boundaries-must be apportioned fairly; well-field system; give people land and give it fairly so that they can provide for their families ¢ Question about craftsmen and ploughing: good gov. based on a well-field system that provides for the people; people disagrees-ruler must work side by side with people, otherwise creates distinctions; M argues that this is fine-it is good and natural for there to be distinctions; defense of division of labor and free market economy ¢ Why do you dispute? I have no alternative; Yang Zhu and Mo Di cast our ruler and father respectively; this obstructs path to goodness; egoism and universal love, respectively; allow M to set up dichotomy; true Way in need of defense ¢ Pay attention to bad kings of past: echo of mandate of heaven; ruler must be good to rule; people who do not cultivate virtue will not have success in gov. ¢ The empire rests on the state, the state rests on the family, the family rests on the individual ¢ M: you have to ignore proscription against touching to save your drowning sister-in-law; why don't you extend a hand to the empire? The empire requires the Way, not a hand; must take into account circumstances-practical wisdom ¢ Three ways to be unfilial: 1. Not to have an heir 2. To let your parents be unrighteous 3. To refuse to go into gov. even when parents are old and poor; speaks to exigencies-must take into account circumstances of the situation; sometimes circumstance trumps ritual ¢ True goodness, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and musical harmony inhere in every individual; but must be put into practice; being good to parents, rulers, and siblings simply expression of goodness; note that all the others are put to service of true goodness-cardinal virtue ¢ When the sovereign is righteous, everyone will be righteous; when sovereign is good, everyone good " Truly good ruler exerts moral force over his people-provides example ¢ Ritual that is not ritual, righteousness that is not righteousness-great person does not practice " 1. Must be sincere 2. Must understand principles ¢ Great person does not lose MH of a child " Must not be led astray by desires; MH of a child is pure and good ¢ Student must be diligent in his studies to understand principle; once he understands principle he will confidently rely on it ¢ Common people like beasts; superior man is real man " Both beasts and people have principle; both have qi; however, man has more refined qi-thus is able give expression to principle; common people ignore qi and so sink to animals who cannot ¢ Superior man retains in his MH both goodness and propriety; goodness is loving others; propriety is respecting them; superior man not troubled by surprises--he acts virtuously and practices ritual and that's it " Superior man just holds onto MH; extend goodness and get it in return; superior man only anxious he'll let go of MH ¢ Quote about mandate of heaven and son of heaven not being able to give it to another " M argues succession not determined by Son of Heaven but by Heaven itself " That H has chosen a successor is not made clear through some proclamation but by the ideal conduct of someone and his embrace by the people; people reflect will of Heaven ¢ Virtuous gentleman makes friends with others; also studies ancients " Virtue of the G radiates throughout the village, attracting other G; also sincere person can befriend ancients by studying their works ¢ M tells king that ministers might depose him; king surprised " Nothing surprising-kinsmen have an interest in continuity of imperial line ¢ Gaozi-willows = human nature; cups and bowls = righteousness; M-you do violence to willow in making cups and bowls; do you do violence to people in making them righteous? " Greatest defense that human nature is good; if we take Gaozi seriously no one would practice righteousness ¢ Gaozi argued human nature is water-neutral, will flow east or west depending on circumstances; Mencius: always flows downward though, toward the good ¢ White of feathers same as that of snow-all natures equal; nature of ox same as human? " Qi is the same in people and animals-all are living and moving, but not principle not the same-error of Gaozi; canonical texts shown to be useful in Song dynasty ¢ G: goodness internal, r external; why? Talking about elderness and such " M thinks both r and g are internal; grilled meat and stuff; G-we respect elders for external factor of age; M-but we enjoy meat of Qin; either enjoyment not human nature, or respecting elders is internal ¢ Everyone can achieve sagehood through refinement of qi ¢ Stuff about trees on Mt. Niu getting cut down " State of goodness of soul is precarious-must make determined effort to manifest it ¢ You have to value righteousness above life; result of maintaining MH ¢ True goodness is the MH; we chase chickens when lost but not MH " Practicing goodness requires effort; selfish desires sidetrack us; requires learning to cultivate; must prevent emotions and desires from getting in the way of the expression of the MH ¢ You must direct your will at goodness; creaturely things obstruct his goodness ¢ Teacher must teach with the necessary tools-the ways of the sages ¢ Anyone can become a Yao or a Shun because everyone has the same human nature; accessibility of sagehood; just depends on doing the same things as Yao and Shun with sincerity ¢ Principle identical with human nature; MH contains manifestations of principle; to explore MH is to explore our nature; 4 virtues are seeds in MH; principle comes from Heaven; thus knowing self is knowing intentions of Heaven; knowing intentions, we can behave with them ¢ Seeking is getting when it comes to the internal ¢ 10,000 things " Principle that inheres in 10,000; being empathetic to these things cultivates goodness ¢ Need to understand principle to do good-must set mind on learning ¢ Children naturally love parents-natural ren ¢ Do not do what should not be done; do not desire what should not be desired; that is all there is to it " Probably not from M ¢ Following middle path not inherently good ¢ Five ways of teaching others ¢ Attacks Mozi's idea that we should love all things universally; feelings naturally stronger for things closest to us, especially parents; only true goodness can be extended to people ¢ Highest position is won only when the MH of the people are won ¢ Must keep desires few

li

1. rite, ritual; social rituals 2. propriety; a sense of propriety, courtesy, respect, and deference to elders --etiquette, rite, ritual, ceremony, civility --performance of it is glue of social normalcy --no one is outside of it --sage knows what to do in every situation --served as a template for behavior --it was despiritualized by Confucius --it could be done without understanding through habituation --Confucius believed that with the conscientious performance of it, as described in the classics, the golden age of old could be reclaimed --Confucius thought of it with moral dimension beyond ancestral veneration and noble etiquette --reciprocal between people --learned --teaches us proper behavior --essential for a civilized society --ritual are actions outside of us --rituals channel sincere emotions --external expression of internal morality --ritual directs expression of humanity; humanity animates ritual --no fundamental precepts or Ten Commandments--everything relative to situation propriety --Confucius thought individuals not likely to achieve much in search for beauty and peace working from scratch --wanted to lift to the attention of the community the finest guides or precedence --for social life, everyone could emulate them --French is closest analog to China; savoir-faire = know-how; comme il faut = the way things should be; a propos = that which is appropriate; esprit = right feel --Confucius wanted to cultivate in direction pointed by these idioms --was the making of the Chinese social character --respect for age: China viewed age as bestowing wonder and wisdom; age gives value and dignity and worth; esteem should always turn upward to those that have gone ahead; youth not disrespected, but expectation that youth should respect authority --first meaning was propriety--captured in zhengming, zhongyong, and age rite --life ordered completely --every step of life's procession, no need or room for improvisation --pattern for every act --life becomes great ritual tapestry --raw material of new people must be elaborated and controlled by it --map for path of Dao --does not mean a code of conduct; is rather embodied virtue--expression of moral principles without which ceremony is void

Han dynasty

202 BCE to 220 CE;

Qin dynasty

221 to 206 BCE; Legalism

Han Feizi

280 to 233 BCE; most importance scholar of Legalist tradition power must be centered in a ruler; rule impartially and coldly; ruler should be hidden and mysterious; people should obey because they fear gov.; scholars are useless; centralize control; punishments must be fierce; power more important than virtue or wisdom; ministers chosen on merit; all power in the ruler

Confucius (Kongzi; Master Kong)

551 to 479 BCE Biography: --name was romanized by 16th-century Jesuit missionaries --denigrated his own innovations; though he was just a transmitter; modesty and reticence he promoted --Analects primary source of info; great number of less reliable texts --China of his age: several principalities; born into small state of Lu --state of Lu under attack when he was born --Confucius grew up in turmoil of Spring and Autumn period --illegitimate birth; he and mother disowned by family; moved to another province --nothing certain about ancestors, maybe highly pedigreed or noble --family standing had declined since then; home life modest, if not destitute --father died before he was 3 --mother created an environment in which he could learn; wanted him to work in government --was ugly, awkward, shy --mother died in his teens --was 6 feet tall; massive in China --forced to provide for himself through menial tasks from early age --poverty and hardship forged his bond with common people--curiously democratic elements in largely anti-democratic philosophy --nostalgic references to hunting, fishing, and archery, but did take early to study; performed well; at 15, he "bent his mind to learning" --after holding several posts of insignificance, established himself as a tutor; natural vocation --attracted circle of committed students--not that much younger than himself --three influences: --sociopolitical environment: Spring and Autumn; nobility declining; no more chivalry; decline of feudal order; how was society held together in past?; wanted to unearth the unthinking patterns of behavior from past --historical imagination: thought early Zhou better society than any other; China could not borrow ideas from other cultures--isolated; correct transmission of tradition paramount! --The Classics: reinforced belief in now-lost golden age; only knew 2 of them; Shujing and Shijing; first principles and moral value of poetry; also maybe Chunqiu; repositories of ritual --both history and poetry useful for moral edification --quite liked music and singing --teachings concerned with interactions and practicality --admired Duke of Zhou--effective and humane --how can he establish new ideal through tradition?; used narrative of a mythic past in the service of a new ideal grounded in radically new insights into man's essential nature and powers --he believed that his theories would come to nothing unless they were channeled into state affairs in his administration --he had complete confidence in his ability to recast society --leaders too threatened by his frankness to appoint him to any position of real power --reputation made him unavoidable; usurping leader asked him for advice; Confucius replied he ought to learn how to govern himself before others; did not kill him due to reputation --one king tried to buy him off with sinecure; quit after learning he had no authority --devoted his next 13 years to wandering north and central China offering unsolicited advice to rulers on how to rule; trying to participate in government --began to be mocked; redeeming humor during this period of rootless travel does great credit to him as a personality --peasants and hermits criticized him, and thought he couldn't succeed; himself worried he would fail --only small band of faithful disciples stood by him --after change of administration in his own state, he was invited to return; spent last 5 years teaching and editing classics --concerned more with humanity write large than with binary of self and society --informal teaching style; not lectured but expressed his opinions on problems his students posed to him; cited readings for them to consult; asked questions of them--skilled in this --demanded much of his students, especially the gifted ones; restitution of entire social order was his goal --nothing ascetic or otherworldly about him--loved to be with people and dine and drink, though not to excess --dignified yet pleasant; affable but firm --champion cause of common people over nobility; never slighted poorer students, even when they could pay him nothing --remained ever-faithful to the quest--wealth and power could surely have been his, but preferred his integrity --had a family but spent little time with them; more so with students --his son was lazy; died young; buried with few tears --never wrote anything; especially astonishing given veneration of writing; may have been incompatible with idea that people ought to think for themselves; might have become authority --"Will no ruler come forward, and take me as his master?" --believed he was a failure at death Significance: --did not mold Chinese culture single-handedly; edited it; did not author it; brought it into focus; gave outline and characteristics to Confucianism --with his death began his glorification--began immediately among disciples; within a few generations, became larger in death; with a few centuries, "model for 10,000 generations" --for past 2,000 years, students poured over his teachings for hours; trickled down to illiterate masses in the form of spoken proverbs --China influenced by him more than by any other figure; almost raised to divinity --sayings are commendable, but how can folksy, didactic statements have inspired an entire civilization?; mysteries of history --little to take exception to and much to be praised in his sayings, but disproportionately significant --first to conceive of ren as general virtue, basic, universal --earliest man in China to accept these principles; willingness to learn > financial background Views: Heaven: he encouraged obedience to Heaven, while remaining agnostic regarding whether supernatural being or world existed; master never talked of miracles or spirits; not an atheist: "revere the ghosts and spirits, but keep them at a distance"; however, pondering afterlife impedes moral development today; avoided contemporaneous superstition and wonky cosmology; an eagerness to learn in order to give full realization to one's heart, to know one's own nature and to appreciate the meaning of humanity is the surest way to apprehend Heaven; reverence toward heaven not distinguishable from reverence toward life; draws on authority of heaven for moral order; human beings have to discover ways of heaven between others and in their own lives; interconnected, integrated view of cosmos--ethical ideas given cosmic validation; they are as much a part of nature as rising of the sun; ethical relationship was natural relationship, not supernatural; violating order of universe when you violate it; no division between spirit and matter Ethics: bases morality on idea that man is social--virtue of reciprocity; self, in the classical Confucian sense, referred to a center of relationships, a communal quality which was never conceived of as an isolated or isolable entity; only through the continuous opening up of the self to others that the self can maintain a wholesome personal identity; virtue does not exist in isolation; self-cultivation is a precondition for harmonizing human relations; Silver Rule: I do not do to others what I do not want done to me; if you have the same social role; lacked concept of moral guilt or moral responsibility as ground for guilt and so punishment as moral retribution; saw no humane potential in punishment; "shame" not inward stain and does not equal guilt; outward and public; central moral issue is not responsibility for free actions but factual questions of whether someone has learned the Way; not punishment but reformation is proper response; largely eliminated notion of free will--failure to follow path is not ultimately one's fault; no static and inner virtues in the Analects; conceived of ren as general virtue, basic, universal; the ultimate purpose of life is neither regulating the family nor harmonizing the father-son relationship, but self-realization steadfastness of purpose is all that is needed for self-cultivation; the real challenge to self-realization is not the external world but self-ignorance and egoism Ritual: without humanity, ritual practice easily degenerates into formalism; respect for ritual--better to have real sentiment of sorrow than minute attendance; the primary concern of Confucian learning and ritual is character formation defined in ethical terms; society is one great ceremonial performance; learning: a gradual process of building up one's character by making oneself receptive to the symbolic resources of one's own culture and responsive to the sharable values of one's own society Government: reciprocity--gov. should serve interests of the people and people should trust gov.; laws and punishments cannot effect moral transformations in populace--people only obey to avoid punishment;government officials needed to be standards of behavior; ruler should have food, weapons, and trust of people; give up weapons and then food; believed in paternal government not democracy; good government doesn't overtax or throw away lives in battle; Mandate of Heaven to rule society; emperor could be responsible for anything that happened; Chinese emperor was son of heaven; maintained harmony between heaven earth; Heaven brought rulers to power who followed the Way, ruling justly and providing for the people; natural disasters were signs overthrow was imminent Family: family is locus of moral development; filial piety starting point of all virtues, though humaneness is ultimate goal; the son ought not to sever his ties to his father under any circumstances; reciprocity: the son's filiality is conceived as a response to the father's kindness; the father must set an example for the son as a loving and respectable person before he can reasonably expect his son to love and respect him Dao: The Master's passion for the pursuit of the Way; "In the morning hear the Way; in the evening, die content!" (A); Dao = this worldly way of Confucius, not nature like Daoism; relates to gov.; literally means a path or a road; dao can be bifurcated: dao is not confined to past; between the belief that true fulfillment of the junzi lay in political activity and the frequent realization that the world is not a fit place for him to deploy his talents; only fit arena for junzi is gov., but world we have is such a snake pit that it is pointless to get involved; no matter how deplorable the political situation in Lu, C. was training his disciples to hold office!!!; several did achieve positions in gov.; one must go into gov. for way, but must not stay in gov. at cost of way; duty of resignation if way does not prevail is equally compelling; uncompromising message to those worried about ethics of gov.; participation in gov. was prize goal of all educated men; "Is humaneness really so far away? If we really wished for it, it would come" (A); "who can go out without using the door? So why does nobody follow the Way?" (A); universe characterized by order, possible for human beings to understand order; as with other key terms, does not define dao; model of political order best understood by studying ancients, just like study of morality based on models; highest calling = bring way to world; alternative to way is only disorder that leads to chaos

Spring and Autumn period

722 to 479 BCE; nobility declining; no more chivalry; decline of feudal order

Shujung

Book of Documents, Book of History; consisted of the speeches and pronouncements of Zhou's earliest leaders; supplied many so-called first principles: Tianming (Mandate of Heaven); mandate backed by only god--tian; tian first depicted as a person with a very oblong head; Shangdi (god of Shang dynasty) replaced by Tian; supreme overarching force--deistic; aware of both common man and kings; book contained many Zhou arguments legitimizing overthrow of Shang dynasty

Shijing

Book of Poetry, Book of Songs, Book of Odes; collection of poems which had already become part of common literary heritage before Confucius; unlikely that he had anything to do with selection or editing of poems; both folk songs and formal odes; Confucius not interested in aesthetics of literature--literature undertaken for practical purpose of heightening virtues; better able to fulfill social responsibilities due to poetry; Confucius much moved by this work; "roused by songs, established by ritual, and perfected by music"; stimulate emotion and share company; would rouse people to virtue

Daodejing

Classic of the Way and Its Power; first of two great Daoist classics

Five Classics

Confucius was greatly affected by ancient written texts; each reinforced his belief in now-lost golden age; he was only acquainted with only three of them, perhaps only two (Book of Poetry and Book of Documents); from first century of Zhou era; afford insight into Confucius' psyche; contain moral assumptions and attitudes with which Confucius and disciples most strongly identify; role as their repositories of most important aspect of education for Confucius--li, or ritual Classic of Poetry--Shijing Book of Documents--Shujing Book of Rites--describes ancient rites, social forms, and court ceremonies Book of Changes--divination; only one to survive Spring and Autumn Annals--historical record of the State of Lu, Confucius's native state, 722-481 BCE Classic of Music--lost in the Burning of the Books.

Five Relationships

Father and son (parent and offspring): father loving; son reverential Ruler and minister: loyal Husband and wife: good, listening Elder brother and younger brother: gentle, respectful Friend and friend: considerate, deferential you are never alone when you act--every action affects someone else; frame within which you may express individuality without doing damage to someone else; 3 relate to family--continuing Chinese assumption that family is basic unit of society; children's respect for parents that is the key; young must look up to old generally

Tian

Heaven