Confucianism

Han. The Han dynasty unified China in the final centuries before the Common Era. Confucianism accompanied its rise to power.

Confucianism became a state orthodoxy under the ___ dynasty, which used Confucian orthodoxy to legitimize its Heavenly mandate to rule.

Ethical. Like Buddhism and Taoism, Confucianism does not teach the worship of a god or gods. Instead, Confucianism is primarily a code of conduct teaching love and kindness for your fellow man. The universal virtues taught by Confucianism are: Wisdom, Benevolence, and Fortitude.

Confucianism is more of an _______ system than the typical religion in which allegiance is owed to a supernatural being.

Kung. Confucianism is based on Kung's teachings. The Western, latinized form of Kung is "Confucius."

Confucianism is the philosophy and religion based on the teachings of Master ____.

Jen. Confucius thought that only the great sages of ancient China truly possessed jen. All, however, should seek to develop it in striving towards becoming a superior human being.

Confucius's central teaching is the virtue of ___. Translated as "goodness" or "humaneness," it is the inward expression of Confucian ideals.

Confucianism. The civil service examinations were based on Confucianism, ensuring that all government workers were well versed in the doctrine.

In 136 BC, the Han dynasty made ____________ the basis of the civil service examinations, thereby strengthening its position in government.

Four Books. The Four Books was a smaller corpus of texts, intended to promote the spiritual and religious side of Confucianism.

In response to the spiritual influence of Taoism and Buddhism, Neo-Confucians adjusted the Confucian canon to include books of a more metaphysical and spiritual orientation. They did this by replacing the Five Classics with a collection known simply as the __________.

Sixth.

Like Lao-tzu and Gautama Buddha, Confucius was born in the _____ century BC.

Ancestor. The ancestor cult is so important and ancient in China that it could be considered its own religion. Yet, its persistence has also been considered another indication of Confucianism's religious character.

The ________ cult is an ancient Chinese tradition that received renewed emphasis in Confucian times. The ritual sacrifices demonstrate the Confucian ideals of respect for elders and respect for the past.

Primary. The Five Classics cover widely divergent genres and address a range of concerns in Confucius's day.

A collection of books known as the Five Classics was considered the _______ special texts of early Confucianism.

Warriors. Confucianism in Japan differed in notable ways from Chinese Confucianism. Japanese Confucianism was more hierarchal and modified to support bushido, the ethical code of the samurai.

A form of Confucianism in Japan provided a system of ethics suitable for the country's society of feudal ________.

Virtue. In Taoism, te connotes more a spiritual connection with the mysterious Tao. In Confucianism, it is more a perfection of the ruler's virtuous ideals, such as li and jen.

A term also found in Taoism, Te refers to the Confucian ideal of government by ______.

Korea. Confucian texts and ideas were introduced in Korea before the Common Era. Official examinations in Confucian doctrines were instituted during the Silla dynasty (668-935).

As in China, Confucianism in _____ has been associated historically with education and a civil service examination.

Mencius. Though Mencius is best known for reinforcing and clarifying Confucius's original ideas, he also added his own distinctive ideas to the Confucian canon.

Born in 372 BC, _______ is considered the second most important Chinese sage after Confucius and the most important of Confucius's interpreters.

Ritual. Ritual is so important to Confucianism that it is also sometimes known as the "ritual religion."

Confucianism relies heavily upon ______. According to Confucius, however, such outward shows of propriety and devotion meant nothing unless accompanied by the proper inner disposition (called jen) as well.

Harmony. According to Confucius, Li is of vital importance in ordering and regulating the principal human relationships.

Confucius taught that by the practice of Li, the principal relationships in society can be regulated so that complete _______ may reign in every home, village, and throughout the empire.

Chinese. In the five centuries between the eighth and third centuries BC, the Chinese feudal world was turned upside down. Lords were unable to defend against invading armies and it was a time of uncertainty and social upheaval.

Confucius was born in 551BC, the child of an aristocratic family that had lost its wealth and position during the decline of _______ Feudalism.

Decline. Contemporary scholars no longer think that Confucius himself authored the Spring-Autumn Annals.

Confucius was speculated to have authored the Spring-Autumn Annals, a chronicle of the political and moral _______ of Wu (Confucius's native state) from 722 to 481 BC.

Heaven. Mencius focuses more on Heaven than Confucius did. To Mencius, Heaven was not a personal deity, but something present within the human heart that one should strive to understand.

In Confucianism, ______ does not literally refer to a place. To Confucius, it was a higher power, order, and law, and the annual sacrifices to it were among the most important of Confucian rituals.

Mediator. The Mandate of Heaven was bestowed upon the ruler, giving him the exclusive authority to govern.

Mencius articulates a theory of political power called the Mandate of Heaven, which describes the ruler as the ________ between the powers of Heaven and the people below.

Universal. Although Mohism was initially a rival of Confucianism, China eventually showed a preference for Confucius's more moderate ways over Mo-tzu's more extremist views.

Mohism was an ancient school of philosophy with religious overtones that was one of early Confucianism's main rivals. It's noted for advocating _________ love and pacifism.

T\'ai-chi. The T'ai-chi is described as a macrocosm equivalent to the structure of the human body. The human being, in turn, represents the summit of the universe and is part of the excellence of the Great Ultimate itself.

One of Chu Hsi's most significant contributions to Confucianism was his description of _________. It is translated as the "Great Ultimate," a cosmological understanding of humankind's interrelatedness with the world.

Hexagrams. Over the years, diverse commentaries were added to the I-Ching, referencing early Chinese metaphysical and cosmological ideas such as yin-yang.

One of the Five Classics, the I-Ching is an ancient and sacred divination manual attributed to China's legendary sages. It centers upon short oracles arranged under sixty-four different _________.

Subordinate. As Confucianism became more deeply rooted in Chinese society, women were allowed less freedom. Double standards increased in Chinese society until the early twentieth century introduced to China Western ideas of individual freedom.

One problem that developed historically with the rise of Confucianism was the increasingly ___________ role assigned to women in the patriarchal family system.

Neo-Confucians. The Neo-Confucians developed an extensive amount of commentary on Confucianism in response to Taoist and Buddhist influences.

The ______________ were commentators active during the Sung dynasty from the tenth through the thirteenth centuries. They reinvigorated interest in Confucianism following the centuries of Taoist and Buddhist dominance in post-Han China.

Po. Not only was the hun a central concept to the ancestor cult, it also greatly influenced Taoist beliefs about immortality.

The ancestor cult reflects the Confucian understanding regarding the dual soul. When one dies, the lower, or animal, soul called "__" descends with the body to the grave. The upper, or intellectual, soul called Hun ascends to the world above.

Instability. The decline of the feudal system led to the creation of the great Chinese schools. Part of Confucianism's solution to the nation's problems was a return to an idealized feudal state.

The decline of ancient China's Feudal system led to the period of ___________ between the eighth and third centuries BC. Out of this tumultuous time came Confucianism and several of the other great Chinese schools, each with its own distinctive answer to solving the nation's problems.

Political. As the Son of Heaven, part of the emperor's sacred duty was to perform the annual cult of Heaven sacrifices.

The lack of separation between _________ and religious powers in Confucian thought is demonstrated by the emperor's title of Son of Heaven.

Analects. The Analects is a collection of Confucius's discourses with his disciples, collected approximately seventy years after his death.

The most authentic material about Confucius is contained in a collection of his teachings called the ________.

Scholar. Tung Chung-shu is reputed to have used philosophical arguments to persuade the ruler to govern benevolently according to Confucian principles.

The second-century BC _______ most influential in consolidating Confucian gains during early Han times was Tung Chung-shu.

Earth. Heaven, earth, and humans are considered the triad of Confucian thought. It is the emperor's role, as Son of Heaven, to connect them.

Tung Chung-shu demonstrated traditional Confucian thought to the emperor, drawing the horizontal trinity of Heaven, _____, and humans with kingship as a vertical link among them.

Hsun-tzu. While Mencius and Confucius maintain the natural goodness of human nature, Hsun-tzu contended that people were basically evil in nature and that goodness only came through training.

Unlike Mencius and Confucius, ________ teaches that human nature is inherently Evil.

Li. Li is the Confucian ideal that one should strive to perfect in relationships with others - particularly in the Five Relationships Confucius describes in detail.

Whereas jen describes one's inward orientation, __ (translated as both "propriety" and "ritual") has more to do with one's outward social behavior.

1911. With the proclamation of the republic in 1911, Confucianism could no longer exist as a theocratic political system.

With the overturn of imperial China and the establishment of the republic in ____, Confucianism ceased to exist as the official state orthodoxy.

Mencius. Mencius' believed that the only reason all people are not virtuous is because of their environment.

_______ strongly asserted that human nature was basically good.

Chu Hsi. With the integration of his work into the civil service curriculum, Chu Hsi greatly influenced the state orthodoxyfor the subsequent six centuries.

_______ was probably the most influential of the Neo-Confucians. In 1313, his commentaries on the Four Books were integrated into the curriculum of the civil service examinations.

Hsun-tzu. The writings of Hsun-tzu are significant to Confucianism in that they differ notably from the teachings of Confucius and Mencius.

________ lived in the third century BC. Though he is now known as the second greatest interpreter of Confucius behind Mencius, his teachings actually received greater acceptance than those of Mencius during his lifetime.

Wang Yang-ming. Wang Yang-ming did not see Chu Hsi's Great Ultimate present in both the world and the self. Rather, his philosophy argues that the Absolute was found within each individual subjective mind.

______________ lived three centuries after Chu Hsi. He is known for his criticism of Chu Hsi and the state orthodoxy built upon Chu Hsi's philosophy.