BEING DOING/MEANS ENDS Rén, , "benevolence, charity, humanity, love," kindness. The fundamental virtue of Confucianism. Confucius defines it as , "Ài rén," "love others."

[Analects XII:22 ] Yì, , "right conduct, morality, duty to one's neighbor," righteousness. Lì, , "profit, gain, advantage": NOT a proper motive for actions affecting others. The idea that profit is the source of temptation to do wrong is the Confucian ground of the later official disparagment of commerce and industry. The Master said, "The gentleman (chün tzu, ) understands yì. The small/mean man (hsiao-jen, ) understands lì." [Analects IV:16] Li3, , "propriety, good manners, politeness, ceremony, worship." Xiào, , "to honor one's parents," filial piety [Analects II:5 ]. Yì may be broken down [Analects IV:15 ] into: zhong1, , doing one's best, conscientiousness, "loyalty" [ note ]; and shù, , "reciprocity," altruism, consideration for others, "what you don't want yourself, don't do to others" [Analects XV:23 ]. quoted definitions, Mathews' Chinese-English Dictionary, Harvard, 1972; quotations from Analects translated by D.C. Lau, Penguin Books, 1979

Confucius himself had a simple moral and political teaching: to love others; to honor one's parents; to do what is right instead of what is of advantage; to practice "reciprocity," i.e. "don't do to others what you would not want yourself"; to rule by moral example ( ) instead of by force and violence; and so forth. Confucius thought that a ruler who had to resort to force had already failed as a ruler -- "Your job is to govern, not to kill" (Analects XII:19). This was not a principle that Chinese rulers always obeyed, but it was the ideal of benevolent ( ) rule. It should be noted, however, that even such humane principles are paternalistic and statist, without a hint of the ideals of individual liberty that are the basis of modern liberal society. Nevertheless, the Confucian ideal avoids the worst of modern paternalism with the principle of government by example and by "Not Doing" ( ), putting Confucianism closer to Taoism than to modern practices of authoritarian control. Confucius thought that government by laws and punishments could keep people in line, but government by example of virtue ( ) and good manners ( ) would enable them to control themselves (Analects II:3). "The way the wind blows, that's the way the grass bends" (Analects XII:19). Self-control, indeed, is the basis of all the industrious virtues that have made the Chinese people economically successful whenever they have been allowed to prosper, whether in California, Malaya, or China proper. Unfortunately, although Confucius himself says, "Wealth and high station are what men desire" (Analects, IV:5), later Confucians (beginning no later than Mencius) turned warnings against the temptation of profit ( ) into a condemnation of profit, which meant that their influence was often turned against the development of Chinese industry and commerce. Thus, Confucians themselves were perfectly happy to seek "high station," while stiffling the ability of ordinary Chinese to produce "wealth." Over time, this was an evil influence in Chinese history [note].



While the essence of morality is the limitation of self-interest, Confucius is clear that this does not mean complete denial of self. We have already seen a hint of this with Analects XV:23, which begins with the character for "self" and ends with the characters for "others" (or "persons"). If what you don't want for yourself, you shouldn't to do others, then you would like others to do for you what you would indeed like for yourself. We see a similar word structure, and stronger implication, at Analects VI:28, "If you desire to establish yourself, also establish others." This sounds more like what Mohism called "mutual profitableness," but it is clearly essential to Confucius. The idea is distilled in a modern Japanese saying, jiri rita, "self profit, profit other," or "self-interest[ed] altruism." This can, of course, also be read in Chinese, as shown. It contains different characters for "self" and "other" than Confucius uses, but these could easily be substituted, as can be seen by clicking on the image for a popup with the corresponding characters. Helping oneself and others at the same time is characteristic of what we might even call the "worldliness" of Confucianism and Chinese civilization. The Chinese have never been very big on the world-denying renunication so characteristic of India; and even though monasticism was brought to China by Buddhism and adopted by religious Taoism, Confucianism, which usually also meant the government, always remained suspicious of it: Monks and nuns were often suspected of being licentious freeloaders, an attitude we see expressed in the Judge Dee novels. The hostility to profit that can occur in Confucianism thus has to compete against this contrary sense that self-interest can be promoted by cooperating with and pleasing others -- the essence of a market exchange.

During the T'ang Dynasty, the canon of Confucian Classics became the basis for the great civil service examinations that henceforth provided the magistrates and bureaucrats (the "Mandarins") for the Chinese government. This system is still impressive, but, because of the attitude of the Confucian scholars, it was not entirely to good effect. The founder of the Míng Dynasty (1368-1644) Chu Yüan-chang, an illiterate peasant who rose to expel the Mongols and win the throne, was suspicious of the influence of the scholars. He tried to balance the scholarly with the military establishment so that neither would dominate the government. Later, when the Chinese sent Admiral Cheng Ho [Zheng He], a Muslim eunuch who started out as a war prisoner and slave, on seven great naval expeditions into the Indian Ocean between 1405 and 1433, it was the scholars who powerfully opposed engaging in anything so lowly as trade and dealing with such uncivilized barbarians. The expeditions, indeed, visited not only Indonesia and India, but penetrated into the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, and far down the east coast of Africa. The fleets were large, heavily manned, well armed, and contained ships of nine masts (the baochuan, "treasure ships") that, reportedly, were more than 400 feet long.

But when the court faction of the scholars triumphed and ended the expeditions, they also destroyed their records and made it a capital offense to build anything larger than a two-masted ship. This crippled Chinese trade and foreign involvement; and one is left to wonder just how world history would have been different had Vasco da Gama arrived in the Indian Ocean in 1498, just 65 years later, to discover an overwhelming and technologically equal or superior Chinese naval presence.

In China itself, the scholars indeed went on to dominate the government and tip the balance against the military, which left the country so unprepared that in 1644 the last Ming emperor was forced to call in Manchuria to deal with a rebellion. The Manchus took advantage of this to take over the country; and so the final Chinese Dynasty, the Ch'ing [Qing] (1644-1912), wasn't Chinese at all. This was probably not what the scholars would have wanted, but they had certainly brought it about. Curiously, the Ch'ing Emperors adopted scholarly sensibilities and retained Ming naval and maritime policy xenophobia. This left China once again helpless when forces technologically superior to the Portuguese, especially the British, eventually arrived, irresistibly pressing for commercial access to the country. The scholars never did adapt, and the examination system was eventually abolished rather than modernized.

A curious and noteworthy aspect of the teaching of Confucius is his arm's length attitude towards religion. There is considerably irony in this, not only because Confucianism later became one of the major religions of China, but in comparison to the life of Socrates, who was born just nine years after Confucius died. Socrates, although he talked about the gods all the time, and saw his own philosophical project as a divine mission, was condemned and put to death for presumably not believing in them. Confucius, although he later became a god, to whom temples were dedicated in every Chinese city, as the patron of students and scholars, nevertheless didn't talk about the gods at all:

The topics the Master did not speak of were prodigies, force, disorder, and gods. [Analects translated by D.C. Lau, Penguin Books, 1979, VII:21, p. 88]

The term for "god" here, (shin or kami in Japanese), is often translated "spirit" or even "spiritual beings." We see another term in this quote:

Chi-lu asked how the spirits of the dead and gods should be served. The Master said, "You are not able to serve to serve man. How can you serve the spirits?" [XI:12, p. 107]

"Spirits" or "spirits of the dead" here are kuei, , "spirits, demons, ghosts." This is a remarkable passage considering the attention given by Confucianism as a religion for one's ancestors and for the care of one's family grave plot (at Ch'ing Ming, , see below). This seems comparable to an instruction from Jesus:

[Matthew 8:21] And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. [8:22] But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.

Few Christians are so unconcerned about burial of relatives, or Confucians about the service of spirits -- although there was disagreement about the nature of the Chinese soul. What Confucius honored rather than pious ritual is implied here:

The Master was seriously ill. Tzu-lu asked permission to offer a prayer. The Master said, "Was such a thing ever done?" Tzu-lu said, "Yes it was. The prayer offered was as follows: pray thus to the gods above and below." The Master said, "In that case, I have long been offering my prayers." [VII:35, p. 91]

This is interpreted to mean that Confucius has been praying all that was necessary just by being good and polite. Further prayers are unnecessary.

While the practice of Confucianism was not entirely consistent with these principles of Confucius just expressed, his attitude did have a significant effect on the conduct of Chinese religion, where popular gods possessed less status in terms of politics and high culture than we see in most other civilizations. Thus, while most people have a least heard of major Indian gods, like Shiva and Krishna, I have frequently found entire classes of students who were unable to name even a single traditional Chinese god [note].

The government of Imperial China treated the gods rather like other subjects of the Empire, assigning them rank and promoting or demoting them depending on their popularity or moral wholesomeness. Confucian authorities thus never doubted their standing to judge the status and worth of the gods. The Imperial cult, like Confucius himself, was concerned with much more abstract and impersonal entities, like Heaven. Sometimes "Heaven," , is therefore translated "God," but it is a principle, one that is certainly inherent in things, but it is not a personal deity.

The reality of Heaven, however, does refute attempts to characterize Confucius as the sort of skeptical and positivistic "secular humanist" who has become familiar in modern society. That interpretation goes along with a program, motivated by the circumstances of Confucianism just considered, that has led many people to conclude that Confucianism was never a religion at all, either as we find it in Confucius or in the later tradition of the Literati. Since, as we know, Confucius did not talk about gods or spirits or the dead, and the principal content of the teaching of Confucius is clearly moral, social, and political, this interpretation is given a running start.

Le mot religion ne signifiait pas ce qu'il signifie pour nous; sous ce mot, nous entendons un corps de dogmes, une doctrine sur Dieu, un symbole de foi sur les mystères qui sont en nous et autour de nous; ce même mot, chez les anciens, signifiait rites, cérémonies, actes de culte extérieur. La doctrine était peu de chose; c'étaient les pratique qui étaient l'important; c'étaient elles qui étaient obligatoires et impérieuses. La religion était un lien matériel, une chaîne qui tenait l'homme esclave. The word religion did not signify what it signifies for us; by this word we understand a body of dogmas, a doctrine concerning God, a symbol of faith concerning what is in and around us. This same word, among the ancients, signified rites, ceremonies, acts of exterior worship. The doctrine was of small account: the practices were the important part; these were obligatory, and bound man (ligare, religio). Religion was a material bond, a chain which held man a slave. Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges, La cité antique, 1865, Préface par François Hartog, Introduction par Bruno Karsenti, Champs Classiques, Flammarion, Paris, 1984, 2009, p.237; The Ancient City, A Study of the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome, translated by Willard Small, 1874, Doubleday & Company, 1955, Dover Publications, 2006, p.167 Against the rites, do not look; against the rites, do not listen;

Against the rites, do not speak; against the rites, do not act. Confucius, Analects XII:1, translation after James Legge [1893], Arthur Waley [1938], D.C. Lau [1979], and Joanna C. Lee [2010] Tseng Tzu said, "Care for the dead, with rites for the ancestors,

and the virtue of the people culminates." Analects I:9 Such an interpretation, of Confucius as a "secular humanist," comes to grief, however, not only on the role and meaning of , "Heaven," but most importantly on the "Rites," . The meaning of this, strongly endorsed by Confucius, first of all as propriety and manners, also extends to the rites and rituals of Confucian religion, particularly in the veneration of one's ancestors and the care of the family grave plot. Thus, Analects II:5 is concerned with filial piety, , expressed through the practice of : That parents, when alive, should be served according to ; that, having died, they should be buried according to ; and that the sacrifice ( ) to their spirits should be according to . This sequence nicely bridges the range in meaning of from manners and propriety to the rites of burial and sacrifice to the dead. Confucians never regarded any unbelief they might have as abridging their duty to perform the public and private Rites required by the State and by Family. A Confucian neglectful of the Rites would not have been simply rebuked by the Emperor, but dismissed -- if not worse. And they would have disgraced their Family by neglecting its graves and shrines -- every year, at the Solar Term Ch'ing Ming, , "Clear and Bright," it is the duty of everyone to visit the family graves, to clean them up, and make offerings to the ancestors. Then you have a picnic. This practice is called , "sacrifice [and] sweep," although the "sacrifice" these days is mostly burning incense and paper money. Oddly enough, the religious character of the Rites was a matter of controversy in the Catholic Church. When the Jesuits arrived in China, they adopted a strategy, largely due to Matteo Ricci (1552-1610), of accepting Confucianism as the moral equivalent of Christianity. By this they hoped to persuade educated Chinese that they were already half Christian and should convert and come all the way over. At the same time, the Jesuits argued that the Rites of Confucianism were not religious at all and therefore the Chinese could in a sense remain Confucians once they converted to Christianity. And the Jesuits could present themselves as good Confucians in the Chinese Court. This outraged other Catholic missionaries in China, who were well aware that the pagan religion of the Romans who persecuted Christians was itself largely a matter of ritual, without the sort of superstructure of doctrine, creed, and confession that became famliar in Christianity itself and later in Islam. Thus, to avoid persecution, Christians did not need to abjure their faith or confess belief in the Roman gods. All they had to do was offer a libation at a pagan altar. Christians died rather than offer that libation; but the Jesuits were now saying that even participation in the Rites of the Chinese State, involving the worship of Heaven or the veneration of the Imperial ancestors, was perfectly acceptable. As it happened, the Jesuit strategy was ineffective in converting many Chinese. But it did make the Jesuits acceptable enough that they found a permanent place at the Ming Court, renewed in the subsequent Ch'ing Dynasty, providing advice on the calendar. This was harmless enough that the controversy over the Rites faded away, now to be revived in attempts to reinterpret Confucianism as a form of secular humanism before-its-time. All such efforts, however, fall afoul of the history of religion, where most of ancient religion, and a great deal of modern, consists of ritual practices whose purpose or rationality is not at all obvious and which are not justified by the sort of systematic theology that became familiar in the Western monotheistic religions -- Protestants even rejected much of the traditional ritual of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. Thus, opinion polls in Japan consistently report that a large majority of Japanese are not religious, even while a large majority of Japanese participate in the Rites of the New Year and other occasions at Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples, and otherwise patronize these places for prayer and amulets to help with personal problems, from disease to driving safety. A country with little Shinto shrines in laundromats or on the roofs of department stores does not seem to me to be particularly irreligious -- in the clever title of the book by Ian Reader and George Tanabe, it is Practically Religious [U. of Hawai'i Press, 2004]. Theirs is still a religion of practice more than of confession -- and questions from pollsters about religious belief tend to evoke unpleasant associations with people like the Jehovah's Witnesses coming to the door. Thus, a secularized Confucianism only makes sense in terms of a particular kind of religion, that of doctrine and confession familiar in the Mediaeval and Modern West and Middle East. This was not the tradition in China or the peripheral countries within China's sphere of influence. Editorial Note: This page on Confucius is intended to focus on some particular issues of ethics and political economy that are important for the Friesian School and which I have stressed in my classes. There is consequently nothing here about his life, which is largely legendary anyway. Specialists may consider the detail here insufficient and oversimplified, and certainly anyone with a serious interest in Confucius should go to treatments by real historians of Chinese philosophy. But the goal here is summary and basic, and could even be regarded as tendentious. Indeed, the philosophy links are largely to pages that otherwise have little to do with Chinese philosophy. The historical links are edifying in their own way. Both Wades-Giles and Pinyin transcriptions are used on this page because both will be encountered in academic sources on China and Chinese philosophy. There are also Chinese people, as from Taiwan, who refuse to use Pinyin because of its origin and associations (with Communist China). Pinyin has some convenient innovations (like d for /t/), but it is also is phonetically redundant (with separate symbols for palatal and retroflex intitials, which are unnecessary) and gives some letters values (like /thsh/, English "ch," for q) that are opaque and bewildering for those not already familiar with the system. Psychological Types, Typology of Chinese Virtues The Six Relationships and the Mandate of Heaven The Confucian Chinese Classics The Examination System Key Passages in the Analects of Confucius Chinese Virtues The Chinese Soul Ethics History of Philosophy, Chinese Philosophy History of Philosophy Home Page Copyright (c) 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019 Kelley L. Ross, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved

Confucius, Note 1 Terms for Buddhism, like or , are joined by other expressions with the character , Japanese Sô, which is actually a transcription of Sanskrit , the Buddhist monastic community. Thus, is a Buddhist monk; and both mean the Buddhist monastic community, i.e. the Sangha; and, of course for Buddhism itself. In Japanese, , read Sômon, still means the Sangha, but , read sôka, now means a Buddhist temple. Also in Japanese, , read sôjô, means the chief "priest," or monk, of a Buddhist sect, a , read Shû, e.g. the Tendai Shû, . For more discussion of some of these terms, see The Six Schools of Japan. The Huí The Hàn, , Chinese are to be contrasted, for instance, with the Huí, , Chinese, who are simply those who practice ʾIslâm, (i.e. the "religion of the Huí"). But ʾIslâm never became a "Fourth Way." For one thing, ʾIslâm, like Judaism and Christianity, was exclusivistic and could never think of itself as part of a larger system with Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. And that is what the "Three Ways" were about. One could include practices from all three, as part of a uniquely Chinese, , syncreticism. Confucians might always be distrustful or disrespectful of Taoism and Buddhism, but elements of Taoism and Buddhism were unavoidable in the life of Confucians. But Muslims in general would avoid elements of any of them. They dressed differently and ate differently, avoiding pork, which may have been the foremost meat animal in the Chinese diet -- the character for "family" and "home," , shows a pig, , under a roof (just as "peace," , shows a woman under a roof, i.e. at home). No Muslim is going to put a pig under their roof. Also, the practice of circumcision likely suggested physical dismemberment, which was viewed with horror in all Chinese religion. Since huí, , can also mean "Turks" or "Uighurs," Muslim Chinese obviously were thought of as the equivalent of foreigners. Confucians originally thought of Buddhists as similarly un-Chinese; but Buddhism became so popular after the fall of the Later Hàn Dynasty (220 AD) that, by the time of the Suí (590-618) and T'ang [Táng] (618-906), it was accepted as properly Chinese. The Huí are still counted as an ethnic minority, some 6,490,000 as of 1980, and in the northern province of Ningxia constitute a majority of the population. Although this usage has now lapsed, the Huí, or Huíhuí ( ), in the Ming Dynasty meant Jews and Christians as well as Muslims. All three groups had come down the Silk Road from Central Asia. The original Christians in this case, of course, were the Nestorians who appeared at the T'ang court in 635. Jews as well as Muslims did not eat pork. They all used related sacred languages, like Arabic, Syriac, and Hebrew. They claimed many of the same prophets, like Abraham, Joseph, and Moses. To the Chinese then, although there might be some differences between these groups, they were more similar to each other than to anyone else, and very different in belief, language, culture, and diet from the Chinese. A telling incident in this respect was when Matteo Ricci received permission to attend the Ming Court, where he was then present from 1601 until his death in 1610. This extraordinary privilege for a foreigner, a "Southern" barbarian, , was granted because of the demonstrated mastery of astronomy by the Portuguese Jesuits, and because Ricci had learned the Chinese language and literature to the point where he could converse, and argue, as an equal with other courtiers and officials. This cannot fail to impress even now. No one previously in Europe had known anything about the Chinese language or writing system. That such permission was granted to Ricci is more extraordinary when we realize that the Emperor at the time, the Wan-li Emperor, had become a recluse and refused to appear in Court from 1600 until his death in 1620. In many disastrous ways this left the government simply unsupervised and undirected. But the Emperor was not entirely unaware of what was going on, and took the trouble, as noted, to do things like allow Matteo Ricci to be received at Court. But since the Emperor himself would then never attend Court, he never would lay eyes on Ricci. But he was not without curiosity. So he instructed a Court painter to make a portrait of Ricci and bring it to him. So the Wan-li Emperor never saw Ricci, but he did see what the man looked like. And the Emperor's response was: This was a -- big nose, round eyes, etc. Later, Europeans would be given a new designation, as "Franks," (a term also used for European firearms, especially where the character means "machine"), following usage in ʾIslâm (Arabic ) and in India (Hindi ). Return to text Confucius, Note 2 In Japan, as "loyalty," pronounced chû, comes to mean "blind loyalty," absolute obedience to a feudal lord or the emperor, regardless of whether instructions are right or wrong. This was in stark contrast to the Chinese sense, where an expression of "true" loyalty might be the willingness to be put to death rather than do what is wrong. See Analects XI:24 and "Zen and the Art of Divebombing, or The Dark Side of the Tao." Return to text Confucius, Note 3; Profit in Confucianism The attitude of Confucius towards profit ( ) is, at best, ambiguous. The most interesting statement is Analects IV:5, "Wealth and high station are what men desire, but unless I got them in the right way, I would not remain in them. Poverty and low station are what men dislike, but even if I did not get them in the right way, I would not try to escape from them" [D.C. Lau, p.72]. There is some question about the translation here, but the thought is clearly that if wealth and high station can only be obtained, or poverty and obscurity avoided, by wrongful actions, then the good person will still not do wrong but will willingly accept the poverty and obscurity. While Confucians would always disparage those working for profit, they certainly had no disinclination to avoid "high station," which eventually would be obtained through the system of Examinations (allowing them to live off the wealth generated by others). Yet Confucius treats profit and high station identically here, so one might think that pursuing high station, i.e. the government rank of a Mandarin, would be no more worthy than the wealth generation of the merchant. The interpretation we get, indeed, is what proved advantageous for the Confucians. Some other statements in the Analects are ambiguous but tending towards condemnation. Thus, at VII:12 we find, "If wealth were a permissible pursuit, I would be willing even to act as a guard holding a whip outside the market place. If it is not, I shall follow my own preferences" [ibid. p.87]. Since we do not find Confucius working as a guard, and he does follow his own "preferences," it looks like wealth would not be a "permissible pursuit." I had a student produce a Confucius quote from the internet: "One who, on seeing profit, thinks of righteousness, may be considered a perfect man [ ]." I tracked this down to a webpage which took it to mean, "Confucianism regards as ideal the harmony between profit and justice. Profit (or wealth) per se is not regarded as immoral, but it should be in harmony with justice." Now, I think this all would be a constructive and beneficial interpretation of Confucius (which the student unfortunately took to be unproblematic), but I am not sure we can quite get that out of the text. It does not follow from the quote given (Analects XIV:12), for that need not be interpreted to allow the "perfect man" to go ahead and pursue the profit after thinking of righteousness. He may well be stopped in his tracks. And the quote has been redacted. In full (according to Lau), it goes, "If a man remembers what is right at the sight of profit, is ready to lay down his life in the face of danger, and does not forget sentiments [or promises] he has repeated all his life even when he has been in straitened circumstances for a long time, he may be said to be a complete man" [p.126]. This has a very different feel to it and clearly, with the reference to danger (and previous references to the wise), is not describing the righteous merchant. Another passage whose ambiguity is a matter of the translation is Analects IV:2, , , "A benevolent person is content with benevolence; a knowing person profits from benevolence." This aphorism is something that is a little puzzling to even the most venerable translators. James Legge [1893] translates it, "The virtuous rest in virtue; the wise desire virtue." Arthur Waley [1938] sees it as, "The Good Man rests content with Goodness; he that is merely wise pursues Goodness in the belief that it pays to do so." D.C. Lau [1979] has a very prolix version, "The benevolent man is attracted to benevolence because he feels at home in it. The wise man is attracted to benevolence because he finds it to his advantage." Finally, Joanna C. Lee and Ken Smith [2010] say, "A kind person is content with his kindness, a wise person uses it for further ends." Here we find rendered as "virtuous," "Good," "benevolent," and "kind." The last two are appropriate. The first two, especially Legge's, are not the right idea. The character is translated" is translated "wise" by everyone, which is not so bad, although the basic meaning is just "knowledge." The key word here, however, is the heavily loaded , "profit." The interest of the passage is that this looks like a positive use of the word, which seems extraordinary, if not unique, for Confucius, and quite contrary to later Confucians. The difficulty of believing this picture seems to motivate the translations of Legge and Waley. Legge avoids the problem by translating as "desire," which voids the dilemma posed by its actual meaning. Waley adopts the expedient of speaking of the "merely wise," supplying a concept that is not there in Chinese, to make it sound like the wise man is improperly motivated, as looking for something that "pays" is ignoble -- which otherwise does seem to often be the sentiment of Confucius. D.C. Lau says much the same thing but without the sour and disparaging form. Lee and Smith follow more succintly. It is hard to avoid the sense that the wise/knowledgeable person knows how to derive a benefit, , from benevolence, while the merely benevolent one is content with his virtue -- he is at peace, . But part of the problem here is just that it seems to be an unusual construction with these characters. After Confucius, Mencius starts in after profit like bulldog. At the very beginning of the Mencius, , King Hui of Liang asks, "Venerable sir, since you have not counted it far to come here, a distance of a thousand li, may I presume that you are provided with counsels to profit my kingdom?" [James Legge translation, The Works of Mencius, Dover, 1970, p.125]. Mencius in an annoyed and irascible way answers by taking exception to the use of the word "profit." He is not there to do anything of profit for the King, but only of "benevolence and righteousness" [ ]. "Let your Majesty also say, 'Benevolence and righeousness, and let these be your only themes.' Why must you use that word 'profit'?" [ibid. p.127]. From such a beginning, it is not surprising what follows in the Confucian tradition. By the way, King Hui of Liang was Hui of Wei, , one of the Six Kingdoms during the Warring States Period. He was a first the Marquis (Hou) of Wei (344-334) and then King (Wang) of Wei (334-319 BC). See the details of the ranks of Chinese feudal nobility elsewhere. Liang ( ) was the capital of Wei. It would later be one of the Six Southern Dynasties (502-557 AD). Judge Dee afterwards would be made the Duke of Liang ( ). Return to text Confucius, Note 4; Chinese Gods An example of a popular Chinese god would be the goddess of mercy, Kuan-yin, (or -- Kannon or Kanzeon in Japanese, Kwanse'um in Korean, or Quan-âm in Vietnamese), who was a Chinese development of the Buddhist Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara -- the one who "Observes the Sounds of the World" (literally, avalokitâ, "observer," îshvara, "lord"). Three other popular gods in China are Fú, , Lù, , and Shòu, -- "Happiness," "Success," and "Longevity." Lù, consistent with Confucian ideas about "success," is shown in the robes of a Chinese judge, like Judge Dee, while Shòu, consistent with religious Taoist aspirations for immorality, is shown with the grooming and accoutrements of a wandering Taoist sage. The three gods get combined into one in Japan, Fukurokuju, , as seen at left. A god perhaps the most familiar to Westerners, but usually misidentified, is Pu-tai, , seen at right. He is commonly called the "Laughing Buddha" but is not a Buddha -- in popular culture, as in the Ming novel Journey to the West, ("Record of the Western Journey"), he seems to be identified with the Bodhisattva Maitreya. His name actually means "Cloth Bag," after the bag he carries, holding presents. He is, after a fashion, simply the Chinese Santa Claus, fat, jolly, and generous. In Japanese his name is Hotei. In Japanese observance, Fukurokuju and Hotei are among the Seven Lucky Gods, the Shichifukushin, , or Seven Gods of Good Fortune, who usher in a prosperous New Year. Return to text Burning Money, The Material Spirit of the Chinese Lifeworld, by C. Fred Blake, University of Hawai'i Press, 2011 The Six Relationships and

the Mandate of Heaven Whoever is called a great minister,

when he finds that he cannot morally serve his prince, he resigns. Confucius, Analects XI:23/24, translation after James Legge [1893], Arthur Waley [1938], D.C. Lau [1979], and Joanna C. Lee & Ken Smith [2010] , . When a man has been your teacher for a single day,

you should treat him as your father for the rest of his life. Journey to the West, , Volume II

[Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, 1993, 2007, p.711] The "Six Relationships" or "Six Relations," , are supposed to be the basis of all social connections between persons, and all six are based on the fundamental relationship between parents and children. Thus they are all variations of xiào, or "filial piety" (Latin pietas filialis), the religious respect that children owe to their parents. Originally, the "six" referred to the six members of three sets of relations, as follows:

1 2 3 4 5 6

Different versions of these three sets can be found, however, and it is possible to expand the system so as to contain six entirely different sets of relations, including the following at right:

4 5 6

While the classic form of the six relationships did contain only three pairs, the later influence of the theory of the five elements gave the impression that there should be "five relationships," . Being an odd number, five relationships would require five whole pairs, not two and a half pairs. These are given with the Chinese Elements. Teacher and student seems to be the pair that gets left out in that version -- here distinguished by a darker background, and by my not being aware of a simple two-character expression for the relationship, as with the other five.

In each of the relationships, the superior member (father, husband, etc.) has the duty of benevolence and care for the subordinate member (son, wife, etc.). The subordinate member has the duty of obedience. The only exception might be the relationship between friend and friend, which may actually involve equality -- unless, of course, one is older than the other, which would turn it into a relationship like that between older and younger brother. The reverential attitude toward the teacher (rather like the relationship in India to the guru) may be easily seen in the Bruce Lee movie The Chinese Connection [1972], in which Bruce Lee avenges the murder of his boxing master, whom he all but worships, by the Japanese in 1930's Shanghai. The expression (sensei, also "teacher," in Japanese) is used today for the title "Mr." in Modern Chinese. In European languages, we see feudal titles like "lord" (Señor, Herr) and "master" used as such an honorific, while in Chinese it is "teacher" instead.

Unlike India, where social obedience was absolute and, for instance, a wife was supposed to obey and worship her husband even if he was worthless, unfaithful, abusive, etc. (because it would be her karma to be in such a relationship), obedience in the Six Relationships in China was contingent on the superior member actually observing their duty to be benevolent, , and caring. Since the highest Confucian "obedience" is to do what is right, "true" obedience to parents, husband, ruler, etc. is to refuse to obey any orders to do what is wrong.

Refusal to obey the emperor out of "true" obedience could, of course, get one put to death; and Chinese history celebrates such martyrs. An emperor who was no longer benevolent, however, could also be overthrown, and that is an interesting consequence of the conditional nature of obedience. In this area, the matter is usually stated as part of the theory of the , the "Mandate of Heaven." This means at least four things, the first two of which are already present in the thought of Confucius himself:

The moral order of the universe: Thus Confucius says, "At fifty I understood the Mandate of Heaven" [Analects II:4], i.e. knew what right and wrong were, and also perhaps the design of good government. Fate: Thus, in the Analects one of Confucius's students is quoted as saying, "Life and death are the Mandate of Heaven," i.e. beyond our control [Analects XII:5]. The right to rule: This becomes the most important meaning of the "Mandate of Heaven." Knowing the moral order of the universe and actually observing it make one a worthy ruler. Otherwise one has no business, and no right, being in power. Such an idea is quite different from mediaeval European ideas about government, where the king (Pope, emperor, or whatever) often derived authority directly from God and was answerable only to God. There was therefore no right to rebellion in Western thought until the Protestant Reformation (which questioned the authority of Catholic rulers). But the right to rule of the Chinese ruler is conditional. The judgment of history: This combines the "right to rule" with "fate," for the Chinese view was that losing the Mandate of Heaven as the right to rule would shortly be followed by the actual loss of power. The historical precedent for this was the brief and ferocious rule of the Qin Dynasty (255-207 BC) followed by the more benign and durable tenure of the Han emperors (the Former Han 206 BC-25 AD, the Later Han 25 AD-220). This becomes a principle that informs the writing of Chinese history: Beginning with the Later Han Dynasty, one of first acts of a traditional Chinese dynasty was the commissioning of an official history of the previous dynasty (in that case the great History of the Former Hàn Dynasty). Such a history in effect becomes the certificate of legitimacy for the new dynasty, showing how the previous dynasty was at first benevolent but then eventually lost the Mandate of Heaven, which means it was the obligation of the new dynasty to replace it. The history of the last Chinese dynasty, the Qing (1644-1912), was completed by the government of the Republic of China on Taiwan.

The Confucian Chinese Classics

Key Passages in the Analects of Confucius

Ethics

History of Philosophy, Chinese Philosophy

History of Philosophy

Home Page

The Confucian Chinese Classics

, . (1) With the enemy who has slain his father,

one should not live under the same heaven. (2) With the enemy of [one's slain] father,

do not allow the heaven above be shared. The Book of Rites, translated (1) by James Legge, Intercultural Press, Beijing, Washington, 2013, p.20; literal translation (2).

The word for a classic text is Ching [Pinyin Jing1, Kyô in Japanese, Kinh in Vietnamese]. The Confucian classics [ ] are the texts of the Confucian or the Ju [Rú], "Learned," School. Taoism [q.v.] has its own classics [ ], including the Tao Te Ching [ ]; and ching is used to translate the Sanskrit word sûtra for Buddhist texts. Buddhism thus has its own "classics" [ ],

The Five Classics: 1. I Ching, , Book of Changes 2. Shih Ching, , Book of Odes (Songs/Poetry) -- Kinh-Thi in Vietnamese 3. Shu Ching, , Book of History 4. Li Chi, , Records of Ritual (or Book of Rites, the Li Ching, ) includes: 4a. Ta Hsüeh, , The Great Learning [1] 4b. Chung Yung, , The Doctrine of the Mean [1] 5. Ch'un Ch'iu, , Spring and Autumn Annals [2] The Nine Classics: 6. Chou Li, , Rites of Chou (part of the Li Ching) 7. I Li, , Ceremonial and Ritual (part of the Li Ching) 8. Hsiao Ching, , Filial Piety Classic 9. Lun Yü, , Analects [1] The Thirteen Classics: 10. Meng Tzu, , the Mencius [1] 11. Erh Ya, , Dictionary of Terms 12. Kung-yang Chuan, , commentary on Ch'un Ch'iu 13. Ku-liang Chuan, , commentary on Ch'un Ch'iu [3]

The I Ching, , is supposed to be the oldest of the Classics. Indeed, its device of broken and unbroken lines appears to go back to the oracle bones of the Shang Dynasty. It ends up as much more than just a Confucian Classic, with strong affinities to most of the rest of Chinese philosophy, especially the Yin-Yang and Taoist Schools. The dualism and Yin and Yang is discussed here in a separate essay; it is also used as a device for organizing the Chinese elements.

The notes in the table refer to the following glosses:

The "Five Classics" were originally supposed to correspond to the Liu Yi, or the "Six Arts," including the Yüeh Ching, or Book of Music, which is no longer preserved as separate work, according to Fung Yu-lan (A Short History of Chinese Philosophy, Free Press, 1948, 1966, p. 39). The Confucian Canon began to be taught in government schools in the Former Han Dynasty, to educate officials. In the T'ang Dynasty, a system of civil service examinations was created to qualify officials. It was used down to the 20th century [note]. Hence, the Chinese god Lù, "prosperity, success, salary," is seen in the robes of a Chinese judge. The Portuguese called Chinese officials "mandarins," getting the word from Sanskrit (mantrin) by way of Malay (menteri), meaning "counselor." "Mandarin" not only stuck to the officials, in many languages, but has widely become the name of the principal spoken language of China.

The Classics are listed here as given in Mathews' Chinese-English Dictionary [Harvard, 1972] under ching, character 1123, p.156.



Confucius [K'ung-fu-tzu or Kongfuzi]

The Examination System

History of Philosophy, Chinese Philosophy

History of Philosophy

Home Page