Chapter 8 - Confucianism

Analects

collection of the sayings and actions of Confucius

Confucius

key figure in classical Confucianism, credited as the author of the Analects and later divinized

Three Sovereigns

rulers who together inaugurated Chinese civilization: Fuxi the Ox Tamer, Shennong the Divine Farmer, and Huangdi the Yellow Emperor

Duke of Zhou

eleventh-century BCA culture hero glorified by Confucius as the exemplar of Confucian virtues

mandate of heaven

authority to rule given by heaven to a virtuous dynasty and withdrawn from an unvirtuous one

Five Classics

core texts of classical Confucianism: Book of History, Book of Poetry, Book of Rites, Book of Changes, and Spring and Autumn Annals

ru

Chinese word for scholar and the source for the term "Ruism," a popular alternative to "Confucianism"

ren

key Confucian virtue of humaneness, or benevolence

li

key Confucian virtue of ritual propriety

filial piety (xiao)

respect for and deference to one's parents

junzi

profound person, exemplar emphasized by classical Confucians

sage (shengren)

wise person, exemplar emphasized by Neo-Confucians

Mohists

Confucian rivals who criticized Confucius's preoccupation with elaborate rituals and sought social harmony through universal love rather than filial piety

Legalists

law-and-order rivals to Confucians who argued that social harmony required strong central government and strict laws and punishments

Mencius

China's Second Sage, who insisted that human nature is essentially good

Xunzi

key classical Confucian figure who insisted that human nature is essentially wicked

Neo-Confucianism

reinvention and revival of Confucianism that drew on Buddhist and Daoist influences to turn the Confucian tradition inward toward self-cultivation

Four Books

fundamental texts for Neo-Confucianism: Analects, Mencius, Great Learning, and Doctrine of the Mean

Zhu Xi

most influential Neo-Confucian thinker; compiler of the Four Books