Confucianism

Master Kong (Confucius)

Lived from 551—479 BCE

• Made head of the police department to fix the corruption, but quit after one year because he believed it was impossible

  • Impossible to get the older people to change their ways, you have to start young

• He then became a preschool teacher

  • If you want to make the city a better place, you have to teach the preschool kids to be honest, not to steal, and to respect their elders

  • Also taught preschool teachers, who taught more kids

Qin Shi Huang

1st emperor of China; lived from 259—210 BCE

• Unified all of the separate cities in China into one country 

  • Started building the Great Wall, roads, aquaducts, etc. 

  • Emperor who had all of the terracotta statues of soldiers guarding his grave

• Taxed everyone 50% in time—had to work for him for six months out of the year (building the wall, roads, etc.)

• Confucians did NOT like him

  • Preschool teachers told their students he was not a good emperor because he did not care for the people—he then killed thousands of preschool teachers

Ti’an

Literal translation is heaven, but it is not a place you go when you die

• (Think of pure land Buddhism—making a perfect place on Earth)

• Laws of Heaven

• Ideal way of living (in the sense that it is achievable)

Laws of Heaven

The right laws that we should all follow

• Difficult to translate into English because of the way our language works

Ren

Nobility

• A positive way of portraying nobility

Imagine a good Confucian ruler who respects the humanity of every single person

• Gets to know the people personally, knows their names, bows to them

  • Bowing in East Asia is a sign of respect for one another, bows are not only given to royalty

Li

• Propriety

• There is an appropriate way to act in every situation, which kids are taught from a young age

• In the Han Dynasty (second), Confucian teachings were taught in all schools, then people had to take a test on those teachings to work in government 

Propriety

The proper way to act

Rectification of Names

• Everything has a correct name that they must be called by

  • Seeks to fix miscommunication—being on the same page is very important

  • Only one word for everything

    • When you say a word, everybody knows exactly what you mean

• Chinese characters that represent ideas (NOT like letters)

Five Constant Relationships

Ruler—Ruled, Parents—Children, Husband—Wife, Older Siblings—Younger Siblings, Older Friends—Younger Friends

Ruler—Ruled

First Constant Relationship

• Many Confucians will say that this does not work without ren

• […] act with the people’s best interest at heart, so the [///] recognize this and respect them

• Respect the rules because they are there for your and everybody else’s benefit

Parents—Children

Second Constant Relationship

• [///] are taught to do what their […] tell them

• If [///] disrespect, curse, or argues with their […] in public, many times shop owners will not sell things to them

  • People will believe there is something not right with the family

• Family comes before the individual

• There are still people who are viewed as bad […] for not having their [///]’s best interest

• In many places (Chinatown in NYC) there are locks on the other side of the doors so […] can lock their [///] in the house so they do not embarrass the family in public

Husband—Wife

Third Constant Relationship

• […] must have the best interest of the [///]

• […] is the head of the household and [///] is there to support

Older Siblings—Younger Siblings

Fourth Constant Relationship

• Older son inherits everything and takes care of the entire family

• If a daughter is older, the son still inherits everything

Older Friends—Younger Friends

Fifth Constant Relationship

• Ex.) […] make the decision where to go to eat

Mencius

Argues that people are born good, but the societies that they live in turns them bad and leads them to do bad things

• Agrees with Xunxi that good societies restrain people from doing bad things

  • Crime is not a common problem in China (e.g., stealing); people are kind and respectful to one another

Xunxi

Argues that people are born greedy with some evil tendencies, and that is why we need to live according to Ti’an

• Agrees with Mencius that good societies restrain people from doing bad things

  • Crime is not a common problem in China (e.g., stealing); people are kind and respectful to one another