The Way of Ritual Propriety

• Analects is the collection of the sayings and actions of Confucius known in China as the Lunyu

• Most people in China today view Confucianism not as a religion but as a philosophy or a way of life

Our Story

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

  • He has been remembered as a communist and a capitalist, a political reformer and a law-and-order conservative, a humble sage and a pretentious know-it-all during his long afterlife in China and around the world

  • He has been hated and loved as an autocrat and a democrat, a misogynist and a feminist, an elitist and a man of the people, a royal and a commoner, an obsessive-compulsive ritualist and one of those losers who taught because he could not do

• He is remembered as China’s premier teacher and philosopher, an author and editor of the Confucian scriptures known as the Five Classics, and the most important person in Chinese history

  • He is also remembered as a superhuman spirit to whom the devout address their prayers and send up their sacrifices (Prothero 347)

Confucianism in Today’s World

• In western understanding, Confucianism is about empty rituals, wives obeying husbands, workers bowing and scraping their bosses, and the masses blindly following the great and powerful Chinese Communist Party (CCP)

• Compared to Confucian understanding, Confucianism provides ritual framework for practices such as ancestor venerations and the basic model for relationships between parents and children, husbands and wives. It teaches respect for authority to political elites even as it justifies resisting those elites under certain circumstances. Its emphasis on morals and etiquette provides a foundation for everyday conduct in the workplace and at home

Confucianism 101

• The Five Relationships: father and son, elder brother and younger brother, husband and wife, older friend and younger friend, and ruler and subject.

• These relationships reflect the age and gender hierarchies of ancient China. While the son must respect the older brother, the wife loyal to her husband, the subject to serve the ruler, there is also reciprocity. The father shows love to his son, the elder brother is gentle toward his younger brother, the husband is good to his wife, and the ruler is benevolent to his subjects. This connects to Confucianism’s goal of social harmony

  • We are social beings who become more fully ourselves by engaging with others. As more of us become more truly human, the families, communities, and societies in which we live became more ordered and harmonious. The individual goal of becoming more truly human aligns with the collective goal of social harmony

Confucianism at a Glance

• Problem: social chaos

• Solution: social harmony

• Techniques: humanness, ritual propriety, and various methods of self-cultivation

• Exemplars: junzi (profound person) and shengren (sage)

Confucianism is a tradition in which individuals seek to cultivate social harmony by reverting to the humanness and ritual propriety of the sage-kings of ancient China