Confucianism

History Metaphysical antecedents The dragon is one of the oldest symbols of Chinese religious culture. It symbolises the supreme godhead, Di or Tian , at the north ecliptic pole , around which it coils itself as the homonymous constellation . It is a symbol of the "protean" supreme power which has in itself both yin and yang . [ 1 ] Birthplaces of notable Chinese philosophers of the Hundred Schools of Thought in Zhou dynasty. Confucians are marked by triangles in dark red. See also: History of religion in China According to He Guanghu , Confucianism may be identified as a continuation of the Shang - Zhou ( c.  1600 –256 BC) official religion, or the Chinese aboriginal religion which has lasted uninterrupted for three thousand years. [ 2 ] Both the dynasties worshipped a supreme "godhead", called Shangdi ('Highest Deity') or Di by the Shang and Tian ('Heaven') by the Zhou. Shangdi was conceived as the first ancestor of the Shang royal house, [ 3 ] an alternate name for him being the "Supreme Progenitor" ( 上甲 ; Shàngjiǎ ). [ 4 ] Shang theology viewed the multiplicity of gods of nature and ancestors as parts of Di . Di manifests as the Wufang Shangdi with the winds ( 風 ; fēng ) as its cosmic will. [ 5 ] With the Zhou dynasty, which overthrew the Shang, the name for the supreme godhead became tian . [ 3 ] While the Shang identified Shangdi as their ancestor-god to assert their claim to power by divine right, the Zhou transformed this claim into a legitimacy based on moral power, the Mandate of Heaven . In Zhou theology, Tian had no singular earthly progeny, but bestowed divine favour on virtuous rulers. Zhou kings declared that their victory over the Shang was because they were virtuous and loved their people, while the Shang were tyrants and thus were deprived of power by Tian . [ 6 ] John C. Didier and David Pankenier relate the shapes of both the ancient Chinese characters for Di and Tian to the patterns of stars in the northern skies, either drawn, in Didier's theory by connecting the constellations bracketing the north celestial pole as a square, [ 7 ] or in Pankenier's theory by connecting some of the stars which form the constellations of the Big Dipper and broader Ursa Major , and Ursa Minor (Little Dipper). [ 8 ] Cultures in other parts of the world have also conceived these stars or constellations as symbols of the origin of things, the supreme godhead, divinity and royal power. [ 9 ] The supreme godhead was also identified with the dragon , symbol of unlimited power ( qi ), [ 3 ] of the protean primordial power which embodies both yin and yang in unity, associated to the constellation Draco which winds around the north ecliptic pole , [ 1 ] and slithers between the Little and Big Dipper. Zhou traditions wane By the 6th century BC, the power of Tian and the symbols that represented it on earth (architecture of cities, temples, altars and ritual vessels , and the Zhou system of rites) became "diffuse" and claimed by different potentates in the Zhou states to legitimise economic, political, and military ambitions. Communication with the divine no longer was an exclusive privilege of the Zhou royal house, but might be bought by anyone able to afford the elaborate ceremonies and the old and new rites required to access the authority of Tian . [ 10 ] Besides the waning Zhou ritual system, what may be defined as 'wild' ( 野 ; yě ) traditions, or traditions outside of the official system, developed as attempts to access the will of Tian . As central political authority crumbled in the wake of the collapse of the Western Zhou , the population lost faith in the official tradition, which was no longer perceived as an effective way to communicate with Heaven. The traditions of the 'Nine Fields' ( 九野 ) and of the Yijing flourished. [ 11 ] Chinese thinkers, faced with this challenge to legitimacy, diverged in a " Hundred Schools of Thought ", each positing its own philosophical lens for understanding the processes of the world. Confucius (551–479 BC) appeared in this period of political reconfiguration and spiritual questioning. He was educated in Shang–Zhou traditions, which he contributed to transmit and reformulate giving centrality to self-cultivation and agency of humans, [ 6 ] and the educational power of the self-established individual in assisting others to establish themselves (the 愛人 ; àirén ; 'principle of loving others'). [ 12 ] As the Zhou reign collapsed, traditional values were abandoned resulting in a period of perceived moral decline. Confucius saw an opportunity to reinforce values of compassion and tradition into society, with the intended goal of reconstructing what he believed to be a lost perfect moral order of high antiquity. Disillusioned with the culture, opposing scholars, and religious authorities of the time, he began to advance an ethical interpretation of traditional Zhou religion. [ 13 ] In his view, the power of Tian is pervasive, and responds positively to the sincere heart driven by humaneness and rightness, decency and altruism. Confucius conceived these qualities as the foundation needed to restore socio-political harmony. Like many contemporaries, Confucius saw ritual practices as efficacious ways to access Tian , but he thought that the crucial knot was the reverent inner state that participants enter prior to engaging in the ritual acts. [ 14 ] Confucius is said to have amended and recodified the classical books inherited from the Xia-Shang-Zhou dynasties, and to have composed the Spring and Autumn Annals . [ 15 ] Confucianism rises Philosophers in the Warring States period , both focused on state-endorsed ritual and non-aligned to state ritual built upon Confucius's legacy, compiled in the Analects , and formulated the classical metaphysics that became the lash of Confucianism. In accordance with Confucius, they identified mental tranquility as the state of Tian , or 'the One' ( 一 ; Yī ), which in each individual is the Heaven-bestowed divine power to rule one's own life and the world. They also extended the theory, proposing the oneness of production and reabsorption into the cosmic source, and the possibility to understand and therefore reattain it through correct state of mind. This line of thought would have influenced all Chinese individual and collective-political mystical theories and practices thereafter. [ 16 ] In the Han dynasty, Confucians beginning with Dong Zhongshu synthesised Warring States Confucianism with ideas of yin and yang , and wuxing , as well as folk superstition and the prior schools that led up to the School of Naturalists . [ 17 ] In the 460s , Confucianism competed with Chinese Buddhism and "traditional Confucianism" was "a broad cosmology that was as much about personal ethics as about spiritual beliefs" and had roots that went back to Confucianist philosophers from over a thousand years before. [ 18 ] Decline The Confucian examination system was abolished in Korea in 1894, in China in 1905, and in Vietnam in 1919. This meant that conformity to Confucian ideology was no longer a prerequisite for a career in the civil service or politics, allowing persons of other ideologies (notably Nationalism and Socialism) to attain leading positions in society. [ 19 ] ^ a b Pankenier (2013) , p. 55. ^ Chen (2012) , p. 105, note 45. ^ a b c Libbrecht (2007) , p. 43. ^ Didier (2009) , pp. 227–228, Vol. II. ^ Didier (2009) , pp. 143–144, Vol. II. ^ a b Fung (2008) , p. 163. ^ Didier (2009) , p. 103, Vol. II. ^ Pankenier (2013) , pp. 138–148, "Chapter 4: Bringing Heaven Down to Earth". ^ Didier (2009) , passim Vol. I. ^ Didier (2009) , pp. xxxvi–xxxvii, Vol. I. ^ Didier (2009) , pp. xxxvii–xxxviii, Vol. I. ^ Zhou (2012) , p. 2. ^ Ivanhoe, Philip J. ; Van Norden, Bryan W. (2005). Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy (2nd ed.). Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company . p. 2. ISBN   0-87220-781-1 . OCLC   60826646 . ^ Didier (2009) , Vol. III, pp. 96–99. ^ Zhou (2012) , p. 1. ^ Didier (2009) , pp. xxxviii–xxxix, Vol. I. ^ Willard Gurdon Oxtoby, ed. (2002). World Religions: Eastern Traditions (2nd ed.). Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford University Press . pp.  169– 170. ISBN   0-19-541521-3 . OCLC   46661540 . ^ Frankopan, Peter (March 2017). The Silk Roads: A New History of the World (First Vintage Books ed.). New York: Vintage Books . p. 32. ISBN   978-1-101-94633-6 . ^ Liu, Haifeng (October 2007) [2006]. "Influence of China's imperial examinations on Japan, Korea and Vietnam". Frontiers of History in China . 2 (4). Translated by Yang Chunyan: 493– 512. doi : 10.1007/s11462-007-0025-5 . Originally published in Xueshu Yuekan 学术月刊 [ Academic Monthly ] 2006 (12): 136–142.

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