Confucianism - The Teaching of Life

Confucian philosophy

Confucian philosophy is the "teaching of life". As the main direction of Chinese philosophy, Confucianism has developed over 2000 years, but we can still feel its central idea from those years, which is contained and contributes to the development today.

The teaching of life is constantly evolving and changing around the “way of being a human being.” This means that the exercises of self-improvement that make a person himself or what he is are the central key to the development of Confucianism. Therefore, rather than viewing Confucian philosophy as a metaphysics that focuses on ontology, it is better to reveal it as a kind of practical philosophy that focuses on personality and virtues.

This means that the starting point of Confucian philosophy is the theory of mind-heart and human nature (心性), which is mainly concerned with morality.

Based on the above, the development of Confucianism can be described as follows: from the perspective of “self-development” in the pre-Qing Dynasty, Confucianism provided two main ideas for the younger generation: the theory of mind and nature; and the theory of self-knowledge. Confucianism in the Song and Ming Dynasties can also be examined from the above two aspects, as well as the problematic of the necessary academic effort to understand modern Neo-Confucianism, that is, how it can be retold in the context of modern philosophy.

 In general, this course insists on two principles. One is to show the internal connection between Confucianism and ancient Greek philosophy, because both can be recognized as a way of life from the point of view of self-improvement theory or spiritual exercises; the other is to consider Confucianism as a system of knowledge in the form of modern philosophy, which belongs to science and is not an object of faith and especially not a religion.

Why can't Confucianism be considered a religion?

In classical Confucianism, there are several reasons: there is no myth about the creation of the world, and there is no mention of heaven or hell. Confucian philosophy presupposes methodical, reflective thinking about life.

This kind of thinking takes life as an object; from this point of view, the theory of life, the theory of the universe, the theory of knowledge all arise from this type of thinking - the product of reflective thinking. This idea creates a contrast between philosophy and religion, and the value of Confucian philosophy lies in morality or super-moral values, and this is nothing other than being a sage.

The highest achievement of the sage is the identification of the individual with the universe. This identification is not a mysterious state of the soul, but is based on the virtues that we can achieve in our personality.

What is Confucianism?

Confucius (孔子，Kongzi, 551-479 BC)

Confucius's ideas on the importance of practical and moral values were collected by his disciples in the Analects (论语), and formed the basis of the philosophy known as Confucianism.

When considering Confucianism, the term Zhu is also important, (Ru, 儒) (further I will often skip the entry in Palladium or Pinyin, in this context it is enough to search both in Russian and foreign sources) This term has existed for a long time even before Confucius. Regarding the origin zhu There are several proposals; I believe (Lecturer) that Zhu - these are the type of people who serve the Lord as assistants in rituals that offer sacrifices to the deities of Heaven, earth, mountains, rivers and the ten thousand things in the world, especially the spirits of the ancestors.

The word "Confucianism" is somewhat misleading because it does not include the sense that people called zhu, are scientists and thinkers.

These people are the teachers of the ancient classics and therefore the followers of the ancient cultural heritage. Confucius (The lecturer says, Kongzi, note) is one of them, and through his thinking he also became the leading figure of a new school called the Zhu School (Confucianism) and is actually considered its founder.

During the Warring States Period in China, there were many philosophical schools, which were collectively called the "hundred schools."

In the Book of Grand Historian [Shi ji (史記)], Sima Qian, following his father, classifies the philosophers of the previous several centuries into six major schools (in the last chapter). The second historian who attempted to classify the hundred schools was Liu Xin, who was one of the greatest scholars of the Han Dynasty. He also worked with his father Liu Xiang in the Imperial Library and compiled a list of the books in it, which is known as the "Seven Compendiums" [Qi lüe (七略)].

The Seven Archives was taken by Ban Gu as the basis for YiWenZhi (艺文志) also known as the bibliographic section (in dynastic histories and ancient encyclopedias). In this text, Liu Xin attempted for the first time in Chinese history to systematically trace the historical origins of the various schools.

In the early Zhou Dynasty, before the collapse of society, there was no distinction between officials and teachers. The officials of one department of the government were also the transmitters of knowledge related to that department. These officials, like the feudal lords of that time, held their positions by inheritance. Therefore, there was only "official teaching" at that time, but no "private teaching". Therefore, when the Zhou rulers began to lose their power, the officials lost their positions and scattered throughout the country. Such officials lost their official status and turned into private teachers in the specialty of the post they occupied. The Zhu School is the most important of them.

In reality, the situation was more complicated, because in this process the center of political power gradually passed from the Zhou Emperor or the Son of Heaven to the princes.

Liu Xin said, “The Ru School originated in the Ministry of Education… This school excels in the study of the six classics and emphasizes humaneness (仁) and righteousness. They regarded Yao and Shun [two ancient sage-kings believed to have lived before the Xia Dynasty, whom the Ru School regarded as model Emperors] as their ancestors, and King Wen and Wu as their role models. In order to give authority to their teaching, they revered Zhongni (Zhongni was the name for Confucius) as an exalted teacher. Their teaching is the highest truth.”

Confucius said, "What is admired must be tried." The glory of Yao and Shun, the prosperity of the Yin and Zhou dynasties, and the achievements of Zhongni are the results obtained by testing their teachings.

Liu Xi's Theory

Although the details of Liu Xi's theory may be incorrect, his attempt to trace the origins of the schools to specific political and social circumstances certainly represents a correct viewpoint. His description of the various schools is itself a classic in Chinese historiography.

Junzi (Junzi, 君子) - princes, owners of lands, ranks, wealth and slaves, often relatives of the emperor.

Xiaoren (小人) were commoners who served Junzi as farmers or artisans.

The Junzi were not only aristocrats, but also the only educated people, they played the role of professional experts and, like the Zhu School, played a huge role in education.

The nobles needed experts to properly educate their sons so that they could have the necessary abilities to govern the states or serve their superiors. Experts like Zhu were also respected people of lower rank and were provincial officials, so "there was no separation between officials and teachers."

When the Zhou Dynasty fell into disorder, in the course of this great social and political transformation, most of the noble men lost their lands and titles and thus sank to the level of the common people, which means that the knowledge they had was also absorbed into the masses. The common people of the people who had skills or knowledge were given ranks. The former officials, among whom were the representatives of the Zhu school, were absorbed into the common people, holding hereditary positions in the service of the higher officials, becoming experts.

When ceremonies are lost at court, they must be sought in the Country.

Confucius

The origin of the word school is 家

The word "school" is a translation of the Chinese word Jia [家], which means family or home. This word suggests that the way knowledge is passed between a teacher (master) and a student is exactly the same as between a father and son in the feudal system. Another suggestion is that the transfer of knowledge is related to something private or personal. 

There were certainly different kinds of schools, because the teachers came from different fields, sciences, and arts. For example, those who were experts in teaching the classics, practicing ceremonies, and music were known as the Zhu school. Military scholars were experts in the military arts. Experts in the art of speech were also known as debaters. Experts in magical medicine, fortune telling, astrology, and numerology were known as practitioners of the occult arts. There were also practical politicians who could act as private advisers to rulers, what we would now call lawyers or methodologists. And then there were men who had both talent and ability for learning, but were so embittered by the political turmoil of their time that they retired to nature, far from human society. Such men were called hermits.

Tradition of the Zhu School (儒家)

When the Zhu group was reorganized into a school, Confucius became its founder and the "inherited" early classics made the school significant among others. Since then, Confucius is considered the first private teacher, and the Zhu school is the first school of philosophy without formal education.

The early classics were known as the "six foundations" (So the lecturer says, but we need to look for the five foundations: "wu-jing"), which include:
• "I Ching" (易经; "Book of Changes")
• "Shi-jing" (诗经; "Book of Songs")
• “Shu-ching”（书经; "Book of Legends")
• "Li-ji" (礼记; "Book of Ceremonies")
• “Chun-qiu”（春秋; "Spring and Autumn"; chronicle),
(The lecturer named the sixth book the Book of Music, with a note that probably never existed)

There are two types of opinions regarding Confucius's relationship to the six foundations:

1. Confucius is said to be the author of all these works.
2. Confucius is said to be the author of the Spring and Autumn Book, the commentator of the Book of Changes, the editor of the Liji, and the editor of the Shijing and Shujing.

In fact, (The lecturer said so, note), Confucius was neither the author, commentator, nor even the editor of any classics. As a teacher and scholar of Zhu, Confucius upheld tradition in both ritual and music, and attempted to correct any deviations from traditional practices or standards, and examples of this are recorded in the Analects (Discourses and Judgments). Confucius himself never intended to write anything for future generations. Writing books in a private rather than official capacity was an unheard-of practice that developed only after Confucius's time.

The emergence of the Pentateuch and authorship

Before the era of Confucius, some of the writings of the six books mentioned existed, and they constituted the cultural heritage of the past. Some of the Classics were the basis for the education of aristocrats during the feudalism of the Zhou Dynasty. The Classics began to spread among the people with the collapse of the feudal system, and became part of their culture under the teaching of Zhu, such as Confucius himself followed.

As we have seen, Zhu scholars earned their living by teaching the classics or by serving as expert assistants at funerals, sacrifices, weddings, and other ceremonies (where rituals were required, Author's note). Confucius was the most prominent of the Zhu school and significantly restructured it into a new group of philosophers.

The text of the Hexateuch (the lecturer repeats the Hexateuch, ed.) is very complex. Among them, the "Book of Music" may not have existed. There are three types of "Li" (rituals).Zhou Li"(Zhou Rites) may be a counterfeit book from the Warring States Period."Or" (The ritual manual) may be partly a rewrite of the previous Zhou Dynasty etiquette material. "Li Ji " (The Book of Ceremonies) is a collection of essays by followers of Confucius discussing the spirit or meaning of etiquette. "Spring and autumn", may not have existed before Confucius. In his three commentaries, "Gongyang» ( 春秋公羊傳 ) and «Guliang" (谷梁传) are the works of the followers of Confucius. Only "Zuo Zhuan" (左傳) probably preserves part of the state of the old Lu history.

Scriptures "Zhouyi" (The Book of Changes) probably existed and were formed even before Confucius. "Yizhuan" (Ten Commentaries on the Book of Changes) that we see today are a later work by Zhu scholars. Parts of the Shi Jing and Shu Jing are indeed considered to have been written before Confucius. Among the Six Books, the Book of Songs, the Book of Traditions, the Book of Ceremonies, and theYue" (Book of Music) are found in documents before the Qin Dynasty.

"Book of Ceremonies", from the chapter "Royal Order" (王制): instruction in music with all dedication and directed the study of all four subjects as well as organized lessons on them. Carefully following the poems, stories, ceremonies and music of the former kings to teach noble men. Spring and autumn were devoted to teaching ceremonies and music, winter and summer - poetry and history.

Zhuangzi

The Tianxia of Chuang Tzu recalls the Book of Changes and the Spring and Autumn Book: as is evident from all their rules, the contents have been handed down from generation to generation through the old laws, and much of it can still be found in historical references. What of these were in the Shih-ching, Shu-ching, Li-chi, and Yue (was it the Book of Music, ed.) could be learned from the scholars of Tsou (a small principality near Lu) and Lu, and from members of the various courts. The Shih-ching describes what should be the aim of the mind; the Shu-ching, the course of events; the Li-ching is intended to direct conduct; Yue, to establish harmony; the Zhou-yi, to show the action of Yin and Yang; the Spring and Autumn, to show the names and duties belonging to them.

The above implies two things: first, some books did exist before the period of Confucius; second, the Six Books mentioned above cannot be all the books. The Shijing and Shujing were certainly literal documents, but the Liji and Yue may be books of practice. All of them were inherited by Confucius and the Ru school.

Write feedback on this material in the comments to understand whether to continue or not. Translation author and lecturer Alexey Karpov.