Confucius and Confucianism

September 28^th every year Chinese people commemorate the great ancient Chinese philosopher and educator-Confucius, who was born on September 28^th 551 B.C in the State of Lu. As the founder of Confucianism which later became the orthodox philosophy for most historical dynasties, Confucius developed an outstanding ethical and philosophical system from his teaching experience. His 3000 disciples passed out and on his philosophy nation-wide and recorded a book on his speeches and dialogues for next generation to study. The book is called Analects.

Confucianism is a complex system of moral, social, political, philosophical, and quasi-religious thought that has had tremendous influence on the culture and history of East Asia. It might be considered a state religion of some East Asian countries, because of governmental promotion of Confucian philosophies. But to Chinese people, Confucianism is actually more of a moral guidance and governance theory than a religion. Several core elements constitute Confucianism among which humanity leads the others. Humanity is the basic logic to examine the world and around humanity evolves and accumulates other elements such as three cardinal guides and the five permanent members. The Five permanents are Ren (Humanity), Yi (Righteousness), Li (Ritual), Zhi (Knowledge) and Xin (Integrity). And there are 4 classical elements of Zhong (Loyalty), Xiao (Filial piety), Jie (Continency), Yi (Righteousness). Ren (Humanity) and Yi (Righteousness) are fundamental to all the other elements with Ren (Humanity) being a guidance for thought and Yi (Righteousness) being a guidance for practices.

Another principle closely related to Confucianism is “He Er Bu Tong” (harmony while maintaining difference and diversity). Tolerance and peace has become an inherited trait of Chinese nation. Early back to the ancient time, Chinese philosophers like Confucius were aware of the importance of preservation of different opinions, isn’t it a demonstration of democracy to some extent? Tolerance and forgiveness is best illustrated by the idiom: “If what others say is right and your fault is true, change it. If not, be careful of committing that kind of fault” and “Learn others’ virtues, and reflect on your own weak points when you see others.” If you’re wrong and someone point out to you, you should thanks for the reminding. But if you are totally right and someone accuse you of out-of-nowhere fault, can you still thank him for this? Confucius says you can and should be grateful to it. It’s hard to imagine anyone would ever come up with this kind of philosophy in today’s modern society.

Since the birth of Confucianism, it has been criticized by fellows of the time, younger generations and so-called modern perspectives. Admittedly, some teachings of Confucianism are not acceptable in today’s world, for instance, the discrimination against females and the “If the emperor wants you dead, you have to die.” These propagated extremities breach the very foundation of the philosophy—humanity. However wrong Confucius had been regarding these aspects, he undoubtedly contributed to human social science like his counter western counterparts like Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.