Confucianism

Confucianism (C. rújiào 儒教). The name for the native Chinese philosophical/religious system based on the teachings of Confucius and Mencius and their disciples, which generally deals with the betterment of the human character by an awareness of important values such as humaneness (ren), justice 義, filial piety 孝, trustworthiness 信, loyalty 忠, and so forth.

Along with Buddhism and Daoism, Confucianism is one of the "three teachings" (sanjiao 三教) in East Asian traditional thought.

Charles Muller states:

The core of the Confucian teachings are articulated in the Analects (Lunyu) — sayings by Confucius and his leading disciples that were compiled by his students after his death. In this work, the ideal approach to harmonizing society is laid out around the basic concept of humaneness (ren), which is the immanent good quality understood to be contained in the mind of all men. This innate goodness finds its expression through human relationships that are infused with such values as due-giving 義, filial piety 孝, trust 信, propriety 禮, and wisdom 智.

Confucianism and Buddhism

Charles Muller states:

When Buddhism arrived to China, Confucianism was the main thought system with which Buddhism had to compete, and get along. While there were conflicts at the political/institutional level, as well as in the philosophical arena, there was also much common ground found between the two systems philosophically, such that much mutual borrowing and influence occurred. [Charles Muller; source(s): Iwanami]

Etymology

The character 儒, literally meaning 'soft' is a reference to the scholarly class of which Confucius was a part, the members of whom were specialists in such influential Chinese classics as the Book of Odes 詩經 and the Book of History 書經 (also called 尙書).

See also

• Neo-Confucianism

External links

• Confucianism, Wikipedia