Beliefs And Description Of Confucius Of China

Anne Marie Dutkovic

World Religions 212

Strayer University

Beliefs and Description of Confucius of China

Confucianism is known as the practice of virtue that emphasizes moral order, correctness of social relationships, justice, and humanity. The founder of Confucianism was Kong Fuzi or “Master Kong”. He is better known by the Western version of his name Confucius. He was an ancient Chinese scholar and philosopher born around 551 BCE. Confucius’s philosophies were not original but more of a re-education of ancient customs, philosophies, and rituals that he felt would reform the disorderly and chaotic world in which he lived. The cornerstones of Confucius’s virtues were Jen and Li.
The first virtue Jen is
It is said that Confucius had personally memorized each of these poems. The poems teach stories of life, love, marriage, and war in Chinese Society.
The second is the Classic of History, which are a collection of documents and speeches written by rulers of the Zhou period as well as collections of deeds performed by Emperors of the past. This book allows students to learn from mistakes made by the rulers of the past.
The third classic was the Classic of the Rites, which teaches ancient rites, standards of conduct, ceremonies of the ancestors, and court ceremonies. It is used to teach the basis of respect for others through rules of conduct and behavior.
The fourth classic is the Classic of Changes that teaches that change is inevitable. As with Taoists, the yin and the yang are excellent examples of change. The Yin, which represents females, is dark and the yang, which represents males, is light. The interaction of these opposing forces is constant between these and the dominance is constantly changing and shifting between the
Many of the temples throughout China have been restored and there has been a reintroduction of the beliefs and philosophies in the schools. China has even opened a university dedicated to Confucian studies. However, the practice is stronger today in other Asian countries such as Japan, Korea, and Vietnam than in China. In Korea it is treated as more of a religion complete with Confucian temples and priests. The modern Chinese culture shows less respect for leaders than the other Asian countries and this is most likely because Communism was so successful in stamping Confucius practices and beliefs out for so many years. Currently there is only around six million people in Asia that are practicing Confucianism but they believe it is making a comeback now that the teachings are being incorporated back into the schools. Many corporate training programs are also teaching the philosophies to their executives. Many do not like the communist embrace of Confucianism to promote obedience and they feel the politicians capitalize on the ceremonies and rituals to promote Chinese