Confucianism In Ancient China

The Analects written by the philosopher Confucius was written during the Warring States Period. Confucianism has influenced many East Asian cultures around the world. Confucius created the analects to illustrate his opinion on the government. Confucius way have permeated every sector of China through government, education, and daily moral behavior. Confucius believed that every relationship had a role to play out as if everyone was a character on a stage and this phrase illustrates the philosophy of Confucius in one sentence when: “Zigong asked,’Is there one word that one can act upon throughout the course of one’s life?’” The Master said, “Reciprocity (shu)—what you would not want for yourself, do not do to others.” [15:23] The passage illustrates
In culture a good person in rewarded with praise and the people who are not so good are witch hunted through the media and many use examples of people to feel better about themselves. Lao Tzu would not agree with this behavior, but would instead instruct citizens to show their humility by having self reflection. There seems to be a general opinion that the world is an evil, cold, isolating place. With murder stories in the news every day, the Tao philosophy and America sets a perfect environment for internal reflection. For instance, if Americans reflected on fixing their own individual weakness before criticizing another for their own wrongdoings then individual Americans would be better off. Confucianism and Taoism are allowed to exist at the same time because of the Taoist embodiment of Yin and Yang, internal and external whereas, Confucianism is mainly external behavior and Taoist is the philosophy behind it that one must think. If anyone had one thing to learn from any of these philosophies, humility, compassion and self reflection are the embodiment of these two Chinese philosophies. Upon adopting these