Is Confucianism synonymous with Chinese culture? While it may be an overstatement to equate the two, there is little doubt that Confucianism pervades every level of Chinese culture and society. To be sure, other traditions such as Daoism and Buddhism have also left an indelible mark; nevertheless, Confucianism remains central to the shaping of the Chinese imagination. The influence of Confucianism extends beyond China to East Asia and through migration and cultural diffusion, other parts of the world. Confucianism traces its origins to the teachings of Confucius. What makes Confucius so special and what did he teach? This course will explore some of the key concepts in Confucian philosophy. Much of the discussion will centre on the Analects of Confucius, the foundational text of Confucian wisdom, although attention will also be given to the subsequent unfolding of the Confucian tradition. We will attempt to situate Confucian philosophy in its own context and to bring out its contemporary significance. Confucianism is a living tradition. Its vitality hinges on not only its continuing relevance in Chinese society but also its contribution to meeting the global challenges confronting the world today. There are no prerequisites for this course, other than a keen interest in Chinese tradition and culture, and the willingness to engage the Analects of Confucius.
L1.1 - Orientation
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Explorations in Confucian Philosophy
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Part 1 - The World of Confucius
Meaningful engagement with Confucian philosophy requires a disciplined and informed imagination. Confucius (or Kongzi, in Chinese) flourished in a time of considerable change and political instability. Some understanding of the world of early China would be critical, as Confucian ideas did not grow out of a historical vacuum. In this context, we will examine the Analects—known in Chinese as Lunyu—a compilation of sayings and conversations attributed to Confucius that is essential to our understanding of Confucian philosophy.
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Alan K. L. ChanToh Puan Mahani Idris Daim Chair Professor of Humanities & Social Sciences, Vice President (Alumni and Advancement)
From discussions of ancient China to Confucius,
Mencius and Xunzi and with a side tour of Daoism and Legalism,
we have covered a lot of ground.
And if I may continue with the spatial metaphor,
what we're trying to do here is to provide
a quick tour of the major landmarks in Confucian philosophy,
which I hope should prepare you for return visits in
your future when you can engage and interrogate them more closely.
But at this point of the tour,
we'll have to leave the world of ancient China and explore briefly another major
landmark in the history of Confucian philosophy focusing on the Song dynasty thinker,
Zhu Xi, and a movement that has come to be
identified in Western Scholarship as Neo-Confucianism,
which defines many of the features we now associate with Confucianism today.
Now, for those of you who are familiar with Chinese history,
you will know that the so-called Warring States Period came to an end with
the unification of China under the Qin dynasty in 221 BCE.
The triumph of the Qin dynasty is often said to
be due to its adherence to strict legalist principles.
This is probably an oversimplification,
although it is true that the unification of China was not
accomplished without the application of considerable force,
both military and administrative.
If you visit China today,
make sure you stop by the City of Xi'an where
the tomb of the first emperor of the Qin was located and where you will,
of course, see the famous terracotta warriors.
In any case, the Qin dynasty itself was short-lived.
It came to a violent end shortly after the death of the first emperor.
The Han dynasty that followed lasted over 400 years.
And during this time,
the story of Confucian philosophy began a bold new chapter.
The significant development was the adoption of
Confucian teachings as the ideology of the Chinese state by the ruling Han empress.
This, of course, did not happen overnight.
In fact, initially, the founding emperor of
the Han dynasty wasn't at all drawn to
the teachings of the Confucian scholars of his day.
There is a very interesting account in the historical records of
the Han dynasty of a dialogue between the Han emperor and one of his chief ministers,
who was a Confucian scholar.
Now, this may give you a sense of the development of Confucianism at that time.
The scholar understandably took
every opportunity to promote the classical scholarly tradition.
Emperor wasn't pleased at all and in fact,
scolded him really saying,
"I won the empire on horseback," which is to say, by military conquest.
"What use do I have for the Classic of Poetry or the Classic of History?"
The scholar replied famously really,
"Your majesty may have won the empire on horseback,
but can you govern it on horseback?"
The Emperor reportedly was suitably impressed and so began a long process,
which eventually led to the establishment of Confucianism as the state teaching.
From around the middle of the second century B.C.E onwards,
we find Confucianism increasingly being institutionalised.
Recruitment and assessment of government officials, education,
jurisprudence, and other areas of government gradually came under Confucian influence.
Confucianism itself also underwent changes as it came under fresh interpretation,
under new conditions, and in touch always with other currents of thought.
During this time for example,
Confucianism expanded its intellectual arsenal by incorporating
a potent string of cosmological thinking based on the yin-yang theory.
And as a result, it was fully
conversant in matters pertaining to the religious world of Heaven
as well as the physical environment as it was in ethical and political affairs.
The practical implications of this included the ability to map out
fully the religious ritual calendar and also aided the development of science.
In trying to understand heaven and earth, for example,
the first seismograph was invented and the mapping of the celestial bodies,
and their movement led to really advanced knowledge in astronomy,
as compared with other civilisations at that time.
During this time as well,
we begin to find records of emperors and crown princes paying homage to
Confucius either by visiting the sage's hometown or sending high-level officials there.
The residence of Confucius was turned into a temple.
Rituals were observed regularly,
and the founding emperor of the Han dynasty is actually reported to
have a grand sacrifice performed in Confucius' honour on one occasion.
Descendants of Confucius were then granted titles of nobility during the Han period.
And at that time, a dominant theory was that Confucius should be
recognised as "uncrowned king",
which is to say, given his profound sage-ness,
he really ought to be regarded as a king even though he did not rule the country.
So, there were numerous developments.
A lot was going on.
And towards the end of the Han dynasty,
a new major influence arrived on the scene,
and that was Buddhism.
The story of Chinese Buddhism will need a course of its own.
Here, I will only say that it has exerted
tremendous influence on the development of Confucianism and also Daoism.
And in return, and that's the nature of the history of ideas,
Buddhism was also deeply influenced by certain Confucian and Daoist ideas.
To take but one example,
the concept of filial piety,
which is so central to Confucian philosophy,
has become a key element of Chinese Buddhist doctrine.
From the end of the Han dynasty in the early third century C.E to
the founding of the Tang dynasty in the early seventh century,
both Buddhism and Daoism developed strongly and even overshadowed Confucianism.
Being overshadowed, however, does not mean being replaced.
Not in the limelight perhaps,
but certainly still very much a strong
presence in the Chinese social and political landscape.
The state-sponsored Confucian based education system
continued to develop just to take one example,
and it was on the basis of this system that
well-educated individuals were appointed to serve in public administration.
The three hundred years or so of Tang Dynasty rule ended in the tenth century.
After several decades of civil war,
the country was unified once more under the Song Dynasty.
And during the Song Dynasty,
the Buddhism and Daoism continued to grow,
but it was also a time of Confucian revival or more precisely,
a new interpretation of Confucian philosophy,
which came into prominence during the Song Dynasty from roughly the eleventh century onwards.
This reformulation of Confucian philosophy has
come to be called Neo-Confucianism by Western scholars.
This is really a momentous development and Neo-Confucian teachings dominated
the Chinese intellectual scene until the end
of the imperial period in the early twentieth century.
And some would argue that Neo-Confucianism is still
a guiding force in the development of Chinese philosophy today.
If we say that Chinese society today is
still under the influence of Confucianism, actually,
it would be more accurate to say Confucianism as interpreted by the Neo-Confucians,
which is also to say the impact of
Neo-Confucianism on Chinese thought and culture has been tremendous,
both intellectually and socially.
Now, the term Neo-Confucianism is, of course,
a modern invention the Chinese scholars themselves referred to
the reformulation of Confucian philosophy as Daoxue or the study,
learning, or teaching of the Dao or Way.
It's goal is to reassert
the perceived true teachings of the Way or Dao as interpreted by Confucius and Mencius.
In so doing, however,
a new vision emerged.
In other words, we shouldn't look at Neo-Confucianism
merely as a restatement of Confucian principles.
Incorporating certain insights also shared by
Buddhist and Daoist thinkers in Neo-Confucianism,
the old and the new merged to form a new intellectual horizon.
Our focus here will be on the twelveth century thinker Zhu Xi,
who more than anyone else brought
the various strands of new Confucian thinking into a coherent whole.
Now, who was this man?
Zhu Xi was born into an established Confucian family and he
followed the traditional path of learning to become a scholar official.
At the age of 19,
he passed the state civil examination and entered government service.
From that point on, we find him in a succession of government posts.
So, like other Confucian scholars at that time,
Zhu Xi's life was essentially defined by public service.
But more so, much more so than many of his contemporaries,
Zhu Xi never gave up his pursuit of learning.
In fact, his fame lies mainly in being a teacher and scholar,
rather than as a statesman.
He was instrumental in establishing a number of
private academies to promote Confucian learning,
which was an important innovation in the history of Chinese education,
expanding education from the system of state-run schools.
This is one of them as you now see on screen,
called the White Deer Grotto Academy,
what a wonderful name, which can still visit today.
Now, Zhu Xi is also particularly remembered for
his contribution to establishing a new Confucian curriculum.
Confucian learning up to that point,
centered on the five classics as you know.
Due to Zhu Xi's efforts,
a new set of writings came to define Confucian higher learning.
Collectively, they are called the "Four books" and they
are: The Analects of Confucius, The Mencius,
and two chapters from the Confucian Record of Li or Rites or Rituals,
and these two chapters are called The Great Learning (Daxue),
and The Doctrine of the Mean (Zhongyong).
Now, we'll come back to the last two works later.
Zhu Xi wrote extensive commentaries on all of them,
all four of them, and also on many other classical works as well.
But just to complete this very brief biographical sketch,
Zhu Xi was highly respected for his erudition,
very influential as a scholar during his lifetime,
and attracted a large number of disciples.
Towards the end of his life because of
his association with an ousted official politician,
he was attacked and removed from office.
Soon after his death,
his name was cleared and in 1241,
his name and memorial tablet was officially enshrined in the Confucian temple.
In the year 1313,
Zhu Xi's edition of the Four Books with his commentary
was made the official curriculum of the civil service examinations.
This effectively made Zhu Xi's Neo-Confucian philosophy the basis of
Chinese education from the fourteen century all the way up to the early twentieth century.
There were critics of the Zhu Xi school of Confucian learning,
of course, but on the whole,
it has come to exert a lasting influence on Chinese education,
culture, and thought and beyond China,
in Korea and Japan as well.
Zhu Xi set out to recapture what he believes to be the true learning of the Dao,
as it was first brought to light by Confucius.
Don't forget that Neo-Confucianism refers to
the Chinese term "Daoxue" or "Learning of the Dao."
An underlying Zhu Xi's understanding as a Confucian scholar was
his view of the correct or what is called "Orthodox Transmission of the Way."
What this means is that first of all, for Zhu Xi,
the Dao or Way should be properly understood as
a Confucian heritage against
any rival claims from Buddhism or Daoism that they represent the true Way.
Moreover, the Dao has not been properly understood even by many Confucian scholars.
The true meaning of the Way, of course,
was understood and embodied by
the legendary sages of antiquity and fully captured by Confucius.
But after Confucius' death,
other than a couple of notable disciples and his grandson,
Zisi, his other followers were not equal to
the task in transmitting and defending his teachings.
In fact, the varying interpretations of Confucius teachings led to the development
of no fewer than eight schools of
Confucianism as the Legalist philosopher Han Fei pointed out.
Internally in disarray and externally challenged by rival doctrines,
it was not a happy time for the Confucian tradition.
Fortunately, according to Zhu Xi now, in this context,
Mencius came to the rescue,
and once again brought to truth of the Dao to the floor.
However, after Mencius, the Way was again neglected,
maybe the scholars were too busy with building their careers,
but in any case,
no one was able to correctly interpret and transmit the teachings of Confucius.
According to one Buddhist's apologetic work,
there were 96 different schools of Dao current during the Han Dynasty.
Whether this is accurate or not, during this time,
we certainly see the rise of Buddhism and Daoism,
a trend which the Confucians were unable to halt.
It was not until the eleventh century,
according to Zhu Xi again,
when an insightful scholar by the name of
Zhou Dunyi was able to revive the true Confucian Way,
and this was followed by several others,
especially by two highly influential brothers by the name of Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi.
These scholars started the critical process of
distinguishing the true Confucian Way from erroneous doctrines.
And now, of course, it is up to Zhu Xi himself to finish the job to
further broaden the Way and make it shine once more throughout the empire.
Now, we won't be able to discuss these and other Confucian scholars of
the Song period whom Zhu Xi held in very high regard.
For our purposes, what needs to be emphasised is that it was the views of Mencius and
not those of Xunzi that came to be accepted
as the right interpretation of Confucius teachings.
Mencius' understanding of human nature evidently was a major influence.
The question is, how Zhu Xi interpreted it
and connected it with the other ingredients of Confucian philosophy.
When we come back, we will dive straight into the philosophy of Zhu Xi. See you then.
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