 History and Diversity
Within Chinese culture, Confucianism is considered both a religion (system of
"doctrine") and a philosophy (a school of tradition). It is based on the
teachings of Confucius (in Chinese, K'ung Fu-tzu, "Master K'ung"), but
draws as well on some Chinese traditions that predated him (see "Sacred
Writings of Confucianism" below).
Confucius was born in the mid-6th century BCE. He
served as a lower-level official in the royal court, and traveled about offering
his services to various rulers. Throughout his life he studied many of the
classics of Chinese literature, and taught a number of disciples his
understanding of how one becomes a truly humane (jen) person. The goal
was to live a life of service to and improvement of the broader society through
loving others, personal integrity and altruism.
Confucius' teachings centered on the human and ethics, and were not focused
on the Divine or conceived of as a kind of special revelation. He clearly
believed in God, understood in the traditional Chinese manner as the "Lord of
Heaven," a supreme and personal deity, and believed that his teachings were
consistent with the wisdom that comes from Heaven. But his focus was on human
relationships even as he understood the need for those who are truly human to
remain open to the transcendent. This focus on ethics rather than theology
per se meant both that Confucianism was compatible with the ancestral
venerations that preceded it and helped to fix its place in Chinese culture even
when other religions (such as Taoism and Buddhism) or philosophies (including
Marxism and Maoism) were politically favored.
Confucianism ultimately spread beyond what is now China into Korea and Japan.
Sacred Writings of Confucianism
The classic collection of Confucian teachings is the Analects, an
anthology of separate sayings compiled into 20 books, each about the length of
one of the shorter books in the Jewish Tanakh or Christian New Testament.
Some of these sayings take the form of short exchanges between Confucius and his
students or others who have come to question him, and others are simply proverbs
or statements made by the "Master" (as Confucius is referred to in the
Analects).
Other books that predated Confucius himself and were sometimes said to have
been edited by him are also included among what are called the "Confucian
Classics." Another work, entitled "Springs and Autumns" (Ch'un Ch'iu) was
traditionally attributed to Confucius himself.
Confucianist Practices
Although there was tremendous resistance among the more educated to either
deify Confucius or exalt him to some venerable status akin to the Buddha, among
the folk practices of China the people greatly reverenced him. In part, this was
an extension of the veneration of the ancestors that was fundamental to
traditional Chinese religion. Confucian temples were eventually erected where
the ancestral sacrifices might be offered, and usually there was as a school in
conjunction with these temples that offered instruction in his teachings.
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