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Confucius (孔子; pinyin: Kǒngzǐ; lit. ' Master Kong '; c. 551 – c. 479 BCE), born Kong Qiu (孔丘), was a Chinese philosopher of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. Much of the shared cultural heritage of the Sinosphere originates in the philosophy and teachings of Confucius. [1]
Using stricter definitions of religion, Confucianism has been described as a moral science or philosophy. [ 153 ] [ 154 ] But using a broader definition, such as Frederick Streng 's characterisation of religion as "a means of ultimate transformation", [ 155 ] Confucianism could be described as a "sociopolitical doctrine having religious ...
A historical record of the State of Lu, Confucius's native state, 722–481 BC attributed to Confucius. The Classic of Music is sometimes considered the sixth classic but was lost. Up to the Western Han, authors would typically list the Classics in the order Poems-Documents-Rituals-Changes-Spring and Autumn.
To Confucius, the functions of government and social stratification were facts of life to be sustained by ethical values. His ideal human was the junzi, which is translated as 'gentleman' or 'superior person'. Mencius (371–289 BC) formulated his teachings directly in response to Confucius. The effect of the combined work of Confucius, the ...
In traditional Confucian philosophy, li is an ethical concept broadly translatable as 'rite'. According to Wing-tsit Chan, li originally referred to religious sacrifices, but has come to mean 'ritual' in a broad sense, with possible translations including 'ceremony', 'ritual', 'decorum', 'propriety', and 'good form'.
While Confucianism was the ideology of the law, the institutions and the ruling class, Taoism was the worldview of the radical intellectuals and it was also compatible with the spiritual beliefs of the peasants and the artisans. The two, although opposite ends of the philosophical spectrum, jointly created the Chinese "image of the world". [4]
The concept was later expanded to all manner of ritualised cultural life. Within the Confucian tradition, the purpose of ritual was to engage in a continuous process of applying appropriate behaviours, taking the correct frame of mind when doing so, as a way to shape one's thinking and reinforce moral character. [3]
In Confucianism, the Sangang Wuchang (Chinese: 三綱五常; pinyin: Sāngāng Wǔcháng), sometimes translated as the Three Fundamental Bonds and Five Constant Virtues or the Three Guiding Principles and Five Constant Regulations, [1] or more simply "bonds and virtues" (gāngcháng 綱常), are the three most important human relationships and the five most important virtues.