Basics of confusianism belief

[Kristoffer]

Can someone be so kind explaining me the basic beliefs of confucianism?
- Is it considered a religion, whatsoever?

 

[GoodbyeDave]

Confucius was a philosopher who was exclusively concerned with ethics and politics. His views, recorded by his followers, in the book usually called the Analects. They are expanded on by later writers, like Mencius. They involve belief in
1. the essential goodness and perfectability of human nature.
2. virtue-based ethics: the correct action is not something decreed by a god, or expedient under the circumstances, but what a virtuous person would do.
3. the necessity for politics to have a moral foundation.
4. the importance of the family as the basic for society.
5. the value of tradition in society.
6. the importance of religious worship, although he discouraged theological speculation.

The idea that "Confucianism" was a religion was introduced by the Jesuit missionaries. They tried to spilt off Chinese beliefs which they felt compatible with Christianity from the rest, to ingratiate themselves with the Chinese and still retain their Christianity.

The Chinese would call "Confucianism" by a term like rujiao "scholars' tradition". These who are interested in it worship the same gods as any other Chinese.

 

[Kristoffer]

Ah, ok! Good explaining!

Can you plz tell me more of what Corfucius thought related to what was the good society? Was he a right-wing conservative? Why didn't he want people to believe in theology, but other kind of religions instead?

 

[The Emperor of Mankind]

Confucius was a philosopher who was exclusively concerned with ethics and politics. His views, recorded by his followers, in the book usually called the Analects. They are expanded on by later writers, like Mencius. They involve belief in
1. the essential goodness and perfectability of human nature.
2. virtue-based ethics: the correct action is not something decreed by a god, or expedient under the circumstances, but what a virtuous person would do.
3. the necessity for politics to have a moral foundation.
4. the importance of the family as the basic for society.
5. the value of tradition in society.
6. the importance of religious worship, although he discouraged theological speculation.

The idea that "Confucianism" was a religion was introduced by the Jesuit missionaries. They tried to spilt off Chinese beliefs which they felt compatible with Christianity from the rest, to ingratiate themselves with the Chinese and still retain their Christianity.

The Chinese would call "Confucianism" by a term like rujiao "scholars' tradition". These who are interested in it worship the same gods as any other Chinese.

A note on point 5: Confucius did not advocate tradition for tradition's sake. He believed a tradition should only be maintained if it still had relevance to society or if it still made sense.

 

[Wu Wei]

You might want to read The Analects of Confucius

 

[GoodbyeDave]

In a pre-industrial society, where change is slow, it obviously made sense to stick to tried and trusted solutions rather than untried innovations: tradition made sense.

It's recorded that he seldom spoke about the gods, and once remarked that there was no sense in asking how to relate to gods before you'd learnt how to relate to your fellow humans. But he did insist on the importance of worship, and on taking it seriously, rather than just going through the motions of the rituals.