Confucius and Confucianism - The Thinking of Confucius

By N.S. Gill, About.com Guide

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Confucius Presenting the Young Gautama Buddha to Laozi.

Public Domain. Courtesy of Wikipedia.

Who Was Confucius?:

Confucius Basics
Details About Confucius and The Thinking of Confucius

Confucius, Kongzi, or Master Kung lived from 551-479 B.C. He was from the ancient Chinese state of Lu. Today he's known in the West as the speaker of fortune-cookie-type platitudes in old black and white movies. Confucius was a social philosopher whose values became dominant in China after he died. His philosophy can be summarized as "sageliness within and kingliness without."*

Confucianism is a system of social and political morality. Whether it is a religion depends on what religion means to you. Confucianism stressed honoring one's ancestors (like ancient Roman religions) and had a form of the Golden Rule.

Kongzi's first formal biography was written by Sima Qian in about 100 B.C. In it, Kongzi is portrayed as arrogant and resentful, as well as a sage.

_{*"Separation of Politics and Morality: A Commentary on 'Analects of Confucius'"

Shuo Dongfang, Hongcheng Lin and Deyuan Huang

Frontiers of Philosophy in China, Vol. 1, No. 3 (Sep., 2006), pp. 401-417}

When Did Confucianism Start?:

Confucius wasn't successful during his lifetime, perhaps because of his personality, and afterwards, there were lots of detractors, so Confucianism took a while to take hold. Find out more about when Confucianism started. For more on the personality of Confucius and his delayed path to prominence, read Lives of Confucius, by Michael Nylan and Thomas Wilson. (Requires prior knowledge of Chinese history.)

The Writings of Confucius:

Analects (Lun Yu),
The Great Learning (Da Xue),
The Doctrine of the Mean (Zhong Yong),
Mencius (Meng Zi),
The Book of Changes (Yi Jing or IChing),
Book of Poetry (Shi Jing),
Classic of History (Shu Jing),
The Rites (Li Ji or Li Chi),
Spring and Autumn Annals,
Book of Filial Piety (Xiao Jing), and
Book of Music (Yue Jing).

Confucius on Virtue "Ren" and "Li":

One of the concepts of the moral philosophy of Confucius is called ren, which Confucius doesn't define precisely. Ren has 2 components:

Humanity: to love man
To return to li (decorum, propriety, rites, rituals, manners, ceremony).

Jiyuan Yu says that for Confucius ren is sometimes the comprehensive virtue, but sometimes it is sometimes listed along with other virtues ("being clever, trustworthy, forthright, courageous, unbending...). Chenyang Li, who considers ren a state of mind existing independently of li, says "persons of ren manifest their human excellence through the practice of li."

"Virtue: Confucius and Aristotle"
Jiyuan Yu
Philosophy East and West, Vol. 48, No. 2 (Apr., 1998), pp. 323-347.
"Li as Cultural Grammar: On the Relation between Li and Ren in Confucius' 'Analects'"
Chenyang Li
Philosophy East and West, Vol. 57, No. 3,(Jul., 2007), pp. 311-329