Confucianism

Confucianism :


Confucianism is a philosophy based on the teachings of Confucius - a Chinese philosopher and teacher. Confucius highly stressed ethics. It is thought the reason for this is because the China of his time was corrupt. Confucius thought the way to live with good ethics was to follow the five virtues.

Jen - to do good on others

Yi - righteousness by justice

Li - religious and moral ways of acting

Chih – wisdom

Hsin – faithfulness

All of these being represented by the parts of a tree for example…. Jen being the root, yi the trunk, li the branches, chih the flower and hsin the fruit. The most important of the five being li. Confucius used this to formulate his plan for the recovery of china. Confucius equally emphasized the relationship with rulers and there subjects. This is where he combined ethics and politics. At one time Confucius was asked by ChiK 'ang Tsu, the head of the CHI clan, how to rule. Confucius replied "To govern is to keep straight. If you, sir, lead your subjects straight, who will venture to fall out of line?" Confucius believed in what is called superior Man. This was someone who followed the five virtues, and abided them. Confucius was a perfect example of a superior Man. Some people believe that he was a great man, he was indeed, but he was merely a teacher of ethics with great wisdom.


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