During season of the year and on holidays special offerings were performed to the ancestors. The day before to prepare, the offering hall was purified with incense, and in the hall a table was set for dinner, complete with utensils, bowls, cups, and plates. At the start of the day the family rose at dawn and set out the food and drink. Around the table the wooden ancestral tablets were set at their places. The family greeted the spirits and then according to Zhu Xi’s books “, The spirits are urged to eat, then the door is closed. After the door is opened the sacrificed meat is taken away. Then the spirits are bid farewell . . . . The leftovers are eaten.”
TEACHINGS AND MAJOR EMPHASIS
Confucianism is system of thought based on the teachings of Confucius. Confucius taught a moral code based on ethics, humanity, and love. One day a disciple asked Confucius “, is there on word that should cover the whole duty of man?” To this question Confucius replied “, Fellow, feeling, perhaps, is that word. Do not do unto others what thou wouldst not they should do unto you.” This rule became an important part of Chinese thought.
Even though Confucius lived during a time of uproar, his philosophy emphasized the ideas of order and harmony. The main idea of Confucianism is the idea that people should live in harmony, both with each other and nature. T o gain these goals Confucius created a system of interpersonal relationships and good government.
Confucius taught his followers to be gentlemen. His philosophy stated that a gentlemen was a person who had developed the five virtues of courtesy magnanimity, good faith, diligence, and kindness. A man who had these qualities should employ them in governing the state. To Confucius, being a part of the government was the highest calling of all because good government would bring happiness to all people. Confucius believed that through education, anyone could reach the standard of a gentleman.
In China, the family served as an economic, social, and political unit, since family members participated as a group in those areas of life. The family was the natural environment for moral training and the bridge between the individual and society. Confucius taught that it was within the family that the individual fully achieved his human potential. Confucius stressed the duties and obligations of each family member and believed that each should act according to his or her particular role. Of the five human relationships, according to Confucius, three were within the family: father/son, husband/wife, and older brother/younger brother. The other two are friend/friend and ruler/subject.
BRANCHES OR DIVISIONS
The only branch of Confucianism is Neo-Confucianism. Neo-Confucianism is a form of Confucianism developed during the Song Dynasty, Combing elements of Buddhism and Daoism with traditional Confucianism.
During the last years of the Tang dynasty, Confucianists started to question Confucianism. A new innovation would come into Confucian writing that would reach its high point during the Song dynasty. Buddhism and Daoism would influence a new way of thinking. This questioning and new way of thinking would develop into a philosophical system called the School of Li in China, and Neo-Confucianism in the West.
Neo-Confucianism was progressing slowly. At that there were many schools of thought. These schools both had a lot of Buddhism and Daoism in it. Buddhism and Daoism inspired followers, but they still supported the philosophy of Confucianism.
Neo-Confucianism adopted the Buddhism idea that the universe is endlessly changing. However, they stilled used the philosophy of the yin-yang and the I Ching to explain this process. From the I Ching came the Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate. Neo-Confucianists used the concept of the Supreme to explain the origin of things in the universe. This soon became the basis of all later Chinese ideas of cosmology. The Supreme Ultimate is not the same as the Western religions’ God. It is read, but it is a force that produces yin and yang. It differs from the Buddhist concept of the Void, which is the ultimate peace of those who achieve salvation. Neo-Confucianists also adopted the mystical diagrams of the I Ching to show the relationship between Heaven and Earth.
IDENTIFIED FOLLOWERS
All around the world there are about six million people who consider themselves to be Confucianists. The majority of Confucianists live in Asia, particularly East Asia because Confucius was born in China. Still, Europe, North and South America, and the other continents have small numbers of people who consider themselves Confucianists. Mainly because they are from Asian descent.
Still, Confucianism has an influence far greater than its active followers. For more than two thousand years Confucianism was a dominant philosophical system of China. As a result, it combined all phases of Chinese life. It reflects China’s poetry and history, government, social life, and in the ethics that formed the model for action.
Since Chinese civilization spread to Vietnam, Korea, and Japan, elements of Confucianism can also be found in these country’s’ culture. Even though few Japanese call themselves Confucianists, the values still exist in modern Japan. The same is true of Vietnam, North and South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and the People’s Republic of China.
WHAT THE RELIGION IS FAMOUS FOR GIVING TO THE WORLD OR WHAT BENEFITS THE RELIGION HAS HAD. . . .
Confucianism spread deeply in the national belief system of China and it is also in the culture of such East Asian countries as: Vietnam, Korea, and Japan. This was amazing considering that Confucianism had no missionaries, monks, or pilgrims, unlike Buddhism. Confucianism and its ideas never left China. The most important idea was the family and the state.
Confucianism also spread to other East Asia countries. The Chinese believed that their culture and learning were universal. This means it was open for all who would want to become civilized. Confucianism offered things such as a writing system, sophisticated philosophy and religion, and fine art.
Countries, such as: Vietnam, Korea, and Japan loved the culture because they could now read and write some even spoke Chinese languages. Many officials read the Five Classics. As time went on, Vietnam, Korea, and Japan became adapted to the Confucian values that shaped China. This new found relationship China was linked to the one of the Five Relationships, elder brother/younger brother.