confucianism population

Confucius Institutes: The growth of China's controversial cultural In this set of flashcards, you will learn about the long and fascinating history of one Asia's most major religions: Confucianism. [106] Faced with ever-increasing complexity at scale, modern societies must build hierarchies to coordinate collective action and tackle long-term problems such as climate change. [12], Confucian liturgy (called r, or sometimes simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: zhngtng, meaning 'orthopraxy') led by Confucian priests or "sages of rites" (; ; lshng) to worship the gods in public and ancestral Chinese temples is preferred on certain occasions, by Confucian religious groups and for civil religious rites, over Taoist or popular ritual.[13]. [158] The Dominicans and Franciscans argued that Chinese ancestral worship was a form of idolatry that was contradictory to the tenets of Christianity. Although it is an exaggeration to characterize traditional Chinese life and culture as Confucian, Confucian ethical values have for well over 2,000 years served as the source of inspiration as well as the court of appeal for human interaction between individuals, communities, and nations in the Sinitic world. This represents 0.09% of the world's population, or slightly less than 1%. The RLS, conducted in 2007 and 2014, surveys more than 35,000 Americans from all 50 states about their religious affiliations, beliefs and practices, and social and political views. [65], Many Confucians also realised that loyalty and filial piety have the potential of coming into conflict with one another. First published Tue May 20, 2008; substantive revision Mon Oct 3, 2022. The literature opposes those who prefer evaluation by peers to evaluation by superiors, with some thinkers including quasi-democratic selection mechanisms along the way. There are approximately 6.1 million followers of Confucianism worldwide. [24], According to Zhou Youguang, r originally referred to shamanic methods of holding rites and existed before Confucius's times, but with Confucius it came to mean devotion to propagating such teachings to bring civilisation to the people. Creation is therefore a continuous ordering; it is not a creation ex nihilo. The duke Jing, of Qi, asked Confucius about government. Starting in 2000, the US Religion Census began to make religious diversity a priority, trying to go beyond the major denominations to count . By being the "calm center" around which the kingdom turns, the king allows everything to function smoothly and avoids having to tamper with the individual parts of the whole. [31], According to the scholar Stephan Feuchtwang, in Chinese cosmology, which is not merely Confucian but shared by all Chinese religions, "the universe creates itself out of a primary chaos of material energy" (hundun and qi ), organising through the polarity of yin and yang which characterises any thing and life. The scholar Yao Xinzhong allows that there are good reasons to believe that Confucian classics took shape in the hands of Confucius, but that "nothing can be taken for granted in the matter of the early versions of the classics". Confucianism Though not formally recognized as a religion by the Chinese government, Confucianism has had an undeniable impact on Chinese history and culture since its conception by the Chinese philosopher Confucius around 479 BC. This is because reciprocity is demanded from the superior as well. How many Confucianism followers are there worldwide? For example, South Korean writer Kim Kyong-il wrote an essay[when?] [23] This translation of the word r is followed by e.g. Another meaning of rn is "not to do to others as you would not wish done to yourself. Rather, Confucius considered himself a transmitter who consciously tried to reanimate the old in order to attain the new. The character r in ancient China had diverse meanings. [citation needed] The emperors of China were considered agents of Heaven, endowed with the Mandate of Heaven. [114] Jiang's aim is to construct a legitimacy that will go beyond what he sees as the atomistic, individualist, and utilitarian ethos of modern democracies and ground authority in something sacred and traditional. In later centuries, Confucianism heavily influenced many educated martial artists of great influence, such as Sun Lutang,[citation needed] especially from the 19th century onwards, when bare-handed martial arts in China became more widespread and had begun to more readily absorb philosophical influences from Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism. Social harmony results in part from every individual knowing his or her place in the natural order, and playing his or her part well. Its influence has also extended to other countries, particularly Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. Confucianism is one of the most influential religious philosophies in the history of China, and it has existed for over 2,500 years. [102] Jnz (, lit. [29] The scholar Promise Hsu, in the wake of Robert B. Louden, explained 17:19 ("What does Tian ever say? Like filial piety, loyalty was often subverted by the autocratic regimes in China. Also, the Hong Kong Confucian Academy, one of the direct heirs of Kang Youwei's Confucian Church, has expanded its activities to the mainland, with the construction of statues of Confucius, Confucian hospitals, restoration of temples and other activities. Bell and Wang favour a system in which officials at the local level are democratically elected and higher-level officials are promoted by peers. How many Confucianism followers are there worldwide? A key Confucian concept is that in order to govern others one must first govern oneself according to the universal order. Demographics & Geography - Confucianism Pd. 3 - Google Sites Disillusioned with the culture, opposing scholars, and religious authorities of the time, he began to preach an ethical interpretation of traditional Zhou religion. In later dynasties, a number of women took advantage of the Confucian acknowledgment of education to become independent in thought. and the general population during times of peace and times of war. Meanwhile, the meritocratic house preserves competence, statesmanship, and Confucian virtues. In this context, people need notand should notwant to flatten hierarchies as much as possible. The junzi enforces his rule over his subjects by acting virtuously himself. [25] Five Classics (, Wjng) and the Confucian vision [149][150][151] Many traditional commentators and modern scholars have debated over the precise meaning of the passage, and whether Confucius referred to all women or just certain groups of women. [81] Chinese thinkers, faced with this challenge to legitimacy, diverged in a "Hundred Schools of Thought", each proposing its own theories for the reconstruction of the Zhou moral order. 1990. Confucianism would also benefit from participation in such a dialogue; according to Tu, "If the well-being of humanity is its central concern, Confucian humanism in the third epoch cannot afford to be confined to East Asian culture. [108] As Bell puts it, he defends "democracy at the bottom, experimentation in the middle, and meritocracy at the top. [155] More recently, some scholars have also begun to discuss the viability of constructing a "Confucian feminism". By the 6th century BCE, the power of Tian and the symbols that represented it on earth (architecture of cities, temples, altars and ritual cauldrons, and the Zhou ritual system) became "diffuse" and claimed by different potentates in the Zhou states to legitimise economic, political, and military ambitions. Some of the basic Confucian ethical concepts and practices include rn, y, and l, and zh. The story of Confucianism does not begin with Confucius. It is postulated that certain elements of Leibniz's philosophy, such as "simple substance" and "Pre-established harmony", were borrowed from his interactions with Confucianism. Although Confucius never realized his political dream, his conception of politics as moral persuasion became more and more influential. Confucianism is a philosophy developed in 6th-century BCE China, which is considered by some a secular-humanist belief system, by some a religion, and by others a social code. Over the following centuries the system grew until finally almost anyone who wished to become an official had to prove his worth by passing a set of written government examinations. Zi-lu said, "The vassal of Wei has been waiting for you, in order with you to administer the government. Instead, the scholar Mencius, who was born more than a century after Confucius died, adapted his philosophy and preached in different states. Between 742 and 1200, the population of north China grew by 58 percent, while it doubled or tripled in the south. [117], For those who, like Bell, defend a model in which performance at the local levels of government determines future promotion, an important question is how the system judges who "performs best". Religion in China: History and Statistics [104], Confucian political meritocracy is not merely a historical phenomenon. The Analects as the embodiment of Confucian ideas, Formation of the classical Confucian tradition, Mencius: The paradigmatic Confucian intellectual, Xunzi: The transmitter of Confucian scholarship, Confucian ethics in the Daoist and Buddhist context, Confucian learning in Jin, Yuan, and Ming, The age of Confucianism: Chosn-dynasty Korea, Tokugawa Japan, and Qing China. When proprieties and music do not flourish, punishments will not be properly awarded. At the political level, the non-democratic side of political meritocracy isfor Bell and Baimore efficient at addressing long-term questions such as climate change, in part because the meritocrats do not have to worry about the whims of public opinion. Ren is fundamental to become a junzi.[70]. Confucianism holds one in contempt, either passively or actively, for failure to uphold the cardinal moral values of rn and y. These movements are not a part of mainstream Confucianism, although the boundary between Chinese folk religion and Confucianism can be blurred. Confucianism is the way of life propagated by Confucius in the 6th-5th century BCE and followed by the Chinese people for more than two millennia. The Taiping Rebellion described Confucianism sages as well as gods in Taoism and Buddhism as devils. One of the most famous collections of such stories is "The Twenty-four Filial Exemplars". Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. "Yin and yang are the invisible and visible, the receptive and the active, the unshaped and the shaped; they characterise the yearly cycle (winter and summer), the landscape (shady and bright), the sexes (female and male), and even sociopolitical history (disorder and order). said Zi-lu. "[160] With the latter definition, Confucianism is religious, even if non-theistic, in the sense that it "performs some of the basic psycho-social functions of full-fledged religions. Confucianism and Buddhism | Encyclopedia.com You will learn about the central elements of Confucian religion . Real power thereafter passed into the hands of feudal lords. [41], Confucius used the term in a mystical way. Li is variously translated as "rite" or "reason", "ratio" in the pure sense of Vedic ta ("right", "order") when referring to the cosmic law, but when referring to its realisation in the context of human social behaviour it has also been translated as "customs", "measures" and "rules", among other terms. However, she does present education and literary power as important for women. These scholars have held that, if not for Confucianism's influence on these cultures, many of the people of the East Asia region would not have been able to modernise and industrialise as quickly as Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and even China have done. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). [135][136], Other studies, for example Cristobal Kay's Why East Asia Overtook Latin America: Agrarian Reform, Industrialization, and Development, have attributed the Asian growth to other factors, for example the character of agrarian reforms, "state-craft" (state capacity), and interaction between agriculture and industry. [142] Starting from the Han period, Confucians began to teach that a virtuous woman was supposed to follow the males in her family: the father before her marriage, the husband after she marries, and her sons in widowhood. In 9.5 Confucius says that a person may know the movements of the tin, and this provides with the sense of having a special place in the universe. "[112] Bell and Wang argue that this combination conserves the main advantages of democracyinvolving the people in public affairs at the local level, strengthening the legitimacy of the system, forcing some degree of direct accountability, etc.while preserving the broader meritocratic character of the regime. The Master said, "How uncultivated you are, Yu! Specific duties were prescribed to each of the participants in these sets of relationships. Projected Changes in the Populations of Adherents of Other Religions Sometimes viewed as a philosophy and sometimes as a religion, Confucianism may be understood as an all-encompassing way of thinking and living that entails ancestor reverence and a profound human-centred religiousness. "[57] Confucius also said, "rn is not far off; he who seeks it has already found it." Confucius believed that social disorder often stemmed from failure to perceive, understand, and deal with reality. He felt that virtue (de), both as a personal quality and as a requirement for leadership, was essential for individual dignity, communal solidarity, and political order. This includes one, St. Confuciuss love of antiquity was motivated by his strong desire to understand why certain life forms and institutions, such as reverence for ancestors, human-centred religious practices, and mourning ceremonies, had survived for centuries. Similarly, the lower house allows citizens to be represented, have a voice in public affairs (albeit a weak one), and ensure accountability. Many of these Confucians suffered and sometimes died because of their conviction and action. China's latest attempt to rally the world against Western values Rites and sacrifices to the gods have an ethical importance: they generate good life, because taking part in them leads to the overcoming of the self. (1985), p. 2, Three Fundamental Bonds and Five Constant Virtues, 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195188356.001.0001, "Asia's Rise Is Rooted in Confucian Values", "Confucianism and Ecology: Potential and Limits", "Biases and Their Sources: Qin History in the "Shiji", "Heaven, Earth, Sovereign, Ancestors, Masters: Some Remarks on the Politico-Religious in China Today", "Swastika: The Forgotten Constellation Representing the Chariot of Mithras", "The Invention of Indonesian Confucianism", "Dao, Harmony and Personhood: Towards a Confucian Ethics of Technology", "Cultural Dynamics in China: Today and in 2020", The Eastern Origins of Western Civilisation, "The Confucius Connection: From Cultural Roots to Economic Growth", "Why East Asia overtook Latin America: Agrarian reform, industrialisation and development", "Daughter/Wife/Mother or Sage/Immortal/Bodhisattva? Social harmony or morality is identified as patriarchy, which is expressed in the worship of ancestors and deified progenitors in the male line, at ancestral shrines. Confucianism advocates love with distinctionsone always loves one's family first and then moves outward. In Zhou theology, Tian had no singular earthly progeny, but bestowed divine favour on virtuous rulers. Based primarily on the Master's sayings, preserved in both oral and written transmissions, it captures the Confucian spirit . [17], This view was reinforced by Pope Benedict XIV, who ordered a ban on Chinese rituals,[158] though this ban was re-assessed and repealed in 1939 by Pope Pius XII, provided that such traditions harmonize with the true and authentic spirit of the liturgy.[159]. . [63] During the Ming-Qing era, prominent Confucians such as Wang Yangming promoted individuality and independent thinking as a counterweight to subservience to authority. Professor Yao says that perhaps most scholars today hold the "pragmatic" view that Confucius and his followers, although they did not intend to create a system of classics, "contributed to their formation".[26]. [22]:190197 Several different terms, some of which with modern origin, are used in different situations to express different facets of Confucianism, including: Three of them use r. [6] They may be practiced by all the members of a society. "Windows into China," John Parker, p. 25. At the cultural level, for instance, Confucianism, its institutions, and its rituals offer bulwarks against atomization and individualism. Tseng, Roy (2020). The junzi disciplines himself. Confucianism - World History Encyclopedia Going beyond the Master, they theorised the oneness of production and reabsorption into the cosmic source, and the possibility to understand and therefore reattain it through meditation. This emphasis on benevolent rulership, expressed in numerous bronze inscriptions, was both a reaction to the collapse of the Shang dynasty and an affirmation of a deep-rooted worldview. Grades 5 - 8 Subjects Religion, Social Studies, Ancient Civilizations Image Confucian Philosopher Mencius [53], As explained by Stephan Feuchtwang, the order coming from Heaven preserves the world, and has to be followed by humanity finding a "middle way" between yin and yang forces in each new configuration of reality. Updates? "Explaining the Success of the Four Little Dragons: A Survey." [119] Others, like Jiang Qing, defend a model in which superiors decide who gets promoted; this method is in line with more traditionalist strands of Confucian political thought, which place a greater emphasis on strict hierarchies and epistemic paternalismthat is, the idea that older and more experienced people know more. See full answer below. Confucius created the model of junzi, gentleman, which may be achieved by any individual. Important military and political figures in modern Chinese history continued to be influenced by Confucianism, like the Muslim warlord Ma Fuxiang. These names do not use the name "Confucius" at all, but instead focus on the ideal of the Confucian man. [154] Moreover, some Confucian texts like the Chunqiu Fanlu have passages that suggest a more equal relationship between a husband and his wife. If the ruler is evil, then the people have the right to overthrow him. Confucius conceived these qualities as the foundation needed to restore socio-political harmony. Confucianism and Daoism | Stanford History Education Group He found order and understanding in his . Confucius considered himself a transmitter of cultural values inherited from the Xia (c.20701600BCE), Shang (c.16001046BCE) and Western Zhou dynasties (c.1046771BCE). Why must there be such rectification?" indeed!" The Master replied, "What is necessary to rectify names." [3] Confucianism was suppressed during the Legalist and autocratic Qin dynasty (221206BCE), but survived. "[161] Attributes such as ancestor worship, ritual, and sacrifice were advocated by Confucius as necessary for social harmony; these attributes may be traced to the traditional Chinese folk religion. [103], Another new idea, that of meritocracy, led to the introduction of the imperial examination system in China. A global perspective is needed to universalize its concerns. Wang Yangming, Instructions for Practical Living and Other Neo-Confucian Writings by Wang Yang-Ming, Wing-tsit Chan tran. At first the Chinese people embraced Confucianism more readily than the ruling class did, but Confucianism was revived and popularized by the Han dynasty, from 206 BCE to 220 CE.

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