Confucius: the Secular As Sacred
Confucius (551-479 B.C.) was reputedly the great synthesizer of the Shang and Zhou practices. Confucius upheld the Shang practices of ancestral worship, the early Zhou Dynasty development of the Mandate of Heaven, and established the highest social ideals as restoring the style of rule practiced by legendary kings Yao, Shun, and Yu during the Golden Ages. Compared with the writings of the Shang Dynasty and earlier, Confucius laid greater emphasis on individual practice and established the belief in the ethical human nature--his central concept, humaneness (ren), defines ethical behavior as something essential to being a human being, or being a gentleman (jun zi). Furthermore, he built a greater connection between ancestral worship and the heavenly order. What he did was giving more moral meaning to ancestral worship, so that it was not just about following the demands and expectations of the ancestors, but these demands and expectations also accorded with the will of Heaven and the ethical imperatives of individual humans. One of the most prominent characteristics of Confucian teachings is that they are not abstract, and principles are always stated in the context of practices.
1. Confucian learning and self-cultivation
The focus of Confucian learning is practice, but Confucian learning is also about a state of being, which covers one's attitude toward life, one's social relationships, and one's view of oneself. To Confucius, human beings were born similar in the ethical nature they were endowed with, but environment contaminated many, (Analects, 17:2, 17:3) therefore education to help one develop one's original ethical nature becomes very important. Such education is called self-cultivation, and it is only through such education one achieves humaneness. A healthy emotional state of being helped one better grasp the proper ways to approach life, therefore to be constantly joyful was important. (Analects, 1:1) Despite that the ultimate goal of Confucius was to serve in a government office, there were many passages where Confucius expressed joy and contentment at a life of learning and observation. (Analects, 6:18; 6:21; 7:15; 7:18)
2. Confucius's development of ancestral worship
Ancestral worship played a very important role in Confucian learning. But it went beyond the rituals of incense burning and divination, rather, it upheld the respect for one's ancestors, a respect that was extended to one's parents and seniors, and formed the basis for a socially hierarchic society where rulers and elders were respected. (Analects, 1:2, 1:6, 2:7, 2:11, 13:18)
3. Confucian emphasis on rituals:
Despite that Confucius believed ancestral worship was more than a mechanical exercise of rituals, rituals were extremely important for him, and the correct performance of rituals would help reenact ancient practices. (Analects, 11:25, 14:18, 17:21, 20:3) During the life of Confucius, China was divided up into many small principalities, and Confucius himself was born into one of them, called Lu, in today's Shandong Province in eastern China. To Confucius, the preservation of rituals lay first in the rectification of names (Analects,13:3): e.g., a king should be called king and a prince a prince, not a prince a king, as many of the princes of the small duchies in China aspired to do. To preserve the correct naming hence the correct social relationships between king and ministers, Confucius, in writing Zhou Dynasty history, would even hide instances where the Zhou king was defeated by the dukes who tried to eventually overthrow his power, or use some euphemisms to avoid any form of disrespect for the Zhou king.
4. Confucian view of the transcendental world
In early Zhou Dynasty before Confucius, China was already developing an idea of a transcendental, willful heaven often identified with ti (god), and the transcendental moral mandate of heaven. Confucius, however, reversed the trend of developing a transcendental view of the world. (Analects, 6:20: respect spiritual beings, while keeping at a distance from them) Although Confucius accepted the idea of heaven and the Mandate of Heaven, he never talked about God and talked about heaven in terms of a continuum with the human world, as heavenly principles were rooted in human nature and realized through human practices.
5. Confucian development of principles
Perhaps the biggest difference between Confucian writings and Shang writings was the Confucian emphasis on principles--the heavenly principles realized in each individual. These principles included observation of certain types of social relationships (19:1; 19:6; 17:6; 16:8), and those who practiced them. These social relationships embodied principles that Confucius would privilege to his life, should he be given a choice between the two. Confucian principles were seldom abstract, such as the concept of humaneness below, but always discussed in association with specific practices. (e.g. 1:6)
6. Confucian definition of humaneness
Confucius defined humaneness in different ways to different people. To Yan Yuan he emphasized rituals (12:1), to Fan Chi, it was love (12:22), to Ran Rong, it was do unto others as if doing onto yourself (12:2); etc. The focus is tailoring the concept to the needs of different students. It also reflected Confucius's belief that heavenly principles were always realized in individual practices. The Confucian concept of humaneness became the distinction of the cultivated Chinese man, or junzi. It transcended all social classes (15:38; 16:9) and became the basis of the future Chinese meritocratic system that replaced hereditary aristocratic rule. Those who resisted education and self-cultivation, according to Confucius, would fall to the bottom of society. But along with these education-resistant people (xiaoren, literally, small people), women were permanently subordinate to men.(17:25)