What are the nine core ideas of Confucianism?

Confucianism, also known as Confucianism or Confucianism, is an ideological system with "benevolence as the core" and "people are precious" Confucianism, or Confucianism for short, is the most important traditional culture in China. Benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom, faithfulness, forgiveness, loyalty, filial piety and filial piety have a far-reaching influence on China.

Key words:

Confucianism, benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and faith

The Chinese nation originated in the great river basin, and the fertile land along the coast nourished the happy homes of our ancestors. And frequent floods are a big worry to break the perfection. Long-term construction of large-scale water conservancy projects has made our ancestors accustomed to obeying unified leadership and praising heroic and selfless water conservancy heroes. The process of uniting people's strength to resist natural forces and gradually winning is also an opportunity for our ancestors to know themselves. Compared with the elusive gods, the ancestors worshipped ancestors who taught them survival skills and heroes who led them to control water, and paid more attention to the hard-won peaceful life. This rational care is mapped to the ideological field, and there are thoughts and remarks about caring for people and life itself. Pre-Qin Confucianism formed on the basis of absorbing the essence of ancient books is one of them.

Confucianism is not only a product of feudalism, but also a kind of spiritual thought, which shows great vitality in the strain and development of different dynasties. His characteristic is that he is everywhere all the time, in daily life and in small things. Confucian culture is a precious heritage of the Chinese nation and a cultural advantage. For China, the birthplace of Confucian culture, we should draw lessons from history. We can neither sell ourselves short, completely deny Confucius and Mencius' learning, nor indulge in history and be bound by that pile of old papers. Crucially, China must maintain the subjectivity and independence of its culture under the impact of various bad thoughts. Briefly introduce Confucianism, the core of which has a far-reaching influence on China.

Nine core contents of Confucianism

The nine core contents of Confucianism are: benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom, faith, forgiveness, loyalty, filial piety and sadness.

Benevolence: Love. The theoretical core of Confucius' ideological system. It is the highest ideal and standard of Confucius' social politics, ethics and morality, and also reflects his philosophical views, which has a far-reaching impact on later generations. Benevolence is embodied in educational thought and practice, that is, "education has no class" In the Spring and Autumn Period, learning was in official school, and Confucius began to learn privately. Disciples, regardless of their origins, can come to receive education. Benevolence is embodied in politics by emphasizing "rule by virtue", and the basic spiritual essence of rule by virtue is to love the people and help others. Confucius introduced benevolence into the ceremony and changed the traditional "rule by virtue" into "rule by virtue". He did not deny "rule by virtue", and his "rule by virtue" is undoubtedly the inheritance and transformation of "rule by virtue". Love is the essence and basic content of benevolence, and this kind of love is pushing yourself and others, from kissing to being popular. The proposition of "benevolence" is "the benevolent loves others", which requires the ruling class to observe the people's feelings and oppose tyranny. Confucius believes that to realize "love", we must follow the principle of "loyalty and forgiveness", that is, the requirement of "don't do to others what you don't want others to do to you".

Analects of Confucius Learning: "A Confucius said: ...' Filial piety is also the foundation of benevolence! "Love" is not created out of thin air, it is based on loving one's relatives, but "benevolence" is not limited to "relatives", but must be pushed to others, so as to achieve "a sense of security for the old" and "a sense of security for the young". And it is not easy to do this. We should take "don't do to others what you don't want others to do to you" and "don't do to others what you don't want others to do to you" as the criterion of "benevolent". If we want to promote "benevolence" ("benevolent policy") to the whole society, this is what Confucius said: "gram has returned the gift to show benevolence, and gram has returned to benevolence in Japan." For benevolence, but by people! " In my opinion, the interpretation of "self-denial" is often wrong. My own past explanation is not correct. ) The explanation of "self-denial" is often interpreted as two opposite aspects, which I think is not in line with Confucius' thought. The so-called "self-denial" means calling "self-denial" benevolence. "Benevolence" is the inner quality of being a man, and "self-denial" depends on people's consciousness of their own inner quality (that is, the moral character of "loving others"): "Rite" is the external etiquette norm of human behavior, and its function is to regulate the relationship between people, and "the use of rites and harmony are precious". It is meaningful to ask people to abide by etiquette norms and to meet the requirements of "benevolence", so Confucius said, "Benevolence depends on itself, but on people?" Regarding the relationship between "benevolence" and "propriety", Confucius has a very clear statement: "What about people? What is the fun of being heartless? " "Cloud, jade on zai! Happy clouds and happy clouds, bells and drums! " Therefore, we can say that Confucius believes that "self-denial" (seeking benevolence) depends on his inner consciousness. With the inner consciousness of "seeking benevolence and getting benevolence", "I want benevolence and I am full of benevolence" and practice it in daily ethics. This is "extremely bright and moderate", "extremely bright" requires us to seek the ultimate idea in the ethical system, "the golden mean" requires us to practice it in daily life, and "the golden mean" and "extremely bright" are inseparable. Even seeking the minimum "identity" of ethical concepts is closely related to the ultimate idea of an ethical system. If Confucius' theory of benevolence fully discusses the relationship between benevolence and human nature, and has not had time to fully discuss the relationship between benevolence and heaven (heaven), then Mencius has exerted Confucius' thought in the latter aspect, for example, he said, "Try your best to know its nature; If you know its nature, you will know its sky. " The human heart is a human being and is connected with the "heavenly heart". Zhu Peng said more clearly. He said: "Heaven and earth are also centered on biology, and the life of a character depends on the heart of heaven and earth. Therefore, although the virtue of the heart is always prepared, in a word, it is benevolent and self-sufficient. " This is based on "heavenly heart" and "benevolence", but "human heart" can not but be "benevolence", and "human heart" and "heavenly heart" are actually interlinked, so Confucian ethics is actually based on a kind of moral metaphysics, so the Doctrine of the Mean says: "Honest people, heaven; Honest people, the way of people is also. " There is no doubt that the Confucian thought of "harmony between man and nature" has its special ethical significance and contribution to human society. For example, we now advocate "respect for others", "five stresses and four beauties", "spiritual civilization" and so on. If we don't associate it with the ethical ideology that has long influenced China society, how can we make it have a foundation? The moral concept of "respecting people" ("loving others") is precisely related to the Confucian "benevolence". If we abandon Confucius' theory of benevolence, criticize "benevolent policies" every day, advocate "don't do to others what you don't want others to do to you" and advocate "it's fun to fight with others", can we really "respect people"? Can you really love others? Therefore, any specific requirements for human social norms must be supported by a set of ethical theories, which are accumulated from internal traditions.

Meaning: the original meaning is "ceremony", that is, the behavior is suitable for "ceremony". Confucius regards "righteousness" as a moral principle to judge people's thoughts and behaviors.

Rite: the political and ethical category of Confucius and Confucianism. In the long-term historical development, "Li", as the moral norm and living standard of China feudal society, played an important role in cultivating the spiritual quality of the Chinese nation. However, with the reform and development of society, especially in the late feudal society, it has increasingly become a rope that binds people's thoughts and behaviors and affects the progress and development of society. The idea of "courtesy" is "self-denial", that is to say, we should restrain ourselves and make ourselves meet the requirements of "courtesy". The "ceremony" pursued by Confucius is the hierarchical naming system of the Western Zhou Dynasty, and Confucius further put forward the idea of "correcting the name", which is to correct the hierarchical order and realize orderly ranking. This reflects the conservative side of his political thought.

Wisdom: the same as "knowledge", the basic category of Confucius' epistemology and ethics. Refers to knowing, understanding, opinions, knowledge, intelligence, wisdom, etc. The connotation mainly involves the nature, source, content and function of knowledge. Regarding the nature of knowledge, Confucius thinks that knowledge is a moral category and a knowledge about human behavior norms.

Faith: refers to the attitude of being honest and not deceiving, and being consistent in words and deeds. As one of the "five permanents" of Confucianism. Confucius regards "faith" as an important embodiment of "benevolence", and "benevolence" is an essential virtue of sages. Anyone who is true and credible in words and actions can gain the trust of others, those in power will keep their promises, and the people will treat each other with true feelings and will not bully the weak and fear the hard.

Forgive: Don't do to others what you don't want them to do to you, that is, forgive and tolerate.

Loyalty: I want to stand up, stand up, and I want to achieve it. Confucius believes that loyalty is manifested in loyalty and honesty in dealing with people.

Filial piety: Confucius believes that filial piety is the foundation of benevolence. Filial piety is not limited to supporting parents, but should focus on respecting parents and elders. It is considered that without filial piety, supporting parents will be regarded as raising dogs, which is a big violation and unfilial. Confucius also believes that parents may be at fault, and children should politely persuade and try to correct them, rather than obey their parents absolutely. These thoughts are the embodiment of China's ancient moral civilization. However, when Confucius talked about filial piety, he also said that "parents are here and don't travel far" and "it is filial piety if you don't change your father's way for three years", which shows the limitations of his time. Filial piety was defined as a complex ceremony by later Confucianism. It is stipulated in the Book of Rites that after the death of parents, "water slurry is not allowed to enter, and fire does not rise for three days", "crying countless times" and even "dying of illness" have become self-destruction of spirit and body. During the Song and Ming Dynasties, filial piety was regarded as one of the most important categories in moral theory, and philosopher Zhu advocated the absoluteness of patriarchy. In the evolution of different historical periods, the concept of filial piety has some reasonable factors besides advocating feudalism. It advocates children's "respect", "respect" and "providing for the elderly" to their parents, combines filial piety with loyalty to the country's righteousness, and advocates thin burial after death.

Praise: refers to feelings for my brother. Confucius attached great importance to filial piety. According to his thought, his disciples called filial piety and filial piety "the foundation of benevolence"

As a spiritual leader and saint in ancient China for many years, the Confucian culture he founded is regarded as the pillar and blood of China traditional culture. Although in today's society, there are not many people who take Confucius' words as the code of conduct and handling affairs, we have to admit that Confucius' thoughts have precipitated into a deep cultural psychology of China people, which determines that China's fate is an introverted development model. However, many propositions and categories of Confucian culture we now understand are significantly different from Confucius' thoughts, not only because Confucian culture has experienced the change of dynasties, but also because we are constantly absorbing other cultures and impacting our inherent thoughts. In today's society, conflicts of interest, material overflow, people's concept of caring for themselves and others is getting weaker and weaker, and many of China's traditional ideological virtues become a mere formality, and even gradually decline, which people have to sigh. In the so-called "chopsticks cultural circle" which is deeply influenced by Confucian culture, the concept of filial piety has always been regarded as the most basic principle and etiquette of being a man. In today's era, when many opinions about China's cultural dating and China's lack of spiritual support are increasingly widespread, what we need is to find the ideological source for the broad masses of China people to settle down. In my opinion, what is most easily advocated and recognized at this point is the reference to filial piety in Confucius' thought. Because this is something that everyone can experience and do, and this concept has taken root in our hearts and is more acceptable. Like Confucius' thought in those days, through educating people about the filial love of their parents, we gradually spread this love to everyone in society, let people learn "compassion" and "unbearable heart", and make it a sincere love that meets the needs of the world. Although love is near and far away, as long as educated people have the concept of love in their minds, it is easy to integrate all people in society, stimulate people's inner pride and sense of responsibility for their own nation, and make the whole nation have centripetal force, thus safeguarding all people in society and maintaining social stability, stability and harmony. Of course, in the filial piety advocated by Confucius, there are also places that stick to superficial forms, such as strictly requiring people to mourn for three years; Lack of equality and democracy, such as blind obedience to parents. Although Confucius' serious and solemn attitude towards filial piety can be seen from these places, in these respects, people today don't have to stick to the form pedantically, inherit the main part of Confucius' thought, accept the essence of filial piety with a flexible point of view, and apply it to today's society in order to achieve faster social development. Confucius' thought is all-encompassing, and the thought of "benevolence" is the core of his thought, the highest realm of human cultivation, and the highest criterion to guide people's life actions and measure people's life behaviors. Confucius set a high standard for this. He thinks Yao Shun is hard to do, and he is even more unworthy. Therefore, most of the thought of "benevolence" is only put forward as an ideal goal, and people are only required to work hard in this direction. Filial piety is mentioned as the fundamental position of "benevolence", which also shows that Confucius attaches importance to filial piety. Moreover, filial piety is also an achievable behavior in Confucius' thought, which embodies the unshirkable responsibility in human development. Therefore, even now, it is of far-reaching significance to put forward filial piety and standardize people's speech and behavior.

Confucian culture does not seek the ultimate from the world like Greek philosophy. The world is our world, which is consistent with our innate nature. Without the innate sensibility and rationality of human beings, the world is just "nothingness" Whether it is the fundamental material form, the microscopic atom or the macroscopic universe, they are just the representations of our sensibility and rationality, and the ultimate existence can only be the "heart" as the source. Therefore, Confucian culture is also a metaphysical theory. It doesn't pray for the gift of God on the other side like religious teachings. Everything has something in common, so do people. No matter how hard people work subjectively and how detached their will is, they can only move within the scope of their nature, and their responsibilities and missions are inherent. Some people succeed because they realize their own nature and give full play to their potential; Some people are mediocre because they are divorced from their own nature and become a floating dust in the natural system. Confucian culture pays attention to the exploration of human temperament and cultivates people's sublimity and greatness. Confucian culture is a kind of "heart" philosophy, which is the fundamental aspect of its spirituality. It is different from empirical knowledge, which comes from the summary of practice and rational reasoning, but from the understanding of thought and self-intuition.