The connection and difference between Confucianism and Taoism

The biggest difference between Taoism and Confucianism is that Confucianism emphasizes entering the WTO and Taoism emphasizes being born. Confucianism talks about worrying about the world first, while Taoists talk about picking chrysanthemums and seeing Nanshan leisurely under the hedge. Every man is responsible for the rise and fall of Confucianism, while Taoism is small in politics and eternal in art.

There are three differences between Taoism and Confucianism in other respects:

First, the core of the two is different:

1, Taoism takes "Tao" as the core, thinks that Tao is inaction, advocates the nature of Tao, and puts forward political, economic, governing the country and military strategies, such as making laws, obeying the public and following the mother, and combining rigidity with softness. It has simple dialectical thought, is an extremely important philosophical school in "a hundred schools of thought contend", exists in various cultural fields in China, and has a great influence on the culture of China and even the world.

2. Confucianism takes "benevolence" and "ceremony" as its core, its political thoughts are "benevolent government", "kingly way" and "ritual system", and its ideals are "great harmony" and "great unity". Its political science mainly expounds the relationship between monarch and minister and the relationship between officials and people. Confucius said "the courtesy of the monarch is loyal to the monarch", Mencius said that "the people are the most important, the country is the second, and the monarch is the least important", and Xunzi said that "it is a representative proposition of Confucian political science to go against the monarch, shun Yi and his father."

Second, the founders are different:

1, the founder of Taoism is Laozi. Laozi collected the great wisdom of ancient sages, summed up the essence of ancient Taoist thought, and formed a complete and systematic Taoist theory, which marked the formal formation of Taoist thought.

2. The founder of Confucianism is Confucius. Confucius founded Confucianism, Mencius developed Confucianism, Xunzi combined their achievements, and then continued. At this point, Confucianism has become an academic school with certain vitality.

Third, they have different influences on China culture:

1. Taoism, especially Taoism, Laozi and Zhuangzi, has more influence on China's literature and art than a hundred schools of thought contend and Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. This influence is so great that it is still not out of date. In aesthetics, Taoism advocates that Taoism is natural, so the pursuit of natural beauty has become the highest realm of China's literature and art.

Because of the close relationship between Taoism and prosperity, it helps to increase the heroism of literature and art, and Taoism is the spiritual pillar of literati in the declining era to treat trauma, thus creating a broad-minded and relaxed literary and artistic style.

2. Confucianism is one of the most influential schools in ancient China since Dong Zhongshu's "ousting a hundred schools and worshiping Confucianism alone". Confucianism, as the embodiment of China's inherent value system, is not an academic or school in the usual sense. Generally speaking, especially in the pre-Qin period, although Confucianism was the most influential school, it was only one of the hundred schools and had no affiliation with other hundred schools.

Confucianism has a profound influence on China culture. In the feudal society for thousands of years, China people only taught the Four Books and Five Classics from generation to generation. In China's genes, ideas such as responsibility (taking the world as one's duty), loyalty and filial piety (benevolence, courtesy, wisdom and faith), forgiveness (don't do to others what you don't want others), and ethics (self-cultivation, keeping the family in order, governing the country and calming the world) are all the results of the combination of Confucianism and autocratic rule.