Examples of Confucianism

The main content of pre-Qin Confucian legal thought

(I) Ren

Confucius, the founder of pre-Qin Confucianism, was realistically and wholeheartedly concerned with the practice of human life and character molding, and did not talk about ghosts and gods or the "other side". He utilized "benevolence" to establish the lofty ideal of human beings as human beings. When Zigong asked, "If one is generous to the people and can help them, how is it? Can it be called benevolence?" Confucius replied, "What is the matter with benevolence? Yao and Shun are still sick! The man of benevolence is one who wants to establish himself, but establishes others, and who wants to reach others, but reaches them." （This ideal of "benevolence", i.e., the humanitarianism of deep and broad love for mankind, is indeed so high that even the ancient sages like Yao and Shun, who were praised by Confucius, could not reach it completely. For the Chinese, the sacred height of "benevolence" is by no means less than that of the personified "God". The difference is that the personalized "God" is on the "other shore", while "benevolence" is on the peak of the real world. Confucius established a number of benevolence virtues that are closely related to reality and have precise connotations, which people can strive for as a goal in order to be "close to benevolence", such as "love for others" and "love for all", "filial piety and brotherhood", "loyalty and forgiveness", and "teach first and punish later" for politicians. This makes people feel that the moral pinnacle of "benevolence" is still rooted in the earth, not in the void and elusive, so they have the courage and confidence to be close to benevolence.

Mengzi provided the metaphysical basis for the concept of "benevolence" in Confucius' philosophy. That is, "compassion, all people have; ...... compassion, the end of benevolence; ...... not from outside the flickering I also, I inherent, Forsyth just. (Su Zi Shang)" "Compassion is the feeling of intolerance. This moving tenderness is the doing without doing, not instinctive, seemingly unrelated to life but outside of it. It is freed from the path of doing something and succeeds in doing nothing , it does not contain a meaning, it reveals that the love for others is not prepared to do anything." (Liang Shuming's words) This is similar to the interpretation of the spirit of "goodness" in Greek ethical thought and in the Huayan Sect of Buddhism.

(2) Rites

Rites are the externalization of the requirements for the cultivation of the inner quality of benevolence. Confucius' concept of "rites" was inherited from the Zhou Rites, which put forward the idea of keeping the various people in society in order by keeping them "in the clear". "Rites" is a kind of external and other-disciplinary norms and rules and regulations, and people's observance of the rites is mainly as an external rules and regulations to be implemented. Confucius's "rites", on the other hand, are the "rites" accumulated in "benevolence", which has already abandoned its otherness. "It is benevolence to be able to restrain oneself and return to one's manners. If one day one restores one's self to one's rites, the world will be benevolent. For the sake of benevolence, there is a self, but is it up to man?" From this we can see that when "a man is not benevolent", then "rites" for him are entirely external and alien to himself, and are unwillingly binding; when "a man becomes benevolent", then rites become his inner instincts, like conscious virtue or spirit, and he is able to fulfill them. The "inner benevolence and outer propriety" is a conscious virtue or spirit of the same kind. In this way, "internal benevolence and external rites" are united, and "rites" with the humanistic spirit of "benevolence" as a thread are no longer rigid rules and regulations. He had eliminated the "numbness" of "unkindness" and flowed with the living blood of "benevolence". This is the highest standard of Confucius' evaluation of outwardly oriented behavior with "benevolence" as the inner guide.

(3) The Rule of Man

Confucianism, with its concern for people and their lives, is bound to be concerned about the group society in which they live. The peaceful rule of the world in which the ruler and the people are happy together has always been the utopia that pre-Qin Confucianism has longed for. Based on its theory of goodness, it became a necessity to emphasize the rule of law, which is purely coercive, rather than the rule of law, which focuses on giving benefits to people. Pre-Qin Confucianism promotes the social organization of the way, can be summarized as "internal benevolence and external propriety", that is, the internalization of the "benevolence" of moral cultivation and the externalization of the "propriety" of the norms of the code of ethics to coordinate the behavior of people, in order to achieve a harmonious state of society. The first is to harmonize people's behavior by internalizing the moral cultivation of "benevolence" and externalizing the norms and rules of "rites" in order to reach a state of social harmony.

Management will be in the process of social organization, people's behavior is regulated by the reasons from the outside, that is, by others to control the behavior of the norms of the situation, known as the "other organization"; and the people because of the *** with the ideals and beliefs, ethical morals, values and so on, resulting in the psychological understanding, consciously regulate the behavior of the individual, known as the "self-organization" situation. The situation in which people consciously regulate their personal behavior due to a tacit psychological understanding of the same ideals, beliefs, ethics, morals, values, etc., is called "self-organization. With the help of these two concepts and the "dialectic of harmonization" idea, we can get "internal benevolence and external propriety" of the "self-organization - other organization" harmonic characteristics.

First of all, Confucius interpreted benevolence as "love of man", which is not only the standard of personal moral cultivation, but also the highest principle for dealing with interpersonal relationship and political state in real management. Thus, while "internal benevolence" emphasizes the exertion of one's subjective spirit and moral cultivation, "benevolence" becomes the moral norms of people's inner experience and outer practice, which governs their way of thinking and concrete behavior. By combining the moral cultivation of the theory of life with the means of political statehood, personal moral cultivation becomes the means of social organization, which makes the "internal benevolence and external propriety" have the function of "self-organization".

Secondly, after the Duke of Zhou made the Rites of Zhou, the Rites became the sum total of the rules of behavior for the whole country, society, family and individuals. It is precisely because of the political function of consolidating state power, safeguarding the rule of the monarch and governing the country that the rites form part of the law, obtaining coercive power and being supported by the state power. Ritual" is essentially the "law" of pre-Qin Confucianism, as an objective, external system, which generates the power to regulate people's behavior, and makes the "internal benevolence and external rites" obtain the "other organization".

Ren is subjective moral cultivation, rites are objective institutional norms; ren is inner consciousness, rites are external control. They are the cause and effect of each other, accompanying each other, with the help of internal and external coupling structure to produce "internal benevolence and external rites" integration relationship, with a "self-organization - other organization" harmonic characteristics.

What needs to be clarified here is that the self-discipline of "rites" mentioned above is the perfect "unity of benevolence and rites" constructed by Confucius, which is the ideal state of "following one's heart's desires and not overstepping the rules", and cannot be regarded as the ideal state of Confucius's interpretation of the "unity of benevolence and rites". It cannot be regarded as Confucius' absolute negation of the otherness of "rites". The otherness of "rites" is precisely the way to the realm of self-discipline of "rites". The key lies in the fact that the "rite" must be a rite that takes benevolence as its guiding principle.

The rule of man is the rule of benevolence, which is the rule of propriety.

Since the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, when Dong Zhongshu proposed to dismiss the hundred schools of thought and revere only Confucianism, Confucianism has been recognized as a religion and has ruled China for 2,000 years. During the Song dynasty, the Cheng and Zhu schools of thought brought Confucianism to its fullest potential.

Confucius, the founder of Confucianism

Pre-Qin Confucianism

Confucius, Mencius, Xunzi

Confucius after the Han Dynasty

Dong Zhongshu, Zhu Xi, Wang Yangming

"The way of to morality, and to the rites of passage" is a classic quote of Confucius' management thought. Confucius not only advocated "moral management", emphasizing that through moral education to improve people's moral self-discipline, so that they can consciously comply with social norms, to achieve orderly management; at the same time, but also advocate the need to use the norms of the "rites" to constrain people's behavior, using a certain degree of coercive means to achieve the goal of the management, and to achieve the goal of the management. At the same time, it also advocates the use of "ritual" norms to restrain people's behavior, and the use of a certain degree of coercion to achieve the goal of social management.

Because the ancient "ritual" has a political and legal system, moral and behavioral norms, etiquette and ritual content, it has an important management function in ancient times, such as the "Zhou Rites" in the big Zai, small Zai, Stuart, Zongbo, Sima, Sikou and other officials itself is according to the "ritual" provisions to set up the "ritual" provisions. "For example, in the Zhou Rites, the official positions of Dazai, Xiaozai, Situ, Zongbo, Sima, and Sikou were set up according to the provisions of the Rites, and these official positions were used to manage the government affairs of the state according to the provisions of the Rites. Xunzi even emphasized the management role of "rites", and he put forward the management principle of "Long Rites and Heavy Laws", pointing out that: "Rites are the pole of governance, the foundation of a strong state, the way of authority and behavior, and the total of merits and fame. " ("Xunzi - discussing military") also said: "Therefore, people without manners will not be born, things without manners will not be accomplished, and the country without manners will not be peaceful." （At the same time, Xunzi also emphasized the use of "law" to strengthen the constraints of management, he said: "To clarify the rites and righteousness in order to transform it, to raise the law to rule it, and to impose heavy penalties to prohibit it, so that the whole world is out of the rule of law, and is in harmony with the good." ("Xunzi - Sexual Evil") modern business management, as a theory, a technology, a method, it is possible to learn, can be exchanged, can be absorbed. However, management as a culture, a spirit, a style, but can only be y imprinted on the culture of each nation. In this regard, Japanese entrepreneurs have a relatively clear understanding that Japan is a country belonging to the "Confucian cultural circle". The application of the Confucian way of governance has a long history. After the Meiji Restoration, in order to meet the needs of Japan's industrialization, Shibusawa Eiichi, who is known as the "father of modern Japanese enterprises", advocated the "economic and moral unity". This is a factor that cannot be ignored in the rapid development of the Japanese economy. Japan's modern management thinker Ito Zhao pointed out: "Japanese entrepreneurs as long as a little level, all familiar with the Analects of Confucius, the teachings of Confucius to their incentive to influence to the great, the examples are too numerous to mention." According to preliminary statistics, people-oriented is the most significant and basic feature of Confucian management. Modern human-centered management thinking, which was first formed and developed in the Western school of human relations, is very different from the human-centered thinking of Eastern management represented by Confucianism. In the East, Confucianism emancipated the management of the state from the Godhead more than two thousand years ago and established the theory of human-centered state management. In the course of its continuous development, Confucianism spread to the neighboring countries of China, such as Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, forming the cultural circle of Confucianism. After the spread of Confucianism to Japan, combined with the Japanese nation's own inherent cultural qualities, the development of Confucianism, the formation of its own characteristics J-type management theory, this theory also has a distinctive human-centered characteristics. People-oriented management is the main tendency of contemporary management development, serious study of the Oriental Confucianism of people-oriented management, absorb its valuable things, construction of Chinese-style people-oriented management with oriental characteristics, has an important theoretical value and practical significance.

Today's various management doctrines in the world, almost all emphasize people-oriented. The philosophy of humanism was first discovered by the Chinese philosopher Confucius, who was the first thinker in the history of China to advocate the liberation of ideas. He liberated "man" from the theology of heavenly destiny since the Yin and Shang dynasties, and thus discovered "man" and founded the humanistic philosophy of benevolence. This is more than a thousand years earlier than the discovery of "man" in Western Europe during the Renaissance, which cannot but be said to be the greatness of Confucius.

The Way of the Minister in Confucianism

The basic attitude of Confucianism in ancient China on the issue of advancement and retreat in the career is that if one is poor, one should be good to oneself, and if one is rich, one should help the whole world, and if there is a way in the world, one should see it, and if there is no way, one should hide it. The relationship between the ruler and the ministers is one of supremacy, in which the ruler has absolute authority and is sacrosanct, and those who are ministers must be absolutely loyal to the ruler, so to speak, and to share the ruler's worries. Mencius believed that the relationship between the ruler and his ministers should be one of mutual respect and correspondence, with the ruler treating his ministers with courtesy and the ministers serving the ruler with loyalty. He put forward the idea that "the people are the most important thing, the gods of earth and grain come second, and the ruler is the least important thing", and that the relationship between the ruler and the ministers should be one of equality. Those who are monarchs should be kind and courteous, and those who are ministers of men should be honest and faithful to their duties. As a matter of fact, in the political life of China's thousands of years of feudal society, the loyalty of the subject to the monarch was overemphasized, regardless of the duties and responsibilities of the monarch to the subject, and the relationship between the ruler and the subject was that of a master and a slave. As the saying goes, under the sky, there is no one who is not the king's land; and under the land, there is no one who is not the king's subject. The monarch has the power of life and death over his subjects; if the monarch wants his subjects to die, they have to die. When the subject is a little less than ideal, light is cut off the official, heavy is difficult to protect life, and even fall a full of beheading, the nine clans of the tragic end. The son of heaven is temperamental, big power, the subjects will be y suffering. No matter whether the king is right or not, the only thing a subject can do is to obey. Therefore, the Confucian idea that the king is more important than the people, which was put forward by Mencius, has to some extent served to control the power of the king and prevent it from expanding indefinitely.

In this way, if you meet a wise ruler, the politics are clear and the way is clear to the world, then you should actively participate in the social and political affairs, to build a career and to serve the country. If you are a man of ambition, you should actively participate in the civil service, to show your talent and serve the country. In his position, he should seek his own politics and fulfill his duties. The ideal monarch in people's minds, should be bright and benevolent, love the people like a son, sympathetic to people's feelings, respect for the wise and talented. Only the king sage ministers, the top and bottom of the unity of mind, there can be a smooth government and people's harmony, peace and prosperity of the country and the people in a happy situation. For the minister to be law-abiding, honest and clean, clean can produce Ming. Eat the royal five buckets of rice, to solve the people's thousands of sorrows, on the court to share the worries, under the people to solve the problems. To take the lead in abiding by the court's laws, and to be correct first. When you have power in your hands, you must not be carried away, and you must not do things that jeopardize the people. Within the scope of their duties, to do their duty, self-restraint and public service. The original purpose of being an official is not to support one's family, but sometimes it is true that one has to support one's family before becoming an official. Due to the different positions, the salary received may be high or low, although sometimes it is difficult to support the family because of the low salary, living a more difficult life, do not jeopardize the public justice with selfish love, do not be corrupt, not to mention not to exploit the people. As the people's parents, we should share the people's worries. In the hands of power, we must do more to facilitate. As an official, to benefit a party. More public welfare, benefit the people, solve the people's practical difficulties. Officials should be impartial law enforcement, fairness, adhere to the principle of justice, impartiality, for the people. As a subject, one should be content with one's position and not do anything beyond one's competence, and if one is incapable of doing so, one should give way to the virtuous.

If you have met a weak ruler, the rule of law is corrupt and the career path is blocked. Do not be afraid to do the subject of the face of the offender, reason, and even to death to admonish, to save the day, to save the people from the fire, this is the subject of the duties, is the great loyalty. A flavor of their favorite, the sun, flattery, flattery, deception, although the master's pleasure, seemingly loyal, is actually a great traitor. However, for such a dim king, must pay attention to the strategy and method. As the old saying goes, accompanying a king is like accompanying a tiger, walking on thin ice all day long as if you were walking in an abyss, and a little carelessness may lead to trouble. One must be careful and prudent in what one says and does, and serve one's master faithfully without losing one's way as a minister. Some people say that this is nothing but a kind of foolish loyalty. Can one say that it is worthwhile to sacrifice one's life for such a dim-witted ruler? This is called not knowing how to be flexible. A loyal subject does not serve two masters. A subject must not be rebellious and must be true to his word; otherwise, he is regarded as treasonous. Whoever is a subject does not hope to meet a virtuous and wise ruler, as the saying goes, "A good man chooses a tree of water to live in, and a loyal subject chooses a master to serve". If the monarch is so mediocre as to be beyond redemption, those who are subjects will often turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to the monarch's faults in order to protect themselves, and they will just get by and live on their own. There are also people who take another approach, to a thirty-six plan to go for the top, resigned from the official position, the old man to return to his hometown. Hidden in the mountains and forests, gardening and sowing the praises of elegance. Although the recluse is a last resort, it is much better than living in fear, which is a kind of no way out. When you retire, you lose your salary from the court and your financial situation changes. At this time, you have to clean yourself up and keep to yourself. Do not wear out your will because of the difficult situation. A man of ambition should take the world as his own and aspire to be in all directions, no matter where he is. The time is ripe to wait, and so on, rise again. A great man can bend and cope. He does not rejoice in living in the heights of the temple, nor does he worry because he is in the distance of the rivers and lakes. In the Spring and Autumn Period, after Yue defeated Wu, Fan Li retreated to the five lakes to avoid trouble, while Wen Qi was killed. In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, Zhang Liang retreated bravely and managed to survive, while Han Xin died of greed for riches and honor. The reasoning is very simple, the rabbit died and the dog was cooked, the bird was exhausted and the bow was hidden, the peace was originally set by the general, but the general was not allowed to enjoy the peace. He is not interested in fame and fortune, and treats wealth and riches as if they were dirt. Bow to exhaustion, unone's dying day, do not seek fame in the world, but to leave a clear name in the world. History, how many ministers, because of pride of achievement, fame and fortune, did not have the courage to retreat, the result of self-defeating, and ultimately did not get a good end, which can not help but cause people to think y.

Confucianism and the spirit of the Chinese tea ceremony

Chinese tea ceremony is a fusion of Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, but Confucianism is the main body. On the surface, each school of Chinese Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism has its own school of tea ceremony with different forms and values. Buddhism in the tea feast accompanied by a lonely lamp, to see the nature of the mind; Taoist tea drinking to seek the spirit of emptiness and tranquility, to avoid the world and beyond the dust; Confucianism to tea inspirational, communication and interpersonal relationships, and actively into the world. Whether the mood and value orientation are not very different? Actually not. This superficial difference does exist, but the spirit of the tea culture of each family has a great **** the same point, that is: harmony, calm, in fact, the Confucianism of the middle as a reference.

Chinese tea culture, everywhere in the implementation of the spirit of harmony, whether it is the method of cooking tea, tea, tea method, tea method, all pay attention to the "essence of the equal share". Good things, *** with the creation, also *** with the enjoyment. From the concept of nature, the tea drinking environment to harmonize with nature, programs, techniques and other means of tea art should be coordinated with the natural environment, but also with the personnel, tea personality in line. Green lamps in the ancient temple, experience the bitter silence of tea; qintai study to experience the elegance of tea; flowers in the moon is appropriate to use the method of flower tea; folk drink to have fun and affection. From the social point of view, the whole society should have more understanding and friendship. Chinese people say "the beginning of man, nature is good", the Chinese tea ceremony may be more to arouse the nature of human goodness.

The influence of Laozhuang and Taoist thought on tea culture

Chinese tea culture has absorbed the essence of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, and all important schools of thought in China have made significant contributions. Confucianism from the tea ceremony found in the Xing Guan Qun Grievance, Huo Qi Zhi Ping's great law, used to express their own political views, social views; Buddhist savor the bitterness and silence of tea, tea to help Zen, mindfulness. The Taoists, on the other hand, carry out the viewpoint of ethereal nature. Even, Mozi thought is also absorbed, Mozi advocate true, Chinese tea culture to the spirit of thought and material combination of tea through the ages on the performance of tea, tea production are very specific research, perhaps, this is a formal embodiment of the concept of truth-seeking Mozi.

Some people say that Confucianism in the Chinese tea culture mainly play a political function, providing the "tea ceremony"; Taoism is mainly played in the realm of art, it is appropriate to call "tea art"; and only the Buddhist tea culture from the tea "to understand the suffering and enlightenment of the right way", can be called "tea ceremony". In fact, each family has its own art, art, Tao. Confucianism says: "the road is traveling, the world for the public", the tea people say: "the essence of tea, friends share". Taoists say: "Road, can Road, very Road". Two but one said that the performance, one said that the inner, the table complement each other, are both Tao, but also art, art.

Ancient Taoist thought and Zhuangzi in the philosophical outlook is quite close, so people often Lao, Zhuang and mentioned. From the natural and cosmic view, Chinese tea culture accepts the old Zhuang thought is very deep, emphasizing the unity of man and heaven, the unity of spirit and matter, which in turn for the tea people to create the aesthetic mood of drinking tea provides a source of living water. Tea Sage Lu Yu first from the study of the natural principles of tea, not only to study the material function of tea, but also its spiritual function. The so-called spiritual function, not only because the tea can wake up and refresh the mind, tea, tea, tea itself is regarded as an artistic activity. Both art, there will be beauty, mood, and even philosophy. In China, Confucianism and Taoism are often interpenetrating and complementing each other. Confucianism advocates "a relaxation of the way of literature and martial arts", "a man can bend and can stretch", the conditions allow them to actively struggle, encounter resistance, they will turn a corner and go, retired in the mountains and forests. Therefore, Taoism's "avoiding the world" and "doing nothing" precisely reflects the flexibility of Chinese culture, and can be said to be a complement to Confucianism. Chinese tea culture reflects the complementary relationship between Confucianism and Taoism. LaoZhuang thought in general is to focus on the larger universe, the so-called "do nothing", precisely for the "have for"; flexible, can also be aggressive. The water is soft, so that the mountain can be held on the dike; the pot is empty, so that it can contain the water.

Buddhism and Tea

When it comes to Chinese tea culture, it is often noted that there is a significant relationship with Buddhism. Japan also often talk about "tea Zen one flavor", China also has this saying. The rapid development of tea culture in the Tang Dynasty had a great deal to do with Zen Buddhism, because Zen advocated a holistic approach that harmonized with other traditional Chinese cultures, and was thus compatible with the development of tea culture.

Zen is the Sanskrit word for "chana," meaning sitting meditation and meditation. Zen Buddhism advocates the practice of sitting in meditation to "point to the heart, see the nature of Buddha, and do not make words". That is to say, if the heart is clear and free of worries, the heart is Buddha. This approach is very close to Confucianism's focus on inner cultivation, which is conducive to purifying one's mind. Zen secondly advocates not worrying when suffering, not rejoicing when getting happiness, and being happy without seeking. This is also close to the Taoist idea of tranquility and inaction.

Zen is the Chinese version of Buddhism, which advocates "epiphany", where you take things a little less seriously and become "enlightened". In the tea to get the spirit of support, is also a kind of "enlightenment", so that drinking tea can be Taoist, tea in the Tao, Buddha and tea will be linked. Taoism from drinking tea to find a kind of ethereal emptiness of the state of mind, the Confucians were disillusioned, but also want to tea to cultivate their own transcendent qualities, the three in the search for "quiet", the search for open-mindedness, clarity, rationality in this regard in the tea in the same. But the Taoist people are too sparse, Confucianism is difficult to get rid of the world, but it is the Zen monks in the pursuit of static enlightenment more persistent, so China's "Tea Ceremony" two words were first proposed by the Zen monks.

Familiar with the history of the development of Chinese tea culture people know that the first from China to learn to drink tea, tea seeds to Japan is the Japanese monk most Cheng. The first to bring the Chinese Zen tea ceremony to Japan is a monk, that is, Eisai monk. Therefore, the Japanese tea ceremony and the saying of "tea and Zen" also originated from China. In spreading Chinese tea culture overseas, Buddhists made an important contribution. From this point of view, the Buddhist tea culture is taking the lead.

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