Download Confucianism: Philosophy or Religion?

Confucianism: Philosophy or Religion?
One of the most contentious issues amongst modern scholars concerns the challenge
to define Confucianism as a philosophy or as a religion. In examining the history of
Confucianism, one is able to observe its adaptation as a philosophical ideal or as a
religious practice across different centuries. By analysing the critical views of the
aforesaid issue, questions relating to the role of the government in the Confucian
conception of society and the manifestations of the state cult in Confucianism can be
further explored, as Shryock states, “The [state] cult cannot be understood except in
terms of the civilization of which it was part and which it interpreted” (1966:223).
Though Confucius’ teachings began around 500 BC in China (1966:226), dimensions
of the traditions that grew from his teachings have imprinted upon the lives of modern
individuals and societies throughout East Asia. Recent social studies have
demonstrated that Confucian thought and social patterns continue to have strong
indirect influence on East Asian societies today, even though the role of Confucianism
as the established state philosophy in most countries has almost ended in the last
century (Douglas & Myonggu 1967:43). However, scholars have also argued that the
influence of Confucianism as a major political or religious teaching is in decline, as
Rozman (2002) states, “what had been the dominant way of thinking and social
behaviour in China, Japan and Korea for centuries found new expression, but no
lasting foundation, in each country (2002:11). This is particularly seen in urbanized
areas and cities of modern East Asian countries where Western influence and changes
in social structure have had the greatest impact. However, it remains evident that the
undeniably unique adaptability of Confucius ideals has influenced societies and
communities over centuries and across cultural and national boundaries in East Asia
today.
The continuously changing effects of the Confucius tradition upon societies can be
attributed to its development during its early history, as Rozman (2002) states;
“Some critics of Confucian explanations of Asian patterns of development suggest
that the differences across the region are too great to find a common
denominator…[but] they underestimate the commonalities across the region and
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allow details of recent history to obscure deeper features evolving from earlier
history.” (2002:34)
Furthermore, the argument for Confucianism being strictly philosophical, as opposed
to religious, is also evident in its historical origins. Confucius lived during a turbulent
and chaotic period of China’s history. Throughout the Zhou Dynasty (770-476 BC),
China was not united and various states were at war against each other. In response to
the widespread instability, Confucius studied and utilized the rites and rituals of
earlier generations. Among these rites were the Spring and Autumn Annals, which
were a chronicle of the states of Zhou from 11th Century BC to 221 BC. Confucius
observed these practices as the most effective way of maintaining order in a disorderly
world;
The Master said, ‘The Zhou is resplendent in culture, having before it the example of
the two previous dynasties. I am for the Zhou.
(Analects III, 14)
However, instead of maintaining social order through external rules and regulations,
Confucius sought to regulate human activity by cultivating an internalised system – a
system of inflicting punishment upon oneself with shame for violating the social
order. This form of internalized regulation of human activity is further conveyed in
the written Analects:
Lead the people with administrative injunctions and put them in their
place with penal law, and they will avoid punishments but will be
without a sense of shame. Lead them with excellence and put them in
their place through roles and ritual practices, and in addition to
developing a sense of shame, they will order themselves harmoniously.
(Analects II, 3)
For instance, according to Confucius a ruler was not meant to govern by leadership or
decision-making. Instead, he was to remain in his palace and perform the required
rituals. The intention being that when those around him saw that he was calm and
behaved in the way required of him, others would follow – and so calm and order
would radiate out from the palace into the nation (Hong 2012);
The Master said, ‘The rule of virtue can be compared to the Pole Star which
commands the homage of the multitude of stars without leaving its place.’
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(Analects II, 1)
The Master said, ‘If a man is able to govern a state by observing the rites and
showing deference, what difficulties will he have in public life? If he is unable to
govern a state by observing the rites and showing deference, what good are the rites
to him?’
(Analects IV, 13)
The Master said, “where one is orderly in his own person, people will accord with
him without need of command. But where he is not orderly himself, even when he
commands he is not obeyed."
(Analects III, 23)
Confucius challenged common Chinese political ideologies by focusing on selfcultivation (Hall & Ames, 1987) rather than focusing on governmental power or
ancient religious practices, as Liu states; “Confucius in his unobstrusive way made a
decisive turn from an emphasis on spiritual powers to an emphasis on man”
(1971:159). The cultivated person, according to Confucianism, was a person who
observed the rules of propriety in the five key relationships, or li, of society which
were between ruler and subject; father and son; older brother and younger brother;
husband and wife; friend and friend.
Confucius’ teachings also highly emphasized the value of education and developing
the ‘scholar class’. However, as centuries passed, Confucianism became deeply
embedded within government regulations through the education system, resulting in
limitations being enforced upon traditional Confucian teachings by government
intervention;
“As the cult of Confucius was inseparable from schools and scholars, it followed that
the two rose and fell together…it was natural for the cult to be strong under the rulers
and weak in time of disorder. In this the cult differed from Buddhism and Taoism
which frequently flourished when the state was decadent.” (Shryock 1966:224)
Herein, the Chinese government became increasingly involved with Confucianism.
However, what was utilized by the state for political influence skewed the original
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intentions of the teachings of the cult, which were dominantly focused on humanistic
ideals and ethics;
“the early Confucians formulated the impression that Confucianism is merely a
system of ethics and that it is a Humanism…It seems that the early Chinese religious
thought simply existed alongside of Confucian ethics without conflict and without
harmony.” (Kim 1997: 337)
Furthermore, it has been argued that Confucius, his teachings and his followers were
characterized as agnostic (Taylor and Arbuckle 1995: 347). In spite of this, the
Chinese government formulated a need for a transcendent and legalistic basis for the
traditional Confucian ethics (Kim 1997:337).
Under Emperor Han Wu Ti’s reign from 157-87 BC, the Confucian principles as the
policy of the state were officially adopted. However, the eventual form of government
combined features of not only Confucianism but also the new philosophy of Legalism
developed during the Qin dynasty which began in 221BC (Shryock 1966:226). The
philosophical teaching of Legalism witnessed a dramatic shift away from the
Confucius teachings of self-cultivation and harmony towards a society focused on the
government’s needs. In a Legalist society, the people were there to serve the
government and the government preceded all other matters and regulatory bodies.
What were preserved from the Confucian teachings were merely the importance of
education and the participation of the wise and learned in the administration of the
government (Shryock 1966:227).
Following the Wu Ti regime, another shift occurred – the shift of Confucius teachings
as a philosophy to a religious ideal marked under the concept of the ‘state cult’. The
term state cult is used to describe the incorporation of Confucianism into the Chinese
state religion (Taylor & Choy 2005:549). The movement was toward official
recognition of the family ancestral worship and the incorporation of the practice into
the broader sphere of state religion.
In 135B.C.E Han Wu Ti began to elevate Confucianism to orthodoxy. By the T’ang
dynasty, temples to Confucius were erected in all cities of the empire (Taylor & Choy
2005: 549). These temples became national halls of fame where the great Confucians
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of later ages received honor and sacrifice. They arranged the various spirits connected
with the state religion and Confucius was treated exactly like the other divinities of
the state cults, while his temples, filled with images and pictures, resembled those of
Buddhist and Taoist gods and showed influences from other cults. (Shryock 1966:
230). By 59AD all government schools were required to offer sacrifices to Confucius.
By 1530 the Ming dynasty emperor Chia-ching reformed the state cult and changed
Confucius’ title from wang (king) to Chih-sheng Hsien-shih which meant the Teacher
of Antiquity and Highest Wisdom (Taylor & Choy 2005:549). The Sung and Ming
periods demonstrated the government’s transformation of traditional Confucian ethics
to the newly formed “Neo-Confucianism”, a state cult utilized for political
advancements whereby the representative philosophers of Neo-Confucianism
borrowed ideas from Buddhism and Taoism, constructing a typically Confucian
metaphysics (Kim 1977:337).
However, the modernization of China under the republic witnessed a dramatic decline
of Confucianism. Old schools and canonical studies were destroyed and a new
generation of scholars pointed out that the state cult had been used by emperors for
political ends which were opposed to republican principles. Confucianism’s emphasis
on the duty of a subject to his ruler opposed republic ideals and China experienced a
new shift from historical preservation to modern culture and science. (Shryock 1966:
232). Today, the influence of the republican cult of Sun Yat-sen has now replaced the
Confucius state cult’s former position as the dominant philosophical or religious
teaching.
The role of Confucianism in the Chinese state religion was significant. Though
Confucius was not a religious leader and “did not feel it his duty to reform older
beliefs and practices, nor did he emphasize religious duty in his teaching” (Shryock
1966: 223), the question is whether Confucianism itself evolved into the state religion.
Shryock (1966) demonstrates the growing influence of the Confucians in the
determination of the nature of the state religion and an ever-increasing overlap
between the state religion and the cult of Confucius.
One of the features that distinguish Confucianism from other religions is its lack of
visible and autonomous institutional structures. Instead it takes the form of what
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sociologists call a “diffused” religious or quasireligious system. There is no
priesthood or clergy whose sole mission is to preserve and propagate Confucian
tenets, perform Confucian rituals, and uphold the Confucian “faith.” (Taylor & Choy
2005:550).
However, recent research by Chinese scholar and historian Chang Jung-ming
indicates that from Emperor Han Wu Ti’s institutionalization of Confucius’ teachings,
Confucianism had manifested itself into the government as a state cult, and by the end
of the Former Han dynasty, Confucianism had become a state religion. Chang also
quotes a 1995 article by Li Shen, the author of a two-volume history of Chinese
Confucian religion that equates the imperial state organization with the Confucian
religious establishment, and the officialdom as the equivalent of clergy (Taylor &
Choy 2005:550).
It seems the ambiguous heritage of Confucianism remains unresolved and, in many
instances, insufficiently explored in East Asia and in Western scholarly circles.
Instead, a polarity of interpretations has arisen between those historians who perceive
Confucianism as static, hierarchical, and unprogressive and those who see it as a
complex, dynamic and changing thought system – as Liu argues;
“…Confucius must be said to have been a radical humanist and a deeply religious
person. He was a radical humanist in the sense that he refused anything to do with
spiritual beings, and a deeply religious man in the sense that he realized that there is a
“depth and dimension” in man.” (Liu 1971:160)
How can such opposing interpretations be describing the supposedly same reality? As
Tucker (1998) states, the answer lies in the particular perspectives brought to the
study, in the different uses of Confucianism in the political, social and educational
orders, in the numerous ways traditions are constructed, and in the varying time
periods and countries under investigation. Furthermore, one cannot possibly
deconstruct the inherent nature of a philosophical or religious ideal without first
examining the historical relativity and contextual origins of its teachings, as Lin & Li
(2007) state;
“...confronting the downfall of the emperor’s authority, the rigidity and invalidation
of the ritual and musical system, and the collapse and disorganization of the social
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order during the Zhou Dynasty, Confucius devoted himself to transmitting cultural
tradition…Only on the basis of this differentiation and interpretation can we actually
reveal the meaning and possible innovations of Confucianism in modern times.”
(Lin & Li 2007:545)
Confucianism has had a variety of roles, namely as the inspiration of state orthodoxy,
as an ordering pattern in the social fabric, and as the basis of an educational
curriculum. However, what can be said is that the study of the complex nature of
Confucianism provides a helpful insight into examining the endurance of religious
traditions in modernity, accounting for the appeal of Confucianism over time and
across cultures and developing new categories for defining religion (Tucker 1998). As
scholarly theory continues to deepen into the realms of Confucianism, understanding
its existence as an ethical philosophy or state religion will continue to unravel, as
Rubin considers;
“It is true that some features of traditional Confucianism are obsolete. Yet it is from
Confucian sources that an ethical and anthropological stream of Chinese culture
flows, a culture of exceptional richness… today in China utilitarianism is struggling
with ethics. If such a pulsation does not cease, we may expect to see a change in
reason and humanity, a change that may prove to be the renaissance of some essential
characteristics of Confucianism.” (Rubin 1973:78)
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References
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Ames & D. Hall, Thinking through Confucius, State University of New York, New York.
Arbuckle, G. & Taylor, R. 1995, ‘Confucianism’, The Journal of Asian Studies, Association
for Asian Studies, Vol. 54, No. 2, pp. 347-354.
Choy, T.F. & Taylor, R.L. 2005, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Confucianism: N-Z, The
Rosen Publishing Group, New York.
Douglas, W.A. & Myonggu, Y. 1967, ‘Korean Confucianism Today’, Pacific Affairs,
University of Biritish Columbia, Vol. 40, No1/2, (Spring-Summer 1967), pp.43-59.
Hong, A. 2008, Confucianism, 3 April 2008, Date viewed: 11 May 2012,
< http://andrewhong.net>.
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West, University of Hawai'i Press, Vol. 27, No. 3, Jul., pp. 337-348.
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as a Text of Philosophical Hermeneutics’, Frontiers of Philosophy in China, Springer, Vol. 2,
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Contemporary Significance’, Philosophy East and West, University of Hawai'i Press, Vol. 21,
No. 2, pp.157-175.
Rozman, G. 2002, ‘Can Confucianism Survive in an Age of Universalism and
Globalization?’, Pacific Affairs, Pacific Affairs, University of British Columbia, Vol. 75, No.
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Religions, BRILL, Second Series, Vol. 59, Livr. 1/5, pp. 72-80.
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Confucius, Paragon Book Corp, New York.
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