This course provides an introduction to the study of the history, major teachings, and practices of the major Chinese religions and spiritual practices and is deigned to give conceptual tools to appreciate diverse religious practice in East. It covers the development of Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism and wide range of popular and local religions. From historical perspective we will also explore the development of key theological, religious and philosophical doctrines as well as associated practices. An effort will be made to spend time on each tradition according to its importance to Asia as a whole. We will explore the role of religions in politics and social relations in East and South, South East Asia and China in particular, and will analyze the origins, central teachings, divisions and branches, rituals and practices, influences on culture, and responses to modern challenges for each tradition. The emphasis throughout the course is on the hermeneutic difficulties attendant upon the study of religion in general, and Asian religions in particular. We will explore new Asian religions as dynamic, ongoing forces in the lives of individuals and in the collective experience of modern societies.
Confucianism: Introduction
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Del curso dictado por National Research University Higher School of Economics
Religions and Society in China
44 calificaciones
National Research University Higher School of Economics
44 calificaciones
De la lección
Confucianism in Chinese society: from sacrality to morality
This module's content describes the main ideas and principles of Confucianism, outlines the paths of its developments, explains the difference between what is Confucianism in its particular totality of traits and what is understood as a religion or a philosophy in the West.
Conoce a los instructores
Aleksey A. MaslovHead
School of Asian Studies
Hello.
We are continuing our discussion about the religions in China.
And today we'll speak about Confucianism, Confucianism in China.
Confucianism became a symbol of China, of Chinese nation, and Confucius.
It's a symbol, not just of China, but also of Japan, Korea, Vietnam,
and many other countries which were affected by the Confucian's tradition.
When someone starts to speak about China, he or she usually mentioned Confucius.
So, Confucius, it's a sign of China.
It's a trademark of China and today, almost everyone in this world knows about Confucius.
Not about his philosophy, not about his ideas, but, first of all,
about the symbolism of Confucius, this great sage that lived in ancient China.
So, Confucius became a pillar of Chinese philosophy, Chinese religions,
and Chinese national mentality.
There are a lot of questions about Confucianism.
Some people think that Confucianism,
it's a way that was taught by Confucius, this sage in ancient China.
So, it is private philosophy and private teaching
that arrived from different teachers and different streams but was embodied by Confucius.
So, that's his personal teaching.
Another point that Confucianism, it's a way of the society.
Started from Confucius philosophy
but much enlarged during the period of the medieval China,
and finally became a moral regulations, questions about the moral conduct of Chinese.
So, Confucianism is a teacher of Confucius
and Confucianism is the development of this teaching in traditional China.
So originally, the private teaching of Confucius was not like a more than Confucianism.
Confucianism, the teaching of the sage, Confucius, was not ever large teaching.
It was based on the very traditional norms such filial piety or the harmony.
So it was the teaching of one people for his followers and for his students.
Today, Confucianism it's much larger.
Confucianism today includes almost everything in China and some people call Confucianism,
the national identity or national mentality in China.
So, in the larger sense, Confucianism is a national mentality of China.
There is a discussion about the religious nature of Confucianism.
According to one point of view,
Confucianism is mainly philosophical teaching so we call Confucianism as a philosophy.
Another point of view is that Confucianism is religion or strong,
strongly information by the religious traditions
and these religions put a much emphasis on the moral competence.
So, anyway, I think this discussion is mainly a Western,
a discussion from the Western point of view
because in China, and we already spoke about it,
there were not a big difference between religions and philosophy.
So, religions and philosophy, or I call it teaching or dogma, jiao.
So in Confucianism, we can find a philosophical tradition
and moral tradition of the moral education and also, a religious tradition.
In our lecture we will speak about, mainly, religious tradition because right now,
we don't discuss the philosophical meaning
and philosophical content of the Confucius teaching.
First of all, let's speak about the main notions
that we can find in Confucianism, as well as, the many other religions in China.
First of all, how Confucianists call themselves.
The most widely known notion, it's Ru jiao.
Ru jiao are the teaching of the officials.
Or Kong jiao, the teaching of Confucius.
Both notions used at the same way.
Confucianism was mainly represented by officials in China,
so it means that almost everyone in China could be considered
as the followers of the Confucian tradition.
But the main category who wrote books about Confucianism,
who tried to discuss the main ideas of Confucius were officials,
so it means the people who were responsible for the administrative duties
and for education.
So, that's why the religion of Confucius was called the religion of officials.
Another very important point and very important notion in Confucius tradition is harmony.
Harmony, it means that the unity of everyone inside one society.
It means the balance,
the equality between different sides and different dimensions of one society.
So, the most important thing for Confucians even today, it's a social harmony.
It means that society could include different ideas,
could produce different discussions,
and also could be represented by different kinds of people
and these people are really different by the views,
approach, and ideas embodied, for example, development of the country.
It's not bad.
It's just a way.
The main problem is how to find this social harmony among them.
So the idea to find the harmony and to make this society more balanced
and more stable became one of the main idea of Confucius and his followers.
So another point is the development of the idea of harmony.
It's the idea, great community, da tong.
It means that in spite of contradictions, in spite of different frictions in the society,
we can reach this da tong and in this way to stabilize and to harmonize the society.
So, the main idea of Confucianism is a religious idea as well as a state idea,
or the state of idea, it's how to find these point of balance.
How to find this point of non-contradictionary cooperation between different levels
of the society between different individuals in the society.
So, the idea of harmony, the idea of a great community,
became a focal point for Confucianism as a religion, as well as, a philosophical
and administrative teaching of ancient and traditional China.
What was the idea for Confucianism?
Once again, as well for China,
the idealistic point of view was point of view to the society of ancient time.
The main idea was that the golden time, the golden age of China lays behind.
So, it means that we have to turn face to the past heroes,
to the past sage, to the past traditions
and just to reproduce this tradition in the present day time.
So, it means that Confucianism was mainly directed to the history.
And that's why history became so important for China.
So, it means that people, people of today, should copy the examples of the right behavior
of the rules of the sages of the past.
That's why Confucius himself was so affected
and fascinated by the great sages of the past, of the great Shuyuan
and other great sages which became the examples of the right behavior for Confucius.
Another very interesting point of Confucianism is
that we cannot find any monasteries or temples in Confucianism.
There are some shrines but there is not any monk or there are not any monks
or nuns in Confucian traditions.
But, we can find a lot of so-called academies, shuyuan in Chinese.
Academies, academies were the training centers
or we can call them universities for future Confucius officials.
Sometimes, these academies that flourished, especially in the 12th century
and up to the 17th century, sometimes these academies were supported by the state
and many sponsored by the state.
Another group of academy was sponsored by the private officials.
And these two kind of academies played a very controversial role in the discussion
of the future development of China.
But, anyway, Confucianism was the only religious tradition
that had its own, say training centers,
or academies, and these academies were not monasteries, were not temples.
The biggest of these academies
or maybe the one of the most famous became is called the Guozi lan.
Guozi lan, which is situated today in Beijing,
just in the center part of Beijing, became a temple, an imperial college,
that was built in the 13th century and up to the 19th century raised
more than 50,000 successful candidates.
So, other academies we can find in different parts of China, for example,
in the central part of China,
just near the very famous Shaolin Monastery, we can find a so called the Shuyuan.
It means the Academy of the Mountains.
Shuyuan, which was a central,
one of the central of the Confucius training in the Ming Dynasty.
At the same time a lot of Confucius temples, not monasteries,
or actually it's a shrine or kong miao.
These temples were mainly dedicated to Confucius himself, to his followers,
and sometimes to the ancestors or some family who build this kind of kong miao.
This kong miao by its architecture produce maybe Taoist temples or vice versa.
So, it's a very traditional architecture with several,
several stages and with several shrines inside it,
with the incense burning, with different kind of deities in several halls.
So it's, once again, it's a shrine but not a monastery.
That's why some scholars consider Confucianism more as a philosophy
or as an everyday cult or folk religion but not the institutional religions
as we compared with Buddhism or Taoism.
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