The Early Chinese World and the Rise of Confucianism

1. The Early Chinese World and the Rise of Confucianism Jeffrey L. Richey, Ph.D. REL 232 Religions of China and Japan Berea College Fall 2004

2. ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES • Large population • Agricultural society • Climactic extremes (hot summers, freezing winters, regular floods) • Relative isolation (bounded by Pacific, Himalayas, deserts)

3. CULTURAL ORIENTATIONS • Intense pressure for social harmony • Ideal unity of natural and social orders • Confidence in human ability to discern and manipulate environment • Ethnocentrism • Alternating cycles of xenophobia and xenophilia • Assumption that religion is subordinate to ruler

4. EARLY CHINESE RELIGION • “Oracle bones” used in divination rituals • Ancestral spirits seen as powers to be appeased • Shang-di 上帝 (“Lord on High”) = divine ancestor of Shang 商 rulers (c. 1500-1050 BCE) • Shang-di later identified with Tian天 (“Heaven”), deity of Zhou 周 rulers (c. 1050-256 BCE)

5. EARLY CHINESE COSMOLOGY • Triangular relationship: humans, earth, heaven • 天人合一 (Tian ren he yi) = Heaven and humanity in harmonious unity • Dao道 = eternal, cyclical exchanges of yin陰 and yang陽 energies • In human beings, flow of such energies takes place in qi氣 (“vital energy”)

6. THE CRISIS IN THE ZHOU ORDER (c. 771-221 BCE) • After 770 BCE, Zhou rule was weakened by foreign invasions and internal divisions • 771-481 BCE: Chunqiu春秋 (“Spring and Autumn”) period of unstable feudal coalition • 403-221 BCE: Zhanguo戰國 (“Warring States”) period of constant civil war among feudal lords competing to impose rule and restore unity of Zhou territory • The Baijia百家 (“Hundred Teachings”) arise in response to cultural crisis and “free market” for political, philosophical, and ritual expertise

7. KONGZI孔子(“CONFUCIUS”), c. 551-479 BCE • Minor official in small state of Lu 魯 • Attracted both upwardly-mobile and counter-cultural male disciples • Teachings presented in Lunyu論語 (Analects) • Central concepts: • li禮 (ritual) • de德 (moral power) • xiao 孝 (filiality) • ren仁 (human potential)

8. WHAT KONGZI TAUGHT • GOAL: to be a junzi君子(“superior person”) • MODEL: Zhou and pre-Zhou sage-kings • METHOD: • Reverence for idealized values of the past • Conservative perspective on familial and social order • Gradual self-cultivation through ritual mastery and study of ancient texts (especially poetry & history) • Faith in power of highly-placed, well-cultivated individuals to restore moral order

9. MENGZI孟子(“MENCIUS”), c. 372-289 BCE • Itinerant court consultant from state of Zou 鄒 • Never knew Kongzi personally • As interpreter of Kongzi, introduces distinctive themes about renxing人性 (human nature): • Renxing seen as originally oriented ren 仁 • Renxing may be cultivated through li and manipulation of one’s qi • Renxing may be stunted through neglect or abuse, but never lost or beyond redemption

10. XUNZI 荀子, c. 310-215 BCE • Prominent scholar from state of Zhao 趙 • Rejected Mengzi’s positive view of renxing • Argued that renxing tends toward evil unless corrected by ritual and social norms • Likely survivor of late Warring States conflicts and firsthand witness of unification of China under First Emperor of Qin 秦 (221 BCE)

11. THE RISE OF “CONFUCIANISM” • Han 漢 dynasty (c. 206 BCE-220 CE) replaces short-lived Qin dynasty and establishes teachings of Kongzi and his followers as official ideology (136 BCE) • Han librarians create bibliographical category of Rujia儒家 (“Ru family” or “Ru school”) to classify texts related to Kongzi, Mengzi, etc. • While Rujia (= “Confucian”) texts and thinkers all venerate Kongzi and share his reverence for the Zhou heritage, moral outrage, and epistemological optimism about human beings, they also disagree