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The Unitarian Universalist Society of Fairhaven, Massachusetts "The Confucian Way?" Rev. Ann C. Fox |
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Introductory words: As we study World Religions this year, I am struck by how many of them grew in response to a climate of social injustice. Judaism grew out of the Hebrews being enslaved in Egypt. Buddhism was a response to and a reform of the stranglehold that the caste system had in Hinduism. Christianity grew out of a violent and insecure time in the Greco-Roman world. Islam grew out of horrendous lawlessness in sixth century Arabia. Confucianism in sixth century BCE China also came about in response to the most cataclysmic violence the world has ever known. In all cases, charismatic individuals brought new teachings that gave people hope. The wisdom of many of these teachings inspire us today. Master Kung: Confucius was born in 551 BCE. Confucius is a latinized version of Kung fu-tzu, or Master Kung as his students called him. In his Analects, he told us that he was born in a poor family and his father died when he was three. At the age of 15, he became a scholar. Being a scholar was the highest rank in ancient China (and a soldier was the lowest). It was a way for a talented poor boy to move up in the world. He was born in a time of social anarchy, called the Period of the Warring states. In Confucius' state, the Chou Dynasty had come to power six hundred years before. The first Duke of Chou was one of the early rulers who became famous for his wisdom and learning. Heaven's Mandate: The tradition was to think of the leader as a Son of Heaven who held Heaven's Mandate to rule. The Chinese believed that Heaven wanted only the best for human beings. Family dynasties should be ruled by Heaven's Mandate only as long as they were good and wise. When it was clear to the people that the ruling family was no longer fit, it was their duty to revolt and overthrow the corrupt or incompetent family and Heaven would bless another family dynasty with the responsibility of ruling (leaving open the possibility of families contending to be the Chosen Sons of Heaven). The Good Duke of Chou: In the early Chou Dynasty that Confucius admired, warfare in China was chivalrous, rather like the Western world's Age of Chivalry in the Middle-Ages, The Chou Dynasty had a custom of ransoming prisoners. But by Confucius' time in the sixth century, the Chou Dynasty was in decline and customs of warfare had deteriorated into mass slaughter, including babies and women. The Warring States: Cruel barons, or warlords, challenged the rule of the Chou and made people eat human stew made of members of their own families. The worst of all cruelties was that children were killing their own parents. With such social instability, the Chinese people looked to wise people and schools of philosophy for answers. Philosophical Schools: The philosophical schools of the Realists said that law and order should be brought to bear with extreme punishment for wrong doers. The Idealists said, love should govern with God's, or Lord Shangti's help. Confucius' Middle Way: Confucius disagreed with both schools. He was sure he had the answer to the problems of life in China: They should look to the past for an example of how to live and then follow it. That model was the time of the good Duke of Chou when the scholars took their inspiration from the texts of The Poems and The Writings of Old. These texts stressed the cultivation of social and religious graces that included etiquette and good manners and the study of poetry and playing of music. What concerned Confucius the most was human flourishing and the good or virtuous life. Educate the Leader's and All Will Be Well: Confucius' strategy was to "educate" the various leaders. He believed that if the leader was virtuous, the people would take their model from the leader. He wandered from state to state trying to get the leaders to listen to him. One war lord gave Confucius a government post just to keep him quiet but when Confucius found out that the post had no power, he gave it up in disgust, even though it meant returning to a life of poverty. What amazes historians is that the war lords didn't just kill Confucius. (Perhaps hearing the chords of truth-telling struck a deep note within them.) Confucius would not talk much of Heaven and the Gods, but if he were threatened, he would simply say that Heaven had sent him to give certain teachings and his tormentors would back off. Disciples: Confucius was deeply disappointed that rulers of states would not listen to him. So he gathered students around him and taught them by dialogue in the manner of the Buddha, who must have been his contemporary but was unknown to him (and, of course, two and a half centuries later, we saw Socrates teach in the same manner). Influence Across Millennia: Confucius' sayings are common all over China and many Asian countries. Though his sayings are wise, westerners have made fun of the on the Internet Joke newsgroups. One such spoof of Confucius' sayings was: "Confucius say 'It's better for civilization to be going down the drain than to be coming up it.'" The Deliberate Tradition and the Five Virtues: Seriously though, Confucius' plan was to create what he called a Deliberate Tradition, or a second nature, by encouraging people to cultivate themselves in the discipline of civilized human relationships. This consisted of self-examination and self-discipline and behaving towards others with great respect and love. There were five concepts, or virtues, to learn to become a person who would make life better for all people. 1. The first virtue is Jen, which is the practice of loving kindness. It manifests as courtesy, unselfishness, and empathy. It is called the Silver Rule and is stated as "Do not do unto others what you would not want others to do unto you." Jen encompasses one's immediate, community, national relationships and relationships through all the world. 2. The second virtue is chun tzu, a type of person. A chun tzu is a person who exhibits perfect behavior. 3. The third virtue is li. This is the central and broad concept. First, it counsels that the younger must have respect for elder. The most important is that children must revere parents, younger brothers and friends revere their elder counterparts, wives revere husbands, and subjects must revere leaders. The second part is that elders must be admirable in their performance of their role. For example, a father must be loving, fair, and firm. And his behavior should inspire the loyalty and affection of his wife. A leader must always have the welfare of his subjects in all that he says and does. When people are the best they can be in their roles and respectful of all relationships above them there is order and civility in society, beginning with the family and fanning out into the community, nation, and world. Another important part of li is the Doctrine of the Golden Mean, or the practice of always seeking compromise so that no one loses face and harmony is maintained. This is extremely important in all Asia. 4. The fourth virtue is Te. It literally means the power of goodness or virtue that influences people when the behavior of the elders are good models for the younger. 5. The fifth virtue is wen, the cultivation of the arts, such as music, literature, and painting, the beauty of which help to shape character. Confucius believed that the person who does not appreciate the arts is hardly human. It is said that he fell into a swoon for 49 days because of the beauty of a poem! Perhaps you think this is all too ideal. After all, we know that top partner in a pair can often abuse their position. On the Internet, there are many Confucius Say jokes. One says, "Confucius say: Grandchildren are God's reward for not killing your children." In religious terms, the person in the up position is obligated by Heaven's Mandate. As long as he or she has the other person's welfare in mind, they have the right to be the revered one. In this way, respect is earned. If a person is abusive, it is a problem of li, that is, not performing the role properly. In China, people are schooled in the idea that every action a person takes affects another person. The Confucian claim is that "apart from human relationships there is no self. The self is a center of relationships." But there is a sense of individual self in Confucian terms because the "call to self-examination and introspection generally shows that he not only recognized an interior side to the self but considered it important." (Smith, 182) Confucius felt that a person who tried to be a chun tzu was a happier person. Do you remember last week that we said that the Bible verse, "Consider the lilies of the field" meant that we should discover our true nature and all would be well? When we behave in a way that benefits others, we are happier. Human relationships are fulfilling when we become fully realized human beings or chun zu. (Christianity, Judaism and Islam believe that we cannot do this alone and need God's help to do it. A World Religion? Perhaps you are surprised to know that Confucianism is classed as a world religion. Many serious scholars of religion have questioned whether it is a religion because they consider it at best agnostic in its worldview. (Let us recall that agnostic means a person who doesn't know whether there is a God or not but holds a skeptical view either way.) In one of the Analects (11:12), a student asks "…how do we serve the spirits and gods. The Master said: 'You are not yet able to serve men, how can you serve the spirits?' The student said: 'May I ask about death?' The Master said: 'You do not yet know about life, how could you know death?'" He just didn't address matters that were not of this life (unless he was in danger and then he said that Heaven had sent him, as we said before). "What Confucius urged on his students was not the necessity for speculation about spirits and gods but rather that the proper duty of humanity was to cultivate the self so that a society permeated by humaneness could flourish." (Berthrong p.166) He emphasized civility rather than reflection on some supposed divine spirit or afterlife. Whether scholars consider Confucianism is or is not a religion, it became the state religion in effect in the Han Dynasty. The sayings of Confucius profoundly affected the entire culture. "Every generation of students in China learned [Confucius' sayings] by rote for more than two thousand years." (Ware, 17) These teachings also became foundational for all far east and southeast Asian countries where Confucius was and still is greatly revered but never worshipped. In my memory, I have an image from Mao tse Tung's days of Chinese children clasping their hands in front of them and paying daily respects to a picture of Confucius in the classroom. Now that the tight control of Communism is a little less, the people have been allowed to bring back some of their blended religious beliefs. We can see China's ambivalence towards religion with the suppression of the Falun Gong meditation movement. China's leaders have always been suspicious of new religions. They believe that any beliefs must have ancient roots and no living leader to threaten the authority of the state. This is why Catholicism is looked upon with suspicion, since their leader is even in a foreign land---Rome. Confucianism is a rich religion, one with all the ingredients of most other religions. It is also a clear and simple system of ethics, isn't it? In our day of increasing disrespect and high crime rates, does Confucianism have anything to teach us? Another Confucius say joke advises us: Confucius say, "If you can't be content with what you have received, be thankful for what you have escaped!" Like Confucius, may we consider the ideal chun zu has much to say to us as we endeavor to encourage an engaged heart and a more just society. Note: In the interest of time, not all that is here was delivered during the 4/7/02 sermon. References
Berthrong, John. "Confucianism: How to Serve the Spirits and the Gods," in The Meaning of Life in the World Religions, Runzo Joseph and Martin Nancy M. Oxford, England: OneWorld Publications, 2000.
Readings from The Analects by Confucius
Ministers Note: Confucianism has a canon of thirteen books. Some of them are at least 3,200 years old. They were already classics in the sixth century BC, when Confucius quoted extensively from them. The old books described a time that Confucius looked back to as a golden age when leaders were wise and the people good because of the wisdom of the leaders. Confucius thought that people were good by nature but that they had to be taught to be aware of their goodness. |
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