History of Confucianism (a brief outline)

HISTORY OF CONFUCIANISM
(a brief outline)

By Umberto Bresciani

Introduction:

1. Enormous task (like presenting the history of Christianity from the beginning to the present).

2. Name problem: - in Chinese there is no such word "Confucianism". (Ruism?)
- Confucius was not the founder of Confucianism.

3. Misconceptions:
- a thought system created by Confucius.
- associated with the imperial system (authoritarian in politics and family life).
- state religion since Han times.
- oppressive moral rules (foot binding of women, remarriage forbidden, etc.).
- atheistic and materialistic world-view, ignores the afterlife.
- backward looking, stuffy, fossilized (nothing changed for over 2000 years).
- obsolete, belonging to the past.

4. Now many more materials in Western languages than before. Hundreds of good books.
A classic history & anthology: Wing-tsit Chan (Chen Rongjie), A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy (Princeton U. P., 1963).
Excellent general histories: John Berthrong, Transformations of the Confucian Way (Westview, 1998); Xinzhong Yao, An Introduction to Confucianism (Cambridge U.P., 2000).
Many specialized works by Chen Rongjie (Wing-Tsit Chan), William Theodore de Bary, A. C. Graham, D.C. Lau, Benjamin Schwartz, David Hall & Roger Ames, Donald Munro, David Nivison, Du Weiming (Tu Wei-ming), Liou Shu-Hsien (Liu Shuxian), Cheng Zhongying (Cheng Chung-Ying), Julia Ching, Rodney Taylor, John Berthrong, Philip Ivanhoe, Bryan Van Norden, Mary Elizabeth Tucker, etc.
Recent important additions: Encyclopedia of Chinese Philosophy (Routledge, 2003); Confucian Spirituality (2 vols, edited by Tu Weiming and Mary Evelyn Tucker, The Crossroads, NY, 2004).


5. How to subdivide it?

- Two periods?

- Three periods?

- Six periods?





HIST. OF CONFUCIANISM
(a brief outline)
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I. Ancient (or classic) Confucianism (Pre-Qin)

A. The Five Classics:

* Book of Changes (metaphysics): divinatory art, cosmology & ontology: complementary & conflicting vital energies (yin yang) in constant interaction.
* Book of Documents (politics): mandate of heaven, ethical foundation for a humane government (government by virtue dezhi).
* Book of Poetry (poetry): expression of feelings, political & allegoric usage.
* Book of Rites (social rules, laws): concept of Li, rectification of names.
* Spring & Autumn Annals (history): first private history, moral judgment.

B. Confucius (551- 479):

- Life
- A creator and a transmitter
- The first teacher
- The Sage
- The uncrowned king.
- The Analects. (Rectification of names; the junzi; the Mean; the Way of Heaven; concept of Ren (conscientiousness and altruism)

C. Mencius (371-289 BCE?)

- Life
- Human nature is good!! (“If a child is falling into a well...”).
- If one “develops his mind to the utmost,” he can “serve Heaven” and “fulfill his destiny.”
- Evil is not inborn, but due to man’s own failures and his inability to avoid evil external influences.
- Serious efforts must be made to recover our original nature. (The four sprouts, in need of nurturing).
- The purpose of learning is none other than “to seek for the lost mind.”
- Virtue is above everything else.
- “Everybody can become Yao and Shun.”
- Government for the people (democratically oriented; tyrannicide allowed).

D. Xunzi (298-238)

- Life (teacher of the legalists Hanfeizi and Li Si).
- “Human nature is evil;” it needs re-formation.
- Possibility of education; centrality of cultivation (like a ceramist...).
- Civilizing effect of rituals.
- Ritual practices are artificial, accumulated by the Sages.
- Heaven = Nature.


HIST. OF CONFUCIANISM
(a brief outline)
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II. Han Confucianism

A. Confucianization of Han politics.
- Clear separation of court & government (led by a scholarly prime minister).
- Recommendation & selection.
- Family-centered social structure.
- Agriculture-based economy.
- Educational network & judiciary (foremost the Rites).
- Han Wudi (141-87 BCE), legalist despot, declares state sponsorship for the study of the Classics. (124 BCE: Established an official university with 5 departments. By the end of the Han, 30,000 students).
- In 58 AD, all government schools make sacrifices to Confucius.

B. Correlative thinking: Yin-yang, wuxing (five agents)
- Correspondence between man and nature: every moral action has a cosmic consequence; portents are celestial signs (a deterrent to despotic monarchs).
- Dong Zhongshu (179-104 BCE) & New Text.

C. Sima Qian, the Grand Historian (died 85 BCE).

D. Old Text School (Yang Xiong 53 BCE-18 AD), more rational and moralistic.

E. Enormous amount of textual research on the Classics. (Many famous exegetes) In 175 AD, approved the official text of the Classics and carved in stone in Chang’an (Xi’an).


III. From Wei-Chin (220-420) to Tang (618-907)

A. Breakdown of the Han Empire; barbarian invasions, upsurge of Neo-Daoism and spread of Buddhism.

B. Confucianism did not disappear: political and social and ethical organization, Confucius honored (the Sage); the Classics remain the foundation of all literate culture, sophisticated commentaries.

C. Mysterious learning (xuanxue) brings to the fore the Zhongyong and the Yizhuan.

D. Wang Bi (226-249), Daoist thinker, praises Confucius.

E. Li Ao (died 844 AD) and “Returning to Nature;" Han Yu (768-824) anti-Buddhist starts the daotong issue; Liu Zongyuan (773-819): search for the principles of the Classics (instead of textual investigations), Confucianism requires political involvement, to apply its doctrines to the country.


HIST. OF CONFUCIANISM
(a brief outline)
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IV. Song & Ming Confucianism (960-1644)

A) The Song: weak, but cultural splendor; commercial revolution; China excelled in everything, incl. science; democratization of education; full implementation of the examination system (produced the gentry, a new social class noted for its literary proficiency, social consciousness, and political participation).
Fan Zhongyan (989-1052); Ouyang Xiu (1007-1072); Wang Anshi (1021-1086): Old Text (Institutes of Zhou); Sima Guang (1018-1086).

B) The Daoxue (or School of Principle lixue):

1) Zhou Dunyi (1017-1073): the taiji, relationship between the great transformation and moral development of the person.
2) Shao Yung (1011-1077): study of numbers in order to understand the principles that rule the world.
3) Zhang Zai (1020-1077): doctrine of qi (vital energy). Western Inscription. “Li is one and its manifestations are many.”
4) Cheng Hao 1032-1085: Ren defined as “forming one body with all things.” Presence of the Heavenly Principle (tianli) in all things as well as in human nature enables the human mind to purify itself in a spirit of reverence (jing).
5) Cheng Yi 1033-1107): “Self-cultivation requires reverence; the extension of knowledge consists in the investigation of things.”
6) Zhu Xi (1130-1200). His syntesis dominated China from 1313 to 1905:
- Exegesis & the 4 books: Analects, Mencius, Daxue (eight steps), Zhongyong (“What Heaven imparts to men is called human nature. To follow our nature is called the Way (Dao). Cultivating the Way is called education).”
- System of thought: Learning of Principle (taiji, li, qi, xing, gewu, ren).
- Twofold method of study (reverence & extensive knowledge).
- White Deer Grotto Academy in Jiangxi.
- Recasting of family rituals.

C. School of Mind (xinxue): Founder: Lu Xiangshan (1139-1193): conscience ahead of the Classics. Major expounder: Wang Yangming (1472-1529):
1) Fascinating personality.
2) “Mind is principle” (xin ji li).
3) Unity of knowledge and action (zhi xing heyi).
4) Extension of innate knowledge (zhi liangzhi)

D. Korean & Japanese Confucianism.




HIST. OF CONFUCIANISM
(a brief outline)
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V. Qing Confucianism (1644-1911)
The Qing as champions of Confucian orthodoxy. Thorough inquisition of thought.

A. School of Principle & School of Mind

B. School of Evidential Research (Gu Yanwu 1613-1682, Dai Zhen 1724-1777).

C. Wang Fuzhi (1619-1692)

D. Zhang Xuecheng (1738-1801)

E. New Text School (Kang Youwei, Tan Sitong, Liang Qichao)
- political
- eschatological

VI. Contemporary Confucianism

A. Old-style Confucians (Chen Lifu, Chen Daqi)

B. New Confucian Movement (After May Fourth Movement of 1919)

1. Liang Shuming & Zhang Junmai
- Eastern & Western Cultures & Their Philosophies.(1921)
- Science vs. Philosophy debate. (1923)

2. Xiong Shili (1885-1968): From Buddhism to Confucianism. (The New Consciousness-Only)

3. Feng Youlan (1895-1990) and his New Philosophy of Principle.

4. He Lin (1902-1992) and his New Philosophy of Mind.

5. The Manifesto of 1958 (12 points).

6. Mou Zongsan (1909-1995) in dialogue with Kant; Tang Junyi (1909-1978) and Hegel; Xu Fuguan (1903-1982), scholar and journalist.

7. Fang Dongmei (1899-1977): a philosophy of comprehensive harmony.

8. The third generation (Du Weiming, Liu Shuxian, Cheng Zhongying, Yu Yingshi, Julia Qing, etc.)

9. Boston Confucianism (Robert Neville, John Berthrong, Philip Ivanhoe, etc.)