Neo-Confucianism and Early Confucianism - Essay Example

Neo-Confucianism and Early Confucianism: A Comparative Study Developmental thinking in the religious approaches of the civilized communities has evolved new ideologies and formulated specific models for spiritual life. Confucianism is one of such derivations of the many religious principles in the ancient world which conglomerated the ethical values and philosophical teachings necessary for a systematic lifestyle. The principles of Confucianism focuses on the promotion of humanistic values of social life based on moral standards necessary for upholding the spiritual qualities of individuals. The emergence of Confucianism as a strong socio-political philosophy in China, the importance of Buddhism was challenged as the governing authorities started considering it as the official ideology. The popularity of Confucianism as an ideology that believed in the flexible qualities of mankind rather than the traditionally perceived divinity helped it in achieving more followers. As time progressed, Confucianism was restructured with additional principles from both Buddhism and Taoism and found a new identity as Neo-Confucianism. This paper will compare the early Confucianism with Neo-Confucianism on the basis of the difference in political, social and cultural conditions during the times of these two ideologies. As Weiming (2014) notes, Confucianism was originated in China in during the sixth century BCE as a principle based teaching on the ways of life by Confucius. This ideology was embraced by the people and it gained popularity across the countries of China, Korea, Japan and Vietnam and the followers of Confucianism considered it as their religion. The ideals put forth by Confucius were in practice over China well over two thousand years. The reason for this profound tradition being considered as a religion because of the collectiveness it guaranteed through the integration of many other religious values and its consideration for the reverence of ancestral faith patterns observe by its followers. Confucianism is also a philosophy because the origin of this tradition was based on the continuous practices of transformation of human values based on the existing beliefs to form a new model of doctrines that would oversee the social and spiritual lives of the individuals. The origin of this tradition was the result of Confucius’ continuous research on the antique principles of human life that relied on human-centered values. As a result, he identified the fact that human beings internally embrace the opportunities to express themselves and belong to their own choice of cultural groups. Confucius had a political focus on the religious aspects of the country, for which he emphasized the importance of ritual systems that guaranteed cultural values to social practices. Confucius worked as a philosopher and formulated thoughts for the renewal of the existing ideals of socio-cultural institutions and contributed his efforts to connect them as a political system. Even though his objective of acquiring power to spread his teaching failed, the philosophy he developed to identify politics a set of guidelines based on moral values continued to claim popularity in the country. In a general sense, Confucianism is all about humanity and morality; an ideology that criticizes wealth and power as leadership and highlights virtue as the basis for both individual and social wellbeing. The history of Confucianism tells the story of Confucius as a devoted and spiritually mature person who revered the ancient Chinese classics as saintly material for finding the true sense of human life. The spiritual perfection of Confucius as a leader was the best example for the followers to practice. Confucius was a great teacher who gathered the spiritual material essential for the teachings in the form of books. According to some online documents, the transmission of learning formulated by Confucius was designed in different books like the Book of History, the Book of Poetry, the Book of Changes, the Book of Rites and the Annals of Spring and Autumn (“Early Confucianism”). The early Confucians regarded these books as their religious symbols and practiced rituals and composed lyrics and played music as their religious practice. The practice of art and music as part of the tradition helped in making people gentle in disciplined groups of followers, who were eventually taught the moral principles meant for finding the real way of life as per the doctrines of Confucianism. Early Confucianism taught truth as the fundamental way; it further taught that continuous rituals based on humanity was essential in order to achieve the way. The doctrine of the early Confucianism was such that learning of the way was possible only if one continued it with dedication and absolute self-discipline. The teachings of early Confucianism were based on the examples of the past. In order to make a platform for the belief restructuring, Confucius propagated the cultural contributions of the mythical kings Yao, Shun and Yu and integrated their teachings with the works of the actual sages in the later era. For this purpose, he established a belief that transition of values through sages of different generations only meant to better the quality of virtue, which was essential for the way of life. According to Smith, trainings were integral part of early Confucianism in which the communities were given practices of antique arts with a view to ensure the preservation of ancient culture as well as moral perfection of the followers. This kind of practices were observed as a ritual and even though the way was difficult to follow, a disciplined submission to the doctrines helped the individuals to achieve self-improvement by realizing the values of human values of life. Confucianism essentially believed in the principle that inter-personal bonding of human beings started in the early childhood and the mutuality developed with values would effectively develop individuals to grow as citizens with obligation for human values. Confucianism advocated the leaders to behave with responsibility and impartiality as they had the power to influence the public order of life. With regards to punishment systems, Confucianism had a view that corporal punishment would be useless if they are awarded without moral teachings meant for the correction of individuals. In a conclusive way, Confucianism was making a continuous effort to integrate the diversely distributed communities through music and rituals while focusing on the effective and morally balanced political administration. Widening the scope of Confucianism in a more poplar way, Neo-Confucianism was developed by eliminating the dominance of Daoism and Buddhism over Confucianism. The principal focus of Neo-Confucianism was on the regionalizing of the preservation of ancient culture through Confucian doctrines but with the inclusion of a metaphysics that taught about the importance of spiritual aspects as a relationship with the order of the universe. The trials of Neo-Confucianism were meant for rediscovering the values of the ancestral teachings lost under the Buddhist domination for improved interpersonal relationships and effective governance of the societies. Some online records identify that the main architects of the Neo-Confucian ideology were Chou Tun-I, Chang Tsai, Ch’eng Hao and Ch’eng I during the process of its development from the years 1017 to 1108 (Neo-Confucianism). Later on, the development of the Neo-Confucian ideologies became prominent through the times of Chu His and Wand Yang-ming. Chu’s contributions in his books meant for the coordination and coherent distribution of the teachings of sages of different communities, which eventually achieved official recognition. After the Cheng-Chu school of thought, Lu-Wang school emerged as an important reviver of the Neo-Confucian tradition, which emphasized on the approach of self-cultivation. The governing of human minds with the integration of teachings of sages compiled as the four books is the significant difference between Confucianism and Neo-Confucianism. While the former considered the importance of the thoughts of one master, the latter added more intellectually debated aspects in the spiritual life concerned with human psychology and the formulation of the values of inner life. The importance of mind in incorporating values was strongly recommended by Lu. According to Ivanhoe, Lu believed in the existence of a mind-heart embodiment behind all the principles necessary for the structuring of a phenomenal world; however, he accepted the fact that the material world is not mind-independent (34). Lu wanted to clarify that the coherence of thoughts and their acceptance as feelings would make clear understandings of the conditions concerned with the worldly affairs. From other perspectives, Neo-Confucianism evaluates human behavior and virtue on the basis of a metaphysical yardstick which describes individuals to exist between the aspects of pattern and principle that determines their capability to recognize situations and react accordingly. Wang particularly focused on the description of the relationship between knowing and acting and vice versa. According to a finding, “He claimed that the ancient sages recognized that knowing and acting were ultimately one thing, but sometimes discussed them separately for pedagogic purposes, to help those who underemphasized one aspect of this unity” (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). In Wang’s views of Neo-Confucianism, human beings are comparable to the universe in a metaphorical way – as mankind is full of small and large thoughts and emotions, the universe is full of creatures of different sizes. Wang also highlighted the metaphysical aspects of the knowing-acting relationship by establishing that no action takes place without the doer knowing it, and therefore the internal correction is possible through self-teaching. The observations of Neo-Confucianism thus appears more material centric than early Confucianism in the way it evaluate human life and values. An overview of the entire observation of the Neo-Confucian tradition indicates that it essentially focuses on the relationship of human beings with the principles of the universe. Confucianism was derived as a philosophy based on the moral principles of the ancient teachings. It aimed at ensuring a political leadership integrated with moral values for the general wellbeing of the society by focusing on the spiritual perfection of individuals. It was accepted by the people as a religion, whose teachings where rendered through classical art and music. Neo-Confucianism emerged as a rescuer of the fading Chinese classics and ancient culture during the Buddhist domination period. This ideology introduced different schools of thought about the values of life based on the relationship between human beings and the order of the universe. As a comparison, Confucianism advised a practice that required the regular and systematic gathering of people; while Neo-Confucianism recommended for self-correction of individuals with wider exposure to practical life. Works Cited “Early Confucianism”. Web http://www.philtar.ac.uk/encyclopedia/confuc/early.html Ivanhoe, Philip J. Readings from the Lu-Wang School of Neo-Confucianism. US: Hackett Publishing, 2009. Print. “Neo-Confucianism”. Web http://faculty.washington.edu/mkalton/NeoConfucianism.htm Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. ‘Wang Yangming’. 2014. Web http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/wang-yangming/ Smith, Gregory. Early Confucianism. Web http://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/PHIL101-3.1.4-EarlyConfucianism.pdf Weiming, Tu. “Confucianism”. Encyclopedia of Britannica, 2014. Web http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/132104/Confucianism Read More