CONFUCIANISM DURING CONFUSING TIMES
Whether we are aware of it or not, especially for those who grew up in Chinese-cultured families, Confucianism has already embedded itself into our mentality and lifestyle, whether we like it or not ‒ and what’s not to like, really, when it is all about being the best version of ourselves?
Much like how The Art of War by Sun Tzu is like the modern day business strategy books executives shelf in their offices, Confucianism is the modern day “Chicken Soup for the Soul” self-help books we turn to when we are feeling a tad lost in life. Its philosophy rests upon the belief that human beings are by nature good, and through self-cultivation and self-creation, every person walking on two legs can be taught, improved and perfected through personal and communal endeavours.
Derived from the mind of the Chinese philosopher Confucius in fifth century BC, Confucianism, also known as Ruism, is less of a religion, but more of a system of social and ethical philosophy that focuses on the cultivation of virtue among the community of a morally organised world; in a nutshell, what the Chinese would call “a way of life”.
Built to establish social values and ideals for the traditional Chinese society in the olden times, (during ancient China’s Warring States period when the country was still caught up in tumultuous warfare), sociologists have pinpointed that Confucianism is a “civil religion”: one that isn’t institutionalised through brick-and-mortar places of worship taught by ceremonial “servants of God”, but in which everyday life itself is the religion, and the teachers and followers are but the people we look up to in societal communities like schools and families.
During its development in the Shang dynasty from 1600 to 1046 BCE, the Zhou dynasty from 1046 to 256 BCE, and the Han dynasty from 206 BCE to 220 CE, Confucianism teachings are common moral and humanistic understanding characterised by the Five Constants (五常): benevolence (仁), justice (義), respect (禮), knowledge (智) and integrity (信); and practiced through the four classical virtues (四字) of loyalty (忠), filial piety (孝), contingency (節) and righteousness (義).
While Confucianism may be shunned by its own people during the New Culture Movement in the mid-1910s and 1920s, when the Chinese Republic failed its nation, and the community sought new doctrines such as Maoism, traditional Chinese teachings eventually reverted back to Confucianism in the late 20th century, when its teachings breathed new life into the economy.
Today, much of the cultures and countries in East Asia are still chugging on the machinery of Confucianism, especially in countries such as China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea, Japan and Vietnam, as well as among the Chinese communities peppered in Malaysia and Singapore.
“WISDOM, COMPASSION AND COURAGE ARE THE THREE UNIVERSALLY RECOGNISED MORAL QUALITIES OF MEN.” – CONFUCIUS