Intro to Confucianism

Credits:
Executive Producers: Daniel Cuevas, Maritza
Co-Writers: Ori Tavor and Andrew Henry
Editor: Mark Henry

[NoFaceMan]

"We live in a society"
-Confucius

[vulpes]

Last time I was this early, the Zhou still held the Mandate of Heaven

[falnica]

This gives me hope that one day there will be a video about Mohism

[tdogg]

Although the vast majority of Chinese people would not identify themselves as Confucianists, it seems clear that Confucianism has had a profound effect on the culture and many Chinese values originate back to it.

[corsaircaruso]

So excited for you to cover this topic!!!

[Akaykimuy]

In my first lesson of the Chinese Religion and Philosophy course in university, my professor expressed his contempt for the name of the course "Religion and Philosophy" because the separation of these as two separate concepts is a modern western idea. In ancient China these concepts were one in the same.

[EUSA]

“Not being able to serve other people, how could you be able to serve the spirits?”

Words very much needed in our time.

[nikitachaykin]

If you are going with Confucianism the next series must be on Daoism. After all Lao Tzu was contemporary to Confucius, and both teachings were very intervened threw all time. I even would say that daoism was occupying the lacking mystical part of confucianism.

[islandplace]

Hellenism, both its ancient form and how it is practiced by various people today would be interesting. (In the future sometime maybe)

[fermmoreira]

Man oh i was super excited for this series, and you delivered it. Gonna be waiting for the next one episode anxiously. Finding this channel have made this 2021 much more enjoyable and full of learning, much thanks for the great content.

[MG-bimq]

Is Confucianism a religion?
That’s a good question. Religious studies books always seem to take this for granted.
And at first thought, I don’t know. Give us an answer Master Breakfast!

[dravenamor]

I am so glad that you have decided to cover religions of China! So perfect.

[RandomRealtalk]

Confucius is a great teacher. His teachings is a good reminder for me. 😊

[chilldragon]

Currently studying world religions in college because I was inspired by watching your videos. You're awesome man. Keep it up.

[ktkatte]

I can see the value of this system as a means to an end; and given the context of its creation, I can't really blame anyone involved, but to me, the fact it would later spread as far as the Shogunate, says a lot more about its value as a means to strict social control from on high... Something i think can be done without enforcing what are often strictly oppressive hierarchies..

[MadHatter]

Thank you for covering this. Buddhism gets a lot of a press as one of the top five major world religions, but no one in the West ever talks about Confucianism as a major religion, philosophy, or political structure, despite it's having a huge cultural impact on about a quarter of the world's population. Many of it's concepts, such as its emphasis on humanism and the idea of open, meritorious government, were millenia ahead of their time.

[Nemo_Anom]

Chinese history is one of my favorite subjects, and I'm always eager to learn more about things like Confucianism, so I can't wait for the other episodes!! Seriously, I can't wait.

[Dan-mclx]

_Disclaimer: I am not a historian or any kind of expert in this field. I would simply like to offer my take on some of the points addressed in this video both for fun and for discussion._

*On Ru (儒)*
At around 2:49 you introduce the term Ru as being synonymous with the term "Confucians" but in my opinion, a distinction is important here. To quote from Mou Zongsan's *19 Lectures on Chinese Philosophy*:
> "Because Confucius's teachings forms a 家 (the -ism in Confucianism), this indicates that he has some expertise or specialist knowledge, namely the six arts; as such Confucianism is so called Ru-ism (儒家)... Although one can view Confucianism as a philosophical system, Confucius is also the the teacher of Ritual, Music, Archery, Riding, Writing, and Math (the Six Arts), and is an expert in them. Where, however, do these Six Arts come from? They come from the Imperial Court (Zhou)."
The designation 儒 (Ru), therefore indicates an expertise in the Six Arts of the Zhou dynasty. These were not invented by Confucius himself (See Analects 7.1).

*On the Centrality of Ren (仁)*
Going back to Mou Zongsan for a moment, one finds in his *Lectures* this statement about the "uniqueness" of Confucianism:
> "Confucius' Ritual and Music arise out of Ren (Humaneness), Ren therefore is the *principle* of Ritual and Music... In order for Ritual and Music to have real meaning, they have to rely on Ren. Thus Confucius says: 'A man without Ren, what has he to do with Ritual? A man without Ren, what has he to do with Music?' If a person lacks Ren, then what would be the point of his practicing music everyday? What is the point of only maintaining the form of Ritual?
In this sense, Ren should be seen as the central guiding principle---a transcendental principle that floats above all of the things mentioned in 6:35. Although you touch on this point at around 12:00, there are a few things that I would like to add: (1) Ren is immanent within the individual, as you say it is really just "humaneness." Mencius gives the following example: If one sees a child fall into a well, then we will feel alarm and distress (Mencius 3.6). This kind of *connectedness* is not something that we have to cultivate to have, but instead it is already present within us, most prominently within the family (See Analects 1.2, also see Shun, _On the Idea of No Self_ ).

We should likewise keep this discussion of Ren in mind when we discuss Ritual (14:05); Rituals, for Confucius were not an unchanging entity. Rather he accepted change in Ritual when change was organic. Consider Confucius' comments on the past dynasties in Analects 2.23 (See also Mou, _19 Lectures on Chinese Philosophy_ ).

*Closing Thoughts*
To put it simply, Confucius' saw a declining moral landscape in his own time, and tried to solve these issues by revitalizing Zhou dynasty rites and social conventions with his ideas on Ren and the other virtues. The primary concern, therefore, was to reinstate virtue in men, not to maintain outdated rituals (as he is sometimes portrayed as doing). Virtuous men, he thought, produced a virtuous society. However, in his own time, one lacking virtue, he aspired to instill virtue in men by recreating in part the society of the past. This, in my view, is the most important point.

[elliotyu]

I never thought 君子和而不同，小人同而不和 could be construed as a contrast between equality and harmony in a hierarchy (10:19). I always thought it's a statement about holding fast to one's own thoughts and convictions in interactions with others. You've presented a fascinating interpretation.

[exudeku]

I can hear Qin Shi Huang heavily breathing and want to burn books