The Analects (Lunyu) is the earliest and most influential record of the teachings of Kongzi (551-479 B.C.E.), known to most Westerners as "Confucius." If we measure influence according to the number of people who have lived their lives according to the teachings of a particular text, there is a good argument to be made that the Analects has been the most influential text in the world. This book argues that we have good reasons to study the Analects as a sacred text, and that doing so sheds light not only on the text and the Confucian tradition, but on what the sacred is, more broadly. It begins by examining what it means for a text to be regarded as sacred in relation to the unique history of this remarkably influential book, and goes on to offer a close study of the Analects, including its structure, its composition and compilation, and the purpose it has served in the Confucian tradition as the earliest and most authoritative record of Kongzi's teachings and conduct. The book further considers the history of the Analects as the most authoritative collection of Confucian teachings which virtually all major Confucians-as well as Chinese thinkers throughout history from the Mohist, Daoist, and Buddhist traditions-responded. This book explores the text, situating its teachings in relation to the religious practices of its time (including Zhou rituals and customs known as li and the veneration of ancestor and nature spirits), and discusses the Analects use and reception both in the periods following its composition and compilation and throughout China's imperial history up through the modern era, including the recent revival of activity in Confucian temples.

“Not sex please,” sê die monnik en toe hy die verbouereerde uitdrukkings op ons gesigte sien, glimlag hy gerusstellend. “Seven is better . . . OK?”

Tussen misverstande, pogings om die taal en skrif te leer en lokvalle van swendelaars wat daarop uit is om ’n vinnige yuan te maak, is daar die vriendelike vreemdelinge wat soos ’n goue draad deur Elkarien Fourie se ervarings in China loop. Hulle is die “mede”-mense wat uitstaan tussen die gedrang van miljoene in die megastede; wat aanbied om die pad saam te loop eerder as om dit net te verduidelik.

Elkarien het Confucius se voorskrif gevolg en haar hele hart saamgeneem op hierdie avontuur wat haar gekies het eerder as andersom.

Through a detailed analysis of epistolary writing, A Late Sixteenth-Century Chinese Buddhist Fellowship: Spiritual Ambitions, Intellectual Debates, and Epistolary Connections brings to life the Buddhist discourse of a network of lay disciples who debated the value of Chan versus Pure Land, sudden versus gradual enlightenment, adherence to Buddhist precepts, and animal welfare. By highlighting the differences between their mentor, the monk Zhuhong (1535-1615), and his nemesis, the Yangming Confucian Zhou Rudeng (1547-1629), this work confronts long-held scholarly views of Confucian dominance to conclude that many classically educated, elite men found Buddhist practices a far more attractive option. Their intellectual debates, self-cultivation practices, and interpersonal relations helped shape the contours of late sixteenth-century Buddhist culture.

First published in 1932. One of the most astonishing features of the Confucian teaching to the modern reader is its anticipation of the Spencerian formula of evolution and its adaptation of this to a programme of progress. This volume shows that Confucius' teaching is still relevant in many of its features, not merely for China but also for the West. Contents include: The background of Confucian political philosophy; the state and its origin; political unity and organization; the principle of benevolent government; law and justice; democracy and representation, social evolution.

The Encyclopedia, the first of its kind, introduces Confucianism as a whole, with 1235 entries giving full information on its history, doctrines, schools, rituals, sacred places and terminology, and on the adaptation, transformation and new thinking taking place in China and other Eastern Asian countries. An indispensable source for further study and research for students and scholars.

Neo-Confucianism is the sophisticated revival of Confucian theorizing, responding to challenges from Buddhism and Daoism, which began around 1000 C.E. and came to dominate the Chinese intellectual scene for centuries thereafter. What would happen if we took Neo-Confucianism and its central ideal of sagehood seriously as contemporary philosophy? Sagehood represents supreme human virtue: a flawless, empathetic responsiveness to every situation in which one finds oneself. How could this be possible? How might one work toward such a state? According to Neo-Confucians, we should all strive to become sages, whether or not we ultimately achieve it. Taking neo-Confucianism seriously means to explore the ways that its theories of psychology, ethics, education, and politics engage with the views of contemporary philosophers. Angle's book is therefore both an exposition of Neo-Confucian philosophy and a sustained dialogue with many leading Western thinkers--and especially with those philosophers leading the current renewal of interest in virtue ethics. The book's significance is two-fold: it argues for a new stage in the development of contemporary Confucian philosophy, and it demonstrates the value to Western philosophers of engaging with the Neo-Confucian tradition.

"Rarely is a work in comparative philosophy itself an original philosophical contribution. But that is the case in this instance in which Angle brings Neo-Confucian philosophy into fruitful conversation with contemporary Western, virtue-ethics based analytic philosophers.The result is a presentation of Neo-Confucianism that advances it beyond any previous Neo-Confucian: Angle is the best in the line so far, at least among those writing or written about in English." - Robert Cummings Neville, The Review of Metaphysics
"This book does an outstanding job of engaging a wide range of sources not only from different areas of philosophy (such as virtue ethics and Chinese philosophy) but also from the disciplines of religious studies and Asian studies. Indeed, one thing that makes this book worth reading is the way it puts new and interesting sources into conversation with one another in order to shed new light on the topics at hand. While this work is certainly recommended for specialists in comparative ethics and Chinese philosophy, it is also a resource for philosophers interested in learning how non-Western philosophy might potentially contribute to work in ethics today." - Eric Cline, Mind
"Throughout the book, Angle makes good use of recent empirical studies. His book is very accessible for readers with a wide variety of backgrounds. Philosophers with no background in Chinese thought will find challenging and interesting discussions of many issues relevant to their own work. Furthermore, I think this book is also quite appropriate to assign to strong undergraduate students. I recommend it highly." - Bryan W. van Norden, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

Confucianism has influenced Chinese societies for more than 2,000 years, and such influence is likely to continue in the future. However, during the preceding centuries, the nature of what was understood to be Confucianism has changed, and this process will also continue. Today, the scholarly tradition is adapting both to the modernization of Chinese societies--mainland China, Singapore, and Taiwan--and to the emergence of global society.

Tamney and Chiang focus on current social changes, their implications for the Chinese scholarly tradition, and the responses of Confucianists to these changes. Special topics include the response of Confucian scholars to the democracy movement, how politicians are using Confucian beliefs and values, the role of the scholarly tradition in contemporary Chinese popular culture, the challenges to Confucianism resulting from the changing role of women, and how competition with world religions is affecting the scholarly tradition. Throughout the book two themes are explored: the division of Confucianism into traditionalist and modernist forms and the nature of ideological convergence in the contemporary world. Scholars, students, and researchers interested in the ways Confucianism is becoming more similar to Western beliefs and values and in the ways Confucianism is likely to remain distinctive will find the volume invaluable.

East Asian medicine, biomedical research, and health care policy are framed by their own set of moral and cultural commitments. Chief among these is the influence of Confucian ideas. A rich portrayal is offered of the implications of Confucian moral and ontological understandings for medical decision-making, human embryonic stem cell research, and health care financing. What is offered is a multifaceted insight into what distinguishes East Asian bioethical reflections. This volume opens with an exploration of the Confucian recognition of the family as an entity existing in its own right and which is not reducible to its members or their interests. As the essays in this volume show, this recognition of the family supports a notion of family autonomy that contrasts with Western individualistic accounts of proper medical decision-making.

First published in 1987. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Edited by Michael Hunter and Martin Kern and featuring contributions by preeminent scholars of early China, Confucius and the Analects Revisited: New Perspectives on Composition, Dating, and Authorship critically examines the long-standing debates surrounding the history of the Analects, for two millennia considered the most authoritative source of the teachings of Confucius (551-479 BCE). Unlike most previous scholarship, it does not take the traditional view of the Analects' origins as given. Instead, it explores the validity and the implications of recent revisionist critiques from historical, philosophical, and literary perspectives, and further draws on recently discovered ancient manuscripts and new technological advances in the Digital Humanities. As such, it opens up new ways for productive engagement with the text. Contributors: Mark Csikszentmihalyi, Paul van Els, Robert Eno, Joachim Gentz, Paul R. Goldin, Michael Hunter, Martin Kern, Esther Klein, John Makeham, Matthias L. Richter.

Scholar, philosopher and political sage, Confucius lived at a turbulent time in his country's history, the so-called 'Spring and Autumn Period' of the sixth century BC, during which China was wracked by warfare between rival feudal states. Against this backdrop he developed a system of social and political behaviour that he hoped could be used to create harmony and peace throughout the land. The teachings of Confucius attracted a large number of pupils, but were largely ignored by the rulers of China's various kingdoms. As a result, he did not see his philosophical teachings applied during his lifetime. After his death, however, his teachings were kept alive by his followers, and within a few centuries, his philosophy (as outlined in The Analects, which record the words and acts of Confucius and his disciples) was adopted by China's rulers and became the foundation for Chinese government, education and social structure. Beyond its profound influence on the culture and history of East Asia, Confucianism has also exerted a powerful fascination for western thinkers and philosophers. Meher McArthur's accessible and thoughtful biography not only traces the outline of her subject's life, but also examines why Confucius and his teachings are still relevant today.

In Doing Good and Ridding Evil in Ming China: The Political Career of Wang Yangming, George Israel offers an account of this influential Neo-Confucian philosopher's official career and military campaigns. While his contribution to China's intellectual history and the outlines of his political life are well known, the relation between his thought and what he did in his capacity as a Ming official has been given less attention. Prior writing on Wang Yangming has passed judgment on his ideas by either idealizing or condemning him for how he treated those he was assigned to govern. Through a detailed reconstruction of his career in the context of issues of empire, ethnicity, and violence, George Israel demonstrates that the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

This book summarizes the author's extensive research on Confucian morality issues and focuses on elaborating the extremely important and unique role of moral thought in Confucian ideology. The book shares the author's own standpoints on a range of issues - including where moral thoughts originated, what the major principles are, and what methods were adopted in Confucianism - to form a comprehensive and in-depth interpretation, and help readers achieve a better understanding. Moreover, the book focuses on the similarities and differences between Chinese and western cultures and presents an in-depth analysis of the differences and roots regarding various aspects, including Chinese and western historical development paths, thoughts and cultures, national spirits, national mentalities, and social governance models. The formation of either culture has its own practical reasons and historical roots. The book represents a major contribution, helping readers understand the similarities and differences between Chinese and western cultures and social civilizations, enabling them to integrate and learn from Chinese and western cultures, and promoting a better development for Chinese society and the international community alike. Combining detailed data and an approachable style, it contributes to the legacy of Confucianism by applying a critical attitude. The author thinks out of the box in terms of theoretical analysis and studies on certain issues. As such, the book will be of great academic value in terms of studying China's ideological culture, especially its morality culture, and will benefit scholars and research institutions alike.

In The Dysfunction of Ritual in Early Confucianism Michael Ing describes how early Confucians coped with situations where their rituals failed to achieve their intended aims. In contrast to most contemporary interpreters of Confucianism, Ing demonstrates that early Confucian texts can be read as arguments for ambiguity in ritual failure. If, as discussed in one text, Confucius builds a tomb for his parents unlike the tombs of antiquity, and rains fall causing the tomb to collapse, it is not immediately clear whether this failure was the result of random misfortune or the result of Confucius straying from the ritual script by building a tomb incongruent with those of antiquity. The Liji (Record of Ritual)-one of the most significant, yet least studied, texts of Confucianism-poses many of these situations and suggests that the line between preventable and unpreventable failures of ritual is not always clear. Ritual performance, in this view, is a performance of risk. It entails rendering oneself vulnerable to the agency of others; and resigning oneself to the need to vary from the successful rituals of past, thereby moving into untested and uncertain territory. Ing's book is the first monograph in English about the Liji-a text that purports to be the writings of Confucius' immediate disciples, and part of the earliest canon of Confucian texts called ''The Five Classics,'' included in the canon several centuries before the Analects. It challenges some common assumptions of contemporary interpreters of Confucian ethics-in particular the assumption that a cultivated ritual agent is able to recognize which failures are within his sphere of control to prevent and thereby render his happiness invulnerable to ritual failure.

Zhu Xi (1130-1200) was the preeminent Confucian thinker of the Song dynasty (960-1279). His teachings profoundly influenced China, where for centuries after his death they formed the basis of the country's educational system. In Korea, Japan, and Vietnam as well, elites embraced his inspired and authoritative synthesis of Confucian thought. In Zhu's eyes, the great Way of China was in decline, with its very survival threatened by external enemies and internal moral weakness. In his writings and teaching, Zhu took as his mission the revival of the Confucian tradition, the source of China's greatness, and its transmission to future generations. For him, restoring Confucianism to its rightful place required drawing on the tradition's whole sweep, from the sacred texts of the sages and worthies of antiquity to the more recent writings of the great thinkers of the tenth and eleventh centuries. This book presents the essential teachings of the new Confucian ("Neo-Confucian") philosophical system that Zhu Xi forged, providing a concise introduction to one of the most important figures in the history of Chinese thought. It offers selections from the Classified Conversations of Master Zhu (Zhuzi yulei), a lengthy collection of Zhu's conversations with disciples. In these texts, Zhu Xi reflects on the Confucian teachings of the past, revising and refining his understanding of them and shaping that understanding into a cohesive system of thought. Daniel K. Gardner's translation renders these discussions and sayings in a conversational style that is accessible to new and more advanced readers alike.

Wang Fuzhi (1619-1692), a Ming loyalist, was forced to find solutions for both cultural and political crises of his time. In this book Mingran Tan provides a comprehensive review of Wang Fuzhi's understanding of historical events and his interpretation of the Confucian classics. Tan explains what kind of Confucian system Wang Fuzhi was trying to construct according to his motto, "The Six Classics require me to create something new". He sought a basis for Confucian values such as filial piety, humanity and ritual propriety from political, moral and cosmological perspectives, arguing that they could cultivate a noble personality, beatify political governance, and improve social and cosmological harmony. This inspired Wang Fuzhi's attempt to establish a syncretic blend of the three branches of Neo-Confucianism, i.e., Zhu Xi's (1130-1200) philosophy of principle , Wang Yangming's (1472-1529) philosophy of mind and Zhang Zai's (1020-1077) philosophy of qi (material force). The most thorough work on Wang Fuzhi available in English, this study corrects some general misunderstanding of the nature of Wang Fuzhi's philosophy and helps readers to understand Wang Fuzhi from an organic perspective. Building upon previous scholars' research on Wang Fuzhi's notion of moral cultivation, Tan gives a comprehensive understanding of how Wang Fuzhi improves social and cosmological harmony through compliance with Confucian rituals.

The "I Ching," or Book of Changes, a common source for both Confucianist and Taoist philosophy, is one of the first efforts of the human mind to place itself within the universe. It has exerted a living influence in China for 3,000 years, and interest in it has been rapidly spreading in the West.

Setting the context for the upheavals and transformations of contemporary China, this text provides a re-assessment of Max Weber's celebrated sociology of China. Returning to the sources drawn on by Weber in The Religion of China: Confucianism and Taoism, it offers an informed account of the Chinese institutions discussed and a concise discussion of Weber's writings on 'the rise of modern capitalism'. Notably it subjects Weber's argument to critical scrutiny, arguing that he drew upon sources which infused the central European imagination of the time, constructing a sense of China in Europe, whilst European writers were constructing a particular image of imperial China and its Confucian framework. Re-examining Weber's discussion of the role of the individual in Confucian thought and the subordination, in China, of the interests of the individual to those of the political community and the ancestral clan, this book offers a cutting edge contribution to the continuing debate on Weber's RoC in East Asia today, against the background of the rise of modern capitalism in the "little dragons" of Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea, and the "big dragons" of Japan and the People's Republic of China.

The Vulnerability of Integrity in Early Confucian Thought is about the necessity, and even value, of vulnerability in human experience. In this book, Michael Ing brings early Chinese texts into dialogue with questions about the ways in which meaningful things are vulnerable to powers beyond our control; and more specifically, how relationships with meaningful others might compel tragic actions. Vulnerability is often understood as an undesirable state; and as such, invulnerability is preferred over vulnerability. While recognizing the need for adopting strategies of reducing vulnerability in various situations, The Vulnerability of Integrity demonstrates that vulnerability is far more enduring in human experience, and that it enables values such as morality, trust, and maturity. Vulnerability also highlights the need for care (care for oneself and for others). The possibility of tragic loss stresses the difficulty of offering and receiving care; and thereby fosters compassion for others as we strive to care for each other. This book is structured to explore the plurality of Confucian thought as it relates to the vulnerability of integrity. The first two chapters describe traditional and contemporary views that argue for the invulnerability of integrity in early Confucian thought. The remaining five chapters investigate alternative views. In particular these later chapters give attention to neglected voices in the tradition, which argue that our concern for others can, and even should, lead to us compromise our integrity. In these cases we are compelled to do something transgressive for the sake of others; and in these situations our integrity is jeopardized in the transgressive act.

Engaging in existential discourse beyond the European tradition, this book turns to Asian philosophies to reassess vital questions of life's purpose, death's imminence, and our capacity for living meaningfully in conditions of uncertainty. Inspired by the dilemmas of European existentialism, this cross-cultural study seeks concrete techniques for existential practice via the philosophies of East Asia. The investigation begins with the provocative writings of twentieth-century Korean Buddhist nun Kim Iryop, who asserts that meditative concentration conducts a potent energy outward throughout the entire karmic network, enabling the radical transformation of our shared existential conditions. Understanding her claim requires a look at East Asian sources more broadly. Considering practices as diverse as Buddhist merit-making ceremonies, Confucian/Ruist methods for self-cultivation, the ritual memorization and recitation of texts, and Yijing divination, the book concludes by advocating a speculative turn. This 'speculative existentialism' counters the suspicion toward metaphysics characteristic of twentieth-century European existential thought and, at the same time, advances a program for action. It is not a how-to guide for living, but rather a philosophical methodology that takes seriously the power of mental cultivation to transform the meaning of the life that we share.