Confucianism-and-Daoism(全文).docx

1、1、China is one of the earliest civilized countries in the world, and has contributed indelibly to the cultural development of mankind. The spiritual tradition of China has resulted in a rich and unique civilization. We are admired by the world for our great cultural heritage. To understand this trad

2、ition we must focus on the history of thought in China, for it is this which constitutes the Chinese cultural context.2、Throughout much of Chinas long and fascinating history, two rival approaches to life competed for dominance. One was Confucianism, with its emphasis on reason, traditional morality

3、, and social philosophy. The other was Daoism, with its stress on intuition, mystical identification with nature, and endless transformation. The two most important figures in Chinas history of thought are Confucius and Laozi. Their teachings may be said to sum up the past and forecast the future.3、

4、Before Confucius and Laozi were long centuries of nature-and ancestor-oriented responses to the sacred. The ancient Chinese had polytheistic ideas and worshiped many gods among whom was the supreme God (Di), represented as a remote and imperial creator, or as nature deities. From the sixth century B

5、C onwards, Confucian and Daoist ethics and metaphysics began to play a bigger and bigger part in the Chinese consciousness. They formed a system of social values and fulfilled various spiritual and ethical functions very much like those of religion.4、The following is a brief introduction to Confucia

6、nism and Daoism.Confucius and Laozi5、Confucius is the Latinized form of the Chinese Kong Fuzi. Fuzi, or Zi, means ”the master”, which is a suffix added to the surname of a learned man respected by others. Confucius and his most well-known disciple, Mencius (Mengzi), are the only Chinese with Latiniz

7、ed names. Having been made famous in Europe as Confucius and Mencius for hundreds of years, it was impossible thereafter to call them Konzi and Mengzi.6、Confucius was the first well-known professional teacher in ancient China. He had a lifelong devotion to learning and teaching and occasionally serv

8、ed as a political advisor to rulers of different states of that time called the Period of the Warring States. He summarized his life development in this way:” At fifteen, my mind was set on learning. At thirty, my character had been formed. At forty, I had no more perplexities. At fifty, I knew the

9、mandate of heaven. At sixty, I was at ease with whatever I heard. At seventy, I could follow my hearts desire without transgressing moral principles.” In his last years Confucius worked on editing such classics as The Book of Poetry (Shi Jing), Spring and Autumn Annals (Chun Qiu), and The Book of Ch

10、anges (Yi Jing). The wisdom of Confucius is best known to us through Analects (Lun Yu), which contains numerous conversations of Confucius and his students. The Analects was combined with the Great Learning (Da Xue), The Doctrine of the Mean (Zhong Yong) and The Book of Mencius (Meng Zi) to form the

11、 four great Confucian classics studied for centuries by the Chinese for education and for civil service examinations which survived until the waning years of the Qing Dynasty in the first decade of the 20th century. 7、The teachings of Confucius harmonize well with those of Laozi (spelled as Lao-tzu

12、or Lao-Tes in some English translations) who lived in the sixth century BC. Laozi is regarded as the first ancient sage in China. He dedicated his whole life to study of Dao (Tao in English dictionaries). We cannot, however, be sure of his real name. Laozi is a description rather than a name. It can

13、 mean “old philosopher” or “old sir” , but it also can mean “old child” or “old fellow”. Perhaps Laozi followed his own dictate that one should not be attached to names and thereby kept himself so well hidden that today very little is known of him except his writings. Legend tells us that when he wa

14、s old and tired of the corruption of the world he rode an ox-drawn chariot to the mountain pass of the western frontier. The Keeper of the Pass, having observed omens and expecting a sage, begged the old man to write a book before withdrawing from civilization. So Laozi composed the Dao De Jing (Tao

15、 The Ching, The Great Tao), consist of about 5,000 Chinese characters. This concise book is probably one of the greatest writings in the world and became the scriptural foundation of Daoism (Taoism) philosophy and the Daoist (Taoist) religion. “Dao” implies an absolute reality roughly comparable to

16、the Western idea of God; yet it is described not anthropomorphically but as a dynamic and natural process. “De” means virtue in the sense of spiritual power. “Jing” is the word for book or classic.8、It is traditionally believed that a meeting took place between Laozi and Confucius. Confucius went to the State of Zhou where Laozi lived to put questions to Laozi concerning the rites. Sima Qian, the famous historian, wrote how Confucius told his disciples after this meeting, thou