THE WORLD'S MOST POPULAR BELIEFS, DOCTRINES AND RELIGIONS
7. CONFUCIONISM
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Estimated Creation Year: 551-479 BC
God or Prophet of Confucianism: Confucius.
Main books of Confucianism: The Four Books are: Great Knowledge, Doctrine of mediocrity, Analects of Confucius and Mencius. The Four Books were the basic texts of the imperial examinations under the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty.
Main prophets of Confucianism: Confucius.
Headquarters / Capital in the world: Qufu city located in Shandong province, China.
Number of faithful around the world: More than 120 million.
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Main symbol of Confucianism: The best known symbol of Confucianism is that of yin and yang, which is mainly associated with Taoism, it is also used to represent Confucianism. Represents the balance between opposing forces.
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Basic principles of Confucianism: The principles of Confucianism are collected in the nine ancient Chinese books transmitted by the master and his followers, who lived in a time of great philosophical boom. To make it easier to identify them, they will be divided into two types of writing: the Five Classics and the Four Books.
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In the Chinese language the five classics are better known as The Wujing or Wu king, which were created before the time of Confucius. Confucianism has influenced the Chinese attitude towards existence, setting the models of life and standards of social value, and providing the basis for Chinese political theories and institutions. From China it spread to Korea, Japan and Vietnam and in recent decades has aroused interest among Western scholars.
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Although Confucianism became the official ideology of the Chinese state, it has never existed as an established religion with a church and a clergy. Chinese scholars praised Confucius as a great teacher and sage, but they never worshiped him as a god . Confucius also did not proclaim himself a divinity. Unlike Christian churches, the temples erected in honor of Confucius were not places where organized groups gathered to praise him, but public buildings designed for annual ceremonies, particularly the philosopher's birthday. Several attempts to deify Confucius and to proselytize Confucianism failed due to the secular nature of his philosophy .
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Short description of Confucianism.
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The "Master Kong" was a Chinese scholar (551-479 BC) or of the school of the Ru. His Latinized name comes from the Chinese K'ung-fu-tzu and he was a very influential personality at a time when China was suffering from great conflicts. Following his death, his followers brought together his teachings and that of his ancestors in a set of books called:
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The Four Books: Analects, Mencius, Doctrine of mediocrity and Great Knowledge.
The Five Books: I Ching or Book of mutations; Shijing or Book of Odes; Shujing or History Books; Lijing or Book of Rites; Chunqiu or Spring and Autumn Annuals.
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In these texts the foundations of Confucianism are collected: study and worship of the history of China, harmony with the universe, regarding the family and accompaniment in death, among other topics.
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The number of practitioners in China is about 120 million although the influence of Confucius on Chinese tradition and morals is greater. In fact, Analects are still studied in schools.
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Confucianism represents a vision of the world with ethical factors that affect the social aspect, as well as an ideological policy that establishes a lifestyle for those who follow it. This allows it to be located both in the religious field and in the philosophical field, since it contains a great variety of elements that support it. It is not formally constituted as an organized religion, although it supposes a doctrine, but it is possible to define Confucianism as a lifestyle and continue to validate its religious presentation.
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Reference:
https://www.ecured.cu/Confucionismo
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