Confucianism - Main Page

Confucianism is the State religion in China, developed from the teachings of Confucius and his disciples, from the complex system of principles of good conduct, practical wisdom, and proper social relationships. Confucianism aims at making not only the man of virtue, but the man of learning and of good manners. The perfect man must combine the qualities of saint, scholar, and gentleman.

Confucianism has influenced the Chinese attitude toward life, set the patterns of living and standards of social value, and provided the background for Chinese political theories and institutions. It has spread from China to Korea, Japan, and Vietnam and has aroused interest among Western scholars.

Although Confucianism became the official ideology of the Chinese state, it has never existed as an established religion with a church and priesthood. Confucianism is a religion without progressive revelation, with a minimum of dogmatic teaching, whose popular worship is centered in offerings to the dead.

Confucius is honored as a great teacher and sage but is not worshipped as a god. Confucius himself never did claim divinity. Unlike Christian churches, the temples built to Confucius were not places in which organized community groups gathered to worship, but public edifices designed for annual ceremonies, especially on his birthday. Attempts to deify Confucius and to proselyte Confucianism failed because of the essentially secular nature of the philosophy.

It is the belief of some scholars that Confucius will be revered in the future as China's greatest teacher. Confucian virtues, embodied for many generations in the familiar sayings and common-sense wisdom of the Chinese people, will remain the cornerstone of ethics. It is highly unlikely that Confucianism will ever again play the dominant role in Chinese political life and institutions that it did in past centuries.

IN THIS SECTION