Confucianism and Taoism Term Paper

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Confucianism and Taoism

Confucianism is a moral and religious system of China, dating back to the Analects and the teachings of Confucius, and to ancient commentaries, including that of Mencius (Confucianism pp). Before the third century B.C., it was basically a system of ethical precepts for the proper management of society, envisaging man as a social creature bound to others by "jen," a term meaning humanity or human kindness (Confucianism pp). Jen is expressed through five relationships: sovereign and subject, parent and child, elder and younger brother, husband and wife, and friend, all of which function smoothly by the exact adherence to "li," which denotes a combination of etiquette and ritual (Confucianism pp). In many of these relations, an individual may be superior to some while inferior to others, thus, if someone in a subordinate status wants to be treated properly, then he or she must apply a principle similar to the Golden Rule, that is, one must treat his or her own inferiors with propriety (Confucianism pp). Moreover, the ruler, as the moral exemplar of the entire state, must be irreproachable, however, every individual has a deep obligation to be virtuous (Confucianism pp).

Although it is seen more as humanism, Confucianism does have a religious character since the definition of religion focuses on identification of an Absolute and transformation of the individual then Confucianism is a religion because the end result of Confucianism is "Sagehood," which is the "transformative process that takes the seeker toward the realization of its Absolute, T'ien, Heaven, or Tien-li, Principle of Heaven" (Taylor pp).

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