How Is Heaven Tian Portrayed in the Analects? Term Paper

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Heaven

This is a theory that originated in China. This is a political theory in which the rulers received the right to rule over their subjects from a heavenly source. The Mandate of Heaven (a philosophical) concept originated between 1046-256 BCE (Marshall 2002). The Zhou Dynasty ruled over the people of China during this time. The Mandate of Heaven determines if an emperor of China is virtuous to rule. It determines if an emperor has received divine recognition from the gods to rule. This mandate outlines that if an emperor had no virtue to rule then he had no powers and another person takes the role of the emperor (Marshall 2002). This mandate concerns itself with the legitimacy of rulers in China. The conduct of the emperor profoundly influenced the support of the ruler by the gods. If another individual overthrew an emperor, then the people said that the overthrown emperor had lost the mandate of heaven.

The mandate of heaven entails four key principles. These principles immensely contribute to the philosophical concept of the mandate. The first principle states that heaven grants an individual the power to become an emperor and, therefore, become the ruler of china. The second principle states there should be one emperor who will rule china. This principle follows the concept that there is only one heaven. In the third principle, an emperor's virtues and good performance determines his right to be the ruler of china. The fourth and last principles assert that one dynasty cannot permanently rule over china.

These four principles have implications. The rulers have to check their conducts and ensure that they take into consideration, the well-being of the people. The house of the ruling class had to be legitimate in the eyes of the people. The rulers ruled china with the fear of rebellion from the people, as they believed rebellions could receive a helping hand from heaven (Marshall 2002). This forced the rulers to check their behaviors and performance. In times of divide rule rationalization had to be enacted to establish the right person to be the ruler.

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How is Heaven (tian) portrayed in the Analects of Confucius, and what role does it play in the ethical philosophy of the early Confucians as portrayed in this text?

In passage 3.13, chapter XIII, the text portrays heaven as a great aspect in which all, the people respect and believe in it. In this passage, the master states he who offends against Heaven has none to whom he can pray (Eno 2012). The people of china prayed to heaven for their wants. We get to understand that if an individual offends heaven then he or she has nowhere to pray. The people of china mainly prayed in the temple where they talked to their gods. In the book, Analects of Confucius, the people of china immensely respected heaven. The rulers of china also heeded to what expected from them by heaven (Eno 2012). The rulers had to keep certain virtues to ensure that they stayed in power. If at any point the rulers disappointed heaven, they knew well that heaven would strip them of their powers and give it to a more credible ruler.

A border warden located at Yi, asks the followers of sage "My friends, why are you distressed by your master's loss of office? The kingdom has long been without the principles of truth and right; Heaven is going to use your master as a bell with its wooden tongue" (passage 3.24, chapter XXIV.) In this text, their master had lost his authority as a ruler (Eno 2012). The followers became stressed by this fact. The border warden informs them of the master ruling without the principle of right and truth. In this passage, heaven strips a ruler of his power if he does not rule according to the set principles.

Heaven expected all the rulers in china to rule righteously. They had to uphold ethics in their decisions and ensure that they met all the needs of the people. In passage 5.12, chapter XII, the master converses with Tszo-Kung. The master instructs Tszo-Kung that what he does not.....

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