CONFUCIANISM

Presented by:
Carmelo John Dela Cruz
Kenneth Empon
John Patrick Jarabelo
John Christian Macapobre
Place of Origin/Timeframe
Founders and Key Figures - Confucius

• K'ung Fu Tzu (Confucius)

551 – 479 BCE
• Born in province of Lu
during the Chou dynasty
• Mother taught him to
master the six arts (ritual,
music, archery,
chariteering, calligraphy,
arithmetic)
• Father was a commander
that died when he was
three.
Place of Origin/Timeframe
Founders and Key Figures - Confucius

• Opened a school at 22
• Success led to
appointment as
magistrate of town of
Chung-tu then minister of
justice of Lu
• After a conflict with the
Marquis of Lu in 496 BCE,
he left the state and
travelled and taught for 11
years throughout China.
Place of Origin/Timeframe
Founders and Key Figures - Confucius

• He returned home at
the age of 67 and
taught and studied
until his death
• At the time of his
death, he had 72
disciples whom all
mastered the 6 arts
and 3000 followers
Place of Origin/Timeframe
Founders and Key Figures - Confucius

• A year after his death, the Confucius temple

was constructed in Qufu, China
Place of Origin/Timeframe
Founders and Key Figures - Mencius

• 390 – 305 BCE

• Claimed people
needed to remain
grounded avoid the
trap of dwelling on
God
• Believed people are
naturally good and
evil is learned
Place of Origin/Timeframe
Founders and Key Figures – Hsun Tzu

• 298 – 238 BCE

• Challenged the teachings
of Mencius and Confucius
• Warned that human
nature was inherently evil
and easily corrupted
unless taught otherwise
• Wrote 32 essays that
clarified the belief system
Key Beliefs
Confucian ethical teachings include:
• Li: Ritual, propriety, etiquette
• Hsiao: Love within the family: love of
parents for their children and of children for
their parents
• Yi: righteousness
• Xin: honesty and trustworthiness
• Ren: benevolence, humaneness towards
others; the highest Confucian virtue
• Chung: loyalty to the state, etc.
Key Beliefs
The Five Relationship Bonds:
From most important to least (however, all stand
very equally)
• Ruler to Subject
• Father to Son
• Husband to Wife
• Elder Brother to Younger Brother
• Friend to Friend.
Key Beliefs
God?
• never indicated doing anything for a
"God" in his teachings
• main prerogative was to promote a social
system based on "good conduct" and
virtue instead of the pervading class
system of his time.
• beliefs helped shape the intense
meritocracies and filial loyalties of East
Asian countries today
 Key Practices,
Rituals and Ceremonies
Birth
• The T’ai-shen (spirit of the fetus) is said to
protect the mother
• A special procedure is used to dispose the
placenta
 Key Practices,
Rituals and Ceremonies
Birth
• Mother is given a special
diet and allowed to rest
for a month after delivery

• Mother’s family of origin

supplies all the items
needed by the baby on the
first, fourth, and twelfth
monthly anniversary of the
birth
 Key Practices,
Rituals and Ceremonies
Marriage
There are six stages:
1. Proposal: couple exchange the eight
characters (year, month, day, and hour of
each of their births)
2. Engagement: bride announces the wedding
with invitations and a gift of cookies made in
the shape of the moon
 Key Practices,
Rituals and Ceremonies
Marriage
3. Dowry: Bride-price is
sent to the bride by the
groom’s parents. Gifts
by the groom to the
bride, equal in value to
the dowry are sent
4. Procession: Groom
visits bride’s home and
brings her back to his
place.
 Key Practices,
Rituals and Ceremonies
Marriage
5. Marriage and Reception: Couple recite their
vows and toast each other with wine
6. Morning after: The bride serves breakfast to
the groom’s parents
 Key Practices,
Rituals and Ceremonies
Death
• Family puts on clothes made of course
material while they mourn
• Corpse is washed and placed in a coffin
• Mourners bring incense and money to offset
funeral cost
• Food and significant objects of the deceased
are placed into the coffin
 Key Practices,
Rituals and Ceremonies
Death
• A Buddhist/Taoist priest
or Christian minister
performs the burial
ritual
• Friends and family
follow coffin to
cemetery along with a
willow branch which
symbolizes the soul of
the person
• Rituals are performed
on 7th, 9th, 49th day
after burial and 1st and
3rd anniversaries of the
death
Symbols/ Images
Yin and Yang
• Although it is the primary
symbol of Taoism, it is also
used in Confucianism.
• Means that that everything
in the universe is made of
two conflicting forces: the
yin and the yang.
• Yin is the negative, depicted
in black.
• Yang is the positive,
depicted in white.
• Harmony can only be
achieved when the two are
perfectly balanced like in the
circle.
Symbols/ Images
Jen
• human
heartedness;
goodness;
benevolence.
Influence in the 21st Century
• Cultures and countries strongly influenced: China (mainland),
Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore.
• basic teachings stress the importance of moral development
of the individual, so that the state can be governed by moral
virtue, rather than by the use of coercive laws.
Influence in the 21st Century
• In 88 countries, there
are 282 Confucius
Institute around the
world.
• They are a non-profit
organization that aims to
promote the Chinese
language and culture.
• Its headquarters is in
Beijing and is under the
Office of Chinese
Language Council
International.
Influence in the 21st Century
• In the family tree (regarded as the world’s longest, recording
more than 80 generations) two million people are now
recognised as being descendants of the Chinese philosopher
Confucius

• Confucianism has
traditionally given
women a lower status
than men in its strict
hierarchy, so female
descendants were not
counted, but
genealogists
announced in 2006 that
they had decided to
"move with the times".
Religious Significance
• Confucianism becomes the State
ideology by the Han Dynasty in
136 B.C.
• 960- 1127 era of Confucianism
dominance even after other
religions have entered China such
as Buddhism
• 1127 the growth of Neo-
Confucianism begins and is
dominant till 1911 in China
• Over time now, Confucianism has
become a commonly practiced
religion in many other East Asian
countries such as Vietnam, and
Korea