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Tradition

Confucianism

The Chinese tradition of learning, ritual and humaneness founded on the teaching of Confucius.

Also called Rujia, the Ru tradition

Introduction

Confucianism is the tradition of the Ru, the scholars, which takes its inspiration from Confucius (551–479 BCE) and the classics he was believed to have edited. It is a tradition of moral and political cultivation: its aim is to become fully human, through learning, reflection and the practice of ritual, and to order the family, the state and the world through virtue rather than force.

Its central virtue is ren, humaneness: love of others, expressed in the relationships of family and society. Ren is cultivated through li, ritual propriety, the forms of conduct that give shape to respect and care, and through learning, above all of the classics. The exemplary person, the junzi, cultivates himself in order to bring order to others.

Whether Confucianism is a religion has long been debated. It has rites, including the veneration of ancestors and of Confucius himself, and a sense of heaven (tian) as the source of moral order; it has no priesthood or creed in the Western sense. Many of its later thinkers understood self-cultivation as a spiritual discipline leading to a oneness with heaven, earth and all things.

History

Historical

After Confucius, Mencius in the fourth century BCE taught that human nature is good, and Xunzi in the third that it must be shaped by ritual and learning. Under the Han dynasty, from the second century BCE, Confucian learning became the official ideology of the state, and the classics the basis of education and government.

From the third century CE, Buddhism and Daoism attracted many of the most serious minds in China. The Confucian revival of the Song dynasty, which Western scholars call Neo-Confucianism, answered them with a metaphysics of principle and an inner discipline of self-cultivation. From 1313 Zhu Xi’s commentaries on the Four Books formed the basis of the civil service examinations, and Confucianism shaped the societies of Korea, Vietnam and Japan.

The examination system was abolished in 1905, and in the twentieth century Confucianism was attacked as the source of China’s weakness. Scholars of “New Confucianism” in Hong Kong, Taiwan and abroad defended and reinterpreted it, and in recent decades it has revived in mainland China as well.

  1. 551–479 BCEConfucius
  2. 4th c. BCEMencius teaches that human nature is good
  3. 2nd c. BCEConfucian learning becomes the official ideology of the Han state
  4. 11th–12th c.The Neo-Confucian revival of the Song dynasty
  5. 1313Zhu Xi’s commentaries become the basis of the examinations
  6. 1905The civil service examinations are abolished

Major thinkers

Key concepts

Important texts

Convergence and divergence

Resemblance and difference, given equal room. Each note is marked with the kind of statement it makes.

Areas of convergence

  • Ren, with Buddhism

    Scholarship

    Confucian humaneness and Buddhist compassion both make care for others the heart of the good life, and later thinkers in both traditions spoke of forming one body with all things.

Areas of divergence

  • Self, with Buddhism

    Historical

    Confucians criticized Buddhist monasticism for abandoning family and society; they located the fulfilment of the self in relationships, not in renunciation.

Cite this entry
Chicago (bibliography)

“Confucianism.” Tradition. The Library, Unitive Knowledge Society. Last modified November 7, 2026. https://www.unitiveknowledge.org/library/traditions/confucianism.

Chicago (note)

“Confucianism,” tradition, The Library, Unitive Knowledge Society, last modified November 7, 2026, https://www.unitiveknowledge.org/library/traditions/confucianism.

MLA

“Confucianism.” The Library, Unitive Knowledge Society, 7 Nov. 2026, www.unitiveknowledge.org/library/traditions/confucianism.

BibTeX
@misc{traditions-confucianism,
  title = {{Confucianism}},
  howpublished = {The Library, Unitive Knowledge Society},
  note = {Tradition. Last modified November 7, 2026},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://www.unitiveknowledge.org/library/traditions/confucianism}
}

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