Dao Confucius

In China during 406-221 BCE, the battling states between the Zhou and the Han Dynasties? were in a state of governmental disorder. Although the era was in a disruptive state, it ushered in a cultural opening that left a long lasting imprint on the Chinese history. As a result, three major belief systems surfaced Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism in an attempt to achieve a sense of political order in a disorder period. There are distinctions in the way each of the belief systems approached the many problems that plagued the Chinese society. First, all of the founders were contemporaries in China. As well as considered philosophies, who studied the future, and sat out to focus on the present rather than the past. In contrast, Confucianism, Daoism and Legalism established various paths in search of an optimistic future for the success of China. Second, both Legalism and Confucianism developed a social belief system, but are considered a religion. However, both Legalism and Confucianism purpose was to create an orderly society in the hopes of prosperity. In contrast, Daoism does

Confucius created a system of thinking called Confucianism. If only one word could be used to summarize the Chinese way of life for the last two thousand years, that word would be Confucian. No other person has had as great an effect on the life and thought of the Chinese people as Confucius. He is the most adored person in Chinese history. Confucius claimed no greatness, instead he looked to a past time that he saw as the golden age. He told one of his disciples, "I transmit but I do not create. I am sincerely fond of the ancient. I would compare myself to Old P'eng who was fond of talking about the good old days." Confucius was a transmitter of the wisdom of the past. From his study of Chinese tradition, he gathered the

Set the standard, be the standard. “The standard you ignore is the standard you accept.” I heard this

Prior to the so-called da-yi-tong (great unity) within the political systems of the Qin and Han dynasties, the Warring State period was in chaos; not only within a political context, but also in terms of the intellectual and ideological views of society during Han China. This breakdown within the political and social norms gave rise to a philosophical crisis. The philosophy of Confucius begins from some basic assumptions, several of which are derived from The Analects of

“He who learns but does not think, is lost! He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger.” - Confucius

Amidst the chaos of political instability and constant warring of the Zhou era, arose many intellectual thinkers that brought such a profound impact in the fields of politics, religion, and philosophy. Even to this day, their influence can be seen on the many matters of China. Confucianism became the paramount school of thinking and later significant philosophies such as Daoism and Legalism gained immense recognition as well. Each party had their own proposals for creating an idealistic political society where the many problems they faced in their everyday lives could be eliminated. All three approaches were very distinct but at the same time, they contained similarities as well. In my reasoning, I find that Confucianism and Daoism

Complied during the Warring States Period, the Daodejing is widely known as one of China’s famous philosophy literature. This text reflects the general lament of a civilization that has been worn down from war and seeks to find peace by teaching people how to live by “the Way”. From a war-torn perspective, the Daodejing deems war and government corruption as evil and traces them back to greedy and power-hungry motives. As a successor to Confucius, it still carries some of his ethics. Because of its mystical overtones, it has acquired a large variety of interpretations. Its main teaching is if a person does nothing, then peace will be restored; it is the concept of non-action or 无为。When a person does not try to interfere and allows things to

History has shown us, that Daoism and Confucianism have many things in common as well as many differences, let me start with what is Daoism and Confucianism. Daoism is also known as Taoism, is a religious tradition originated from China in the 550 B.C.E, it was founded by Lao Tzu, a great philosopher and the author of the “Dao De Jing” .The “Dao De Jing” or “Tao Te Ching” is a Chinese text that contains 81 chapters explaining the “ways” of Chinese life, it is often used by the monks or persons that practice the Daoism. Daoism’s main focus is on nature, and not on the social world. Compassion, moderation and humility are also focuses

Before parallels can be drawn between ideals and paths in Daoism, Daoist philosophy and Dao must be defined. It is hard to put Daoist Philosophy into a nice, neat sentence because of the complexity and vast amount of information on the subject. For the intent of this paper, Daoist philosophy is defined as a Chinese philosophy that takes a more naturalist approach to religion and way of living. It is the connection between imitating nature and harmony. Dao is defined in Chapter 1 as the constant moving “everything” that surrounds us. It is not tangible, it is just what it is, and you do not know exactly what this something is.

Whenever your superior approves of something as right you too must approve of it. Whenever your superior condemns something as wrong you too must condemn it. [...] But if you hear of something good or bad and fail to inform your superior, if you are not able to approve of what your superior approves of and condemn what your superior rejects [...] if you do not obey your superior and you join together with those in subordinate positions–such conduct will be punished by superiors and denounced by the people. This is how superiors shall determine rewards and punishments and they shall make careful examinations to ensure that their judgments are reliable.’ And so, the leader of each village would be the most benevolent person in the village. (Mozi, Chapter 11: Obeying One’s Superior)

Confucianism and Daoism are two influential schools of thoughts that have existed in ancient China around the 6th century BCE. The former, led by the politician and philosopher Confucius, proposed that humans live in society according to a set of predefined rules and that they transform society through political action. Whereas the latter, led by the philosopher Lao-Tzu, promoted the idea of inaction; people should go with the flow instead of taking action to control their lives and dominate their surroundings. Although, at first glance Daoism and Confucianism seem to be two opposing philosophies, a more in depth analysis of two of their key ideas –filial piety and education—reveals that they do share some similarities.

Tu Wei-Ming speaks of the Confucius project as a faith in the improvement of the human condition through personal effort. This type of faith is different from the Christian faith in the logic that the Christian faith is in Jesus that is a free present from God whereas Confucian, faith is centered on self, and it spread throughout the community. He focused on the good relationship with others, as Christian focused on the good relationship with God and others. Confucian teaches about being good and obeying the rules. However, he talks of personal effort of being human. There is a difference between supernatural faith and practical faith is that supernatural faith, God’s grace empowers us to have a right relationship with God and other. Confucius

In his paper The Concept of de (“Virtue”) in the Laozi, Philip J. Ivanhoe discusses three distinctive characteristics of de as found in the Dao De Jing, namely its attractive power, its effect on others, and its relationship to wuwei in governance. I will outline these qualities in turn and then attempt to show how they manifest in the character of Forrest Gump.

The way in which we live our lives ties back to our moral character. How we act on a daily basis shows who and how we really are. There are several paths out there that give us guidance to the “right way of living.” Though this may vary from person to person, how would you know which way is right for you if you’ve never explored different paths or practices? In the Analects the master, Confucius gives insight on the right way of living through Ren and Li.

Daoism is synonymous with Taoism; in this religious philosophy, the way of nature is central theme of life. It was founded by Lao Tzu in 500BC in China. Lao is believed to have authored the “Dao de Jing”, which details the Daoist beliefs. Dao is a concept, a way, a principle that will lead a person to a happy, peaceful life. Dao can be achieved by incorporating the Three Jewel of Taoism that are humility, simplicity and compassion in one’s life. According to Dao, de Jing “The Way to Heaven is to benefit others and not to injure”.15 Further, there is no concept of good and evil, the Dao is simply the universe, which is perceived as a self- sustaining entity that generates energy called qi. Like other Chinese traditions, Daoist also have great reverence for the spirits of ancestors as well as spirits of nature that is plants, animals, rivers, etc. 16