Confucianism
Confucius was born in 551 BCE in the state of Lu. He was a social philosopher that developed a new teaching that involved principles of good conduct, practical wisdom and proper social relationships. (Kelley , 2003) His teaching has greatly influenced Chinese way of life, their attitude toward life. He set the patterns for living and influenced how the Chinese developed their political ideologies. Confucianism became the official ideology of the Chinese state.
During Confucius life time his ideas weren't that widely accepted. He had a hard time getting employed with the feudal lords, something he was sorry about. He wandered around many of the states of China and he got a small band of followers and students that later would spread the teaching of Confucius.
His teaching deals mostly with individual morality and ethics. Also it teaches about the proper exercise of political power by a ruler. His principles are in nine ancient works. They are divided into two groups. The Five Classics and the Four Books. The Five Classics consists of Book of Changes, Book of History, Book of Poetry, Book of Rites and Spring and Autumn Annals. The Book of Change is a manual of divination. The Book of History is a collection of ancient historical documents. Book of Poetry consist of an anthology of ancient poems. Principles of conduct, in public and private ceremonies are found in the Book of Rites. (Kelley , 2003)
The Four Books is a compilation of sayings by Confucius and Mencius and also commentaries by followers of the teaching. The books are Analects, where Confucius forms the basis of his moral and political philosophy. The Great Learning and The Doctrine of the Mean contain some philosophical u ...