In both Confucianism and Taoism there is a concept of the Superior Man. Name and define some of the principles which are embodied in the Superior man, according to each religion and compare them. I had the task of this question and doing the research on the two to see if there was a difference. The power acquired by the Taoist is te, the efficacy of the Tao in the realm of Being, which is translated as “virtue. ” Lao-tzu viewed it, however, as different from Confucian virtue: The man of superior virtue is not virtuous, and that is why he has virtue.
The man of inferior [Confucian] virtue never strays from virtue, and that is why he has no virtue. The “superior virtue” of Taoism is a latent power that never lays claim to its achievements; it is the “mysterious power” (hsuan te) of Tao present in the heart of the sage—“the man of superior virtue never acts (wu-wei), and yet there is nothing he leaves undone. ” Wu-wei is not an ideal of absolute inaction nor a mere “not-overdoing. It is an action so well in accordance with things that its author leaves no trace of himself in his work: “Perfect activity leaves no track behind it; perfect speech is like a jade worker whose tool leaves no mark. ” It is the Tao that “never acts, yet there is nothing it does not do. ” There is no true achievement without wu-wei because every deliberate intervention in the natural course of things will sooner or later turn into the opposite of what was intended and will result in failure.
The Essay on Sins and Virtues of Man
There are many sins and virtues attributed to the characters in Eliduc, Everyman, and The Pardoner’s Tale. The characters that I wish to examine for their sins and virtues are those of Eliduc, Guildeluec, Everyman and The Pardoner. The first character, Eliduc, had both virtues and sins, both beautifully displayed in his tale. He was married to Guildeluec, who had always been faithful to him and he ...
The sage who practices wu-wei lives out of his original nature before it was tampered with by knowledge and restricted by morality; he has reverted to infancy (that is, the undiminished vitality of the newborn state); he has “returned to the state of the Uncarved Block (p’u).
” P’u is uncut, unpainted wood, simplicity. Society carves this wood into specific shapes for its own use and thus robs the individual piece of its original totality. “Once the uncarved block is carved, it forms utensils (that is, instruments of government); but when the Sage uses it, he would be fit to become Chief of all Ministers.
This is why the great craftsman (ruler) does not carve (rule).
” Any willful human intervention is believed to be able to ruin the harmony of the natural transformation process. The spontaneous rhythm of the primitive agrarian community and its un-self-conscious symbiosis with nature’s cycles is thus the Taoist ideal of society. In the ideal society there are no books; the Lao-tzu (Tao-te Ching) itself would not have been written but for the entreaty of the guardian of the pass Yin Hsi, who asked the “Old Master” to write down his thoughts.
In the Golden Age, past or future, knotted cords are the only form of records. The people of this age are “dull and unwitting, they have no desire; this is called uncarved simplicity. In uncarved simplicity the people attain their true nature. ” Chuang-tzu liked to oppose the Heaven-made and the man-made; that is, nature and society. He wanted man to renounce all artificial “cunning contrivances” that facilitate his work but lead to “cunning hearts” and agitated souls in which the Tao will not dwell. Man should equally renounce all concepts of measure, law, and virtue. Fashion pecks and bushels for people to measure by and they will steal by peck and bushel. ” He blamed not only the culture heroes and inventors praised by the Confucians but also the sages who shaped the rites and rules of society. That the unwrought substance was blighted in order to fashion implements—this was the crime of the artisan.
The Essay on Effects Of Evolution On Human Society
Effects of Evolution on Human Society The basic law of Darwinist concept of evolution is that simpler forms of life evolve into organisms that are more complex. If we look at social progress, it will appear that it follows the same pattern - from slavery to feudalism and from feudalism to capitalism. Now we live at the beginning of post-industrial era. Therefore, we can say that biological and ...
Yes. It’s quite true for anyone. You could get your official titles and honors easily. But you could not get rid of you delusion easily. Even that you could not find any ways to do with it; it makes you painful, sad and angry in your life. At the time of painful and sad, you could perhaps try your best to keep them away from you by the Dao of Confucianism or of Daoism. And also you are perhaps shiftless as though your hands are bound. We don’t deny that it is sometimes useful for you. But most of time, it’s invalid extremely. ttp://arts. cuhk. edu. hk/~hkshp/hengyu/004-0. htm Superior Man is a common English translation for the Chinese term chun-tzu which originally means “Son of a Prince”–thus, someone from the nobility. In the Analects, Confucius imbues the term with a special meaning. Though sometimes used strictly in its original sense, it also refers to a person who has made significant progress in the Way (Tao) of self-cultivation, by practicing Righteousness, by loving treatment of parents, respect for elders, honesty with friends, etc.
Though the chun-tzu is clearly a highly advanced human being, he is still distinguished from the category of sage (sheng-jen), who is, in the Analects more of a “divine being,” usually a model from great antiquity. The character of the Superior Man, in contrast to the sage, is being taught as a tangible model for all in the here and now. And although many descriptions of the requirements for chun-tzu status seem quite out of our reach, there are many passages where Confucius labels a contemporary, or one of his disciples a “Superior Man,” intending a complement. Thus, the categorization is not so rigid.
Mencius and Hsun Tzu, two of his prominent successors, held different views on human nature, Mencius arguing that it contained the seeds of goodness, and Hsun Tzu that, in its uncultivated state, human nature tended to evil. Both, however, believed that human beings were perfectible through self-cultivation and the practice of ritual. From the 11th century onward, Neo-Confucian philosophers, engaged in the renewal and elaboration of Confucian thought, subscribed to the Mencian line, stressing the potential goodness of human nature and the importance of developing that goodness through education.
The Essay on The Inherent Nature of Man
There are two conflicting views on human nature. Chinese scholar Hsun Tzu believed that man’s nature is evil and when man acts “good” it is only the result of what he called “conscious activity. ” In the text, he describes conscious activity as “the part [of man] that can be acquired by learning and brought to completion by effort. ” In other words, Hsun Tzu believed that man is naturally selfish, ...
Belief in the innate goodness and perfectibility of man has had strong implications for the development of the Chinese political system. The ruler’s main function in the Confucian state was to educate and transform the people. This was ideally accomplished not by legal regulation and coercion, but by personal rule, moral example, and mediation in disputes by the emperor and his officials. Confucian political theory emphasized conflict resolution through mediation, rather than through the application of abstract rules to establish right and wrong in order to achieve social harmony.
The belief that the state was the moral guardian of the people was reflected in a number of institutions. Most important among these was the merit bureaucracy, or civil service, in which all officials were to be selected for their moral qualities, qualities that would enable them not only to govern, but to set a moral example that would transform the people. Because Confucianism was a moral system, the Confucian classics had to be mastered by prospective officials. Official position and examination degree, not wealth or business acumen, were universally recognized marks of status.
Saints in Eastern religions » Confucianism and Taoism Confucianism is in the main ethically oriented. Confucius taught that right conduct was a means of acquiring ideal harmony with the Way (Tao) of Heaven and that the “holy rulers of primal times” were representative examples of such ideal conduct. In the oldest known Chinese historical work, the Shu Ching (“Classic of History”), such a ruler, King T’ang (11th century bc), is described as one who “possessed the highest degree of virtue, and so it came to be that he acquired the bright authority of Heaven. Thus, in Confucianism, the saintliness of its holy men lay in ethical perfection, and through the practice of ethical ideals a contact with Heaven (T’ien) was established. Confucius himself serves as an example of a man who was first regarded as a saint because of his deep wisdom and conscientious observance of ethical precepts and was even considered to be “more than human. ” During the Han dynasty (206 bc–ad 220), Confucius was elevated to a new status: Emperor Kao Tsu offered sacrifice at the Confucian temple, and Emperor Wu proclaimed Confucianism the official ideology of China.
The Term Paper on History Of Confucianism Neo Confucian
... Confucianism was essentially a system of moral laws that society should follow in order to reach the Confucian ideal. Confucianism ... n K'uang). Mencius continued the ethical teachings of Confucius by stressing ... ruled by able men of virtue stemmed from Confucian philosophy. Confucian Classics were studied ... official, so he opened a school. He taught using books that would come tobe known as the Confucian ...
