Confucianism

1. Basic Beliefs:

Believes with the Taoist in the agreement to nature and believes with the Buddhist in the ideas of afterlife 1

Love within a family 1

Love of parents for their children and of children for their parents 1

Confucianism is not only the teachings of Confucius, but also the traditional customs and rites of Chinese. 3

2. Important People and Why:

K'ung Fu Tzu- Born in 551 BCE, Founded Confucianism 1

3. Duties, Dress, Title of Clergy Members:

The traditional dress of Confucian scholars is in the paintings of the famous folk painter, Shin Yun-bok. In

these paintings, the outer robes are long, but never touches the ground. Inside the robes, multiple layers of

undergarments can be seen. Wide sleeves hang down on the side. The whole outfit includes a horse-hair hat.

4. Sacred Texts:

Si Shu and Wu jung, both by Chu Hsi during 1130-1200 CE 1

The texts are divided into two categories, known as the "King" (Classics), and the "Shuh" (Books). 3

5. Sacred Sites:

Lu, China- was location of where Kung Fu-Tzu was born 7

6. Sacred Rites, Practices, and Procedures :

Doesn't include a lot pertaining to "a religion", mostly just a belief 1

Stages in life: birth, reaching maturity, marriage, death 1

In the "Li-ki", there are 6 main ceremonial observances. Capping, marriage, mourning rites, sacrifices, feasts,

and interviews 3
7. Place of Worship:

There are six schools: Han Confucianism, Neo-Confucianism, Contemporary Neo-Confucianism, Korean

Confucianism, Japanese Confucianism and Singapore Confucianism. 1

There is no specific place of worship 4

8. Taboos or Prohibitions on behavior, Food, etc.:

Can't go against parents 5

9. Holidays and/or Holy Days:

Did not find any holidays

10. Sects or different groups within the religion:

Men over girls 5

Parents over kids 5

When the husband dies, the wife belongs to the son 5

11. Historic or Currents Conflicts:

Chou dynasty was when K'ung Fu Tzu lived 1

213 B.C- Shi Hwang-Ti, said that all Confucian books, excepting the "Y-king", should be destroyed. The

penalty of death was threatened against all scholars who might have the books or teachings. 100 of the

scholars who did not comply by the rules were buried alive. This rule was taken away by the Han dynasty, in

191 B.C 3

Since China is dominant in the East Asia area, Confucianism has lasting effects on Japan, Vietnam, Korea

and territories towards the north 6

MLA Citation

1 "Confucianism: Founded by K'ung Fu Tzu" http://www.religioustolerance.org. 27 Sept 2007

<http://www.religioustolerance.org/confuciu.htm>.
2 "The Korean Hanbok" http://www.asianinfo.org. 28 Sept 2007

<http://www.asianinfo.org/asianinfo/korea/cel/hanbok.htm>.

3 "Confucianism A brief summary of Confucius and his teachings" http://www.csuchico.edu. 28 Sept 2007

<http://www.csuchico.edu/~cheinz/syllabi/asst001/fall97/11kshinn.htm>.

4 "All about Confucianism" http://religion-cults.com. 28 Sept 2007 <http://religion-

cults.com/Eastern/Confucianism/confuci.htm>.

5 Moore, Jennifer, Confucianism. (Pg. 98) New York, NY: Oxford University Press. 2002

6 Moore, Jennifer, Confucianism. (Pg. 1) New York, NY: Oxford University Press. 2002

7 "China" http://starnarcosis.net. 29 Sept 2007 <http://starnarcosis.net/obsidian/china.html>.