THE SOCIAL MORALITY OF CONFUCIANISM A CHRISTIAN APPRAISAL ALEXANDER NAPIER ...

267 Pages·2014·10.53 MB·English

THE SOCIAL MORALITY OF CONFUCIANISM
A CHRISTIAN APPRAISAL
By
ALEXANDER NAPIER MACLEOD,
j M«A« >
A Thesis
submitted to the Faculty of the University of Edinburgh
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
April 1938
CONTENTS
Chapter I. Introduction Page 1
Chapter II. Ruler and Subject Page 38
Chapter III. Father and Son Page 108
Chapter IV. Husband and Wife Page 178
Chapter V. Elder and Younger Brother Page 223
Chapter VI. Friend and Friend Page 239
Chapter VII. Conclusion Page 243
Bibliography Page 255
ANALYSIS
Chapter Pas*
I. INTRODUCTION
The subject and scope of the study 1
The chief formative agencies in Chinese morality they are
intermingled yet distinguishable 1
A. The influence of Buddhism 3
B. The influence of Taoism 6
C. The predominance of Confucianism &
reasons for thiss 1) the state religion of China 10
2) the veneration of Confucius 11
3) the esteem for the Confuoian
Classics 12
4) the monopoly of education 13
result of thiss Chinese ethics it Confuoian ethics 14
The meaning of Confucianism
Relation of Confucius to Confucianism 16
llhat Confucianism consists of 19
The interest in ethics« 1) in the Classics 20
2) in the schools 20
3) in general society 20
The ethics of Confucianism
The nature of Confuoian ethics 21
The form of Confuoian ethical teaching 22
Personal and social ethics 23
The five relationships 23
Sources of information
A* Sources for Confuoian social morality 27
1} The Confuoian Classics 29
2) Chinese customs and institutions 34
B. The Christian norm 35
II. EULER AND SUBJECT
Introduction
The political interest of Confucianism 38
The Character of Confuoian political teaching 43
The Government
The conception of the state as a family 44
The need for government 47
The functions of government 46
The form of government 56
The ruler a) his appointment by Heaven 58
b) his position
i. as political head 63
ii. as religious head 69
his character 71
his models 76
his rule
i. by personal example 78
ii. with benevolence 82
f) his appointees 85
The Christian appraisal 87
The subjects
Ministers of state
i. their character 94
ii. their duties 95
The people 97
The right of revolution 100
The Christian appraisal 104
Chapter *&!.
III. FATHER AND SOS
Introduction 1°8
The Relation of Parents to Children
The fondness and desire for children 109
The relative value of sons and daughters 110
1) the treatment of girls HI
2) the appreciation of boys 115
Expedients for preventing discontinuance of family line 116
The authority of the father 118
The duties of parents to children 120
The Christian appraisal 123
The Relation of Children to Parents
The stress on children's obligations to parents 128
The origin of the doctrine of filial piety 134
The comprehensiveness of filial piety 135
The definition of filial piety 137
The requirements of filial piety 137
support obedience service preservation
of one's body precedence of parents over wife
raising up grandsons remonstrance of parents •
concealing of misconduct blood revenge ~
veneration filial piety and parents' death
Ancestor worship 148
1) the relation of the dead and the living 149
2} the cult of ancestors 153
3) origin of ancestor worship 161
The Christian appraisal
1) ethical considerations 165
2) religious considerations 170
IV. HUSBAND AMD WIFE
Introduction
The silence of the Classics on woman 178
The conjugal relationship subordinate 178
The general relation of the sexes 179
The Relation of Husband to Wife
The husband's position 184
His authority 185
His attitude and feelings toward his wife 186
The double standard 188
The Christian appraisal 189
The Relation of Wife to Husband
Betrothal 194
Marriage 198
Divorce 202
The Wife's Position I) as daughter-in-law 203
2) as wife 206
3) as mother 207
The Concubine 209
The Widow 212
The Christian appraisal 215
V. ELDER AND YOUNGER BROTHER
The importance of this relationship 223
The rights of the eldest son 224
The duties of an elder brother 226
The obligations of a younger brother 227
The comprehensiveness of fraternal submission 231
The Christian appraisal
1) Of the fraternal relationship
2) Of Chinese familism P
Chapter
71. FRIEND AND FRIEND
The value, ohoioe, and characteristics of friends 238
The relation of * sworn brothers' 241
The Christian appraisal 242
VII. CONCLUSION
The unreligious quality of Confucianism 243
Confuoian ethics are not religious ethics 248
Deficiencies of secular ethics 251
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
It is proposed in the following pages to make an examination of the
modes of thought and springs of action that characterize the Chinese in their
social relationships, and to form an estimate of them in the light of Christ
ian ideals. This study will be based mainly on an analysis and comparison of
the social teaching of the Confuoian Classics and the Christian Scriptures,
and the social institutions and customs of China*
THE CHIEF FORMATIVE AGENCIES IN CHINESE MORALITY
The main factors which have produced the characteristics of Chinese
social morality, as well as religious life, have been the »san chiao, f the
three religions or teachings, a term which indicates the predominant influence
of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. These are not to be thought of as
mutually exclusive, as if their adherents could be divided numerically among
the three religions after the manner of the modern census, but as not only
co-existing without proselytizing rivalry, though at times there was antagonism,
but intermingling without awareness of religious incompatibilities, or logical
o
contradictions. Each has elements which have been borrowed, partly conscious
ly, partly unconsciously, from the others. Thus, for example, Buddhist images
may be seen in Taoist temples and Taoist deities in Buddhist temples. Much of
later Taoism, its organization, rites, and sacred literature, is simple imita-
»
tion of Buddhism. The Confuoian scholars of the Sung dynasty (12th century),
and not least Chu Hsi, who produced the accepted orthodox interpretation of
the Classics, were strongly influenced by, though opposed to, Buddhism and
e
Taoism. And in their daily lives practically all Chinese are influenced in
1 From this Soothill entitles his popular book, The Three Religions of China.
This phrase disregards, of course, the presence in China of Mohammedanism
and Christianity, as well as Zoroastrianism, Judaism and Manichaeism which
secured no real foothold.
2 See Latourette, The Chinese, Their History and Culture, vol. 2, pgs. 125,
126, on the religious eclecticism and toleration characteristic of the
Chinese.
3 Duyvendak, "Taoism," Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, vol. 14
4 Bruoe, Chu Hsi and His Masters, pgs. 62, 63.
5 Bruoe, ibid. pgs. 5, 65 Latourette, op. oit., vol. 1, pgs. 257-264j Shryook,
The Origin and Development of the State Cult of Confucius, pgs. 149-152;
Hu Shih, "The Indianization of China," Independence, Convergence, and
Borrowing, pgs. 241-247.
their thought and conduct by all three religions, or wen may be said to
^belong to three religions at once."1 Testimony to this fact may be seen in
the innumerable moral tracts, mainly edited by Confucian scholars, that cir
culate among the populace, in which, as Smith says, "Confucian morality,
Buddhist and Taoist divinities and tenets are all equally assumed as true,
o
and are all equally useful," And, without realizing any inconsistency, a
<2
Confuoianist will worship in a Taoist temple using perhaps Buddhist ritual,
4
or a Buddhist or Taoist will, on entering school, worship Confucius, and
people will commonly engage the services of priests of different religions
for even the same occasion. The Emperor Yung Cheng (1723-1735) who denounces
Buddhism and Taoism in the Sacred Edict "was himself," says Williams, "a daily
c
worshipper of Buddhist idols served by the lamas." It will be seen that the
e*
Chinese are very eclectic in their religious life.0 China possesses three
religions, and yet, as De Groot remarks, these three are only one religion to
7
most Chinese.
But while this is so the f san chiao1 can be distinguished from each
other; syncretism has not gone so far as to rub out all dividing lines. Some
features are distinctive of each, and the various religious practices and
social customs of the people, where they are not explicitly taught, can usually
be associated rather definitely with the teachings, or traced to the influence,
of one or another of the three religions. Their sacred books are, of course,
clearly different, and preserve their separate origin and primitive unmixed
tradition. The Tao Te Ching is unmistakeably Taoist, and the Ssu Shu Confu-
cianist. So that Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, though thoroughly mixed
in practice, may be differentiated as separate religions or systems of thought
which are constituents in the composite religious and social life of China.
1 Du Bose, The Dragon, Image and Demon, pg, 29.
2 Smith, Proverbs and Common Sayings from the Chinese, pg. 260.
3 Du Bose, loc. cit.
4 Moule, New China and Old, pg, 243; Doolittle, The Social Life of the
Chinese, vol. 1, pg. 137.
5 Williams, The Middle Kingdom, vol. 2, pgs. 227, 228.
6 Bdkins, Religion in China, chap. 5; Du Bose, op. cit., chap. 1;
Soothill, op. cit., lect. 1; Smith, Chinese Characteristics, pgs. 293-298.
7 De Groot, Universismus, Berlin, Verlag von Georg Reimer, 1918, p. 1
THE INFLUENCE OP BUDDHISM
Buddhism, ohiefly of the Mahayaaa school, though a foreign religion,
has been for many centuries a ahlef factor in Chinese art, culture and thought.
So much so that Hu Shih speaks of the "Indianization of China,"1 Introduced
from India perhaps about the time of Christ and three centuries after the
golden age of Chinese philosophy, 2 it found a Chinese civilization and ethical
tradition already well established, and a strong Confuoian school increasingly
dominant in the state,3 In B.C. 195 the Han emperor Kao Tsu had sacrificed at
the tomb of Confucius and by that started a precedent, and in the reign of Wu
Ti (B.C. 141-87) Confuoian principles were adopted as the basis of the state.
Confucius was in process of being established in the prestige he was to have
without dispute until the 20th century. But the foreign religion grew rapidly,
and won widespread popularity. In the course of time a great deal of Buddhist
c
literature was translated into Chinese, and Buddhism became an integral part
of Chinese civilization, making its influence felt in many phases of Chinese
g
life, even as it was itself altered by the contact, "China* s indebtedness
to India can never be fully told," says Hu Shih, who speaks of "the vast scope
of Chinese borrowings from India." The ideas, for instance, of accumulating
rj
merit by various practices, of a future life of rewards and punishments in
o
a heaven and a hell, now so fundamental in Chinese belief, are probably to
be regarded as a Buddhist contribution to indigenous Chinese ethical thought,
Q
since they are matters on which Confucius gave no definite answer. Countless
ideas, too, whose roots may have been indigenous, were reshaped by Buddhism.
But while the foreign religion made a strong impress on Chinese ethical ideas, it
1 Hu Shih, "The Indianization of China," pgs. 219-247.
2 The traditional dates of Confucius are B.C. 551~479j of Meneius, B.C. 372-289;
of Hsfln Tzu B.C. 520-255. Buddhism was in China in the 1st century A.D.j
just when it was introduced is not known. See Hodous, "The Introduction of
Buddhism into China," The Macdonald Presentation Volume.
3 Though at the time Taoism was dominant politically. See Shryock, The Origin
and Development of the State Cult of Confucius, chaps. 1 - 3, 7.
4 Latourette, op, cit,, vol. 1, pg. 169 on.
5 Wieger, A History of the Religious Beliefs and Philosophical Opinions in
China, lessons 47-70.
6 Hu Shih, op, cit,, pgs. 232, 233.
7 Williams, The Middle Kingdom, vol. 2, pg. 226.
8 Hu Shih, op. cit,, pgs, 224, 225.
9 Latourette, op. oit,, vol, 1, pg. 171.
did not become substituted for them. Chinese ethics is not Buddhistic ethics.
Indeed, although Buddhism found m kinship with Taoism, and by that alliance
gained a foothold in China,1 Buddhist teachings were in most respects utterly
n
alien to Chinese mentality and temper, and the orthodox Confuoians opposed
their introduction. Professor Latourette summarizes their fundamental diver
gence by saying that Buddhism is "other-worldly", and Confucianism "essentially
this-worldly.*3 The Buddhist priests, as Doolittle says, "cast off and refuse
obedience to their parents; they never marry; they do not acknowledge, much
less exhibit, any affection towards their brothers or sisters, or other rela
tives; they possess no friendships; they reject and disown any common sympathy
with the rest of mankind. They profess to ignore the constant relations and
duties of life. Hence the common expression 'chok-ka', which is applied to
them, indicating that they have left or gone out of the house or family. rt
The general Chinese attitude to this mode of life was one of antipathy. "To
the stricter Confucian formalist," says Clennel, "the Buddhist life has always
seemed an evasion and denial of those social duties, that filial service of the
living and the dead, which is his notion of morality. To him the nature of man
is radically good; to the Buddhist the whole world of human activity is a scene
of evil from which he seeks salvation in flight. Tfifhat could Buddhism have to
say to the famous dictum of Mencius, that of &11 forms of impiety the most
impious is to die without leaving descendants'? Indeed, all that is distinctive
of Buddhism was repugnant to the Confucian mind...,.Celibacy was & denial of
filial gratitude and social duty." The whole Buddhist outlook on life is *
negation of what is fundamental in Confucian ethics, the concept of human re
lationships, the emphasis on the necessity for posterity, the limited concern
with this world. This was also the popular sentiment which despised the priests
1 Hodous, loc. cit.
2 Hu Shih, "The Indianization of China", pgs. 224-230.
3 Latourette, op. cit. vol. 1, pg. 2l5j so also Hu Shih, op. cit. pgs* 228-229.
4 Doolittle, op. cit. vol. 1, pg. 240,
5 Clennel, The Historical Development of Religion in China, pgs. 103-104j so
also Hu Shih, The Chinese Renaissance, pg. 85j Wevius, China and the Chinese
Pg. 97.
because- of their morals, and because they disregarded the relationships and
duties of life,1 although, as already indicated, they were much in demand to
officiate at religious rites. 2 The literati regarded Buddhist influence as
ruinous to morals, complaining that it made the soldiers effeminate, and the
2
people unmindful of ordinary social obligations. Giles quotes an instance
of a memorial presented to the throne to compel priests and nuns to marry and
bring up families. "How can you," it is asked, "respect a religion which does
4
not recognize the tie between father and son?" The Sacred Edict (18th cen
tury) denounces Buddhism in scathing terms, and holds it up to ridicule along
c
with Taoism and Christianity. "Buddhism in China," says Morrison, "ia da-
cried by the learned, laughed at by the profligate, ywt followed by all." It
may be debated whether or not the total influence of Buddhism on Chinese mor
ality was to the good. The influence, however, was profound, but did not dis
place Confucianism as the base of Chinese social morality.
THE INFLUENCE OP TAOISM
Taoism has also been t chief factor in Chinese civilization, and like
Buddhism has found favor with many emperors. Since the 14th century, after
Chu Hsi's interpretation of Confucianism was established as the orthodox sys-
7
tern of thought, Taoism and Buddhism declined in favor among the educated,
though they have maintained their powerful hold on the masses. "Religious
Taoiam,* says Duyvandak, "probably reached its height in the 15th century.8
Latourette thinks that "in many ways Taoisia in the past few generations has
been not nearly so vital in China as has Buddhism," and cites as evidence its
weaker organization, its greater mass of "unintelligent superstition," and
"there has not been so much scholarship in the ranks of its devotees."9 Its
1 Lee, When I was a Boy in China, pg. 68.
2 Doolittle, op. oit. vol. 1, pg, 243.
3 Wieger, op. cit. pgs. 563-564, 665, 694-695.
4 Giles, A History of Chinese Literature, pg. 134.
5 Sheng Yti, 7th maxim.
6 Quoted with approval by Williams, The Middle Kingdom, vol. 2, pg. 227.
7 Shryock, op. cit., pg. 184; Hu Shih, "Confucianism," Encyclopedia of the
(cid:9)Social Sciences, vol. 4.
8 Duyvendak, "Taoism," Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, vol. 14.
9 Latourette, op. cit., vol. 2, pg. 159.