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Comparative Analysis of Confucius Rites and the Russian Orthodox Church Service

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Comparative Analysis of Confucius Rites and the Russian Orthodox Church Service Zhang Baichun. Comparative Analysis of Confucius Rites and the Russian Orthodox Church Service COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF CONFUCIUS RITES AND THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH SERVICE* Zhang Baichun Zhang Baichun – Doctor of Science (Philosophy), Professor of the Department of Philosophy at the Beijing Normal University (People’s Republic of China, Bei- jing). E-mail: [email protected] Confucius and Confucianism show religious foundations and the divine spark ritual in a rather feeble way. But the attitudes of Confucius and Confucianism towards Rites are different. Thus, Rites are at the center of the teachings of Confucius whereas Confucianism put Rites to the mar- gin. Confucianism is strongly politically-loaded which has led to the breakup with the tradition of ritual. On the contrary, the traditions of the Russian Orthodox Church service have not changed and the divine spark is very important for the Church. Key words: Ritual, Confucianism. DOI: 10.31079/1992-2868-2018-15-2-203-208 The Fate of the Confucius Ritual* morals, restrict himself in his actions and follow the Confucius pointed out that the most attractive as- rules of the ritual; each person must have innate self- pects of the Zhou Dynasty was its ritual which he con- improvement and self-discipline. At the same time, one sidered the indication of a civilized state. But Confu- must never “look at, listen to, say, or do anything that cius himself lived in a time of the “destruction of the does not fit the system, specified by the ritual” music of ceremony”, when the ritual of the Zhou Dyn- (“Lunyu”, “Yan Yuan”). Confucius prohibitions of asty was interpreted in a wrong way and was seriously conduct which he considers as wrong, are similar to a violated. The thinker pledged himself to restore the religious taboo. We note that both Confucius prohibi- ritual of the Zhou Dynasty. While teaching his disci- tions and religious taboos are aimed at the regulation of ples he always emphasized the importance of the ritual human acts but not their thinking. and wanted it to become the basis for their lives. Con- Confucius attaches great importance to family eth- fucius taught: “If you do not learn ceremonies you ics and morals. The key point in his teaching on family won’t be able to find the foundation for your lives” ethics and moral is the category of “respect for one’s (“Lunyu”, “Ji-shi”); “If a man does not know anything parents”. He dwells upon the correlation of the ritual about the ritual, he won’t be able to cognize the true and the demonstration of respect for parents. When meaning of life” (“Lunyu”, “Yao yue”). In the teaching Meng Yizi asked Confucius what “respect for one’s of Confucius, the significance of ritual plays a major parents” meant, the answer was “non-contrariness” role in the ethics and morals, and in the socio-political (“Lunyu”, “Wei zheng”). In this particular case “non- aspects of life. contrariness” meant agreement with the rules of the When Confucius was asked about the love of fel- ritual. Confucius was said to be quite satisfied with his low-men, he pointed out its close connection with ritu- answer. Later on, he specified the meaning of his al. Confucius said: “In order to achieve the proper de- words in details for his disciple Fan Chi: when parents gree of love of fellow-men a human must restrict his are alive, one must take care of them according to the personal needs and do everything in accordance with ritual; when parents die, they must be buried according the requirements of the Zhou dynasty ritual. If every to the ritual and afterwards their memory must be person behaves in this way in the future, the love of revered in accordance with the rules of the ritual fellow-man will flourish all around the world. The (“Lunyu”, “Wei zheng”). If a person treats his parents question of whether a human is capable of achieving in the way described above one could say he is a wor- the state of loving his fellow-man depends on the per- thy son. We have come to the following conclusion: son himself and does not depend on other people” respect for parents is not a theoretical issue but a prac- (“Lunyu”, “Yan Yuan”). Confucius considered the tical one. Chinese people have many theories on re- achievement of the proper level of love of fellow-men spect for parents, but the problem is how to practice as one of the most difficult tasks. According to Confu- them. cius, in order to achieve this, one must improve his The ritual is also of high socio-political importance. Confucius emphasized that the state must be governed * Translated by T.N. Tagirova. in accordance with the ritual: “If the state is adminis- 203 «The Humanities аnd Social Studies in the Far East». Vol. XV. Issue 2, 2018 trated in accordance with the ritual, the rulers will have be the spokesman who expresses the opinion of the no problems with the management of this state. If the Chinese for the ritual. ritual is not used for the purposes of the state admin- Meng-zi, titled “the second after the true sage”, istration, how should the ritual then be treated?” paid attention to the doctrines of Confucius concerning (“Lunyu”, “Li ren”). This should be understood in the reason and the natural properties of a man but treated following way: if the state is not governed in accord- the theory of Confucius concerning the ritual in a de- ance with the ritual, the socio-political function of the preciating manner. The role assigned to the ritual in the ritual is not performed. In his political views, Confu- teaching of Meng-zi is considerably lower than its po- cius stuck to the need to govern the state in a moral sition in the teaching of Confucius. Xun-zi united the way. The theory of the government of the state accord- ritual with the law but attached more importance to the ing to ritual and the theory of moral government of the state governance based on the laws. Dong Zhongshu, state occupy an equally significant place in the teach- who lived during the period of the Han dynasty, close- ing of Confucius. As compared with state governance ly related Confucianism with politics and openly urged based on laws, these theories even have priority: “If Confucianism adherents to serve politics. As a result human acts are regulated by laws and people are pun- the Confucian ritual turned into a tool for the mainte- ished according to the criminal law, people will pay nance of law-and-order. The Confucian philosophical attention to avoidance of punishment only and then school of the period of the Song and Ming dynasties they will have neither shame nor consciousness. But if tried to penetrate deeper to the very essence of Confu- the human words and acts are assessed against moral cianism. But the followers were first and foremost in- standards and the requirements of the ritual, people terested in the theoretical foundations; they did not care will have not only the feeling of shame but the desire about the spread of Confucianism. In addition, the stu- to act according to the law” (“Lunyu”, “Wei zheng”). dents of this school did not study the ritual at all as Such is the attitude of Confucius to the three types of they considered it to be an insignificant aspect of the state governance. teaching. Adherents of the so called “new modern Con- Based on the above said, we can make the follow- fucianism” were also more interested in the theoretical ing conclusion: the ritual is of great significance in the propositions. Representatives of this school are Tang teaching of Confucius. The views of the thinker are Junyi from Xianggang (Hong Kong) and Mou Zongsan represented in the book “Lunyu”, the collection of his from Taiwan. They tried to explain and restore Confu- statements. But this book is not the production of Con- cianism on the basis of Western-European rationalism. fucius himself, it is the work of his disciples, who These philosophers also did not pay due attention to wrote down and ordered the words of their teacher ac- the ritual. Ignoring the issues of the studies of ritual cording to their understanding. Although much of the can be considered a common flaw of all schools of “Lunyu” is the original words of Confucius it is very Confucianism including schools of the New and the likely that in the process of recording and classifica- Newest epochs of China, and the present day schools tion, his disciples deviated from the exact communica- of Confucianism. tion of the thoughts of Confucius. Therefore we think Proceeding from this we conclude as follows: a sig- that it is impossible to judge the true attitude of Confu- nificant difference exists between the proper teaching cius towards the ritual by the book “Lunyu” to the full of Confucius and the Confucianism that formed after extent; nevertheless we point out the significance of the he passed away. Followers of Confucius did not pay ritual in the philosopher’s views. We think that his dis- serious attention to the ritual, i. e. they deviated from ciples did not fully comprehend his attitude towards the teaching of their Sage Teacher. Confucius himself the ritual in full measure. An example of this is an in- dreamed of the revival of the ritual tradition – the tradi- cident with one of the philosopher’s disciples Zi-gong, tion that had flourished for thousands years in different who wanted to reform and simplify the ritual, but Con- dynasties before him.
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