By Confucianism is meant the complex system
of moral, social, political, and religious teaching built up by Confucius
on the ancient Chinese traditions, and perpetuated as the State religion
down to the present day. Confucianism aims at making not simply the man of
virtue, but the man of learning and of good manners. The perfect man must
combine the qualities of saint, scholar, and gentleman. Confucianism is a
religion without positive revelation, with a minimum of dogmatic teaching,
whose popular worship is centered in offerings to the dead, in which the
notion of duty is extended beyond the sphere of morals proper so as to
embrace almost every detail of daily life.
CONFUCIUS
The chief exponent of this remarkable religion was K'ung-tze, or
K'ung-fu-tze, latinized by the early Jesuit missionaries into Confucius.
Confucius was born in 551 B.C., in what was then the feudal state of Lu,
now included in the modern province of Shan-tung. His parents, while not
wealthy, belonged to the superior class. His father was a warrior,
distinguished no less for his deeds of valour than for his noble ancestry.
Confucius was a mere boy when his father died. From childhood he showed a
great aptitude for study, and though, in order to support himself and his
mother, he had to labour in his early years as a hired servant in a noble
family, he managed to find time to pursue his favourite studies. He made
such progress that at the age of twenty-two years he opened a school to
which many were attracted by the fame of his learning. His ability and
faithful service merited for him promotion to the office of minister of
justice. Under his wise administration the State attained to a degree of
prosperity and moral order that it had never seen before. But through the
intrigues of rival states the Marquis of Lu was led to prefer ignoble
pleasures to the preservation of good government. Confucius tried by sound
advice to bring his liege lord back to the path of duty, but in vain. He
thereupon resigned his high position at the cost of personal ease and
comfort, and left the state. For thirteen years, accompanied by faithful
disciples, he went about from one state to another, seeking a ruler who
would give heed to his counsels. Many were the privations he suffered.
More than once he ran imminent risk of being waylaid and killed by his
enemies, but his courage and confidence in the providential character of
his mission never deserted him. At last he returned to Lu, where he spent
the last five years of his long life encouraging others to the study and
practice of virtue, and edifying all by his noble example. He died in the
year 478 B.C., in the seventy-fourth year of his age. His lifetime almost
exactly coincided with that of Buddha, who died two years earlier at the
age of eighty.
That Confucius possessed a noble, commanding personality, there can be
little doubt. It is shown by his recorded traits of character, by his
lofty moral teachings, by the high-minded men that he trained to continue
his life-work. In their enthusiastic love and admiration, they declared
him the greatest of men, the sage without flaw, the perfect man. That he
himself did not make any pretension to possess virtue and wisdom in their
fullness is shown by his own recorded sayings. He was conscious of his
shortcomings, and this consciousness he made no attempt to keep concealed.
But of his love of virtue and wisdom there can be no question. He is
described in "Analects", VII, 18, as one "who in the eager pursuit of
knowledge, forgot his food, and in the joy of attaining to it forgot his
sorrow". Whatever in the traditional records of the past, whether history,
lyric poems, or rites and ceremonies, was edifying and conducive to
virtue, he sought out with untiring zeal and made known to his disciples.
He was a man of affectionate nature, sympathetic, and most considerate
towards others. He loved his worthy disciples dearly, and won in turn
their undying devotion. He was modest and unaffected in his bearing,
inclined to gravity, yet possessing a natural cheerfulness that rarely
deserted him. Schooled to adversity from childhood, he learned to find
contentment and serenity of mind even where ordinary comforts were
lacking. He was very fond of vocal and instrumental music, and often sang,
accompanying his voice with the lute. His sense of humour is revealed in a
criticism he once made of some boisterous singing "Why use an ox-knife",
he said, "to kill a fowl?"
Confucius is often held up as the type of the virtuous man without
religion. His teachings, it is alleged, were chiefly ethical, in which one
looks in vain for retribution in the next life as a sanction of right
conduct. Now an acquaintance with the ancient religion of China and with
Confucian texts reveals the emptiness of the assertion that Confucius was
devoid of religious thought and feeling. He was religious after the manner
of religious men of his age and land. In not appealing to rewards and
punishments in the life to come, he was simply following the example of
his illustrious Chinese predecessors, whose religious belief did not
include this element of future retribution. The Chinese classics that were
ancient even in the time of Confucius have nothing to say of hell, but
have much to say of the rewards and punishments meted out in the present
life by the all-seeing Heaven. There are numbers of texts that show
plainly that he did not depart from the traditional belief in the supreme
Heaven-god and subordinate spirits, in Divine providence and retribution,
and in the conscious existence of souls after death. These religious
convictions on his part found expression in many recorded acts of piety
and worship.
THE CONFUCIAN TEXTS (Analects)
As Confucianism in its broad sense embraces not only the immediate
teaching of Confucius, but also the traditional records customs, and rites
to which he gave the sanction of his approval, and which today rest
largely upon his authority, there are reckoned among the Confucian texts
several that even in his day were venerated as sacred heirlooms of the
past. The texts are divided into two categories, known as the "King"
(Classics), and the "Shuh" (Books). The texts of the "King", which stand
first in importance, are commonly reckoned as five, but sometimes as six.
The first of these is the "Shao-king" (Book of History), a religious and
moral work, tracing the hand of Providence in a series of great events of
past history, and inculcating the lesson that the Heaven-god gives
prosperity and length of days only to the virtuous ruler who has the true
welfare of the people at heart. Its unity of composition may well bring
its time of publication down to the sixth century B.C., though the sources
on which the earlier chapters are based may be almost contemporaneous with
the events related.
The second "King" is the so-called "She-king" (Book of Songs), often
spoken of as the "Odes". Of its 305 short lyric poems some belong to the
time of the Shang dynasty (1766-1123 B.C.), the remaining, and perhaps
larger, part to the first five centuries of the dynasty of Chow, that is,
down to about 600 B.C.
The third "King" is the so-called "Y-king" (Book of Changes), an enigmatic
treatise on the art of divining with the stalks of a native plant, which
after being thrown give different indications according as they conform to
one or another of the sixty-four hexagrams made up of three broken and
three unbroken lines. The short explanations which accompany them, in
large measure arbitrary and fantastic, are assigned to the time of Wan and
his illustrious son Wu, founders of the Chow dynasty (1122 B.C.). Since
the time of Confucius, the work has been more than doubled by a series of
appendixes, ten in number, of which eight are attributed to Confucius.
Only a small portion of these, however, are probably authentic.
The fourth "King" is the "Li-ki" (Book of Rites). In its present form it
dates from the second century of our era, being a compilation from a vast
number of documents, most of which date from the earlier part of the Chow
dynasty. It gives rules of conduct down to the minute details for
religious acts of worship, court functions, social and family relations,
dress--in short, for every sphere of human action. It remains today the
authoritative guide of correct conduct for every cultivated Chinese. In
the "Li-ki" are many of Confucius's reputed sayings and two long treatises
composed by disciples, which may be said to reflect with substantial
accuracy the sayings and teachings of the master. One of these is the
treatise known as the "Chung-yung" (Doctrine of the Mean). It forms Book
XXVIII of the "Li-ki", and is one of its most valuable treatises. It
consists of a collection of sayings of Confucius characterizing the man of
perfect virtue. The other treatise, forming Book XXXIX of the "Li-ki", is
the so-called "Ta-hio" (Great Learning). It purports to be descriptions of
the virtuous ruler by the disciple Tsang-tze, based on the teachings of
the master. The fifth "King" is the short historical treatise known as the
"Ch'un-ts'ew" (Spring and Autumn), said to have been written by the hand
of Confucius himself. It consists of a connected series of bare annals of
the state of Lu for the years 722-484 B.C. To these five "Kings" belongs a
sixth, the so-called "Hiao-king" (Book of Filial Piety). The Chinese
attribute its composition to Confucius, but in the opinion of critical
scholars, it is the product of the school of his disciple, Tsang-tze.
Mention has just been made of the two treatises, the "Doctrine of the
Mean" and the "Great Learning", embodied in the "Li-ki". In the eleventh
century of our era, these two works were united with other Confucian
texts, constituting what is known as the "Sze-shuh" (Four Books). First of
these is the "Lun-yu" (Analects). It is a work in twenty short chapters,
showing what manner of man Confucius was in his daily life, and recording
many of his striking sayings on moral and historical topics. It seems to
embody the authentic testimony of his disciples written by one of the next
generation.
The second place in the "Shuh" is given to the "Book of Mencius". Mencius
(Meng-tze), was not an immediate disciple of the master. He lived a
century later. He acquired great fame as an exponent of Confucian
teaching. His sayings, chiefly on moral topics, were treasured up by
disciples, and published in his name. Third and fourth in order of the
"Shuh" come the "Great Learning" and the "Doctrine of the Mean".
For our earliest knowledge of the contents of these Confucian texts, we
are indebted to the painstaking researches of the Jesuit missionaries in
China during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, who, with an heroic
zeal for the spread of Christ's kingdom united a diligence and proficiency
in the study of Chinese customs, literature, and history that have laid
succeeding scholars under lasting obligation. Among these we may mention
Fathers Prémare, Régis, Lacharme, Gaubil, Noël, Ignacio da Costa, by whom
most of the Confucian texts were translated and elucidated with great
erudition. It was but natural that their pioneer studies in so difficult a
field should be destined to give place to the more accurate and complete
monuments of modern scholarship. But even here they have worthy
representatives in such scholars as Father Zottoli and Henri Cordier,
whose Chinese studies give evidence of vast erudition. The Confucian texts
have been made available to English readers by Professor Legge. Besides
his monumental work in seven volumes, entitled "The Chinese Classics" and
his version of the "Ch'un ts'ew", he has given the revised translations of
the "Shuh", "She", "Ta-hio", "Y", and "Li-Ki" in Volumes III, XVI, XXVII,
and XXVIII of "The Sacred Books of the East".
THE DOCTRINE
A. Religious Groundwork
The religion of ancient China, to which Confucius gave his reverent
adhesion was a form of nature-worship very closely approaching to
monotheism. While numerous spirits associated with natural phenomena were
recognized--spirits of mountains and rivers, of land and grain, of the
four quarters of the heavens, the sun, moon, and stars--they were all
subordinated to the supreme Heaven-god, T'ien (Heaven) also called Ti
(Lord), or Shang-ti (Supreme Lord). All other spirits were but his
ministers, acting in obedience to his will. T'ien was the upholder of the
moral law, exercising a benign providence over men. Nothing done in secret
could escape his all-seeing eye. His punishment for evil deeds took the
form either of calamities and early death, or of misfortune laid up for
the children of the evil-doer. In numerous passages of the "Shao-" and
"She-king", we find this belief asserting itself as a motive to right
conduct. That it was not ignored by Confucius himself is shown by his
recorded saying, that "he who offends against Heaven has no one to whom he
can pray". Another quasi-religious motive to the practice of virtue was
the belief that the souls of the departed relatives were largely dependent
for their happiness on the conduct of their living descendants. It was
taught that children owed it as a duty to their dead parents to contribute
to their glory and happiness by lives of virtue. To judge from the sayings
of Confucius that have been preserved, he did not disregard these motives
to right conduct, but he laid chief stress on the love of virtue for its
own sake. The principles of morality and their concrete application to the
varied relations of life were embodied in the sacred texts, which in turn
represented the teachings of the great sages of the past raised up by
Heaven to instruct mankind. These teachings were not inspired, nor were
they revealed, yet they were infallible. The sages were born with wisdom
meant by Heaven to enlighten the children of men. It was thus a wisdom
that was providential, rather than supernatural. The notion of Divine
positive revelation is absent from the Chinese texts. To follow the path
of duty as laid down in the authoritative rules of conduct was within the
reach of all men, provided that their nature, good at birth, was not
hopelessly spoiled by vicious influences. Confucius held the traditional
view that all men are born good. Of anything like original sin there is
not a trace in his teaching. He seems to have failed to recognize even the
existence of vicious hereditary tendencies. In his view, what spoiled men
was bad environment, evil example, an inexcusable yielding to evil
appetites that everyone by right use of his natural powers could and ought
to control. Moral downfall caused by suggestions of evil spirits had no
place in his system. Nor is there any notion of Divine grace to strengthen
the will and enlighten the mind in the struggle with evil. There are one
or two allusions to prayer, but nothing to show that daily prayer was
recommended to the aspirant after perfection.
B. Helps to Virtue
In Confucianism the helps to the cultivation of virtue are natural and
providential, nothing more. But in this development of moral perfection
Confucius sought to enkindle in others the enthusiastic love of virtue
that he felt himself. To make oneself as good as possible, this was with
him the main business of life. Everything that was conducive to the
practice of goodness was to be eagerly sought and made use of. To this end
right knowledge was to be held indispensable. Like Socrates, Confucius
taught that vice sprang from ignorance and that knowledge led unfailingly
to virtue. The knowledge on which he insisted was not purely scientific
learning, but an edifying acquaintance with the sacred texts and the rules
of virtue and propriety. Another factor on which he laid great stress was
the influence of good example. He loved to hold up to the admiration of
his disciples the heroes and sages of the past, an acquaintance with whose
noble deeds and sayings he sought to promote by insisting on the study of
the ancient classics. Many of his recorded sayings are eulogies of these
valiant men of virtue. Nor did he fail to recognize the value of good,
high-minded companions. His motto was, to associate with the truly great
and to make friends of the most virtuous. Besides association with the
good, Confucius urged on his disciples the importance of always welcoming
the fraternal correction of one's faults. Then, too, the daily examination
of conscience was inculcated. As a further aid to the formation of a
virtuous character, he valued highly a certain amount of self-discipline.
He recognized the danger, especially in the young, of falling into habits
of softness and love of ease. Hence he insisted on a virile indifference
to effeminate comforts. In the art of music he also recognized a powerful
aid to enkindle enthusiasm for the practice of virtue. He taught his
pupils the "Odes" and other edifying songs, which they sang together to
the accompaniment of lutes and harps. This together with the magnetism of
his personal influence lent a strong emotional quality to his teaching.
C. Fundamental Virtues
As a foundation for the life of perfect goodness, Confucius insisted
chiefly on the four virtues of sincerity, benevolence, filial piety, and
propriety. Sincerity was with him a cardinal virtue. As used by him it
meant more than a mere social relation. To be truthful and straightforward
in speech, faithful to one's promises, conscientious in the discharge of
one's duties to others--this was included in sincerity and something more.
The sincere man in Confucius's eyes was the man whose conduct was always
based on the love of virtue, and who in consequence sought to observe the
rules of right conduct in his heart as well as in outward actions, when
alone as well as in the presence of others. Benevolence, showing itself in
a kindly regard for the welfare of others and in a readiness to help them
in times of need, was also a fundamental element in Confucius's teaching.
It was viewed as the characteristic trait of the good man. Mencius, the
illustrious exponent of Confucianism, has the remarkable statement:
"Benevolence is man" (VII, 16). In the sayings of Confucius we find the
Golden Rule in its negative form enunciated several times. In "Analects",
XV, 13, we read that when a disciple asked him for a guiding principle for
all conduct, the master answered: "Is not mutual goodwill such a
principle? What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others".
This is strikingly like the form of the Golden Rule found in the first
chapter of the "Teaching of the Apostles"--"All things soever that you
would not have done to yourself, do not do to another"; also in Tobias,
iv, 16, where it appears for the first time in Sacred Scripture. He did
not approve the principle held by Lao-tze that injury should be repaid
with kindness. His motto was "Requite injury with justice, and kindness
with kindness" (Analects, XIV, 36). He seems to have viewed the question
from the practical and legal standpoint of social order. "To repay
kindness with kindness", he says elsewhere, "acts as an encouragement to
the people. To requite injury with injury acts as a warning" (Li-ki, XXIX,
11). The third fundamental virtue in the Confucian system is filial piety.
In the "Hiao-king", Confucius is recorded as saying: "Filial piety is the
root of all virtue."--"Of all the actions of man there are none greater
than those of filial piety." To the Chinese then as now, filial piety
prompted the son to love and respect his parents, contribute to their
comfort, bring happiness and honour to their name, by honourable success
in life. But at the same time it carried that devotion to a degree that
was excessive and faulty. In consequence of the patriarchal system there
prevailing, filial piety included the obligation of sons to live after
marriage under the same roof with the father and to give him a childlike
obedience as long as he lived. The will of the parents was declared to be
supreme even to the extent that if the son's wife failed to please them he
was obliged to divorce her, though it cut him to the heart. If a dutiful
son found himself compelled to admonish a wayward father he was taught to
give the correction with the utmost meekness; though the parent might beat
him till the blood flowed he was not to show any resentment. The father
did not forfeit his right to filial respect, no matter how great his
wickedness. Another virtue of primary importance in the Confucian system
is "propriety". It embraces the whole sphere of human conduct, prompting
the superior man always to do the right thing in the right place. It finds
expression in the so-called rules of ceremony, which are not confined to
religious rites and rules of moral conduct, but extend to the bewildering
mass of conventional customs and usages by which Chinese etiquette is
regulated. They were distinguished even in Confucius's day by the three
hundred greater, and the three thousand lesser, rules of ceremony, all of
which had to be carefully learned as a guide to right conduct. The
conventional usages as well as the rules of moral conduct brought with
them the sense of obligation resting primarily on the authority of the
sage-kings and in the last analysis on the will of Heaven. To neglect or
deviate from them was equivalent to an act of impiety.
D. Rites
In the "Li-ki", the chief ceremonial observances are declared to be six:
capping, marriage mourning rites, sacrifices, feasts, and interviews. It
will be enough to treat briefly of the first four. They have persisted
with little change down to the present day. Capping was a joyous ceremony,
wherein the son was honoured on reaching his twentieth year. In the
presence of relatives and invited guests, the father conferred on his son
a special name and a square cornered cap as distinguishing marks of his
mature manhood. It was accompanied with a feast. The marriage ceremony was
of great importance. To marry with the view of having male children was a
grave duty on the part of every son. This was necessary to keep up the
patriarchal system and to provide for ancestral worship in after years.
The rule as laid down in the "Li-ki" was, that a young man should marry at
the age of thirty and a young woman at twenty. The proposal and acceptance
pertained not to the young parties directly interested, but to their
parents. The preliminary arrangements were made by a go between after it
was ascertained by divination that the signs of the proposed union were
auspicious. The parties could not be of the same surname, nor related
within the fifth degree of kindred. On the day of the wedding the young
groom in his best attire came to the house of the bride and led her out to
his carriage, in which she rode to his father's home. There he received
her, surrounded by the joyous guests. Cups improvised by cutting a melon
in halves were filled with sweet spirits and handed to the bride and
groom. By taking a sip from each, they signified that they were united in
wedlock. The bride thus became a member of the family of her
parents-in-law, subject, like her husband, to their authority. Monogamy
was encouraged as the ideal condition, but the maintenance of secondary
wives known as concubines was not forbidden. It was recommended when the
true wife failed to bear male children and was too much loved to be
divorced. There were seven causes justifying the repudiation of a wife
besides infidelity, and one of these was the absence of male offspring.
The mourning rites were likewise of supreme importance. Their exposition
takes up the greater part of the "Li-ki". They were most elaborate,
varying greatly in details and length of observance, according to the rank
and relationship of the deceased. The mourning rites for the father were
the most impressive of all. For the first three days, the son, clad in
sackcloth of coarse white hemp, fasted, and leaped, and wailed. After the
burial, for which there were minute prescriptions, the son had to wear the
mourning sackcloth for twenty-seven months, emaciating his body with
scanty food, and living in a rude hut erected for the purpose near the
grave. In the "Analects", Confucius is said to have condemned with
indignation the suggestion of a disciple that the period of the mourning
rites might well be shortened to one year. Another class of rites of
supreme importance were the sacrifices. They are repeatedly mentioned in
the Confucian texts, where instructions are given for their proper
celebration. From the Chinese notion of sacrifice the idea of propitiation
through blood is entirely absent. It is nothing more than a food-offering
expressing the reverent homage of the worshippers, a solemn feast to do
honour to the spirit guests, who are invited and are thought to enjoy the
entertainment. Meat and drink of great variety are provided. There is also
vocal and instrumental music, and pantomimic dancing. The officiating
ministers are not priests, but heads of families, the feudal lords, and
above all, the king. There is no priesthood in Confucianism.
The worship of the people at large is practically confined to the
so-called ancestor-worship. Some think it is hardly proper to call it
worship, consisting as it does of feasts in honour of dead relatives. In
the days of Confucius, as at present, there was in every family home, from
the palace of the king himself down to the humble cabin of the peasant, a
chamber or closet called the ancestral shrine, where wooden tablets were
reverently kept, inscribed with the names of deceased parents,
grandparents, and more remote ancestors. At stated intervals offerings of
fruit, wine, and cooked meats were set before these tablets, which the
ancestral spirits were fancied to make their temporary resting-place.
There was, besides, a public honouring by each local clan of the common
ancestors twice a year, in spring and autumn. This was an elaborate
banquet with music and solemn dances, to which the dead ancestors were
summoned, and in which they were believed to participate along with the
living members of the clan. More elaborate and magnificent still were the
great triennial and quinquennial feasts given by the king to his ghostly
ancestors. This feasting of the dead by families and clans was restricted
to such as were united with the living by ties of relationship. There
were, however, a few public benefactors whose memory was revered by all
the people and to whom offerings of food were made. Confucius himself came
be to honoured after death, being regarded as the greatest of public
benefactors. Even today in China this religious veneration of the master
is faithfully maintained. In the Imperial College in Peking there is a
shrine where the tablets of Confucius and his principal disciples are
preserved. Twice a year, in spring and autumn, the emperor goes there in
state and solemnly presents food-offerings with a prayerful address
expressing his gratitude and devotion.
In the fourth book of the "Li-ki" reference is made to the sacrifices
which the people were accustomed to offer to the "spirits of the ground",
that is to the spirits presiding over the local fields. In the worship of
spirits of higher rank, however, the people seem to have taken no active
part. This was the concern of their highest representatives, the feudal
lords and the king. Each feudal lord offered sacrifice for himself and his
subjects to the subordinate spirits supposed to have especial care of his
territory. It was the prerogative of the king alone to sacrifice to the
spirits, both great and small, of the whole realm, particularly to Heaven
and Earth. Several sacrifices of this kind were offered every year. The
most important were those at the winter and summer solstice in which
Heaven and Earth were respectively worshipped. To account for this anomaly
we must bear in mind that sacrifice, as viewed by the Chinese, is a feast
to the spirit guests, and that according to their notion of propriety the
highest deities should be feted only by the highest representatives of the
living. They saw a fitness in the custom that only the king, the Son of
Heaven, should, in his own behalf and in behalf of his people, make solemn
offering to Heaven. And so it is today. The sacrificial worship of Heaven
and Earth is celebrated only by the emperor, with the assistance, indeed,
of a small army of attendants, and with a magnificence of ceremonial that
is astonishing to behold. To pray privately to Heaven and burn incense to
him was a legitimate way for the individual to show his piety to the
highest deity, and this is still practised, generally at the full moon.
E. Politics
Confucius knew but one form of government, the traditional monarchy of his
native land. It was the extension of the patriarchal system to the entire
nation. The king exercised an absolute authority over his subjects, as the
father over his children. He ruled by right Divine. He was providentially
set up by Heaven to enlighten the people by wise laws and to lead them to
goodness by his example and authority. Hence his title, the "Son of
Heaven". To merit this title he should reflect the virtue of Heaven. It
was only the high-minded king that won Heaven's favour and was rewarded
with prosperity. The unworthy king lost Divine assistance and came to
naught. The Confucian texts abound in lessons and warnings on this subject
of right government. The value of good example in the ruler is emphasized
most strongly. The principle is asserted again and again, that the people
cannot fail to practise virtue and to prosper when the ruler sets the high
example of right conduct. On the other hand the implication is conveyed in
more than one place that when crime and misery abound, the cause is to be
sought in the unworthy king and his unprincipled ministers.
HISTORY OF CONFUCIANISM
It is doubtless this uncompromising attitude of Confucianism towards
vicious self-seeking rulers of the people that all but caused its
extinction towards the end of the third century B.C. In the year 213 B.C.,
the subverter of the Chow dynasty, Shi Hwang-ti, promulgated the decree
that all Confucian books, excepting the "Y-king", should be destroyed. The
penalty of death was threatened against all scholars who should be found
possessing the proscribed books or teaching them to others. Hundreds of
Confucian scholars would not comply with the edict, and were buried alive.
When the repeal came under the Han dynasty, in 191 B.C., the work of
extermination was wellnigh complete. Gradually, however, copies more or
less damaged were brought to light, and the Confucian texts were restored
to their place of honour. Generations of scholars have devoted their best
years to the elucidation of the "King" and "Shuh", with the result that an
enormous literature has clustered around them. As the State religion of
China, Confucianism has exercised a profound influence on the life of the
nation. This influence has been little affected by the lower classes of
Taoism and Buddhism, both of which, as popular cults, began to flourish in
China towards the end of the first century of our era. In the gross
idolatry of these cults the ignorant found a satisfaction for their
religious cravings that was not afforded by the religion of the State. But
in thus embracing Taoism and Buddhism they did not cease to be
Confucianists. These cults were and are nothing more than accretions on
the Confucian beliefs and customs of the lower classes, forms of popular
devotion clinging like parasites to the ancestral religion. The educated
Chinese despises both Buddhist and Taoist superstitions. But while
nominally professing Confucianism pure and simple, not a few hold
rationalistic views regarding the spirit world. In number the
Confucianists amount to about three hundred millions.
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