Confucian Ethics and the Contemporary World

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Confucian Ethics and the Contemporary World Part
Two On Religion By Mary I. Bockover
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• Li
• Li literally is the ritual vessel through which
  human excellence is realized.

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• Li
• Li literally is the ritual vessel through which
  human excellence is realized.
• the conventions, customs, and ceremonies that
  serve the social purpose of allowing us to
  recognize, and respond, to each other in a
  meaningful, civilized way

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• Li
• Li literally is the ritual vessel through which
  human excellence is realized.
• the conventions, customs, and ceremonies that
  serve the social purpose of allowing us to
  recognize, and respond, to each other in a
  meaningful, civilized way
• the vehicle for cultivating human relations

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Li is sacred in linking us with the greater way
of heaven itselfindeed, in being the very
vehicle for its expression.
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• Li is sacred in linking us with the greater way
  of heaven itselfindeed, in being the very
  vehicle for its expression.
• the way that humanity develops through the ages,
  not the least of which includes rituals for
  properly revering ancestors in tian

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• Li is sacred in linking us with the greater way
  of heaven itselfindeed, in being the very
  vehicle for its expression.
• the way that humanity develops through the ages,
  not the least of which includes rituals for
  properly revering ancestors in tian
• the spiritual function of li that is often
  overlooked in discussions on Confucian philosophy

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Someone asked the Master for an explanation of
the di imperial ancestral sacrifice, and he
replied I dont have one. Anyone who did know
how to explain it could rule the empire as easily
as having it here. And he pointed to the palm
of his hand. representing the magical effect of
ritual in ordering things. (Ames Rosemont 3,
11)
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• Confucian ethics is not just a secular ethic
  because

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• Confucian ethics is not just a secular ethic
  because
• li is the secular expression of the sacred

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• Confucian ethics is not just a secular ethic
  because
• li is the secular expression of the sacred
• li is the human way to be aligned with the
  greater way of heaven and thus to cultivate
  excellence that continuously and essentially
  reaches for a higher idealeven for divine
  perfection

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• Ren-Dao
• Another part of the spiritual function of li that
  has often been overlooked concerns the ren that
  li necessarily expresses.
• The human way, or ren-dao, is a way of liof
  benevolent conduct ritualized into a particular
  normative form.

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• Ren-Dao
• Another part of the spiritual function of li that
  has often been overlooked concerns the ren that
  li necessarily expresses.
• The human way, or ren-dao, is a way of liof
  benevolent conduct ritualized into a particular
  normative form.
• a way of goodness and decency (ren) communicated
  through a more particular normative convention
  (li)

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• Ren-Dao
• Another part of the spiritual function of li that
  has often been overlooked concerns the ren that
  li necessarily expresses.
• The human way, or ren-dao, is a way of liof
  benevolent conduct ritualized into a particular
  normative form.
• a way of goodness and decency (ren) communicated
  through a more particular normative convention
  (li)
• the way to establish personal authority and
  power (de) which is reciprocally expressed
  through roles that are relevant to ones
  cultureagain through li

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The most perfect expression of ren was thought to
have issued from divine sages, descendents of
heaven like Yao and Shun, who where among the
greatest of ancient Chinese emperors.
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The most perfect expression of ren was thought to
have issued from divine sages, descendents of
heaven like Yao and Shun, who where among the
greatest of ancient Chinese emperors. Their
greatness culminated in an extraordinary ability
to realize the mandate of heaven, serving
humanity with excellence, much like a benevolent
father would attend to his family.
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The most perfect expression of ren was thought to
have issued from divine sages, descendents of
heaven like Yao and Shun, who where among the
greatest of ancient Chinese emperors. Their
greatness culminated in an extraordinary ability
to realize the mandate of heaven, serving
humanity with excellence, much like a benevolent
father would attend to his family. Thus the
human way (ren-dao) and the way of heaven
(tian-dao) are linked by the same normative
thread that runs from basic human goodness to
divine perfection.
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The spiritually wholesome relations that we
develop, and the wisdom of the ages that we
realize in the present, are the means by which we
can make the way great. In so doing, the human
way is an expression of the great way of tian.
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Ren-Dao is a Spiritual Path Ren is the spirit of
li that dignifies human life and gives it moral
purpose.
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Ren-Dao is a Spiritual Path Ren is the spirit of
li that dignifies human life and gives it moral
purpose. The religious character of the
Analects is captured in seeing humanity as
embedded in, and guided by, spiritual forces that
issue from the greatest of realities that the
ancient Chinese referred to in general terms as
dao.
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Ren-Dao is a Spiritual Path Ren is the spirit of
li that dignifies human life and gives it moral
purpose. The religious character of the
Analects is captured in seeing humanity as
embedded in, and guided by, spiritual forces that
issue from the greatest of realities that the
ancient Chinese referred to in general terms as
dao. Dao is the way of proper relation for
all contexts dao orders the hierarchy of
relations for heaven, humanity, and earth. Most
importantly, the way of humanityren-daois a
microcosm of the way of heaven, much as family is
a microcosm of humanity.
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Li and ren are necessarily interrelated aspects
of the same larger reality that is irreducible in
practice that of harmonious human activity that,
at bottom, is an act of communion.
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Li and ren are necessarily interrelated aspects
of the same larger reality that is irreducible in
practice that of harmonious human activity that,
at bottom, is an act of communion. Ren is the
integrity, grace, natural order and beauty of the
human spirit that (1) issues from its ultimate
primal source (tian-dao), and (2) is the spirit
of virtuous action or good conduct expressed
through some normative form (li).
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Li and ren are necessarily interrelated aspects
of the same larger reality that is irreducible in
practice that of harmonious human activity that,
at bottom, is an act of communion. Ren is the
integrity, grace, natural order and beauty of the
human spirit that (1) issues from its ultimate
primal source (tian-dao), and (2) is the spirit
of virtuous action or good conduct expressed
through some normative form (li). Li is that
form, the socially determined convention that
therefore under-determines the great spirit of
humanity, the ren that it expresses.
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The Master said, High office filled with men of
narrow views, ritual preformed without reverence,
the forms of mourning observed without
griefthese are things I cannot bear to see!
(Waley 3, 26) The expression sacrifice as
though present is taken to mean sacrifice to
the spirits as though the spirits are present.
But the Master said If I myself do not
participate in the sacrifice, it is as though I
have not sacrificed at all (Ames Rosemont 3,
12)
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Westerners have a hard time grasping this point
because consciousness has been internalized by a
more dualistic metaphysic. Confucius offers us a
new and different way of thinking about ethics
and religion by having us think of consciousness
as an objective social and spiritual fact (even
if this spiritual aspect eludes conclusive
identification).
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Just like the ritual vessel of li so is a
person, a family, a neighborhood, and a
nation established in accordance with their
role in the larger scheme of things. The
Great Learning translated by Lydia Gerber Once
things are investigated, knowledge will be
completed. Once knowledge is complete, opinions
will be verified. Once opinions are verified,
minds will be rectified. Once minds are
rectified, persons will be cultivated. Once
persons are cultivated, families will be
harmonized. Once families are harmonized, states
will be put in order. Once states are in order,
there will be peace all under heaven. From the
emperor to the common people, all must see the
cultivation of their own person as the root of
all else. If roots are in disarray, there will
never be healthy branches.
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Ren is the unique human quality of harmonizing
with, and becoming a necessary part of, greater
realities. A family becomes unified when all of
its members stand in strong, healthy relation to
one another. The person is related to, and to
that extent defined by, the family as the family
is to the larger community.
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Ren is the unique human quality of harmonizing
with, and becoming a necessary part of, greater
realities. A family becomes unified when all of
its members stand in strong, healthy relation to
one another. The person is related to, and to
that extent defined by, the family as the family
is to the larger community. By following the
ren-dao the human community becomes unified, and
stands in strong, healthy relation to tian and
the ancestors who fill it. And to our ancestors
we must pay homage in order to maintain our good
standing with them and to remain connected to our
cultural past.
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Ren is the unique human quality of harmonizing
with, and becoming a necessary part of, greater
realities. A family becomes unified when all of
its members stand in strong, healthy relation to
one another. The person is related to, and to
that extent defined by, the family as the family
is to the larger community. By following the
ren-dao the human community becomes unified, and
stands in strong, healthy relation to tian and
the ancestors who fill it. And to our ancestors
we must pay homage in order to maintain our good
standing with them and to remain connected to our
cultural past. All of these ways of being are
essentially co-related, from the nearest relation
of parent to child, to the more distant relations
of person-to-ancestor and person-to-heaven.
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Ren-dao extends from the great harmony or way of
heaven to earth insofar as we are noble in spirit
(ren) and action (li). Ren, the spirit of
harmonious blending, is the greatness that li
expresses and that makes human life sacred.
However, heaven, humanity, and earth all issue
from an even greater way, one that provides the
normative core to all of being, and that at
bottom harmonizes, integrates, and sustains it.
Through its goodness humanity blends with, and
becomes an extension of (the way of) heaven.
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The Master said, If anyone could be said to
have effected proper order while remaining
nonassertive, surely it was Shun Shun. What
did he do? He simply assumed an air of deference
and faced due south. (Ames Rosemont 15, 5)