Intro to Confucianism 

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"We live in a society" -Confucius

Last time I was this early, the Zhou still held the Mandate of Heaven

This gives me hope that one day there will be a video about Mohism

“Not being able to serve other people, how could you be able to serve the spirits?” Words very much needed in our time.

So excited for you to cover this topic!!!

Although the vast majority of Chinese people would not identify themselves as Confucianists, it seems clear that Confucianism has had a profound effect on the culture and many Chinese values originate back to it.

Hellenism, both its ancient form and how it is practiced by various people today would be interesting. (In the future sometime maybe)

In my first lesson of the Chinese Religion and Philosophy course in university, my professor expressed his contempt for the name of the course "Religion and Philosophy" because the separation of these as two separate concepts is a modern western idea. In ancient China these concepts were one in the same.

If you are going with Confucianism the next series must be on Daoism. After all Lao Tzu was contemporary to Confucius, and both teachings were very intervened threw all time. I even would say that daoism was occupying the lacking mystical part of confucianism.

I'm just thinking of making a bad meme involving Confucius, Vin Diesel and a quote from Fast & Furious.

Is Confucianism a religion? That’s a good question. Religious studies books always seem to take this for granted. And at first thought, I don’t know. Give us an answer Master Breakfast!

I can hear Qin Shi Huang heavily breathing and want to burn books

I am so glad that you have decided to cover religions of China! So perfect.

love love LOVE this series -- thank you RFB

I've been catching up to months worth of your videos, watching one per day, now it feels great to have a new one!

Thank you for everything you do for us ♥️

I always look forward to your videos. Takes me back to when I was a religious studies major.

Currently studying world religions in college because I was inspired by watching your videos. You're awesome man. Keep it up.

Can’t wait for the rest of the series!

Yeah I've been waiting for this series to hit! I've long waited for a good, in-depth look at Confucianism and other related systems for a while, and this first episode does wonders to introduce people to the system itself. Great work! Hope to see more from this series and others!

Man oh i was super excited for this series, and you delivered it. Gonna be waiting for the next one episode anxiously. Finding this channel have made this 2021 much more enjoyable and full of learning, much thanks for the great content.

Thanks to your channel we are able to learn about other cultures and systems of thought! Thank you so much for oportunity!

I am really grateful for your channel!

I love this channel. Looking forward to the next episode.

Thank you for these series!

Chinese history is one of my favorite subjects, and I'm always eager to learn more about things like Confucianism, so I can't wait for the other episodes!! Seriously, I can't wait.

I can see the value of this system as a means to an end; and given the context of its creation, I can't really blame anyone involved, but to me, the fact it would later spread as far as the Shogunate, says a lot more about its value as a means to strict social control from on high... Something i think can be done without enforcing what are often strictly oppressive hierarchies..

Thank you so much. Extremely fruitful and useful content. Again, much thanks. Keep on going!

I love this, I can’t wait to see the next videos in the series!

Awesome! I also look forward to future installements.

Really looking forward to the next part!

This video is amazing! Just found your channel while researching about this topic, keep the great work. Hype for the next episode

I always look forward to your content, but this one is especially intriguing.

terrific video , thanks andrew! excited for the next installments :)

Been looking forward to this.

Man, so excited for this series

Yey! I've been waiting for this

Always extremely interesting topics!

So hyped for the religious aspects

I never thought 君子和而不同，小人同而不和 could be construed as a contrast between equality and harmony in a hierarchy (10:19). I always thought it's a statement about holding fast to one's own thoughts and convictions in interactions with others. You've presented a fascinating interpretation.

Thank you for this well researched and explained topic.

What a phenomenal and well written video. The presentation is on point. Loved it. Thank you for this amazing video explaining Confucianism to me.

I absolutely love ur content both quality and quantity... keep up the Good Work...can't wait 4 the future videos on this subject... thanks 4 ur research and hard work Peace be with you all...

Confucianism = respect, respect, respect (don't resist)

WOW! Very nice! Thank you so much for the amazing video

Long time fan! Love your videos!!

“We have two lives, and the second begins when we realize we only have one.” ― Confucius. Obviously, Confucius was a bachelor, and never had a son. I think he was talking about the 'after-life'. In so doing, he erred...because, you can have more than one child...and his/her life doesn't begin, when yours ends...

Excellent video. Very interesting, informative and worthwhile video.

Thank you so much for this video on Confucianism, ReligionForBreakfast.

Excellent. Thank you for the information.

Been wanting this for a while!

Thank you for covering this. Buddhism gets a lot of a press as one of the top five major world religions, but no one in the West ever talks about Confucianism as a major religion, philosophy, or political structure, despite it's having a huge cultural impact on about a quarter of the world's population. Many of it's concepts, such as its emphasis on humanism and the idea of open, meritorious government, were millenia ahead of their time.

Today I inadvertently learned the origins of bowing in the East -- love this channel for so many reasons!

"Not yet being able to serve other people, how would you be able to serve the spirits?" That almost sounds like something Jesus would say.

looking forward to this!

can't wait for more!

_Disclaimer: I am not a historian or any kind of expert in this field. I would simply like to offer my take on some of the points addressed in this video both for fun and for discussion._ *On Ru (儒)* At around 2:49 you introduce the term Ru as being synonymous with the term "Confucians" but in my opinion, a distinction is important here. To quote from Mou Zongsan's *19 Lectures on Chinese Philosophy*: > "Because Confucius's teachings forms a 家 (the -ism in Confucianism), this indicates that he has some expertise or specialist knowledge, namely the six arts; as such Confucianism is so called Ru-ism (儒家)... Although one can view Confucianism as a philosophical system, Confucius is also the the teacher of Ritual, Music, Archery, Riding, Writing, and Math (the Six Arts), and is an expert in them. Where, however, do these Six Arts come from? They come from the Imperial Court (Zhou)." The designation 儒 (Ru), therefore indicates an expertise in the Six Arts of the Zhou dynasty. These were not invented by Confucius himself (See Analects 7.1). *On the Centrality of Ren (仁)* Going back to Mou Zongsan for a moment, one finds in his *Lectures* this statement about the "uniqueness" of Confucianism: > "Confucius' Ritual and Music arise out of Ren (Humaneness), Ren therefore is the *principle* of Ritual and Music... In order for Ritual and Music to have real meaning, they have to rely on Ren. Thus Confucius says: 'A man without Ren, what has he to do with Ritual? A man without Ren, what has he to do with Music?' If a person lacks Ren, then what would be the point of his practicing music everyday? What is the point of only maintaining the form of Ritual? In this sense, Ren should be seen as the central guiding principle---a transcendental principle that floats above all of the things mentioned in 6:35. Although you touch on this point at around 12:00, there are a few things that I would like to add: (1) Ren is immanent within the individual, as you say it is really just "humaneness." Mencius gives the following example: If one sees a child fall into a well, then we will feel alarm and distress (Mencius 3.6). This kind of *connectedness* is not something that we have to cultivate to have, but instead it is already present within us, most prominently within the family (See Analects 1.2, also see Shun, _On the Idea of No Self_ ). We should likewise keep this discussion of Ren in mind when we discuss Ritual (14:05); Rituals, for Confucius were not an unchanging entity. Rather he accepted change in Ritual when change was organic. Consider Confucius' comments on the past dynasties in Analects 2.23 (See also Mou, _19 Lectures on Chinese Philosophy_ ). *Closing Thoughts* To put it simply, Confucius' saw a declining moral landscape in his own time, and tried to solve these issues by revitalizing Zhou dynasty rites and social conventions with his ideas on Ren and the other virtues. The primary concern, therefore, was to reinstate virtue in men, not to maintain outdated rituals (as he is sometimes portrayed as doing). Virtuous men, he thought, produced a virtuous society. However, in his own time, one lacking virtue, he aspired to instill virtue in men by recreating in part the society of the past. This, in my view, is the most important point.

Thank you, and your patreons, happy to see an informative, scholarly series on Master Kong and what he started. Decades ago I married into a traditional Korean clan, the 閔 clan. They migrated from China, the 山東 peninsula, an easy hop across the Yellow Sea, around 700 or so CE, bringing, as you said Confucius with them. One of their ancestors was one of Master Kong's big 10 disciples, and the clan firmly believes we are direct descendants of that man. Sure, why not. So, yes, I am part of the clan, certainly I am Confucian, can't help but be - I am also Quaker, as is my wife - and that's okay, too. We shall follow this series with interest. By the way, the I Ching, the book of changes - I think predates Master Kong by some unknown time. It has a long history as a fortune-telling device, of course, but reading it, I was struck more by how it seems to be an attempt to describe the universe as the ancients saw it. That would make it an encyclopedia.

Confucius is a great teacher. His teachings is a good reminder for me. 😊

儒 is basically pictogram of a person who is performing rainmaking ritual. Confucianists started out as master of ceremonies who performed burial, nuptial, rainmaking, etc service for hire. I would chraterize Confuscianism as a "Political Ideology" that started out as a folk religion which eventually lost most of spirituality and theology.

Dope topic. I would love if you provide a short list in the description for suggested reading/a place to start. I love and frequently rewatch the Shinto series and it prompted a lot of further study and curiosity and cant wait to sleep less and read more at the end of this one too lol

Thank you!

Super good! Very interesting!

Great stuff RFB .. ☮️

Loved the episode, and love the new glasses haha

I found this to be very informative. Thanks

Thank you.

An entire series? Sir Andrew, heck yeah

Brilliant speaker.

Extremely good start

Wow, you are a really good teacher...

Thanks!

This guy could have a pony tail and we’d never know since he never turns his head… Great video!!!

I always like your condensed information rich style of presentation. Looking forward to the next episodes of the series, and more non european/abrahamic content. Just commenting to support the algorithm... :-D

When it comes to the episode about Confucianism and Vietnam, can you touch on the issue of how Confucianism clashed with the indigenous matriarchal customs of Vietnam as evidenced in the rebellion of the Trung Sisters?

I need to watch this one a few times

I love this, thank you for doing it! In the future, I think it would be great if you did something like this for each religious leader, it would be fascinating to learn about the historical Jesus, Moses, Muhammad, and Buddha (among others)

The civil service exams which required word-for-word memorization of the five Confucian classics and their use in constructing "eight-legged essays" kept clever middle class boys out of mischief for the best part of 2000 years. Many also wasted their best years on repeated attempts to get through. The concept was seized upon by the East India Company and applied by them in London for selecting the Indian Civil Service, and spread to the British Civil Service in the 19th century and from them to North and South America. I wonder if it also contributed to the national baccalaureate exams set up earlier under Napoleon?

I clicked this without thinking, its like that with your videos.

I love your videos

Hey I was thinking it would be cool for you to make a video on the concept of Orphism or maybe the history of Dionysus and his connection to Zagreus and Orphic resurrection. It would be super cool!

Ugh I just wish it was all released at once haha. This is so interesting!!

Well, let's put it this way: is placing flowers on the grave or at a memorial site equivalent to worshiping the dead? I've seen incense sticks placed in front of Christian graves in Taiwan without objection because it's kinda like placing flowers there. I've seen Catholics giving three bows of respect to the portrait of the dead in a funeral service in Taiwan. (But kowtows would be strongly frowned upon for Christian funerals. One has to be standing when making the bows). Also, given that Confucianism emphasizes hierarchy, it can be understandable how latter Buddhism became attractive in China in the sense that one isn't always stuck in the hierarchy: one can improve oneself and reincarnate into something better.

Thanks for making this video. However, I found there are many wrong infos here. 1. 孔夫子 is NOT his name, but 夫子 is an ancient way to call teacher. His name is 孔丘. 2. He lived BEFORE than Warring States Period. He lives in the Spring and Autumn Period. I didn't finish the video that I didn't find more. But pause to comment.

wow was just reading about this yesterday

I was reading Cicero's "On Duties" (De Officiis) back in the winter and it struck me how close his ideas on how society should run were to the little I know about Confucianism. I doubt such ideas made it over the Silk Road to the Mediterranean world in the first Century BCE. Likely these are ideas that occur to smart people anywhere, anytime--hence their wide appeal

sir well written

While being American, Chinese history itself is absolutely fascinating, and the effect of the philosophy of Master Kong(Confucius), a tidal wave of force that went Through china and set itself up for millenia. So important were the teachings of Master Kong it's not hard to see his influence anywhere anymore, even here in America. I myself have realized, even before of learning even the basics of his teachings, most of his philosophy is very much something I follow.

So interesting !!!!!

Please make a video on Orthodox Old Believers

I wasn't even gonna click this because Confucianism doesn't seem that interesting... now I can't wait for the next episode!

Interesting video

Interesting!

I just wanna say I laugh so hard at your Mandarin pronunciation, but I understand that it's not the language you excel in lol Thanks for covering this interesting topic so well, looking forward to see more great educational videos from you

I would be interested in a video "Intro to Seventh-day Adventist". There are a lot where I live.

Hi this is pretty valuable. Thanks for the series. It will be good if you could include a gender base critique with an interview. I don't believe it should be centrar to the analysis as we can't fully apply modern frameworks to something that is so much separated in time. It will be important to contrast it with what they have also, to see the impact on women. In any case the series is super important even if that part is not present. Keep the good work.

Thankyou, we need those values even today 🙏

When will the third episode about Confucianism be completed? I hope to see it as soon as possible? I also hope that for the Confucianism video in the third episode, you can refer to Confucianism in Indonesia. Confucianism is one of the six official religions recognized by the Indonesian government. Confucianism in Hong Kong is also one of the six official religions recognized by the Hong Kong government and is stipulated in the Basic Law of Hong Kong. .

Finally a good,honest explanation of this subject. Thank you. I can see now why Maoists were so keen to destroy Confucianism. I can also see many parallels of times of birth of that philosophy and our times. I'll follow this series.