CONFUCIANISM

By: Fr. Augustin Cheng, C.M.
"What is the essential difference between Confucianism and Christianity?" As a Chinese Catholic, I was often asked this question. especially by newly arrived Christian missionaries. It is a great question, but finding the answer is not easy, for the two systems - Confucianism and Christianity - are not structurally parallel and therefore hard to compare. For instance, if you take Confucianism as a religion in the western sense, you will find that Confucianism lacks church organization and an organized priesthood, so it is not a religion. If you take Confucianism as a philosophy in the western sense, for example, to compare it with Plato and Aristotle, you will find that Confucianism is neither speculative nor logical, so it is not a philosophy either. As a matter of fact, Confucianism is both a religion and a philosophy, as it has both religious and philosophical characteristics. As a religion, Confucianism has a cult of veneration for Heaven and a spiritual path to follow. As a philosophy, it pursues wisdom as Plato and Aristotle pursued knowledge. But its method is intuitive, not speculative.

In as far as the two systems can not be compared in a paralleled manner, still , can be probed in a variety of ways.

1 The image of Confucius

Let's begin with the image of its founder Confucius. Confucius was known in history as a great teacher, still he did not call himself a teacher, but humbly called himself a transmitter of the teachings of ancient sages, by which he meant he did not create anything worthy of the title of founder. However, the compiling of ancient teachings is itself a creation, for in the course of compiling them he articulated the obscure meanings of the texts and made the central message of the ancient sages stand out clearly. This, in itself, is something great, so it is little wonder later generations awarded him the title of "great master."

If we compare the term "Confucianism" with that of "Christianity", we will find that the man Confucius did not have a role comparable to that of Jesus, for Jesus has been proclaimed savior, while Confucius is venerated only as a teacher, no matter how great a teacher he was. We recognize Confucius as a man, not God. His message is a humanist message within the scope of human wisdom, while Jesus' message is a revelation of eternal truth from Heaven.

2. The message of Confucianism So, what great message can a man bring to his Mellow man? It is, as we have said, the wisdom of the ancient sages. In "The Doctrine of the Mean", one of the Confucian classics, it is said, "What Heaven confers is called the nature, the following of this nature is called the way (Tao), the cultivation of this way is called education." The message here is that, since human nature is conferred by Heaven, it is essentially good. As such, a person can live a moral life simply by following one's good nature, because there exists a spontaneous communion between God and man and between Heaven and earth and consequently there is no need of a mediator such as Jesus Christ. This message is, of course, diametrically opposed to the evangelical message of sin and grace, for Christians believe that human nature, though created good, was damaged by original sin. On account of this, the bridge between God and man and between Heaven and earth has been broken; for to be saved from eternal damnation, man must first seek reconciliation with God through the mediation of Jesus Christ. This doctrine is likewise the hardest food for the Chinese to chew, for to believe that people are generally inclined to love what is good and hate what is evil is more congenial with common sense, whereas to need a mediator in order to reconcile with God is an unnecessary detour on the road to the same destination. Understanding this calls for a huge change in outlook. However, it is not our intention here to enter into the field of controversy over the theme whether human nature is originally good or originally evil, our purpose is to gain a basic understanding of the distinction between the Confucian message and that of the Christian. Suffice it to say that the former is humanist in perspective, while the latter is religious.

3. The Confucian way of salvation Confucianism,

if taken as a religion, is often criticized as lacking religiosity. Rightly so, if religion is characterized by its ritual or any external forms of worship. But, we must not forget that Confucianism is also a philosophy, and as such, its religiosity is expressed in terms of its other-worldly attitude. The more you live in the spirit of other-worldliness, the more you are considered to have religious faith; consequently, we can say that the final destination of both Confucian and Christian is to arrive at a life of faith, whether it be faith in God or faith in the mandate of Heaven. Still there is a world of difference in the ways leading to the state of faith. In Christianity the way to faith is through grace, whereas in Confucianism the way to faith is through self-cultivation.

4 Confucian spirituality.

Although Confucianism taken as religion is often criticized as lacking religiosity as we just said, nevertheless, its religiosity is expressed in its philosophical endeavor. Through philosophical belief the Confucian man can live a life of detachment manifested in his spirit of other-worldliness. As Fung Yu-Lan, a contemporary Confucianist, has said, "The function of Chinese philosophy is not to increase any matter-of-fact knowledge, but to elevate the human mind to an order higher than that of the present order and to look for values which are higher than moral values." Fung calls this kind of value the "super-moral value." According to Fung, moral value belongs to the order of matter-of-fact knowledge, while the super-moral value belongs to a higher order which is nothing else than that of wisdom. Thus, the function of Chinese philosophy is precisely to elevate the human mind to the order of wisdom, which is the state of mind of being liberated from all anxiety and the predicaments of the world. It is in this way we can say that Confucianism has both a religious and a philosophical character.
Finally, since Confucians have no kingdom of Heaven to settle down in, they must try to transcend this corrupted world and at the same time remain in this world without being contaminated by it. The kingdom of Heaven is thus realized in the daily life of ethical practice and this attitude may be characterized as the Confucian spirit.

5 Conclusion

The Christian message of sin and grace is as hard a food for the Chinese to swallow, as Confucian wisdom's optimistic confidence that human beings can live in this corrupted world and at the same time transcend it without being contaminated by it is for the western mind to accept. There seems little room for mutual accommodation. However, there does exist a point of convergence between Confucianism and Christianity which allows for dialogue. Both the Confucians and Christians consider this world as a sinful place which needs to be transcended, but they disagree with each other on the way of transcending it. For the Christian, to transcend means to leave this world and settle in another world, the Kingdom of Heaven, but for the Confucian, since there is no kingdom of Heaven to settle down in he must remain in this world physically while transcending it in spirit.
For the sake of convenience we may say: for the Christian God is transcendent and for the Confucian God is immanent in this world. (Whether God is transcendent or immanent, or both, is another interesting theme which is beyond this article to deal with.) By way of a conclusion for our discussion, we may say the Christian way of salvation is characterized by "God seeking man," while the Confucian way is characterized by "man seeking God." If so, it will be more fruitful to focus the comparison of Confucianism and Christianity on their compatibility rather than on their disparity, so that the outcome might help to arrive at a mutually complementary synthesis rather than a mutually conflicting analysis. D