John Kung

The influence Confucius had on peoples’ lives and behavior was and is as life changing as any religion would have. Yet, Confucianism is not a religion in the usual sense. It does not possess a priesthood, nor does it have any creed, its scripture is not considered a “revelation.” You do not have to be baptized or sign any membership form. Yet, 1.3 billion Chinese are affected by Confucius’ teachings. Though not attesting to the existence of a personal God, Confucianism acknowledges the supreme Heaven, or Tien (alternately translated as Heavenly Way or Heavenly Principle), that humans must answer to. Master Kung himself reveals that his conscience always tells him to follow Tien. Aside from emphasizing the role of the conscience, Confucianism teaches other crucial components of religion, such as:
1. The ultimate meaning of life and destiny
2. The realm of the spirit and its related rituals.
3. The importance and practice of prayers
4. Religious devotion (waiting and fulfilling the Mandate of Heaven).

As Confucianists, we not only tolerate people, we strive to love them as family members. Confucius lived at a time of strife and warfare in his homeland. He was very concerned about the future of his society and about promoting attitudes of mutual understanding and peace. Therefore, he emphasized family relationship, not as a means to an end but as a logical conclusion based on his belief of a supreme heaven and his vision of a Great Commonwealth (equivalent to the concept of the Kingdom of Heaven in Christianity), a place where all people live as brothers and sisters, treating each other with respect and love, much like in a family.
As one of his disciples summarized his teaching, “Within the four Seas, all people are brothers [and sisters]” (Analects 12.5). This means that wherever we go, we should cultivate an attitude of “family feeling.” Every one is like a family member. Those who are older can be considered your “father figure,” or “uncle,” or “grandfather,” and those who are younger can be considered your younger brothers and sisters. In this way, you would love your neighbors as your own family members. Confucius feels that looking at humanity as your enlarged family will promote love for others.
He not only taught principles and virtues but he lived by them. He encouraged people to live by the virtue of reciprocity: Don’t do to others what you would not want done to you.
Although we try to love all people as family members, we do not necessarily have to tolerate bad behavior. Even in a patriarchal society such as China, Confucius does not advocate following leaders blindly, let alone remain silent when your peers behave badly. He condones remonstration even unto their own parents. However, when we try to change or correct another, we must, all the while, take care not to disrespect or cause another shame. Everything must be done through Gentle Persuasion. Confucius says, “To think that world peace can come about through force or coercion is like trying to get fish from trees.”
As much as the family, Confucius emphasized the cultivation of the individual. Let me paraphrase one of Confucius dictums: Peace in the world must begin with peace in each country; peace in the country must begin with peace in the province or community; peace in the community must begin with peace in the families; peace in the family must begin with peace in the individual; peace in the individual comes from being at peace with God or the Heavens. This requires following your conscience. For the Chinese, the conscience was their guiding light, much as God is for the Western World. However, conscience needs cultivation and that starts at home. We place a premium on Home Education.
Confucius advocates a lifestyle of a gentleman, sometimes called a noble knight. The hallmarks of such a man are: conscientiousness, dignity, integrity, respectability, honesty, self-control, humility, responsibility and other similar virtues. Allow me to expound on a few of them.

1. Self-control or self discipline - Confucius’ guiding principle which he advised his disciples to follow is: everything in moderation. Following this admonition, the disciples became very patient and forbearing, a virtue that affected all of China. Moderation is an outgrowth of humility, which is an integral ingredient in any peace initiative.
In the story of Cain and Able – the conflict started from the arrogance of Able to the jealousy of Cain, who was not able to control his emotion. As if he knew the story of Cain and Able, Confucius emphasized humility to quell the jealousy in others.
2. Jen - This is close to compassion and humanness or things related to the human heart. We may call it human heartedness.
3. Li - Training in this virtue gives one direction in matters of protocol and etiquette. What separates man from animals is his sense of propriety. Li means propriety.
4. Ceremony - Ceremony is often necessary to actually realize harmony. Some common-based, commonly accepted ritual will start the peace process going. In the past, some people have smoked a peace pipe to commemorate the occasion. Today we may sign a peace document declaring the desire to work together. This establishes a common base by which people can unite and harmonize.

If you live as a noble gentleman full of virtue; seeing the divine in others; treating others as your family members; and not treating others as you don’t want to be treated; how can you quarrel with your neighbor? All grounds for conflict will be pre-empted. You will live harmoniously with your neighbors in this magnificent Global Village.

Application of Confucian Ethics

The thorny question of China and Taiwan – China claims Taiwan is part of China and therefore should be under her jurisdiction. Since Taiwan is such a economic, technological and scientific powerhouse, she would be a great catch to augment China’s bulging economy that is primarily based on cheap goods.
Is there a model by which China should follow in pursuing Taiwan? China should not entertain the old world colonialism model, which implies exploitation and the levying of taxes or tributes. A more recent model, though imperfect, is the Commonwealth status of Puerto Rico in relation to USA. Puerto Rico enjoys freedom and autonomy to a large degree. In 1967, over 60% of the population voted to maintain its status as a commonwealth or, in their minds, an associated free state. Since then, aspirations to change its status to independence or statehood has somewhat cooled. This illustrates Puerto Ricans’ satisfaction with the present relationship.
Granted, nuances to this relationship will be necessary between China and Taiwan, suffice it to say that whatever the relationship, it has to be based on fairness, equality and benefit to both, a sort of win-win situation. More importantly, the Chinese government must not “Finlandize” Taiwan.
If the Chinese government were to take a “parental” position towards Taiwan and sought to care for the well being of Taiwan before or even in disregard of her own benefits, no one in Taiwan would deny China’s position as the “elder,” let alone have cause to fear China’s ambitions. This “parental” position is expected to provide military protection, free trade, limited social welfare, and other services that a much larger state can offer to a much smaller state. When “familial” relationship predominates, a smooth transition will reunite China and Taiwan, in the same way that all nations should be gravitating towards a unified world of one family of God.