Abstract
Most contemporary interpreters of the Analects agree that the text presents a religious perspective or, at the very least, that the text has religious aspects, but scholars have taken diverse positions on what kind of religious perspective that is. This chapter examines the most controversial religious themes in the Analects, namely Confucius’ views on the existence and nature of Tian and spirits. Through a close reading of the text, it examines why these ideas have presented interpretive challenges to contemporary scholars of Confucianism and how the views of traditional and contemporary interpreters relate to the text, especially in light of the cultural and religious context of ancient China. Both terminological and interpretive issues are explored, as well as the range of positions on religion in the Analects, ranging from a-theistic to theistic interpretations. Close attention is given to the textual evidence concerning spirits and Tian in the Analects in relation to the spectrum of views in the field.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
All translations from the Analects in this chapter follow Watson 2007 unless otherwise noted, with the following adaptations: references to “Heaven” (Watson’s translation for Tian) have been changed to “Tian,” and I have rendered gui “ghosts” and shen “spirits” (instead of “gods,” which Watson sometimes uses for both terms). Where Watson’s passage numbers differ from Lau’s, I have indicated the Watson number in brackets. References to the original text are to Lau and Chen 2006.
- 2.
In speaking about Confucius in this essay, I refer not to a historical person but to a composite figure constructed from the Analects whose views represent a certain strand of early Chinese thought. This view is shared by most of the scholars whose work I discuss in this essay.
- 3.
My focus here is on religious views and practices and not on religions; I will not attempt to address the question of whether Confucianism is a religion here, for such a question concerns more than just the text of the Analects. My main concern, and the concern of the secondary work I focus on here, is the religious view that is presented in the Analects. Of course, what makes a view “religious” is related to the question of what constitutes a religion. A broadening of attempts to define religion occurred when scholars of religion came to appreciate forms of religion that did not have a concept of deity. The concept of religion was transformed in the process, and one of the results has been to leave some doubt as to what a fully adequate definition of religion might be. Accordingly, I will not offer a definition of religion (or the necessary and sufficient conditions for views and practices being “religious”) in this essay, though I think it is worth noting that religions fulfill a similar range of functions for humans. By examining these functions as we see them in the Analects, I will treat religion as a family resemblance concept here. (See, for example Ninian Smart’s discussion of six dimensions of religion. He maintains that not all of these are found in all religions, but that every religion shares in some or all of them to greater or lesser degrees. See Smart 1983. For further discussion of the attempt to define religion, see Yandell 1999: 16–17.)
- 4.
For an early formulation of this type of view, see Fingarette 1972.
- 5.
One might object to the very attempt to find a coherent view of these topics in the Analects, arguing that the text simply does not present a consistent view of the spirits and Tian. Although the Analects represents a synthesis of different views—namely those of Confucius’ students and followers and the authors and editors of the text—they were nevertheless unified in the compilation of the text and subsequently came to be seen as representing “a certain strand of late Chunqiu-early Warring States opposition to the dominant forms of religious practice” (Puett 2002: 97 n. 38). In this essay I focus on how interpreters have understood that strand of thought. I think it is accurate that we do not have enough textual evidence from the Analects to articulate a systematic, detailed view, but it remains the case that we can offer a description of Confucius’ view based on the Analects, particularly when we are informed by an understanding of the cultural and historical background.
- 6.
This tendency can be observed in the writings of Matteo Ricci and James Legge (discussed later in this essay), who both read their own Christian beliefs into early Chinese writings. For a detailed study of Jesuit encounters with Chinese texts, including Ricci, see Mungello 1989. For a detailed study of Legge, see Girardot 2002.
- 7.
In order to help readers to remain focused on this question, I use what I think are the least controversial terms possible for the primary ideas in question: “ghosts” and “spirits” rather than “gods” for gui and shen; Tian is left untranslated.
- 8.
One of the earliest examples of this type of view is seen in the writings of Matteo Ricci, a seventeenth-century Jesuit missionary to China who claimed that God and Shangdi are “different only in name” (Ricci 1985: 125). Legge’s work as a translator of early texts is unparalleled, and his views concerning religion in early Confucianism should be considered in light of the early period in which he wrote—when the academic study of religion was still in its infancy and also prior to the advances in sinology that inform work in the field today. (For a discussion of how Legge’s views on early Chinese monotheism evolve in various works, see Girardot 2002: 220–234, 299–327, 465–471.) However, one can still find some who defend the same kind of position today. A recent defender of this type of view is Kelly Clark, who describes his position as “a highly nuanced version of Legge” (Clark 2005: 130 n. 32). Clark argues that “both the Hebrew and ancient Chinese worldviews came to countenance a single, supreme, and personal deity who providentially orders human affairs” (Clark 2005: 109). Clark relies heavily on Legge’s interpretations and translations, as well as the work of Fung Yu-lan 馮友蘭, whose work is discussed later in this essay (Clark 2005, 2009).
- 9.
- 10.
- 11.
On the difference between Western monotheistic views and early Confucian views, see also Ivanhoe 2002: 59.
- 12.
See Jaspers 1953 and Schwartz 1985. For a recent example of the evolutionary model, see Roetz 1993. Schwartz argued that there was a “transcendental” breakthrough during the “Axial Period,” but that this notion of transcendence is “close to the etymological meaning of the word—a kind of standing back and looking beyond—a kind of critical, reflective questioning” (Schwartz 1975: 3, quoted in Puett 2002: 12). This is why Schwartz characterizes transcendence in China as being of a “this-worldly sort” and maintained that there was a lack of tension between the human and divine realms (Puett 2002: 11–13).
- 13.
This type of view has an analogue in some polytheistic cultures. For example, the ancient Celts believed that their gods (and other spirits, too) resided in a hidden or unseen dimension of this world, and had regular interactions with humans.
- 14.
In its basic details and some of the finer details, too, this is still true of popular religious belief and practice in China today.
- 15.
Lin Fang asks about the roots of ritual in Analects 3.4 and Confucius responds by praising his question and emphasizing the emotions that inform and motivate the rites, including that it is “better to be spare than extravagant.” In addition to 2.24 and 3.5, Analects 5.18 also describes an example of this type of breach of ritual propriety.
- 16.
For a helpful discussion of the commentaries on this passage, see Slingerland 2003: 105. On the demon-expelling ritual, see Zhouli, chapters 48 and 54.
- 17.
Zilu goes on to ask about death and Confucius answers “When you don’t yet understand life, how can you understand death?” For an analysis of this passage and other passages concerning death in the Analects, see Ivanhoe 2011.
- 18.
Zhu Xi maintains that Confucius responds this way because he thinks Zilu is not ready to learn about these things, while some other commentators maintain that Confucius responds this way because his teachings deal solely with our concrete daily lives. The disagreement here concerns whether Confucius had teachings about death and spirits and simply chose not to share them with Zilu.
- 19.
The idea that one’s sacrifices to ancestral spirits is viewed as having political implications is not surprising, since the Analects suggests in multiple places that there is an integral connection between filial piety and political order (1.2, 2.21). Since one’s relationships with spirits are seen as a part of one’s filial obligations, one’s relationships with spirits would also be seen as having a connection to political life.
- 20.
The precise source of the inappropriateness is not entirely clear; some traditional commentators see Zang’s housing the sacred tortoises as a usurpation of the prerogatives of a feudal lord, but others say it was part of his official ministerial duties and that the mistake was decorating the hall with motifs that were the ritual prerogatives of the ruler.
- 21.
For a helpful overview of different positions on Tian not only in the Analects but throughout the history of early and later Confucianism, see Huang 2007. In this essay, I confine my discussion to views of Tian in the Analects, and I will not attempt to review all of the positions that have been taken on this topic but rather to sketch the basic range of positions.
- 22.
- 23.
As we saw earlier in Legge’s remarks, among those who defend a monotheistic interpretation of early Chinese religious thought, there has been a tendency to read Catholic conceptions of the relation between saints and God into the relation between Shang deities and Shangdi, and between ancestral spirits and Tian. Most polytheistic traditions see some deities as more powerful than others; this though does not suggest that lower deities are not really deities.
- 24.
According to the Shiji, Huan Tui attempted to kill Confucius by cutting a tree down while Confucius was practicing the rites beneath it.
- 25.
- 26.
On this reading, Confucius appears to accept a version of fatalism about Tian and its actions in the world; some (but not all) events are fated to occur by Tian, and cannot be influenced by us. In addition, we do not find Confucius offering a theodicy for the existence of evil or suffering in the world, e.g., Yan Hui’s death. Instead of trying to justify Hui’s death and absolve Tian of the injustice it represents, Confucius responds with frustration at Tian. But significantly, none of this leads him to reject the Way, which proceeds from Tian. His emphasis on moral self-cultivation rather than on serving the spirits is apparently unaffected.
- 27.
Here we can see that Puett’s view is incompatible with the view of Ames, Rosemont, and Hall that Tian is identical with this culture. One of the merits of Puett’s view is that it enables us to make sense of the fact that only one human culture is presented in the text as being in accordance with (or having proceeded from) Tian. It seems that on Ames, Rosemont, and Hall’s view, all human cultures are identical with Tian, since they describe Tian as being identical with both nature and culture generally.
- 28.
Here we see another important difference between Tian and the God of the Abrahamic faith traditions: Tian, unlike God, does not directly reveal its plans or its will to human beings; there is no analogue to “special revelation” in early Confucianism, it seems.
- 29.
Although this sort of view falls short of being a theodicy proper, it is nevertheless similar to theistic views which assume that God or the gods are benevolent and work for the best. Of course, being benevolent and being omni-benevolent are two different things.
- 30.
While one might argue that incurring wrath presupposes the concept of anger, this is not necessarily so. If the wrath of Tian means merely that Tian punishes—which is an action—this can be understood as a kind of automatic response to wrongdoing rather than an intentional state.
- 31.
Important Catholic sources on this view include Aquinas and Francisco Suarez. For the Calvinist view, see Calvin 1960, I, iii, 3.
- 32.
This position is also committed to religious anti-realism, which denies the reality of the objects of religious belief and practice (e.g., spirits). This is an often-overlooked feature of naturalistic interpretations of religion such as Dewey’s, which affirm the value of a “religious” point of view but in the process strip that point of view of any non-natural or supernatural content. Since most ways of defining the concept of religion make reference to such content, these kinds of interpretations also require that we “reconstruct” or fundamentally change the meaning of the concept of religion. In contrast, the view that Tian is an agent or an existent entity of some sort that acts in or on the world clearly presupposes a commitment to religious realism.
References
Ames, Roger T. 2003. Li and the A-theistic religiousness of classical Confucianism. In Confucian spirituality I, ed. Tu Weiming and Mary Evelyn Tucker. New York: Crossroad. (Essay arguing for an a-theistic interpretation of classical Confucianism.)
Ames, Roger T. 2009. Becoming practically religious: A Deweyan and Confucian context for Rortian religiousness. In Rorty, pragmatism, and Confucianism, ed. Yong Huang. Albany: SUNY Press. (Essay comparing Deweyan, Rortian, and Confucian views on religiousness.)
Ames, Roger T., and Henry Rosemont, Jr. (trans.). 1998. The Analects of Confucius: A philosophical translation. New York: Ballantine. (Translation including the Chinese text and an extensive introduction and commentary explaining the translators’ interpretation of the text.)
Barth, Karl. 1961. Church dogmatics. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark.
Brooks, E. Bruce, and A. Taeko Brooks. 1998. The original Analects: Sayings of Confucius and his successors. New York: Columbia University Press. (Translation following the Brooks’ radical reorganization of the text and including their commentary on the text.)
Calvin, John. 1960. Institutes of the Christian religion, ed. J. T. McNeill. Trans. Ford Lewis Battles. Philadelphia: Westminster Press.
Ching, Julia. 1977. Confucianism and Christianity: A comparative study. Tokyo: Kodansha International. (A comparative study of Confucian thought and various aspects of the Christian tradition.)
Clark, Kelly. 2005. The Gods of Abraham, Isaiah, and Confucius. Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy 5(1): 109–136. (An argument for monotheism in early Confucianism compared with views in the Bible.)
Clark, Kelly. 2009. Tradition and transcendence in Masters Kong and Rorty. In Rorty, pragmatism, and Confucianism, ed. Yong Huang. Albany: SUNY Press. (An argument for monotheism in the thought of Kongzi, and comparative discussion of Rorty’s views.)
Feng, Yaoming. 2003. The Myth of ‘Transcendent Immanence’: Contemporary new Confucianism from the perspective of analytic philosophy 超越內在的迷思:從分析哲學觀點看當代新儒學. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press. (A critique of the notion of “immanent transcendence” in interpretations of Confucian thought.)
Fingarette, Herbert. 1972. Confucius: The secular as sacred. New York: Harper & Row. (Offers an account of the importance of ritual in Confucianism that has significant merits but is deeply influenced by certain trends in Western psychology and philosophy, especially behaviorism.)
Fung, Yu-lan 馮友蘭. 1952. A history of Chinese philosophy, 2 vols. Trans. Derek Bodde. Princeton: Princeton University Press. (An account of Chinese philosophy from the earliest times to the 20th century, originally published in 1934 and notably influenced by Western philosophical trends of the time.)
Girardot, Norman J. 2002. The Victorian translation of China: James Legge’s Oriental pilgrimage. Berkeley: University of California Press. (A detailed and insightful study of the life and work of the scholar, translator, and missionary James Legge.)
Granet, Marcel. 1934. La pensee chinoise. Paris: La Renaissance du Livre. (A highly influential early work on Chinese cosmological thinking.)
Hall, David L., and Roger T. Ames. 1987. Thinking through Confucius. Albany: SUNY Press. (A provocative, non-traditional interpretation of Confucius.)
Huang, Yong. 2007. Confucian theology: Three models. Religion Compass 1(4): 455–478. (An overview and analysis of different views of Tian or Heaven throughout Confucian history, particularly in relation to conceptions of transcendence.)
Ivanhoe, Philip J. 2002. Ethics in the Confucian tradition, 2nd ed. Indianapolis: Hackett. (An insightful introduction to Confucian ethics through the thought of Mengzi and Wang Yangming, including a comparison of their views.)
Ivanhoe, Philip J. 2007. Heaven as a source for ethical warrant in early Confucianism. Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy 6: 211–220. (An incisive analysis of different early Confucian views of Tian or Heaven and its relationship to morality, with a special focus on Confucius and Mengzi.)
Ivanhoe, Philip J. 2011. Death and dying in the Analects. In Mortality in traditional Chinese thought, ed. Amy Olberding and Philip J. Ivanhoe. Albany: SUNNY Press. (A comprehensive analysis of the view of death and dying, including its relationship to the meaning of life, in the Analects.)
Jaspers, Karl. 1953. The origin and goal of history. Trans. Michael Bullock. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Lau, D.C., and Fong Ching Chen (eds.). 2006. A concordance to the Lunyu 論語逐字索引. Hong Kong: The Commercial Press.
Legge, James. 1880. The religions of China: Confucianism and Taoism described and compared with Christianity. London: Hodder & Stoughton. (The author’s views on the similarities and differences between Confucianism and Daoism and Christianity and the merits of each, strongly shaped by his own historical context.)
Mungello, D.C. 1989. Curious land: Jesuit accommodation and the origins of sinology. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. (A insightful and comprehensive study of the Jesuits in China and their European contacts from their arrival until 1700, including their highly influential “accommodation” policy, which sought to make Christianity acceptable to Ming literati.)
Puett, Michael J. 2002. To become a God: Cosmology, sacrifice, and self-divination in early China. Cambridge: Harvard University Asia Center. (An innovative, wide-ranging study of the issues of cosmology, sacrifice, and self-divinization in a historical and comparative framework.)
Puett, Michael J. 2011. Sages, the past, and the dead. In Mortality in traditional Chinese thought, ed. Amy Olberding and Philip J. Ivanhoe. Albany: State University of New York Press. (A detailed study of the unique view of death in the Huainanzi, including a helpful discussion of traditional Chinese views concerning spirits and ghosts.)
Ricci, Matteo. 1985 (reprint). The true meaning of the lord of heaven. Taipei: The Ricci Institute. (Strongly shaped by Catholic theology, one of the founding figures of the Jesuit China Mission presents the view that the Chinese always believed in God.)
Roetz, Heiner. 1993. Confucian ethics of the axial age: A reconstruction under the aspect of the breakthrough toward conventional thinking. Albany: State University of New York Press. (Argues that Confucian ethics during the latter part of the Zhou dynasty was part of the ancient worldwide movement of enlightenment described by Jaspers.)
Rowe, William L. 2005. The problem of evil and some varieties of Atheism. In Ten essential texts in the philosophy of religion: Classics and contemporary issues, ed. Steven M. Cahn. New York: Oxford University Press.
Schwartz, Benjamin. 1985. The world of thought in ancient China. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. (A comprehensive and detailed introduction to early Chinese thought.)
Shahar, Meir, and Robert Weller. 1996. Introduction: Gods and society in China. In Unruly Gods: Divinity and society in China, ed. Meir Shahar and Robert Weller. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. (A systematic introduction to the pantheon of Chinese divinities and their impact on Chinese society and culture.)
Slingerland, Edward (trans.). 2003. Analects: With selections from the traditional Commentaries. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company. (A clear, accessible translation including selections from the most important traditional Confucian commentaries as well as a helpful introduction and reference material.)
Smart, Ninian. 1983. Worldviews. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
Sommer, Deborah. 2003. Ritual and sacrifice in early Confucianism: Contacts with the spirit world. In Confucian spirituality I, ed. Tu Weiming and Mary Evelyn Tucker. New York: Crossroad. (An insightful examination early Confucian views and practices relating to spirits and ghosts.)
Taylor, Rodney. 1998. The religious character of the Confucian tradition. Philosophy East and West 48(1): 80–107. (Explores the ways in which the Confucian tradition is religious, with a special focus on different understandings of the Absolute.)
Tu, Weiming. 1989. Centrality and commonality: An essay on Confucian religiousness. Albany: State University of New York Press. (Classic work on the religious, sociopolitical, and personal dimensions of Confucianism with a special focus on the Doctrine of the Mean.)
Tu, Weiming. 2002. Transcendent and yet immanent: The unique features of Confucian spirituality. In The collected works of Du Weiming 杜維明文集, ed. Guo Qiyong and Zheng Wenlong, vol. 1. Wuhan: Wuhan Publishing House. (Explores and develops the idea of immanent transcendence in Confucianism.)
Watson, Burton (trans.). 2007. The Analects of Confucius. New York: Columbia University Press. (An accurate, precise, and elegant translation that stays closer to the original than most of its peers, accompanied by a helpful introduction.)
Weber, Max. 1951. The religion of China. Trans. Hans H. Gerth. New York: Free Press.
Yandell, Keith E. 1999. Philosophy of religion: A contemporary introduction. London: Routledge.
Zhu, Xi 朱熹. 1985. Commentary on the Four Books 四書集注. Changsha: yue lu shu she: Hunan sheng xin hua shu dian fa xing. (Zhu Xi’s unparalleled commentaries on the “Four Books.”)
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Philip J. Ivanhoe, Amy Olberding, Michael R. Slater, and Mark Unno for helpful comments and suggestions on earlier versions of this chapter.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Cline, E.M. (2014). Religious Thought and Practice in the Analects . In: Olberding, A. (eds) Dao Companion to the Analects. Dao Companions to Chinese Philosophy, vol 4. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7113-0_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7113-0_13
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-7112-3
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-7113-0
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawPhilosophy and Religion (R0)