Good Confucianism book (pdf) - Department of Physics

Teachings I: The Foundation of a Good Person 39Confucius demanded ritual behavior, first, because it is the basis of tradition;that tradition had, in the past, led to good behavior, good government,and a unified China. We inherit rituals from the past and the people in thepast had good reasons for setting them up. Second, ritual is the web of socialand political relationships. So, when ritual is practiced with moral intentions,individuals and society benefit. If we all treat each other with respectby performing the proper rituals, it is not just the individuals involved whobenefit, but, in a ripple effect, all of society. We will see how ritual worksinto moral behavior, society, and government as we go on.With his reinterpretation of ritual, we see once again that Confuciushas taken a traditional term and redefined it to suit his own ideas. Hereshaped the traditional usage of the word ritual to refer to religious ritualand noble etiquette into a broader definition of ritual as a moral actionexpressing respect for others. The practice of proper ritual will lead to acivilized society.For Confucius, ritual is the external expression of an inner morality.Ritual gives us socially acceptable ways of behaving well. But ritual is notperformed just for ritual ’ s sake: there must be an inner moral component.The inner moral world must meet the exterior ritual world. Carrying outrituals requires reverence, for the ancestors, for example, but expands tothe requirements to respect and be humane to the people one meets. Doinga ritual properly teaches a person to cultivate the attitude of humanity.Ritual acts as the exterior guide for humanity. In turn, carrying out theproper ritual with the proper attitude reinforces both. Moral actions meshwith ritual.For example, your friend is in hospital; proper humanity tells you thathe or she is in pain and worried – you can imagine yourself in such a situation.The proper ritual is to visit and offer comfort. Humanity and ritualwork together.Both external action – ritual – and internal attitude – humanity – arerequired. If you just express your humanity, thinking about your poorfriend, how ill and worried he or she may be – putting yourself in theirplace – you have been successful in humanity. If you do nothing further,you are not a moral person because humanity has to be expressed. All thesympathy in the world does not make you a good person if you do nothingabout it. You may have good intentions, meaning to phone your aunt wholives alone, but it you do not actually do it, you have failed to act morally.On the other hand, if you go to visit your friend in the hospital, you aredoing the proper ritual. But if you spend your visit complaining about yourhealth or talking about how busy you are, you are also not a moral person.You have not been sincere and you have not expressed humanity. To do theritual without any real meaning behind it is hypocritical. You expect to beapplauded for good behavior, but you did not have any moral intention.