Roger Keller standing in front of the tomb of Confucius in Qufu, China.

Confucius is
the founder of Confucianism.
 Chapter 7

Confucianism

Confucianism’s emphasis on a disciplined life and the

centrality of the family makes it feel quite comfortable to
Latter-day Saints.

N
o tradition has influenced China more than Con­fucianism.
For two millennia, the teachings of Confucius served as
the foundation for civil service examinations. The Chinese
ethos is permeated with the thought of Confucius. Even the Cultural
Revolution from 1966 to 1976 was unable to remove its influence,
and so today Chinese proudly see Confucius as a great figure of their
history. His tomb is in a lovely, well-cared-for area in Qufu, and the
Confucian temple there is beautifully restored and maintained. While
many people in China and other Asian countries may not claim to be
“Confucianists,” the values and relationships of the Confucian ethic
are maintained. Confucius and his teachings have practically been
transmitted in the DNA. He is simply part of them. Today there are in
the world 394 million1 practitioners of what one website calls Chinese
traditional religion. Included in this category is Confucianism, but
no matter what other religion Chinese persons and other Asians may
claim, they usually live the Confucian values. It is the author’s belief
Light &Truth
that Confucianism impacts far more people than the above number
suggests.

Origins
Founder
Confucius was born in 551 BCE and died in 479 BCE. He came
from a poor but respected family. His father, Shu-liang He, a soldier
and district steward in Lu, died when Confucius was three.2 After
her husband’s death, Confucius’s widowed mother did everything she
could to keep them alive, taking in laundry and doing other odd jobs.
She wanted Confucius to be a gentleman and did what she could to
see that he was educated. It is not clear whether she was able to pay for
formal education, but somehow he gained knowledge through inter-
acting with people around him. At age fifteen, Confucius made the
decision to become a great scholar. At the age of eighteen, Confucius
was married and had a son and later a daughter.3 About the same
time, he began a career in government, beginning with some account-
ing and looking after livestock. From there, he gradually moved up.4
In Confucius’s early twenties, his mother died, and he went
into three years of mourning. The power of this account is that the
extended mourning period is exactly what Confucius would have
done based on his philosophy of life, and we will examine this later
as we look at his basic precepts. Following the mourning period,
Confucius in his midtwenties began his teaching career.
Confucius taught a wide variety of subjects, something much
easier to do in his day than now, because his library consisted of
what are known as the Five Classics. Based on these, Confucius
taught history, poetry, government, moral conduct, and music. The
goal of all this teaching was to enable his students to become gov-
ernment officials, since in Confucius’s mind this was a privilege for
those trained in the values of a Confucian society, not something
simply inherited by birth. Government would not change unless his
students assumed governmental posts, for they would bring the val-
ues required to govern.
Lest one think that Confucius was merely a bookworm, we should
note that he loved hunting and fishing, and it is said that he could
knock down a duck in flight with a bow and arrow. Many cannot do
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Confucius’s goal was to train students to become moral

government officials.

that with a shotgun! Basically, Confucius enjoyed life and probably

would have been pleasant company.
Confucius’s students were primarily from royal or wealthy fami-
lies because they could pay for their children’s education. Confucius
had to live. But if a student really wanted to learn, whether he could
pay or not, Confucius would accept him, perhaps reflecting his own
desire to learn as a young man but being thwarted from formal edu-
cation because of his poverty. Fundamentally, Confucius believed
that anyone who wanted to learn should be permitted to do so. Thus,
2,500 years ago, he believed in universal public education, something
which first occurred in the twentieth century in the United States
with the growth of public school systems, community colleges, and
state universities.
A divergence in the story occurs when Confucius is approximately
fifty years old. Some accounts say that although Confucius sought all
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his life for a government position for himself, he never found one.
Thus, at the end of his life, he felt that he had failed in his life mission.
The other tradition, represented by Annping Chin, holds that at
age fifty, Confucius gained the major position of Minister of Crime in
the government of Lu.5 Some ancient writers paint the five years that
Confucius held this position as almost a golden age, but that is probably
overdrawn, since Confucius was forced after five years to flee Lu due
to court intrigue and perhaps his own involvement in a plot to change
the power structure of Lu.6 Much of that attempt may have been due
to his belief in “moral government.” Sadly, to both ancient and modern
ears, that may sound like an oxymoron. Probably the idea of moral
government was no more popular 2,500 years ago than it is today, and
to suggest that a ruler should rule for all his subjects and not for just a
few may have caused Confucius to have to leave Lu. According to this
tradition, Confucius wandered for thirteen years, teaching here and
there and looking for a government position. Finally through the good
offices of one of his students, he was invited to return to Lu. There he
lived the last three years of his life teaching a little and giving occasional
counsel to the duke. He died, however, feeling that he had failed.
How does one determine which of these two stories is historically
correct? What creates a sense of failure? From the author’s perspec-
tive, it is failure in a job, rather than never having it, that creates this
sense. Suppose a person wanted to be president of an organization,
submitted his or her résumé, but never received a call back. That cer-
tainly need not cause a sense of failure. One can just say the organi-
zation did not know what it was missing and go on with life. If one
gained the position, however, and then failed to lead others to catch
his or her vision, that would create a sense that one had failed. It is
the author’s belief that this is what happened to Confucius. Confucius
truly believed that one Confucian gentleman in the midst of a bar-
barian society, merely by his presence, could change that society. If
Confucius was Minister of Crime and was forced out of office through
court intrigue, that would create a strong sense of failure, given his
belief in the influence of the Confucian gentleman. In both accounts,
he had to leave Lu around the age of fifty-five. The first account has
no reason to explain this, while the second does. Thus it seems most
likely that Confucius did have an opportunity to serve in government
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between the ages of fifty and fifty-five but failed to create the environ-
ment he had hoped to create. Hence, his life ended with a feeling that
he had not succeeded as he had hoped he would.

After Confucius
Confucius, however, did not live long enough to see his dreams
realized. After his death, China entered what is called the Period of
the Warring States, which lasted from 480 to 221 BCE. During this
period, a pivotal figure was born who prepared the way for stabili-
zation in China. The name of this person was Mencius (Meng-zi),
who lived from 370 to 286 BCE. Mencius’s story is somewhat like
Confucius’s. According to the traditional account of Mencius’s life,
his father died when Mencius was quite young, and his mother
exemplified the ideal of motherhood. Initially, they lived near a
cemetery. When Mencius’s mother discovered that he was reenact-
ing the funeral rituals which he watched, she decided to move near
a market, but then Mencius showed an inordinate interest in buy-
ing and selling. To avoid this, she moved near a school, hoping that
he would copy the behavior of the teachers and students, and this
seems ultimately to have led to Mencius becoming a great scholar
like his model, Confucius. He firmly believed in the goodness of
human beings and their ability to follow the good when they saw
it in others because he believed each person is predisposed to that
which is good. He also believed, like Confucius, that he was follow-
ing the guidance of heaven in his teaching.
During the reign of emperor Wu Di (156–87 BCE), Dong
Zhong-shu, a Confucian scholar, encouraged the emperor to look
closely at the principles of Confucianism in order to end confusion
among the people concerning what school or standard they should
follow. The emperor agreed and established an academy for the
teaching of Confucian values. From this point until the fall of the
Manchu-Ching dynasty in 1912 CE, Confucianism was the philoso-
phy that guided China.

Scriptures
As noted earlier, Confucius’s teaching was based primarily on the
Five Classics, texts from ancient Chinese thinkers and philosophers.
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Tradition says that Confucius edited these, and they are as follows,
beginning with the oldest. The first is the Classic of Changes and is
used by diviners to determine whether persons should do things
at certain times. Confucius recommended it for finding moral
and metaphysical meaning in life. The second book is the Classic
of History and contains material from the early Chou dynasty
(1100–1000 BCE), which Confucius held to be the golden age in
China. The third book is the Classic of Poetry, containing about
three hundred poems all set to music. The fourth book is the Spring
and Autumn Annals, which contains a chronology of events in the
principality of Lu, Confucius’s home province, from 720 to 480 BCE.
Finally, there is the Classic of Rites, which contains an account of
rituals that were both public and private.
In addition to the Five Classics, there are also the Four
Books. Most of these postdate Confucius, and the first of the
books is the Analects, the sayings of Confucius. While loosely orga-
nized, the Analects capture the essence of Confucius’s thought on
relationships, what is proper, the true man, and so on. Second is the
Book of Mencius, which is well organized and about twice as long as
the Analects.7 Third is the Great Learning, which was a chapter in the
Classic of Rites. The introductory chapter is considered to be from
Confucius, with the following ten chapters being commentaries on
the first by Tseng-tzu. The focus is on the moral ruler as an exam-
ple for his people. Finally is the Doctrine of the Mean, also a chapter
in the Classic of Rites, which teaches that persons should avoid going
to the extremes in any aspect of life.8

Confucian Philosophy
History
As we have seen, the period from 1100 to 1000 BCE was China’s
golden age in Confucius’s eyes. His model ruler was the Duke of
Chou, who ruled in this time frame. Thus, the place to look for the
values that had been lost from China, whose loss had led the country
to the edge of the Warring States Period, was the discipline of his-
tory. History was not some irrelevant discipline but rather the very
heart of insight into the future, which explains Confucius’s love of
the Five Classics.
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Model
According to Confucius, persons cannot teach until they embody
that which they teach. It is not good enough to say “Do as I say, but
not as I do.” In the end, learning should lead to self-improvement, and
only then does a person have the right to teach, rule, or guide others.

Virtues That Foster Community

Li (“observing ritual propriety”). Li is the foundational principle
of Confucianism. It is the glue which holds society together. Failing
to practice Li is much like having a stack of canned corn in a grocery
store. Someone decides to pull out a bottom can, and the whole struc-
ture tumbles down. So it is with Li. If Li is not practiced, society will
disintegrate and fall apart. Confucius puts it this way:

What I have learned is this, that of all the things that people live by, li is
the greatest. Without li we do not know how to conduct a proper wor-
ship of the spirits of the universe; or how to establish the proper status
of the king and the ministers, the ruler and the ruled, and the elders
and the juniors; or how to establish the moral relationships between the
sexes; between parents and children, and between brothers; or how to
distinguish the different degrees of relationships in the family. That is
why a gentleman holds li in such high regard.9

The word Li originally meant “sacrifice,” and then it was used for
“ritual.” In Confucius’s hands, it came to mean observing ritual pro-
priety, politeness, or good form and was related to the five relation-
ships that Confucius believed were foundational to society. These five
relationships are the following:

Ruler-Subject
Husband-Wife
Father-Son
Elder Brother-Younger Brother
Friend-Friend

It is within actual relationships that Li functions. Each person

understands how a relationship is to take place, for Li defines the
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role of each partner. For example, I may be a subject of a ruler who
calls me into his presence, and we both know the script. I do not
speak until spoken to. When the sovereign addresses me, he does
so in very condescending language. In response, I must use lan-
guage that exalts him and minimizes me. As I leave, I never turn
my back on the ruler. Returned missionaries from Asian countries
report the reality of this situation. When they are out on the street,
local people will talk to them using the forms of address for cats,
dogs, and little children. The missionaries are on the bottom of the
totem pole. However, on Wednesday night, the missionaries teach
an English class, and all of a sudden they are teachers, the most
respected vocation in a Confucian society! Now the language used
in relationship to them is from below to above. They are in the posi-
tion of “the rulers,” and the whole structure of language switches,
but to underline their position as servants of the people, they have
been asked by mission presidents not to receive the exalted termi-
nology of a superior.
In the husband-wife relationship, the husband is to treat his wife
with righteousness and provide for and support her. She in return is
to show righteous behavior before him and be obedient to his will, but
it is not a harsh relationship. Similarly, a father is to teach and guide
his son. The son in return is to be obedient to his father and respect
him, meaning that he would do nothing that would bring shame to his
father or the family.
The relationship between brothers in a Confucian society is more
formal than that in the West. The eldest brother has the responsi-
bility of caring for his younger siblings, and therefore the younger
brothers and sisters are to respect and obey him. As we went over
this in class one day, an Asian-American student put up her hand
and said that she finally understood her father and her uncle. She
had never understood why her father was so formal to his brother.
Of course, the brother was the elder of the two, and her father gave
the prescribed deference to him, which would puzzle most Western
persons. Finally, in the friend-friend relationship, if there is a differ-
ence in age, the older one takes the lead and the younger one follows
behind, figuratively speaking. Thus, as with brothers, age plays a role.
These five relationships can also be applied to women, with age being
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a major determinant in how the relationship proceeds. In the end, Li
governs all life.

Li is based on heaven, patterned on earth, deals with the worship of

the spirits, and is extended to the rites and ceremonies of funerals, sac-
rifices to ancestors, archery, carriage driving, “capping” [the ceremony
of putting a cap on a boy when he is considered to have entered man-
hood], marriage, and court audience, or exchange of diplomatic visits.
Therefore the Sage shows the people this principle of a rationalized
social order (li) and through it everything becomes right in the family,
the state and the world.10

Latter-day Saints certainly do not have anything that is as for-

mal as Li, but there are expected proprieties within the church.
For example, respect is shown for seniority in various councils of
the church. The President of the church always precedes his First
Counselor, who is then followed by the Second Counselor. Likewise,
in the Quorum of Twelve, the Apostles sit in order of seniority at
general conference and in meetings. While not demanded in the
church handbooks, it is normal for priesthood holders to wear white
shirts as a symbol of purity when performing sacred duties. Males
who serve in leadership positions or in the temple normally do not
have mustaches or beards. Thus there are certain “proper” things to
do in the church, but human relationships are generally not defined
as they are with Li.
Jen (Ren) (“humaneness”). The danger of Li is that persons may
go through the ritual motions but have no real concern for the other.
This is where the supreme virtue of Jen enters the stage, for Jen is a
virtue of reciprocity. It takes what potentially could be very stale and
meaningless Li and makes it a virtue filled with concern for the other.
Jen is the supreme human virtue and is such that no one, not even
Confucius or the Duke of Chou, fully realized it.

I have not seen a person who loved virtue, or one who hated what was
not virtuous. He who loved virtue would esteem nothing above it. He
who hated what is not virtuous would practice virtue in such a way that
he would not allow anything that is not virtuous to approach his person.

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Is any one able for one day to apply his strength to virtue? I have not seen
the case in which his strength would be sufficient. If there might be any
such case, I have not seen it.11

Despite this assessment, Jen is still the goal, as is perfection for

Latter-day Saints, and is the ideal to be manifest. There are several
translations of the word Jen—goodness, humaneness, humanness,
and love. Jen recognizes that all of us are facing similar conditions and
that we should make life better for each other. By doing so, we make
life better for ourselves, since the wants and needs of others are also
our wants and needs.
As noted, Jen humanizes Li because it is a virtue of inclusion and
concern for other people. In Latter-day Saint terms, it is charity or
love, meaning the pure love of Christ. It captures very well the idea
of the Golden Rule (i.e., “Do unto others as you would have them do
unto you”). The pure love of Christ means that all people have value
and that we should be willing to sacrifice ourselves on their behalf.
There should be no self-interest, for that was how Christ loved us. He
gave himself, without a thought for himself, that we might have life.
Hsiao (“filial responsibility”). Hsiao is “filial responsibility,” or
obligations to parents and ancestors. It was the loss of Hsiao, along
with other virtues, that created the cultural slide from the golden
age to Confucius’s day with its political anarchy. The Master said,
“If the son for three years [after his father’s death] does not alter
from the way of his father, he may be called filial.”12 If the descen-
dants of the Duke of Chou had done this, the virtues practiced by
him would have been passed on. Sadly, from Confucius’s point of view,
they did not imbibe this virtue and changed the moral value of soci-
ety. In this vein, mourning for one’s parents, as did Confucius for
his mother, means that for three years the children do not change
the way the parent did things in business, in government, or in the
home. Not to follow this admonition is a violation of both Hsiao and
of Li. The following passage gives a sense of how Hsiao would work
itself out in daily life:

While his parents are both alive, at their regular meals, morning
and evening, the eldest son and his wife will encourage them to eat

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everything. They themselves will eat what is left. When the father is
dead, and the mother still alive, the eldest son should wait upon her at
her meals. The wives of the other sons will do with what is left as in the
former case. The children should have the sweet, soft, and oily things that
are left.13

Underlining the importance of the respect for parents and ances-

tors was a poll that was taken a decade ago of which the author was
told. Asians and Westerners were asked the question “If you, your
wife, and your mother-in-law fell off a ferry and you could only save
one of them, who would it be?” The universal answer for Westerners
was the wife, while the answer for Asians was the mother-in-law.
Older people have a very special place in Confucian society.
Given this, there is certainly nothing more central to Latter-day
Saint theology than the family. There is usually clear respect for the
patriarchs and matriarchs when families gather. The authority of par-
ents is affirmed by the church, but any kind of abuse of that authority
is strongly condemned. The authority must be tempered with love
in the same way that Li is tempered by Jen. Ancestors are especially
important when it comes to temple work, for the ordinances of the
temple bind generation after generation together. Those imbued with
Confucian values should find the message of the temple very exciting
because most of these persons have ancestral lineages that go back
numerous generations. To know that they can be bound to these
ancestors for eternity through the temple ordinances is very comfort-
ing to Asian peoples who accept the fullness of the gospel.
Cheng Ming (“rectification of names”). The translation of Cheng
Ming is “rectification of names.” In other words, persons should be
what they are called. Names should correspond to realities. If peo-
ple are peasants, they should be good peasants. If they are rulers,
they should be good rulers. If they are merchants, they should be
good merchants. The doctrine is not, however, to keep the huddled
masses in their places. This is not a doctrine of castes, because
there is mobility in a Confucian society. Mobility is accomplished
through education. Persons may be born peasants, but through
education they can become officials in the government. After all,
this is why Confucius was teaching young men, and we should
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remember that he would take a promising student, even if that stu-
dent could not pay. Thus, Cheng Ming identifies people by their
role in society.
Chung Yung (“the golden mean”). Chung Yung is often translated
as “the golden mean.” It is the concept that persons should not go to
extremes in any aspect of life. In our language, it would mean that we
should not be too conservative or too liberal; too poor or too rich; too
slow or too fast; too strict or too permissive. There should simply be
moderation in all that individuals and groups do.
Chun Tzu (“the superior man”). A final concept is that of the Chun
Tzu, the “superior man” or the Confucian gentleman. This is pre-
cisely what Confucius is seeking to create—a man who embodies
all the virtues listed above so that he can rule with integrity and
morality. Ruling is not a matter of birth or right but rather of nobil-
ity of spirit and righteousness, hardly items which are sought in the
political arenas of today in any country. The Confucian virtues have
all too often been replaced by wealth, power, and cynicism, to the
detriment of societies.

Government
Confucius’s goal was to bring harmony to a Chinese society that
was on the verge of 260 years of chaos. As we have seen, it was the
failure on the part of China’s rulers for the better part of five hun-
dred years to maintain the virtues of the golden age that had led, in
Confucius’s view, to this sorry state of affairs.
Confucius believed that just and moral government would lead
to the respect, loyalty, and support of the people, and this would cer-
tainly be so, if it were possible to find one. Mencius articulates what
such a government might look like:

By benevolence the three dynasties gained the empire, and by not being
benevolent they lost it. By the same means are determined the decaying
and flourishing, the preservation and perishing, of states. If the emperor
is not benevolent, he cannot preserve the empire from passing from
him. If the sovereign of a state is not benevolent, he cannot preserve
his kingdom. If a high noble or great officer is not benevolent, he can-
not preserve his ancestral temple. . . . Therefore, an intelligent ruler will

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regulate the livelihood of the people, so as to make sure that they shall
have enough to serve their parents, and enough to support their wives
and children. He ensures that in good years they shall always be abun-
dantly satisfied, and that in bad years they shall escape the danger of
perishing. Then he may urge them to what is good, and they will do it,
for in this case the people will follow after the good with ease.14

Thus, according to Confucius and Mencius, government was for

the people. The ruler was to see that the littlest peasant was well fed,
well housed, well clothed, and happy. He was to rule for all his peo-
ple, not just for his cronies or the wealthy and powerful in society. To
rule poorly was sufficient for the Mandate of Heaven to be withdrawn
from the ruler and for the people to revolt against his rule. In addi-
tion, the ruler was to consult with his people to determine what they
wanted and needed. For that day and time, and even today in many
places in the world, this was and would be a radical thought. So while
government was to be for the people and in consultation with them,
Confucius left it to Abraham Lincoln to say “by the people” because he
did not believe this. Government was to be carried out by the superior
man or the Confucian gentleman schooled in Confucian ethics, vir-
tues, and morality. No one had a right to rule. Rather, the privilege was
earned through study of the Confucian classics and finally through an
examination on them. Then one could embark upon rulership.

Neo-Confucianism
Because traditional Confucianism does not contain a transcen-
dent element, Confucianism has usually been held in combination
with another religion. Persons may be Confucian and Buddhist. They
may be Confucian and Taoist. They may be Confucian, Shinto, and
Buddhist. They add to Confucianism a religion or religions which
deal with elements beyond the social and which provide the missing
transcendent dimension. This is still the way Confucianism func-
tions in today’s world, for the most part. However, historically, some
Confucian scholars tried to address the issues raised by Buddhists
and Taoists and gave rise to what is termed “Neo-Confucianism.”
There are two principal figures in this movement: (1) Chu Hsi
(1130–1200 CE) and (2) Wang Yang-ming (1473–1529). Chu Hsi
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Hall of prayer for good harvest located on the Temple of Heaven compound, where the
emperor came to worship and make sacrifices.

believed that nature contained the laws and principles of the uni-
verse. He held that there was the Great Ultimate, which was the law
or rational principle of the universe. It was the rational principle Li
elevated to the cosmic level, and while he did not personify it, Chu Hsi
did say that it was like a universal ordering will. The Great Ultimate
impelled the Universal Vital Force, which seems to generate matter
and to cause movement and change in that matter, thereby bringing
into being yin and yang and the five elements.
Thus Chu Hsi saw something outside the human being as produc-
ing the world of reality. While exploring the transcendent dimension
of life, Chu Hsi denied what most Chinese held as absolutely sacred,
that the souls of one’s ancestors continue to exist beyond death. The
rituals honoring them were still appropriate acts of respect, but there
was no reality to them after death. Finally, he incorporated medita-
tion into his Confucianism, but it was self-examination to evaluate
his own moral situation.15
Wang Yang-ming held a contrasting view. Wang held that reason
was not external to human beings but rather resided in the mind,
thereby giving order and reality to the world and objects in it. This
reason was moral reason and was born with us, meaning that humans
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are good. He, like Chu Hsi, practiced a form of meditation he called
“tranquil repose” that was similar to Zen and thus in reality quite dif-
ferent from Chu Hsi’s meditation.

Worship and Rituals

As noted earlier, it is very hard to separate Confucianism, Taoism
(which we will treat in the next chapter), and Buddhism from one
another in the Chinese world. A single individual may practice all
three simultaneously. Thus in this section we will look at rites and
rituals that are closest to Confucian emphases, and reserve other rites
and rituals for the Taoism chapter.

Official Rituals
Worship may be categorized as official or popular.16 Official worship
fits with Confucianism, while popular worship will be reserved for the
Taoism chapter. Official worship has fixed times and places as well as
fixed gods or ancestors. The center of formal worship in China became
Beijing, where the emperor resided. Surrounding the Forbidden City
were four major shrines at which the emperor worshiped and made
sacrifices on behalf of himself and the nation.17 The most important
of these was the Altar of Heaven located to the south of the Forbidden
City. Here the emperor came on the winter solstice to offer sacrifices to
Shang Ti (“Sovereign on High” or “High Lord”) or to T’ien (“Heaven”).
As he did so, he sought help to avoid droughts, the blight of insects, or
the scourge of invasion. On the other hand, he sought Heaven’s bless-
ing for a good harvest, peace within the land, and permission to rule.
Besides the offerings, music, dance, and the reading of prayer docu-
ments were part of the service, and only the emperor could perform
these acts. The Altar of Heaven was round, focusing on the infinite,
and was associated with the yang principle. On the summer solstice,
the emperor went to the Altar of the Earth, where he offered sacrifices
to the earth. The architecture was square, in contrast to the Altar of
Heaven, symbolizing finitude, yin, and the five elements.
To the east was the Temple of Ancestors. Once again, the emperor
would perform annual sacrifices to the royal ancestors, offering a bull,
a sheep, a pig, vegetable products, and crops from the field to them.
He also provided wine for the earth. Divinations were performed in
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the presence of the imperial ancestors. The enthronement of a new
emperor was announced here, as well as imperial marriages and
states of war.18 To the west were the Altars of Land and Grain, to
which the emperor came twice yearly. In the spring he would offer
sacrifices for a good harvest, and in the fall he would offer sacrifices
of thanksgiving. Confucius would have wholeheartedly approved of
all these sacrifices, for if they were not done, Li would be violated,
harmony broken, and the nation endangered.

Confucius
It may surprise many, since Confucius simply does not tell us
about his personal religious beliefs, that he himself became an object
of worship, apparently beginning among his disciples shortly after
his death. With the rise of the Han dynasty (206 BCE to 9 CE),
Confucianism became the guiding philosophy with Confucius
being worshiped at a state level. By the seventh century CE, he was
worshiped as the greatest teacher and the perfect moral model for
ten thousand generations, and sacrifices were made to him. Many
Confucian temples were established across East Asia, but the most
important was the one in his hometown of Qufu in today’s Shandong
Province. Annually, the emperor went there to honor Confucius.
Xinzhong Yao notes that “in many of these temples there was an
inscription: ‘He forms a triad with Heaven and Earth.’”19 The “he,” of
course, is Confucius.
At this point I add a Latter-day Saint reflection because Latter-day
Saints are sometimes mistakenly believed to worship Joseph Smith.
Latter-day Saints, however, understand that there is a difference
between worship of a person and reverence for what that person did
and was. This is the case with Joseph. Latter-day Saints revere him
because he was God’s chosen vessel to restore, at this time in his-
tory, the very same gospel that had been given to Adam and Eve.
D&C 135:3, written by John Taylor shortly after Joseph’s martyrdom,
says, “Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, has done more,
save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other
man that ever lived in it.” To some, this may sound almost blasphe-
mous, but when we consider what Joseph did, if his message is true,
then it is just a simple statement of fact. Through Joseph, God made
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available all the effects of the Atonement of Christ to every mem-
ber of the human race who has lived on this earth—past, present,
or future. Without Joseph or someone like him, what Jesus did for
us would have been available to only a few persons who lived when
he was on the earth. With Joseph, however, the keys of the authority
were restored to him to bind in heaven the saving ordinances of the
gospel done on earth. Those ordinances could be done both for the
living and the dead, thereby extending the Atonement of Christ to
the entirety of this earth’s human family. It is little wonder that Latter-
day Saints reverence Joseph, but they worship their Heavenly Father
through Jesus Christ, whom they also worship.

Rites of Passage
As already noted, rituals of all kinds were exceptionally important
to Confucius because they were manifestations of Li. They reflected
the binding principle of society without which the very foundations
of the social order were endangered. Thus rites of passage are appro-
priate to the Confucian chapter.
Birth rites reflect the union of yin and yang and the produc-
tion of an heir, if the child is male. Celebrations occur on the third,

Entrance to the temple of Confucius and his tomb

located in his hometown, Qufu.

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thirtieth, and one hundredth days after the birth, as well as the year
anniversary. They are joyous rites, although perhaps a bit muted for
a girl. Offerings and reports are made to the ancestors. The only
negative aspect of birth arises from the polluting character of the
birth blood, which makes the mother ritually impure for a month.
She is thus isolated from all but her husband and other women.
Xinzhong Yao suggests that the practical aspect of this was to pro-
tect her from disease.20
The rite of passage into adulthood was “capping” or “hairdo or
coiffure,” the former for boys and the latter for girls. As with so many
rituals or acts in Chinese society, the propitious time for the transition
to adulthood is determined through divination. There is disagree-
ment about the age of maturity, some indicating that it is sixteen,
while others assert that it should be eighteen or even twenty. The boy
is capped three times as blessings are sought from heaven, the earth,
and the water under the world. A new name is also given, symbol-
izing the attainment of maturity. The formula used at the capping
ceremony is instructive:

In this auspicious month and on this lucky day, we endue you with the
cap for the first time. Put away your childish thoughts from now on, and
see that you keep guard upon the virtues of your manhood. Then shall
your years all be fair, and your good fortune grow from more to more.21

Marriage is the next rite of passage. It is a bond between fami-

lies and is arranged by a go-between or matchmaker. It begins with a
request for the girl’s “eight characters,” meaning the year, month, day,
and time of her birth. If the girl’s family provides these, they indicate
that they would look upon the union favorably. These eight charac-
ters are balanced with the male’s eight characters to see if the match
would be a good one. One gets a little sense of what this is about by
looking at the Chinese zodiac on a restaurant place mat. Some com-
binations are fortuitous while others are seen as problematic. Upon
marriage, the wife moves in with the husband’s family.22
The final rites relate to death. The mourning period upon death
may be only three days, ninety days as in Taiwan, or up to three
years. The latter was what Confucius practiced, and for him to
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do less would have been to fail in practicing filial responsibility.
Traditionally, coarse, white clothing was worn as a symbol of
mourning, and thus a white wedding dress in the West would cause
some confusion for a person from the Chinese culture. Today, black
clothing may also be worn as a sign of mourning. The things that
will be needed in the afterlife were buried with the body, such as
clothing and paper money, which is special money to be used at
funerals. It is also burned to send it to the world of the ancestors,
who are kept fully informed of the events through reports, sacrifices,
and offerings.23

Women
The Confucian society was definitely patriarchal. Women played
a secondary role to men but found their role in the bearing of chil-
dren, particularly male children, who would become the heirs of the
family resources. According to Confucius, a man was to treat his wife
with righteousness and was to support her and care for her. She in
return was to support her husband and be obedient to him. But with
the family being central, she had a powerful position, although she
was always more in the background than was her husband. These
values still hold, although Western values are causing the two roles
to be equalized.
Among Latter-day Saints, men and women are equal before God,
but in daily life they may have different responsibilities. “The Family:
A Proclamation to the World” makes this statement:

By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and
righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life
and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for
the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and
mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners.24

Thus, there are differences in roles in life with the husband being the
provider while the wife cares for the home and children. Some out-
side the Latter-day Saint community see the woman’s role as demean-
ing, but from the Latter-day Saint perspective, this is the way God
designed the world to be. There is simply no greater role in life than
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raising the next generation, and as the Proclamation states, this is
the responsibility of both the father and the mother “as equal part-
ners.” Perhaps the terms “partner” and “companion” capture best the
Latter-day Saint understanding of the relationship between husband
and wife.

Conclusion
Confucianism is a powerful philosophy for regulating society
and has more influence on Chinese and Chinese-influenced cul-
tures than does any other system. Its emphasis on a disciplined life
and the centrality of the family makes it feel quite comfortable to
Latter-day Saints.

Notes
1. “Major Religions of the World Ranked by Number of Adherents,”
Adherents.com, last modified August 9, 2007, http://www.adherents
.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html.
2. Annping Chin, The Authentic Confucius: A Life of Thought and Politics
(New York: Scribner, 2007), 24–25.
3. Chin, Authentic Confucius, 25.
4. Chin, Authentic Confucius, 25.
5. Chin, Authentic Confucius, 26.
6. Chin, Authentic Confucius, 28–29.
7. Robert E. Van Voorst, Anthology of World Scriptures, 6th ed. (Mason,
OH: Cengage Learning, 2008), 141.
8. Van Voorst, Anthology, 141.
9. David S. Noss and John B. Noss, A History of the World’s Religions, 9th ed.
(New York: Macmillan College, 1994), 320.
10. Noss and Noss, History, 321.
11. Van Voorst, Anthology, 148.
12. Van Voorst, Anthology, 150.
13. Van Voorst, Anthology, 149.
14. Van Voorst, Anthology, 153–54.
15. Noss and Noss, History, 342–44.
16. Xinzhong Yao, “Chinese Religions,” in Worship, ed. Jean Holm with John
Bowker (New York: Pinter, 1994), 159–60.
17. Xinzhong Yao, “Chinese Religions,” in Sacred Place, ed. Jean Holm with
John Bowker (New York: Pinter, 1994), 176–77.
18. Yao, Sacred Place, 180.
19. Yao, Worship, 168.

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20. Xinzhong Yao, “Chinese Religions,” in Rites of Passage, ed. Jean Holm
with John Bowker (New York: Pinter, 1994), 159–60.
21. Yao, Rites of Passage, 162.
22. Yao, Rites of Passage, 163–64.
23. Yao, Rites of Passage, 166–67.
24. The First Presidency and Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “The Family: A Proclamation to
the World,” Ensign, October 1995, http://www.lds.org/library/display
/0,4945,161-1-11-1,00.html.

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