儒家と儒教

Abstract

The thought of Confucius, which aimed at restoring the Chou slave society, was a product of anachronism, Confucius himself, however, was an erudite scholar, historiographer, and educator. His greatest achievement lied in raising not a few able disciples. Thanks to their number and influence, his school could become the leading intellectual group of the Warring States period. The Confucian school was divided among eight different lines of thought, including the idealistic line of Mencius and the materialistic line of Hsun-tzu 荀子. They shared, nevertheless, the same opinion in so far as supporting the feudalistic Tsung-fa 宗法 system and class structure. Confucius represented, essentially, the conservative wing of the slave society. The feudalistic societies of later times, however, honoured him as a sage. Both the slave and feudalistic society were aristocratic in nature. Moreover, the Tsung-fa system since the Western Chou continued to form the basis of feudalistic society. With some alterations, therefore, Confucius's thought could still be applied to the feudalistic society. The Confucian religion came about in such way. The alteration on Confucius and his thought had been done two times in history, The first was during the Western Han. Carried out by Tung Chung-shu 董仲舒 with the aim of founding a religion suitable for the purpose of Han ruling class, it enjoyed the full support of Emperor Wu-ti 武帝. The second, during the Sung, developed eventually into the Lihsueh 理學 of Sung and Ming. This one was with grave implication, justifying even the homicide in the name of li, for example. The Han was when the feudalistic society was on the rise in China ; the first alteration accordingly could function to the positive end. After the Sung and Ming, however, it headed towards disintegration ; the second alteration, thus, exerted only the negative influence. The Confucian school and the Confucian religion must always be strictly distinguished. In fact, it was through the death of the former that the latter came about. While the Confucian religion, which had posed the greatest obstacle to modernising China, should be criticised, it is not right to say that the Confucian school too deserves to be criticised.