research-article

Confucius’ Transformation of Traditional Religious Ideas

  • ZHANG Maoze
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  • Institute of Chinese Thought and Culture, Northwest University, Xi’an 710069, China

Published date: 05 Mar 2011

Copyright

2014 Higher Education Press and Brill

Abstract

Confucius’ religious thought summarized and utilized existing historical and cultural achievements. He strove to bring problems concerning traditional religious ideas such as destiny, the spirits, ritual propriety and faith into the realm of the rational. He sought to unearth the elements of human reason contained within these and to highlight the sublime and sacred in actual human society. He established a system of religious humanism that incorporated views on edification, faith, destiny, the ghosts and spirits and self-cultivation. Using a dialectic based on the mean, he established a spiritual mindset comprising rational faith, a this-worldly transcendence and a sacredness grounded in the human that led ancient Chinese religious thinking in a unique direction.

Cite this article

ZHANG Maoze . Confucius’ Transformation of Traditional Religious Ideas[J]. Frontiers of Philosophy in China, 2011 , 6(1) : 20 -40 . DOI: 10.1007/s11466-011-0123-9

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