Basic Teachings in the Ethics of Ancient China

In Ancient China, ethics begin with the first “Jiao” – religious and philosophical teaching. His founder was Kuhn Fuji, who lived about 551 – 479 years. BC. In Europe, he was called Confucius, and the doctrine was Confucian.

Confucius and his followers summarized the spiritual heritage of earlier eras, gave it a finished look and made the basis of the education system necessary for the employment of any public office.

The main source of the ethics of Confucianism is the book Conversations and Judgments (Lundy), in which, in the form of philosophical parables and aphorisms, judgments are made about the proper behavior of people based on three concepts – “philanthropy”, “golden middle” and “reciprocity”. Together they define the “right path”, following which a person will live happily, in harmony with himself and with other people.

Life (“humanity”) is the central concept of Confucianism. Life implies her – “reciprocity”. Mutual humanity is embodied in the “golden rule of morality”: what you do not want yourself, do not do to others, – and is realized in (“ritual”).

The ritual extends to five types of social relations: the ruler and the subject, the father and the son, the husband and the wife, the supreme and the lowest in position, the elder and younger friend.

The antiquity of the ritual served as a guarantee of its connection with the world order. Thanks to the ritual, everyone knew his place and by his tactless behavior did not offend those above him. The implementation of the ritual is the maintenance of eternity in the ever-changing life-flow.

In accordance with the pathos of the cult of ancestors, intrastate relations are built according to the model of a patriarchal family. A state that does not break up into separate families pursuing their own benefits is flourishing, but it is one large family where all the roles are clearly distributed.

Probably, no culture of the world has sought with such thoroughness to determine the amount of benefits appropriate to this or that social status. Here the permissible number of wives, cattle and slaves, the height of the house, the shape of the chariot and the boat, the cut and the color of the clothes, the nature of the food, etc. were accurately determined.

Philanthropy (Zhen) focuses people on honoring the past, respect for elders. “The golden mean” (alien Yun) is the destiny of wise rulers, capable of restraint and caution. However, mutual humanity implies not equality between people, but a fair hierarchy.

Do not actively “do good”, and even more so do evil, because both, distort the natural order of things. The next Dao does not “do well,” but naturally radiates good, just as the sun radiates light, not setting it as a goal.

Thus, he realizes the principle of “active non-deed”: “doing nothing – and achieving everything”, unlimitedly strengthens his own spiritual potential and ultimately acquires the qualities of a magician, immortal miracle work. In the future, Taoism actively interacted with Chinese Buddhism, carrying out a similar social and ethical function.