Some aspects of the authorship of the treatise “Xiao Jing”

The article deals with the authorship of the Confucian treatise Xiao Jing (“The Classic of Filial Piety”). Xiao Jing is one of the classical treatises that constitutes a part of the Confucian corpus Shisan Jing (“The Thirteen Classics”). This confirms the importance and high significance of this text for the traditional philosophical thought of China. The earliest mention of the title “Xiao Jing” was recorded in the work from the 3rd century BC, Lu shi chun qiu (“Spring and Autumn of Mr Liu”), which indicates the terminus ante quem non for the treatise Xiao Jing. According to some Russian scholars, the treatise Xiao Jing was compiled in the IV-II centuries BC. The Chinese scholarship acknowledges eight main versions of authorship, and therefore dating of Xiao Jing. The author stresses the importance to establish the authorship of the Xiao Jing treatise since this can be a piece of additional information for a comprehensive understanding of the philosophical heritage of the Confucian tradition of this text. After presenting an outline of the main versions of authorship of the Xiao Jing treatise, the author states that this issue can hardly be solved unambiguously. Therefore, this article can be considered as a preliminary essay for further research. The appendix offers a complete Russian translation of the Xiao Jing made by the author of the present article.

Becoming a Confucian in Contemporary Singapore: The Case of Nanyang Confucian Association

Using the Nanyang Confucian Association (NCA) as a case study, this paper explores the multi-faceted processes through which a segment of Singapore’s Chinese community constructs its self-identity based on an understanding of Confucianism that dismisses its religious attributes while underscoring the ethnic and cultural dimensions. Tracing the history of the association since its formation in 1914, the paper hopes to contribute to recent overseas Chinese studies on the rethinking of the notion of the Chinese diaspora within the context of the formation, circulation, and contest of a global Chinese identity by asking the following questions: Does identifying with the Confucian tradition necessarily require one to acknowledge their connection with China? Would a self-proclaimed Confucian be perceived as someone who looks to China for ethnic and cultural affiliation and thus appears less local? The authors argue that, while still acknowledging the spatial–temporal centrality of China as the origin of Confucianism and Chinese civilization, leaders of the NCA clearly intended to simultaneously position the NCA at the center of global Confucian activism. What emerges from the processes initiated by the NCA in constructing its identity is a complex overlay of history, geography, and culture that gives rise to a vision of multiple centers.

Shame, Vulnerability, and Change

Shame is frequently viewed as a destructive emotion; but it can also be understood in terms of change and growth. This essay highlights the problematic values that cause pervasive and frequent shame and the importance of resisting and changing these values. Using Confucian insights, I situate shame in an interactive process between the individual's values and that of their society, thus, being vulnerable to shame represents both one's connection to a community and an openness to others’ negative feedback. This process provides an important arena where personal values interact with communal ones. The Confucian tradition, I argue, affords individuals a degree of autonomy in internalization through urging them to cultivate and maintain a keen sense of shame. My discussion also offers resources for understanding the various aspects of this interactive process—how individuals with similar experiences of shame may, through channeling their experiences, influence social values and propel moral progress.

On Ritual and Legislation

Confucian thinkers have traditionally stressed the importance of li 禮, or “ritual” as it is commonly translated, and believed that ancient sages had established an ideal set of rituals for people to follow. Now, most scholars of Confucianism understand li as distinct from law, and hence do not typically discuss Confucian sages as great lawgivers. Nevertheless, I suggest that there is something valuable to be learned from considering the similarities and dissimilarities between great lawgivers and the sages. In particular, this essay reviews some of the challenges for, and virtues of, great legislators, and compares and contrasts these with the challenges for, and virtues of, master inventors of ritual, with the aim of showing how such observations might deepen our understanding of the conception of sages in the Confucian tradition, while perhaps also bringing out certain insights about good lawgivers. I end by using these reflections to point to some challenges for developing rituals to fit our modern context.

Reciprocity in Chinese Traditions

Chapter 3 explores the possibility of locating principles underlying guanxi in classical Chinese traditions. First, the basis and nature of ‘reciprocity’ in Chinese culture is examined through analysis of the notions of bao and shu, and also renqing. It is shown that the concept of bao, drawn from different literary and institutional settings, is not source to a singular notion of reciprocity. It is also shown that the concept of shu relates to cognitive, affective, and imaginative practices, of role-taking, rather than to the more concrete enactments of exchange. The concept of renqing, widely regarded as both derived from the Confucian tradition and centrally important for guanxi, is shown to relate to everyday practices about which Confucius was uninterested, and which do not require traditional sanction. In positive terms, the chapter clears the ground in order to establish a distinctive account of the secular and self-generating practices of guanxi.

Revelation in Confucianism

This chapter surveys revelation-analogous concepts as they are present and/or refuted according to the early Chinese Confucian tradition. Although Confucianism does not hold to the divine revealing itself in direct ways, the tradition does have concepts that function as similar to revelation, such as the Five Classics, the figures of ancient sages and teachers, as well as belief in omens and augury. Thus, the chapter argues that Confucianism can provide resources to understand and develop a theology of revelation in those traditions which do hold to the explicit foundation of divine self-communication.

4. Islamic and Confucian accounts of the virtues

This chapter evaluates how two different cultural traditions understand virtue, specifically Islam and Confucianism. The work of Al-Ghazzali provides insight into the central role of virtue for Islam. In living out the five pillars of Islam—the shahadah, salat, zakat, sawm, and the hajj—one becomes a person properly related to Allah and to others. In this context, adab (the manner in which people acquire good character) provides an entrée into Islamic accounts of the virtues. Meanwhile, while there are important differences between the thinkers in the Confucian tradition, they all emphasized the dao (the ‘way’) as providing the highest human good and the proper cosmic ordering of the universe.