Comparing Confucianism And Daoism

Confucianism and Daoism are two great pieces of philosophy-based religions or way of lives depending on your point of view on the topic. Both grew out of ancient China and have an almost complimentary feel to each other as the themes present in both can, in a way, compliment each other. While Confucianism tends to focus more on the social world and how man interacts with man’s world, Daoism tends to focus more on a more spiritual side of the world centered around nature and how man interacts with it. For example, In the Dao-de Ching, written by Lao-Tsu the founder of Daoism, it states that “The highest excellence is like (that of) water. The excellence of water appears in its benefiting all things, and in its occupying, without striving (to the contrary), the low place which all men dislike.

8). The value that Confucianism finds in man’s relationship with society is reflected in the Analects of Confucius where it is said that “The philosopher Tsang said, ‘I daily examine myself on three points:-whether, in transacting business for others, I may have been not faithful;-whether, in intercourse with friends, I may have been not sincere;-whether I may have not mastered and practiced the instructions of my teacher.’" These two quotes show where the two ideologies see the world as the Confucians read about these questions one should ask themselves and how they should interact with other people in the world, taking lessons from them, while the Daoist read about how to take the example of nature. However, the two faiths really diverge with two ideals on knowledge and superiority. The Daoist believe that superiority should not be valued, and neither should knowledge as that all leads to desire and all that’s bad with the world as