Confucianism has the concept of humans not being born with sin unlike Christianity. The optimism about human behavior most likely played a role in the idea of self-cultivation. It was believed that practices such as meditation, ritual and textual education is the key to self-transformation. It was reestablished as an academic endeavor but also as a resource for anticommunist ideology.
There were many different versions of Confucianism because of the different interpretations of Confucian and his disciples. Mencius and Xunzi were the most influential disciples of Confucian and had very different views on humanity but believed in moral transformation. Mencius believed that at birth everyone is naturally oriented to being good and Xunzi believes
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These core elements are defined as key moral principles and attitudes that a Confucian should have. Not only does the government endorse Confucianism, it also became a source of hope for the future.
While reading this chapter, I agreed more with Mencius’s and Wang Yangming’s views on how a human’s nature should be. Wang taught his disciples to “get rid of selfish human desires and preserve the principle of nature”, although it is very similar to Buddhism, human desire and wants is one of the greatest problems we all deal with. “Mencius’s model of moral psychology involves both discovery and development.” (12) His belief in that human nature is good and that it can be made even better is inspirational and should be a goal for everyone to live by.
The book mentioned tales of Confucian’s birth and how it’s heralded by a qilin that resembles a unicorn and a dragon. It’s said that a qilin appears with the imminent birth or death of a sage or illustrious ruler. Almost like a fantasy novel or movie with unreal creatures that are only present to convene a meaning. The tale of him being 9 feet tall seems to be way to farfetched to be true but it also could’ve meant he had a higher level of