Who is Confucius? What are his beliefs about life? Confucius was the first great philosopher in the Chinese tradition. He lived from 551 to 479 BC. His ideas and thoughts were simple and made people think about their life. Confucius’ questions always focus on ethics and morality. Confucius’ purpose was to make each person have a better life, and reflect on their life- are they doing the right thing? How can the person improve their character? Later, in 14th century BC, Mencius, a Confucian scholar, decided to begin a new dynasty based on Confucian teachings. Some beliefs between the two were similar, however, Mencius and Confucius had some differences as well. Confucius’ teachings included rituals and goodness, and Mencius’ teaching included coherent and capricious worlds. Rituals are a series of actions or behaviors that happen regularly. Rituals can be family dinners, hanging out with friends, having a cup of coffee with colleagues, date nights, and more. Confucius’ would …show more content…
All the actions we do in our daily life either expresses goodness or takes it away (Puett and Loh 46). “Confucius would not define goodness; he wanted his disciplines to know that we must feel it in all these different, shifting situations to understand what it means to express it” (Puett and Lou 47). Confucius believed that helping a friend or simply saying hello to someone in the elevator, were all acts of goodness. He believed that we have all experienced, and once we recognize it, then we can develop further. “Confucius would likely remind us that there is a single thing you can do, and one thing only, to help a friend in trouble: bring your sensibility to the situation in order to understand what your friend’s real troubles are” (Puett and Lou 49). This shows how Confucius believed in helping and being good to your loved ones, and caring for them. These were all acts of goodness, and after you do this you feel inner