2 quotes from Confucius you NEED to know

[Music] I never said half those things confucious is really famous for his enlightened quotes they're old wise and enrobed in an aura of mystery but somehow even after 2,500 years people still find them relevant we usually take this for granted but if you stop and think about it for example if I say something no one's going to remember what I said 5 minutes from now yet the wisdom from confucious seems to remain unaffected by the passage of time now what makes confucius's philosophy pertinent even today or should I say especially today could it be that confucious stumbled upon some principles that are so intricate to human nature and appeal to the most fundamental aspects of our beings one of the core elements of his teachings is virtue so that could be the first hint Maybe beginning of a response so let's dive in and see what really makes confucious quotes Stand Out of [Music] Time hey everyone today we will be talking about confusion ISM and one of its pillar foundations which is an ancient Universal principle known as virtue now you might have already heard that word and say hey Jared many religions talk about virtue does this categorize confucious thought as religion okay so let's unravel that before we dive into what virtue is the first thing to note is that there is no word in Chinese for confucianism okay the closest words are those used in Chinese are r or R so Ru is an old word that means scholar means school or family and can mean religion or teaching this means that Ruda can be directly translated as Scholars school or Scholars family or explained as school of thought in other terms scholarly thought so what does the scholarly thought have to do with confucious well confucious who is called kza in Chinese was a famous teacher in the Joe Dynasty who wrote a book called analex lunu he set a system of philosophy that later Scholars such as menes mza expanded upon so Confucianism doesn't really belong to just confucious one way confucious used to raise one's own standards and attain a more virtuous life was by studying the recommended texts these books not only give a background into history and culture they also provide instructions on morals and philosophies right so doesn't that make them just a bunch of nerds it's a little bit more intricate than that in Chinese traditional philosophy and this can be extended to dosm Buddhism and traditional Chinese medicine mind and matter are the same thing let me say that again mind and matter are the same thing so we don't have this idea of philosophy as just kind of a this is what I'm thinking about and then matter this is how things actually work these are considered to be opposite sides of the same coin matter can affect the mind and the mind can affect the matter it's actually the same thing that's how they looked at it so according to those principles frequently studying virtuous texts fill the spirit with virtuous thoughts which translates into virtuous actions mind and matter same thing which long-term transform the scholar into a person of great virtue so hitting the books hard was the main way to cultivate oneself in confusion ISM China took studying hard so seriously that they developed the Imperial exam system where High government positions were given to the top test scorers even today most Asian countries have a make or break University exam the other term rudo means Scholars religion and so clearly qualifies Confucianism as a religion right well it's not that simple either also means teaching so in a sense it is one aspect of a religion but it lacks the codified rituals and strict established belief system around selected deities the established temples and all the hierarchical power structures that usually religions have confucious though was no atheist but he also didn't worship a particular God instead he often spoke of heaven or ten as a vague but powerful force that counted Rights and Wrongs just like an Umpire calls balls and Strikes and that would change the course of history to favor The Virtuous in his view Heaven man and nature were connected by the natural order and it was by following that natural order in our daily lives such as by having a good family well-ordered country and so on that we connect deeply with heaven now confusion rituals are so important that they're almost religious but still Confucianism is more of a philosophy than a religion so what does Confucianism really entail it starts with the idea of a natural or order in the universe this order being the Perfection of the creation has virtue inherently sewed into the deep fabric of matter that permeates all of the cosmos if people strive to become virtuous it means they conciliate their own behavior to Heavenly order and naturally will benefit from all the good the universe has in other words heaven rewards virtue this principle can then be applied to a broader sense from personal life to family community or even the country or even more for example if a ruler is virtuous he will pass that on to his people and will have Prosperity if he's not virtuous his country will suffer the lack of virtue will then result in bad relations with its neighbors Wars natural catastrophes and so on because the absence of virtue means a deviation from natural order which brings suffering and Chaos how does one become virtuous and what exactly is virtue in Chinese du means inherent character inner power Integrity moral character virtue morality all right so many religions in Asia talk about this Daoism has their understanding even lza his book is called daing the second word is Du or virtue so the way virtue classic Buddhism talks all about du as well and all about different types of virtue confusion ISM talks about the five constant virtues which in Chinese are called Wu Chong literally five constants these are Jen which is kindness to your fellow man so confucious said do not do to others what you do not wish to be done to yourself that's your J the second is e which means being righteous and doing the right thing the third is Lee which means to observe the proper rituals the rights of Lee are not rights in the western concept of religious custom rather Lee embodies actions and behavior that guarantee the assimilation of oneself to The Virtuous natural order therefore maintaining a virtuous environment for everyone's benefit it envelops the entire spectrum of interaction with humans nature and even material objects confucious includes in his discussions of Lee such diverse topics as learning drinking ceremonies titles Mourning and governance the fourth J Wisdom is the ability to see right from wrong and fair from unfair wisdom can be attained by sincere study of books containing wisdom and then assimilating oneself to those the fifth is sin or trustworthiness which is a key aspect of a society based on Mutual trust rather than domination by tyranny now there are other virtues such as SE which means fial piety or respect for one's parents but the ones we just went over are the five big ones the five constants now that we've roughly established what virtue is how does it remain relevant for us today confucious emphasized self-improvement as a key virtue Confucius said so if three of us are walking together one of the others is my teacher I will do the things that I find good in him and change in myself the things I find bad in him this quote perfectly sums up the Deep aspects of confucious philosophy it's not in the conflict and mutual domination that lies the inner Improvement but in deep introspection and one's own assimilation to Natural order which is virtuous in other words humility combined with scholarship is the confusion way now you can be the judge are those confucious quotes an elaborate scheme to make the world better or could it be that maybe just maybe this ancient wisdom appeals to the principles that a lot of people consider beneficial because somehow deep down inside they resonate with something so deep and so intrinsically sewed into the very fabric that constitutes the very matter our bodies are made of that their wisdom appears to us as a natural order which animates all of life in the universe wow anyways Chinese culture is full of philosophies and stories that deal with such deep philosophical questions the spirituality is deeply sewed into the fabric of ancient China if you want to discover more about that in its pure artistic form come see me at a shenin show shenin the world's Premier classical Chinese dance company and I am the MC We Tour from mid December to miday every year we Tour all over the world if you would like to buy tickets I have left a link in the description below that has the booking fee waved if we are not on tour while you watch this video I welcome you to check out shenin Creations or shenyun suin where you can see lots of other cultural beautiful music dance all types of videos all right that's it for this week see you guys next time [Music] a