Tuesday, March 6, 2007
How to achieve "jen"
According to Confucius, “shu” is the right method to achieve jen. It contains important virtues that can help in the process. They are respectfulness (gong), reverence (jing), leniency (kuan), beneficence (hui), being quick in action (ming), reliability in words (xin) and cultivating slowness to speak (yan ren). “Gong” can be best explained as self-respect, self-worth. The Confucian self needs to be cultivated holistically (the mind is as important as the body). Next there is jing, or reverence, which is a public virtue. Perhaps a better term is estimation. How can one esteem something or someone? When one avoid the short-sightedness of the moment and ponders the far reaching implication of our actions seen within the context of the bigger society. One becomes socially productive when one leaves pettiness and jealousies behind. Quan is also known as Principle of Charity (it means magnanimity) i.e, being able to be thorough with oneself and others, but suspending judgment until one has all the possible evidence (Quan doesn’t rule out criticism, but presupposes self-awareness). Hui is also a public virtue which brings forth the notion of utility. It means that we can be beneficial instruments. Why? Because it’s good for society. According to Confucius, by doing good service to society, one brings good to oneself. Xin relates to the idea of using the proper words. It brings forth a coherence between intentions and words, which amounts to transparency (honesty). One is reliable if one is trustworthy. Finally, Yan ren amounts to taking one are time before talking, something very close to our idea of prudence. Prudence is akin to the idea of foresight and sagacity. Some scholars link yan ren to modesty.
6 comments:
I will not deny to myself the fact that confucius teaches us many different things. I can truly say that this is not a religion, but instead it is truly a philosophy. It is truly a guideline in order for us to live in a much better world and for us to truly fulfill ourselves as human beings on this earth. There are to many areas in confucius to discuss, so I will briefly give my thoughts on the one that captured my attention span. Hui is also a public virtue which brings forth the notion of utility. We can be beneficial instruments to because it’s good for society. According to Confucius, by doing good service to society, one brings good to oneself. I happen to believe that this is true because once we begin to think of others we be clearly forget about ourselves and we remove all selfish thoughts. We begin to to think about others needs and then we begin to help them simply for the fact that they are in need of our help. When we do a good service for our society we get both a satisfaction of accomplishment and gratifications with oneself, but also we begin to learn many things about ourselves. We might learn a new skill that we did not know we had are also we could learn that we have a certain personality trait that we did not recognize within ourselves earlier. Also I believe that with doing service for others it does good for ourselves because just like we are helping others, does same people will be helping us and guiding us in whatever we may need or ask for. At the same time we can learn to be caring and compassionate towards others and learn to acquire more friendships along the way that might eventually help us be a tad bit more happier in our lives.
I have the tendency to do the opposite of ming and yan ren. Generally, I find that I am quite slow to act, but very quick to speak. This is something that must definitely change in me. Often times, I find myself talking and thinking about what I am going to do rather than taking the necessary steps to actually get that thing done. When I know that something needs to get done, I want to be the one to take the initiative and get it done. I also must learn to control my tongue. The Bible likens the tongue to a fire, capable of corrupting a person. Instead of using my words to cause destruction, I want my tongue to be an instrument of good. Thus, I feel that the principle of Yan ren is one that I must determine to cultivate within me.
-daniel
Oneself as the Confucian self… It might sound like common knowledge today, to think of one’s body and mind together (holistically), but when compared to philosophers like Descartes and his Cartesian Dualism, it’s interesting to see how far we’ve come along in our mindsets. And when focusing on something as simple as xin, honesty, “the idea of using the proper words” doesn’t seem to only correlate with truth, but it appears to go along with speaking and communicating in a respectful and careful manner (careful when choosing one’s words which in itself takes a certain level of intelligence). As a whole, Confucius and his philosophy seems to be intricate yet simple adding to the open-minded variety of other philosophies introduced to me thus far.
i find the idea of Xin very interesting. Xin according to Confusious is being able to use the right words. from a personal point of view, as a writer and a poet i find this to be very important. you must always use the right words to communicate a message the best way possible and also to make a poem be more than words. you must choose the right words or the meaning will get lost or be interpreted the wrong way. when writing, i try to do this and i do not always achieve it. so when i think of doing this all the time, even when speaking i find it very difficult. this then to me becomes a discipline, that if achieved it could make you a master.
One of the most important principles presented by Confucius is Yan Ree, the "slowness to speak". I believe that this principle implies the need for reflection on what is going to be said and consideration for those who we are going to speak to. According to my understanding of this, one should avoid unthoughtful reactions and instead one should first reflect and then speak, or, at times, refrain from speaking altogether. Personally, I think that I could benefit tremendously if I applied this principle to my life.
Confucius certainly led a vastly different way of thought than many before him. This is because of how his philosophy was free of dogmatic presence. The crucial element of this difference is that is focuses on man, himself, rather than all that is said to be above him. What this does is that it provides a certainly beneficial way to living for whomever reads it, without minimizing this person's worth and persuading one to live a life of idealistic worship. Confucius ways simply provide a path to righteousness, which is certainly something a society of individuals need.
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