The Analects Of Confucianism

“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall” (qtd. in "Quotes by Confucius"). Confucius was an exceptionally prominent character around 551 BCE until his death in 479 BCE, although records are unclear. He was greatly influential back in that time, and still remains so to this day; especially in Eastern countries such as China. Through his teachings and ideologies, he founded the Ru School of Chinese Thought, which today has been given the name of Confucianism. Confucius impacted political and sociological standpoints; much of which still helps to shape the Chinese thought. Confucius played a major role during the time of the Zhou dynasty. “Confucius was a thinker, a political figure, an educator” (“Confucius”). The Analects of Confucius contain information on how one should interact with others and conduct their daily lives, and how deeply people should participate in society and government. These ideas then spread to his students, and eventually to many regions of Asia. This

Confucius adopted the early Chinese idea that the world was controlled by a deity with great power (Shangdi), which eventually came to hold the same meaning as Tian (“Sky” or “Heaven”), a Zhou deity. In some parts of the Analects, Confucius appears to embrace the idea of the Tian in which he “wages his campaign of moral instruction and reform” (“Confucius (551—479 B.C.E.)”). At other times he questions the existence of the Tian and wonders if he has at last lost the help of this great deity. This helped to shape the theological perspective of the Ancient Chinese and helped to influence people sociologically as it offered a new way of looking at the idea of a deity which had never been thought of before, thus helping to shape how people on Earth thought of the Tian in relation with