Neo-Confucianism
Rationalist Eastern revival
Neo-Confucianism is a philosophical movement that revitalized classical Confucian thought in China beginning around the 11th century, incorporating elements of Buddhism and Taoism while reasserting Confucian ethics and metaphysics.
It emphasized self-cultivation, moral discipline, and the investigation of things to understand universal principles.
Neo-Confucianism became the dominant intellectual force in East Asia for centuries, shaping education, government, and social order in China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam.
Disposition toward doing good
- righteousnessMoral correctness or virtue
- proprietyCorrectness of conduct
- wisdomGood judgment from experience
- humanenessBenevolent, merciful disposition
self-cultivation · sincerity · loyalty · integrity · rectitude · conscience · virtue · duty
Intentional personal growth
- reverenceProfound admiring respect
- mindfulnessAwareness of the present
- meditationFocused attention practice
Vital life energy
- yinFeminine cosmic force
- yangBright masculine cosmic force
- principleFundamental truth or standard
- cosmologyStudy of universal structure
ontology · harmony · essence · substance · dynamism · monism · dualism · heaven
Classical Chinese wisdom text
- MenciusClassical Confucian thinker
- commentaryExplanatory remarks on events
- exegesisCritical textual interpretation
- hermeneuticsStudy of interpretation methods
Fusion of different beliefs
- orthodoxyAdherence to accepted beliefs
- heterodoxyUnorthodox belief or opinion
- lineageDescent from progenitors
- transmissionSending of information
benevolence
Disposition toward doing good
- righteousnessMoral correctness or virtue
- proprietyCorrectness of conduct
- wisdomGood judgment from experience
humaneness · self-cultivation · sincerity · loyalty · integrity · rectitude · conscience · virtue · duty · junzi
self-cultivation
Intentional personal growth
- reverenceProfound admiring respect
- mindfulnessAwareness of the present
- meditationFocused attention practice
qi
Vital life energy
cosmology · ontology · harmony · essence · substance · dynamism · monism · dualism · heaven · nature
Analects
Classical Chinese wisdom text
- MenciusClassical Confucian thinker
- commentaryExplanatory remarks on events
- exegesisCritical textual interpretation
syncretism
Fusion of different beliefs
- orthodoxyAdherence to accepted beliefs
- heterodoxyUnorthodox belief or opinion
- lineageDescent from progenitors
Neo-ConfucianismBuddhism
Enlightenment-seeking Eastern religion
Daoism · materialism · Epicureanism · existentialism · hedonism
Neo-Confucianismindividualism
Doctrine of personal independence
libertarianism · anarchism · moral relativism · egoism · egalitarianism
Neo-ConfucianismMay Fourth Movement
1919 Chinese political awakening
Westernization · modernization · secularization · anti-traditionalism · iconoclasm
Confucianist, Confucius, Confucian, Confucianism, Confucians