|
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.One of the obvious questionswhen discussing a religious tradition is the identification of thereligion s scripture and the discussion of the central role that itplays across the faith s history.For most religions of the world, itwould not be necessary to demonstrate that the foundationalwritings within the tradition are, in fact, scripture.BecauseConfucianism is still so often interpreted as a form of humanismand a code of ethics, however, it is necessary to decide whetheror not the Confucian texts can be considered scripture.There is no doubt that the Five Classics and the Four Bookshave played a central role for Confucianism throughout itshistory.The questions that arise are whether these works canbe called the scripture of the Confucian tradition, and, if theyare scripture, what that means within the Confucian context.Inother words, there is sufficient discomfort with the applicationof the term scripture to Confucian writings that most authorssimply do not use it.They refer instead to these texts as literaryor philosophical sources for the Confucian tradition.If we choose to describe these writings as Confucian scripture,there is a certain issue that quickly comes to mind.To be scripture,writings must be regarded as religious.What about the texts ofConfucianism makes them religious? If scripture is a revelationfrom God or even some divine source, neither set of Confucianwritings appears to qualify.Because the writings do not have anobvious connection to a source of religious authority, they haveoften been dismissed as religious writings.The fact remains,though, that for many adherents of the tradition, the writingsare religious.The question to be answered is what the basis isfor Confucianism s understanding of the texts as religious works.THE FIVE CLASSICSThe Five Classics are a collection of what are believed to be theearliest literary writings from Chinese culture.Though the Confucian Scripture 33dates of the various Classics are uncertain, tradition holds thatthey originated in the earliest periods of Chinese history, andthey are often associated with founding figures or sage rulersfrom China s distant past.This past is thought to have begunwith certain ancient cultural heroes in the late third millen-nium B.C.They were followed by the wise rulers Yao, Shun,and Yü, who bridge the gap toward early dynastic history, withthe Hsia Dynasty in the nineteenth and eighteenth centuriesB.C., the Shang in the seventeenth century B.C., and finally theChou Dynasty, beginning in the twelfth century B.C.It is notuntil the Chou Dynasty that scholars actually have historicalevidence of the Five Classics existence.Nonetheless, in thetraditional view of China s past, this construction of theancient periods was considered critical and, as a result, it madesense that the Five Classics would themselves be a product ofthese ancient times.Key to understanding a group of writings such as the FiveClassics as scripture is an understanding of the term Classic orBook.The word Classic or Book ching in Chinese stemsfrom the handicraft of weaving.It refers to the threads thatrun lengthwise through a piece of cloth, what is called the warp. From this origin, the word has come to mean thatwhich runs throughout something, whether a piece of clothor an entire culture.It can mean a rule, a law, or a normsomething that can be found throughout a culture and ties ittogether.When this definition is applied to a particular text, itimplies that the writing is a work that provides a continuingmeaning for a culture by setting down basic rules or standards.Confucian writings are almost always translated as Classic, showing that the texts have fundamental meaning forthe culture.The same term ching is also used for both Buddhist andTaoist writings in East Asia.When it is used in those tradi-tions, it is translated as scripture rather than Classic or Book [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ] |
Archiwum
|