Views Of Mencius And Hsun Tzu example essay topic

... as good. Now on the other hand Hsun Tzu says 'Goodness is the result of conscious activity'; in essence that only if a man is consciously aware of his nature and fights it constantly can he possibly become good. By fighting his nature Hsun Tzu is saying man must be instructed by a teacher, learn the right path and observe the proper ritual's. Both here lead to the same end.

Both Mencius and Hsun Tzu teach that the only way to preserve / achieve goodness in man is through teachers (sages, former Kings) or through ethical forms of behaviors. After distinguishing between world views one must now consider where these world views take the religion. As Confucianism deals often with how governments should be run, and what steps should be taken to ensure a good ruling class, that is an excellent place to start. When discussing the class structure of China Hsun Tzu commented on a system which was loosely based on something we would now call an aristocracy, ruling by the best. While he didn't challenge too many King's outright he did, however, state that those who are seen to be good and have potential should be immediately be lifted up to their potential status and those that didn't should not have time wasted on them.

While Mencius said, during a conversation with speaking to King Hsun of Ch'i; 'How Virtuous must a man be before he can become a true King? He becomes a true King by bringing peace to the people... ' ; Through this Mencius shows his world-views, he is saying that a man can 'become'; a true King, by making this statement he is attempting to allow the King to himself realize that in order to be a good King he must be a virtuous person. And as he has previously stated being a virtuous person means excepting and enriching the heart. Here both of Mencius and Hsun Tzu's world view come into play, Mencius shows that he is willing to teach and educate anyone in order for them to better serve society as a whole and Hsun Tzu does not wish to waste time on the weak and unimportant and only seems to wish to help the best become better. Societal life is such a major part of the Confucian belief system, the views of Mencius and Hsun Tzu were very apparent here.

Mencius states that a man is generous by nature, and any man who does not deny his own potential will give and be generous whenever possible. Hsun Tzu said that a natural man who is generous, and has not been given the proper teachings, is only doing it for his own gain, he will give to make himself feel good, or for some other undignified reason. With these beliefs a King would in essence be true if and only if he served his people for their benefit and not in any way for his own. Mencius would agree with Hsun Tzu's ideas on this issue as when he discusses it with various Kings he often tells them to treat their subjects like his children, him being the father. This idea would produce a society where everyone would work together towards a common goal. The father would respect the subjects and also the subjects would respect the father, creating a unified Kingdom.

Hsun Tzu's views however are somewhat different, he believes in a society where the King is the greatest of all possible rulers, he should be respected only because of this fact alone. He should be treating just like he would After distinguishing between World-views and discussing how they can severely effect how a person thinks and acts, the connection to the Confucian tradition must be drawn. While the two quarreling teachers of the tradition taught they deepened the roots of li, and showed what a true jun-zi was through their examples. However, the creation of these different ideas must have created some problems among the followers of the faith.

Similarly, where they confused some members, they forced others to think. Through this thinking strength was created, as each member of the faith put thought into their beliefs and traditions. From this, I believe, a greater understanding and devotion to the faith was created. While Mencius and Hsun Tzu had largely differing ideas their effects on the growth and understanding of Confucianism were apparent. Mencius himself through his teachings greatly expanded on what his mentor, Confucian, had said.

He stuck with the main ideas but allowed his information to travel and wrote work from Confucian and his own articles on many issues related to Confucian beliefs. Some may argue that Hsun Tzu's impact was equally important. Hsun Tzu, through his teachings, brought meaning to li, as Confucian had originally theorized about. He transformed what most Chinese people did in their normal routine. While Mencius and Confucius preached about li and it's importance in society, Hsun Tzu implemented it. By the end of Hsun Tzu's journey the li was not only an idea but a standard to be followed for all Chinese youth.

An easy way to see the differences between Mencius and Hsun Tzu is this, Mencius believed that nature was good and nurture was important only to re-enforce what was already there. While Hsun Tzu believed that nature was bad and that the nurturing effects of teaching and work were the only way to overcome mans natural disadvantage. Their constantly disagreeing nature has forced many Confucian's to examine their faith more independently and made Confucianism a religion for the thinkers, not just the faithful worshipers. In Conclusion, the works of Mencius and Hsun Tzu drastically altered how many people though of the Confucian tradition and how governments of the time were run. By the end of their lives Confucianism was a strong and stable religion that has survived even up to now, and it's beliefs continue to grow as the world does. Influential speakers like this show various parallels to saints and profits in the Catholic faith and maybe even miniature representations of Gods in faiths like Hinduism.

Their impact was at least as large as any of those. Footnotes.