Confucianism
Tian and the gods

Tian, a key concept in Chinese thought, refers to the God of Heaven, the northern culmen of the skies and its spinning stars, earthly nature and its laws which come from Heaven, to 'Heaven and Earth' (that is, "all things"), and to the awe-inspiring forces beyond human control. There are so many uses in Chinese thought that it is impossible to give a single English translation.

Confucius used the term in a mystical way. He wrote in the Analects (7.23) that tian gave him life, and that tian watched and judged (6.28; 9.12). In 9.5 Confucius says that a person may know the movements of tian, and this provides with the sense of having a special place in the universe. In 17.19 Confucius says that tian spoke to him, though not in words. The scholar Ronnie Littlejohn warns that tian was not to be interpreted as a personal God comparable to that of the Abrahamic faiths, in the sense of an otherworldly or transcendent creator. Rather it is similar to what Taoists meant by Dao: "the way things are" or "the regularities of the world", which Stephan Feuchtwang equates with the ancient Greek concept of physis, "nature" as the generation and regenerations of things and of the moral order. Tian may also be compared to the Brahman of Hindu and Vedic traditions. The scholar Promise Hsu, in the wake of Robert B. Louden, explained 17:19 ("What does Tian ever say? Yet there are four seasons going round and there are the hundred things coming into being. What does Tian say?") as implying that even though Tian is not a "speaking person", it constantly "does" through the rhythms of nature, and communicates "how human beings ought to live and act", at least to those who have learnt to carefully listen to it.

Duanmu Ci, a disciple of Confucius, said that Tian had set the master on the path to become a wise man (9.6). In 7.23 Confucius says that he has no doubt left that Tian gave him life, and from it he had developed right virtue (de). In 8.19, he says that the lives of the sages are interwoven with Tian.

Regarding personal gods (shen, energies who emanate from and reproduce Tian) enliving nature, in the Analects Confucius says that it is appropriate (yi) for people to worship (敬; jìng) them, although only through proper rites (li), implying respect of positions and discretion. Confucius himself was a ritual and sacrificial master.

Answering to a disciple who asked whether it is better to sacrifice to the god of the stove or to the god of the family (a popular saying), in 3.13 Confucius says that in order to appropriately pray to gods, one should first know and respect Heaven. In 3.12, he explains that religious rituals produce meaningful experiences, and one has to offer sacrifices in person, acting in presence, otherwise "it is the same as not having sacrificed at all". Rites and sacrifices to the gods have an ethical importance: they generate good life, because taking part in them leads to the overcoming of the self. Analects 10.11 tells that Confucius always took a small part of his food and placed it on the sacrificial bowls as an offering to his ancestors.

Some Confucian movements worship Confucius, although not as a supreme being or anything else approaching the power of tian or the tao, and/or gods from Chinese folk religion. These movements are not a part of mainstream Confucianism, although the boundary between Chinese folk religion and Confucianism can be blurred.

Other movements, such as Mohism which was later absorbed by Taoism, developed a more theistic idea of Heaven. Feuchtwang explains that the difference between Confucianism and Taoism primarily lies in the fact that the former focuses on the realisation of the starry order of Heaven in human society, while the latter on the contemplation of the Dao which spontaneously arises in nature. However, Confucianism does venerate many aspects of nature and also respects various tao, as well as what Confucius saw as the main tao, the " of Heaven."

The Way of Heaven involves "lifelong and sincere devotion to traditional cultural forms" and wu wei, "a state of spontaneous harmony between individual inclinations and the sacred Way".

Kelly James Clark argued that Confucius himself saw Tian as an anthropomorphic god that Clark hypothetically refers to as "Heavenly Supreme Emperor", although most other scholars on Confucianism disagree with this view.
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