Introduction

This is a welcoming place to explore the application of Confucian values to contemporary life through examination of classic and contemporary texts and commentary, discussions, book reviews, meditation, self-improvement, and more.

ANCIENT CHINESE BRONZE CEREMONIAL DING LATE SHANG DYNASTY

Confucianism for 2,500 years has been woven together in China and Asia with Daoism and Buddhism. Each is unique as manifested in the people and in history but many common threads run throughout. All three may have much to offer our troubled world today. 

Mengzi said, "If one loves others and they are not affectionate to oneself, one should examine one's own benevolence. If one rules over others and they are unruly, one should examine one's own wisdom. If one treats others with propriety and they do not respond, one should examine one's own reverence. If in one's actions one does not succeed, one should always seek for it in oneself. If one is proper oneself, the world will turn to one. The Odes say, 'As long as one's doctrines accord with the Mandate, One is seeking much good fortune for oneself.' 

Mengzi said, "People have a common saying: 'The world, the state, the family' The root of the world lies in the state; the root of the state lies in the family; the root of the family lies in oneself." 

(The Essential Menzi, translated by Bryan Van Norden)