NO. 2 FOLK RELIGION IN SOUTHWEST CHINA — GRAHAM 49 



and to obey their masters. The aim of govermneut was not the wel- 

 fare of the people, but the aggrandizement of their rulers. (Creel, 

 1949, pp. 2, 107, 112, 143.) 



Confucius made a sincere and lifelong attempt to reform the 

 society in which he lived. He believed that the aim of government 

 should be the welfare of the people, and that rulers should be chosen 

 not because of heredity and wealth, but on the basis of virtue and 

 ability, a very uncommon belief for his day. He sought a high official 

 position for himself so that he could carry out his plans for reform, 

 but failing in that he taught his principles and beliefs to his pupils 

 and disciples, endeavoring to inspire in them faith and loyalty to 

 the ideals and plans that were dear to him. He aimed to find and 

 train for official positions men who were good, honest, and efficient, 

 and to induce the rulers to entrust to them the powers of office (ibid., 

 pp. 2-3, 4, 52, 69, 119, 157, 159, 166, 171, 222). 



Good character was to be achieved by education and self-cultivation. 

 Of great importance were sincerity and the willingness to correct 

 one's faults. Loyalty, sincerity, good faith, and propriety or decorum 

 were strongly emphasized. To Confucius propriety or good ceremonial 

 was inseparable from, and the natural expression of, good character 

 (ibid., p. 129). 



The ideal people who were to control government were called chiin- 

 tsu, or gentlemen or princely men. Though they were chosen for their 

 virtue and ability and trained for their work, they might come from 

 the poorest and humblest of homes. These rulers should be examples 

 of good conduct and be devoted to the common good. 



Confucius was one of the noblest reformers who ever lived. He 

 had sympathy for and faith in the common man, and his purpose 

 was to reform society and make a better world. He died believing 

 that he had failed, but he left behind him followers who were devoted 

 to his ideals and taught them to others. Thus his influence was passed 

 on to future generations. 



Confucius did not intend to found a religion, and many assert that 

 Confucianism is not a religion. But the belief in Heaven and Shang Ti 

 and in lesser deities, filial piety, and the ceremonies of ancestor 

 veneration and to commemorate Confucius and his disciples have 

 caused Confucianism to be a religion to hundreds of millions of people 

 in Asia. While the Confucianism in some parts, at least, of the Con- 

 fucian Classics and that which has come down to modern times is 

 believed by some scholars to be in some ways a degenerate Confucian- 

 ism (ibid., pp. yy, 106, iio-iii), it has not lost all its original values. 



