Confucianism has been the official ideology of the Chinese Empire for over two thousand years, and for over five hundred years the official ideology of Korea. It is the only doctrine of purely Chinese origin that has spread significantly outside China, most notably in Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. It now has millions of followers throughout Asia.
Many deny Confucianism the right to be called a religion. Indeed, everything associated with religion–tales of God or gods, spirits, the posthumous fate of the soul and the afterlife–is marginalized in the discourse of Confucius, who was more concerned with moral and social issues.
However, when we consider the heritage of Confucius as a whole, it is not correct to interpret these texts as denying religiosity in general. Confucius spoke little about religious things, not because he denied or ignored them, but largely because this was an area he felt least in need of correction.
Confucius did not begin his teaching from a blank sheet of paper; on the contrary, he emphasized that he preached wisdom from antiquity. So he was quite receptive to that complex of religious beliefs that had come down to him from his ancestors. Three elements can be distinguished in these beliefs: from ancient times, the Chinese worshipped Heaven (Tian), worshipped spirits, and worshipped the souls of dead ancestors.
The oldest Chinese inscriptions preserved on divination bones contain references to Shan-di, “the Supreme Lord”. That’s how the Chinese called the most important God on whom everything in the world depended, but besides him they recognized the existence of lower gods and spirits who, like people, were subject to Shang-di’s will.
Also the Chinese from antiquity used the notion of Tian (“heaven”) when speaking of the supreme God[2]. Some scholars suggest that Shang-di referred to a personal god and Heaven to an impersonal divine power, but texts often use both concepts as synonyms. In later times the name “Heaven” begins to be used much more frequently than “Shang-di”.
Two notions are closely connected with Heaven in China: min (the will of Heaven) and tyang-min (the right to reign granted by Heaven). Through min and tyang-min Heaven acts in the world of men. Everything that happens in a person’s life – health, sickness, wealth, poverty, etc. – is done according to min. A virtuous ruler receives a min-min and his reign runs well, but if he or one of his successors becomes corrupt and stops taking care of his subjects, then he loses his min-min, the country is in turmoil, and he is overthrown.
Among the lower deities, the spirit of the Earth was especially revered, and there were altars dedicated to it in the courts of rulers and in every village. It was often prayed to for a successful harvest. Other especially worshipped spirits also had capitals or altars.
