Confucius' Theory Of 'Do Politics'

Confucius, a great thinker in Spring and Autumn, left us a lot of invaluablemental treasures as well as endless debates, especially in his politics. People think it more pedantic than practicable. In fact, Confucius did not attach too much concern to realpolitik, nor give evidence to the desirability of his theory. In view of the completion of mankind he pointed out the necessity of one's cultivation in morality.In order to articulate the viewpoint, this article first discusses the desires of Confucius and discloses an ideal living estate in his mind. Next, in the urge of these wishes, Confucius redefined the word 'politics' that shifts from 'rectify others' to 'rectify oneself. Thus, in the eyes of Confucius, 'polities' means a path to be a Sage who needs to decorate himself with good virtues such as benevolence, wisdom, bravery, and etc. All these are not considered in the way of managing or governing the mass. The completion of 'polities' does not necessarily adhere to one's 'position', but in relation to one's own characters and dharma. And then, this article systemicallydiscusses several other core notions of 'moral polities' such as 'benevolence-reign','courtesy-reign', 'benefit' , 'civilization', 'inaction' and so on. In the following section, several ideal personalities suitable for Confucian politics are also presented.Last, based on the shifting of ways to decipher Confucius' ideology, several politics-oriented conceptions are analysed discriminatingly. These conceptions are incompetent or misleading in studying Confucius's theory. For example, the words 'reign' and 'governance' are not suitable to grasp the origin meaning of Confucianism. Actually people tend to ignore the moral-oriented method in conceiving Confucianism and to pay much attention to the practicability of his theory. This thoughtway will finally resulted in confusions in Confucianism research.