Research Into The Ideology Of "Zhi" By Confucius

"Zhi"(直)is an essential ethics Category of Confucianism while the comprehension and standpoint of "Zhi"(直) is an important part of it. This ancient virtue which defined precisely by "the book of history" and "the book of poetry" was highly recommended by the ancient rulers thus it had played a critical role in political and daily life of that time. In the process of using the Chinese characters "Zhi"(直),it developed to more connotation, such as "justice","correctitude","accuracy","axiom","frankness","directness" except the original meaning. This process showed that "Zhi"(直)had already been endowed with valuation and it had its own complexity.The process has divided into two period which is "Ex- Confucius period" and "Confucius period". In the "Confucius period", we should consider the idea of Confucius and the thought of others. In the "ex- Confucius period", "Zhi"(直)not only had some connotation similar to original meaning but also had some further meaning which indicated "justice" and "integrity". And see from the use of "Zheng" and "Zhi"(直),the two characters had the same connotation at that time. In the era of Confucius, although we have only found "frankness" once in his interpretation in《Dao De Jing》of Laozi, we can predict that laozi has noticed the blemish of the "Zhi"(直)which is clarified by this way. Confucius interpreted "Zhi"(直)as "integrity", "justice" and "frankness" in The Analects. The most important is whether it was from create or not, the careful and profound interpretation of "frankness" and the blemish emerged when it was regarded as a regulation of intrinsic value in The Analects surpassed the thought in《Dao De Jing》. It should be deemed as a great contribution in early days of Confucianism. On the basis of the three interpretation of "Zhi"(直),The Analects brought a framework of preference on feeling by Confucius. In the realistic level, Confucius distinguished between the integrity in temperament and the harmony in temperament and set two ways to acquire the knowledge of "Zhi"(直),which are sincerity,awe,studing and the morality.