Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
Confucius lived between the years 551 – 479 BCE, while the Mahabharata, the
book which contained the Bhagavad-Gita, was written between 400 BCE – 400 CE. As
Confucious was philosophizing and teaching his students what would become The
Analects in China, the Bhaghavad-Gita, one of the historical Hindu texts, was being
written in India. The religions of Hinduism and Confucianism evolved with many
differences as well as similarities. Forms of both Confucianism and Hinduism have been
around since prehistory. The Bhagavad-Gita was directly influenced by popular religion,
“Hinduism is not based on the teachings of a founder… it has evolved over centuries
through the continual interplay of diverse religious beliefs and practices (2, Miller).” The
religion of Hinduism partly came from the prehistoric Indus Valley Civilization, along the
Indus River in the north-west region of India, dating back to as far as 7000 BCE. Little is
known about the Indus Valley Civilization, but much of their art, mainly works of clay,
depict scenes and figures similar to those of the Hindu religion. Thus, Hinduism was
never brought into the country by missionaries or any oppressive religious force except
for the Aryans, who came to India about 1500 BCE. They too helped form many aspects
of Hinduism that are part of the modern religion today. One major aspect brought by the
Aryans was their use of oral hymns which preserved their culture and stories. These can
be linked to the Vedas, which are important in Hinduism because they tell how to protect
the family, keep the universe safe and overall how to be a good religious person. Just as
there was no single creator of Hinduism, Confucius used popular religion as a basis for
what he organized into his new beliefs which would later be called Confucianism. He was
only a teacher and philosophizer of the Dao, or “The Way.” It was not until after his death
that his beliefs were compiled by his former students in a book which became The
Analects. Confucius’ book had many examples of what he said was the right way to act.
religion in China, he has influenced other important modern religions such as Buddhism
Because of the way Hinduism evolved, it has “no single scripture, religious
teacher, deity that is the core of the religion (14, Shattuck).” Hinduism has many books of
scripture important to the people including the Bhagavad-Gita. The story is that of a war
between cousins of royalty. Arjuna is a warrior, but seeing his family get slaughtered, he
begins to doubt whether doing caste duty as a warrior is the correct thing to do. The
Bhagavad-Gita is a dialogue between Arjuna and the henotheistic god, Krishna. Krishna
elaborately tells Arjuna how important it is to live life according to his varna or caste,
and his varnashrama-dharma, duties according to caste and stage of life. Krishna says
that since Arjuna is part of the kshatriya or “warrior” caste, even though killing feels
wrong, it is necessary because that is his duty prescribed by his caste, and it will affect his
karma. Karma translates as “action” and is the past actions one makes in life which
affects the caste and world in which one is reincarnated. For humans on earth there are
four castes one could be born into. These are arranged as a social hierarchy so one who is
born at the top of the caste hierarchy as a Brahmin, “priest,” acted positively and had
good karma so to be able to be reborn in a higher caste. These different castes do not
singular deity, though Confucius is the central religious figure and his Analects are the
central text. What he says in the Analects is similar as well to what Krishna preaches to
Arjuna. Ancient Chinese society that Confucius talked about to his students was not made
up of a caste system, and in fact it was important to respect people of social status above
and below ones self because everyone can mix or move up and down the social hierarchy.
Ren means “humanity” in Chinese and was one of the Confucian “cardinal virtues” which
he summed up in the Analects as simply meaning “love others.” (33, Adler). Being good
was one of the main virtues, but it is not as directly related to one’s fate as karma. Both
explained in the Vedas, ritualism in Hinduism is historically a sacrificial fire ritual which
serves the purpose of keeping the world and the cosmos balanced and safe for the people
living within and gods happy. Confucius says that all social interaction is sacred, and is a
ritual in itself. Enacting the ideals that are explained in The Analects are, as Confucius
believes, the key to achieving Dao, which is explained as “a way to act or the way the
cosmos as a whole acts (42, Sommer).” Confucian and Hindu rituals are different, but the
importance of rituals is the same because their general aim is to maintain control of the
“cosmos.”
“Yen Yuan asked about humanity. The master said, ‘if one can prevail over the self and
turn toward ritual that is humanity. If one can do this for just a single day, the whole
world will incline toward humanity. But is it the humanity just comes from one’s own self
alone, or from interacting with other people!’ Yen Yuan said, ‘I would like to ask about
the specific details of this.’ The master said, ‘Look at nothing contrary to ritual; hear
nothing contrary to ritual, speak nothing contrary to ritual, do nothing contrary to ritual.’
Yen Yuan said, ‘even though I am not gifted, I will try to practice what you have just
said.’” (46, Sommer)
Yen Yuan asks Confucius, the master, about humanity, ren, how to be a good
person, and he responds that to be a good person, one must act with rites/ritual (li),
preferably in all aspects of life which Confucius explains as look, hear, speak, do
“nothing contrary to ritual.” Being a good person, by interacting with other people, has
the ability to make the whole world be more inclined to be a better place. Acting with
humanity, however, must be a selfless act, “if one can prevail over the self and turn
toward ritual,” and do what is good it will help move the world toward goodness.
However, one must be being good in society because being a good person in seclusion is
neither a ritual nor a selfless act. In China, as Confucius sees it, there are no boundaries
or distinct divisions between social classes. Anyone can become a junzi, “a gentleman,”
In Hindu society the dynamics are different because of the Upanishads which are
later books of Hindu philosophy concerning samsara, the cycle of rebirth, a central
aspect of Hinduism. The ultimate goal of the people is to separate themselves from
samsara. This is done through renouncing more worldly practices and living as a yogin
who “is able to progress through ever deepening stages of meditation until he reaches the
transcendent state of awareness that grants freedom from rebirth.” (30, Shattuck) This can
be successfully done through karmayoga meaning the action of fulfilling one’s duty with
the discipline to do what is right as well. In The Bhagavad-Gita Krishna explains that
“freedom lies not in renunciation of the world, but in disciplined action, karmayoga (9,
In the first stanza, Krishna simply explains that one must do one’s duty, follow
caste norms and expectations and in doing so with religious values in mind and for non-
Krishna says that world renunciation is not necessary nor a desirable path. In the second
stanza when Krishna says, “no man is disciplined/ Without renouncing willful intent.” He
is saying in other words that one should not fulfill his caste duties if it is because he
simply wants to, it must be because it is his religious obligation, and in doing so without
desire he is acting out the ritualized process like a yogin. “Similar to The Analects, when
“The Master” says to do nothing contrary to ritual. Also the statements in The Analects,
“if one can prevail over the self and turn toward ritual,” and The Bhagavad-Gita, “one
who does what must be done without concern for the fruits”, share the mantra of not
being selfish and doing what is right for the well-being of the world and making the self
better within society and other worlds. This can only be done through acting out religious
continent, they share a number of values. There could be plausible reasons for this,
perhaps that the ancient Asian continent shares a similar religious background, or the
beliefs in morality are universal despite opposing religious values. The ancient Confucian
and Hindu text, The Analects and The Bhagavad-Gita have been and in fact still are very
influential scripture to many people of Asia and the rest of the world. The Analects is a
talk about humanity and ritual and presents well the idea that ritual is something that one
needs to strive to achieve because it may not come naturally to all. Ritual, Confucius
says, relies on social interaction to maintain humanity and order in the world. The
Bhagavad-Gita uses a more detailed and specific example of the warrior Arjuna and the
people maintain their duties of their caste which keeps the cosmos in order. These
Bibliography
Adler, Joseph A. Religons of the World Chinese Religious Traditions. New Jersey:
Laurence King Publishing Ltd, 2002.
Miller, Barbara Stoler. The Bhagavad-Gita – Krishna’s Counsel in Time of War. New
York: Bantam Classics, 2004.
Shattuck, Cybelle. Religions of the World Hinduism. New Jersey: Calmann & King Ltd.,
1999.
Sommer, Deborah. Chinese Religon an Anthology of Sources. New York: Oxford
University Press, 1995.