Belief to Tradition

The Master keeps on teaching through his confusing, but yet very deep sayings. One part that I really liked was this part:

"The Master said, 'I would prefer not speaking.'
Tsze-kung said, 'If you, Master, do not speak, what shall we, your
disciples, have to record?'
The Master said, 'Does Heaven speak? The four seasons pursue their courses,
and all things are continually being produced, but does Heaven say
anything?'"

Here, the Master doesn't directly say why he prefers not to speak, but in a way, he does justify why it is okay not to speak. In a way, it's like as if the Master is telling Tsze-kung to not question him and just accept what he thinks and what he tells him since Heaven can't be questioned either.


These are sort of like laws and rules for Confucianism, and there are many of them in the book of Analects. But today, it's more of a tradition than a religion. Japan and Korea are both practice Confucianism. Since it's more like a tradition, we grow up with Confucianism as if it's something very normal to everyday life. It's not something that is practiced, it's something that is the way it is. There's just no other option. In Korea (and probably Japan also), even the language is based upon it. People in Korea have to talk in a different form of language when talking to adults. We can't just say "hi" to an adult. We have another way of saying "hi" and another way to say almost anything else. They can't plainly call others by their names either if they are older than them. This, of course, is to show signs of respect towards elders. We even have to bow to them when we say hi or goodbye.


I, being Korean, also have to do all this among other Korean people. It seems very strict and tiring, but since I grew up with it and since that's how the Korean culture is, it's very normal to me. I don't even need to think about it. So, I think Confucianism should go on, at least in Korea. It's hard to stop it anyways.

So, going back to the Analects. I think it was an interesting book to read. I wouldn't recommend others to read the whole thing unless their very interested since most of the teachings seem to be a bit repetitive. But besides that, it was nice to read.