Chapter 12 Section 12: National Beliefs

In other words, just as the family beliefs of pre-Confucius China made the marriage contract a sacrament, the Confucian state beliefs made the pledge of allegiance a sacrament.Just as the marriage sacrament established by family beliefs makes a wife obliged to be absolutely loyal to her husband, so the righteousness of name, the code of honor established by the national belief taught by Confucius in China, this sacrament of loyalty contract makes Chinese people absolutely loyal to their husbands. His Emperor's duty.Thus in China, the sacrament of the covenant of allegiance in the national faith taught by Confucius can be called the sacrament of loyalty or the faith of loyalty.You remember I said that Confucius spoke to some extent about the divine right of kings.But rather than teaching the divine right of kings, Confucius taught the sacred duty of loyalty.The binding force of the sacred or absolute duty of loyalty to the emperor taught by Confucius in China does not come from supernatural existence, that is, God or other mystical philosophies like the European theory of divine right, but from the law of the gentleman --The sense of honor of man, the sense of honor by which all nations bind a wife to her husband.In fact, the absolute responsibility of the Chinese people to the emperor’s loyalty taught by Confucius is bound by the same simple sense of honor as businessmen keep their promises and fulfill contracts, and gamblers abide by the rules to repay their gambling debts. (z-24)

Just as I say the Faith of the Family is the Old Testament religion of China, the Church Faith of all nations, which establishes the family by enacting the sacrament of marriage and sanctity, so I call the State Faith of China taught by Confucius, by enacting the Covenant of Allegiance The new sacrament established the state.If you think that the first person in the world who instituted the sacraments and established the sanctity of marriage did a very great work for the creation of mankind and civilization, I think, then you will understand Confucius's work by establishing new sacraments and establishing the contract of loyalty Tremendous work done by Sacrosanct.The institution of the sacrament of marriage guaranteed the stability and permanence of the family, without which the human race would be extinct.The establishment of the sacrament of the bond of loyalty guaranteed the stability and permanence of the state, without which human society and civilization would perish, and man would return to his barbaric or animal state.So I tell you that the greatest thing Confucius did for the Chinese people was that he gave them the true idea of ​​the state - the real, rational, eternal, absolute foundation of a nation, and by giving them this idea, he made it One kind of belief - national belief.

Confucius described this national belief in a book, I told you, a book he wrote towards the end of his life, and he named it "Spring and Autumn".In this book Confucius first instituted the new sacrament of the contract of loyalty, called Ming Fen Da Yi, or the Code of Honor.This sacrament is therefore often referred to as Chunqiu Mingfen Dayi, or simply - Chunqiu Dayi, that is, the Great Principles of Honor and Duty of the Spring and Autumn Annals, or simply, the Great Principles or Codes of the Spring and Autumn Annals.The sacred duty of loyalty taught by Confucius in this book is the great charter of the Chinese nation.It includes the sacred covenant, the sacred covenant of social peace, through which Confucius gave all Chinese and peoples the obligation of total allegiance to the emperor, this covenant or sacrament, this code of honor, which in China is the state and government, and the only true law of Chinese civilization constitution.Confucius said in this book that future generations will understand him - understand what he has done for the world.

I am afraid I have tired you out by talking so much about what I want to say.Now we can finally return to the problem left at the beginning.You remember I said why the human masses generally have a religious need - and I mean religion in the European sense - because religion gives them a refuge which, through belief in a powerful being called God, gives them The eternal sense of existence.And I said that the philosophy and moral system taught by Confucius, that is, Confucianism, can replace religion, and can make people, and even all human beings, do not need religion.Therefore, as I said, there must be something in Confucianism that can give people the same sense of security and eternity that the mass religions of mankind can give.Now, I think we've found this thing.This kind of thing is the sacred duty of loyalty to the emperor in the national belief left by Confucius to the Chinese nation.

You will understand that this sacred duty of absolute allegiance to the emperor of every man, woman, and child in the Chinese Empire has given the emperor an absolute, supreme, transcendent, and omnipotent power in the hearts of the Chinese people; The absolute, supreme, transcendent, and omnipotent trust of God has given the Chinese people, the Chinese people, the same sense of security that belief in God and religion in other countries can give to the human masses.The absolute, supreme, transcendent, and omnipotent belief in the emperor's power also ensures the absolute stability and durability of the country in the hearts of the Chinese people.This absolute permanence of the state guarantees the infinite continuation and permanence of society, and this infinite continuation and permanence of society ultimately guarantees the immortality of the race in the hearts of the Chinese people.Thus, it was the belief in the immortality of the race, the belief in the omnipotence of the Emperor, arising from the sacred duty of loyalty, that gave the Chinese, the masses of China, the sense of eternity of an afterlife, as religion has given to the masses of mankind in other countries. . (z-23)