Confucius

[Kassad]

I remember learning a lot about Confucius and Confuciuanism, as well as Buddhism and Taoism during my late-middle school religion classes. It was a Catholic school, so it wasn't much praise for the ideologies, but nevertheless, we learned a lot about them.

I studied a lot of Buddhism and Taoism, especially a lot of Lao Tzu's works, but never found much time to study Confucius, spare some of the sayings I saw of his online.

I remember a lot of people criticizing Taoism and Buddhism a while back, since they preach the rejection of the political system, as it only causes strife. Still, I honestly do not know what Confucius preached about the political or religious establishments. A lot of the Eastern philosophical religions of the sort are often considered bourgeoisie for turning the other cheek, when instead, you should fight back and support revolution and emancipation.

I was curious as to what the leftist community thought of Confucius, his teachings and the like. I was wondering whether or not it would be worth it to read some of his teachings or if it would be a waste of time.

[Blackscare]

Confucius advocated strict adherence to custom and one's place in society. It's really more of a social system than a religion, IMO. He and a lot of his followers traveled around China trying to reform government to make it run more effectively. Revolution by the "lower" classes certainly wouldn't be endorsed by Confucius.

It seems to me that it's about as far from any leftist ideology as you can get besides fascism.

[Blackscare]

I'd like to add that while people (falsely, in my mind) accuse Buddhism and Taoism as being anti-revolutionary, Confucianism seems to actually be reactionary.

[Kassad]

Buddhism, if I remember correctly, advocates the rejection of the political system. This is counterrevolutionary at the very least, because by rejecting the political system, you allow those who embrace it to gain a tigher grip over the means of production, the economy and ultimately the people themselves. It can also wind up being utopian, since rejection of the political system often implies that revolutionary change will just magically happen, which isn't plausible. Activism and action are what promote social progress and revolutionary change, not 'turning the other cheek.' That's another form of blind submission.