als with love and humaneness towards others. This is the highest Confucian value. An early form of this is hsiao, which is honoring your parents. Other staples of Confucian thinking include Li and Yi. Li is respect towards ritual practices. Confucius believed that combining it with jen would help to improve social standards. Yi is responsibility towards others. Yi represents the strong bonds and commitments that are formed out of friendship. The supreme deity of Confucianism is called T'ien. Although translated to mean Heaven, T'ien appears to be more of a god in charge of maintaining moral order. The path to T'ien is called the Tao, or way. The Tao is composed of the struggle for balance of two opposite forces: the yin and the yang. The yin and yang bring about change through manipulating five material elements. The five material agents, water, metal, fire, earth, and wood, alternate with each other through a cycle. It is the yin and yang's control over these elements that brings about change through the universe and make up the Tao. Confucianism also extends its belief to certain ritualistic practices. For instance, birth is a major event. While the woman is carrying the child, she is prohibited from doing anything physically strenuous. From the moment of conception to the day of birth the mother is believed to be guarded by a spirit called the Tai'shen. After the child is born, she continues her rest period for another month. After the first month of the child's life, they are named in a special naming ceremony. The act of marriage takes place in six stages. The first stage involves matching the horoscopes of the bride and groom. The second stage is the wedding announcement. The third stage is the exchange of the dowry. In the fourth stage, the groom escorts the bride from her home. In the fifth stage, vows are exchange. In the final stage of the marriage ceremony, the bride makes breakfast for her in-laws. In death, people must cont...
