social relationships. Confucianism has influenced the Chinese attitude toward life, set the patterns of living and standards of social value, and provided the background for Chinese political theories and institutions (Nivison 80-81). Confucianism has spread from China to Korea, Japan, and Vietnam and has aroused interest among Western scholars (Bush, 268). Although Confucianism became the official ideology of the Chinese state, it has never existed as an established religion with a church and priesthood. Chinese scholars honored Confucius as a great teacher and sage but did not worship him as a god. Confucius also never claimed to be a god. Unlike Christian churches, the temples built to Confucius were not places were not places in which organized community groups gathered to worship, but public places designed for annual ceremonies. This was especially true on the philosophers birthday. Several attempts to idolize Confucius and to proselyte Confucianism failed because of the essentially worldly nature of the philosophy (Bush, 374).The principles of Confucianism are contained in the nine ancient Chinese works handed down by Confucius and his followers, who lived in an age of great philosophic activity. These writings can be divided into two groups: the Five Classics and the Four Books (DeVous and Slote, 3).The Five Classics or the Wu Ching originated before the time of Confucius. The Five Classics of Confucianism were works from the Zhou Dynasty that preceded the Warring States Period. They were collected and edited by members of the original Confucian school. These are the Classics, which would be studied by centuries of Chinese scholars. After Confucianism became the official state philosophy, one had to know the Classics well to gain the coveted position of government official. The Five Classics consist of the following works: the I Ching or Book of Changes, Shu Ching or Book of History, the Shih Ching or Book of Poetry, the Li Ch...
