Religion Confucianism and Taoism Vocab

Confucius

founder of Confucianism

Analects

the collected sayings of Confucius, one of the Four Books of Confucianism

Shu

meaning goodness, love, and benevolence; the supreme human virtue, doing one's best to treat others as one would wish to be treated

Jen

reciprocity"; a basic principle of Confucian ethics that says not to do to others what you would not want them to do to you

Filial Piety

a virtue of respect for one's parents, elders, and ancestors

Tao

way"; for Confucianism, the moral order that permeates the universe, the Way that should be followed. Sometimes the word tao is lowercased to refer more generally to an individual tao, or "way

Lao Tzu

the first founder of Taoism, created the Tao Te Ching, "Old Master

Wu Wei

non-action", the supreme Taoist virtue, tendered in English variously as "actionless activity," "pure effectiveness," "yielding to win," "creative quietude," and so on. To practice this is to be so perfectly in harmony with nature that nature's energy in

Ying Yang

the positive, active, masculine, heavenly component of the universe, characterized by light and strength; complements yin
the negative, passive, feminine, earthly component of the universe, characterized by darkness and weakness; complement yang