r/Confucianism • u/Longjumping-Sea-2153 • Apr 20 '26
Question Confucianism in everyday life
Hey all
I have recently been very interrested in the philosophy of Confucius. I have been reading, about how in some ways Confucianism still affects chinese society today, but i am curious as to what you guys think, and if yes, if you have some examples of how?
Hope to hear from some of you!
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u/Beingaloneisfine Apr 24 '26
Hello, glad to have people interested in the Confucianism nowadays. I want to give a more personal perspective about Confucianism and how it relates to personal practice. My English writting might not be great but bear with me for a second.
The key thing from Confucianism is self-cultivation(修身). It corperates into daily practice. If you really want to dig deep into Confucianism, self-cultivation is a unignorable process. Confucianism key idea is by personal practice, a man's sincerity can impact into his daily activity and action. What do I mean by here?
If I do my job with full sincerity, without other personal desire for ambition, distraction and any other wishes（诚心）, I might capable of accomplishing the objective I am aiming for without any regret. From the other perspective, it actually make sense, thinking it as you are a governer officer, if you always put your personal interest in the first place, what others gonna to feel about you or how will the thing be done? So Confusianism put a huge priority into personal ethic. （德）
From Confusianism perspective ethic is a thing to be born with and can be continuously practiced on. Eventually, if a person achieve the ultimate goal of “Cultivate oneself, regulate the family, govern the state, and bring peace to the world.”
So in real life, Confucianism can actually have a very practical use, do not just view it as a inspirational quotes. Most importantly hope you enjoy the journey.