Doctrine of the Mean

views updated May 29 2018

Doctrine of the Mean. Eng. rendering of Chung Yung, one of the group of Four Books in the Confucian Classics. Like the Great Learning (Ta Hsüeh) it was extracted from the Records of Rites (Li Chi) by the neo-Confucians of the Sung dynasty (960–1279) because of its relevance to their pursuit of sainthood through self-cultivation. The text deals with the existential situation of humans as moral beings in a moral universe, and the burden on the noble individual (chün tzu) to act and live accordingly. This expressed exactly the religious philosophy of the neo-Confucians.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions JOHN BOWKER

Mean, doctrine of the

views updated May 29 2018

Mean, doctrine of the (book in Confucian Classics): see DOCTRINE OF THE MEAN.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions JOHN BOWKER

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