The Useless Tree

Confucius/Confucianism

  • “The War” and “No End in Sight”

          Last week I went and saw the film, "No End in Sight," (Youtube trailer, here) about the deceit and dissembling that produced the war in Iraq; and this week I have been watching the TV documentary, "The War," … Continue reading

  • Capitalism Kills the Elderly

         That might be the conclusion Confucius and Mencius would draw from the big front page article in the NYT yesterday: More Profit and Less Nursing at Many Homes.  It seems that large private investment companies have bought up… Continue reading

  • Mencius and the Jena 6

         The large demonstrations this week in Jena Louisiana, protesting the apparent disproportionate punishment of six African-American high school students for beating up a white fellow student, raise many questions about race and justice in America.  And Mencius can… Continue reading

  • Moral Models

         It may be too early to rename the CCP the Chinese Confucian Party, but this story (hat tip, CDT) certainly demonstrates how seriously the Party takes the revival of Confucianism: The Chinese Communist Party has selected 53 "national… Continue reading

  • How John McCain is Not Confucian

         Over at his wonderfully named ("A Ku Indeed!" – which refers to a great and cryptic passage in the Analects: "a ku [sacred ritual vessel], not a ku, a ku indeed, a ku indeed," 6.25), Chris Panza (a… Continue reading

  • Confucian Rap: Remember the Name

         This may seem a bit disrespectful – and I certainly don’t mean it that way for either Confucians or rappers –  but I can’t help but sense a Confucian overtone to this well-known song by Fort Minor (a… Continue reading

  • Tiger Woods, Confucian Gentleman

        The golf great does the right Confucian thing: ATLANTA (AP) — Tiger Woods is skipping the PGA Grand Slam of Golf in Bermuda, saying Wednesday he wanted the longest break of his career to spend time with his… Continue reading

  • Confucian Facebook Friends

         So, a couple of weeks ago I took the plunge and set up a Facebook profile.  I am gradually learning the ins and outs of cyber-social networking.  It’s interesting, but hardly breathtaking.  I have connected – or "friended"… Continue reading

  • Confucian Death Penalty

         Confucius was generally against the death penalty.  One of the clearest statements of his aversion to capital punishment comes in The Analects, 12.19:    Asking Confucius about governing, Lord Chi K’ang said: "What if I secure those who… Continue reading

  • A Confucian Commentary on the Bush Administration

          A pleasant late-summer morning.  In my office, looking out on fields and trees, reading The Analects and making notes on which passages might fit into this or that chapter of the book I am writing.  And this jumps… Continue reading