Confuclus’ Influence

孔子的影响

Confucius is the most famous sage¹ of China. More than any other single man, he, through his followers², produced the principle basis of the Chinese tradition of ethics³ and political theory that had thus deeply influenced Chinese society and culture. Over the centuries, this influence spread also to Korea, Japan and other countries. Confucianism is wholly considered more of an ettiical philosophy than a religion. However, it is debatable if the system founded by Confucius should be called a religion, it prescribes a great deal of ritual, but little of this can be interpreted as worship or meditation⁴ in a formal sense； and Confucius occasionally made statements about the existence of other-worldly beings that sound agnostic to western ears.

孔子是中国最知名的圣人。比任何其他人都出名，他通过他的追随者，产生了中国传统的道德观和政治理论也因而中国社会和文化深受其影响。几个世纪以来，这种影响还波及到韩国，日本等国家。儒家思想是完全被认为比宗教有更多的道德观念。但是，这也备受争论，如果由孔子创立的制度应该被称为一种宗教，它规定了大量的仪式，但很少可以解释为崇拜或冥想在正式的观念中;而孔子偶尔发表的关于神圣生命的存在的陈述在西方人看来是不可知论的。