Confucian and Taoist Views on Sexual Morality

2. Confucian and Taoist Views on Sexual Morality Confucianism and Contemporary Moral Issues Chung M. Tse

3. Basic Moral Concepts • Jen • Benevolence and love • Class of virtues: wisdom, courage, confidence, gravity, forgiveness, trustworthiness, earnestness, kindness • The quality of moral perfection Moral perfection: is, negatively, the quality of having no moral deficiency, positively, the ideal state of possessing all possible moral virtues

4. Human nature - Mencius • A human being is the composite of the elements of greater ti and lesser ti • Lesser ti: the physical body with all its attachments and derivatives • Greater ti: the moral mind (hsin, jen-mind) “The mind is … a creatively active faculty for originating moral precepts alone” (238)

5. Ch’i • Confucian Cosmology • Ch’I: • accounts for the origin of evil • In the form of human body, it displays man’s natural qualities and capacities (emotions, senses, desires, temperament, instincts) • Evil begins when individuals follow their dispositions of Ch’I to the extent that they defy morality prescribed by the jen-mind

6. The ultimate judge of morality is the jen-mind • Man is a composite being of jen-mind embodied in a configuration of Ch’I • acts deriving from the jen-mind are good, acts deriving from Ch’I can be morally agreeable, indifferent, or evil

7. Fundamental principles of Confucian ethics • Man must fully actualize the jen-mind activity in his own person and help others to do so (duty) and thus realize a world of Great Harmony • Man must respect his own person and that of others, respect is the essence of humanity • The jen-mind is in a constant process of self-actualization, every individual is potentially Heaven-in-particular. Thus, everything that which might suppress, subvert, or destroy this potential is forbidden

8. Confucian position on sexual morality • Extended view of sexual act • Human sexual intercourse is for the purpose of procreation • It is to be engaged by couples of opposite sex who are bonded and are willing to take this process to its fruition • The act of intercourse initiates many great virtues of the cosmic jen-mind: caring, love, intimacy, union, dynamic harmony, exchange of vital energy, joyful consummation, and creativity

9. Deviation form the norm • Incest and bestiality • Rape and child molestation • Homosexuality • Premarital sex • Extramarital sex

10. The Taoist View of Sex Geoffrey Parrinder

11. What is the Taoist view of celibacy and sexual abstinence? • What sort of explanation do Taoists give for their view? • Why was this view opposed by Confucians and Buddhists? • What are some of the features of the Taoists view of male-female relationship, marriage, and sexual activity that conflict with the Confucian view described by Tse?

12. Main concepts • Taoist symbolism and metaphorical expression of sexual intercourse • Yin and Yang • The Tao • Rich sexual symbolism in Taoist philosophy

13. Human sexual activity as essential associated with the balancing of principles necessary for human health, strength, and longevity • Cultivation of sexual energy, mutual exchange of yin and yang essences • Sexual intercourse: increase vigor and bring long life • Two purposes: procreation and the increase of male energy