Revelation, Rationality, Knowledge & Truth — Page 155
F. CONFUCIANISM ✓ ROM an in-depth study of classical Confucian literature, it is not difficult to prove that. Confucianism is not a man-made philosophy at its origin. It did embrace the idea of one immortal God, from. Whom its teachings originated and Who is believed to govern the universe. "Heaven” is a manifestation of that. God, and as such sometimes He Himself is referred to as. Heaven. Confucianism considers true knowledge to consist of understanding the attributes of God and adopting them in one's own conduct. This brings man closer to eternal truth and serves as a source of knowledge for his benefit. . The history of Confucianism and Taoism goes as far back as the time of Fu Hsi, (pronounced as Foo She) (c. 3322 BC), who was both a king and a great sage. Once, in a vision, he saw a horse dragon rising from the Yellow. River which had a diagram on its back. This is not the only incident of Chinese history regarding a prophet learning things through his vision. Prophet Yu (c. 2140 BC) is also recorded benefitting from Divine revelation. In the vision of Fu Hsi he had the opportunity to study the diagram. The diagram consisted of eight sets of three male and female lines. The combination of these trigrams into upper and lower pairs provides sixty-four hexagrams. The significance of each hexagram is depicted by its name and is related to the particular arrangement of male and female lines. It is reported of a sage, King Wan (c. 1143 BC), that he was the first to write down the interpretations of these hexagrams. His son, Cheu Kung (c. 1120 BC), added to these explanations and later Confucius later Confucius added his commentary to it in the form of appendices. This was the development of Fu Hsi's vision into the Book of Changes known as I Ching (or Yi King). . An understanding of the principles of this theory (the theory of the eight trigrams) influenced the growth of many 155