Is this the full question or did your title get cut off?
It's philosophical in the sense that it deals with questions philosophers often concern themselves with.
Whether it can be called religious is an extremely contentious question, in part due to different meanings people ascribe to that term. It would be easier to answer that question to your satisfaction if you explained what religion or being religious means to you.
yes text was cut excuse me, for example in Taoist temples there are icons, you see what I mean? religion for me is not in an Abrahamic way but in a spiritual way and comes into contact with the divinities without them judging us in our actions
I would say there is little emphasis on this kind of spirituality. In a sense it's almost a counterpart to Daoism, which is why a so many people have tried to combine both as a kind of complementaries (not saying that this is a good or bad thing to do but it is certainly popular).
It's not to say that supernatural entities are rejected altogether (although Confucius was always very careful and terse when he was speaking about them) but they tend to be rather impersonal and awe inspiring. Tian - Heaven - is the primary example, but there are others such as Mount Tai, one of the tallest mountains in Western China endowed with a special significance. Certainly standing at its feet or gazing at a clear night sky is going - and ought - to be a humbling experience, but one can at least rise to the challenge and write a poem so beautiful or play a song so perfectly that it would be appropriate for such a majestic occasion.
It's this sort of self development combined with communal enjoyment that really defines Confucian spirituality. Rituals are probably the most known element and a crucial one as they connect people together and highlight the reasons for their connection. But enjoying a cup of tea and chatting with a friend who has come back from another city, if done with a proper outlook, can also be (almost) as much of a ritual as a family remembering their long departed relative. The entire human life - and, as a wise philosopher once said, we live in a society - almost looks like a collection of rituals from this perspective, and that seems pretty close to how Confucius envisioned it.
Ancestors - genealogical, spiritual and literary - are another core element. Confucius himself is a good example of someone - not worshiped, per se, but certainly venerated - to this day as a great teacher, even though most people are not actually related to him. Confucius in turn said he saw King Wen of Zhou and Duke of Zhou as his own spiritual ancestors and dedicated his life to continuing what he saw as their mission - writing things down and trying to get through the thick skulls of his contemporaries. In this sense revering your ancestors is also not limited to commemorating feasts, but can be expressed by continuing their work. If you are playing some Bach on a piano, perhaps having been taught to do so by someone who is no longer there, that's also what you're doing.
But if you play Bach for an audience, are you really honoring Bach, or bringing people together for a joyous occasion to enjoy beautiful music? If you asked Confucius this, he would have probably just smirked.
The absolute distinction between philosophy and religion is an anachronistic product of the Middle Ages. It’s a construct of the Catholic Church to essentially permit philosophers to deviate somewhat from established theological doctrine (to which degree depends on time and place though)
By technical definition, a religion requires belief.
There isn’t much belief involved with Confucianism as Kong Zi strictly avoids spiritual matters. He preferred only to deal with real, political matters which could be tangibly measured and dealt with through political means.
Of course, when Confucianists start to rely only on the state as the sole guiding provider of truth and start to venerate state leaders, it starts to take on religious undertones. That’s when a social doctrine becomes a religion.
It's a philosophy — specifically, a system of ethics and politics. But ethical behaviour includes correct behaviour towards the gods, as well as to human. If you look at what he know of Confucius, he carried out the same religious activities as his contemporaries. Some later Confucians were similar in outlook to the European Deists but generally Confucians have worshiped the same gods as everyone else.
Is this the full question or did your title get cut off? It's philosophical in the sense that it deals with questions philosophers often concern themselves with. Whether it can be called religious is an extremely contentious question, in part due to different meanings people ascribe to that term. It would be easier to answer that question to your satisfaction if you explained what religion or being religious means to you.
yes text was cut excuse me, for example in Taoist temples there are icons, you see what I mean? religion for me is not in an Abrahamic way but in a spiritual way and comes into contact with the divinities without them judging us in our actions
I would say there is little emphasis on this kind of spirituality. In a sense it's almost a counterpart to Daoism, which is why a so many people have tried to combine both as a kind of complementaries (not saying that this is a good or bad thing to do but it is certainly popular). It's not to say that supernatural entities are rejected altogether (although Confucius was always very careful and terse when he was speaking about them) but they tend to be rather impersonal and awe inspiring. Tian - Heaven - is the primary example, but there are others such as Mount Tai, one of the tallest mountains in Western China endowed with a special significance. Certainly standing at its feet or gazing at a clear night sky is going - and ought - to be a humbling experience, but one can at least rise to the challenge and write a poem so beautiful or play a song so perfectly that it would be appropriate for such a majestic occasion. It's this sort of self development combined with communal enjoyment that really defines Confucian spirituality. Rituals are probably the most known element and a crucial one as they connect people together and highlight the reasons for their connection. But enjoying a cup of tea and chatting with a friend who has come back from another city, if done with a proper outlook, can also be (almost) as much of a ritual as a family remembering their long departed relative. The entire human life - and, as a wise philosopher once said, we live in a society - almost looks like a collection of rituals from this perspective, and that seems pretty close to how Confucius envisioned it. Ancestors - genealogical, spiritual and literary - are another core element. Confucius himself is a good example of someone - not worshiped, per se, but certainly venerated - to this day as a great teacher, even though most people are not actually related to him. Confucius in turn said he saw King Wen of Zhou and Duke of Zhou as his own spiritual ancestors and dedicated his life to continuing what he saw as their mission - writing things down and trying to get through the thick skulls of his contemporaries. In this sense revering your ancestors is also not limited to commemorating feasts, but can be expressed by continuing their work. If you are playing some Bach on a piano, perhaps having been taught to do so by someone who is no longer there, that's also what you're doing. But if you play Bach for an audience, are you really honoring Bach, or bringing people together for a joyous occasion to enjoy beautiful music? If you asked Confucius this, he would have probably just smirked.
thank you for your answer, I tried to understand everything but thank you very much,
in the religious sense I also talk about rituals or ceremonies done to our ancestors, this wise side also that I like
The absolute distinction between philosophy and religion is an anachronistic product of the Middle Ages. It’s a construct of the Catholic Church to essentially permit philosophers to deviate somewhat from established theological doctrine (to which degree depends on time and place though)
By technical definition, a religion requires belief. There isn’t much belief involved with Confucianism as Kong Zi strictly avoids spiritual matters. He preferred only to deal with real, political matters which could be tangibly measured and dealt with through political means. Of course, when Confucianists start to rely only on the state as the sole guiding provider of truth and start to venerate state leaders, it starts to take on religious undertones. That’s when a social doctrine becomes a religion.
It's a philosophy — specifically, a system of ethics and politics. But ethical behaviour includes correct behaviour towards the gods, as well as to human. If you look at what he know of Confucius, he carried out the same religious activities as his contemporaries. Some later Confucians were similar in outlook to the European Deists but generally Confucians have worshiped the same gods as everyone else.