Chapter IV, Confucianism, The Confucian Project, Summary and Analysis

Contrary to the yogi tradition of retiring from human contact to discover the God within, Confucianism puts the individual squarely in the middle of human contact to perfect a social order. It is an on-going process from birth to death. It places the Five Constant Relationships into an atmosphere that fluctuates widely. To circumvent the temptation of rulers to become tyrannical, Confucius insisted that authority must be earned, and he maintains his right to loyalty from his subjects through honesty and just treatment. In other words, the Right to Revolution was built solidly into the Confucian ideology two millennia before the West tossed out the idea of "the Divine right of Kings".