Introduction
Human society survives and continues to grow because of the legal systems that are in place today. Most of these legalities that we find today are built for peaceful living. However, there are a number of unwritten laws all over the place that would ensure every human being enjoys his or her stay on this planet. These unwritten rules that preach effective living and a peaceful coexistence with other human beings in the society are generally attributed as civility.
Civility is normally looked at as a respect for others in a public place and a behavior that will ensure one curtails his own freedom or self-interest in the interest of every one or others; whereas, nobility is normally looked at as the state or quality of being noble in character, quality or rank. There is close relationship between the two words. Both of them signify the way one behaves in public. However, nobility is about a more matured and perfected behavior of a higher class. The civility on the other hand refers to the behavior that is closer to any man and how he or she should behave in public.
Both the great thinkers of the east, Buddha and Confucius have spent large part of their treatises on how to behave in public and how noble men and better men behave in public. And how others could possibly identify him or her? Nobility and civility center on the overall character of a man to live as a member of the society he is in. There is hardly any reason why a person should not adopt to a civil behavior or why some one should not display a noble character. Let us take a look at what the two major thinkers of the east have to say about this.
Nobility and Civility
What Dhammapada Says?
Wise men are the noble men in Dhammapada. They are the people who are identified separately and Dhammapada says these men are to be followed. It is good to be in the company of such noble men and do what they say and to follow them. It is a gift to be with them, whereas, it is evil to work or to be with bad men. Bad men spread wrong opinions and ideas whereas good men do the opposite.
When you are with the good men, noble thoughts are spread by their presence and by their words. The words that they utter carry lot more meaning than what they really say. A wise man will not hesitate to say what is wrong and what is right. He will not be the one who will be afraid of the person sitting in front of him and utter something pleasant to him. He would say only those that are true and if there is anything wrong, he will say that first.
The noble would give up their attachments according to Dhammapada, and they are neither affected by the happiness or by pain. The wise will show neither elation nor depression. Emotions are not the way they express their thoughts. These are the people who can reach nirvana. According to Dhammapada, the nirvana can be attained by these wise men, if they should be mindful, investigate the Dhamma, have energy, rapture, Calmness, Concentration and equanimity. They will free themselves from all attachments. But there is still a better and supreme man beyond this noble man and he is the one who will eschew all desires and live without good or evil.
Every man is not a noble man. Every noble man is not a supreme man. But there are thousands of others who need to follow the supreme man if he is there. If he is not then they can follow the noble man; because he is better than the common men. For these common men, Buddha offers the first twenty verses of his Dhammapada. They provide encouragement to a very clean life and thereby become a wiser man; a nobler self.
The major directions that are given in the Dhammapada are:
- Mind is the forerunner of all good and bad. According to him, if only the mind should think only about the good things in the life and about good acts in life, then the same will be bestowed to the person. If he should think of the bad things and wicked actions, then that is what is given to him. Therefore, one should ensure that ensure that evil thoughts do not really dart into them.
- Hatred in the society is not a momentary action. It is normally latent in the men and women who harbor hatred. When a person keeps thinking of others in unkind manners, then he will only cultivate hatred. Instead if he should think kind of others, then the same will also be sowed in his mind.
- He also says to love every one, one cannot hate some. Hatred will only breed hatred and not love. The same is also true about love. Love will breed love. They are all induced feelings and emotions. Therefore, if you want the world to love you, then you should do the same to the rest of the world.
- A person who does evil things will continue to suffer in life as well as in his thoughts. According to Dhammapada, therefore, a person should shun such actions and should cultivate himself from doing such work. This way one can live a peaceful life and coexist with other people in the society more comfortably.
- The same way, Buddha also says, that a person with un-developed mind will be full of lust. For a person who has a developed mind, lust will not be in it. He will be without any of the desires that is present in the normal human being.
All these factors are of universal nature. Though there is no straight civility related words, Buddha has said those practices that every one should adopt in order to lead a peaceful life in this civil society. Such is the case with the nobility too. He does not categorize nobility hereditarily. He assigns them nobility based on their knowledge and behavior. Any person can become a nobler man; a wise man based on his behavior.
And the same way, any person can also become a supreme man too depending upon his behavior. It is not by birth that such position is obtained. At the same time, there are also other factors he brings in to describe the noble behavior. The kind of affections the person would have on others; the attachment that he might have on material wealth and on other human desires; are all lay bare by Buddha. It is not easy to behave in a noble way in the eyes of Buddha.
Whereas, when it comes to the masses, Buddha has clear advice on how to behave and how not to behave. What is the kind of person who will crave for position in the society and who will not? He also talks about the basic qualities a person should have to work his way through in a civil society. The civility that he preaches is a society of love. He preaches a joy that would be present in all those who do a good job.
There are a number of people who reflected the same ideas in their thoughts. If you want people to love you, then you should love them. Hatred would only breed hatred. This is very relevant in the world that is full of violence. Why should a man kill another who is his own neighbor? It is for the desire that he has for wealth and, some times for his own security. All this will come up only if the person should have attachment. Desire is the root cause of all evil.
What Confucius says?
Any one who wants to be a civil person, Confucius addresses them. He says in the words of the master in his analects for the youth. At home, every youth should be filial and when he is abroad, should be respectful to his elders. He should be earnest in whatever he does. He should be truthful. He should also cultivate the friendship of the good and should love every human being in the world. He should do all these; and after all these if he still has time should concentrate on studying about things that are polite and preach love. According to Confucius, the person should examine himself three times every day.
He should check whether he has not been faithful when he did business with any one. It is bad business to do something like that. The same way, he should also check at the end of the day, whether he has not been sincere with his friends. He should reflect his deepest thoughts and sincerities in every one of the jobs that he does. Finally, he should also check out whether he ‘mastered and practiced the instructions of my teacher’. These are possibly the basic civility that Confucius preaches.
As a matter of fact, Confucius provides a long list of instructions on how to do business and how to keep sincerity the basic framework of all practices. He also talks about how the rich and the poor behave. It is rare, according to him, to find a poor man who does not flatter and a rich man who is not proud. But it is the poor man who is cheerful and rich who holds on and loves the rules of propriety in the behavior. It is therefore, important that every one of the people who want to be civil have a sense of propriety under all circumstances. He also insists that no man can conceal his real character in the public. Over a period of time, it is always possible for others to identify that and bring it to the knowledge of every one. All through on personal civility, Confucius insists on filial piety and a joy in doing this.
While talking about the nobility in the country, Confucius is more direct and talks about not general people but about the ruling class. If the nobility wants people to submit to them, then they should ensure that they promote the people who are upright and have a character that is appreciated. And the noble should set aside the crooked characters. If the opposite is done, then they will not submit to the nobility.
The noble should preside over the people with gravity only then will the people reverence him. His say should be final and he should be kind to all concerned under him, then people would remain faithful to him. He should promote the good people and teach the incompetent in the country or among the people under him. This would ensure that the people will try to be virtuous and that would ensure his job would become easier.
But he insists, for either of the people whether it is the noble man or the common man, filial piety is essential. And so is truthfulness. If a man is not truthful then he cannot get on with the life, according to Confucius. He also says that during festivities it is better to be sparing than to be extravagant. The same way observance of minutest is not important during mourning but the deep sorrow is. He reflects a thought that is in line with the modern thinking and rules out blind following of principles and rules. This also applies to the ministers who work for their prince. These ministers should be faithful in their utterances and loyal in their work for the prince.
His realization that the excellence of a neighborhood, is provided by the virtuous manners adopted by the people in it. That is why a wise person according to Confucius should select the neighborhood that has these. On more than one occasion, the Master insists that the person should display filial duties. He does not say the person should renounce everything for attaining nirvana. He does not say there should be no desires.
But what he says is ensure that every one does filial duty. Every one is truthful. Every one has to be virtuous. And according to him, the truly virtuous is the one who can really love or hate some one. Desires are common in man, according to him. It is difficult to renounce everything and walk out as a sacred being. But it is not much to ask from a person to remain truthful and to execute his duty faithfully.
Sincerity, faithfulness, filial duty and virtuosity are the civil duties that Confucius preaches to his followers. He also says if you are noble, you could be even be inheriting, but all that one needs to remember to make people abide by what you say is to ensure that the noble man respects the opinion of the people and ensure that he identifies the bad from the good. This is one of the important virtues that the person should have if he is to stay a noble man.
Confucian thoughts are imbibed by some of the well known quotes from him, such as, ‘What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others’ and, the Master of Zen says when asked about what is Zen, ‘It is love! Love all men!’ Knowledge according to him is to know all men. Therefore, in a social life, the civility will expect one to behave in a loving and caring manner understanding or empathizing with the other person using the knowledge of the other person. This is what Confucius stresses as his civility.
My View
Any two thinkers seldom think alike. But at the same time, since the solution they are trying to reach is for the same problem, they are pretty similar at least in a number of cases. Confucius also says love all men. So does Buddha. But the question of loving all men is not always possible. Is it possible to love a terrorist who is bent on seeking death for us? Can we take love to the den of a lion? Like for instance, Bin Laden.
Love is possible with people who will listen and who will have the tendency to appreciate. With people who have no heart and who do not know the difference between a friend and a foe, how can he be taken in with love? Though there are a number of stories that say, love has the power to convert people. It needs time; it needs effort. And at the end of that effort, the success is not guaranteed. Implementation of love also requires support of force.
Similarly, both of them concur that attachment to good people is essential. And a detachment from bad is also recommended. The issue here is more practical and seems to work against the first principle already laid down. That is to say, love all men. If you are ignoring or not talking to bad people, how can you also love all men? Obviously, both cannot be true. There is a contradiction of principles that can be noted. Possibly, what is meant could be looked at this way; you should love all men and associate even with the bad people. But then, their thoughts and processes should not influence you. In other words, there should be a positive influence on the person with whom you are dealing and not get influenced by them. This could be taken as the interpretation of what is said by the thinkers.
There cannot be however any doubt in the fact that desire is the root cause of all evils. It is quite true that every one of the troubles that human beings experience is not due to the basic needs he has but due to the greed and want that he has been promoting in himself. The same way, there cannot be also other opinion on what Confucius says about people not doing what he does not want others to do to him. That is how the world should really be viewed. Only if one empathizes with the others and try to understand that what is bad for his own self should also be bad for the other person. Only then, there could be peace in this world.
Confucius differs from the Buddhist principles in a number of ways. The civility that he preaches is substantially different from what the Buddhists preach. Whereas Buddha finds desire as the root cause of all evils, Confucius does not identify desire in the forefront of eradication of evils. He insists on filial duties and being sincere to the friends, faithful in business and if a person has these principles in his heart, according to him, will be a civil person.
Of course, he also preaches love and affection for every one concerned; which is more in line with what Buddha wants too. The difference in perception of civil behavior seems to be more from the way they interact with people and the basic guiding principle as per Dhammapada is to cast away desires and take up life of renunciation. However, one could have a loving life and should preach the same.
Confucius is also more vociferous about the state of nobility and how they should be unlike Buddha who was himself from a noble family. While Buddha was for more general an approach to life and that which suits every one, Confucius teaches separately for nobility and dictates how and what they should be doing. Buddhist principles on nobility are more for learned men and wise men rather than for the rich and the pompous.
Nobility has become an important class of people in the society who really seem to be making most of the decisions that affects every one in the society. But then, it is also important that they consider the status of the rich as well as the poor and the under-privileged so that every body is treated uniformly. This equality is mentioned rather in a subtle manner and is mentioned by both the great thinkers and preachers alike.
The equality of men is what most of the constitutions of the world try to provide but there cannot be any doubts about their failure in this act. As the old saying goes, all men are equal; some are more equal than the others. This adage seems to bring back the thought of equality in humans and their work conditions. They also do not accept the condition of hereditary nobility. This is important and particularly true in a democratic society.
Conclusion
It is true that the Eastern Civility is more concerned with the love and affection for the people. Respect for the elders and senior people in the family; more into the filial duties rather than on other conditions. These are given priority and are mentioned by the Chinese thinker. However, both of them do agree on majority of the conditions which may not really fit into today’s world and how much of it can really fit in is as usual, disputable. There cannot be any doubt that this kind of an ideal society is what is being aimed at and over a period of time, this will be achieved in the society.
Bibliography
Confucius, The Analects.
Buddha, The Dhammapada.