What is significant about the Analects, the text which brings the teachings of Confucius, describing page after page, and repeatedly, the manner in which Confucius straightened his mat? In an insightful talk by Micheal Puett, a philosopher who has worked mainly on Chinese philosophy and written books on them including one titled “Ritual and its Consequences”, one gets an interesting interpretation of ritual in one’s life. It never pulls back and gives us the larger philosophy...” and in the context of Confucius straightening the mat, Puett interprets it as, “There is profound philosophy in that. Whatever was going on before that was to do with people’s anxieties, anger, etc, typical of human interactions...by straightening the mat you have created a slightly different way of being...altered the mood slightly.” Puett says just as smoothening the mat could be seen as smoothening the mess inside the individual, if you are constantly creating moments when you are different, that too can become a habit. Therefore, rituals are practices to become an ethical person.

Source: The Hindu December 07, 2017 20:03 UTC