Editing Confucianism (section)

===Zhou traditions wane===
By the 6th century BC, the power of ''Tian'' and the symbols that represented it on earth (architecture of cities, temples, altars and [[Chinese ritual bronzes|ritual vessels]], and the Zhou system of rites) became "diffuse" and claimed by different potentates in the [[Ancient Chinese states|Zhou states]] to legitimise economic, political, and military ambitions. Communication with the divine no longer was an exclusive privilege of the Zhou royal house, but might be bought by anyone able to afford the elaborate ceremonies and the old and new rites required to access the authority of ''Tian''.{{sfnb|Didier|2009|pp=xxxvi–xxxvii, Vol. I}}

Besides the waning Zhou ritual system, what may be defined as {{zhl|l=wild|c=野|p=yě}} traditions, or traditions outside of the official system, developed as attempts to access the will of ''Tian''. As central political authority crumbled in the wake of the collapse of the [[Western Zhou]], the population lost faith in the official tradition, which was no longer perceived as an effective way to communicate with Heaven. The traditions of the {{zhl|l=Nine Fields|c=九野}} and of the ''[[Yijing]]'' flourished.{{sfnb|Didier|2009|pp=xxxvii–xxxviii, Vol. I}} Chinese thinkers, faced with this challenge to legitimacy, diverged in a "[[Hundred Schools of Thought]]", each positing its own philosophical lens for understanding the processes of the world.

[[Confucius]] (551–479 BC) appeared in this period of political reconfiguration and spiritual questioning. He was educated in Shang–Zhou traditions, which he contributed to transmit and reformulate giving centrality to [[self-cultivation]] and agency of humans,{{sfnb|Fung|2008|p=163}} and the educational power of the self-established individual in assisting others to establish themselves (the  {{zhi|c=愛人|p=àirén|l=principle of loving others}}).{{sfnb|Zhou|2012|p=2}} As the Zhou reign collapsed, traditional values were abandoned resulting in a period of perceived moral decline. Confucius saw an opportunity to reinforce values of compassion and tradition into society, with the intended goal of reconstructing what he believed to be a lost perfect moral order of high antiquity. Disillusioned with the culture, opposing scholars, and religious authorities of the time, he began to advance an ethical interpretation of traditional Zhou religion.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last1=Ivanhoe |first1=Philip J. |title=Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy |last2=Van Norden |first2=Bryan W. |publisher=[[Hackett Publishing Company]] |year=2005 |isbn=0-87220-781-1 |edition=2nd |location=Indianapolis |page=2 |oclc=60826646 |author-link=Philip J. Ivanhoe |author-link2=Bryan W. Van Norden}}</ref> In his view, the power of ''Tian'' is pervasive, and responds positively to the sincere heart driven by humaneness and rightness, decency and altruism. Confucius conceived these qualities as the foundation needed to restore socio-political harmony. Like many contemporaries, Confucius saw ritual practices as efficacious ways to access ''Tian'', but he thought that the crucial knot was the reverent inner state that participants enter prior to engaging in the ritual acts.{{sfnb|Didier|2009|loc=Vol. III, pp. 96–99}} Confucius is said to have amended and recodified the [[Chinese classics|classical books]] inherited from the Xia-Shang-Zhou dynasties, and to have composed the ''[[Spring and Autumn Annals]]''.{{sfnb|Zhou|2012|p=1}}