The Happiness Of Kung [Confucius] And Yen [Hui] In Neo-Confucianism

The concept of happiness of Kung [Confucius] and Yen [Hui]was originally recorded in the two passages in Analects. The first one is:"Confucius said: With coarse rice to eat, with only water to drink, andmy bended arm for a pillow, I am happy in the midst of these things.Riches and honor acquired by means that I know to be wrong are tome as a floating cloud." The second one is:"Confucius said:Incomparable indeed was Hui. A handful of rice to eat, a gourdful ofwater to drink, and living in a mean street: these, others would havefound unbearably depressing, but for Huis happiness they made nodifference at all. Incomparable indeed was Hui." But my question is whythe concentration on this kind of happiness just hold byNeo-Confucianism after thousands of years? Why this kind of happinesswas the code issue during the Sung dynasty and Ming dynasty?First of all, it should be emphasized that the happiness of Kung[Confucius] and Yen [Hui] for the Neo-Confucianism is not just anoptimistic attitude to life. Actually, it is an ideal spiritual realm. Secondly,the exploration and development of this issue is due to the specialsocial background. To some extents, its the result from the challengesby Taoism and Taoism. And the development and exploration of theideal spiritual realm aimed to fight against the concept of Wu-wei of Taoism and Buddhahood of Buddhism. Last but not least, the theories ofthe happiness of Kung [Confucius] and Yen [Hui] were based on thetheories of cosmology and ontology. So, we should pay more attentionon these two theoretic basises for a better understanding of that idealspiritual realm.There are totally four parts in the thesis. The first part is to showthe importance of this issue. The second part is to discuss the realmeaning on the happiness of Kung [Confucius] and Yen [Hui]. It is notonly the emotional feeling or an optimistic attitude towards life. Its anideal spiritual realm. The third part is about four theories of happinessput forward by four typical Neo-Confucianists(they are Chou Tun-Yi,Cheng Hao, Chu Hsi and Wang Shou-Jen). The last part is about thecontribution of these theories.In this thesis, I hope to discuss something more important in another sight, like why this topic was able to be the code issue during thatperiod, how did these Neo-Confucianists build their theories ofhappiness or ideal spiritual realm on the basic of their cosmology andontology. Besides, what is the innovation is that Ill try to review thedevelopment of Neo-Confucianism by studying and analyse theexploration of the happiness of Kung [Confucius] and Yen [Hui]. On theother hand, I also hope the influences of Taoism and Buddhism can berevealed in my discussion.