How Confucianism Relates to Penjing

Confucianism is a philosophy that was created in China during a war. It was created to restore the country from disorder and suffering. Confucius had the idea that all people had a place in earth and that they all have a responsibility. His focus was that is doesn't matter if you are good or bad as long as you understand your place on earth and don't try to change that. He stressed this because when people tried to change their status they created disorder and suffering.

I chose this philosophy because it easily relates to the principles of making a Penjing. Penjing must have opposing characteristics, and Confucianism deals with a lot of opposing forces, Such as good and bad. Penjing must also have relationships between two different substances on earth that help each other in order to live. In Confucianism There are five relationships in which they both help each other in order to survive.

The biggest element that I used was rocks. I used these because they a good, hard, and sturdy base. I also choose to use dirt in the base. I used this because the hardness of the rock and the softness of the soil balanced each other for the perfect combination for a base. The third material that I used was water. Although there is no water in the creek, the soil has a lot of water absorbed with in it. This mixture of the soil and water is a perfect example of how two opposing forces work together to help each other.

The soil and rock make a perfect home for the water. However if water was never there would be no live that would ever come to the rocks and soil. That is how two opposing forces work together to make life better for the both of them.