*Article* **Writings, Emotions, and Oblations: The Religious-Ritual Origin of the Classical Confucian Conception of Cheng (Sincerity)**

**Jinhua Jia 1,2**

> 1 College of Humanities, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China; jhjia@um.edu.mo

2Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, University of Macau, Macau SAR, China

**Abstract:** *Cheng* 䃐 (sincerity) is one of the primary concepts in the Confucian tradition as well as Chinese intellectual history. Its rich implications involve dimensions of religion, ritual, folk belief, ethics, psychology, cosmology, metaphysics, aesthetics, and literature. In the Confucian classics, *cheng* is described as the "Dao of heaven"; humans through cultivation can reach the mysterious state of "the utmost sincerity functioning as spirits" and thus can "assist the transforming and generating power of heaven and earth." Because of *cheng*'s rich, sacred, and mysterious implications, it has been regarded as the most difficult and perplexing of Chinese concepts. Scholars have long studied *cheng* mainly from the perspective of philosophy to analyze its ideological conceptions in the Confucian classics, resulting in fruitful and inspiring interpretations. However, because they have not traced the origin of *cheng* to its rich religious, ritual, and literary sources, their interpretations have been unable to answer the question: why is *cheng* covered with such a mysterious veil? In recent decades, some scholars have started exploring *cheng*'s relationship with ancient religious beliefs and rituals, but so far a comprehensive examination of the religious-ritual origin of this significant concept remains lacking. To discover *cheng*'s mysterious origins, we must apply a synthetic approach of etymological, religious, philosophical, and literary studies. Drawing upon both transmitted and excavated texts, this essay first analyzes the graphic-phonetic structure and semantic implications of the character *cheng* ᡀ (completion), which was the character *cheng*'s 䃐 early form. It then examines the rich meanings implied in both characters related to sacrificial-divinatory rituals, including invoking the spirits with sincere writings, emotions, and oblations, in order to seduce them to descend and enjoy the offerings, as well as perfectively completing the human-spirit communication. Finally, the essay discusses how those religious beliefs and ritual ceremonies evolved into Confucian ethical values and aesthetic concepts, thus lifting the mysterious veil from *cheng*.

https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12060382AcademicEditor: XiaohuanZhao

 Origin of the

Received: 6 May 2021 Accepted: 21 May 2021 Published: 26 May 2021

**Citation:** Jia, Jinhua. 2021. Writings,

Emotions, and Oblations: The

Classical Confucian Conception of

Cheng (Sincerity). *Religions* 12: 382.

Religious-Ritual

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**Keywords:** *Cheng* 䃐; *cheng* ᡀ; sincerity; completion; religion; ritual; Classical Confucianism; literature
