RELIGIONS AND MEDIATION, PART SIX

In previous postings I discussed various religious traditions and how they intersect with mediation. The subject of this final posting regarding this topic is Confucianism.

The Chinese scholar K’ung-Fu-tzu (Jesuits later Latinized as Confucius), 550-478 BCE lived in a time when China’s feudal system was collapsing. Confucius proposed an ethical-moral system intended to govern all relationships in the family, community and state by emphasizing characteristics such as virtue, selflessness, duty, patriotism, hard work and respect for hierarchy. Confucian values the maintenance of group harmony over the rights of the individual.

When harmony is disturbed, it is best restored through compromise. Confucian ethic teaches that it is better “to suffer a little” and restore harmony rather than continue dissension.

Confucianism also places emphasis on preserving status differences in society. While modern Western societies stress democratic individual rights, traditional Confucianism recognizes the importance of understanding the exact social setting of a dispute and search for solutions consistent with all parties social roles and their past and future relationships.

In Confucian societies there is historically less use of magistrates and courts. Such procedures were expensive, time consuming, unpredictable in outcomes and considered degrading, as such forums required public admission of some failing. Having a dispute in law course was usually considered disreputable.

In recent years, China has seen more than two hundred thousand “people’s mediation committees,” which deal with millions of disputes, grow in numbers. Other local groups handle even more such committees. And disputes that do reach courts often get resolved in judicially sponsored compromises.

In modern China, judicial mediation differs from the Western practice of mediation. Judicial mediators are authoritarian and often impose compromises that, consistent with Confucian values, favor group harmony over individual rights.

Several years ago I planned and executed an international conference for Asia Pacific mediators in Penang, Malaysia with counseling psychologist Paul Pedersen. Mediators from many Asian countries shared examples of how they conducted mediations. One case was presented by a judge from China who had handled a copyright dispute between a Japanese firm and a Chinese retailer. As the mediator-judge, he conducted his own investigation of the facts and worked with the parties to secure a compromise settlement which included an admission of wrong-doing and small financial settlement, but most importantly, it included a focus on an apology and forgiveness.

By comparison, we can imagine what the focus would have been in a U.S. court.

Again, I invite corrections to my understanding.