Right or Wrong - The Moral Standard According to Ancient Chinese

For  Ancient Chinese, the moral standard of right or wrong is determined not by man but by God as revealed in the created order of heaven and earth. It can be seen in the ancient writings like i-Ching and more obviously in idiom, such as "天经地义" which is presented here.

For something that is fundamentally so right and obvious, the Chinese has an idiom "天经地义" (translated, God's or Heaven's Way and Earth's Rightness) to describe it. It is taken from a history book   左传 written around BC 350 The Warring Period, documenting the Chinese history of BC 722-468. It shows the source of Ancient Chinese Moral Standard.

Unlike Adam (who rebelled against God by taking the forbidden fruit to want to be his own god, see Knowledge Tree of Good and Evil ...), and modern and post-modern men who think right or wrong is situational and relative to be determined by man, the Ancient Chinese let God be the absolute moral standard and consider His laws as revealed in the creation order of heaven and earth as the commandments to be followed by all men.

If we look up a Chinese Dictionary for the idiom, we will get the following definition and explanation:


天经1地义2 （天經地義）

1. 经：规范，原则；Norms, Principles
2. 义：正理。correct principle or valid reason or plain truth

Explanation:
天地间历久不变的常道。
The unchanging principles or pathways within heaven and earth.
指绝对正确，不能改变的道理。
Referring to absolutely correct, cannot be changed principle or rationale.
也指理所当然的事。
Referring to a matter of course. i.e. it should be so.

Source: 《左传·昭公二十五年》：“夫礼，天之经也，地之义也，民之行也。”
The way to behave, the ritual, ( 礼) is from the principles of heaven and of earth, the ways that people should walk in.

Synonyms:
理所当然 - as the matter of course
千真万确 - absolutely true and correct.

Antonyms: 天理难容 - Heaven/God cannot tolerate it.
岂有此理 - Outrageous

Hence, we can see that Ancient Chinese were God fearing and God's laws abiding people. They also seems to have the concept of repentance and sacrifices to the God of Heaven as seen in their history and even many buildings and layouts that still exist today. For example see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Heaven.