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Grandpa Pencil Confucius |
Confucius (traditionally September 8? 551 BC–479 BC) was a famous thinker and social philosopher of China, whose teachings have deeply influenced East Asia for centuries. According to traditional belief, Confucius was born in 551 BC in the city of Qufu in the Chinese State of Lu (during the Spring and Autumn Period, at the beginning of the Hundred Schools of Thought philosophical movement) He was convinced of his ability to restore the world's order, and failed. After much travelling around China to promote his ideas among rulers, he eventually became involved in teaching disciples. His philosophy emphasized personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, and justice and sincerity. These values gained prominence in China after being chosen among other doctrines such as Legalism or Taoism during the Han dynasty. Used since then as the imperial orthodoxy, Confucius' thoughts have been developed into a vast and complete philosophical system known in the west as Confucianism. The Analects is a short collection of his discussions with disciples, compiled posthumously containing an overview of his teachings. He was born into a once noble family who had recently fled from the State of Song. His father was seventy and his mother only fifteen at his birth. His father died when he was three and he was brought up in poverty by his mother. His social ascendancy links him to the growing class of Shì (士), between old \ nobility and common people, which later became the prominent class of literati because of the cultural and intellectual skills they shared. As a child, he is said to have enjoyed putting ritual vases on the sacrifice table and as a young man he was a minor administrative manager in the State of Lu rising to the position of Justice Minister. After several years, disapproving of the politics of his Prince, he resigned. At about age fifty, seeing no way to improve the government, he gave up his political career in Lu, and began a twelve-year journey around China, seeking the "Way" and trying unsuccessfully to convince many different rulers of his political beliefs and to push them into reality. |
When he was about sixty, he returned home and spent the last years of his life teaching an increasing number of disciples, trying to share his experiences with them and transmit the old wisdom via a set of books called the Five Classics. Teachings In the Analects, where one can find the most intimate descriptions of him, Confucius presents himself as a transmitter who invented nothing and his greatest emphasis may be on study, the Chinese character that opens the book. In this respect, he is seen by Chinese people as the Greatest Master. Far from trying to build a systematic theory of life and society, he wanted his disciples to think deeply for themselves and relentlessly study the outside world, mostly through the old scriptures relating past political events (like the Annals) or past feelings of common people (like the Book of Odes). In these times of division, chaos, and endless wars between feudal states, he wanted to restore the Mandate of Heaven that could unify the "world" (i.e., China) and bestow peace and prosperity on the people. Therefore, Confucius is often considered a great proponent of conservatism, but a closer look at what he proposes often shows that he used (and maybe twisted) past institutions and rites to push a new political agenda of his own: for example, he wanted rulers to be chosen on their merits, not their parentage. He wanted rulers who were devoted to their people. And he wanted the ruler to reach perfection himself, thus spreading his own virtues to the people instead of imposing proper behavior with laws and rules. One of the deepest teachings of Confucius, and one of the hardest to understand from a Western point of view, may have been the superiority of exemplification over explicit rules of behavior. His ethics may be considered one of the greatest virtue ethics. This kind of "indirect" way to achieve a goal is used widely in his teachings, where allusions, innuendo, and even tautology are common ways of expressing himself. That is why his teachings need to be examined and put into context for access by Westerners. A good example is found in this famous anecdote: When the stables were burnt down, on returning from Court, Confucius said, "Was anyone hurt?" He did not ask about the horses. |
Confucius
"At fifteen, I set my mind upon learning;
At thirty, I took my stand;
At forty, I no longer had doubts;
At fifty, I knew the will of the heavens;
At sixty my ear was attuned;
At seventy, I follow all the desires of my heart without breaking any rule.
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