Confucius

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Philosophers

Confucius
Ancestral name: (姓)	Zi¹ (子) ( Pinyin: Zǐ)
Clan name: (氏)	Kong (孔) (Pinyin: Kǒng)
Given name: (名)	Qiu (丘) (Pinyin: Qiū)
Courtesy name: (字)	Zhongni (仲尼) (Pinyin: Zhòngní)
Posthumous name: (謚)	The Ultimate Sage Master of Yore²
	(Ch: 至聖先師 ; Py: Zhìshèng Xiānshī)
Styled:	Master Kong³
	(Ch: 孔子, less frequently 孔夫子;
	Py: Kǒngzǐ, less fr. Kǒngfūzǐ;
	WG: K'ung-tzu, less fr. K'ung Fu-tzu)
1This Chinese word (子), the ancestral name of Confucius, should not be confused with the word "master" as used in the style of Confucius "Master Kong" (孔子). These are two different words written with the same character in Chinese. Zi was the surname of the ruling family of Shang.
2 Posthumous name since 1530. Between 1307 and 1530, his posthumous name was: "The Lord of Culture Ultimate Sage and Great Accomplisher" (大成至聖文宣王) which is the name on his tomb.
3 Romanised as "Confucius".

Confucius (Chinese: 孔夫子, transliterated Kong Fuzi or K'ung-fu-tzu, lit. "Master Kong," but most frequently referred to simply as Kongzi 孔子, traditionally September 28, 551 – 479 BC) was a famous Chinese thinker and social philosopher, whose teachings and philosophy have deeply influenced East Asian life and thought.

His philosophy emphasised personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice and sincerity. These values gained prominence in China over other doctrines, such as Legalism or Daoism during the Han Dynasty. Confucius' thoughts have been developed into a system of philosophy known as Confucianism. It was introduced to Europe by the Jesuit Matteo Ricci, who was the first to Latinise the name as "Confucius".

His teachings are known primarily through the Analects of Confucius, a collection of "brief aphoristic fragments", which was compiled many years after his death. Modern historians do not believe that any specific documents can be said to have been written by Confucius, but for nearly 2,000 years he was thought to be the editor or author of all the Five Classics such as the Classic of Rites, and the Spring and Autumn Annals.

Personal life and family

At 30, I took my stand; (三十而立)

At 40, I no longer had doubts; (四十而不惑)

At 50, I knew the will of the heavens; (五十而知天命)

At 60, my ear was attuned; (六十而耳順)

At 70, I follow all the desires of my heart without breaking any rule. (七十而從心欲，不踰矩)

(Analects, translation by James Legge)

According to tradition, Confucius was born in 551 BC (during the Spring and Autumn Period, at the beginning of the Hundred Schools of Thought philosophical movement) in the city of Qufu, which was located in the Chinese State of Lu (now part of present-day Shandong Province and culturally and geographically close to the royal mansion of Zhou). He was born into a deposed noble family which had recently fled from the State of Song.

The Records of the Grand Historian (史記), compiled some 400 years later, indicate that Confucius was conceived out of wedlock (野合). 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), a class between the old nobility and the common people. This class later became the prominent class of Intellectual because of the cultural and intellectual skills they shared.

According to "Kongzide Gushi," Confucius's father's name was Shu Lianghe ( Simplified Chinese: 叔梁纥; Traditional Chinese: 叔梁紇; pinyin: Shū Liánghé in Mainland China, Shú Liánghé in Taiwan). Shu Lianghe originally had nine daughters and one crippled son. He decided to marry another woman in the hope of having a healthy son. This new wife became Confucius's mother. However, on the day that Confucius was born, Shu Lianghe briefly seemed frustrated on seeing his "ugly" son.

As a child, Confucius was said to have enjoyed putting ritual vases on the sacrifice table. When Confucius was 23, his mother died sending him to three years of mourning.

As a young man, he was a minor administrative manager in the State of Lu and rose to the position of Justice Minister. Around this time he is supposed to have met the creator of Daoism, Laozi. However, Laozi's life is very mysterious so this meeting may well be legendary. After several years working for the state of Lu, Confucius resigned because he disapproved of the politics of his King.

According to "The Sayings of Confucius", the state of Lu was prosperous thanks, in part, to the wise administration of Confucius. The neighbouring state of Qi was worried that Lu was becoming too powerful. Qi then decided to sabotage Lu's reforms by sending one hundred horses and eighty beautiful dancing girls to the King of Lu. The King of Lu then indulged himself in pleasure and did not attend to official duties for three days. At the sacrificial rites he did not give the counselors the meat in accordance to the rites. Confucius, upset with this poor behaviour, decided to leave Lu.

Confucius then began a long journey (or set of journeys) around the small kingdoms of north-central China. He tried, unsuccessfully, to convince many different rulers of the correctness of his political beliefs and to see them implemented. The story says that when he was about 60, Confucius returned home and spent the last years of his life teaching disciples and transmitting the old wisdom via a set of books called the Five Classics (Records of the Grand Historian of China. Chin Dynasty. Translated by Burton Watson, 1993).

The life history of Confucius is legendary, but the very ordinary nature of his story (and his lack of success) lends it credibility.

Teachings

Confucian temple in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

In the Analects, Confucius presents himself as a "transmitter who invented nothing". He put the greatest emphasis on the importance of study, and it is the Chinese character for study that opens the text. 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 and by relating past political events (like the Annals) or past feelings of common people (like the Book of Odes).

In 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: rulers to be chosen on merit, not parentage, rulers who were devoted to their people, and rulers who reached for perfection. Such a ruler would spread his own virtues to the people instead of imposing proper behaviour with laws and rules.

One of the deepest teachings of Confucius, one of the hardest to understand from a Western point of view, may have been the superiority of exemplification over explicit rules of behaviour. 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 by way of allusions, innuendo, and even tautology. This 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.

Analects X.11, tr. A. Waley

The anecdote is not long, but it is of paramount importance. In his time horses were perhaps 10 times more expensive than stablemen. By not asking about the horses, Confucius demonstrated his greatest priority: human beings. Thus, according to many Eastern and Western commentators, Confucius' teaching can be considered a Chinese variant of humanism.

Perhaps his most famous teaching was the Golden Rule:

Adept Kung asked: "Is there any one word that could guide a person throughout life?"
The Master replied: "How about 'shu': never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself?"
Analects XV.24, tr. David Hinton

Confucius' teachings were later turned into a very elaborate set of rules and practices by his numerous disciples and followers. In the centuries after his death, Mencius and Xun Zi both wrote important books, and in time, a philosophy was elaborated, which is known in the West as Confucianism. After more than a thousand years, the scholar Zhu Xi created a very different interpretation of Confucianism which is now called Neo-Confucianism, to distinguish it from the ideas expressed in the Analects. Neo-Confucianism held sway in China and Vietnam until the 1800s.

Names

Confucius (illustration from Myths & Legends of China, 1922, by E.T.C. Werner)

• The Jesuits, while translating Chinese books into Western languages, translated 孔夫子 as Confucius. This Latinised form has since been commonly used in Western countries.
• In systematic Romanisations:
  • Kǒng Fūzǐ (or Kǒng fū zǐ) in pinyin.
  • K'ung fu-tze in Wade-Giles (or, less accurately, Kung fu-tze).
    • Fūzǐ means teacher. Since it was disrespectful to call the teacher by name according to Chinese culture, he is known as just "Master Kong", or Confucius, even in modern days.
    • The character 'fu' is optional, so he is commonly also known as Kong Zi.

• His actual name was 孔丘, Kǒng Qiū. Kǒng is a common family name in China.
• His courtesy name was 仲尼, Zhòng Ní.
• In 1 CE (first year of the Yuanshi period of the Han Dynasty), he was given his first posthumous name: 褒成宣尼公, Lord Bāochéngxūan, which means "Laudably Declarable Lord Ni."
• His most popular posthumous names are
  • 至聖先師, Zhìshèngxiānshī, meaning "The Former Teacher who Arrived at Sagehood" (comes from 1530, the ninth year of the Jianing period of the Ming Dynasty);
  • 至聖, Zhìshèng, "the Greatest Sage";
  • 先師, Xiānshī, "the First Teacher".
• He is also commonly known as 萬世師表, Wànshìshībiǎo, "the Model Teacher of a Myriad Ages" in Taiwan.

Philosophy

Although Confucianism is often followed in a religious manner by the Chinese, arguments continue over whether it is a religion, because it lacks an afterlife, any deities (gods) and rarely talks about spiritual matters.

Confucius' principles gained wide acceptance primarily because of their basis in common Chinese opinion. He championed strong familial loyalty, ancestor worship, respect of elders by their children and of husbands by their wives, and the family as a basis for an ideal government. He expressed the well-known principle, "Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself" (similar to the Golden Rule). He also looked nostalgically upon earlier days, and urged the Chinese, particularly the politicians, to model themselves on earlier examples. "What the superior man seeks is in himself. What the mean man seeks is in others"

Ethics

The Confucian theory of ethics is based on three important concepts:

While Confucius grew up, lǐ referred to the three aspects of life: sacrificing to the gods, social and political institutions, and daily behaviour. It was believed that lǐ originated from the heavens. Confucius argued that it flowed not from heaven but from humanity. He redefined lǐ to refer to all actions committed by a person to build the ideal society. Lǐ, to Confucius, became every action by a person aiming to meet his surface desires. These can be either good or bad. Generally, attempts to obtain short term pleasure are bad while those, which in the long term try to make one's life better, are generally good. These concepts are about doing the proper thing at the proper time.

To Confucius, yì (義 [义]) was the origin of lǐ. Yì can best be translated as righteousness. While doing things because of lǐ, one's own self-interest was not necessarily bad, one would be a better, more righteous person if one bases one's life upon following yì. This means that rather than pursuing one's own selfish interests, one should do what is right and moral. It is doing the right thing for the right reason. Yì is based upon reciprocity. An example of living by yì is how one must mourn one's father and mother for three years after their death. Since they took care of the child for the first three years of one's life, one must reciprocate by living in mourning for three years.

Just as lǐ flows out of yì, so yì flows out of rén (仁). Ren can best be translated as kindness. His moral system was based upon empathy and understanding others, rather than divinely ordained rules. To live by rén was even better than living by the rules of yì. To live by rén one used another Confucian version of the Golden Rule: he argued that one must always treat others just as one would want others to treat you. Virtue under Confucius is based upon harmony with other people.

He applied an early version of the Golden Rule:

• "What one does not wish for oneself, one ought not to do to anyone else; what one recognises as desirable for oneself, one ought to be willing to grant to others." (Confucius and Confucianism, Richard Wilhelm)
• "When anger arises, think of the consequences" (Confucius).
• "Life is really simple, but men insist on making it complicated." (Confucius).
• "Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves."
• "It does not matter how slow you go so long as you do not stop."
• "Everything has beauty but not everyone sees it."
• "Study the past as if you would define the Future."
• "Have no friends not equal to yourself."
• "Respect yourself and others will respect you."
• "Forget injuries, never forget kindnesses."
• "The only constant is change."
• "To see what is right and not to do is want of courage."

Politics

They must often change who would be constant in happiness or wisdom. Confucius' political thought is based upon his ethical thought. He argues that the best government is one that rules through "rites" and people's natural morality, rather than using bribery and force. He explained that this is one of the most important analects: 1. "If the people be led by laws, and uniformity sought to be given them by punishments, they will try to avoid the punishment, but have no sense of shame. If they be led by virtue, and uniformity sought to be given them by the rules of propriety, they will have the sense of shame, and moreover will become good." (Translated by James Legge){The Great Learning} This "sense of shame" is an internalisation of duty, where the punishment precedes the evil action, instead of following it in the form of laws as in Legalism.

While he supported the idea of the all-powerful Emperor, probably because of the chaotic state of China at his time, his philosophies contained a number of elements to limit the power of the rulers. He argued for according language with truth; thus honesty was of the most paramount importance. Even in facial expression, truth must always be represented. In discussing the relationship between a subject and his king (or a son and his father), he underlined the need to give due respect to superiors. This demanded that the inferior must give advice to his superior if the superior was considered to be taking the wrong course of action. This was built upon by his disciple Mencius to argue that if the king was not acting like a king, he would lose the Mandate of Heaven and be overthrown. Therefore, tyrannicide is justified because a tyrant is more a thief than a king. Attempted tyrannicide, however, is not justified. An oppresive government is more feared than a tiger. "When you have faults, do not fear to abandon them."

Quote: "What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others"

"With coarse rice to eat, with water to drink, and my bended arm for a pillow- I still have joy in the midst of these. Riches and honours acquired by unrighteousness are me as a floating cloud"- Confucius

Disciples

Popular image of Confucius as an object of veneration, Thian Hock Keng temple, Singapore.

Confucius' disciples and only grandson, Zisi, continued his philosophical school after his death. While relying heavily on Confucius' ethico-political system, two of his most famous disciples emphasized radically different aspects of his teachings. Mencius articulated the infinite goodness inherent in humanity, while Xun Zi underscored the realistic and materialistic aspects of Confucian thought.

During the Song Dynasty, the scholar Zhu Xi added ideas from Daoism and Buddhism into Confucianism. In his life, Zhu Xi was largely ignored but not long after his death his ideas became the new orthodox view on what Confucian texts actually meant. Modern historians view Zhu Xi as having created something rather different and call his way of thinking Neo-Confucianism. In the modern era, there are still some Confucian scholars (see New Confucianism) but during the Cultural Revolution, Confucianism was frequently attacked by leading figures in the Communist Party of China.

Quote: "Respect yourself and others will respect you"

Home town

Soon after Confucius' death, Qufu, his hometown, became a place of devotion and remembrance. It is still a major destination for cultural tourism, and many Chinese people visit his grave and the surrounding temples. In China, there are many temples where representations of Buddha, Lao Zi and Confucius are found together. There are also many temples dedicated to him, which have been used for Confucianist ceremonies.

Descendants

Confucius' descendants were repeatedly identified and honored by successive imperial governments with titles of nobility and official posts. They were honored with the rank of a marquis thirty-five times since Gaozu of the Han Dynasty, and they were promoted to the rank of duke forty-two times from the Tang Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty. Emperor Xuanzong of Tang first bestowed the title of "Marquis Wenxuan" on Kong Sui of the 35th generation. In 1055, Emperor Zhenzong of Song first bestowed the title of "Duke Yansheng" ( Traditional Chinese: 衍聖公; pinyin: Yǎnshèng gōng, literally "overflowing with sainthood") on Kong Zong of the 46th generation. Despite repeated dynastic change in China, the title of Duke Yansheng was bestowed upon successive generations of descendants until it was abolished by the Nationalist Government in 1935. The last holder of the title, Kung Te-cheng of the 77th generation, was appointed Sacrificial Official to Confucius.

Today, there are thousands of reputed descendants of Confucius. The main lineage fled from the Kong ancestral home in Qufu to Taiwan during the Chinese Civil War. The current head of the household is Kung Te-cheng, a professor at National Taiwan University. He previously served in the Republic of China government as President of the Examination Yuan. Kung married Sun Qifang, the great-granddaughter of the Qing dynasty scholar-official and first president of Beijing University Sun Jianai, whose family created one of the first business combines in modern-day China, which included the largest flour mill in Asia, the Fou Foong Flour Company. The Kongs are related by marriage to a number of prominent Confucian families, among them that of the Song Dynasty prime minister and martyr Wen Tianxiang. The Qianlong Emperor married a daughter to Kong Xianpei of the 72nd generation, linking the Aisin-Gioro imperial house with the Kong family.