2. Confucius
The first and most important scholar of the Spring and Autumn
Period was Confucius. He was born in the state of Lu, in present-day
Shandong Province, in 551 BC. His surname was Kong, Qiu was his
given name, and Zhongni his courtesy name. According to legend,
before his birth his parents had prayed to the god of Mount Niqiu for
a son, so they called him Qiu and Zhongni. Confucius is his Latinized
name, which has been used in the West ever since he was known
abroad.
Confucius was only three years old when his father, a noble man
of the lowest rank, died. In Qufu, the capital of Lu, mother and son
led a hard life. Young Confucius showed a great interest in study,
and his mother did everything possible to encourage him. But she did
not live to see her son established as a scholar and died when he was
16 or 17.
Later, recalling his own earlier days, Confucius said, "At 15 I
made up my mind to study; at 30 I was established. "It appears that
he had in his youth studied what classics there were to study and
formed his own conclusions and views on the most important prob-
lems of history, society and mankind. From then on his main goal
was to practise and spread them, and in so doing to bring light to
people who were groping in darkness for the right ways of life.
The method he adopted was education. He gave instruction to
all who came to learn from him. By then a well-known scholar, he
set up a sort of private school. This was an event of great historic sig-
nificance. Before Confucius, only the children of the nobles had the
right to education, while ordinary people were kept illiterate. Confu-
cius was the first person in Chinese history to bring education to all
people, and in particular to those of ordinary birth.
From the age of about 30 to his death at 73, he never stopped
teaching. It was said that altogether he taught about 3,000 students,
72 of whom had outstanding achievements in the academic or political
field.
His influence increased with the number of his students, and the
rulers of Lu came to realize that it might be proper to make him an
official in the government. For a few years he helped to govern the
state, and his work brought about very good results. But those no-
bles who had real control of the government did not like his mea-
sures; they made it difficult for him to carry out his ideals. So he de-
cided to leave. He was then 55 years old.
During the next 14 years, accompanied by several faithful stu-
dents, he visited ten states and talked with the rulers of six of them,
trying to convince them of the necessity of humane government, and
hoping that his principles would be put into practice. But none of the
rulers were interested in his views. As they were all anxious to make
their states rich and strong, humane government must have sounded
to them too abstract and impractical to be adopted.
During his absence, a new generation of nobles had come into
power in Lu. At their invitation Confucius returned home, when he
was 68 years old. In his last years he did not work in the govern-
ment, but devoted his time to teaching and editing the classics. In
479 BC, when he was 73, he fell ill and died.
Confucius did not write any books. In his time it was not yet the
custom for a man to write for publication. The classics he edited were
made up of government documents and historical records handed
down from earlier times, and folk songs specially collected over the
ages. Moreover, Confucius himself preferred explaining ancient prin-
ciples to creating new theories.
Fortunately there is a book which expresses Confucius' views
and theories more directly and clearly than those classics he edited. It
is The Analects, a collection of about 500 sayings of Confucius and
his major disciples, and their comments and answers to questions.
Obviously they were recorded and compiled by those students who
had heard Confucius talking and his disciples discussing the master's
teachings. The 500 sayings deal with a wide range of topics: human-
ity and rites, government and law, education and knowledge, music
and poetry, the gentleman's qualities and the small man's weakness-
es. In addition, there are a few brief descriptions of Confucius' man-
ner, lifestyle and personality. Discussions of Confucius' philosophy
are generally based on this valuable book.
Confucius said, "I{ I learned the Way in the morning, I would
die content in the evening: "This saying expresses his love for and his
eagerness to seek the truth, which is what the Way roughly means.
He spent all his life studying, spreading and promoting the Way. To
him the Way was life, or the thing he lived for. He put forward a se-
ries of theories about man, life, society and government. Together
they formed his Way.
As we know, the ruling class of his day was greedy and ambi-
tious, cruel and oppressive. The common people, on the other hand,
lived in great misery, bound hand and foot by harsh laws, unjust tra-
ditions, and blind faith in Heaven, ghosts and fate. Confucius was
determined to save mankind from this tragic condition by means of
reason. He wanted to awaken all people to a correct understanding of
the nature of man and the right way to be a man. For this purpose he
stressed the importance of man's moral nature.
"To be humane is to be a man, "he said. This saying may mean
that humanity or humaneness is the fundamental quality of man, and
that it is this quality that makes a man a man. It may also mean that
without this quality a man is not a real man.
As man has a moral nature, to adhere to moral principles should
be everyone's first consideration. Moral principles are more important
than all other things, including position, wealth, even life. Confu-
cius said, "Wealth and high position are desired by all men, but I
would not have them if they were not won in the right way. Poverty
and low position are hated by all men, but I would not leave them if
they could not be rid of in the right way."
Confucius gave very clear explanations to the meaning of human-
ity: it means to love other men; to help others to stand up when one
wants to stand up oneself, and help others to understand things when
one wants to understand things oneself; and not to impose on others
what one does not desire oneself.
Confucius himself loved other men. At a time when social classes
were distinct, he accepted as students people from all levels of society
and taught all of them. Yan Hui, for instance, was a poor man, and
the master gave him more praises than any other student. In teaching
his students, Confucius was in fact helping them to stand up (suc-
ceed) and understand things(the truth).
Mencius said, "Whenever he saw someone drowning, Yu felt as
if he had been the cause; whenever he saw someone hungry, Ji felt as
if he had been the cause."
He who has this feeling is a humane man.
Humanity is the supreme principle. To realize it, one should if
necessary give up everything else, including life itself. Confucius
said, "A determined or humane man never gives up humanity to save
his life, but he may sacrifice his life to realize humanity."
In connection with humanity, Confucius mentioned many other
virtues, such as rightness, propriety, wisdom, trustworthiness, loy-
alty, reciprocity, filial piety, brotherly love. He called a man who
had virtues a gentleman and a man who was not virtuous a small
man. A virtuous man is always open and sincere, ready to help other
men, free from worries and fears, and at peace with himself and the
world. He was describing such a man when he praised Yan Hui."Hui
is a perfect man! No one else could bear his hardships--living in a
poor hut with only a bowl of food and a gourd of water but he is
happy. Hui is a perfect man!"
About the way to govern a state, Confucius urged rule by virtue
and humane government. He was against the use of harsh laws and
severe punishments, which were common in those days. Repressive
measures, according to him, would only make the common people try
hard to avoid punishments, and would not help them to distinguish
between right and wrong or give them a sense of shame. He held that
the ruler himself should be an upright man, and should guide the
common people with virtue, and regulate their conduct and behavior
with the rites, which were standards of behavior laid down by the
rulers of the Western Zhou. He also urged putting only virtuous and
talented people into government positions.
What humane government means is made clear in one of his
talks with his students: Confucius was in the state of Wei, and Ran
You was driving him. Confucius said, "What a dense population!"
Ran You said, "When the population is dense, what should be done
then?""Make them rich. ""When they are rich, what should
be done
then?""Educate them."
So the people should be made rich first and then educated. This
should be a good principle even today, for it covers both material and
spiritual civilization. They have to be developed at the same time to
ensure the stability of the state and the happiness of the people. What
great wisdom is shown in this political view!
Confucius was China's first educator, and no doubt one of the
world's first educators. A teacher all his adult life, he not only set up
a school, but also developed significant educational principles and
methods of teaching.
"I teach everyone without making distinctions, "he said. This
was really an epoch-making declaration, for it was an open rebellion
against the tradition that education was for the nobles only. By
bringing education to the common people he made an immeasurable
contribution to the development of Chinese culture.
To Confucius all men were educable because men had a similar
nature. "By nature men are pretty alike, "he said, "but learning
and
practice set them apart. "This statement, which opposed the common
view of his day that the nobles were born superior to the common
people, expressed his belief in equality.
Confucius had a clear aim in educating his students:he expected
them to be virtuous, to understand man and society, to have a good
knowledge of the past and a clear vision of the future, and to devote
themselves to the spreading and carrying out of the Way. He did not
wish them to become experts in particular fields. So when one of his
students asked to be taught how to grow crops, he criticized the stu-
dent and called him a "small man." This dislike of specific skills
was
of course not helpful to the development of science in China.
Confucius' main teaching method was conversation, or question
and answer. Sometimes a student would come to him with a ques-
tion, and he would give him a clear answer. Sometimes a student
would express a view, and the master would comment on it. Some-
times the master would start a conversation with a student to explain
a theory to him, or direct his attention to a question, or point out the
way forward for him. Occasionally the master might talk with more
than two students at the same time. The Analects is full of records of
such conversations.
In his conversations with his students, Confucius often com-
mented on real events and people, and took into consideration the
needs of the listener. He might give different answers to the same
question asked by different students. He encouraged his students to
learn and think, and warned them not to learn without thinking or
think without learning. He said, "He who learns without thinking
will be bewildered; he who thinks without learning will be in dan-
ger."
Confucius and his students had very close relationship. They
were united on the basis of the Way, to realize which was their com-
mon goal. For this reason, Confucius cared for and loved his stu-
dents, always ready to answer their questions and give them the
guidance they needed. His students, in return, were loyal and re-
spectful to him; some of them accompanied him on his journey
through the states, sharing with him all the difficulties and dangers.
One entry in The Analects says: "When Confucius was detained in
Kuang, Yan Hui was the last to join him. Confucius said, ' I thought
you had died. 'Yan Hui said, 'As you are alive, how dare I die?'"
Yan Hui's words are very moving. He expressed the feeling that he
would always follow his teacher, to the point of living and dying with
him. It is only natural that this teacher-student relationship should be
taken as a model in later ages.
Confucius' views on the mean, on harmony, and on knowledge
and practice also had a great influence on the thinking of the Chinese
people.
In 140 BC Emperor Wudi of the Han dynasty decided to make
Confucianism the state thought. From then on, except a few short
periods like the Wei and Jin dynasties, Confucianism was the main-
stream of Chinese thought for about 2,000 years. Its influence was
most extensive and penetrating. The correct attitude to his thought
today is perhaps one of study, analysis, and discrimination--accept-
ing those ideas that are still good and useful, and rejecting those ideas
that are outdated or harmful.