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Confucius

Confucius is a Latinization of K'ung Fu-tzu ("Kung the Master"), who lived from 551 to 479 BCE. Despite starting early in a life of study, Confucius failed to become a public servant as he dreamed. Instead, he taught his socially radical principles to a small but loyal band of followers outside the mainstream of Chinese political life. Although his teachings were not especially popular in his own day, they exerted tremendous influence on the moral and philosophical thought of all China in the centuries after his death. Confucius was concerned about the constant chaotic warfare among the clans of his day, and he searched the old rituals for ethical human guidelines and moral principles to help see people through that turbulent era. In the process, he founded the first recorded Chinese wisdom tradition, predating recorded Taoism by more than a century. Although many Westerners do not think of Confucianism as a viable spiritual path along the lines of Taoism, yet most Chinese have traditionally practiced Confucian principles alongside both Taoism and Buddhism for many centuries. (The Communist and Cultural Revolutions suppressed and distorted these teachings in the 20th century, yet many observers claim that the principles are still adhered to by vast numbers of Chinese.) Confucius built his principles on an ancient religious foundation to establish the social values and ideals of traditional Chinese society -- not as a separate church, but established within social, familial, school, and state institutions so that parents, teachers, and even bureaucratic officials served as its "priests." This wove Confucianism into the Chinese social fabric to such an extent that Confucianism part of everyday life. Consciously or not, Confucius expanded the idea of religious ritual to comprise social rituals such as common courtesy and accepted standards of behavior -- so-called social mores. These civilizing mores, he believed, would ultimately lead to well-governed states and peace between nations.

In systematizing the accumulated social wisdom and ideals of the ancients, Confucius referred to himself as a "transmitter" rather than a creator. "In me, knowledge is not innate," he said. "I am one who loves antiquity and is earnest in the study of it." Like the ancient philosophers who had come before him, Confucius realized that the only way to establish a harmonious society was to inculcate ethical conduct in individuals, and much of his philosophy was aimed at just that.

Social conditions continued to deteriorate after K'ung's death, culminating in the violently chaotic era known as the Period of the Warring States (401-221). The social upheaval that was ripping up Chinese society during that time may have created precisely the fertile soil in which K'ung's teachings began to bear fruit. What had been a kind of heroic approach to warfare ruled by chivalric codes known as li ("rites"), for instance, during this time became much more vicious and atrocity-laden, threatening the stability of the empire and the peace of mind of the populace.

Confucius taught the human Way as opposed to the cosmic or mystical Way of Lao-tzu, who was roughly his contemporary. (About 50 years his senior according to one historian's estimate, Lao-tzu is said to have met Confucius once.) Proclaiming that one must follow the four cardinal virtues of Love, Righteousness, Propriety, and Wisdom in a social context of duties and obligations, Confucius voiced his highest principle in what is probably the earliest formulation of the Golden Rule: "Do not do unto others what you would not have them do unto you." For Confucius, this applied especially to what he termed the Five Relationships (Wu-lun): between ruler and subject, husband and wife, father and son, elder and younger brothers, and older and younger friends. The Confucian equation called for the respect and obedience of one group (subjects, wives, sons, and younger brothers) in return for benevolence and support on the part of the other group (rulers, husbands, fathers, and elders). Although the male-dominated language may offend modern readers, his formula was radical for its day in that it at least called for a reciprocal kindness and benevolence on the part of the more socially empowered group. Over time, however, it became mired in an artificial construct of rituals, standards of conduct, and hierarchies of precedence.

Confucius has been credited with editing or writing parts of several classics of Chinese history and culture, including the Ch'un Ch'iu (Spring and Autumn Annals), Shi Ching (Book of Songs), Shu Ching (Book of History), and even commentaries to the I Ching, the ever popular book of oracles. But his essential teachings are contained in The Analects (Lun-yu), a compendium of his sayings and dialogues compiled by his disciples, and The Doctrine of the Mean (Chung Yung), a collection of Confucian tenets authored by his grandson, K'ung Chi. Those tenets include the Wu-ch'ang ("Five Constants"), the cardinal virtues of Confucianism, among them jen, or love of fellow humans, a sense of compassion based on the dignity of human life and great self-respect, and li, an evolution of the older sense of li as chivalric codes governing warfare and rituals of ancestor worship. As Confucius used the term, li meant a reverence and loyalty for others which includes knowing the right thing to do and doing it appropriately under any and all circumstances, and is the primary way of expressing jen. Li encompasses both ritual manners and respect for the Five Constant Relationships. The rest of the wu-ch'ang are i ("transformation"), a sense of moral uprightness that evokes the right response from selfless motives; chih (wisdom); and hsin (trust). The Confucian ideal is the chun-tzu, or "superior person," the noble-minded or princely man who possesses jen and practices li.

Confucius (born Kong Qiu, styled Zhong Ni) lived in 551 B.C. - 479 B.C., China.

Confucius had about 3,000 pupils, educated, compassionate people of the sort who would make good government officials. He saw himself as a reformer of a corrupt, nepotistic class stem, but did not openly attack traditional religious beliefs like ancestor worship. He also accepted the conventional Chinese deities and expressed his faith in Heaven that he was on a mission, but did not believe in asking the deities for help through prayer, and thought the divination and shamanism common to Chinese folk religion of his day were practices unworthy of a true chun-tzu. And so his paradigm was not individual mystical experience but honorable conduct in a social context. Still, his understanding of the individual was much more communal, less ego-identified than the Western ideal, and closer to the Eastern mystical notion of Union with the One. This sense is captured in the title of a book by the modern philosopher Herbert Fingarette, Confucius: The Secular as Sacred. And those Jungian-influenced authors who have been calling for the "re-enchantment" or "resacralization" of everyday life certainly owe a debt of spiritual gratitude to Confucius, whether they acknowledge him or not.

During the Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu-ti (156-87 BCE) proclaimed Confucianism the state religion. By 130 BCE, knowledge of the works of Confucius was required to become a public official, ultimately forming the basis of civil service exams. In a country that modeled its heavenly hierarchy after the structure of government bureaucracy, this may have been the highest tribute. But after the Revolution of 1911, Confucius was condemned by the Communists as decadent and reactionary. Once the monarchy collapsed, and along with it the traditional reliance on family structure, which was deemphasized under communism, Confucianism lost its power to inspire and was unable to adapt to the changing world. Many Confucian-based traditions were put aside and seem unlikely to return as long as communism reigns supreme. Nonetheless, despite the fact that few Asians would be likely to define themselves principally as Confucianists, K'ung's influence on China, Korea, and Japan has been incomparable.

Confucius Temple in Taichung Located in downtown Taichung.