Dr Saheb Sahu
If there is one name with which Chinese culture has been associated, it is Confucius- Kung Fu-Tzu or Kung the Master. Chinese reverently speak of him as the First Teacher- not that there were no teachers before him, but he stands first in rank. According Houston Smith, “For though Confucius did not author Chinese culture, he was its editor”.
Confucius was born around 551 BCE, in the principality of Lu in what is now Shantung province in China. We know nothing for certain about his ancestors, but it is clear that his early home life was modest. His father died when Confucius was probably three years old. He studied under no particular teacher but perhaps became the most learned man of his time. “When young, I was without rank and in humble circumstances”. Financially, he was forced to make his own way, at first through menial works. The hardship of poverty of these early years gave him a tie with the common people, which was to be reflected in the democratic tenor of his entire philosophy.
Confucius’ career, in terms of his own ambitions, was a failure. His goal was high public office. He had supreme confidence in his ability to reorder society given a chance. He became the Minister of Public Works and was promoted to Minister of Justice by the local ruler. But he wanted to be the Prime Minister of the state to change the society. When his reputation rose, the ruler did not appoint him the prime minister, instead gave him an honorific title. Confucius discovered the ploy and resigned.
He wondered from state to state offering unsolicited advice to rulers on how to improve their governing and seeking real opportunity to put his ideas into practice. The opportunity never came. He became a great teacher taking on many disciples. He spent his last five years quietly teaching and editing the classics of China’s past. According to historian he had three thousands pupils. In 479 BCE, at the age of seventy-two he died.
A failure as a politician, Confucius was undoubtedly one of the world’s greatest teacher. He was prepared to instruct in history, poetry, government, mathematics, music, divination, and sports. He was in the manner of Socrates, a one-man university. His method of teaching was like wise Socratic (Buddha did the same). Instead of lecturing, he seemed to have conversed with his students, asking questions. He presented to his students as their fellow traveler. Confident as he was, he was always ready to admit that he might be wrong. He loved to be with people, dine out, to join in the chorus of a good song. His disciples reported that “When at leisure the Master’s manner was informal and cheerful. He was affable, yet firm; dignified yet pleasant.”
The problems Confucius faced
For the clue to Confucius’ power and influence, we must see both his life and his teaching against the background of the problem he faced. This was the problem of social anarchy of that time in China.
From the eighth to the third century BCE, China witnessed the collapse of the Chou Dynasty’s ordering power. Rival feudal lords were left to their own devices, creating chaos. There was almost continuous warfare among the rulers.
“Mutual attacks among the states, mutual usurpation among them houses, mutual injuries among the individuals, these are [among] the major calamities in the world. But whence do these calamities arise?” They arise out of want of mutual love preached Mo Tzu (C470-391BCE). He proposed as the solution to China’s social problem not force but love-universal love.
Confucius’ Answer
Confucius was not impressed by Mo Tzu‘s idea of mutual love. He thought it was utopian and not practical. He also rejected the Realists’ answer of force. Confucius was obsessed with tradition. The main outlines of Confucius’ answers can be gathered under five key terms.
1-Jen
It is translated as goodness, benevolence, and love; it is best rendered as human-heartedness. Jen involves simultaneously a feeling of humanity toward others and respect for oneself. Subsidiary attitudes follow automatically: good faith, charity and magnanimity. This leads to what has been called the Silver Rule: “Do not do unto others what you would not want others to do unto you.” Jesus preached the same message five hundred years later and it is called The Golden Rule by the Christians.
2-Chun tzu
It has been translated as the Superior Person and humanity-at-its-best. The Chun tzu is opposite of petty person, a mean person, a small-spirited person. He does not boast, push himself forward,or in any way display his/her superiority.
3-Li
The word li, originally meant a religious sacrifice, but it has come to mean ceremony, ritual, decorum, rules of propriety, good form, customs etc., and has even been equated with Natural law. Propriety covers a wide range-but one of them is his teaching of the Doctrineof the Mean.The Chinese words for mean are Chun yung, literally “middle” and “constant”. The mean therefore, is the way that is “constantly in the middle” between unworkable extremes. Nothing in excess. It is similar to the Middle Path of the Buddha and the Golden Mean of Aristotle. Respect for the Mean brings harmony and balance. It encourages compromise. “Pride, the Book of LI admonishes, “should not be indulged. The will should not be gratified to the full. Pleasure should not be carried to the excess.”
In the Confucian schemes, Five Constant Relationships constitute the fabrics of social, life: Parents should be loving, children reverential; elder siblings’ gentle, younger siblings respectful; husbands good, wives’ listening; elder friends’ considerate, younger friends deferential; rulers benevolent, subjects loyal. Confucius also developed the concept of “filial piety”. Filial piety is defined as “the attitude of obedience, devotion, and care toward one’s parents and elder family members”. “The duty of children to their parents is the fountain from which virtues spring”. He saw age as deserving veneration by reason of its intrinsic worth.
4-Te
Literally this word meant power, especially the power by which men are ruled. He noted that, the three essentials of government were economic sufficiency, military sufficiency and confidence of its people. “If the people have no confidence in their government, it cannot stand”. “Never forget, scholars, that an oppressive rule is crueler than a tiger.”
5-Wen
The final concept of the Five is Wen. This refers to “the art of peace” as contrast to “the art of war”. Confucius valued the arts tremendously. He felt that victory goes to the state that develops the finest arts, the noblest philosophy, and the grandest poetry.
The Analects (Chinese-Pinyin)
The Analects (Discourses or Dialogue) is a collection of sayings of Confucius and his pupils pertaining of his teachings and deeds. Confucius apparently wrote and edited in his own hands five volumes, known in China as the “Five Ching” or Canonical Books.
Some sayings from the Analects
“Filial piety and brotherly love is the root of humanity”.
“A ruler who governs his state by virtue is like the north star, which remains in place while other stars revolve around it”.
“At fifteen my mind was set on learning. At thirty my character has been formed. At forty I had no more perplexities. At fifty I knew the Mandate of Heaven. At sixty I was ease with whatever I heard. At seventy I could follow my heart’s desire without transgressing moral principles.”
“He who learns but does not think is lost: he who thinks but does not learn is in danger”.
“The superior man thinks virtue; the inferior man thinks of possessions”.
“If one’s acts are motivated by profit, he will have many enemies.”
“The superior man is dignified but not proud; the inferior man is proud but not dignified.”
“In education there should be no class distinction.” Confucius was the first one in Chinese history to pronounce this principle.
Tzu-Kung (one of the disciples) asked: “Is there one word which can serve as the guiding principle for conduct throughout life?” Confucius answered: “It is the wordaltruism (Shu). Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you.”
Impact on China
Confucius can truly be said to have molded Chinese civilization in general, but he did not develop the Chinese philosophy. He gave Chinese philosophy its humanistic foundation. Most important of all, he evolved the new concept of jen, which was to become central in Chinese philosophy. The system gives s advice on how societies should be run, how people should live their lives and how relationship should be maintained. It stresses hierarchy, social harmony, and respect for elders.
Confucius did not dominate the world of thought in China in the fifth century BCE. It took several generations of persistent effort to enable Confucian persuasion to prevail. Confucian scholars like Mencius, Yang Chu, Hstzu, Motzu, made it the dominant philosophy in China. Shortly after his death, his followers split into eight distinct schools, each of which claimed to be the legitimate heir to the Confucian legacy.
For over two thousand years Confucian teachings have profoundly affected more than quarter of the population of the world. In 130 BCE, the Confucian texts were made the basic discipline for the training of government officials, a pattern that continued until the Chinese Empire collapsed in 1905. During the time of the Han Dynasty (200-600 CE) Confucianism became, in effect, China’s state religion. By the seventh and eighth centuries temples were erected as shrines to him. Besides China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Singapore, all have been shaped by Confucian ethics.
Is Confucianism a religion, or is it an ethic? The answer depends on how one defines religion. If religion is taken in its widest sense, as a way of life woven around a people’s ultimate concerns, it clearly qualifies. But China’s ruling Communist Party, whose founder Mao Zedong had denounced the ancient philosopher as “regressive, pedant and feudal”. The present Communist Party in China is reviving the Confucian teachings.
Sources
1- Houston Smith, The World’s Religions, New York: Harper San Francisco, 1991
2-Arthur Waley’s The Analects of Confucius. New York: Random House.1989 3-Wing-Tsit Chan, A source Book in Chinese Philosophy. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1963