CONFUCIUS

ConfuCius

(b. 551 BCE, Qufu, state of Lu [now in Shandong Province, China]—d.

479 BCE, Lu)

Confucius (originally named Kong Qiu) is China’s most famous teacher, philosopher, and political theorist, and

his ideas have influenced the civilization of East Asia and some other parts of the surrounding area.

Confucius’s life, in contrast to his tremendous importance, seems starkly undramatic, or, as a Chinese expression states, it seems “plain and real.” Confucius’s humanity was not revealed truth but an expression of self-cultivation and the ability of human effort to shape its own destiny. The faith in the possibility of ordinary human beings to become awe-inspiring sages and worthies is deeply rooted in the Confucian heritage, and the insistence that human beings are teachable, improvable, and perfectible through personal and communal endeavour is typically Confucian.

Although the facts about Confucius’s life are scanty, they do establish a precise time frame and historical context. Confucius was born in the 22nd year of the reign of Duke Xiang of Lu (551 BCE). The traditional claim that he was born on the 27th day of the eighth lunar month has been questioned by historians, but September 28 is still widely observed in East Asia as Confucius’s birthday. It is an official holiday in Taiwan, referred to as “Teacher’s Day.”

Confucius was born in Qufu in the small feudal state of Lu in what is now Shandong Province, which was noted for its preservation of the traditions of ritual and music of the Zhou civilization. His family name was Kong and his personal name was Qiu, but he is referred to as either Kongzi or Kongfuzi (Master Kong) throughout Chinese history. The adjective “Confucian,” derived from the Latinized Confucius, is not a meaningful term in Chinese— nor is the term Confucianism, which was coined in Europe as recently as the 18th century.

Confucius’s ancestors were probably members of the aristocracy who had become virtual poverty-stricken commoners by the time of his birth. His father died when Confucius was only three years old. Instructed by his mother early in life, Confucius then distinguished himself as an indefatigable learner in his teens. He recalled toward the end of his life that at age 15 his heart was set upon learning. A historical account notes that, even though he was already known as an informed young scholar, he felt it appropriate to inquire about everything while visiting the Grand Temple.

Confucius had served in minor government posts, managing stables and keeping books for granaries before he married a woman of similar background when he was 19. It is not known who Confucius’s teachers were, but he made a conscientious effort to find the right masters to teach him, among other things, ritual and music. His mastery of the six arts—ritual, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy, and arithmetic—and his familiarity with the classical traditions, notably poetry and history, allowed him to become a teacher himself in his 30s.

Confucius is known as the first teacher in China who wanted to make education broadly available and who was instrumental in establishing the art of teaching as a vocation and as a way of life. Before Confucius, aristocratic families had hired tutors to educate their sons in specific arts, and government officials had instructed their subordinates in the skills needed to perform their jobs. But Confucius was the first person to devote his whole life to learning and teaching for the purpose of transforming and improving society. He believed that all human beings could benefit from self-cultivation. He inaugurated a humanities program for potential leaders, opened the doors of education to all, and defined learning not merely as the acquisition of knowledge but also as character building.

For Confucius the primary function of education was to provide the proper way of training exemplary persons (junzi), a process that involved constant self-improvement and continuous social interaction. Although he emphatically noted that learning was “for the sake of the self,” he found public service integral to true education. Confucius confronted those who challenged his desire to serve the world. He resisted the temptation to live apart from the human community, opting instead to try to transform the world from within. For decades Confucius tried to be actively involved in politics, wishing to put his humanist ideas into practice through government channels.

In his late 40s and early 50s, Confucius served first as a magistrate, then as an assistant minister of public works, and eventually as minister of justice in the state of Lu. He likely accompanied King Lu as his chief minister on one of the diplomatic missions. Confucius’s political career was, however, short-lived. His loyalty to the king alienated him from the power holders of the time—the large Ji families—and his moral rectitude did not sit well with the king’s inner circle, who enraptured the king with sensuous delight. At 56, when he realized that his superiors were uninterested in his policies, Confucius left the country in an attempt to find another feudal state to which he could render his service. Despite his political frustration, he was accompanied by an expanding circle of students during this twelve-year exile. His reputation as a man of vision and mission spread. A guardian of a border post once described him as the “wooden tongue for a bell” of the age, sounding heaven’s prophetic note to awaken the people (Analects, 3:24). Indeed, Confucius was perceived as the heroic conscience who knew realistically that he might not succeed but, fired by a righteous passion, continuously did the best he could. At the age of 67, he returned home to teach and to preserve his cherished classical traditions by writing and editing. He died in 479 BCE, at the age of 73. According to the Records of the Historian, 72 of his students mastered the “six arts,” and those who claimed to be his followers numbered 3,000.

Thanks so much for your spending your special times to see this.