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.