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Confucius
K'ung-fu-tzu or Kongfuzi
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Confucius (551-479 BC -- Wade-Giles K'ung-fu-tzu or [1]Pinyin
Kongfuzi), or Master K'ung, whose life defines the end of the
[2]Spring and Autumn Period in Chinese history, becomes long after his
death the dominant Chinese philosopher both morally and politically.
In the Warring States Period Mencius (Meng Tzu) (c.390-305 BC)
extended and systematized Confucius's ideas; but with Confucius's
adoption in the [3]Hàn Dynasty as the official moral and political
doctrine of the State, the Confucian tradition became so broad that
"Scholar" or "Literatus" became all but synonymous with "Confucian,"
and so Confucianism could simply be called the Ju Chia [Pinyin Ru
Jia], or School of the Literati. As one of the "Three Ways," together
with Taoism and Buddhism, Confucianism also grew into one of the
traditional religions of the Hàn Chinese [[4]1].

The following table gives the basic moral terminology of Confucius,
with the Chinese characters. This goes a long way to explaining the
nature of Confucius's moral doctrine, since each term embodies the
values or disvalues considered morally important. The table is divided
into categories that are familiar from the structure of [5]ethics in
Western philosophy. Indeed, while many people may think of Indian or
Chinese philosophy as intuitionistic or mystical, which is rather like
what we do find in [6]Taoism, Confucianism has been said to be a
hundred times more rationalistic than Western philosophy. Confucian
ethics are certainly clear and uncompromising, with points of
similarity to [7]Immanuel Kant and Christianity.

BEING DOING/MEANS ENDS
Rén, "benevolence, charity, humanity, love," kindness. The fundamental
virtue of Confucianism. Confucius defines it as "Aì rén," "love
others."
[Analects XII:22] Yì, "right conduct, morality, duty to one's
neighbor," righteousness. Lì, "profit, gain, advantage": NOT a proper
motive for actions affecting others. The idea that profit is the
source of temptation to do wrong is the Confucian ground of the later
official disparagment of commerce and industry.
The Master said, "The gentleman (chün tzu or jun^1zi^3) understands
yì. The small man understands lì." [Analects IV:16]
Li^3, "propriety, good manners, politeness, ceremony, worship." Xiào,
"to honor one's parents," filial piety. Yì may be broken down
[Analects IV:15] into: zhong^1, doing one's best, conscientiousness,
"loyalty" [[8]2]; and shù, "reciprocity," altruism, consideration for
others, "what you don't want yourself, don't do to others" [Analects
XV:24 or 23].
quoted definitions, Mathews' Chinese-English Dictionary, Harvard,
1972; quotations from Analects translated by D.C. Lau, Penguin Books,
1979

Confucius himself had a simple moral and political teaching: to love
others; to honor one's parents; to do what is right instead of what is
of advantage; to practice "reciprocity," i.e. "don't do to others what
you would not want yourself"; to rule by moral example (dé) instead of
by force and violence; and so forth. Confucius thought that a ruler
who had to resort to force had already failed as a ruler -- "Your job
is to govern, not to kill" (Analects XII:19). This was not a principle
that Chinese rulers always obeyed, but it was the ideal of benevolent
rule. It should be noted, however, that even such humane principles
are paternalistic and statist, without a hint of the ideals of
individual liberty that are the basis of modern [9]liberal society.
Nevertheless, the Confucian ideal avoids the worst of modern
paternalism with the principle of government by example and by "Not
Doing" (wú wéi), putting Confucianism closer to Taoism than to modern
practices of authoritarian control. Confucius thought that government
by laws and punishments could keep people in line, but government by
example of virtue (dé) and good manners (li^3) would enable them to
control themselves (Analects II:3). "The way the wind blows, that's
the way the grass bends" (Analects XII:19). Self-control, indeed, is
the basis of all the industrious virtues that have made the Chinese
people economically successful whenever they have been allowed to
prosper, whether in California, Malaya, or China proper.
Unfortunately, although Confucius himself says, "Wealth and high
station are what men desire" (Analects, IV:5), later Confucians turned
warnings against the temptation of profit (lì) into a condemnation of
profit, which meant that their influence was often turned against the
development of Chinese industry and commerce. Thus, Confucians
themselves were perfectly happy to seek "high station," while
stiffling the ability of ordinary Chinese to produce "wealth." Over
time, this was an evil influence in Chinese history.

While the essence of [10]morality is the limitation of self-interest,
Confucius is clear that this does not mean complete denial of self. We
have already seen a hint of this with Analects XV:23, which begins
with the character for "self" and ends with the characters for
"others" (or "persons"). If what you don't want for yourself, you
shouldn't to do others, then you would like others to do for you what
you would indeed like for yourself. We see a similar word structure,
and stronger implication, at Analects VI:28, "If you desire to
establish yourself, also establish others." [11][LINK] This sounds
more like what [12]Mohism called "mutual profitableness," but it is
clearly essential to Confucius. The idea is distilled in a modern
Japanese saying, jiri rita, "self profit, profit other," or
"self-interest[ed] altruism." This can, of course, also be read in
Chinese, as shown. It contains different characters for "self" and
"other" than Confucius uses, but these could easily be substituted, as
can be seen by clicking on the image for a popup with the
corresponding characters. Helping oneself and others at the same time
is characteristic of what we might even call the "worldliness" of
Confucianism and Chinese civilization. The Chinese have never been
very big on the world-denying renunication so characteristic of India;
and even though monasticism was brought to China by Buddhism and
adopted by religious Taoism, Confucianism, which usually also meant
the government, always remained suspicious of it:  Monks and nuns were
often suspected of being licentious freeloaders, an attitude we see
expressed in the [13]Judge Dee novels. The hostility to profit that
can occur in Confucianism thus has to compete against this contrary
sense that self-interest can be promoted by cooperating with and
pleasing others -- the essence of a market exchange.

During the [14]T'ang Dynasty, the canon of Confucian [15]Classics
became the basis for the great civil service examinations that
henceforth provided the magistrates and bureaucrats (the "Mandarins")
for the Chinese government. This system is still impressive, but,
because of the attitude of the Confucian scholars, it was not entirely
to good effect. The founder of the [16]Míng Dynasty (1368-1644) Chu
Yüan-chang, an illiterate peasant who rose to expel the Mongols and
win the throne, was suspicious of the influence of the scholars. He
tried to balance the scholarly with the military establishment so that
neither would dominate the government. Later, when the Chinese sent
Admiral Cheng Ho [Zheng He], a Moslem eunuch who started out as a war
prisoner and slave, on seven great naval expeditions into the Indian
Ocean between 1405 and 1433, it was the scholars who powerfully
opposed engaging in anything so lowly as trade and dealing with such
uncivilized barbarians. The expeditions, indeed, visited not only
Indonesia and India, but penetrated into the Persian Gulf, the Red
Sea, and far down the east coast of Africa. The fleets were large,
heavily manned, well armed, and contained ships of nine masts (the
baochuan, "treasure ships") that, reportedly, were more than 400 feet
long.

But when the court faction of the scholars triumphed and ended the
expeditions, they also destroyed their records and made it a capital
offense to build anything larger than a two-masted ship. This crippled
Chinese trade and foreign involvement; and one is left to wonder just
how world history would have been different had Vasco da Gama arrived
in the Indian Ocean in 1498, just 65 years later, to discover an
overwhelming and technologically equal or superior Chinese naval
presence.

In China itself, the scholars indeed went on to dominate the
government and tip the balance against the military, which left the
country so unprepared that in 1644 the last Ming emperor was forced to
call in Manchuria to deal with a rebellion. The Manchus took advantage
of this to take over the country; and so the final Chinese Dynasty,
the [17]Ch'ing [Qing] (1644-1912), wasn't Chinese at all. This was
probably not what the scholars would have wanted, but they had
certainly brought it about. Curiously, the Ch'ing Emperors adopted
scholarly sensibilities and retained Ming naval and maritime policy
xenophobia. This left China once again helpless when forces
technologically superior to the Portuguese, especially the British,
eventually arrived, irresistibly pressing for commercial access to the
country. The scholars never did adapt, and the examination system was
eventually abolished rather than modernized.

A curious and noteworthy aspect of the teaching of Confucius is his
arm's length attitude towards religion. There is considerably irony in
this, not only because Confucianism later became one of the major
religions of China, but in comparison to the life of [18]Socrates, who
was born just nine years after Confucius died. Socrates, although he
talked about the gods all the time, and saw his own philosophical
project as a divine mission, was condemned and put to death for
presumably not believing in them. Confucius, although he later became
a god, to whom temples were dedicated in every Chinese city, as the
patron of students and scholars, nevertheless didn't talk about the
gods at all:

The topics the Master did not speak of were prodigies, force,
disorder, and gods. [Analects translated by D.C. Lau, Penguin
Books, 1979, VII:21, p. 88]

The term for "god" here, shén (shin or kami in Japanese) is often
translated "spirit" or even "spiritual beings." We see another term in
this quote:

Chi-lu asked how the spirits of the dead and gods should be served.
The Master said, "You are not able to serve to serve man. How can
you serve the spirits?" [XI:12, p. 107]

"Spirits" or "spirits of the dead" here are guei^3. This is a
remarkable passage considering the attention given by Confucianism as
a religion for one's ancestors and for the care of one's family grave
plot. This seems comparable to an instruction from Jesus:

[Matthew 8:21] And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord,
suffer me first to go and bury my father. [8:22] But Jesus said
unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.

Few Christians are so unconcerned about burial of relatives, or
Confucians about the service of spirits. What Confucius honored rather
than pious ritual is implied here:

The Master was seriously ill. Tzu-lu asked permission to offer a
prayer. The Master said, "Was such a thing ever done?" Tzu-lu said,
"Yes it was. The prayer offered was as follows: pray thus to the
gods above and below." The Master said, "In that case, I have long
been offering my prayers." [VII:35, p. 91]

This is interpreted to mean that Confucius has been praying all that
was necessary just by being good and polite. Further prayers are
unnecessary.

While the practice of Confucianism was not entirely consistent with
these principles of Confucius just expressed, his attitude did have a
significant effect on the conduct of Chinese religion, where popular
gods possessed less status in terms of politics and high culture than
we see in most other civilizations. Thus, while most people have a
least heard of major [19]Indian gods, like Shiva and Krishna, I have
frequently found entire classes of students who were unable to name
even a single traditional Chinese god [[20]3]. The government of
Imperial China treated the gods rather like other subjects of the
Empire, assigning them rank and promoting or demoting them depending
on their popularity or moral wholesomeness. Confucian authorities thus
never doubted their standing to judge the status and worth of the
gods. The Imperial cult, like Confucius himself, was concerned with
much more abstract and impersonal entities, like Heaven. Sometimes
"Heaven" is therefore translated "God," but it is a principle, not a
personal deity. Its reality, however, does refute attempts to
characterize Confucius as the sort of sceptical and positivistic
"secular humanist" who has become familiar in modern society.
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[21][LINK] Psychological Types, Typology of Chinese Virtues

[22]The Six Relationships and the Mandate of Heaven

[23]The Confucian Chinese Classics

[24]History of Philosophy

[25]Home Page
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Editorial Note:

This page on Confucius is intended to focus on some particular issues
of [26]ethics and [27]political economy that are important for the
[28]Friesian School and which I have stressed in my [29]classes. There
is consequently nothing here about his life, which is largely
legendary anyway. Specialists may consider the detail here
insufficient and oversimplified, and certainly anyone with a serious
interest in Confucius should go to treatments by real historians of
Chinese philosophy. But the goal here is summary and basic, and could
even be regarded as tendentious. Indeed, the philosophy links are
largely to pages that otherwise have little to do with Chinese
philosophy. The [30]historical links are edifying in their own way.

Both Wades-Giles and Pinyin [31]transcriptions are used on this page
because both will be encountered in academic sources on China and
Chinese philosophy. There are also Chinese people, as from Taiwan, who
refuse to use Pinyin because of its origin and associations (with
[32]Communist China). Pinyin has some convenient innovations (like d
for /t/), but it is also is phonetically redundant (with separate
symbols for palatal and retroflex intitials, which are unnecessary)
and gives some letters values (like /t^hsh/, English "ch," for q) that
are opaque and bewildering for those not already familiar with the
system.

Copyright (c) 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003 [33]Kelley L. Ross, Ph.D. All
[34]Rights Reserved
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Confucius, Note 1
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The Hàn Chinese are to be contrasted, for instance, with the Huí
Chinese, who are simply those who practice [35]Islâm, which is not one
of the Three Ways. Since huí can also mean "Turks" or "Uigers," Moslem
Chinese obviously were thought of as the equivalent of foreigners.
Confucians originally thought of Buddhists as similarly un-Chinese;
but Buddhism became so popular after the fall of the Later Hàn Dynasty
(220 AD) that, by the time of the Suí (590-618) and T'ang [Táng]
(618-906), it was accepted as properly Chinese.

[36]Return to text
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Confucius, Note 2
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In Japan, "loyalty," chû, comes to mean "blind loyalty," absolute
obedience to a feudal lord or the emperor, regardless of whether
instructions are right or wrong. This was in stark contrast to the
Chinese sense, where an expression of "true" loyalty might be the
willingness to be put to death rather than do what is wrong. See
"[37]Zen and the Art of Divebombing, or The Dark Side of the Tao."

[38]Return to text
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Confucius, Note 3
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Examples of popular Chinese gods would be the goddess of mercy,
Kwan-yin (Kannon in Japanese), who was identified with the Buddhist
Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, and the three gods Fú, Lù, and Shòu --
"Happiness," "Success," and "Longevity." Lù, consistent with Confucian
ideas about "success," is shown in the robes of a Chinese judge, like
[39]Judge Dee, while Shòu, consistent with religious Taoist
aspirations for immorality, is shown with the grooming and
accoutrements of a wandering Taoist sage.

[40]Return to text
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The Six Relationships and
the Mandate of Heaven
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The "Six Relationships" or "Six Relations" are supposed to be the
basis of all social connections between persons, and all six are based
on the fundamental relationship between parents and children. Thus
they are all variations of xiào, or "filial piety" (Latin pietas
filialis), the religious respect that children owe to their parents.
Originally, the "six" referred to the six members of three sets of
relations, as follows:

Parents  Husband Elder Brother
Children Wife    Younger Brother

Different versions of these three sets can be found, however, and it
is possible to expand the system so as to contain six entirely
different sets of relations, including the following:

Ruler Teacher Friend
Subject Student Friend

While the classic form of the six relationships did contain only three
pairs, the later influence of the theory of the five elements gave the
impression that there should be "five relationships." Being an odd
number, five relationships would require five whole pairs, not two and
a half pairs. These are given with the [41]Chinese Elements. Teacher
and student seems to be the pair that gets left out in that version.

In each of the relationships, the superior member (parents, husband,
etc.) has the duty of benevolence and care for the subordinate member
(children, wife, etc.). The subordinate member has the duty of
obedience. The only exception might be the relationship between friend
and friend, which may actually involve equality -- unless, of course,
one is older than the other, which would turn it into a relationship
like that between older and younger brother. The reverential attitude
toward the teacher (rather like the relationship in India to the guru)
may be easily seen in the Bruce Lee movie The Chinese Connection, in
which Bruce Lee avenges the murder of his boxing master, whom he all
but worships, by the Japanese in 1930's Shanghai.

Unlike India, where social obedience was absolute and, for instance, a
wife was supposed to obey and worship her husband even if he was
worthless, unfaithful, abusive, etc. (because it would be her
[42]karma to be in such a relationship), obedience in the Six
Relationships in China was contingent on the superior member actually
observing their duty to be benevolent and caring. Since the highest
Confucian "obedience" is to do what is right, "true" obedience to
parents, husband, ruler, etc. is to refuse to obey any orders to do
what is wrong.

Refusal to obey the emperor out of "true" obedience could, of course,
get one put to death; and Chinese history celebrates such martyrs. An
emperor who was no longer benevolent, however, could also be
overthrown, and that is an interesting consequence of the conditional
nature of obedience. In this area, the matter is usually stated as
part of the theory of the Tian Ming, the "Mandate of Heaven." This
means at least four things, the first two of which are already present
in the thought of Confucius himself:

1. The moral order of the universe: Thus Confucius says, "At fifty I
understood the Mandate of Heaven" [Analects II:4], i.e. knew what
right and wrong were.
2. Fate: Thus, in the Analects one of Confucius's students is quoted
as saying, "Life and death are the Mandate of Heaven," i.e. beyond
our control [Analects XII:5].
3. The right to rule: This becomes the most important meaning of the
"Mandate of Heaven." Knowing the moral order of the universe and
actually observing it make one a worthy ruler. Otherwise one has
no business, and no right, being in power. Such an idea is quite
different from mediaeval European ideas about government, where
the king (Pope, emperor, or whatever) often derived authority
directly from God and was answerable only to God. There was
therefore no right to rebellion in Western thought until the
Protestant Reformation (which questioned the authority of Catholic
rulers).
4. The judgment of history: This combines the "right to rule" with
"fate," for the Chinese view was that losing the Mandate of Heaven
as the right to rule would shortly be followed by the actual loss
of power. The historical precedent for this was the brief and
ferocious rule of the [43]Qin Dynasty (255-207 BC) followed by the
more benign and durable tenure of the Han emperors (the [44]Former
Han 206 BC-25 AD, the [45]Later Han 25 AD-220). This becomes a
principle that informs the writing of Chinese history: Beginning
with the Later Han Dynasty, one of first acts of a traditional
Chinese dynasty was the commissioning of an official history of
the previous dynasty (in that case the great History of the Former
Hàn Dynasty). Such a history in effect becomes the certificate of
legitimacy for the new dynasty, showing how the previous dynasty
was at first benevolent but then eventually lost the Mandate of
Heaven, which means it was the obligation of the new dynasty to
replace it. The history of the last Chinese dynasty, the [46]Qing
(1644-1912), was completed by the government of the Republic of
China on Taiwan.
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[47]The Confucian Chinese Classics

[48]History of Philosophy

[49]Home Page

Copyright (c) 1996, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2003 [50]Kelley L. Ross, Ph.D. All
[51]Rights Reserved
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The Confucian Chinese Classics
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The word for a classic text is Ching [[52]Pinyin Jing^1, Kyô in
Japanese]. The Confucian classics are the texts of the [53]Confucian
or the Ju [Rú], "Learned," School. Taoism has its own classics,
including the [54]Tao Te Ching [Dào Dé Jing^1]; and

The Five Classics:
1. I Ching [Yì Jing^1], Book of Changes
2. Shih Ching, Book of Odes (Songs/Poetry)
3. Shu Ching, Book of History
4. Li Chi, Records of Ritual (or Book of Rites, Li Ching)
includes: 4a. Ta Hs&uumleh, The Great Learning [[55]1]
4b. Chung Yung, The Doctrine of the Mean [[56]1]
5. Ch'un Ch'iu, Spring and Autumn Annals [[57]2]
The Nine Classics:
6. Chou Li, Rites of Chou (part of the Li Ching)
7. I Li, Ceremonial and Ritual (part of the Li Ching)
8. Hsiao Ching, Filial Piety Classic
9. Lun Yü, Analects [[58]1]
The Thirteen Classics:
10. Meng Tzu, The Mencius [[59]3] [[60]1]
11. Er Ya, Dictionary of Terms
12. Kung-yang Chuan, commentary on Ch'un Ch'iu
13. Ku-liang Chuan, commentary on Ch'un Ch'iu [[61]4]

ching is used to translate the Sanskrit word sûtra for Buddhist texts,
as the title of the Lotus Sutra, the Saddharma- pun.d.arîka Sûtra
(True Dharma Lotus Flower Sutra), was translated into Chinese as
Miao-fa-lien-hua-ching and into Japanese as Myôhô-renge-kyô -- a title
then used as a mantra by the [62]Nichiren sect of Japanese Buddhism.

The notes in the table refer to the following glosses:

1. One of the "Four Books" of the Confucian Canon.
2. A historical chronicle of Confucius's native state of Lu. 
3. Named after the Confucian sage Mencius (390-305 BC). 
4. The Tso Chuan is another commentary on Ch'un Ch'iu. 

The "Five Classics" were originally supposed to correspond to the Liu
Yi, or the "Six Arts," including the Yüeh Ching, or Book of Music,
which is no longer preserved as separate work, according to Fung
Yu-lan (A Short History of Chinese Philosophy, Free Press, 1948, 1966,
p. 39).

The Classics are listed here as given in Mathews' Chinese-English
Dictionary [Harvard, 1972] under ching, character 1123, p.156.
_________________________________________________________________

[63]History of Philosophy

[64]Home Page

Copyright (c) 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003 [65]Kelley L. Ross, Ph.D. All
[66]Rights Reserved

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