EALC 275: Masterpieces of East Asian Literature Lecture #2 “Kongzi (Confucius)” Fall 2013 Benjamin RidgwayConfucius as a Person Kong Zi (K’ ung Tsu, K’ ung Tze, K’ ung Chiu, K’ung Fu-tze, Confucius) 551-479 B.C. The time: Zhou Kingdom’s split into chaotic warring states resulted in confusion over moral order, relations between man and nature, relations between ruler and ruled A teacher: 72 disciples A lover of life A journeyman: from Lu to other states of the Zhou DynastyThe Analects (Lun Yu) The sayings: terse and often innocuous, casual talks Not written by Confucius; sayings recorded by his disciples 20 books (chapters) The secular as the sacred Confucian Tao (Dao) – the WayPleasure and HumilityWarring States China (403-221 BCE) and the “Hundred Schools of Thought” During the Warring States period (403-221 BCE) the Zhou dynasty began to loose control over its vassals and China entered a prolonged period of inter-state warfare without a strong central authority. The Zhou kings still had ritual functions as intermediaries with heaven, but militarily they were inferior to many of their supposed vassals. One by one the smaller states were conquered and absorbed by the half-dozen largest ones, until seven states remained. “The Hundred Schools of Thought.”Confucianism “Confucian political thought turns on the search for order in a turbulent world. It asks the question: Where does the well-ordered society begin? And typically, not only for Confucian thought, but for the whole intellectual world of ancient China, the answer dwells on human psychology. To achieve the perfect society, you must begin with the individual. The human mind is the only instrument for effective change.” Frederick MoteThe Ru 儒: Erudites or Learned Men Kongzi identified himself with the “Ru” or “Learned Men,” the court experts who assisted the rulers in the performance of rituals and ceremonies. During the Warring States period, to expand their control over people and land, regional rulers sought new techniques of governing. More and more they sent out their own officials rather than delegate authority to hereditary lesser lords. This trend towards centralized bureaucratic control created opportunities for social advancement for those on the lower end of the old aristocracy.The Life of Confucius (551-479 BCE) Kongzi was born in 551 BCE in the southwestern part of the modern province of Shandong, in what at that time was the state of Lu. The state of Lu had been the fief of the duke of Zhou and it cherished the highest cultural traditions and prided itself on its authentic links to the great age of the Zhou dynasty. Though his family enjoyed some minor eminence in the nobility, in the state of Lu they were fallen aristocracy, victims of the political uncertainty and social mobility that characterized the age. Kongzi was ambitious to make a career by his own efforts in the public world of government. He first sought to serve the state of Lu, then for a decade wandered through the neighboring states throughout North China hoping to find an enlightened ruler in some other state who would heed his advice, but ultimately returned to the state of Lu in 484 were he took up the full time career as a private teacher and preserver of the Zhou cultural tradition.The Way of Confucius- “I transmit rather than create” Kongzi believed in a past golden age, when sage kings ruled the world. Despite the bleakness of his time, Kongzi believed that there was still hope for humanity, because the traditional Zhou ritual forms and written classics—which had been carefully preserved by a small group of cultural specialists, the Ru—could serve as a sort of blueprint for rebuilding the lost Golden Age. Kongzi thus dedicated his life to both transmitting these cultural forms to his contemporaries and striving to embody them in his own person.Confucius the Innovator 1. His first innovation is the creation of the role of the private teacher. 2. He created and established the content of education and its methods and ideals. Although education was quite specifically for one kind of career—that of public service—Confucius believed in the broad liberal arts learning. It included the study of certain venerated books…Above all the emphasis was on the right way of government. Studies were supplemented by music and athletics…Men so educated have been expected to meet any need that public life might bring—quell rebellion, build canals, devise fiscal measures, record the histories of the their times. 3. Confucius accepted students of all social backgrounds and clearly established the principle for doing so. Junzi 君子 originally meant “princelings” or sons of aristocrats who alone had been eligible for legally privileged status and office. Confucius insisted that the name junzi should apply only to those ‘superior men’ who gave evidence of having achieved a personal superiority of ethical and intellectual cultivation, and that it should then apply to any man who could give such evidence.Ritual (禮)and the Five Cardinal Relationships (五倫) Kongzi advocated a system of moral self-cultivation, through the study and practice of ritual one developed one’s moral nature. The ‘rites’ which Kongzi advocated included not only grand religious ceremonies of state, but what we might think of as rules of social etiquette and standards of personal conduct as well. Practicing these rites played a central role in Kongzi’s method of self cultivation: they shaped the character of those who practiced them, expressed and further refined the virtue of those who knew them well, and influenced those who participated in or observed a given ceremony. Ruler-Minister Father-Son Husband-Wife Older brother-Younger brother Friend-Friend Rectification of Names (正名)禮 Cardinal Relationships R C B W FBenevolence (仁) and the Role of Government Another primary virtue in Confucian thought is “benevolence” or ren. Like all Confucian virtues, to Confucians it seems to lack meaning unless practiced; and the practice of ren requires everyone to express concern for the well-being of others. It also demands an attitude of humane understanding of all human conditions The ideal of government is a government of ren, one that so cares for the basic needs of society that it will not have to use coercion in order to maintain social order. “Rectification of names,”