Confucius: A Guide for the Perplexed

Yong Huang

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781441180520
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theologie & Religion
• Subtopic: Asiatische Religionen

Of the three main teachings in Chinese culture, Confucianism has exerted the most profound and lasting influence in China.While Confucianism (a term coined by Westerners) refers to a tradition (Ruism) that predated Confucius, it is most closely associated with Confucius (551-479 BCE), who determined its later development. Confucius' ideas are reflected in his conversations with students, mostly recorded in the Analects. However, this book also brings into discussion those sayings of Confucius that are recorded in other texts, greatly expanding our perspective of the original Confucius. Scholars in the past, unsure about the authenticity of such sayings, have been reluctant to use them in discussing Confucius' view. However, recent archaeological findings have shown that at least some of them are reliable.
Confucius: A Guide for the Perplexed is a clear and thorough account of authentic Confucius and his ideas, underscoring his contemporary relevance, not only to Chinese people but also to people in the West.

CHAPTER ONE

The life of Confucius: “A homeless dog?”

1. Introduction

Confucianism is clearly related to the person Confucius, which is the Latinized form of Kong Fuzi 孔夫子 (551–479 BCE), who lived in ancient China during the Spring and Autumn period (722–481 BCE), part of the East Zhou 周 Dynasty (770–256 BCE). Kong is the family name, while Fuzi is an honorific name, meaning master. His given name is Qiu 丘, literally meaning mountain. As his parents prayed for him at the mountain of Ni when his mother was pregnant with him, his official name is Zhongni, where Zhong is a middle name indicating the seniority in his family as the second son and Ni refers to the name of the mountain. Most frequently, however, he has been simply addressed as Kongzi, where zi means something similar to fuzi, and so Kongzi means Master Kong.

“A homeless dog” was one of the many descriptions a stranger gave of Confucius when he was traveling across different states, selling his vision of government, with no avail, and was the only one that Confucius accepted. While it is particularly true of him during that period of wandering, it is also quite adequate as a description of his whole life. Even during the heydays of his political career in his home state of Lu, he was not able to fully implement his political ideas. In this sense, Confucius’s political life, which he cherished greatly, was a failure. However, as a moral educator, he has been remembered and has exerted great influence throughout Chinese history and beyond.

2. Shining ancestry and humble childhood

Referring to his ancestors, Confucius said that he was a person of Yin 殷 (Liji 3.49). As a matter of fact, he was from the royal family of Yin, the ruling ethnic group in the later part of the second dynasty of China, Shang 商 (1600–1043 BCE). This part of the Shang dynasty is also called Yin dynasty, starting from 1298 BCE, when the tenth emperor Pan’geng 盘庚 moved its capital from Yan 奄 to Yin 殷, in present Anyang 安陽 of Henan province, until the dynasty was conquered by King Wu 武 of Zhou and replaced by the Zhou 周 Dynasty (1046–770 BCE for West Zhou and 770–256 BCE for East Zhou). After conquering Yin, in order to comfort the Yin people, King Wu of Zhou enfeoffed Wugeng 武庚, the son of the last emperor of Yin/Shang dynasty, Zhou 紂, as the duke in the area native to the Yin people (part of the present Henan province). Wugeng rebelled when King Wu of Zhou died, but this rebellion was suppressed by King Wu’s brother, Duke Dan of Zhou. Acting as a regent while the son of King Wu, King Cheng, was still young, Duke Dan of Zhou divided the Yin people’s native place into three parts, of which the eastern part was established as the state of Song 宋. Still to comfort the Yin people, Weizi 微子, the brother of Zhou 紂, who surrendered in the rebellion, was enfeoffed as the duke of the state of Song.

After Weizi died, his younger brother Weizhong 微仲, the direct ancestor of Confucius, succeeded as the duke. Between Weizhong and Confucius, there were 15 generations, of which the following are worth mentioning. Four generations after Weizhong was Duke Min 緡, who had two sons, Fufuhe 弗父何 and Fushi 鮒祀. When Min died, he designated his brother, Yang 煬, to succeed him as duke. As the custom prevalent at the time was to let a son succeed his father, Fushi killed his uncle Yang and tried to make his own brother Fufuhe the Duke, which Fufuhe declined, thinking that he would then have to punish his brother for the crime of killing the duke, their uncle. Thus Fushi himself became the king, while Fufuhe, the eleventh generation ancestor of Confucius, became a hereditary minister (qin 卿) and was remembered for having the virtue of deference for not taking the dukeship. To that point, the status of Confucius’s ancestors gradually declined first from the Royal family of the Yin dynasty to the duke of Song state and from that to a hereditary minister.

Fufuhe’s third generation grandson Zhengkaofu 正考父 successively served three dukes and was remembered for his diligence. His son, Confucius’s sixth generation grandfather, Kongfujia 孔父嘉, was killed in a court coup. His son Mujinfu 木金父 fled to the state of Lu 鲁 and began using Kong as the family name. He resided in Zou 鄹, southeast of the present Qufu 曲阜 of Shangdong Province. Without the dukedom, the Kong family no longer belonged to the noble class, but they were not commoners either. Instead, they belonged to shi 士, a class between the nobles and common people (sometimes regarded as the lowest stratum of nobles or the highest stratum of common people), whose job was to serve hereditary ministers with their knowledge and/or skills. The first two generations of the Kong family did not attract the attention of rulers in their new home state, Lu. The third generation, Kong Fangshu 孔防叔, assumed a position of the lower level official under a noble family, while his grandson Shulianghe 叔梁紇, Confucius’s father, was the head of the small town of Zou 鄹, an official position in the state of Lu. For this reason, he is sometimes also called Zou Lianghe or Zou Shuhe, and Confucius called himself the son of the Zou people (Analects 3.15). Shulianghe was known for his bravery and extraordinary strength, particularly in two victorious battles where he heroically defended the state of Lu against attacks from the states of Jin 晋 (563 BCE) and Qi 齊 (556 BCE) respectively.

Shulianghe had nine daughters through his first marriage and a son with a lame leg through a concubine. Eager to have a physically normal son to succeed him, Shulianghe asked to marry one of the daughters of the Yan family. The youngest daughter, Yan Zhengzai 顏征在, agreed and became Confucius’s mother. Confucius was born on September 28, 551 BCE, as a result of the yehe 野合, literally “wild union,” between Shulianghe and Yan Zhengzai, according to the Records of History (Shiji 史記). There are scholarly disagreements about what yehe really means. According to one interpretation, since there was a gap of more than 40 years between Shulianghe (now over 60 years old) and Yan Zhengzai (less than 20 years old), the marriage between the two was against ritual propriety, and so it was yehe (see Kuang 1990: 22). According to another interpretation, this simply means that they were united in the wild and not inside a house. According to another interpretation, this indicates that the birth of Confucius, a sage, is a resonance from heaven (Qian 2005: 4). According to yet another interpretation, this means that the two married without a matchmaker and appropriate rituals (Zhang 1997: 9); according to yet another interpretation, it means that Shulianghe raped Yan Zhengzai (Cai 1982: 5). In any case, because his parents prayed for a son at Mount Ni, Confucius was also named Kong Qiu, where qiu literally means “mountain,” and Zhongni, where “ni” is after the name of mountain, while “zhong” is the term used to indicate that he was the second son (his stepbrother Boni 伯尼 was the first). Confucius is also called, often derogatorily, especially in China’s anti-Confucius campaigns in the 70s of last century, KONG Lao’er 孔老二, literally Kong The Number 2.

When Confucius was only 3 years old, his father died, and his mother left the Kong family and carried Confucius to Qufu, the then capital of the state of Lu, where many of the Yan clan members lived. Although they got some help from these relatives, since most of them were commoners, their life was hard, and Confucius had many chores to do to support the family. Confucius’s mother died, perhaps from excessive labor, when she was less than 40 years old. From then on, Confucius was entirely on his own. When he married Qiguan Shi 亓官氏 at the age of 19 and had his only son, Kong Li 孔鯉, a year later, Confucius had to work even harder to take care of his family. When he was in his 20s, he worked for noble families, once taking care of horses and sheep and once doing the bookkeeping. In each case, Confucius did an impressive job (see Mencius 5b5). Thus Confucius later recalled: “I was in a humble station when I was young, and that is why I am skilled in many menial things” (Analects 9.6), although he said that a superior person does not have to learn such things.

Even when enduring hardship, Confucius’s mother didn’t neglect his education. It is believed that an additional reason that they moved to the state of Lu after the death of Confucius’s father was that, as the home state of Duke of Zhou, Lu was rich in cultural tradition. While unable to go to official schools for noble classes, Confucius was sent to schools for commoners, which were open only off the harvest seasons. Confucius said that “I set my mind on learning when I was fifteen” (Analects 2.4), without a fixed teacher. Thus, when asked about the teacher from whom Confucius acquired his learning, Zigong, one of his students, replied, “where doesn’t my teacher learn? Why have there to be a fixed teacher?” (Analects 19.22).

The content of his learning includes everything necessary for a member of the shi class, particularly the so-called six arts. First, even when he was very young, he was interested in rituals so much that, while his childhood friends played with their toys, he practiced ritual performance with simple ritual utensils for fun at home (see Sima 2008). When he was a little older, he studied rituals by reading ancient books, including the Book of Poetry and the Book of Documents. By the time his mother died, when he was only 17 years old, he was able to handle the burial properly. According to rituals, his mother was to be buried at the same place as his father. However, he was only 3 when his father died, and his mother never told him where he was buried. So in consistence with ritual propriety, he temporarily buried his mother at a public land until he learned the location of his father’s graveyard from one of his neighbors. Then he buried his mother permanently at the same place. In order to learn about the rituals of the Yin dynasty, he made a special trip to the State of Song, the native place of the Yin people. When he was 27, Tanzi, the ruler of the small state of Tan 郯, visited the state of Lu. After learning that Tanzi was a very erudite person, Confucius asked to meet him to learn about the titles and other things related to state officials. On one occasion, Confucius had a chance to get into the state temple in Lu, a place for making sacrifice to Duke of Zhou. He asked questions about almost every ritual performed there. When he was laughed at for both being ritually inappropriate in asking questions while people were performing rituals and for his fake reputation as a person versed in rituals, Confucius made a three-word response (Analects 3.15), which has been subject to two different interpretations. According to one interpretation, Confucius’s reply was: “this is ritually appropriate,” meaning that it is ritually appropriate to ask people whenever you don’t know something (Yang 1980: 28). According to another interpretation, Confucius’s reply was: “is that ritually appropriate?” meaning that what was performed in the temple was not ritually appropriate, and Confucius kept asking questions in order to force people to reflect on what they were performing so that they could realize their mistakes (see Qian 2005: 69).

Second, there is a story about Confucius’s study of music from Shi Xiangzi 師襄子, the state musician of Lu. Once he played one piece of music for ten days, and Shi Xiangzi suggested that he could play a different piece as he was familiar with old one. Confucius replied that, “while I’m familiar with the piece, I have not grasped its techniques.” After a few days, Shi Xiangzi suggested that he could play a different piece as he now had grasped its technique. Confucius replied that, “while I have grasped its technique, I have not understood its meaning.” After a few more days, Shi Xiangzi suggested that he play a different piece as he had now understood its meaning. Confucius replied that, “while I have understood its meaning, I have not figured out the personality of the composer yet.” After still a few days, Confucius said, “Now I know the composer: he has dark skin, is very tall, and looks upward, and has the country unified. Who can that be other than King Wen?” Shi Xiangzi was very surprised, saying that his teacher had indeed told him that King Wen was the composer (see Sima 2008). Confucius enjoyed music so much that, later, on a trip to the State of Qi to discuss and perform music with royal musicians, he forgot the taste of meat for three months (Analects 7.14). He was even believed to be able to tell the difference between two sage kings’ music: Shun’s shao music is fully good and fully beautiful, while King Wu’s wu music is fully beautiful and not fully good.

While we don’t have particular information about how he learned the other four arts, it is clear that he must have learned them when he was young. When hearing people saying that he knows many things but is not proficient in any of them, Confucius said to his students: “What am I proficient at? Charioteering? Charioteering? Yes, I’m proficient in charioteering” (Analects 9.2). This shows that he must have learned to charioteer when he was young. Similarly, we learn that once, when Confucius was practicing archery, he was surrounded by a large crowd of spectators, which indicates that Confucius must have had astonishing archery skill (Liji 46.7; 836). The fact that he did an impressive job as a bookkeeper for a noble family when he was a little over 20 years old also shows that he must have been good at mathematics, while writing must be something he had already learned at the unofficial school he attended when he was very young.

3. Confucius establishes himself

Late in his life, Confucius looked back at the main stages of his life. After the first stage, when he was 15, at which he set his heart–mind on learning, Confucius said that he established himself when he was 30 years old as the second major landmark of his life (Analects 2.4). What he meant is that he knew how to say and do the right thing in any situation. Believing that “one who wants to establish oneself ought to establish others” (Analects 6.30), Confucius was among the earliest to open schools outside the governmental system to help others establish themselves. The official schools accepted only children of noble families. Confucius, however, made it clear that he taught people without discrimination (Analects 15.39). As a matter of fact, most of his students, such as Zilu 子路, Qidiao Kai 漆雕開, Minzi Qian 閔子骞, Yan Wuyou 颜無繇 (the father of Confucius’s most favorite student Yan Hui 顏回), and Zeng Xi 曾皙 (the father of Confucius’s student Zeng Sen 曾参, most famous for his virtue of filial piety), were all from the lower classes. This is of course understandable, as the children of noble families had official schools to go to, while people of the lower classes did not. However, the difference between Confucius’s school and the official schools was not only about the type of students they had but also about the educational content. The traditional official schools primarily taught the so-called six arts, rituals, music, writing, mathematics, archery, and charioteering. Although Confucius himself was skilled at all of them, his teaching focused on classics, such as the Book of Poetry, the Book of Document, the Book of Rites, and the Book of Music. In other words, Confucius’s teaching was primarily not the practical skills but the virtuous characters necessary not only for officials but also for all human beings.

Confucius’s school soon established its reputation, and some noble families began to send their children to him. For example, Mengxizi 孟僖子, a high level official in the state of Lu, who was once embarrassed in a diplomatic trip to the state of Chu for not being familiar with rituals, sent his two children, Mengyizi 孟懿子 and Nan’gong Jingshu 南宮敬叔, to study with Confucius, and so they were also among Confucius’s earliest students. As a student of Confucius, in 518 BCE, Nan’gong Jingshu asked Duke Zhao of Lu for permission to take a trip with Confucius to Luoyi 洛邑 (the present day Luoyang of He’nan province), the then capital city of the Zhou Dynasty. In addition to examining the rituals, cultural relics, and classics, their main purpose was to visit the Daoist Laozi, who was then the minister of documents (compatible to the present day curator of the national museum or library) of the Zhou dynasty. Much older than Confucius, Laozi also knew much more about things that Confucius wanted to know most, rituals. Particularly, Confucius learned from Laozi what to do when there is an eclipse on the way to funeral proceedings; whether a child, when dying young, should be buried near or far; in what situation it is right to go to war when one is still in a mourning period for one’s parent; and how to handle the funeral of an emperor or a king, etc. This meant a great deal for Confucius, as he later often mentioned these to his students. However, even more important was perhaps what Laozi said when Confucius came to say good bye: “to see their visitors off, rich people give valuable things, while wise people give advice. Since I’m not rich, let me pretend to be a wise person,” and the following is the advice he gave to Confucius: “People good at business tend to hide their wealth as if they didn’t have anything. People rich in virtues look like fools. You should get rid of arrogance, insatiability, assertiveness, and illusions” (Sima 2008a). Clearly, Confucius took what Laozi said to his heart, as he still praised Laozi to his students after he returned to Lu: “I know birds can fly, but they may be shot by people; I know fish can swim, but they may be caught by people; I know beasts can run, but they may be trapped by people. There is only one thing that we cannot control. It may come through clouds if it wants to, and it may leave through winds if it wants to. It may go to heaven if it wants to. This is the legendary dragon. I cannot fully understand Laozi, but he is just like a dragon” (Sima 2008a).

After he returned to the State of Lu, Confucius witnessed the power struggle between Duke Zhao of Lu and his ministers, ending with Zhao’s exile in the states of Qi and Jin and his eventual death in Jin 7 years later. Unable to bear to see rituals being distorted and music being twisted in such a way, and with no hope of seeing his political ideals realized in his home state, Confucius decided to go to the state of Qi with some of his students in 517 BCE, when he was 35 years old. Although Confucius had already established his reputation and met Duke Jin of Qi when the latter visited the state of Lu, in order to be able to see the duke Confucius took a position at the family of Gao Zhaozi 高昭子, a member of the Duke’s inner circles. With Gao’s introduction, Confucius was able to see Duke Jin, who asked for Confucius’s advice on running a government. Thus Confucius said: “Ruler ought to act like a ruler, minister ought to act like a minister, father ought to act like a father, and son ought to act like a son.” Without realizing that Confucius was referring to him as a ruler who didn’t act like one and thinking instead that Confucius only meant to say that his ministers didn’t act like ministers, Duke Jin entirely agreed with Confucius, saying that, if not acting as Confucius said, “even if we have a lot of grain, we will have nothing to eat” (Analects 12.11). A few days later, Duke Jin asked Confucius what the most important thing in governing a state was. Realizing that the duke lived an indulgent life, Confucius said it was to be frugal. Again thinking that it was directed to others, Duke Jin was very pleased with Confucius and considered asking Confucius to stay and serve in his government. This...