Confucius

Charlene Tan, Richard Bailey

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781441146809
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Theory & Practice

Charlene Tan's text offers a coherent account of Confucius' educational thought and its implications for the modern world. Arguing that Confucius is more than an ancient master who emphasised tradition, rote-learning and teacher-centredness, Tan portrays Confucius as a progressive educator who challenged the social norms of his time and transformed the nature of teaching and learning in China and beyond. Through a textual study of the Analects, this text provides a critical exposition of Confucius' work, particularly with respect to his interpretations of human beings' mission in life, potentials, relationships with one another, and educational process. Further highlighting the contemporary relevance of Confucius' work, the author offers a Confucian framework for 21st century education – one that harmonises modern knowledge and skills with universal values on shared humanity and loving others.

Part 1

Intellectual Biography

Chapter 1

Confucius’ Life, Personality and Influence

Much has been written about the life of Confucius. There are even films produced on his life, the latest being a 2010 movie starring Hongkong celebrity Chow Yun-fat.1 The numerous claims about the life of Confucius range from what is plausible, such as Confucius having up to 3,000 disciples; to what is dubious, such as Confucius receiving instruction from Laozi (老子) who is the founder of Daoism (道教)；and what is ridiculous, such as Confucius being abandoned as an infant and nursed by a tiger (Luo, 2011). Csikszentmihalyi (2002) points out how Confucius had been wildly eulogized by the time of the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 AD):

Confucius was thought to have possessed superhuman abilities, have displayed visible marks placed by Heaven that proved his destiny to rule as king, have transmitted esoteric teachings and prophecies to his disciples, and have been sanguine about serving the ghosts and spirits. Because of these qualities, Confucius was seen and treated increasingly as a divinity. (p. 135)

This section introduces readers to a brief background of the life, personality and influence of Confucius. The primary traditional sources on Confucius’ life are the Analects, Zuo Commentary (左傳 Zuozhuan), Records of the Historian (史記 Shiji) and The School Sayings of Confucius (孔子家語 Kongzi jiayu). I have already introduced the Analects in the previous chapter. Here, I shall briefly discuss the other three sources in chronological order.

First, the Zuo Commentary chronicles the history of the Spring and Autumn period (c. 722–468 BCE). It provides useful historical, social and cultural information on life during Confucius’ time. (To read this book in Chinese, see Yang, 1990; for the translated version in English, see Legge, 1960.) The sayings of Confucius were also recorded in The School Sayings of Confucius, a book that was written by Wang Su during the Wei period (220–265 BCE). The authenticity of the book, however, was questioned by scholars as early as in the Song dynasty (960–1276 CE). It is believed that the book contains those sections that were rejected as not reliable enough to be included in the Analects (Ji, 2010, p. 8). (To read this book in Chinese, see Ji, 2010; Wang & Wang, 2011; for the translated version of sections of the book in English, see Kramers, 1950.) Finally, the Records of the Historian was written by court historian Sima Qian (c. 145 BCE–86 BCE) during the Han dynasty. Besides containing the history of ancient China, the book also includes a section on the biography of Confucius. Given that it was written many centuries after the death of Confucius, some scholars have doubted its historical accuracy. (To read this book in Chinese, see Sima Qian, 2010; for the translated version in English as well as a good discussion of the book’s historical reliability, see Watson, 1958.)

I have consulted the relevant sections of the Analects, Zuo Commentary, Records of the Historian and The School Sayings of Confucius in preparing this chapter on the intellectual biography of Confucius. But I decided not to rely much on the last three sources mentioned above due to reasonable doubts over their accuracy and authenticity on Confucius’ life, coupled with a lack of any objective means to adjudicate the various claims about Confucius. What I have done instead is to incorporate selected information from the above-mentioned references where applicable but focus primarily on the Analects as it is regarded as the most reliable among the sources. This means that my write-up of Confucius’ biography is necessarily brief. But the brevity will not hinder us from acquiring a sufficient understanding of Confucius’ life and personality, so as to appreciate his work later.

Confucius’ life

The name ‘Confucius’ was coined by Jesuit missionaries who went to China in the sixteenth century. ‘Confucius’ is a Latinized version of Kong Fuzi (孔夫子) that means ‘Kong Master’. Chinese today call Confucius Kong Fuzi or Kongzi (孔子) for short; he was simply addressed as Fuzi (夫子 Master) in the Analects. His real name is Kongqiu (孔丘) where ‘Kong’ is his family name and ‘Qiu’ is his given name. He is also known as Zhongni (仲尼) that is his alternative Chinese name (also known as ‘Chinese style name’) given to adults in ancient China.

Confucius (c. 551–479 BCE) came from the Lu state that is near Qufu of Shandong province in China today. It is probable that Confucius belonged to the shi (士) class – a group of learned people sandwiched between the aristocrats and the common people who sought to be employed as court officials and teachers. His father was a military officer in the Lu state and died when Confucius was about 3 years old, leaving Confucius to the sole care of his mother. We are told in the Analects that Confucius grew up poor and learned many menial skills at a tender age (9.6) to support the family. Huang (2011) claims that ‘Confucius also knows martial arts, he can run fast enough to catch a rabbit, he is so strong that he can raise the city gate with his hands and he can fish, hunt, raise cows and horses, do accounting, and organise funerals (also see Cai, 1982, p. 6; Kuang, 1990, p. 307)’ (p. 149). The Records of the Historian informs us that Confucius was interested in li (often translated as rites or ritual propriety but more accurately understood as normative human behaviours; I shall elaborate on this in the next chapter) from a young age as he often played games using various ritual vessels.

Confucius was married but not much is known about his wife. But we know from the Analects that he had at least one son (17.10) and one daughter (5.1) (all subsequent references of passages are taken from the Analects, unless otherwise stated). The Spring and Autumn Period (c. 722–468 BCE) that Confucius grew up in, was a period rife with political and social turmoil, with rulers of different states vying for power and control. Appalled by the political and social chaos in his time, Confucius hoped to restore order and harmony by spreading his teachings and serving in the government. He desired to replace the prevailing harsh rule by law and punishment with rule by virtue (2.3), through reviving the practices of the sage-kings from the Zhou dynasty (3.14, 8.20, 8.21, 9.5). Confucius was not only well-versed in scholarship; the Records of the Historian claims that he taught his disciple Ran-you military skills that enabled the latter to lead the army of the state of Lu to defeat the army from the state of Qi.

At about the age of 50, he was appointed the Minister of Public Works and later the Minister of Crime in the state of Lu but he left his position a few years later. According to the Records of the Historian, Confucius was disappointed that the court officials in the state of Lu did not adhere to proper behaviour and that the Duke had neglected his state duties. Aware that he could not make much headway serving in the court of Lu, Confucius resigned himself to travelling to various neighbouring states such as Chen (5.22), Qi (7.14) and Wei (7.15) where he repeatedly failed to assume official position in court. The Records of the Historian claims that he and his disciples were welcome in the state of Wei by Duke Ling but they left after ten months when the Duke neglected state affairs because of his old age.

Confucius’ inability to carve out a successful career as a minister is noted in the Analects, where someone asked why Confucius did not participate in government (2.21), and another person commented that Confucius did not hold an official position (3.24). On Confucius’ part, he was also selective about serving in a state; for example, he chose not to take up an official position in the state of Wei (7.15), probably due to the unstable political developments there. Schiller (2011, pp. 504–6) points out that there was a power struggle in the state of Wei during that period among Duchess Nanzi (who was a concubine of Duke Ling), Prince Kuai-kui (who was the son of the Duke) and Duke Chu (who was the Duke’s son), culminating in the victory of Duke Chu.

The Analects offers us interesting snippets of Confucius’ encounters and experiences in the various states. He visited the state of Qi, where he was enthralled by the shao music played by a royal musician (7.14). He also went to the state of Wei, where he met the beautiful and infamous Nanzi who was the concubine of the Duke Ling (6.28). While travelling from the state of Wei to the state of Chen, Confucius was captured by the people of Kuang due to a case of mistaken identity (9.5). His life was again endangered in the state of Song when Huan Tui, the military minister of Song, sought to kill him (7.23). We also know that Confucius experienced hardships and setbacks in life, such as suffering from a serious illnesses (9.12) and coping with the death of his son Boyu (11.8) and his favourite disciple Yanhui (11.8, 11.10).

Throughout his travelling, Confucius was accompanied by a loyal band of disciples who served and protected him while learning from him. After spending 14 years travelling from state to state, he returned to the state of Lu at around 484 BCE in his late sixties where he spent his remaining years teaching. It was during that period that Confucius revised the Ya and Song, sections in the Book of Songs (詩 Shi, also known as the Book of Odes), where he probably set the poetry to fit the music. Besides the Book of Songs, it is also plausible that he edited other classical texts such as the Book of Documents (書 Shu, also known as the Book of History) and the Spring and Autumn Annals (春秋 Chunqiu). He passed away at the age of 72, and his disciples mourned his passing.

Confucius’ personality

Confucius was described in the Analects as gentle yet serious, awe-inspiring yet not severe, respectful yet at ease (7.38). Rather than being stoic and restrained, Confucius was an expressive man who was unafraid to show his emotions. That was evident especially in his overwhelming grief over the death of his favourite disciple, Yanhui (11.9, 11.10, also see 6.10 for his reaction towards another disciple). 2 Eschewing dogmatism and self-centredness (9.4), he came across as amiable, kind, respectful, modest and obliging (1.10). His kindness was noted in a number of instances as recorded in the Analects. For example, he offered to take care of the funeral arrangements of a friend who died without any surviving relatives (10.22), and was sensitive to assist a blind musician in his movements (15.42). On another occasion, when Confucius’ household steward refused a payment of 900 measures of grain, Confucius persuaded him to accept the payment so that he could distribute the grain to needy people in the neighbourhood (6.5).

Confucius’ compassion was also evident in his care and concern for his...