A Short History of Chinese Philosophy (7 page)

UCIUS, THE FIRST TEACHER

CONFUCIUS is the latinized name of the person who has been known in China as K'ung Tzu or Master K'ung.* His family name was K'ung and his personal name Ch'iu. He was born in 551 B.C. in the state of Lu, in the southern part of the present Shantung province in eastern China. His ancestors had been members of the ducal house of the state of Sung, which was descended from the royal house of Shang, the dynasty that had preceded the Chou. Because of political troubles, the family, before the birth of Confucius, had lost its noble position and migrated to Lu.

The most detailed account of Confucius' life is the biography which comprises the forty-seventh chapter of the
Shih Chi
or
Historical Records
(China s first dynastic history, completed ca. 86 B.C.).

From this we learn that Confucius was poor in his youth, but entered the government of Lu and by the time he was fifty had reached high official rank. As a result of political intrigue, however, he was soon forced to resign his post and go into exile. For the next thirteen years he traveled from one state to another, always hoping to find an opportunity to realize his ideal of political and social reform. Nowhere, however, did he succeed, and finally as an old man he returned to Lu, where he died three years later in 479 B.C.

Confucius and the Six Classics

In the last chapter I said that the rise of the philosophic schools began with the practice of private teaching. So far as modern scholarship can determine, Confucius was the first person in Chinese history thus to teach large numbers of students in a private capacity, by whom he was accompanied during his travels in different states. According to tradition, he had several thousand students, of whom several tens became famous thinkers and schol-

*The word Tzu or "Master' is a polite suffix added to names of most philosophers of the Chou Dynasty, such as Chuang Tzu, HsUn Tzu, elc, and meaning Master Chuang, Master Hsiin,
etc.

O 6 l CONFUCIUS, THE FIRST TEACHER

ars. The former number is undoubtedly a gross exaggeration, but there is no question that he was a very influential teacher, and what is more important and unique, China's first private teacher. His ideas are best known through the
Lun Yil
or
Confucian Analects,
a collection of his scattered sayings which was compiled by some of his disciples.

Confucius was a
ju
and the founder of the
Ju
school, which has been known in the West as the Confucian school. In the last chapter we saw how Liu Hsin wrote regarding this school that it "delighted in the study of the
Liu Yi
and emphasized matters concerning humanheartedness and righteousness.

The term
Liu Yi
means the "six arts," i.e., the six liberal arts, but it is more commonly translated as the "Six Classics." These are the
Yi
or
Book of Changes,
the
Shih
or
Book of Odes
(or
Poetry),
the
Shu
or
Book of History,
the
Li
or
Rituals
or
Rites,
the
Yiieh
or
Music
(no longer preserved as a separate work), and the
Ch un Ch iu
or
Spring and A utumn A n— nals,
a chronicle history of Confucius state of Lu extending from 72.2. to 479 B.C., the year of Confucius' death. The nature of these classics is clear from their titles, with the exception of the
Book of Changes.
This work was in later times interpreted by the Confucianists as a treatise on metaphysics, but originally it was a book of divination.

Concerning the relation of Confucius with the Six Classics, there are two schools of traditional scholarship. One maintains that Confucius was the author of all these works, while the other maintains that Confucius was the author of the
Spring and Autumn Annals,
the commentator of the
Book of
Changes,
the reformer of the
Rituals
and
Music,
and the editor of the
Book of History
and
Book of Odes.

As a matter of fact, however, Confucius was neither the author, commentator, nor even editor of any of the classics. In some respects, to be sure, he was a conservative who upheld tradition. Thus in the rites and music he did try to rectify any deviations from the traditional practices or standards, and instances of so doing are reported in the
Lun Yii
or
Analects.
Judging from what is said of him in the
Analects,
however, Confucius never had any intention of writing anything himself for future generations. The writing of books in a private rather than official capacity was an as yet unheard of practice which developed only after the time of Confucius. He was China's first private teacher, but not its first private writer.

The Six Classics had existed before the time of Confucius, and they constituted the cultural legacy of the past. They had been the basis of education for the aristocrats during the early centuries of feudalism of the Chou dynasty. As feudalism began to disintegrate, however, roughly from the seventh century B.C. onward, the tutors of the aristocrats, or even some of the aristocrats themselves—men who had lost their positions and titles but were well versed in the Classics—began to scatter among the people.

They made their living, as we have seen in the last chapter, by teaching the Classics or by acting as skilled "assistants, well versed in the rituals, on the occasion of

064

CONKUC1US, THE FIRST TEACHER

funeral, sacrifice, wedding, and other ceremonies. This class of men was known as the
ju
or literati.

Confucius as an Educator

Confucius, however, was more than
aju
in the common sense of the word. It is true that in the
Analects
we find him, from one point of view, being portrayed merely as an educator. He wanted his disciples to be "rounded men who would be useful to state and society, and therefore he taught them various branches of knowledge based upon the different classics. His primary function as a teacher, he felt, was to interpret to his disciples the ancient cultural heritage. That is why, in his own words as recorded in the
Analects,
he was "a transmitter and not an originator."
(Analects,
VII, I.) But this is only one aspect of Confucius, and there is another one as well. This is that, while transmitting the traditional institutions and ideas, Confucius gave them interpretations derived from his own moral concepts. This is exemplified in his interpretation of the old custom that on the death of a parent, a son should mourn three years. Confucius commented on this: 'The child cannot leave the arms of its parents until it is three years old. This is why the three years' mourning is universally observed throughout the world."

(Analects,
XVII, 2.1.) In other words, the son was utterly dependent upon his parents for at least the first three years of his life; hence upon their death he should mourn them for an equal length of time in order to express his gratitude. Likewise when teaching the Classics, Confucius gave them new interpretations. Thus in speaking of the
Book of Poetry,
he stressed its moral value by saying: In the
Book of Poetry
there are three hundred poems. But the essence of them can be covered in one sentence: Have no depraved thoughts.' "
(A nalects,
II, i.) In this way Confucius was more than a mere transmitter, for in transmitting, he originated something new.

This spirit of originating through transmitting was perpetuated by the followers of Confucius, by whom, as the classical texts were handed down from generation to generation, countless commentaries and interpretations were written. A great portion of what in later times came to be known as the Thirteen Classics developed as commentaries in this way on the original texts.

This is what set Confucius apart from the ordinary literati of his time, and made him the founder of a new school. Because the followers of this school were at the same time scholars and specialists on the Six Classics, the school became known as the School of the Literati.

The Rectification of Names

Besides the new interpretations which Confucius gave to the classics, he had his own ideas about the individual and society, heaven and man.

O<# CONFUCIUS, THE FIRST TEACHER

In regard to society, he held that in order to have a well—ordered one, the most important thing is to carry out what he called the rectification of names. That is, things in actual fact should be made to accord with the implication attached to them by names. Once a disciple asked him what he would do first if he were to rule a state, whereupon Confucius replied: "The one thing needed first is the rectification of names."
(Analects,
XIII, 3.) On another occasion one of the dukes of the time asked Confucius the right principle of government, to which he answered: "Let the ruler be ruler, the minister minister, the father father, and the son son."
(Analects,
XII, II.) In other words, every name contains certain implications which constitute the essence of that class of things to which this name applies. Such things, therefore, should a-gree with this ideal essence. The essence of a ruler is what the ruler ideally ought to be, or what, in Chinese, is called the way of the ruler. If a ruler acts according to this way of the ruler, he is then truly a ruler, in fact as well as in name. There is an agreement between name and actuality. But if he does not, he is no ruler, even though he may popularly be regarded as such. Every name in the social relationships implies certain responsibilities and duties.. Ruler, minister, father, and son are all the names of such social relationships, and the individuals bearing these names must fulfill their responsibilities and duties accordingly. Such is the implication of Confucius theory of the rectification of names.

Human—heartedness and Righteousness

With regard to the virtues of the individual, Confucius emphasized hu-man-heartedness and righteousness, especially the former. Righteousness
(yi)
means the "oughtness" of a situation. It is a categorical imperative. Every one in society has certain things which he ought to do, and which must be done for their own sake, because they are the morally right things to do. If, however, he does them only because of other non-moral considerations, then even though he does what he ought to do, his action is no longer a righteous one. To use a word often disparaged by Confucius and later ^onfucianists, he is then acting for "profit."
Yi
(righteousness) and Zi(profil) are in Confucianism diametrically opposed terms. Confucius himself says: The superior man comprehends
yi;
the small man comprehends
li.

(Analects,
IV, 16.) Herein lies what the later Confucianists called the distinction between
yi
and
li,
a distinction which they considered to be of the utmost importance in moral teaching.

The idea of
yi
is rather formal, but that of
jen
(humanheartedness) is much more concrete. The formal essence of the duties of man in sociely is their oughtness, because all these duties are what he ought to do. But the material essence of these duties is "loving others, i.e.,
jen
or humanheart-edness. The father acts according to the way a father should act who loves his son; the son acts according to the way a son should act who loves his fa— 068 CONFUCIUS, THE FIRST TEACHER

ther. Confucius says: Human —heartedness consists in loving others.
(Analects,
XII, 2.2..) The man who really loves others is one able to perform his duties in society. Hence in the
A nalects
we see that Confucius sometimes uses the word
jen
not only to denote a special kind of virtue, but also to denote all the virtues combined, so that the term "man of
jen"
becomes synonymous with the man of all —round virtue. In such contexts,
jen
can be translated as "perfect virtue."

Chung and Shu

In the
Analects
we find the passage: When Chung Kung asked the meaning of
jen,
the master said: ....

Do not do to others what you do not wish yourself .... " (XII, i.) Again, Confucius is reported in the
Analects
as saying: "The man
of jen
is one who, desiring to sustain himself, sustains others, and desiring to develop himself, develops others. To be able from one's own self to draw a parallel for the treatment of others; that may be called the way to practise
jen."(
VI, 2.8.) Thus the practice
of jen
consists in consideration for others. Desiring to sustain oneself, one sustains others; desiring to develop oneself, one develops others." In other words: "Do to others what you wish yourself." This is the positive aspect of the practice, which was called by Confucius
chung
or "conscientiousness to others." And the negative aspect, which was called by Confucius
shu
or "altruism,"

is: "Do not do to others what you do not wish yourself. The practice as a whole is called the principle of
chung
and
shu,
which is "the way to practice
jen.

This principle was known by some of the later Confucianists as the principle of applying a measuring square. That is to say, it is a principle by which one uses oneself as a standard to regulate one's conduct.

In the
Ta Hsileh
or
Great Learning,
which is a chapter of the
Li Chi (Book of Rites),
a collection of treatises written by the Confucianists in the third and second centuries B.C., it is said: "Do not use what you dislike in your superiors in the employment ol your inferiors. Do not use what you dislike in your inferiors in the service of your superiors. Do not use what you dislike in those who are before, to precede those who are behind. Do not use what you dislike in those who are behind, to follow those who are before. Do not use what you dislike on the right, to display toward the left. Do not use what you dislike on the left, to display toward the right. This is called the principle of applying a measuring square.