Don't Know Much About Mythology - Kenneth C. Davis [183]
For years, those words have combined the wisdom of fortune cookies with the humor of old Charlie Chan movies, effectively reducing Confucius and his philosophy to a series of witless jokes. Too bad. Because in Chinese history, the legendary philosopher Confucius is one of the most significant people who ever lived, responsible for both the ethical practices and political philosophy that governed Chinese history for 2,000 years.
As with the life of Jesus or Buddha, some of Confucius’s biography must be taken on faith. According to tradition, Confucius was born in 551 BCE, in Lu, in the northeastern Sandong Province. His name was Kong Fu Zi (“great master Kong”) and the name “Confucius” is the Latinized form first used by Jesuits who came to China in the seventeenth century. While Confucius is said to have practiced archery and music—activities of the Chinese nobility—he seems to have been born into relatively humble circumstances. According to one tradition, his parents died when he was a child, but in his works, there is little reference to father, mother, or a wife, though Confucius is believed to have had a son who died, as well as a daughter. When Confucius himself died, he was largely unknown in China.
Although there is no evidence that Confucius ever wrote anything himself, he was long thought to have edited the collection of ancient wisdom books called the Five Classics, including the I Ching, the ancient divination guide to which he supposedly added his own commentaries. (This is now in dispute.) His conversations and sayings were also included in a book of his thoughts and anecdotes called the Analects which was compiled by his disciples. These disciples included the early Confucian philosopher Mencius (371–289 BCE), who believed that people were born good and simply needed to preserve “the natural compassion of the heart” that makes them human; and Xun Zi (mid-200s BCE), who believed people could live together peacefully only if their minds were shaped by education and clear rules of conduct.
But Confucianism itself is the centerpiece of the philosopher’s contribution. Begun as a code of conduct that only later evolved into what might be called a “religion,” Confucianism has no organization or clergy. Nor does it teach a belief in a deity or in the existence of life after death. Instead, Confucianism stresses moral and political ideas, putting an emphasis on respect for ancestors and government authority while insisting that women belong in the home. These ideas were not new or radical by any means, but Confucius placed them in a new framework by suggesting that the individual has a proper place in the political, societal, and family hierarchies, and that within these hierarchies one must venerate those above and care for those below.
Confucius further argued that tradition and order have to be respected to maintain the equilibrium of the universe. That meant practicing piety, ethical norms, and human benevolence—or jen, a concept that encompasses love, goodness, integrity, and loyalty—which apply to every aspect of life. Adhering to jen depends on following the “middle way”—or moderation. Central to this idea was the Confucian version of the Golden Rule: “What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.”
By about 200 BCE, the first large, unified Chinese empire had begun under the Han Dynasty. The Han rulers approved of Confucianism’s emphasis on public service and respect for authority. In 124 BCE, the government established the Imperial University to educate future government officials in the Confucian ideals found in the Five Classics. Candidates applying for government jobs had to pass rigorous examinations based on the Five Classics, and a second set of texts called the Four Books.* Mastery of these classics was also proof of moral fitness and the chief sign of a Chinese gentleman, even one not born into nobility. Under the Han Dynasty, the idea that the emperor’s authority came from heaven was also given greater clout, and Confucianism increasingly became the state “religion” of China from