Transcript 2007-mar12-confucius

Confucius, Philosopher
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Born: 551 B.C.
Birthplace: Lu, China (now Shandong province)
Died: 479 B.C.
Best Known As: Chinese sage
Also Known As: Kong Fu-Zi
Confucius was a teacher, scholar and minor political official
whose commentary on Chinese literary classics developed
into a pragmatic philosophy for daily life
• After his death his pupils collected notes on his sayings and
doings and recorded them as the Analects
• His approach was formalized into a political and religious
system during the Han Dynasty in the early part of the third
century. It was embraced by subsequent generations and
was the "state religion" of China until the latter part of the
20th century
• ENDS >Lì, "profit, gain, advantage": NOT a proper
motive for actions affecting others. The idea that
profit is the source of temptation to do wrong is the
Confucian ground of the later official disparagment
of commerce and industry.
• Li, "propriety, good manners, politeness, ceremony,
worship." Xiào, "to honor one's parents," filial piety
• MEANS >Yì, "right conduct, morality, duty to one's
neighbor," righteousness.
• Yì may be broken down into: zhong, doing one's
best, conscientiousness, "loyalty" ; and shù,
"reciprocity," altruism, consideration for others,
"what you don't want yourself, don't do to others"
• The Master said, "The gentleman (chün tzu or )
understands yì. The small man understands lì."
Mastery of the six arts — ritual, music, archery,
charioteering, calligraphy, and arithmetic — and
familiarity with history and poetry enabled him to begin a
brilliant teaching career in his thirties
The texts are Daxue, Zhongyong, Lunyu (the Analects,
which reputedly contains direct quotations from
Confucius and is deemed the most reliable source of his
teachings), and Mencius
Lunyu the most reliable source of the doctrine of Confucius.
It covers almost all the basic ethical concepts of
Confucianism — for example, ren (benevolence), junzi
(the superior man), Tian (Heaven), zhong yong (doctrine
of the mean), li (proper conduct), and zheng ming
(rectification of names).
Five Classics, which consist of the Yijing ("Classic of
Changes"), the Shujing ("Classic of History"), the Classic
of Poetry, the Collection of Rituals, and the Chunqiu
("Spring and Autumn Annals").