Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
reach China), is China's greatest teacher. In Hong Kong and Singapore today, schoolchil-
dren in a Confucian temple will light a joss stick in his name and raise clasped hands to
honor his portrait.
Confucius was born in the Kung clan sometime around 551 BCE, in what is sometimes
called the Axial Age of civilizations' great philosophers. [209] His lifetime coincided with
the Chou ( Zhu ) era, which saw the breakdown of governmental authority and the rise of
plundering wars. He held brief posts as government minister but spent most of his life as
a wandering scholar and teacher searching for the principles of a good society, a good life,
and the government that would best grant the kingdom peace and prosperity. His teachings
were compiled by disciples and come down to us in The Analects and in his history of an-
cient times, The Spring and Autumn Annals .
Confucius's concerns were with the world of the living, not life after death. “Do not
ask me about the next world,” he said. “I have not yet begun to solve the problems of this
world.” He believed that humans were educable and perfectible—two sides of the same
coin. He placed great emphasis on education, stressing the importance of lifetime learning
and reflective thought.
At 15 I set my heart on learning; at 30 I took my stand; at 40 I had no delusions; at 50
I knew the Mandate of Heaven; at 60 my ear was attuned; at 70 I followed my Heart's
desire without going beyond the boundaries of what is right. [210]
Confucius believed that humans should strive to achieve a virtuous life by cultivating
two qualities: Jen, human-heartedness, a feeling of humanity toward other human beings as
well as respect for oneself, and a sense of the dignity of human life, [211] and Li , “propriety,”
the proper way of behaving, whatever the situation, whatever confronts you. Li is ritual and
something more; it is the golden mean between action and patience and between pride and
humility. And most important, Li must be observed in the basic relationships that constitute
society.
Li is a system of superordinate and subordinate relations. It is the deference of children
to their father, the younger son to the older brother, of a younger friend to an older friend,
of wife to husband, of father to the emperor. It is the formula for an ordered society. If there
is harmony in the family, said Master Kung, there will be harmony in the clan. If there is
harmony in the clan, there will be harmony in the village. If there is harmony in the village,
there will be harmony in the province. And if there is harmony in the province, there will
be harmony in the nation. Confucian values, with their insistence on unequal status, are in
marked contrast to present-day western values, with their emphasis on equality between
the sexes and among members of society. It is equality that makes democracy possible.
Without it, the principle of “one person, one vote” would not prevail.
 
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