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Student: Tushar Jain
Professor: D. Y. Chang
Course Title: East Asian Cultures
Meeting Time: 4:55pm Tuesdays and Thursdays
Due Date: 3/5/12
The Analects of Confucius are a compilation of the teachings of
Confucius, as written both by Confucius himself and his disciples. The
Analects are truly a collection of various chapters and teachings rather
than a singular work; they often deviate from topics and explore the
teachings of Confucius in a winding unpredictable path. These works have
influenced the very fabric of Chinese and East Asian culture, government,
religion and society very heavily; Confucius was one of the most influential
teachers of all time.
The teachings of Confucius are for everyone to study, one of the
most revolutionary of Confucius’s teachings was that not only men of noble
birth should be provided with education. Confucius was the first teacher in
East Asia to open up his school to those of the commoner classes; his
disciples came from all walks of life. Some parts of Confucius’s teachings
are of course targeted towards those with power to change how Chinese
society was run; the peasants were not able to affect the laws and policies
of their governments. Other parts of Confucius’s teachings, such as the
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virtues of the superior man and how all should have a love of learning are
targeted for all people from all classes and of all occupations. Confucius
taught a way of life and wished all to follow his lead and the lead of his
disciples.
The teachings of Confucius were, as is to be expected, influenced by
his situation in life and the environment he was surrounded by as all
people are. His teachings of doing unto others as you would have them do
unto you, improvement of the quality of life of the common people along
with his blunt manner of presenting these teachings made him a political
outsider for much of his life. While he was able to gather quite a large
group of disciples, political power evaded him for the first few decades of
his life because he wished to challenge the status quo and was considered
a threat by large parts of the ruling class.
Confucius was finally able to rise to a position of power in the State
of Lu after he was more than 50 years old. His policies were very
successful and the State of Lu was growing more prosperous and therefore
more powerful. This posed a challenge to opposing powers that saw their
power being eclipsed by the State of Lu. Legend has it that competing
powers who did not like the influence that Confucius’s teachings were
having on the State of Lu and its subsequent increase in power and
prosperity conspired successfully to force Confucius to leave his post. They
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accomplished this by distracting the Duke of Lu from his official duties
which disgusted Confucius and drove him to resign, making him once
again a political outsider. Confucius then roamed China trying to convince
other lords and noblemen to adopt his philosophies in their governance
styles but was unsuccessful. Confucius’s point of view was one of an
innovator and therefore he was shunned by the political elite of China who
wanted to preserve the status quo in which they had power. Confucius was
also unskilled at the game of politics, choosing to be blunt in his speech
and unflattering to those that were born into their positions but
undeserving of them. Because of these factors, Confucius’s teachings are
from the point of view of a political outsider, a cultural outsider, a
reformer and a man that had wisdom way ahead of his times because that
describes the man that Confucius was.
One of the reasons Confucius had so much trouble getting his
policies implemented across China was the inherent bias of the ruling class
to maintain the status quo. The ruling class was comfortable in their role;
in a system dominated by warlords and hereditary power not many
political leaders were willing to risk their position in order to try new
policies meant to improve the wellbeing of all of society with no guarantee
of success or of an increase in the power of the ruling class. In fact,
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Confucius’s focus on merit rather than birthright downright challenged the
very foundation of power of the ruling class!
There was extreme fragmentation of modern China during the period
of Confucius; this created a situation where political leaders had to look
out first and foremost for their own power and survival while putting the
advancement of their societies on the back burner. This was an era of
frequent conflicts between sovereign powers, fighting between warlords
that were nominally in the same state and vast civil strife mostly suffered
by the commoners. The era that Confucius lived in had an enormous
influence on his teachings, he saw the situation around him and wanted to
develop and deploy a system that would lead to peace and prosperity for
all. If there had been one central power in China during the time of
Confucius, he might have had an easier time having his reforms
implemented over a greater area and been able to affect the conditions of
many more lives during his time. It says something about Confucius’s
great discipline and determination that he was able to continue his
learning and teaching despite facing so many headwinds and receiving so
much negative feedback from the ruling class.
It is because of Confucius’s determination and wisdom that his
teachings became so successful as to become one of the bedrocks of
Eastern Asian culture. This success led to the interpretation of his
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teachings by Europeans and the West to be a religion. When westerners
learned of Confucius’s influence over East Asia, they immediately drew
parallels to the other great historical figures with such influence, most
notably the prophets Jesus and Mohammed. However, Confucius did not
consider himself a prophet, he did not consider his philosophies to be the
means toward reaching salvation nor serving a greater being. Confucius’s
teachings are about how to live a good life, a virtuous life, a life devoted to
self-improvement. He does not try to explain the theory of life and urges
his disciples to think for themselves, a quality devoid in most other
religions. An entire chapter, Chapter 10, of the Analects is devoted to
describing various aspects of Confucius’s daily life. Chapter 10 of the
Analects does not portray Confucius as anything other than a wise man, a
teacher and a leader. While Confucius did partake in many rituals
beginning from his childhood, these were in pursuit of being a better
person rather than in pursuit of approval from some divine entity.
A fundamental belief of Confucius was that human beings have
control of their situations and affairs. This is why he urged all people to
continually improve themselves rather than urging them to pray to a divine
being for the hope of receiving aid to better their situation. He repeatedly
says in his teachings that a good government is one of the most important
factors to improving the lives of the people, he does not ever say that
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divine action is needed to better society. According to Confucius, people
are responsible for themselves and for working to improve themselves,
their situation in life and their society.
Confucius believed that we should all feel a sense of duty to live good
and virtuous lives, this was the basis of his definition of morality. Ethics is
the expression of morality, one makes ethical decisions because of one’s
morals. Confucius taught that morality is the way to a better government
and therefore a better life for all people; in one of his most important
analects he states: “If the people be led by laws, and uniformity sought to
be given them by punishments, they will try to avoid the punishment, but
have no sense of shame. If they be led by virtue, and uniformity sought to
be given them by the rules of propriety, they will have the sense of the
shame, and moreover will become good.” To Confucius, morality was the
sense of duty that one must have to be good and to be virtuous.
The values that were at the core of morality according to Confucius
included generosity from the soul, sincerity, earnestness, seriousness,
kindness, righteousness and benevolence. A virtuous man (a gentleman)
would possess these values and always strive to be improving himself in
these avenues. Confucius believed that the path to self-improvement was
through learning; a superior man (a gentleman) should have a deep love of
learning and pursue learning, knowledge and wisdom through his entire
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life. This love of learning was woven deep into Confucius’s teachings, as he
says in Chapter 17, “There is the love of being benevolent without the love
of learning; -- the beclouding here leads to a foolish simplicity. There is the
love of knowing without the love of learning; -- the beclouding here leads
to dissipation of mind. There is the love of being sincere without the love
of learning; -- the beclouding here leads to an injurious disregard of
consequences. There is the love of straightforwardness without the love of
learning; -- the beclouding here leads to rudeness. There is the love of
boldness without the love of learning; -- the beclouding here leads to
insubordination. There is the love of firmness without the love of learning;
-- the beclouding here leads to extravagant conduct.” In Chapter 8,
Confucius further urges all who wish to be superior men to devote
themselves to learning every day until they die: “With sincere faith he
unites the love of learning; holding firm to death.”
Confucius says that virtue is cultivated through learning about what
it is to be a moral person and then following through by acting on that
knowledge. He believed that anyone could be virtuous; virtue was not
reserved for those of noble birth but was also open to the common man.
This fits in with Confucius’s belief that merit should be the determinant of
one’s place in society rather than birthright or wealth. Confucius’s
teaching of common men along with the heirs to great houses and great
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fortunes demonstrates this belief; he taught all of his disciples together
with no discrimination based on factors such as social class, occupation or
affluence.
Confucius preached that each person had to have a sense of duty to
self, family, community and society as a series of concentric circles that
defined who a person was. Each person was to learn how to live a virtuous
life and help himself, his family, his community and his society to the best
of his ability. However, one could not be a virtuous person by just going
through the motions and fulfilling the duties he believed he must. In order
to be virtuous, one must have a sense of duty from within and a love of
learning from within; these must be true emotions, real desires that are
necessary for one to be a virtuous person. This is what Confucius means by
his quote in Chapter 15 “It is Man who is capable of broadening the Way.
It is not the Way that is capable of broadening Man.” One cannot simply
become a virtuous man by following the way; there is more to it than that.
If one is a virtuous man, a man who has a love of learning and teaching,
then one can help others live a righteous life. This is what Confucius
means by the first part of his quote, this how a man may broaden the way.
Confucius did not say that his teachings were perfection, as religion is
ought to do, but rather he accepted that there were improvements to his
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teachings that could be made by his immediate disciples and by other
learned men to follow.
Confucius believed that people had to relate to each other on a more
human level than any teacher before him had preached. He saw potential
in all people and did not agree with the classist structure of Chinese
society in the era in which he lived. Of course a society cannot function
without rule of law and in order for rule of law to prevail the people must
accept that they must obey their superiors and the government. Confucius
was particularly stringent in his belief that a son must obey his parents
while they are alive. This is an effective policy because parents most often
want the best for their children and can impart their wisdom to them,
Confucius saw too many men make decisions against their parents’ wishes
that later ruined them. Because of the times in which he lived, Confucius
was also of the belief that men were the leaders of their households and
women should be subjugated to them. He even decreed that men and
women should walk on opposite sides of the street while he was in a
position of power in the State of Lu! This is the very definition of
paternalism of which Confucius was an advocate and which his legacy
unfortunately propagated through East Asia until modern times when
women were finally given more equal rights.
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Confucius’s teachings added up to a way of life he wished all to
follow. He also had a particular focus on how government should be run;
he disagreed with the contemporary system of hereditary power and
warlords ruling through fear and bloodshed. Confucius believed that rules
should be virtuous to set a good example for their officials and people. This
was mirrored in the way Confucius led his own life, he lived a very
disciplined life according to his own teachings and code, setting an
example for his disciples to emulate. Confucius told rulers that if they were
virtuous, their people would be virtuous and their state would then exist in
peace and prosperity. Unfortunately, not many rulers were willing to
entertain this notion as it challenged the status quo and therefore their
power.
The governmental style advocated by Confucius was one of the
people, he wished that people be installed in government posts because of
their merit and wanted the government to rule through their subjects’
sense of duty over brute force. He wanted rulers to lead by example and
place trust in their subjects to live virtuous lives. As he states in one of his
most important analects: “If the people be led by laws, and uniformity
sought to be given them by punishments, they will try to avoid the
punishment, but have no sense of shame. If they be led by virtue, and
uniformity sought to be given them by the rules of propriety, they will have
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the sense of the shame, and moreover will become good.” This
demonstrates both his idea of morality and his idea that government
should be based on the people rather than laws which typically function by
threatening punishment.
American government on the other hand is a government of laws
because we as a society place less trust on individuals to do the right
thing. This is a symptom of American culture where we are all expected to
look out first and foremost for our own best interests and place other
people’s interests secondary to our own. American culture demonstrates
the values of “to each his own” and is the epitome of individualism
whereas Confucius preached that society should be based on doing well for
others rather than yourself. This is a fundamental difference in values and
opinions which is an entire debate topic in and onto itself, a debate that
has been raging since the advent of human civilization upon this Earth.
The leader of a state, according to Confucius, must be moral and this
would lead him to be competent because he would be leading by example.
This was the most important feature of a leader in Confucius’s teachings
because a state filled with moral people and with a moral leader who
wasn’t entirely competent was better off than a state with a competent
leader whose subjects feared him and acted without virtue towards each
other. A good king according to Confucius would follow the principles of
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generosity from the soul, sincerity, earnestness, seriousness, kindness,
righteousness and benevolence along with a love of learning. In other
words a good ruler was expected to live a virtuous life as were all people,
the only difference was that the ruler was to set an example for his
subjects and therefore his virtue had more positive externalities than the
virtue of a common man.
Confucius, while against the hereditary hierarchy of China in his era,
still believed that there should be a strict hierarchy in society. A son was to
obey his parents without question and a subject was to obey his ruler
without question. The difference between Confucian teaching and the
government at the time was that he thought government officials should be
appointed on merit rather than birth. This was the genesis of the
standardized testing system in Chinese government which was the method
of selection for government officials for many centuries. Confucius died
before his reforms were widely adopted, like many other great men he
passed away without knowing the impact that he had on the lives of
billions of people over the course of millennia.
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