Confucius and Confucianism

Confucius (551–479 BC), personal name Qiu and courtesy name Zhongni, was born in Zouyi, Lu (present-day Qufu, Shandong) in the late Spring and Autumn period, of a declined noble family. A keen learner from childhood who studied ritual and music, he served as a minor official managing storehouses and livestock, then opened a private school and became a well-known scholar. In his fifties he briefly held posts in Lu such as magistrate of Zhongdu and Minister of Justice, but soon left and traveled among the states for about 14 years promoting his political ideas, which no state adopted. In old age he returned to Lu to devote himself to education and the editing of ancient texts; tradition says he edited the Poems, Documents, Rites, Changes, Music and Spring and Autumn Annals. His core idea was “benevolence” (ren): “the benevolent love others,” “do not do to others what you would not want done to yourself,” with “ritual” regulating social order. Politically he admired Western Zhou institutions, advocated rule by virtue, opposed harsh government and arbitrary punishment, and urged rulers to spare the people's strength. A great educator, Confucius founded private schools, breaking the nobles' monopoly on education, and held that there should be “teaching without distinctions of class”; he is said to have had three thousand students, seventy-two of them outstanding. He advocated “teaching according to aptitude,” “learning and practicing in due time,” “reviewing the old to know the new,” and the attitude that “to know what you know and know what you do not know is true knowledge.” His words and deeds were compiled by disciples and later disciples as the Analects.