Confucius and Confucianism

Confucius
& Confucianism
The Essentials
Lee Dian Rainey

A John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Publication

This edition first published 2010

2010 Lee Dian Rainey
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Rainey, Lee Dian.
Confucius and Confucianism : the essentials / Lee Dian Rainey.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 978-1-4051-8841-8 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-4051-8840-1 (pbk. : alk.
paper)
1. Confucius. 2. Confucianism. 3. Philosophy, Confucian. I. Title.
B128.C8R35 2010
181.112dc22
2009044654
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Set in 10 on 12pt Sabon by Toppan Best-set Premedia Limited
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01

2010

For my mother and father,

Phyllis MacGregor and William Rainey

When you drink the water, remember its source.

Chinese proverb

Contents

List of Illustrations

xi

Preface: Why Confucius?

xii

Book Notes

xiv

Chronology

xv

Confucius World and His Life

Confucius World: Looking Back to a Long,
Unified Civilization
The Zhou Dynasty
Ancestors and Spirits
Heaven and the Choice of Heaven
The Decline of the Zhou Dynasty and the Rise of the
Warring States
The Life of Confucius
Sources
Versions of the Texts
Hagiography, the Pious Stories of Confucius Life
Scholarly Versions of Confucius Life

5
9
10
10
11
16

Confucius Teachings I: The Foundation of a Good Person

Filial Piety
Dutifulness or Loyalty
Honesty and Sincerity
Rightness and Knowledge
Courage
Understanding, Sympathy, Compassion
Humanity

23
23
29
30
31
31
32
34

2
2
4
4

viii Contents
Ritual
The Gentleman

35
42

Confucius Teachings II: The Foundation of a Good Society

and Other Topics
Setting Words Right
For the Benefit of the People
Laws
Models
Education without Distinction
Women
The Gods, the Spirits of the Dead, and the Afterlife
The Choice of Heaven and Heaven
Fate
The Way

45
46
48
49
50
54
55
57
59
60
61

Terms, and Mozi

Problems with Schools and -isms
Problems with the Term Confucianism
Mozi and Mohism

63
63
65
69

Opponents
Daoism
The Strategists
The Logicians
Legalism
Others

75
75
80
82
83
85

Mencius
Human Nature is Good
Human Nature and Heaven
Government
Mencius on Confucian Themes
Summary

87
89
95
96
99
103

Xunzi
Human Nature is Evil
Morality is Artificial
Ritual
Government
Language
Heaven
Xunzi on Confucian Themes
Summary

105
106
109
110
111
113
114
116
118

Contents

ix

Confucians, Confucian Texts, and the Qin Dynasty

Other Confucian Groups
Confucius and Confucian Texts
The First Emperor and the Reunification of China

119
119
121
128

The Han Dynasty, 206 BCE220 CE

History and Development
The Classics in the Han
The New Text School
The Yin-Yang Theory
Qi
The Five Phases
The Status of Confucius
The Old Text School
Other Confucian Texts in the Han Dynasty
Summary

132
132
134
134
135
137
139
140
140
143
144

10 From the Han to the Tang Dynasties, 220907 CE

Buddhism and Its Development
Confucianism from the Han to the Tang Dynasties
Civil Service Examinations and the Imperial Civil Service
The Civil Service
The Status of Confucius in Imperial China
Confucian Temples
Confucius as a God
Confucianism outside of China: Korea, Japan, and Vietnam
Summary

146
146
148
148
151
151
152
154
155
158

11

Neo-Confucianism
The Northern and Southern Song Dynasties
Neo-Confucianism
Issues in Neo-Confucianism
Early Neo-Confucian Thinkers
Zhu Xi (11301200) and Li Xue, the School of Principle
The School of Mind/Heart
Wang Yangming
Summary

159
159
160
161
161
165
171
172
174

12 Confucianism and Modernity

The Qing Dynasty, 16441911
Kang Youwei (18581927) and the Reform of Confucianism
The May 4th Movement
The Guomindang and the New Life Movement

176
176
177
178
180

13

Contents
The Communist Party and the Communist Government
New Confucians
Confucianism as the Foundation of Chinese Culture
Substance/Application
The Confucian Core
Confucianism as Religion
Asian Values
Governments: Taiwan, Singapore, and China
Critics of New Confucianism
New Confucianisms Impact and Importance
Summary

180
181
183
183
184
184
186
186
189
190
191

Issues
What is Confucianism?
Democracy
The Emphasis on the Economy
Ritual
Filial Piety
Education
Self-cultivation
Does Confucianism Include Women? Can Confucianism
Include Women?
Critics
Is Confucianism a Religion? A Philosophy? Something Else?
Summary

192
192
193
195
196
196
197
198
198
201
202
204

Notes

207

Glossary of Names and Terms

241

Suggestions for Further Reading

249

Bibliography

253

Index

258

List of Illustrations

1.1
1.2
1.3
2.1

Traditional rendering of Confucius

Map of Warring States, China (with modern cities)
Confucius tomb
The Apricot Pavilion where Confucius is said to
have taught
6.1
Statue of Mencius
8.1
Trigrams and hexagrams in the Book of Changes
8.2
Wall where, it is said, the classics were hidden from the
First Emperor
9.1
Yin-yang symbol
10.1 Main building in the Temple of Confucius in Qufu
11.1 Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate
12.1 Students studying at the Confucian Temple in
Taichong, Taiwan

12
14
21
41
88
124
130
135
153
163
185

Preface: Why Confucius?

Confucius was born over 2,500 years ago. Why would we want to know
what he said? How could someone from that long ago be of any importance to us now?
Confucius faced many of the same problems we do: governments telling
lies; an enthusiasm for military adventures; great social, economic, and technological changes; a society that seemed to be losing any respect for education and for moral behavior; growing sleaziness and ignorance. Confucius
offers solutions to these problems. You will find that what he has to say
applies to our dilemmas and to us today.
Confucius said that we can become responsible, adult people who behave
properly. If we can do that, we can change the world we live in. Unlike
many people today, when Confucius talks about morals and virtues, he does
not do it to accuse others or to force his thinking on anyone. Confucius
tells us that we should become educated, not to get a job, but to become
better people. He, and his followers, talk about cultivating the self, just as
one grows a garden. Do that properly and you change your family, neighborhood, and country.
Readers who are just beginning in this area should be aware that every
section of this text is debated and that the issues are far more complex
than a text of this sort can convey. They should bear in mind that this is
an introductory text. References to arguments about issues and terms are
in the endnotes, along with suggestions for further reading, and I would
encourage readers to follow up with them.
This book is based on the work of hundreds of scholars. The
study of Chinese philosophy in the West has, in the last 20
years, become increasingly sophisticated and exciting. Scholars in the
area must also bear in mind that this book is an introduction and
that many complex ideas have often had to be conflated or relegated to
endnotes.

Preface: Why Confucius?

xiii

I can still remember my excitement when I first stumbled, quite by

accident, on classical Chinese thought. I hope to be able to convey some
of that in this small volume and to give the reader a glimpse into a world
that has so much to say to us.
I would like to thank the anonymous readers of both the proposal and
the draft, who have been generous in their suggestions and corrections; I
am deeply grateful for their careful reading. Heartfelt thanks are also due
to the editors and the staff at Wiley-Blackwell. The enthusiasm, insight, and
support from such outstanding professionals have made writing this book
a pleasure. I would like to thank the marvelous librarians of the Queen
Elizabeth II library at Memorial University. Generations of students at
Memorial University have helped me deepen my understanding, and their,
somewhat unexpected, enthusiasm for Chinese philosophy has been a great
joy. The never-ending kindness and hospitality of Su Xinghua and her
family in Taiwan for over twenty years is a debt they have never allowed
me to repay. I would also like to thank Professor Simon Wong and Dr.
Terry Woo for their rennai, patience, in our ongoing, and sometimes contentious, discussions of Confucianism. I owe many, many debts to Professor
Tracy Su, who has been a shining example to me of the Confucian virtue
of ren, humanity. Dr. Jean Snook freely brought her sharp editing skills to
this manuscript. It was her advice, encouragement, and support that made
writing this possible, all the while exemplifying the Confucian virtues of
cheng, sincerity, and yong, courage. Finally, I would like to thank Dr.
Richard Teleky for his editing of the manuscript, but mostly for a friendship that spans half of our lives and for his yi, rightness, and zhi, wisdom,
that guide it.

Book Notes

The Pinyin system of transliterating Chinese is used throughout, rather than

the older WadeGiles system. The WadeGiles transliteration can be found,
after the Pinyin, in the endnotes and the glossary of names and terms. The
exception to this is with authors names and book titles, where WadeGiles
has been used. The Pinyin is then in brackets in the endnotes.
As the Pinyin system is problematic for many English speakers, an
approximate pronunciation of names or terms can be found in the Glossary.
The translations here, with a few exceptions, are mine: I will cite the
text, and where possible a chapter title or the standard numbering system,
and I will refer the reader to an alternate translation. Some texts, such as
The Book of History, have not been fully translated for many years and so
the alternate translation is an old one.
This text is meant as a basic introduction. Suggestions for texts, standard translations, and other views can be found in Suggestions for Further
Reading.

Chronology

16th to 11th century BCE: Shang dynasty

11th century to 256 BCE: Zhou dynasty
11th century to 771 BCE: Western Zhou dynasty
771256 BCE: Eastern Zhou dynasty
722481 BCE: Spring and Autumn era
403256 BCE: Warring States era
221207 BCE: Qin dynasty
206 BCE220 CE: Han dynasty
206 BCE25 CE: Western or Former Han
25220 CE: Eastern or Later Han
22080: Three Kingdoms period
220589: Period of Disunity
581618: Sui dynasty
618906: Tang dynasty
907960: Five Dynasties
9601125: Northern Song dynasty
11271279: Southern Song dynasty
12791368: Yuan (Mongol) dynasty
13681644: Ming dynasty
16441912: Qing (Manchu) dynasty
established 1911: Republic of China
1949: Peoples Republic of China

1
Confucius World and His Life

Confucius say, Man who shoots off mouth, must expect to lose face.1
Who is this Confucius with his fractured English and trite sayings?
In the West we tend to have a cartoon-like view of Confucius: as a man
who churned out dull maxims the dictum coining sage, says the Lonely
Planet travel guide2 or as a conservative old fogy whose sayings show up
in fortune cookies.
In the Chinese city of Qufu, Confucius birthplace, on any given day you
will see hundreds and hundreds of people, most in family groups or tour
groups. The majority of the three million visitors a year are from elsewhere
in China, or from Korea or Japan. They wend their way through the historic sites in the area the temple of Confucius, the Apricot Pavilion where
Confucius taught his students, Confucius grave, and Confucius family
home. Some burn incense and bow before the central statue of Confucius.
Everyone takes pictures and listens to the tour guides spiel. While not especially reverent, everyone seems attentive and interested. This is a UNESCO
World Heritage Site. Throughout the city, hawkers will sell you Confucius
medallions, key chains, books, pictures, statues, and even tea from the
Sage Confucius land. There is no trace of a boring, trite Confucius here.
It is not just the Western image of Confucius that is a problem. In
modern China, if you talk about Confucius most people will not know
who you are talking about. That is because Confucius name is not actually
Confucius. The name Confucius was coined by Catholic missionaries to
China in the sixteenth century. It is the Latin form of the Chinese Kong
Fuzi, or Master Kong (the Fu is an honorary addition). In Chinese
he is Kongzi.3 Kong is Confucius family name and the zi means
Master or Teacher; in Chinese, titles come after the family name, not
in front of it as in English. I will use the Western convention, Confucius,
because it is most familiar to English speakers, but we should probably
begin by knowing his real name.4

Confucius World and His Life

Westerners also tend to see China and things Chinese as very much the
opposite of the West: for example, Western philosophy is rational while
Chinese thought is mystical. As children many of us in North America
believed that if we dug a hole through the earth we would come out on the
other side, in China. A Chinese fire drill is a messy and disorganized
event; Chinese whisper is a childrens game where a sentence is whispered
from one to another, finally ending as nonsense. Is stereotyping one of the
reasons why Confucius, central to Chinese culture, is solely a figure of fun,
while our important religious and philosophical figures are not?

Confucius World: Looking Back to a Long,

Unified Civilization
By the time Confucius was born in 551 BCE, there had been a civilization and a political structure in China for about 1,500 years, and possibly
longer than that. He and his contemporaries looked back to the reigns of
the sage-kings who were said to have lived two to four thousand years
earlier. These sage-kings were described as bringing the arts of civilization
and government to China, inventing everything from farming to flood
control. Modern scholars argue whether these sage-kings were early rulers
around whom fabulous supernatural stories were built or ancient gods who
were reinvented as historical rulers of a very ancient past.5 For Confucius
and those of his time, the sage-kings represented the best of rulers and the
heritage of Chinese civilization.
Dynastic rule came with the Xia dynasty (c.21831500 BCE) and the
Shang dynasty (c.15001100 BCE). Their China was not the China we now
know. The area they ruled was centered around the Yellow River basin;
gradually political authority would stretch north, west, and south to take
in the China of Confucius time (see map), though even that China was not
as large as contemporary China.

The Zhou Dynasty

King Wu, one of the founders of the Zhou dynasty, fell ill. His brother, the
Duke of Zhou, was so distressed that he prayed to their ancestors, asking that
he might be taken instead of his brother. While King Wu recovered on that
occasion, when the King did die, his son, King Cheng, was very young and
the Duke of Zhou ruled on his behalf as regent. The Duke rejected suggestions
from other nobles that he should kill the child and take the throne himself.
The Dukes rule was considered to be the model of good government. When
King Cheng was old enough, the Duke handed over the government to him

Confucius World and His Life

and, so it is said, retired to write the hexagrams of the Book of Changes and
ritual texts. (See chapter 8.)6

The Zhou dynasty defeated the Shang rulers in about 1027 BCE, bringing
under their rule what was then western and central China. The Zhou government, like the Shang before it, was a feudal state where the king claimed
ownership of all the land and then parceled territories out to lords who
pledged allegiance to him. Government offices were hereditary among noble
families and it was birth, not merit, that determined ones place in society.
When we use the word feudal we should not think of a king and his
few advisors sitting about in a castle. The Zhou government structure was
complex. There was a prime minister, a minister of the household, a minister
of justice, and a director of public works whose job it was to build and repair
dykes, bridges, irrigation channels, and water reservoirs. There was a minister of war and ministers who were in charge of fortifications. The ministry of
religion carried out divination, interpreted dreams and celestial phenomena,
and saw to sacrificial offerings. Other departments dealt with everything
from entertaining foreign guests, directing the music conservatory, overseeing and storing the harvest, hunting, and crafts. Other officials advised the
ruler on the law, rewards for service to the crown, and proper conduct.
By the time of Confucius, not only was there a complex government,
but China had a sophisticated society and culture. By the time of the Zhou
dynasty, there was a writing system that was already centuries old, books,
histories, music, and poetry. Skill in metal work was so refined that great
sets of bells could be cast, each one playing more than one note when struck.
The Chinese used the decimal system and a metallic form of money; they
traded with people outside the China of the time. There were large market
towns, roads, bridges, and irrigation systems using canals, bridges, and
dams. By the time of Confucius, China is estimated to have had a population of about 50 million people.
The rulers and nobles were a warrior aristocracy whose prestige and
power was based on warfare, hunting, and sacrificial rituals to their ancestors. These things set nobles apart from commoners. Noble families were
defined by kinship ties and each great family had its own estate, temples,
and military forces. Nobles lived on their own estates and on the wealth
they produced there. Commoners and farmers were like serfs, working on
the estates and called on for military service by their local lord.
When an elite is defined by prowess in war, manhood is defined by
military courage and honor is central. Nobles saw themselves as obliged to
take vengeance on anyone who took liberties with their honor; any small
slight had to be avenged to preserve ones honor. Courage, loyalty, honor,
family name, and sacrifices to the ancestors who founded the lineage were
central to the nobilitys understanding of who they were.

Confucius World and His Life

Ancestors and Spirits

The ancestors of those nobles were powerful. They were thought to control
success in war, hunting, and agriculture. They were capable of punishing the
living for any neglect in the regular offerings that were made to them; the
ancestors might also appear to punish their enemies, and to cause trouble
for the living.
The ancestral halls of the nobles contained tablets representing the ancestors. Ceremonies were performed in which food and drink were offered
to ancestral spirits; descendents took on the role of the ancestors in these
rituals. There was no clear line between the living and the dead as the living
nourished the ancestors and the ancestors cared for the family.
It is not clear where these ancestors were. They are often referred to as
ascending but we are not told where. The dead (that is, all the dead,
not just the ancestors of noble families) were also said to go to the Yellow
Springs, a gloomy underworld where what was left of their life force gradually disappeared.
Ancestors who had become too remote to be known, the dead who had
no one to sacrifice to them, and the dead of other families were thought
to be supernatural too. Often dangerous, these ghosts could bring disease,
death, or calamity and had to be guarded against. Another range of supernatural beings, the spirits, included ancestors and what we would call gods.
These were the gods of natural phenomena, of particular areas, and gods
with specific responsibilities such as fire, childbirth, or rain. Later texts
would refer to all of these kinds of beings as ghost-spirits7 when talking
about some sort of survival after death or supernatural beings. The beings
of the other world continued to be involved in this one, in both positive
and negative ways.
Religious ceremonies for ancestors were performed by their noble
descendents. There were also religious professionals, like shamans, who
treated the sick with ritual and with herbal medicine; they exorcized evil
spirits and opened up communication with the dead through divination.
These shamans had a number of ways to foretell the future. They held
official positions at court and were mostly women.

Heaven and the Choice of Heaven

Central to Zhou dynasty religious thinking was the concept of Heaven.
This is not a heaven as we might think of it, that is, a place where one goes
after death. Heaven may be a god, but not the creator God of the biblical
traditions. This is a central deity or concept that was understood as the

Confucius World and His Life

primary supernatural power. There are some ancient texts that talk about
Heaven as a god, and a god with a personality, who is pleased or angered
by the actions of human beings and who then blesses or punishes based on
Heavens standards. On the other hand, Heaven is sometimes described as
being something closer to nature, an impersonal and automatic force not
at all like human beings.
Whether Heaven was understood as a god or as nature, we frequently
find Heaven closely allied to the interests of the common people: Heaven
hears and sees as our people hear and see; Heaven approves of actions and
displays its warnings, as our people approve of actions and hold things in
awe: this is the connection between the upper and lower worlds.8 While
there is a separation between the supernatural world and ours, these two
worlds were thought to hear, see, and approve of things, in the same ways.
The Zhou dynasty made use of the idea of Heaven in what began as a
neat bit of propaganda called the choice of Heaven (sometimes translated
as the mandate of Heaven). The theory behind the choice of Heaven is
simple: Heaven dislikes bad rulers and sends sign of displeasure drought,
earthquakes, or floods. If the bad ruler ignores these signs and does not
reform, Heaven chooses an upstanding and moral man to replace the
bad and corrupt ruler. With Heavens support, the upstanding man will
overthrow the corrupt ruler and become the new ruler. So, if you are the
ruler, you have the choice of Heaven; if you are overthrown, you have lost
Heavens favor and the new ruler now has it.
The reason the leaders of the Zhou dynasty used the choice of Heaven
theory was that they had overthrown the Shang dynasty. They claimed that
it was the choice of Heaven that gave them the authority to do so; that they
became the rulers shows that they did indeed possess the choice of Heaven.
What began as an effort of self-justification by the early Zhou dynasty
rulers continued on throughout Chinese imperial history where emperors
were thought to have the choice of Heaven by virtue of being emperor.
Confucius and other thinkers will also use the concept of the choice of
Heaven to widen the concept and to demand accountability from rulers.

The Decline of the Zhou Dynasty and the Rise of the

Warring States
For almost three hundred years, the Zhou dynasty used the choice of
Heaven to justify their rule and ruled successfully over China. In 771, the
Zhou capital in the west was captured by non-Chinese enemies and the
Zhou king was killed. Some of the royal family escaped and established
their new capital further to the east in the present-day city of Luoyang.
This loss of the western territories, and, even more, the loss of prestige,

Confucius World and His Life

signaled the beginning of the decline of the Zhou rulers political power. If
the Zhou rulers could not even protect their own capital city, then they were
incompetent or weak or both. Local lords took more and more control of
their own estates and saw no reason for obedience to a weak Zhou ruler.9
As the Zhou rulers power declined, local lords set up their own governments, often mirroring those in the Zhou court; they took on royal roles
and titles and their estates became independent states. The power of a local
lord came from his ability to call up men and assemble a strong army. The
bigger his territory, the more men a lord would have to call on. This gave
lords a considerable incentive to try to annex their neighbors land and
increase their territory.
Local lords faced threats everywhere they looked. Family members could
be plotting to assassinate them. Other noble families in their state could
be planning to overthrow them. Neighboring states might be working out
plans to invade them.
One of the major problems facing these local lords was that they had
no political legitimacy. There was no reason for any particular lord to be
the ruler of that state. He did not have the choice of Heaven; if he did, he
would rule the entire kingdom. He might claim a right to rule on the basis of
his relation to the Zhou ruler, or as the head of his noble family. But there
were other members of his own family brothers, sons, uncles, nephews
who could make the same claim. Added to that, there were other noble
families in his own state who saw no reason why the present rulers family
should be the ruling family. If his rule was based solely on the nobility of
his family, any other noble family might be just as noble. This meant that
any ruler faced rebellion both from within his family and from other noble
families. As we move into the Warring States era (403221 BCE) most of
the original lords were overthrown by other noble families. Families that
had overthrown their rulers faced similar challenges from other noble
families and, increasingly, from newly rich families who had little claim to
nobility but whose power lay in their wealth.
Members of ruling families plotted against each other. For example, in
696 BCE, in the state of Wei, the Duke of Wei had an affair with one of
his dead fathers concubines and he favored the son born from that union.
When this son grew up and married, the Duke liked his sons bride very
much indeed and had an affair with her from which two sons were born.
The bride, confident of the support of her father-in-law, the Duke, plotted
with her sons to kill her husband, the Dukes son. This would allow at least
one of her sons (the Dukes illegitimate sons) to become ruler. The plot was
only successful when the Duke came in on it. And so it was that the son
was killed by his father, his wife, and his half-brothers.10
A prince might be supported by another of the states noble families in
his bid to overthrow his father. When the son was successful in killing his

Confucius World and His Life

father and becoming ruler, he was indebted to the noble family that had
supported him. If conspirators were unsuccessful, they were beheaded,
drawn and quartered, their families were all killed, and their wealth went
to the ruler. So it was to the rulers financial advantage to charge his subjects with treason.
Life at the courts of these rulers could well be full of assassinations, poisonings, and plots. Sons rebelled against fathers, younger brothers against
older brothers, families against families. Inter-family plotting was not the
only danger for a ruler, or his successor.11 Externally, states threatened and
attacked one other or made temporary alliances that shifted easily.
As part of their duties as ruler of a state, rulers would travel, with great
pomp, to the courts of other rulers where they would be greeted with feasts,
musical performances, and gifts. Treaties would be signed and terrible oaths
of lifelong friendship and political alliance sworn. This would be followed,
almost inevitably, by treachery and attack.
Warfare was unending. By the 720s BCE, with the Zhou dynasty in
decline, there were about 120 feudal states. Two hundred and fifty years
later, by the time of the death of Confucius in 479 BCE, only 40 states
survived. These 40 states continued to fight each other until, 250 years later,
there were only seven states left.
The rulers of these states answered to no one. If you are looking for
examples of despicable behavior, reading through the histories of the time,
you will be spoiled for choice. Rulers were able to follow their own inclinations, and these inclinations were often greedy and immature. When Duke
Zhuang, the ruler of the state of Zhu, was not able to punish an officer when
he wanted to, he flew into a violent rage and flung himself onto his bed with
such force that he fell off into the embers of the fire and burned to death.
Before dying he gave orders that five men be put to death to accompany
him in the tomb along with five chariots. The history says, Duke Zhuang
was an excitable and ferocious man.12
Living in a state of war and threat did not mean that nobles and rulers
in these small states lived frugally. They had enormous gardens, and great
orchestras and dancers providing music and entertainment at parties and
feasts. They dressed in the latest fashions and enjoyed pastimes like hunting.
One ruler, Duke Ling of the state of Qin (608 BCE), amused himself by
shooting a crossbow at ordinary people from his city walls. When his chef
did not prepare a dish properly, the duke had him killed and his body
stuffed in a basket and paraded through the palace as a warning to others.13
In 494 BCE King Fuchai of the state of Wu was described by his contemporaries as so self-indulgent that whenever he traveled, even if he was just
staying for one night, he would insist on towers and pavilions being built
for him. Ladies and maids must be ready to serve him. Even when he went
out just for the day, all his games and pastimes had to accompany him. He

Confucius World and His Life

was an avid collector of art and precious rarities and enjoyed spectacles
and grand musical performances.14 The nobility and rulers of the time were
frequently corrupt, immoral, interested in extravagance and luxury, and
often not very bright.
Shifting alliances and intrigues, both inside and outside the state, meant
that concepts like honesty and loyalty were considered hopelessly oldfashioned. Anyone trying to behave well was obviously not smart enough
to figure out the realpolitik of the day. There were good and responsible
rulers and loyal and honest government officials, but often they did not
fare well. One official, Shi Qi, was captured by enemy forces. He refused
to disclose the whereabouts of his lords body, because he had taken an
oath to keep the burial site secret. They threatened to kill him. Shi Qi
responded by saying, When it comes to this kind of thing, if I had won,
I would have become a high official; as Ive lost, Im going to be boiled
alive. Thats how it goes; I can hardly object. His torturers then boiled
him alive.15
In another story of courage, a noble, Cui Zhu, had killed his ruler and
so took the title of prime minister, setting his son up as the new ruler. The
states Grand Recorder, the historian who kept the records of the court,
wrote in the record, Cui Zhu assassinated his ruler. Cui Zhu had him
killed. The Grand Recorders younger brother then took over the post and
recorded the same thing. He too was killed, as was yet another brother
who succeeded to the position. When the fourth brother took over the job
and made the same entry, Cui Zhu finally gave up. While all this was going
on, a minor historian who was living in the south of the city heard that the
Great Recorder had been killed. He gathered up his writing kit and headed
to the court, only to turn back when he heard that the facts had indeed
been recorded.16 There were examples of loyalty and dutifulness, but they
were few and far between.
The collapse of the feudal system headed by a dynastic ruler and the
social breakdown that followed meant that there were also major social,
cultural, and economic changes. Many of the older noble families fell on
hard times financially or in the struggle for dominance in their state. A
new merchant class rose along with a money economy, replacing the feudal
bonds that had traditionally kept relationships together.
As the old nobility declined, their inherited government positions were
increasingly filled by salaried appointed officials. These new bureaucrats
were scholars, an intelligentsia who moved from one state to another as
they liked, or as they were offered jobs. Although they were members of
the nobility, they were not necessarily tied by family or clan bonds to the
ruler or the state they served.
As well, there were innovations in warfare: iron weapons were now
used, the crossbow had been invented, traditional chariot attacks by noble

Confucius World and His Life

charioteers were replaced by massive infantry and cavalry formations and

generals were chosen for their skill in tactics, not for their noble birth.
There were innovations in farming too. Agriculture increased because of
better irrigation and the use of iron tools. With the breakdown of feudalism, farming was more and more in the hands of nuclear families. Cities
expanded as political and trade centers.17
The breakdown of the Zhou dynastys rule led to major changes in
Chinese politics, society, and culture. A once unified China was divided
into many warring, small states. War, and the pestilence that often followed
it, brought death and suffering to ordinary people. Even without war, life
could be hard with high taxes and the ever-present threat of conscription
into the army. Amongst the nobility, notions of loyalty and honor changed
to calculating self-interest and a passion for money. A great deal of this
may sound familiar to us in our world. For Confucius, and many of the
thinkers who came after him, all of these things were signs of the decline
of society and the loss of civilization itself. The past centuries of Chinese
civilization were about to be lost.
One of Confucius students spent the night at Stone Gate. In the morning the
gatekeeper asked him where he had come from. The student answered, From
Confucius home. The gatekeeper replied, Confucius isnt he the one who
knows what he wants to do is impossible, but keeps trying anyway?18

The Life of Confucius

Confucius was born in 551 BCE into the troubled times of war, intrigue,
and great economic and social changes; his life and teachings need to be
understood in light of them. When it comes to the facts of Confucius life
and teachings, we have a number of written sources. As we shall see, ancient
texts, and the versions of these texts, like all ancient texts, present problems.
The next section is an introduction to some of these texts and some of the
problems around them. There are additional problems given that Confucius
was so famous that it was only natural that all sorts of myths would be built
up around him. There is an extensive hagiography, pious stories that have
accumulated over 2,000 years. In the final section we will see that scholars
have been able to put together a biography of Confucius that, while still
sketchy, is considerably more probable than the legends. While we have a
good idea of what Confucius taught, just who Confucius was in terms of
the events of his life, or his personality, are much more difficult matters. We
do not even know what he looked like though traditionally he was said
to have been tall and well built. Our sources do not always tell us things
we might like to know.

10 Confucius World and His Life

Sources
When we try to piece together the life of Confucius we come across the
same problem that we have with the life of any figure from long ago. While
we have texts that give us a great deal of information, how trustworthy
and accurate are they? Who wrote them? Why? Is the picture they give us
accurate?
After the death of Confucius in 479 BCE, his students, and their students after them, generated texts that claimed to set out, or elaborate on,
his thought. We will look at these texts in more detail in chapter 8. We
have, for example, texts like the Analects (Lun Yu), a collection of the
sayings of Confucius. The Analects is said to have been put together by
his students. For the last one thousand years, the Analects has been seen
as the primary source of direct quotations from Confucius, though, as we
will see, the text presents its own problems. It does not contain a complete
biography of Confucius. There are other texts that purport to give us
information about Confucius life, though they are considered less reliable:
for example, the Kongzi Jia Yu, a record of sayings of Confucius and his
students; the Three Character Classic, a primer for boys; and the Classic for
Girls. While they too give us information about Confucius life and teachings, they are much later texts from the Han dynasty (206 BCE220 CE).
Generated by Confucius followers, all of these texts claim that they are
quoting Confucius, describing episodes in his life, and accurately reporting
his teachings. So there are a great number of sources.19

Versions of the Texts

To confuse the sources further, there are not only texts, but there were
versions of these texts. Texts evolved, first transmitted by students, then
copied by others. If we take the Analects as an example, we can see how
this works. The Analects, or sayings of Confucius, were traditionally understood to be the notes taken by Confucius students at the time or recollections that his students gathered together later. The text presents quotations
from Confucius, or a conversation between Confucius and others, but often
without a context, so that we do not know what question was asked, or
why Confucius was prompted to say certain things. The text we now have
is divided into 20 chapters or parts; these are subdivided by numbering the
sayings within each chapter. While scholars continue to debate which of
these sayings are authentic, it is agreed that the text was written, or compiled, by a number of people over the course of about two hundred years.
By the Han dynasty, two to three hundred years after Confucius death,

Confucius World and His Life

11

there seem to have been three versions of the Analects in circulation, and
the text we have now is likely a synthesis of all three.20
There are some sayings in the Analects that are quite clear and there are
others that are far more cryptic. An example of the former is a story about
one of Confucius students, Zai Wo, who was found having a nap during
the day. Confucius commented that, as one cannot carve rotten wood, there
was no point in scolding Zai Wo.21 Evidently Zai Wos lack of energy made
him rotten wood, so there was no point in Confucius correcting him.
An example of a somewhat more cryptic saying is this one: One day the
stables burned down. When Confucius returned from court, he asked, Was
anyone hurt? He did not ask about the horses.22 It is only when we know
more about Confucius teachings that we can understand his remark. It does
not mean that Confucius did not care for animals. His first concern was
with the stable hands and whether any had been killed or injured. He was
concerned with people first; the horses, expensive and prized possessions of
the ruler, came second. So reading the Analects requires information from
the text itself, from commentaries written about it, and information about
Confucius teachings from other Confucian texts.
Modern scholars sift through classical Chinese texts like the Analects
using modern tools such as linguistic and textual analysis to try to date
them, trace their transmission, and penetrate the layers of interpretation.
The result is a consensus about many of the important parts of Confucius
life and thought, while interpretations of them, and arguments about these
interpretations, continue.
Confucius is like other important figures from the past, Jesus and the
Buddha, for example, in that complex traditions grew up around them.
While scholars agree on many of the basics of their lives and teachings, there
can still be wide variations in interpretation. Within these limitations, we
can reconstruct the broad outline of Confucius life and teachings.

Hagiography, the Pious Stories of Confucius Life

The first attempt at a full biography of Confucius can be found in the
Historical Records (Shi Ji) written in the Han dynasty, 250 years after
Confucius death. Unfortunately, this biography contains many of the
legends and fancies that had already gathered around the life of Confucius.23
These legends maintain that Confucius ancestors were descended from
royalty and moved to the state of Lu, modern Shandong province, from
the state of Song. Confucius father is traditionally identified as Kong Shu
Lianghe. The histories record that he used his terrific strength and courage
to save his fellow soldiers.24 While he may have been a great soldier, he
was less successful at being a civil servant. When he was 60, he married

12 Confucius World and His Life

Figure 1.1 Traditional rendering of Confucius

Confucius mother, Yan Zhizai, who was only 20. Either with her husband,
or alone, Confucius mother went to Mount Niqiu to pray for a son25 and
there received the spirit of Heaven.
Other stories tell us that shortly before Confucius birth, a unicorn
appeared to Confucius mother carrying a plaque that said that, with the
decline of the Zhou dynasty, the child would be the uncrowned king.
After it left, Yan Zhizai gave birth to her son. Two dragons descended from
heaven, circling the house, and five gods descended to the courtyard. His
mother heard celestial music announcing the birth of a sage. At birth, the
crown of Confucius head looked like the shape of Niqiu mountain and so
he was named Kong Qiu.26
When Confucius was three, his father died. As a very young child,
Confucius could play music and practiced rituals (see chapter 2 for a discussion of these rituals). As a boy he attended a school set up by a prime
minister. When he was 17, his mother died. Even as a teenager, he was
recognized by some officials in the state of Lu as a descendent of sages
and as having a natural ability to understand and perform even the most
ancient of rituals.

Confucius World and His Life

13

When he was 20, Confucius began his career as minor official. When his
first son was born, the Duke of Lu sent the gift of a carp in honor of the
birth, and so the son was named Kong Li (Li, carp).
Tradition also has it that, at an early age, Confucius was appointed by
the rulers of Lu to the post of police commissioner, then to a higher level
as Minister of Public Works, moving on to become Minister of Justice, and
finally to the position of prime minister of Lu.27
In the histories Confucius is shown as using his knowledge of diplomatic
protocol to help the Duke of Lu set up an advantageous treaty with the state
of Qi. The envoys from Qi, aware of Confucius intelligence and skill, tried
to intimidate him by sending armed men to the negotiations. Confucius,
however, handled the situation so that Lu got what it wanted in the treaty.
A paragon of virtue, Confucius did not fold when faced by force; without
swagger, Confucius was courageous enough to correct his lord and wise
enough to know the precedents.
Confucius continued to study with the most renowned Music Masters
and Masters of Ritual. There are tales that say that, when a new ruler
took over in the state of Lu, the state of Qi sent three beautiful women to
the new ruler; the women were successful in making the new ruler distrust
Confucius. Offended, Confucius withdrew from government, and began
his fourteen years of travel throughout China (497484 BCE), giving wise
advice to other rulers and teaching the students who gathered about him.
Traditionally it was thought that he had 72 students who were close to
him and more than three thousand students altogether. These travels were
sometimes dangerous with so many groups of armed men everywhere. In
the state of Wei, Confucius and his students were attacked and beaten;
on his way to the state of Chu, he and his followers were surrounded and
besieged by a group of undisciplined soldiers. Sometimes political intrigue
threatened Confucius: in the state of Song there was an attempt to assassinate him. During his travels he dealt with hunger and hardships. Still, he
taught his students and attempted to advise rulers.
If Confucius was such an accomplished sage, why did rulers not take
his advice? Later texts tell us that despite consistently wise advice to the
rulers of the states of Wei and Lu, Confucius was ignored. The texts give
three reasons for this. First, in order to follow Confucius advice, rulers
would have had to accept Confucius criticism of their behavior and reform
themselves; they would then have been required to govern with care and
restraint. No ruler of that time was interested in doing any of these things.
Second, other government officials were envious of Confucius and feared
him; they did their best to thwart his plans. They slandered Confucius to
their rulers, undercut his authority, and encouraged their rulers to behave
badly in the hope that Confucius would become disgusted and leave. The
corruption of the time meant that Confucius was not able to find a job in the

Beijing

Ye
llo
w

Ri
ve
r

YAN

QIN
Subdivided into
Wei, Han, Zhao

QI

ZHOU

ZH

EN

LU

Qufu

SONG

Huai River

CHU

Yang

WU
Shanghai

iver
zi R

YUE

Hongkong

100

0 100

200 miles
400 km

Figure 1.2 Map of Warring States, China (with modern cities)

Confucius World and His Life

15

many states he traveled to. Third, people of the time were incapable of really
understanding what Confucius was teaching. Had the rulers and officials
of the state of Lu, the inheritors of the Zhou tradition, really understood
and followed what Confucius advised, they would have attained the choice
of Heaven and become founders of a new dynasty that unified China. The
stories that accumulated around Confucius contain these justifications for
his lack of political success.
The stories continue by saying that, when Confucius returned to the state
of Lu, he was not offered an office, so he spent his time teaching and writing
or editing the ancient texts, The Book of History, The Book of Poetry,
the Spring and Autumn Annals, and the Book of Changes (see chapter 8).
When he had completed the texts, he lived on a vegetarian diet and prayed
to the spirit of the Pole Star; a red rainbow flashed down from the heavens
and changed into an inscribed tablet of yellow jade. Other traditions hold
that Confucius himself was the Pole Star, representing the god of literature,
who had come down to earth.
As death neared, Confucius was such an accomplished sage that he
could often tell the future: predicting the outcome of natural events and the
futures of some of his students. We are told that, near the end of his life,
some hunters in the state of Lu captured a beast and killed it. Confucius
was the only person who could correctly identify the beast as a unicorn.
He wept and asked aloud why the unicorn had appeared at this time. The
unicorn, a sign of a new dynasty, had been killed. This was taken to mean
that Confucius understood that the state of Lu would never rise to greatness. In another version of this story, hunters killed a beast they did not
recognize. When Confucius saw it, he knew it was a unicorn. He wept to
see it dead because a unicorn appears when morality and justice will prevail.
The hunters had killed the unicorn, an omen of good government. This was
also a portent of Confucius impending death.
After Confucius death, some of his students kept a vigil at his grave.
They brought trees from their native places to plant. This custom has
continued and to this day one finds trees from all over in the Kong family
graveyard.
Traditions around these stories and scenes are still recounted and can
now be found in books and at tourist sites. For example, in the city of Qufu,
which claims to be the birthplace of Confucius, one can be shown the seat
where Confucius wrote the Spring and Autumn Annals, the pavilion where
Confucius taught his students, the well that belonged to Confucius family,
and other sites to match these stories.
We can see a number of themes in these stories. First, as with many
important figures from the past, Confucius had a special birth, complete
with supernatural figures and events. His birth and death are rounded
by appearances of unicorns; Confucius failure to reform the times is

16 Confucius World and His Life

represented by a dead unicorn just before Confucius own death. Throughout
his life, there are signs of Confucius special status. As he matures, his sagely
abilities border on the supernatural. Second, Confucius abilities, even at a
young age, are noted by the wise men of his time. Third, it is clear to some
that Confucius is the greatest sage and he gathers around him thousands
of students eager to learn from him. Fourth, despite recognition by some
of the people of his time, Confucius is not recognized for what he is by
any of the rulers. He fails, not through any fault of his own, but because
the authorities at the time could not understand his vision. Confucius is
the frustrated visionary who is always right, but never listened to. Had
he been listened to, history would have been different. Confucius was the
uncrowned king of the era. He was the Sage who attained the choice of
Heaven, but he was, tragically, never given the chance to rule.
It is possible that some of these stories are true. But it is more likely that
they were created to honor the Sage. They are charming, just as charming as the story of the three wise men at Jesus birth, but pious stories of
Confucius life are not things we need to rely on.

Scholarly Versions of Confucius Life

It is generally agreed that Confucius was born in the village of Zou or Zouyi
in the state of Lu, near the modern city of Qufu in Shandong province,
in 551 BCE. This would make him an approximate contemporary of the
Greek thinker Pythagoras (585497 BCE). He was named Kong Qiu. As
was often the case, Confucius had a second given name, a style, Zhong
Ni. His father, Kong Shu Lianghe, was a well-known military figure in the
army of Lu with a reputation for courage and loyalty. Of his mother, little
is known as Confucius did not refer to her directly. All we know for certain
is that her family name was Yan. His parents may not have been married
or it may be that Confucius mother was a concubine. Confucius father
seems to have separated from his mother, and she died early.
By the time Confucius was born, the state of Lu was besieged by its
neighbors and internally divided among three powerful noble families; the
hereditary duke was a mere figurehead. One of the three great families, the
Ji family, took over the post of chief minister of Lu and from this position
of power carried on as if they were royals, even offering sacrifices at Mount
Tai a royal prerogative.
Little is reliably known about Confucius childhood, though Confucius
himself remarked: I was of lowly status when I was young. That is why
I am skilled in many things.28 There is a long tradition that Confucius
immediate family, while of noble lineage, were poor, and lived in genteel
poverty.

Confucius World and His Life

17

It is likely that Confucius was a minor noble of a class called knights

the lowest rank of the noble class.29 As a member of the nobility, a knight
might be able to get one of a number of jobs at court: historian or record
keeper, secretary, the tutor of princes or the sons of nobility, the overseer
of rituals and music, or the master of ceremonies. By the sixth century BCE
knights were part of the groups of professionals who performed funeral,
marriage, and sacrificial rituals; they might also find employment as tutors
or advisors. The usual translation of knights then becomes scholars
or bureaucrats.
These scholar/bureaucrats served as officials in various capacities at the
royal Zhou court and in the courts of the independent states. They formed
an emerging professional group. To a large extent they blamed extravagant
rulers who listened more to friends, family, and shamans than to officials,
like them, who knew their job.
One of the reasons we know Confucius was a member of the nobility was
that he had an education, possibly in a local school, possibly in the company
of other noble boys at a noble house. We know that, because Confucius
was skilled in what were called the six accomplishments. These were:
rites, music, archery, charioteering, the study of history and literature, and
the study of mathematics.30 They were noble accomplishments, things a
gentleman was expected to be conversant with. We can think of an English
gentleman of the nineteenth century, for example, who would have known
some Greek and Latin, been able to quote the Bible and Shakespeare, and
known how to ride well. Like them, Confucius had the skills and training
a man of his class would be expected to have.
In his early adulthood, Confucius visited the neighboring state of Qi
(to the northeast of Lu) and spoke to its ruler, Duke Jing. Presumably he
was looking for employment in that state. He returned home to Lu just
as a noble began a rebellion against the Ji family. Confucius apparently
considered joining this rebellion in the hope, he said, of gaining a position
of influence in the new government and returning the state of Lu to the
glories of the old Zhou dynasty.
The rebellion was unsuccessful and Confucius accepted some minor
posts in the government of Lu, but then resigned them. Later commentators say that Confucius was disgusted by the improper behavior he saw in
the government.
His resignation left Confucius unemployed and so, in his fifties, he
traveled to a number of states over the next dozen years, going first to Wei
and then to Song, hoping for employment. As a scholar visiting the court of
one of these small states, Confucius would have been welcomed as a guest
and given a place to stay and possibly something to cover living expenses
for a while. At some point in his stay, the ruler or his ministers would have
asked him about his opinion of current affairs or government. Depending

18 Confucius World and His Life

on his advice, the ruler and senior ministers would decide about hiring him.
Confucius seems to have been spectacularly unsuccessful in these interviews.
Like many of his class, Confucius hoped that his ideas would be accepted
by one of the rulers and that he would be given an influential post in government. This did not happen.
In 484 BCE, unable to find a job or to influence rulers, Confucius
returned to Lu where he was given what was probably a merely ceremonial
position. On the one occasion that Confucius gave advice to the rulers of
Lu, his advice was rejected.
Confucius is often credited with establishing the first school accepting
fees from his students in return for his teaching. Confucius taught his students the classical learning that included the things that Confucius himself
had learned as a boy and young man: poetry, history, literature, ritual, and
music. While he taught traditional subjects, he always interpreted these
classical studies in his own way. The education Confucius offered was not
merely rote learning nor was it aimed only at making his students employable. Confucius interpreted history, poetry, ritual, and music, teaching them
as a foundation for moral behavior and good government, as we will see
in chapters 2 and 3.
While Confucius might have been one of the first to make teaching
his sole occupation, there is no evidence that he established a formal
school. Rather, students, mostly people from the same class of knights
or nobility that Confucius belonged to, paid him for training. Confucius
himself says that he accepted even the poorest of these men as long as
their character and hard work made them good students. It is not clear
just where he taught his students. It may be that lessons took place in
rooms or courtyards in his home, but there was no school building. Rather
than the 3,000 students attributed to him, scholars have identified 110,
and, though there may have been more, it is unlikely that there were the
thousands the legends speak of.
Confucius students describe him as talking mainly about The Book of
Poetry, history, and ritual. In his discussion of poetry, Confucius said, The
Book of Poetry has three hundred poems that can be summed up in one
sentence: Have no evil thoughts. 31 Confucius son reported that his father
had asked him if he had studied The Book of Poetry. Confucius said, If
you do not, you will be unable to speak.32
The kind of speech that Confucius was referring to was quite practical: Confucius argued that poetry had many applications; he said to his
students,
My children, why do you not study The Book of Poetry? For it inspires
thought, increases ones scope, cultivates ones ability to be sociable, and
shows one how to express feelings of resentment. At home one learns the

Confucius World and His Life

19

personal duty of serving ones father, and in public the duty of serving ones
lord. In addition, one learns the names of birds, beasts, and plants.33

The reason for Confucius emphasis on poetry was that quotations from
poems were used in diplomatic etiquette, in documents, and in speeches. A
cultivated gentleman quoted poems and understood quotations, just as,
in earlier times in the West, people quoted the Bible or Shakespeare. The
inability to follow poetic references meant that one was low-class and
ignorant.
Confucius taught history, but not just as the study of historical facts and
dates. History was to be understood as a study in morality: students learned
the events of earlier times so as to model themselves on the great founders
of the Zhou dynasty, for example.
When Confucius taught his students ritual, he was teaching them the
requirements of court ritual: proper greetings for guests, state marriages and
funerals, rituals of ancestral veneration. Again, all of this was to prepare
his students for jobs in government.
Not only did Confucius teach his students about music, he himself was
an avid musician. Throughout the Analects, Confucius is described as
singing, playing, and talking about music. When Confucius was with a
person who was singing and who sang well, he would ask him to repeat
the song, while he joined in.34 One of Confucius students was playing a
zither when he replied to Confucius question about what he had his heart
set on. He put down the instrument to answer, In the third lunar month
of the late spring, dressed in our spring clothes, I would like to go with five
or six grown men and six or seven boys to bathe in the river Yi. There,
in the breeze, we would dance and come home singing. Confucius sighed
and said, I agree. 35 Confucius not only sang, but played as well. He is
described as playing the sounding chimes and the zither. Some music moved
him deeply: the Analects says that when Confucius was in the state of Qi
he heard classical music called the Shao, and for three months after he was
so distracted thinking about it that he did not notice the taste of his food.36
There are some hints of Confucius personality from the texts especially the Analects. His students were not always the sharpest pencils
in the box and he was sometimes impatient with them. He said that if
he had pointed out one corner of the mat to a student, he expected the
student to find the other three; one student was so lacking in understanding that Confucius called him a boor.37 Confucius said that he was
not about to teach anyone who has not been driven crazy trying to
understand a problem or has not gotten into a frenzy trying to put his
ideas in words.38 On the other hand, Confucius heart was broken when
his favorite student died young. And Confucius, described so often as an
old fogy, said, We should look upon the younger generation with awe,

20 Confucius World and His Life

because how do we know that those who come after us will not surpass
us now?39
Confucius students describe him as never having the faults of
dogmatism, inflexibility, or egoism.40 This seems to have been true.
Confucius never claimed to be a sage or even more intelligent than others;
he claimed only to love learning and to be quick in seeking out knowledge.
This was matched by the eagerness he said he felt to teach what he had
learned.
He gave a description of his own inner journey by saying, At the
age of fifteen, I set my mind on study. At the age of thirty, I established
myself; at forty, I had no doubts. At fifty I knew the choice of Heaven; at
sixty, my ears were tuned to it; and, at seventy, I could follow the desires
of my heart without going beyond the bounds of proper behavior.41 He
had finally learned enough that he could match his desires completely
to what is proper. In case this sounds a bit pompous, Confucius never
stopped criticizing his own behavior and he did not think he was perfect.
He once said that When I fail at cultivating virtue, when I do not put
into practice what I have learned, when I know what is right and still
cannot follow it, when I am not able to change what is not good within
me these are the things that worry me.42 Like all of us, Confucius may
have known what was right, but that did not mean he was always able
to do it.
Nor was Confucius someone who felt superior about his intelligence
or learning. He once said, Do I possess wisdom? Indeed I do not. There
was a fellow who asked me a question and I was completely blank. So, we
discussed the issue from beginning to end until we finally sorted it out.
Acknowledging that he did not know, Confucius then went on to figure
out the answer to the problem.
Confucius was not caught up in worrying about wealth and status
unlike some of his students. As we have seen, he was quite happy to go
swimming with his friends and come home singing. He said, Eating plain
food, drinking water, and having ones elbow as a pillow there is joy in
this! Wealth and high position when gotten improperly as far as I am
concerned are nothing more than passing clouds.43 When asked about his
ambitions, Confucius answered, I would like to bring comfort to older
people, to inspire trust in my friends, and to be cherished by the young.44
Confucius described himself as a man who would forget to eat when trying
to solve a problem, was so joyful that he could forget his worries, and did
not notice old age creeping up on him.45
Confucius was married and had a son and a daughter, but he seems to
have spent little time with his family; from what we see of him in texts
like the Analects, his attention and affections are aimed at his students and
male friends.

Confucius World and His Life

21

Figure 1.3 Confucius tomb

Confucius died in 479 BCE at the age of 72. There is a story that when
Confucius fell gravely ill, his students attended him as if he were a great
lord and they were his ministers serving him with elaborate protocol.
They did this because they believed Confucius to be a great sage and his
lack of high rank was embarrassing to them. At one point, when Confucius
regained consciousness, he saw what they were doing and said, Youve
been carrying out this make-believe for a while, havent you? I have no
government ministers, but you are acting as if I do. Who do you think I
am going to fool? Can I fool Heaven? Anyway, why wouldnt I rather die
in the arms of my students than in the arms of government ministers? I
may not have a grand funeral, but its not as if Im going to die by myself
on the side of the road.46 His students had no choice but to carry out his
funeral according to his low rank. Confucius affectionate reproach in this
story gives it the ring of truth.
One wonders what he thought about his life as it came to a close. On
the one hand, he had never been able to put his ideas into practice because
he had never been able to get a senior government position. Many of his
former students who did achieve high government positions seem to have

22 Confucius World and His Life

forgotten most of what he had taught them about proper behavior and
good government. He might have thought that his life was in vain and his
teachings would be lost. On the other hand, he was a passionate man who
believed that the standards he followed were timeless, so he may yet have
had hope for the future. The one thing that is certain is that he had no idea
that he would be seen as the most influential thinker in Chinese history and
that his name would be known in countries he had never imagined.

2
Confucius Teachings I: The
Foundation of a Good Person

While we may not know much about the details of Confucius life, we are
on firmer ground when it comes to his thought. Here people argue not so
much over what Confucius taught but what that means.
As a teacher, Confucius taught traditional subjects like poetry and
history. However, he taught these things by shaping them to fit his own
ideas. His teachings were based on the terms and ideas of his time, but as
we shall see, Confucius often radically reshaped these terms and ideas to
fit what he wanted to say.
How do you fix a world that is falling apart? Confucius offered a
thorough-going plan that addressed what we, as individuals, have to do
and then how we must change society. In the first section we will look at
how we can become adult, proper, people and then in the next section go
on to see how we can then change society and government.
We will begin with the building blocks of an inner disposition filial
piety, dutifulness, honesty, sincerity, rightness, wisdom, and courage and
see how all of this comes together in the attitude of humanity.

Filial Piety
When grandfather discovered that his ten-year-old grandson was lazy in his
studies, he had the boy flogged. The boys parents were worried that these
floggings would one day kill the child. The boys father tried to intervene with
his father and beg for leniency. The grandfather insisted that the grandson
must study, and so flogged him harder.
One day, the grandfather discovered his grandson playing in the snow
when he should have been studying. Grandfather had the boy stripped naked
and left him kneeling in the snow while he considered the punishment. The
boys father did not dare say anything, but just stripped himself naked and
kneeled down in the snow beside his son.

24 Teachings I: The Foundation of a Good Person

The grandfather said to his son, Your son is about to be punished for his
faults, but what are you doing kneeling in the snow beside him? The boys
father replied, You are freezing my son, so I am freezing yours!

Filial piety is a phrase that has probably not been used in everyday speech
for over a hundred years, so we first need a definition. Filial piety means
respect and reverence for ones parents this is then extended to ones
teachers and elders. The reason that there is no modern word or phrase for
it in English is that it is not a concept our society much discusses or cares
about. It is, however, central to Confucius thought and to those who followed him. It is not surprising that they emphasized filial piety, given that,
in their time, sons were rebelling against fathers and family relations were
often deadly certainly in the families of rulers. Confucius saw filial piety
as an antidote to his times.
A version of the concept of filial piety existed before Confucius.1 It was
based on the authority of the ancestors that, among the living, rested with
the head of the family. The family was organized according to the rites of
ancestral veneration. That is, the rules that decided who, in one generation,
was the head of the family were the same rules that were applied to the
direct line of inheritance and rank. So, while the practice of filial piety, as
respect for ancestors, elders, and parents, existed in the past, its implications were not developed.
When asked about filial piety, Confucius answered tersely, Do not
disobey. When asked to explain, Confucius said that filial piety has three
parts: Parents, when alive, should be served with ritual; when dead,
parents should be buried according to ritual; they should be sacrificed to
according to ritual.2 The living and the dead deserve the same respect and
sincere behavior. We find service to the living and the dead always linked
together in descriptions of filial behavior. The Classic of Filial Piety says,
Confucius says, A filial son serves his parents in the following ways: he offers
them the utmost respect when at home; he serves them so as to give them
the greatest joy; if they are ill, he feels the greatest anxiety; he is completely
devastated at their funerals; when he sacrifices to them (as ancestors), he is
completely reverent. If he can do these five things, we can say that he is able
to serve his parents.3

These are the required ways to show filial piety: service and respect while
parents are alive, the provision of funerals, and the veneration of the dead.
Filial piety, which had originally centered around ancestral rites and
temples, became a moral concept in Confucius hands. Confucius did not
emphasize filial piety as having to do primarily with ancestral rites. He
changed the focus of the concept to talk more about service to the living.

Teachings I: The Foundation of a Good Person

25

Confucius was very much concerned with the neglect of parents, especially
when they became older and were no longer influential and active in the
familys affairs. As part of emphasizing service to the living, he criticized
those who carried out elaborate funerals but neglected their parents when
they were alive.
Confucians argue that the bond between parent and child is the most
fundamental of human relationships. Filial piety plays an important role
in philosophical discussions, but filial piety is not an intellectual abstraction. It is the natural love felt toward parents and it could be found in
everyones heart: small children naturally love their parents. The natural
ties of affection that children have for their parents are based, the Classic
of Filial Piety says, on gratitude for ones life: It is parents who give life;
what could be greater?4 In the Analects Confucius makes the argument
that the requirement of three years of mourning for parents is based on the
three years of complete helplessness through which parents nourish their
children.5 The three years of mourning are a reflection of this debt. We
owe our parents for the gift of our life and nothing we can do could ever
repay that. Parents care for us when we are helpless; as we grow older we
must repay that care.
Did Confucius mean that filial piety should be absolute? Does it require
complete obedience? One of the passages in the Analects has been a focus
for this question. In it, someone told Confucius, with some pride, that in his
part of the country there are men so upright that, in one case, when a father
stole a sheep, the son turned the father in to the authorities. Confucius
responded, Where I come from, upright people are not like that. Fathers
cover up for their sons and sons cover up for their fathers. Uprightness is
found in doing that.6 Confucius is saying that the relationship between
father and son must trump all other considerations, even laws and justice.
Does this mean that one is required to practice filial piety, no matter what
criminal behavior ones parents are involved in? Some later commentators
have said that, if the practice of filial piety requires immoral behavior,
like lying, this would be taking filial piety too far. Filial piety should not
be blind. Filial piety should be checked by moral propriety: parents and
children should act properly and, if parents do not, children are not bound
by filial piety. However, this was not the way the notion of filial piety was
understood in history and in practice.7 In the classical texts, we never see
Confucius talking about any limits to filial piety.
There are many times when what Confucius says seems reasonable and
logical. Then, there are times when what we read seems terribly foreign
to us. Unconditional obedience based in filial piety is one of the ideas that
strike most twenty-first-century Westerners as unreasonable, or, at best,
quaint. Most of us think that we should grow up to become an individual,
our own person. Filial piety is set in a different context. There the ideal is

26 Teachings I: The Foundation of a Good Person

to become a person who works effectively in a context, in this case ones
family. Even knowing this, unconditional filial piety is one Confucian idea
that is difficult to accept.
While Confucius did not talk about any limits to filial piety, he did talk
about the possibility of criticizing or suggesting alternatives to remonstrate, as it is often translated. So he says, When serving your father and
mother, remonstrate gently. If they do not accept your criticisms, remain
respectful, do not act against their wishes, and follow their lead without
resentment.8 If he sees his parents doing something he disapproves of,
or disagrees with, a son can point this out. But if his suggestions are not
accepted, the son has to go along with his parents, however much he may
disagree. In a much quoted passage from the Book of Rites, a son can
remonstrate more often and even more forcefully than the Analects suggests. The result may not, however, be to the sons liking:
If a mother or father has a fault, the son should quietly, with a gentle voice
and a blank expression, point out the problem. If this has no effect, the son
should increase his reverence and filial piety. Later, the son can repeat his
point. If the parents are displeased, the son should strongly state his point,
rather than let them do something wrong in the neighborhood or countryside.
If they are even more angry and more displeased, and, even if the parents beat
the son till the blood flows, the son should not dare be angry or resentful,
but instead should increase his reverence and filial piety.9

So, while one can disagree with ones parents, and one can, respectfully,
say so, a filial son must, in the end, go along with whatever the parents are
doing. This, says Confucius, should continue even after the death of ones
parents: Anyone who does not change his fathers way for three years after
his fathers death can be called filial. 10
However, it is the moral duty of the son to intervene when his father
is doing something not right, just as it is for a government minister when
his ruler is acting badly. The Classic of Filial Piety says, So, when facing
behavior that is not right, a son has no option but to remonstrate with his
father, just as a government minister has no choice but to remonstrate with
his ruler. Thus to remonstrate is the only response one can have to what is
not right. To just follow a fathers commands, how can this be seen as filial
piety?11 On the one hand, a son must intervene when he sees something not
right; on the other, should his father insist, a son, after remonstrating, must
follow. This attitude may be difficult to accept, but one has to remember
the behavior of many sons in the Warring States era.
Serving ones living parents was understood to be difficult. Confucius
says that doing things for ones parents is not the problem; the main difficulty is controlling the expression on ones face.12 Later, in texts like the

Teachings I: The Foundation of a Good Person

27

Book of Rites, the instructions for serving parents were made even more
minute and even more difficult:
In order to serve their parents, as soon as the rooster crows in the morning,
sons should wash their hands, rinse out their mouths, comb their hair
[and get dressed].
Wives should serve their parents-in-law as they served their own parents.
At the first sound of the rooster, they should wash their hands, rinse their
mouths, comb their hair [and get dressed].
Now that they are dressed, the son and his wife should go to their parents
and parents-in-law. When they arrive, they should ask in a quiet and gentle
voice if the parents clothes are too warm or too cold, whether they are ill,
have any pain, or any discomfort. If that be the case, the young people should
then reverently massage the place.
The young people similarly should help and support their parents in
leaving or entering rooms, either by going before them or by supporting
them. When they bring in the basin for them to wash, the younger will carry
the wash stand and the older the water. The children will ask to be allowed
to pour out the water; when the parents have finished washing, the children
will hand them a towel.
They will ask if their parents want anything and bring it respectfully. All
of this must be done with a pleasant expression so that the parents will feel
comfortable.
Both parents, at their regular morning and evening meals, must be encouraged to eat everything by the eldest son and his wife who will eat whatever is
left over. If the father is dead, and the mother still alive, the eldest son should
wait upon her at her meals.
Whenever they are with their parents, the sons and their wives should
immediately answer any call and reverently proceed to do whatever they are
asked. They should be careful and serious; while going out or coming in,
while bowing or walking, they should not presume to belch, sneeze, cough,
yawn or stretch themselves. They are not to stand on one foot, to lean against
anything, or to look annoyed. They should not dare to spit, nor, if it is cold,
to put on more clothes, nor, if they itch anywhere, to scratch. 13

The practice of filial piety is not for wimps. These kinds of rules would
apply to upper-class households and are set out as an ideal. It is unlikely
that most people carried out this kind of non-stop display of filial piety. But
as ritual became understood more and more as sets of rules and regulations,
this kind of behavior was expected.
A lack of filial piety and respect for ones elders does not bode well for
ones future. A young man once came to see Confucius and sat very casually, with his legs sprawled out, waiting. When Confucius saw the young
man, he said that it was clear that this fellow had no respect for his elders
and would have nothing to contribute to society as he grew up. Becoming

28 Teachings I: The Foundation of a Good Person

an adult and then aging, he would be nothing but a burden to all those
around him. Confucius then used his staff to rap the youth on the shin.14
The effects of filial piety are not just in the family. Filial piety in the home
develops into the virtue of dutifulness or loyalty outside of the home. The
Analects argues that if a young man is filial toward his parents and respectful to his older brothers, he will rarely become the kind of man who will
defy his superiors or stir up rebellion.15 The Confucian gentleman learns
loyalty to his ruler by learning filial piety at home.
Much of the discussion is couched in terms of the relationship between
father and son. Daughters too were expected to practice filial piety toward
their parents and, once married, toward their in-laws. We will look at the
status of women in Confucian thought in chapters 3 and 13, but here we can
note that not only were daughters expected to be filial, but sons owed filial
duty to their mothers as well. Because of filial piety, women had authority
over sons and grandsons, but how much authority often depended on the
times and the circumstances.
Filial piety was understood as central to all the basic human relationships. Later Confucians posited five basic human relationships: father and
son; elder brother and younger brother; husband and wife; ruler and government minister; friend and friend.16 Any other human relationship could
be seen as some variation of one of these five. Our roles are based on how
we relate to one another as a father or as a younger brother. In each case,
our behavior and our duty will be different, depending on what our role
is in that relationship.
We should note a few things about the five relationships. First, it is clear
that the family is the centre of life and that the state is modeled on the
family. Second, the relationship of father and son is primary and is a model
for the others. Third, women play a role in only one of these relationships.
Finally, Confucians argued that each of these relationships was reciprocal:
a father cared for, and educated, his son; in return the son showed filial
piety and respect to the father. Each side of each relationship has mutual
responsibilities. The difficulty is that, in real life, the first side of each of
the first four relationships is the one with the power. One ought not to be
surprised that, given human nature, over time all the privileges flowed to
the first member of the relationships father, older brother, husband, and
ruler and responsibilities flowed to the second member son, younger
brother, wife, government minister.
Ideally, the family is the first place we are taught how to behave and the
place where moral cultivation begins. By practicing filial piety we learn to
put others interests before our own. This is why Confucius says that filial
piety is the root of all the other virtues.17 The family is not just the place
where we are children; as we grow, deal with siblings and relatives, marry,
have children, and care for aging parents, we have the chance to expand

Teachings I: The Foundation of a Good Person

29

our moral abilities. Relations with our family teach us how to deal with
other people and how to respect other people. Throughout the Confucian
tradition the family plays a crucial role in the development of ethical virtues.
Confucian discussions of filial piety took on a cosmic aspect in later
texts: A humane person does not overstep anything, nor does a filial son.
When a humane person serves his parents, it is like serving heaven; when he
serves heaven, it is like serving his parents. This, therefore, is the perfection
of a filial son.18 The Classic of Filial Piety moves the concept of filial piety
into a larger realm. Here we find the argument that there is nothing greater
than filial piety and it is the basis of all teaching and virtue. Filial piety acts
as a tie between heaven and earth, not only because when one serves ones
parents one serves heaven, but also because Filial piety is as the constant
in heaven, as rightness on earth, and the path of human beings.19 There
is no moral behavior greater than filial piety.
The concept of filial piety is central to Confucian thought and we will see
how it spread through the entire culture. Historians have pointed out that
filial piety has shaped nearly every aspect of Chinese social life: attitudes
toward authority, where and how people lived, concepts of self, marriage
practices, gender preferences, emotional life, religious worship, and social
relations. During the imperial age, good behavior was defined in terms
of whether or not one was a good son or daughter. Many scholars have
claimed it is the basis of Chinese culture.20

Dutifulness or Loyalty
The virtue of dutifulness or loyalty is implied in filial piety. A mans first
duty is played out in his family. Reverence and respect, first for ones
father and older brother, extend to other elder members of the family. For
Confucius, this should then extend to ones superiors and ones ruler. So we
find discussions of duty are usually linked to political relationships where
one is to do ones duty to ones superiors.
Confucius described a government minister as dutiful because, when
the minister was dismissed from his position three times, he showed no
resentment and fully briefed his successor on the affairs of his office.21 By
doing so, the dutiful minister subordinated his own ambitions and desires
to the orders of the ruler he did his duty.
Edward Slingerland notes that there is debate about just what dutifulness or loyalty means. Traditional Chinese commentators defined the
Chinese term zhong as doing ones utmost. In the Analects it is used in
passages discussing attention to ones ritual duties, especially in a political
context, and so should be thought of as dutiful fulfilling ones obligations and duties as set out in ones hierarchical role.22 As we shall see, the

30 Teachings I: The Foundation of a Good Person

term has come to mean loyalty, and often implies an expectation of blind
loyalty rather than its original emphasis on doing ones duty.
Like filial piety, discussions of dutifulness were meant as antidotes to
peoples behavior at the time. The reverence and respect due to ones feudal
lord, with the loyalty that implied, had broken down with the decline of
feudal relations. The great lords of the time paid their followers in money
or in land. Government ministers were paid a salary. In many cases, a
monetary relationship had replaced duty.
Dutifulness, like filial piety, was meant to teach people to put the interests of their superior, whether father or ruler, before their own. Private
ambitions must be subordinated to the loyalty one feels. Like filial piety,
loyalty could include criticism. Confucius argued that it is ones duty to
object if a ruler is wrong. He said that if one is really loyal, really doing
ones duty, how could you not instruct your ruler?23 As we have seen
with filial piety above, criticism is permitted, if done reverently, though the
results may be hard on the son or government minister. In a later text, the
Book of Ritual, it is noted that a filial son may speak up to criticize his
parents three times, but, if ignored, he is to follow their wishes. Similarly,
it says, a government minister should speak to his ruler and offer advice
and criticism. If after three attempts the ruler continues to ignore the minister, the minister should resign.24 The son cannot escape his relation to his
parents, but a government minister is not related by blood to the ruler and
so is permitted to leave the relationship if his advice is not taken.
Doing ones duty in a serious and proper manner is an extension of
filial piety and has to do more with relations outside the home, especially
political relations.

Honesty and Sincerity

Other virtues that Confucius emphasized are honesty and sincerity. Honesty
is more than telling the truth, though that, of course, is required. Honesty
is living up to what one says one will do. It means keeping your promises.
This means not boasting or making sweeping promises. We should only
speak when we are capable of delivering what we say we will do.
Sincerity, or integrity,25 is closely allied to honesty. It means there should
be no distance between what we think, what we say, and what we do. In
many situations we can find ourselves busy analyzing a situation and what
we are looking for is how this situation will harm or benefit ourselves.
While we are thinking of how to benefit ourselves, we may say things or
do things that do not reflect what we are really thinking. A sincere person
does not have this split. Rather, they think, say, and do, the same thing,
not calculating their own advantage.

Teachings I: The Foundation of a Good Person

31

Rightness and Knowledge

To be sincere, we need to know what is right. Rightness (in older texts
translated as righteousness) is knowing what is proper, what is right,
what is moral. This, like loyalty, is based on ones duty in a situation and
that, of course, is based on ones status. Rightness is what is appropriate.
As we will see, Confucius did not teach rule-based behavior, so what is
right is based on ones status, ones role, and the specifics of the situation.
Rightness is the standard of moral behavior, dependent on the situation.
This standard is not determined by our desires or fears in that situation, but
stands above them. It is contrasted with self-interest, with profiting oneself,
and with gain.26 We can know whether we are really performing properly,
or merely deceiving ourselves, by looking to the standard of rightness.
Rightness, the standard of behavior, requires knowledge. Knowledge or
wisdom is something that we may not be born with, but, for Confucius, it is
always something that we can work to achieve. People who are born with
knowledge are the highest level; second are those who attain knowledge by
studying; third are people who continue to study even though they find it
difficult; at the bottom are those who find study difficult and do not even
try to learn.27 Confucius often describes himself as being in the second or
third level, saying that he was not born with knowledge, but, because of
his fondness for antiquity, was keen to learn; he says that he looked for the
good in what he studied and tried to retain it.28
Wisdom begins with learning about things; Confucius students learned
about history, poetry, and ritual. This learning should, over time, lead to
wisdom. What wisdom should bring us to is knowledge of ourselves and
the knowledge of how to deal with the people in the world around us.29
When asked to define wisdom, Confucius said, Know other people.30
Being a good judge of character is important in being morally effective. If
you understand the character of the people you are dealing with, you can
deal with them properly.
Knowing ourselves means being honest about ourselves: To say you
know when you do know, and to say that you do not know when you do
not know this is wisdom.31 Knowledge then is related to honesty and
sincerity: we should know that what we say is honest because it is something we can do.

Courage
It is all very well to have knowledge, practice filial piety, be loyal, dutiful,
honest, and sincere, and know what is right, but in order to act on these
virtues, we must have courage.

32 Teachings I: The Foundation of a Good Person

Courage had been talked about a great deal in the early Zhou dynasty:
the nobles were warriors and spent their time in hunting or war. The strutting warriors of the time based their reputations on their physical courage.
By the time of Confucius, war was waged more and more by big battalions
than by battling heroes. The audacious warrior who disobeyed orders to
show his courage had become a problem, not an asset. Still, courage was
associated generally with physical courage, bravado, and honor.
Confucius took the concept of courage, made it a virtue, and put it in
the service of moral behavior. To see what is right, but not to do it, this
shows a lack of courage.32 For Confucius, courage is moral courage, and
it was as difficult to find in Confucius time as it is in ours. People worry
about their status, their paycheck, their reputation, their family, and their
future, and this leads to moral cowardice, just as Confucius said it would.
As a result, civil servants and government ministers do not argue with
their ruler prime minister or president when it is clear that government
policy is wrong or immoral. Executives of corporations do not blow the
whistle about wrongdoing in their companies; workers pour toxic waste
into farmers fields in the dead of night. These people, by and large, have the
knowledge that what is going on is not right, but they are too self-interested
and too cowardly to do anything.
Real moral behavior in the real world requires courage. But courage,
when not guided by moral behavior, simply allows the wicked to be more
wicked. Confucius said that a noble who is courageous, but who does not
know what is right, will create political trouble, while a lower-class man
who is courageous, but does not know what is right, will become a criminal.33 Courage by itself is no guarantee of moral behavior; courage in the
service of morality generates the energy to carry out that moral behavior.

Understanding, Sympathy, Compassion

The virtues we have looked at so far are very much inner virtues. But,
in Confucius thought, virtues are not cultivated for our private amusement
or heavenly salvation. Moral virtues are meant to act out into the world;
morality is not merely a private achievement. The last virtue on our list
moves us outside of our private universe and has to do directly with dealing
with other people.
Confucius startled his students one day by saying that all his teachings
could be hung together on a single thread. Zengzi, one of his brighter
students, explained to the others that this thread consisted of two things:
loyalty/dutifulness and understanding/sympathy/compassion.34 In other passages, Confucius defines what he means by the term shu, which we translate
as understanding, sympathy, or compassion. It means, Confucius

Teachings I: The Foundation of a Good Person

33

says, not doing to others what one does not want done to oneself.35
This may sound familiar: it is often called the negative golden rule. The
positive golden rule would be given by Jesus in another context about five
hundred years later as Do unto others as you would have them do unto
you. Scholars, naturally enough, have debated which version, the positive
or negative golden rule, is the most effective, but for our purposes we can
see that both of them mean that we should put ourselves in anothers shoes.
For Confucius, the message is simple: treat the other person as you
yourself would like to be treated.36 With the knowledge of others that we
have cultivated, we can understand another persons situation. Knowing
that, we imagine ourselves in their place and try to act as we would want
others to act toward us. This is especially important for the times we are
in positions of authority, as a teacher or employer, for example. We can
remember how we were treated, and, if we were treated badly, we should
not do the same to those we now have power over.
In other situations, sympathy is just imagining the other persons situation: if the woman has three screaming kids in the car, give her the parking
space. If someone drops all their papers on the floor, help them pick them
up. If someone is passed out on the sidewalk, do something about it. We
should imagine ourselves in another persons shoes not because we hope
they will do the same for us, nor should we do it because it will be, in
some way, to our advantage. Understanding or sympathy takes us outside
of ourselves and beyond our personal inclinations and greed.
Sympathy works with all the other moral values. We can express filial
piety not just by following certain rules, but by putting ourselves in a parents place and anticipating what they would like. Sympathy works with
honesty in tempering our honest response so that we do not hurt someones
feelings. Sympathy is often the catalyst that brings out the other moral
virtues.
There can be too much of a good thing. Any virtue, taken to an extreme,
can be dangerous. Courage can be excessive and, when it is, become
recklessness. When someone asks how you like their new Hummer and
you respond that it is an ugly gas-guzzling vehicle displaying the owners
self-indulgence, this may be honest, but certainly not polite. Too much
honesty, without regard to the situation, can work against moral behavior.
Too much loyalty, to the point where it is blind loyalty my country, right
or wrong may well mean that one is ignoring other responsibilities like
wisdom and moral courage. Too much of a search for knowledge could lead
to a bookishness that does not act out into the world. Too much insistence
on a standard of right and wrong, especially when these are not important
issues, can lead to inflexibility and officiousness. Ji Wenzi, a minister in
the state of Lu, was well known for his meticulous attention to his duty.
When told that Ji Wenzi thought about things three times before he acted,

34 Teachings I: The Foundation of a Good Person

Confucius sarcastically responded, Twice would be enough.37 Too much
wisdom can be misused. Expressing too much sympathy, without good
judgment, can lead to us being taken advantage of. All the virtues can be
taken to extremes, and when they are they become not virtues, but faults.
These virtues should be understood as dependent on one another and
working together. We have seen how filial piety leads to dutifulness or
loyalty, a love of learning leads to wisdom, honesty and sincerity mirror
each other. Not only do we need all these virtues, but they work together.
In introducing these virtues, I have arbitrarily separated them so we can
look at each one in turn, but Confucian texts rarely talk about one virtue
without another and never in the kind of shopping list that we have here.
Moral virtues of any kind are not something we develop instantly.
Thinkers in classical China all talk about cultivation. Just as one plants a
seed in the ground, waters, and weeds, in order to cultivate a plant, so too
moral behavior is built up over time. By studying the ancients and seeing
good and evil behavior, one can see more clearly how one ought to behave.

Humanity
What we have seen of moral virtues so far sounds a bit like the Scout law:
be thrifty, clean, and helpful. Confucius tells us to be filial, honest, sincere,
dutiful, wise, courageous, sympathetic, and so on, but there seems nothing
exceptional in this: many traditions say much the same. But for Confucius
all of these virtues are just the building blocks to bring us to a moral attitude. This is ren. The word ren was originally used to mean something like
handsome, manly, or a mans man, and had nothing to do with
morality.38 Confucius reshaped the word to mean a moral, rather than
macho, strength. The development of virtues and learning was meant to
lead to this overarching attitude.
I have so far tried to avoid using Chinese terms, because they can be
difficult for introductions: they can be found in the Glossary. A precise
English translation of ren, however, is not easy. Ren has been translated as
benevolence, humanity, co-humanity, love, altruism, goodness, the Good, authoritative person, and self.39 The choice of one
of these English words as a translation will often depend on the interpretation the translator makes. I will use humanity as the translation for ren
because it is the most common one and comes closest to expressing what
we mean here.
Humanity is a moral attitude. Humanity is the umbrella that includes all
the virtues being honest, sincere, wise, courageous, practicing filial piety,
and sympathy toward others. All of these moral building blocks bring us
to the attitude of humanity. Working your shopping list, as one of my

Teachings I: The Foundation of a Good Person

35

students said, is how one develops the overarching attitude of humanity.

Humanity is the pervasive moral attitude that we bring to the world we
live in.
Having humanity requires that we overcome the greed and egocentricity of the self. Humanity is defined as the opposite of self-interest, profit,
and looking for possessions.40 Confucius said that if we could restrain our
selfishness and return to practicing rituals, we would attain humanity. If we
could manage to do it for an entire day, we could lead the whole world back
to humanity.41 This is not an easy thing to do, for, as Confucius says, he
has yet to find a man who loves virtue as much as he loves female beauty.42
How do we become good people? Focus your mind/heart solely on
humanity and you will be entirely without evil, says Confucius.43 If our
aim in life is the cultivation of the building blocks of moral behavior so as
to act out into the world with humanity, we will not be considering our
self-interest nor putting greed for possessions or power first. No matter
what is happening in our life, the attitude of humanity allows us to endure
bad times and to be careful and generous in good times. An ideal person
lives in a state of humanity.
Confucius description of the building blocks of morality and the overarching attitude of morality allows us to see how he defined evil. Although
he does not discuss evil as a concept, we can see what he meant by it by
looking at the opposite of what Confucius defined as good. Evil is being
rude; being careless; it is pride; it is the lack of self-reflection, self-awareness,
and self-knowledge. Evil is deceit. Evil is greed for money, possessions,
and power. Evil is a desperate need to be famous and to indulge in sensual
pleasure. Confucius lived over 2,500 years ago and yet his relevance to the
evils of our times is uncannily accurate.
The moral virtues and their culmination, humanity, are within us. But
they must be practiced in social and political situations in the world. For
Confucius, these inner moral values are expressed in ritual, and that is what
we will look at next.

Ritual
Nowadays when we use the word ritual, we use it in three ways. First, we
talk about religious ritual baptism or funeral rituals, for example. Second,
we often use the word ritual in place of the word habit: so it is my
morning ritual to first drink a cup of coffee before I do anything else. Here
it is a habit, something I do every morning. No prayer or incense need be
involved. Finally, we often say something is just empty ritual, meaning
that the form has no content. For example, when someone asks how we
are, we ritually respond and say that we are fine. We may not be fine at

36 Teachings I: The Foundation of a Good Person

all, but we will, nevertheless, make the ritual response. Most of us tend to
think that this kind of empty ritual is insincere and has no real meaning.
As Confucius will show us, we are wrong to think that.
In the stories about Confucius life, we have seen that he closely associated with ritual. As a child he was said to have played with ritual utensils
and, as he grew, he studied with the masters of ritual. These rituals were of
two kinds: first the religious rituals of the time, such as ancestral veneration,
and, second, the rituals of noble etiquette and proper behavior.
There were many rituals involving supernatural powers carried out in
Warring States China. The rituals of ancestral veneration, for example, are
described at length in ancient texts, like The Book of Poetry. The ancestors, present in their ancestral tablets, were offered food in proper bowls
and cups; jade discs and scepters were also placed on the altar. The texts
describe the laying out of grain and wine, the invitations to the ancestors,
and the impersonator of the dead. The impersonator of the dead, a descendent of the ancestor, took the place of the deceased and was thought to be
possessed by the ancestors spirit. The impersonator announced when the
spirits had drunk their fill and when the spirits returned to their place.
Ritual specialists would need to know the proper utensils, their placement, the times to make offerings, when to bow, and who stood where.
These were all things Confucius studied and taught. His students might
then have gotten jobs as ritual specialists at court, managing the ancestral
rituals, noble marriages, and funerals.
Confucius would also have taught all the proper forms of noble etiquette:
that a lord enters a room before a duke; proper salutations from one rank
to another; how to carry on diplomatic negotiations with another state,
and so on.44
These were the two forms of ritual that Confucius grew up with.
Confucius combined these two senses of ritual, religious ritual and noble
etiquette, and then expanded on them for his definition of ritual. He noted
that carrying out rituals requires reverence, for the ancestors, for example,
and respect, for a duke or lord, and then expanded this to explain ritual as
reverence and respect for all the people one deals with in social situations.
Confucius concluded that ritual is a moral action that ensures a proper,
civilized society.
This definition may be surprising, but when we think about it, it should
not be. Let us look at some everyday examples. You meet a friend, you say,
Hi, how are you? and the friend replies, Fine. And you? or words to
that effect. Your first question, How are you? is not really a question
about your friends health. If the response you get is something like, Oh,
last night I couldnt sleep because I had a headache, but by this morning
it was gone, though Im still experiencing back pains from the pickup basketball game, then you know that your friend didnt really understand the

Teachings I: The Foundation of a Good Person

37

question. Your Hi, how are you? is an acknowledgement of the other

person and offers respect.
We notice this more when the ritual breaks down. If our friend ignores
our question or refuses to answer, we will be hurt or insulted because, by
not participating in the ritual, the friend is saying that he or she does not
respect or value us. If, as commonly happens now, the friend responds only
by saying Im fine, but not asking you how you are, the ritual is unbalanced and your friend has clearly been rude.
Meeting someone and offering to shake their hand works in the same
way. If a hand is not offered in response to yours, the person has been rude
and you feel like an idiot standing there with your hand in the air.
We practice rituals all the time, mostly not noticing them until they
break down. The next time you feel annoyed at someones behavior, try
to think what your expectations were. The person who butts into line, for
example, is ignoring ritual and disrespecting everyone else in the line. We
are annoyed by this because this person has not followed the proper ritual.
When we were young, our parents spent a lot of time and effort to teach
us the very basic rituals of please (whats the magic word?) and thank
you. We were taught to wait our turn, to share our toys, and not have
a tantrum when we did not get our way. While it is true that today many
people seem not to have been taught these basic rituals, our society is still
based on the expectation that people will follow them.
We perform rituals all the time, whenever we interact with others.
Because we do so many rituals every day, we tend not to notice them at
all. Take the example of going to a lecture. We are going into a room
where the chances are that we know no one there, yet, generally, we do
not go in fear of our life. That is because people come in and take their
places. They are relatively quiet and they set out paper and pens all
proper ritual indicating that they too have come for the lecture and not a
fight. People do not usually dance on the desks, mug someone, or pull out
a submachine gun. If they did, you would feel uncomfortable, or, in the
latter cases, you would flee. The lecturer appears and, when it looks like
the lecturer is ready to begin, people stop talking to each other and look
toward the lecturer. If some people continue to talk to each other, even
though the lecture has begun, the lecturer has to stop and say something
to them. This is embarrassing to most of the people in the room though
often not to those who want to continue their conversation because we
should not have to be reminded of the proper ritual. The fact that we can
go to theaters, classrooms, or meetings full of strangers and not be afraid is
because everyone practices ritual when they come into the room and during
the show, class, or meeting.
In times of war, or in places where ritual has broken down, we cannot
trust strangers to behave in predictable and courteous ways and so become

38 Teachings I: The Foundation of a Good Person

afraid. Ritual is essential for a civilized society and it is a moral action where
one party shows respect for the other, whether this is saying hello, standing
in line, or bowing to the Queen.
There are a few things to note when it comes to ritual. First, rituals are
almost always balanced: even when one person is superior, they are required
to play some part in the ritual for it to work. If one is introduced to the
Queen, one bows or curtseys, and the Queen acknowledges the introduction in some way.
Second, ritual is learned. Our parents spent time teaching us the rituals
of our culture; we were not born knowing them. This also means that
ritual will vary from culture to culture: some shaking hands when meeting,
others bowing.
Third, ritual teaches us proper behavior: for Confucius, rituals have less
to do with the power of the spirits than with forms that instruct us in morality. In other countries and in other times in history, people have understood
rituals as something that dealt with supernatural powers and that had to
be acted out with each word spoken correctly, down to the most minute
action and pronunciation. Confucius does not look at ritual like that: he
sees rituals as the ways in which we practice civilized behavior.45
Finally, rituals are actions outside of us. We can carry on a ritual even
when we do not like the ritual, do not like the person we are being polite
to, and desperately wish we were somewhere else and not visiting greatuncle Henry. Ritual is an exterior action and does not, in itself, require any
internal commitment. Confucius argues that ritual should not be morally
empty; ritual should be an external expression of an inward morality. In
turn, ritual should teach us how to cultivate internal ethical attitudes.
Later Confucians will also argue that ritual functions as a way to restrain
our selfishness and channel our emotions. Even though we may be tired
from a long day, ritual tells us not to be selfish: give up your seat on the
bus to someone who needs it.
Ritual channels our emotions too. Funeral rituals are ways we express
grief. They allow our grief a channel, a socially acceptable way to be
expressed. At the same time, they limit our emotional expression so that
we do not, for example, throw ourselves into the grave during the burial.
When we learn rituals and perform them properly, with inner moral
intent, we become better people. The respect expressed in the ritual becomes
the outer form of an inner moral world. So Confucius wanted the practice
of ritual to be a constant in our lives. He said, Do not look at anything
contrary to ritual; do not listen to anything contrary to ritual; do not say
anything contrary to ritual; do not move in any way contrary to ritual.46
Everything we do must be an expression of ritual, not because it allows us
just to play an empty socially acceptable role, but because ritual is a moral
action that ensures a proper, civilized society.

Teachings I: The Foundation of a Good Person

39

Confucius demanded ritual behavior, first, because it is the basis of tradition; that tradition had, in the past, led to good behavior, good government,
and a unified China. We inherit rituals from the past and the people in the
past had good reasons for setting them up. Second, ritual is the web of social
and political relationships. So, when ritual is practiced with moral intentions, individuals and society benefit. If we all treat each other with respect
by performing the proper rituals, it is not just the individuals involved who
benefit, but, in a ripple effect, all of society. We will see how ritual works
into moral behavior, society, and government as we go on.
With his reinterpretation of ritual, we see once again that Confucius
has taken a traditional term and redefined it to suit his own ideas. He
reshaped the traditional usage of the word ritual to refer to religious ritual
and noble etiquette into a broader definition of ritual as a moral action
expressing respect for others. The practice of proper ritual will lead to a
civilized society.
For Confucius, ritual is the external expression of an inner morality.
Ritual gives us socially acceptable ways of behaving well. But ritual is not
performed just for rituals sake: there must be an inner moral component.
The inner moral world must meet the exterior ritual world. Carrying out
rituals requires reverence, for the ancestors, for example, but expands to
the requirements to respect and be humane to the people one meets. Doing
a ritual properly teaches a person to cultivate the attitude of humanity.
Ritual acts as the exterior guide for humanity. In turn, carrying out the
proper ritual with the proper attitude reinforces both. Moral actions mesh
with ritual.
For example, your friend is in hospital; proper humanity tells you that
he or she is in pain and worried you can imagine yourself in such a situation. The proper ritual is to visit and offer comfort. Humanity and ritual
work together.
Both external action ritual and internal attitude humanity are
required. If you just express your humanity, thinking about your poor
friend, how ill and worried he or she may be putting yourself in their
place you have been successful in humanity. If you do nothing further,
you are not a moral person because humanity has to be expressed. All the
sympathy in the world does not make you a good person if you do nothing
about it. You may have good intentions, meaning to phone your aunt who
lives alone, but it you do not actually do it, you have failed to act morally.
On the other hand, if you go to visit your friend in the hospital, you are
doing the proper ritual. But if you spend your visit complaining about your
health or talking about how busy you are, you are also not a moral person.
You have not been sincere and you have not expressed humanity. To do the
ritual without any real meaning behind it is hypocritical. You expect to be
applauded for good behavior, but you did not have any moral intention.

40 Teachings I: The Foundation of a Good Person

The moral attitude of humanity works together with ritual, but we need
to make sure that people are not hurt by the mechanical application of
either a moral rule or a ritual rule. Again, this is why we want to treat the
other person as we ourselves would like to be treated.
There is a wonderful, though probably apocryphal, story about Queen
Victoria (r. 18371901) a stickler for proper ritual if there ever was one.
One night her dinner guests were ordinary people, not the upper-class
people who were usually invited to dine with the Queen. When the footmen
brought around the fingerbowls, these guests, not knowing any better, lifted
the bowls and drank from them. The Queen could have followed proper
ritual and rinsed her fingers with the water, but she followed humanity
and, not wanting to embarrass her guests, she too drank from her fingerbowl. Had the Queen insisted on following proper ritual, she would have
embarrassed her guests. Adjusting her behavior to the situation and putting
herself in their place, she ignored the proper ritual. Ritual and humanity
work together, but must deal with each situation as it arises.
Ritual directs our expression of humanity; the expression of humanity
animates ritual. This reciprocal relationship can be seen with humanity and
ritual, but applies to all the other virtues and ritual as well. Confucius said
that too much respectfulness without ritual expression leads to a dithering
person who is simply exasperating; too much carefulness without proper
ritual leads to a timid person; too much courage without proper ritual leads
to an obnoxious person; too much rightness without proper ritual expression makes us inflexible.47 So all the internal virtues must be tempered and
expressed through ritual. On the other hand, ritual with no moral foundation is empty and hypocritical.
Confucius never gives us a set of rules such as the Ten Commandments
or the Buddhist Five Precepts. The rule do not kill is a very good rule.
But there are situations where we may have to break the rule. A child is
being abducted; you are armed and are the only thing standing between
the abductor and the child. Can you shoot him? If you have to obey the
moral rule do not kill at all times, you cannot. This is why Confucius
did not deal in rules.
Each situation we encounter will be different; the people in that situation will be different. Moral behavior in one situation may be disastrous
in another. Applying rules mechanically does not take into account what
Confucius called timeliness. Times, places, people, and circumstances
all change, sometimes dramatically. Behavior must accord with timeliness,
not a set of rules.
However, Confucius is not talking about some sloppy, go with the
flow situational morality where we just do what we feel like.
Each situation and each person is different and we must use our knowledge of others and our knowledge of ourselves to lead us to a decision about

Teachings I: The Foundation of a Good Person

41

Figure 2.1 The Apricot Pavilion where Confucius is said to have taught

what to do. Added to that is our sense of sympathy or understanding

putting ourselves in their shoes. This leads to flexibility in the situation. On
the other hand, there is no flexibility when it comes to the ethical demands
on us. We need to be honest and to act with moral courage. We need to do
our duty and act according to the standard of right and wrong. There are
ritual rules. So, moral behavior is not just how you happen to feel at the
time. While we may be flexible in a situation, we cannot be flexible about
the standard of moral behavior that we are required to practice.
Life is difficult. This is especially true when we have to make decisions.
Often we do not have all the information we would want and often we
must make decisions quickly and may not have a lot of time to think. This
is when the process of cultivation is most helpful. If we have practiced sincerity or honesty or moral courage in small things and, at all times, worked
on the cultivation of humanity, we are more likely to act properly when
something major happens. Humanity is cultivated over a lifetime. Confucius
believed that, just like any habit, if we put virtues into practice and express
them through rituals, over time they become stronger and more automatic.
No one can do this perfectly the first time moral cultivation, just like

42 Teachings I: The Foundation of a Good Person

growing a plant, takes work and time. The proper behavior of a morally
trained adult is not based on tastes or on our feelings at the moment: the
moral attitude humanity cultivated properly, is based on a standard of
right and wrong.
The insights Confucius had about humanity and ritual put him in the
top ranks of moral philosophers, but Confucius is not finished yet. He still
has much more to say about the ideal we must try to live up to and how
that will affect society and government.

The Gentleman
Qu Yuan (c.340278 BCE) was a poet and statesman. He advised his ruler,
the king of the state of Chu, against an alliance with the state of Qin. He
was accused of treason and banished. When Qin captured the capital city
of Chu, Qu Yuan was in such despair that he committed suicide, drowning
himself in the Miluo River.
The Dragon Boat Festival, held on the fifth day of the fifth month, includes
making zongzi, rice wrapped around a filling, to feed the fish lest they eat
Qu Yuans body, and also the dragon boat races as a symbolic attempt to
save this most loyal and honest official.48

A person who can practice both humanity and ritual is called a gentleman.49 Originally this was a title of nobility referring to the younger
sons of a lord. They would have been part of the noble, warring, class.
Gentleman was a title based on birth, not merit.
Confucius, however, redefined the word gentleman to make it a goal
one wants to reach. A gentleman is someone with ethical and ritual training
and a good education, and is an example of moral behavior. A gentleman
is what one should be; he is the paradigm, the model or standard, of what
we should become.50 To unify China and bring back the peace and good
government of the early Zhou dynasty, government needed to be led by
gentlemen, chosen for their moral character, not their noble birth.
With Confucius redefinition, the status of gentleman is not achieved
by birth. To become a gentleman one must be trained and educated, and
practice morality.
The gentleman is usually described in opposition to the small or petty
man. The small man concentrates on possessions; the gentleman concentrates on virtue.51 The gentleman helps others build up their good points;
the petty man encourages the bad in others.52 The gentleman corrects his
ruler; the petty man agrees with whatever the ruler says.53 The gentleman is
hard to please things must accord with morality; the petty man is easy to
please because he does not care if things are done morally; the gentleman
is easy to serve because he understands peoples abilities; the petty man is

Teachings I: The Foundation of a Good Person

43

difficult to serve because he demands things beyond peoples abilities.54 The

gentleman is grand, but never arrogant; the petty man is arrogant, but never
grand.55 The gentleman understands higher things; the petty man does not.56
A gentleman never does things for his own benefit, but only does things
that are right. A gentleman is not afraid, but ready to give his own life.
A gentleman never forgets his promises.57 In sum, the gentleman works at
overcoming his own selfishness and at helping others become better people;
the petty man is motivated by his own greed and desires.
Once we set our minds to becoming gentlemen, we are told not to
worry if we are not recognized as gentlemen, but to worry only that we
do not have the ability of gentlemen.58 Being poor, having shabby clothes,
or being hungry is not what a gentleman worries about: The gentleman
is not interested in a full stomach or comfortable housing. He is careful in
his actions and his words, seeking out those who know the Way and being
put straight by them. This is what it means to be eager to learn.59 Getting
a good job with a high salary is not the goal.
If a gentleman does become wealthy and famous, and achieves an important position in government, he accepts these things only when they accord
with humanity and ritual. The moment they do not, a gentleman has enough
self-respect to simply give them up.
One can learn to become a gentleman just as one learns moral behavior
and ritual through education. One is to become reverent and respectful
when dealing with others.60 Confucius says a gentleman cultivates himself
to become respectful, to bring peace to others, and finally to bring peace
to everyone something even the sage-kings could not do.61 By studying
history, we can see how moral and immoral behavior had an impact on the
world; by studying literature we learn the great aspirations of the ancients;
by learning ritual we learn how to behave properly. Education is not meant
to teach particular things, but to prepare us to deal with any situation. The
aim of this education is not professional accreditation; the aim of education
is to teach us to develop humanity and to act in the world. We are told
that a gentleman never abandons humanity even for as long as it takes to
eat a meal and is never in such a state of distress or trouble that he lets
go of humanity.62 Humanity gives the gentleman a sense of tranquility, no
matter what his troubles.
Cultivating the self means growing the virtues within. It also means that,
if there is a problem, we are to look within ourselves first to see if there is
a fault in us that has brought this on. If we look within and find no fault,
then the gentleman is neither anxious nor afraid.63
Confucius expected the gentleman to do two things. First, to serve in
government, providing moral advice and education to the ruler. A gentleman as a government official should lead rulers to practice proper moral
behavior and to rule well. Becoming involved in politics is the way the

44 Teachings I: The Foundation of a Good Person

gentleman expresses his personal cultivation.64 A gentleman who cultivates
himself does not do so as a private exercise, looking for some kind of inner
enlightenment, but rather to make the world a better place to live in.
While it is possible that a gentleman might achieve high office, it was
not necessarily the case that virtue would be rewarded. Perhaps the gentleman, like Confucius himself, would not be able to find a job; it could be
that, as a government bureaucrat, his ruler might not listen to his advice.
Confucius expected that a gentleman in such circumstances should retire
from government and become a teacher, educating the younger generation
much as Confucius had done.
Whether one becomes a government minister or a teacher, being a gentleman is a life-long process of cultivating virtues, examining oneself for
faults, and acting in the world.
Along with the gentleman, another exemplary person is the sage.
Confucian texts refer to the sage-kings of ancient times and to heroes like
the founders of the early Zhou dynasty, Kings Wen and Wu, and the Duke
of Zhou. A perfectly moral person would be a sage. While Confucius mentions the idea of a sage, he does so only in the negative, saying, modestly,
that he has never met a sage and that he could never dare claim to be either
a sage or to have humanity; rather, all that could be said of him is that he
worked tirelessly and encouraged others to do so.65
Over time we can learn about virtues and practice them, building up
the moral attitude of humanity and putting ourselves in another persons
shoes. We can learn rituals and see how they allow us to respect others
and maintain a civilized society. Doing these things makes us gentlemen.
Gentlemen are not necessarily perfect in every situation, but do work hard
at both humanity and ritual. This allows the gentleman to act in the world,
either improving government or as a teacher. How we can improve our
society and our government is what we will look at next.

3
Confucius Teachings II: The
Foundation of a Good Society
and Other Topics

If the Dao, the Way, is being followed in the world then show yourself; if it is not, then retire in seclusion. In a state that has the Way,
to be poor and of low status is a reason for you to be ashamed; in a
state that does not follow the Way, to be rich and famous is equally
a cause for being ashamed of yourself.1
One consistent thing we have seen so far is that, despite his reputation
as a conservative old fogy, Confucius radically restructured many of the
terms current in his time to fit with his own ideas. He himself said that he
transmitted the wisdom of the past and did not create anything new. This
is an odd thing for him to say, given that, as we have seen, he has redefined
ritual, filial piety, courage, humanity, and the role of the gentleman. He
may have been giving himself some cover for his innovative ideas by saying
that these things all existed in the past.
To recap, there are many moral virtues we need to cultivate: filial
piety, dutifulness, honesty, sincerity, rightness, wisdom, moral courage,
and understanding or compassion. Cultivating these virtues leads us to a
general attitude of humanity. Confucius redefined ritual to include religious
rituals, and noble etiquette to mean ritual as moral actions that lead to a
proper and civilized society. Ritual is the way we act in a web of social and
political relationships; ritual, when practiced with moral intentions, benefits
individuals and society. Working on the basis of moral virtues, with the
attitude of humanity, and practicing rituals, can make us gentlemen or, if
we become perfected in them, a sage. Cultivating moral virtues requires an
education, not just in learning facts, but in understanding moral behavior.
This cultivation and education is a life-long process.
When Confucius explained this to the rulers of his time, there was
nothing much that they would have objected to. Even if they had no intention of carrying out any of this cultivation, and even if they were the most

46 Teachings II: The Foundation of a Good Society

depraved of characters, it is likely that they would have gone along with
this, if only to make themselves look good. So why could Confucius not
get an important government job? Why, if we are to believe tradition, was
there an attempt to assassinate him?
The reason Confucius could not get a government job in any of the
states of his time was not because of what he had to say about morality
and ritual. It was because of his political ideas. Confucius had a subversive
idea, distasteful to rulers then as it is now: Confucius believed that government exists for the benefit of the people.

Setting Words Right

Government needed to be reformed, or not just reformed, but overhauled
from top to bottom. But before any reforms to government could be made,
there was something that needed to be done first.
One of Confucius students, Zilu, asked Confucius what he would do
first if he was offered a job in government. Confucius replied that his first
priority would be to set words right.2 Zilu was, as the reader may be,
unimpressed. Zilu wondered aloud how Confucius could be so far off the
mark as to want to start with a trivial thing like setting words right.
Confucius means two related things when he talks about setting words
right. First, we must all name things by their proper names; we must all
use the correct word when we discuss something. So, downsizing is not
a proper word; it is merely bafflegab. It means firing people. Collateral
damage is not the proper phrase for what is happening; killing civilians
is the proper phrase. Similarly, enhanced interrogation sounds innocent,
but it is still torture. The person on the phone in the call center is not
a customer satisfaction specialist until they satisfy their customer and
even then they may or may not be a specialist.3
This jargon, buzzword, or bafflegab is not merely annoying. It is a lie.
When government departments refer to me as a client or a customer,
they are lying about our real relationship. I am not a client or a customer,
I am a citizen. If they can convince me that the relationship is a consumer
relationship, then they are simply offering a product and I can choose to
buy or not. But our real relationship is that I pay taxes that support the
government and I can vote to keep or get rid of that government. That is
not the same relationship I have with Wal-Mart.
Telling lies by using the wrong word allows for bigger lies. Phone a
customer support centre and you will be told, by a recorded message, that
Your call is important to us. That is clearly not true; if it was, they would
answer the phone. Labeling people as terrorists who possess weapons
of mass destruction leads to war and the death of tens of thousands. In

Teachings II: The Foundation of a Good Society

47

terms of putting words right, there is no difference between these two

examples. Misusing words leads to lies, whether it is our cable company or
our governments. When words have been debased, big lies are even easier.
The difficulty in dealing with this phenomenon is that you have to go
back to the basics and call things by their proper names and use accurate
words before you can even get to the issues involved. Governments in particular are happy to keep the waters as muddied as possible.
This sort of thing was happening in Confucius time too. Rulers of small
states were calling themselves kings, though they had no right to the title.
A noble family in Confucius own state of Lu offered sacrifices at Mount
Tai, something only the emperor was meant to do. Bafflegab, misdirection,
and lies were as prevalent in his time as in ours. It is not easy to decide if
that is comforting or distressing.
Confucius meant a second, and related, thing by setting words right.
If we need a table, that table can be made of wood, plastic, steel, or any
other material; it can have four legs, two legs, or a single pedestal leg; it can
be of any color. The only expectation we have around the word table is
that it will have some sort of flat surface.
This is not how other words work: some words come with expectations
about behavior. If someone is a father or mother, then we expect behavior that cares for children. If someone is a teacher, we expect teaching.
Words like father, mother, and teacher come with expectations
about behavior.
If parents neglect or abuse their children, they are not acting according to
the expectations we have for parents. If teachers do not bother to teach
their students, they are not living up to the behavior we expect from their
title. Using the principle of setting words right, if these people do not act
as fathers, mothers, or teachers, then, says Confucius, they do not deserve
these titles and should not be called by those names. People have to act
virtuously and responsibly before they can properly be called parents or
teachers the words must correspond to real behavior.
We can apply the principle to parents and teachers, but setting words
right applies to rulers as well. If a ruler does not rule virtuously, then he
is not a proper ruler and does not deserve the title. This idea has serious
political consequences: if a ruler is not a proper ruler, can he be disobeyed?
Can he be overthrown?
It is not clear that Confucius wanted to go that far. He used the idea of
setting words right as a judgment rather than a call for revolution. After
Confucius, Mencius (see chapter 6) will argue that, if an unworthy man
becomes ruler and is overthrown, it is not a ruler who is overthrown, but
merely an unworthy man.
The idea of setting words right demands that people live up to the
expectations we have when we give them particular titles. When Duke Jing

48 Teachings II: The Foundation of a Good Society

of the state of Qi asked Confucius about the principles of government,
Confucius said, Let the ruler be a ruler, the minister a minister, the father
a father, the son a son.4 This cryptic saying is perfectly understandable in
light of setting words right: a proper ruler should rule as a proper ruler
in order to have the title; a proper minister should be loyal and dedicated
in order to be a minister; a father should raise, educate, and care for his
son; and a son should have filial piety in order to be a proper son.
When Confucius student, Zilu, complained that setting words right
was a trivial way to begin to govern, Confucius corrected him and said, If
words are not set straight and names do not match reality, then nothing
can be done successfully [ and] the common people will not know what
to do or how to behave.5 Confucius wanted to begin any reform of government with setting words right for the simple reason that, without it,
we cannot talk to each other honestly and we cannot perform our roles
properly.
When we, and our governments, use the proper word to describe something, we can speak honestly and accurately about it. When people fulfill
the expectations that their roles have, whether as parents or rulers, we are
behaving properly and honestly. We will know what to do and how to
behave.

For the Benefit of the People

Confucius maintained that government exists for the benefit of the people.
The first, and necessary, step in good government is to put words straight
so that everyone knows what is going on and how to behave.
Caring for the common people meant ensuring that basic needs, like
food and clothing, were met. It is crucial that the economy allow people
to make a decent living. Taxes should not be punishing. When a ruler
complained that the harvest had been a poor one and the tax money he
got that year was hardly sufficient to cover his expenses, he was told that,
instead of taxing at the 20% rate, he should reduce his tax to 10%. After
all, if times were tough, taxes should be lowered so that the people would
have enough to live on. Once the people have enough to live on, the ruler
should be happy with that.6
When asked about government, Confucius said that the ruler should
make sure that there was enough food and enough weapons, and that the
ruler had the trust of the common people. If a ruler had to do without
one of these three, he could give up the weapons. If he then had to choose
between enough food and the trust of the common people, he should give
up the food. This is because a government cannot stand once it has lost
the peoples trust.7

Teachings II: The Foundation of a Good Society

49

When people see themselves as part of a common whole, sharing good

times and bad times with their ruler, they are more likely to trust their
ruler. If people believe in their government, they will put up with all sorts
of hardships. It is the rulers job to build that trust. He does that by cultivating his virtues and being a gentleman. As the people see his behavior,
they will model themselves on it. The ideal situation would be a ruler who
was actually a sage a perfectly moral human being. Confucius thinks that
this is why the sage-kings of the past were so successful: they combined
humanity and ritual in such a way that ordinary people followed them
willingly.
Even if a ruler is not a sage, he can appoint wise ministers, Confucian
gentlemen, who will give him good advice and serve him loyally. For their
part, cultivated gentlemen should take office in states where they have a
chance of influencing the ruler for the good or in states where the ruler was
already good. To accept a salary from a bad ruler is a shameful thing8 and
gentlemen were to stay away from states that were so badly ruled that they
were about to collapse. Real power should be given to educated, trained
gentlemen who would be government ministers. They would care for the
common people and advise the ruler wisely. They are the ones who will
guide ordinary people and establish good government.
Ordinary people cannot manage on their own. We have already seen
Confucius say that common people can be led so as to follow a path, but
not so that they understand it.9 Care and guidance must be given by government to bring people into the right path, and that is why the gentleman as
government minister is so important. When Confucius talked about government for the benefit of the people, he was not talking about democracy. His
view of government is a paternal kind of government: the government acts
toward the common people as a father acts toward his children, guiding,
caring, and disciplining. As far as Confucius is concerned, only the educated
elite really understand the moral, social, and political objectives involved
they are inner-directed; that is, they are able to maintain their moral
stance in good times or bad. Ordinary people, on the other hand, need a
good environment, with good models and a good economy, before they
can act properly; they are outer-directed, changing according to good
or bad times.

Laws
It is also important that these gentlemen-ministers are models of virtue
so that ordinary people can follow them. Simply enacting laws does not
provide that kind of guidance. Laws may be necessary for those who, no
matter what kind of government is in place, will never behave. But laws and

50 Teachings II: The Foundation of a Good Society

punishments do not teach people virtue. Instead, Confucius says, laws and
punishments only make people learn how to avoid being caught. Confucius
believed that if only laws and punishments are applied, people may follow
the laws or find ways of evading them, but they will never develop a sense
of shame.10
That is because we may obey a law only because we fear getting caught
and punished. However, the law teaches us nothing in moral terms: it is
simply a barrier. If, on the other hand, virtue and ritual are taught to people,
then people will develop an inner sense of shame and behave themselves.11
The difference here is the difference between driving over the speed limit
and being caught with child pornography. In the first case, the law sets a
speed limit on a highway and, if I see no police cars, I may speed anyway.
If I get caught, I have simply lost a cat and mouse game with the police,
but Im unlikely to be ashamed of speeding, possibly just embarrassed at
being caught. In the second case, not only is possessing child pornography
against the law, but it is considered shameful in our society. We have set
up standards of virtuous conduct that exclude this behavior, so if one is
caught, one is ashamed.12 The speed limit law is external to me; the disgust
at child pornography has become an internal moral judgment. This is why
Confucius argued that ritual is better than law. You will always have to
have laws to deal with the incorrigible, but ritual and virtue help develop
peoples inner moral sense. Once you have done that, a government does
not need a policeman on every corner.

Models
This view of law and government is based on an insight Confucius had
about models. With a law, people obey for fear of being caught; once
they follow ritual and a moral ruler, they obey out of inclination. Confucius
believed strongly that models change peoples behavior, and that once
people saw moral gentlemen in the government, they too would tend
toward moral behavior.
Think about our times, our models the people we talk about and see
on the news and in the magazines. They are politicians, actors, entertainers, and sports celebrities. Is it any surprise that, if ordinary people see bad
behavior from these models, they feel free to do the same?
Only a handful of people today would know the name of Dr. Paul
Farmer, who founded Partners in Health, establishing no-fee hospitals in
Haiti, Rwanda, Peru, and other poor countries, but most people know who
Tom Cruise is and about his domestic squabbles. There are good people
around us, but we choose not to talk about them. The models we have
often confirm, and encourage, our worst behavior.

Teachings II: The Foundation of a Good Society

51

On the other hand, sit back for a moment and imagine the following.
Imagine that you live in a place where the people working in all levels of
government are good people. They are trying very hard to solve problems.
They are honest and conscientious, and they work hard. They answer their
own phones. They may not always be successful, but they continue to try
to deal with people carefully and respectfully. Would you feel differently
in a society like that? Would you mind paying taxes? Would people led by
that kind of government value education and government service? Would
they be more moral? more polite?
Confucius is convinced that government officials act as models for the
people. If people saw their sincere and honest hard work, ordinary people
would become sincere, honest, and hard-working. He says, The virtue of
the gentleman is like the wind and the virtue of the common people is like
the grass: when the wind moves, the grass is sure to bend.13 Ordinary
people will move in the direction that the gentleman leads them. This also
applies to bad behavior. If the ruler and government ministers are corrupt,
so will the people be. When a government official in the state of Lu complained to Confucius about the rising number of robbers, Confucius told
him that if he got rid of his own desires for luxury, ordinary people would
not steal, even if they were paid to do it.14 By desiring the finer things in
life, the official has shown his people that these things are valuable and so
they steal them. If the official was honest and hard-working, the people
would be too.
Confucius ideal government is a government that rules through moral
example and moral power rather than through laws, punishments, and
coercion. This is government by morality, not government by force.
Good government can earn the trust and support of the common
people. Should war come, ordinary people would be willing to fight for
it. Given that Confucius lived in a time of war, we would expect that
he would talk about it. Instead, we are told that when Duke Ling of the
state of Wei asked Confucius about military matters, Confucius said that
while he knew about ritual matters, he knew nothing of military ones.
Confucius left the state the next day.15 Confucius does say that it is the
responsibility of the government to train the common people as soldiers
and not just throw them into battle. This training, even under the government of gentlemen, could take a number of years.16 But Confucius does
not offer advice about military matters in his discussions of government.
He believed that it was good government, not success in war, that would
bring success to a ruler.
A state, run on moral lines, caring for the people, would be so attractive
that people would flock to it, just as they ran from evil governments. There
is a traditional story that, on his travels, he met a poor woman and her
children who lived in an area infested with tigers. When Confucius asked

52 Teachings II: The Foundation of a Good Society

her why she did not take her children and move, she said that the tigers were
not as dangerous as life under the corrupt ruler of the neighboring state.
Just as people naturally avoid evil rulers, so too they would be anxious to
live in the state of a good ruler.
Confucius criticized the leaders of his time. They were interested only
in themselves, in the latest luxuries, in displaying wealth and status. Their
greedy ambitions led them to act only in their own self-interest and, as a
consequence, to wage war. All of this was paid for, in one way or another,
by ordinary people. They were heavily taxed and dragged into army service
to fight wars that had nothing to do with them.
The ideal government that Confucius proposed would not work like that.
If gentlemen staffed the government, they would not be looking out for
their own self-interest. They would not be interested in luxury or display.
They would not have ambitions to conquer others. The lives of ordinary
people would improve, in the first instance, simply because the government
would get off their backs.
Confucius ideal government and society are based on ritual and morality.17 A person cultivates moral virtues and learns ritual, first in the family,
and then through education. Families, ideally, both teach proper behavior
and are the primary place where proper behavior is expressed. A gentleman is educated in the lessons and arts of the past and this enables him to
cultivate himself, learn ritual, and learn the standard of right and wrong.
It is the gentlemans responsibility to take action in the world, especially,
if possible, in government.
A ruler, ideally a sage or gentleman, should surround himself with other
Confucian gentlemen in government who will not only relieve the burdens
on the people, but provide a state where people can make a decent living
and gradually internalize the morality that the gentleman models. The
government would work hard at benefiting the people; and the people,
in turn, would trust the government. That is the ideal picture, but in life
things are rarely so easy or clear-cut. Confucius had opportunities to serve
in government and found himself caught between his great desire to serve
and help reform the state and his dread of not being effective and, in the
end, abetting a corrupt ruler.
In one conversation reported in the Analects, Yang Huo, the steward to
the Ji family in Lu, tempted Confucius. The Ji family was the great power
in Lu, the power behind the nominal duke, and the Ji family carried on as
if they were royalty. Confucius criticized their arrogant behavior a number
of times. Yang Huo offered Confucius an office in the government of Lu.
Yang Huo asked Confucius why he continued to keep his talent hidden
away. He asked further if a man could be defined as wise when he repeatedly missed opportunities to serve. Finally, Yang Huo pointed out that
time was passing and Confucius was getting old without having taken the

Teachings II: The Foundation of a Good Society

53

chance and taken political office. Clearly Confucius is a wise man and
would be an asset to any government, yet he has continually refused government positions. How long could Confucius take the moral high road,
claiming to be able to reform government and yet always refusing a place
in it?18
In the end, Confucius refused the offer. Throughout the Analects we see
Confucius desperate to act, but then withdrawing, remaining loyal to his
ideals. This raises the question of when we should act. If there is a chance
to benefit society, when should Confucius, or a gentleman, or any of us,
lower our standards to take the position? How much corruption should
we put up with? Can one serve even bad rulers, if there is a chance of
influencing them? If no state is following the Way, how can we ever find a
government to serve in? A gentleman should speak truth to power, but
what happens when he is ignored or, given the Warring States era, killed
for doing so?
If we take a position in a government or support a government in some
way, are we simply becoming part of the corruption we oppose? On the
other hand, standing on the sidelines and not getting our hands dirty may
make us morally superior, but hardly effective. Ideally we should have
enough knowledge to be able to judge the timeliness of acting or not acting,
but life was messy for Confucius as it is for us.
Another problem in Confucius ideal of government has to do with the
choice of Heaven. No state in the Warring States era could claim to have
the choice of Heaven: if they had had it, they would have conquered all
the others. Confucius opposes government by force, but the idea of the
choice of Heaven implies the use of force to overthrow the old dynasty.
This leaves Confucius in a quandary about his loyalty to the old Zhou
dynasty and the choice of Heaven that would require one of the states to
overthrow it. Later Confucians in the Warring States period will withdraw
their loyalty to the old dynasty and opt for the idea that the choice of
Heaven will come to whichever state becomes a moral proper state and
so overthrows the Zhou.
There are those who say that Confucius ideas would work only in the
small states of his time and cannot be applied to the large nation-states
of today. It is true that the government structure Confucius envisions is
the structure he was used to seeing: a ruler, his noble ministers, and the
common people. Confucius did not contemplate anything like a modern
state or a democracy. But some of his ideas about politics could be applied.
It might be interesting, and certainly refreshing, to see what a moral government would look like.
To summarize, Confucius political ideas are based on the notion that
government exists for the benefit of the people. A government run by
Confucian gentlemen or sages would begin by putting words right. They

54 Teachings II: The Foundation of a Good Society

would care for the people by providing a good economy, not overtaxing the
people, and not throwing their lives away in battle. The people would trust
such a government and, as the government provided models for behavior,
the government would educate people in ritual and morality. Governments
should rule through moral power and moral example, not through laws,
punishments, and force. Moral cultivation in the individual must have
social and political expression. Whether in our family, among our friends
and co-workers, or in government, the moral virtues we cultivate will lead
to a better society and a better government. Confucius, the conservative
old fogy, calls for a thoroughgoing reformation of the individual and of
the state. We are to become educated, moral, and politically active. The
state is to provide good government that will, in turn, promote morality.
Putting words right and government by moral gentlemen, guiding the
people, providing for them, and acting as models, all make society and
government better.
Much of what we have looked at so far is interpreted by different
scholars in different ways. For example, you may find different understandings of humanity and of ritual in other texts and other translations. The next sections describe some of the more contentious areas
of Confucius thought. First, we will look at his ideas of education.
Education, in itself, is not the problem; the problem is who it is that
Confucius thought could, or should, be educated, and that brings us to
Confucius attitude toward women. Second, we will look at Confucius
attitude toward the supernatural the gods, the spirits of the dead,
Heaven, and the idea of fate.

Education without Distinction

If you go to the Confucian temple in Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, in
the main section you will see an enormous plaque with a quotation from
Confucius that says, Education without distinction. People will tell you
that this means that education is open to everyone and that Confucius was
the first to offer education to all.
It is not actually that clear that this is what the passage means. We find
this saying in the Analects where Confucius says, In education there are no
different kinds.19 There are problems around what is meant by different
kinds. Some argue that this has nothing to do with public education, but
is simply Confucius saying that, no matter if one is a bit slow or almost a
sage, we must all start out to be educated in the same way.
Others read this passage as saying that there are no different kinds of
people when it comes to who can be taught. Confucius was open to teaching everyone, no matter who they were in terms of social class or wealth.

Teachings II: The Foundation of a Good Society

55

Confucius often talks about how poor some of his students were, especially
his favorite student, Yan Hui (or Yan Yuan). Confucius was not impressed
by rich students arriving in their carriages and offering substantial school
fees, saying that even if a student came on foot and offered only a package
of dried meat, he should be taught.
What we know about Confucius students, however, is that they were
all upper-class: some of them, like Confucius and Yan Hui, were relatively
poor, but we do not know of any of Confucius students who were from
the common people. It would be surprising to find commoners among
Confucius students. At that time, ordinary men had only a very limited
opportunity to become literate. Without basic literacy, it would have been
impossible to study any texts that Confucius taught, like The Book of
Poetry. As well, we find Confucius saying things like: while one can lead
the common people in the right direction, it is not possible to make them
understand it.20 So it is not clear that Confucius believed education should
be extended to all classes.

Women
Nor is it evident that he wanted education to be extended to women.
Confucius rarely had anything to say about women in the Analects, and
that may be just as well. The one time he says anything about women, he
says, It is always difficult to deal with women and servants: if you are
too close to them, they become insolent; if you keep them at too great a
distance, they complain.21 Confucius also said that he had yet to meet a
man who is as fond of virtue as he is of beautiful women, and Confucius
students were warned to guard themselves against female beauty when
young.
The only woman named in the Analects is Nanzi. She was the wife of the
Duke of Wei and, according to the sources, both politically powerful and
promiscuous. Confucius is said to have met and spoken with her, something
his students disapproved of. Confucius had to defend himself against their
criticisms, saying he had done nothing wrong.22 Like many passages in the
Analects, there is no context here to tell us what Nanzi or Confucius said
in the conversation or why he was talking to her.
All Confucius students were male. Confucius concerns are male concerns: getting a post in government, being a filial son, and so on. Women
also do not figure in what we know about the lives and conversations of
Confucius students.23
Texts from Confucius time and later Confucian texts were especially
critical of women in positions of power. Wives and concubines were seen
as the source of political troubles. The Book of Poetry says,

56 Teachings II: The Foundation of a Good Society

A clever man builds city walls,
A clever woman overthrows them
Women with long tongues
Are just cruel and violent.
Chaos is not sent down from Heaven.
It originates in women
Women should have nothing to do with public affairs,
But keep to spinning their silk.24

These characterizations of women as bringing disaster to governments and

families can be found throughout the histories of the time.
We saw an example of this in chapter 1 in the story of the Duke of Wei
who had two sons with his daughter-in-law and was part of her evil plot
to kill her husband. In the histories especially we find a number of stories
modeled in the same ways. In them, the evil, sexually attractive woman, the
wife or concubine of the ruler, seduces him into making fatal mistakes in
government. The loyal minister warns the ruler of the terrible consequences
but the minister is not listened to, is fired, or is even executed. The ruler, in
his besotted state of mind, rules badly and the state is conquered by another.
During the Warring States period, the status of women continued to
decline. While some upper-class women were wealthy and politically powerful, inheritance had become almost entirely patrilineal. This meant that
many women were less in charge of their own wealth and did not inherit
equally with their brothers. The secondary status of women is seen most
clearly in a passage from The Book of Poetry:
When a boy is born,
He is laid on a bed,
Robed in a gown
Lords or princes come from this family.
When a girl is born,
She is laid on the floor,
Robed in rags
She will do nothing bad,
Nor anything good either.
All she does is to carry wine and plates of food,
And is no trouble to her father and mother.25

This attitude can be found echoed in later Confucian texts. Confucian ritual
texts contain regulations for men and women: they are not to sit on the
same mat, or to use the same rack for clothes, or to touch when handing
one another something.26 This lack of direct contact was meant to lessen
the possibility of sexual arousal. To further this aim, the ritual texts also
contain rules for the separation of the sexes: Ritual begins with the correct

Teachings II: The Foundation of a Good Society

57

relations between man and wife. In the home, there is a division between
outside and inside; the man lives in the outer, the woman in the inner;
and men should not speak about what belongs to the inside of the house,
nor women to what is outside.27
Women were to provide a harmonious household, while the mans role
was outside the home. Men dealt with the public issues and everything
outside of the household, while women were to deal with the domestic
and the private.28
Rules for domestic rituals, such as ancestral veneration, included women.
When a woman married, she left her parents house and went to live with
her husbands family. In the ancestral veneration ceremonies, the first wife
of the primary descendent of the ancestors (the eldest son) led the other
women of the household, just as her husband led the other men. Both
participated in the rituals. This has led some commentators to argue that
women and men had complementary responsibilities. They point out that
women are not labeled as the source of all evil, as they are in other traditions. They quote from the Book of Rites to argue that women were as
valued as men: The emperor and empress are necessary to one another,
and through their interdependence they are able to complete all things.29
Others point out that however balanced the ritual of ancestral veneration may be between the actions of men and women, the ancestors being
venerated are the mans ancestors and the children who carry on the family
are his sons.30
Given this background and later Confucian texts, it is not at all clear
that Confucius meant to extend education to women or to lower-class
men. While the scope of his beliefs about education is not clear, it is clear
that he believed that one should be educated, and not just educated to get
a good job. Education was important because it had moral, social, and
political goals.

The Gods, the Spirits of the Dead, and the Afterlife

The Annals of the Warring States tells the story of the widow of the Duke
of Qin who wanted her lover, a man from Wei, to be buried alive with her
when she died. Her lover argued against her plan, pointing out to her that
she did not believe in an afterlife and so his accompanying her to the grave
would do her no good. If, however, it should turn out to be true that there
is an afterlife, the Duke, her husband, would not be at all pleased with her
arriving with her lover.31

Most of what we hear from Confucius is teachings about morality, social

and political behavior, and the reform of both the individual and the

58 Teachings II: The Foundation of a Good Society

government. Confucius never refers to gods, like the gods of rain, thunder,
the earth, and so on. He is never described as praying to them. Given his
times, this is remarkable. Most of the people of his day would have believed
in the power of the gods, the spirits, and the ancestors; they would have
tried various methods to find lucky days to do things; they lived in a world
saturated with the supernatural. There was a wide belief in the power of
ghosts spirits of the dead who received no sacrifices to do harm to the
living, causing misfortune and bad luck. Supernatural powers were credited
with causing everything from droughts to illness.
When Confucius does talk about the gods, it is not always clear what he
means. For example, when Confucius was very ill, Zilu, one of his students,
asked permission to pray, quoting a text that says, We pray for you above
and below to the gods of heaven and the gods of earth. Confucius replied,
In that case, I have been praying for a long time. What are we to make
of this? Does it mean that Confucius has been praying to the gods all his
life? Commentators have generally interpreted this passage as meaning that
Confucius whole life has been a prayer and so he did not need to pray
to the gods. They base this interpretation on other things Confucius said
about the supernatural. As well, his students tell us that Confucius never
talked about strange prodigies, feats of strength, disorder, or the gods.32
Nor does he seem to have been very interested in talking about the spirits
of the dead.
Confucius would, of course, have been well versed in the rituals of ancestral veneration and taught the rituals to his students. The culture at large
believed in the power of ancestors to bless and punish the living. However,
Confucius rarely refers to the spirits of the dead, and when he does so, he is
not willing to discuss or describe them at length. He says, To work hard
to ensure rightness among the people, and, while respecting the spirits, to
keep away from them, this may be called wisdom.33 So we should show
the spirits respect, but not get close to them. In another comment Confucius
makes, the emphasis is on a reverent attitude, not the spirits themselves.
He says, Sacrifice to the spirits as if they were present.34 This seems to
mean that, whether the spirits exist or not, one should be reverent in performing ritual.
As to whether or not there is an afterlife, Confucius only comment in
the Analects shows him as unwilling to discuss that either: when a student
asked about the spirits of the dead, Confucius said, You are still not
able to do your duty to people, how can you do your duty to the ghosts
and spirits? and when the student asked further about death, Confucius
replied, You do not understand life, how can you understand death?35
While these statements do not dismiss a belief in an afterlife, or the existence
of the dead in another place, or the existence of the gods, they do show us
that Confucius did not consider these issues useful topics for his teachings.

Teachings II: The Foundation of a Good Society

59

Even though Confucius had little to say about the supernatural or an

afterlife, later commentators would interpret what little he does say in
radically different ways (see chapters 12 and 13). Whether these comments
show Confucius as a religious person, a person with a spiritual nature, or
a skeptic remains a subject of debate.

The Choice of Heaven and Heaven

The idea of the choice of Heaven or the command of Heaven developed in the early Zhou dynasty (see chapter 1) to explain why the Zhou
dynasty had conquered the Shang. A virtuous ruler was chosen by Heaven
to be the ruler of a unified China. The choice of Heaven continued to be
used as a tool to make political power legitimate, but by the time of the
Warring States, it was clear that no one had been chosen by Heaven to be
the sole ruler of China. The idea of the choice of Heaven, by Confucius
time, had been broadened to apply to individuals who were chosen,
or ordered, by Heaven to live up to what Heaven required of them.
Confucius uses the term choice of Heaven in that way, saying that
at the age of 50, I understood the choice of Heaven.36 After decades
of study and self-cultivation, he was able to understand what it was that
Heaven wanted him to do. This was a serious responsibility and one that
should be carried out with reverence and with all the energy one has: the
choice of Heaven is one of the few things, Confucius says, that a gentleman stands in awe of.37
In one passage where Confucius refers to Heaven, he says, Does Heaven
speak? Yet the four seasons move in their cycle and all things receive life
from Heaven. Does Heaven say anything?38 Here Confucius refers to
Heaven as nature, neither knowing nor caring what human beings do.
Confucius students said that Confucius never talked about the Way of
Heaven.39
In other places, Heaven is obviously understood as acting in this
world. When his favorite student, Yan Hui died, Confucius cried out in
grief, It is Heaven that has taken him! It is Heaven!40 This seems to fit
with other references Confucius makes to a Heaven that has given him a
mission. When threatened with death by Huan Tui in the state of Song,
Confucius said, It is Heaven that has given birth to the virtue that is in
me. What can Huan Tui do to me?41 As long as he had the commands
of Heaven, no human being would be able to stop him. During his
travels, he was again threatened with death in Kuang. Confucius refers to
King Wen, a hero to Confucius, and founder of the Zhou dynasty. King
Wen is long dead; does not our culture rest in me? If Heaven wanted
our culture to die, why would those of us after King Wen have it? If

60 Teachings II: The Foundation of a Good Society

Heaven does not want our culture to die, what can the men of Kuang
do to me?42 Confucius understood himself as having a commission from
Heaven. An official once offered an explanation to Confucius students as
to why Confucius had not been able to obtain an important government
office, saying, Why should you students be worried about Confucius
not having government office? The world has not followed the Way (see
below) for a very long time and Heaven plans on using Confucius like
the wooden clapper of a bell.43 That the world does not follow the Way
is fate; that Confucius will be used by Heaven to wake the world up is
Heavens command.
This command from Heaven may imply a close relationship between
Heaven and Confucius. When Confucius complained that no one knew
him, he says, I do not grumble at Heaven nor blame human beings. I
study what is around me so as to follow what is above. It is only Heaven
that knows me.44 And, while it is not clear that he prayed to the gods,
he says, A man who offends against Heaven has nowhere to pray.45
Heaven has given Confucius a mission and it is only Heaven who truly
knows him. But Confucius does not discuss what kind of Heaven this is
nor how it works.

Fate
Confucius also uses the term ming choice, mandate, or fate by
itself. Originally, ming referred to the length of ones life. We find it with
that meaning in The Book of History and The Book of Poetry: Heaven
inspects those below and its standard is rightness. Heaven sends down a
long life or not. Thus, it is not heaven that makes people die young, it is
people who sever their life (ming).46 The length of ones life depends on
ethical behavior that is rewarded by heaven. In Western Zhou bronzes,
ming is used in the senses of life span and, as well, endowment from
heaven.47
Meaning fate, ming has the sense of all the things that could happen
to us. There are things over which we have no control: they are chosen or
fated by Heaven. So we cannot control our life span, our health, or the
times we are born into. If the society we are born into is corrupt, if it does
not follow the Way, we can try to fix it, but may not succeed; this is fate.
Similarly, if the ruler, who the gentleman serves, refuses good advice, the
gentleman can do nothing other than continue to offer good advice. The
reason Confucius was unable to achieve real political influence in his time
was fate. Fate is decided by Heaven and, if Heaven wills a world in which
the right Way prevails, that is what will happen; if Heaven does not will
it, the world will be without the Way.48

Teachings II: The Foundation of a Good Society

61

The Way
Some people are surprised to find Confucius using the term Dao, the
Way, assuming that is a word only used by the Daoist school. The term
was widely used by all sorts of people throughout the period. However,
when people used the word Way, they did not always mean the same
thing by it. When Confucius talks about the Way, he does not mean the
natural and spontaneous Dao of the Daoist school (see chapter 5); he means
a Dao that is an ethical, political, and civilized order. He says, I set my
heart on the Way, base myself on virtue, lean on humanity.49
The Way that Confucius has set his heart on is the natural inclination
of human beings toward civilization, and that is what Confucius is talking
about when he says, A man has not wasted his life who, on the day he
dies, learns about the Dao.50 The natural human tendency toward civilization was expressed in the past by the sage-kings and the early rulers of the
Zhou dynasty. It is also a moral Way, commanded by Heaven, that rulers,
governments, and individuals must come to understand and to follow. We
can learn the workings of the Way by being educated; we practice the Way
through ritual, moral behavior, and good government. It is interesting that
Confucius says that it is human beings who expand the Way, not the Way
that expands human beings.51 There has been considerable debate over what
he means here, but it may be that it is the responsibility of human beings
to develop a moral and civilized Way rather than the Ways responsibility
to command us.
The references in the Analects to the spirits of the dead, the gods, an
afterlife, and even Heaven are relatively few, especially when compared to
Confucius favorite topics, humanity, the gentleman, and ritual. Many of
these references are cryptic as well, so it is not always clear what Confucius
meant. There is little in other Confucian texts to help us either.
When we think about the word religion we usually think of it as
focused on our relationship to the supernatural, be that gods, the spirits
of the dead, or some ultimate principle or being, like Heaven or God.
Confucius sometimes implies that sort of relationship. He did not see
himself living in an empty universe that had no relation to human beings.52
However, most of Confucius attention is focused on self-cultivation, morality, and the ways to build a proper society.
Given what we have from Confucius, almost everything he says about
the supernatural can be interpreted in different ways. For example, take his
remark about his student not knowing how to serve the living and so not
being able to learn about serving the dead. Does this mean that the student
would have to work harder before he learned how to serve the spirits of
the dead? Does it mean that while the spirits of the dead exist, it is more

62 Teachings II: The Foundation of a Good Society

important to serve the living? Does it mean that Confucius did not believe
in an afterlife and wanted his students to move away from the topic?
Similarly, some scholars have understood what Confucius says about
ritual as ritual that must be understood in a more religious context. Even
when rituals are between people, they are religious acts performed with the
same reverence.53 Others have read what Confucius said about ritual and
the supernatural and concluded that Confucius was an agnostic and not at
all interested in the religious side of life.
The continuing debate as to whether Confucianism is a philosophy
or a religion often includes interpretations of Confucius remarks about
Heaven and the Dao (see chapters 12 and 13). Here we should note the
things Confucius does not talk about. There is no creator-god: this is true
throughout early Chinese culture as well as in the thought of Confucius.
Whatever Heaven may be, it is not credited with a conscious creation of
the universe. We find no speculation about how the universe came to be
and very little comment on how it is constituted. Second, Heaven is not
a place. Confucius does not talk about an afterlife, nor does he offer a
good afterlife as a reward for a good life. Third, there are no sanctions
in Confucius thought. We are to be good people because we should, not
because we expect a reward in an afterlife or to be condemned in the next
world. There are no hells, no devils, and no Devil. For Confucius, selfishness and self-interest are enough to explain evil; there is no need to resort
to the supernatural.
Debate continues over just what Confucius meant about the scope of
education, about his attitude toward women, and about his religious views
or lack of them. We will see how the Confucian tradition develops as
we go along and how people today talk about these issues. We do know
that Confucius provided a complete prescription for the reform of the
individual, society, and the state. As individuals, we encourage our moral
virtues through education and self-cultivation, striving for the attitude of
humanity. This has social and political implications. Individuals, gentlemen,
with humanity, can lead us to a society that is more polite and where people
are respected. This involves a state where government officials use language
properly and work hard to care for the people.

4
Terms, and Mozi

Problems with Schools and -isms

While we could not describe Confucius life as easy, he did have an easier
time of it than his followers in one respect: he did not have to deal with
many opponents. After Confucius death, his followers would have to
debate other thinkers who had their own strategies to reform the time
and who attacked the kinds of things Confucius had proposed. To a large
extent, Confucius was spared this.
The Warring States era lasted from 403 to 221 BCE and ended when the
state of Qin succeeded in conquering all the other states and unifying China.
This dynasty did not last long and was succeeded by the Han dynasty, a
much longer one, ruling from 206 BCE to 220 CE, approximately the same
length of time as the Roman empire.
It was during the Han dynasty, about a hundred years or more after the
thinkers of the Warring States era, that scholars looked back and began to
categorize the thinkers and the texts of the Warring States into schools of
thought.1 They set up strict lines among various schools of thought in the
Warring States period and classified thinkers as belonging to Confucian,
Mohist, Daoist, Logician, or Strategist schools.
The difficulty is that the thinkers of the Warring States era did not, in
many cases, see themselves as belonging to a school at all. Many of these
thinkers, and their texts, include ideas from various sources and do not fit
neatly into one school or another.
So, who were these people if they were not, in many cases, members of
a school? One of the Chinese phrases to describe the many thinkers of
the Warring States is the hundred schools of thought. While there were
not really a hundred schools, the phrase is meant to show the wide variety
and the various voices of the time. The thinkers of the Warring States era
were scholars and would-be bureaucrats, like Confucius. Like Confucius,

64 Terms, and Mozi

they tried to get a government position where they could influence rulers
and bring into practice their own ideas about statecraft and reform. The
vast majority of the texts from the Warring States period were addressed
to rulers, and talk about how to rule well, according to the viewpoint of
the author.
As the numbers of these scholar-bureaucrats2 grew after the death of
Confucius and throughout the Warring States period, it became common
for rulers to have these scholars as guests, listen to their advice, engage them
in debate, and listen to them debate each other. For some, having scholars
on the payroll became a sign of the rulers wealth, status, and high culture.
For example, in the state of Qi, the Tian family had overthrown original rulers of state, and were known as a bloodthirsty lot. They wanted to
establish themselves as proper rulers and enhance their reputation. From
the 400s to the 300s BCE, they became patrons of scholars, setting up the
Jixia Academy and inviting scholars from across China. The scholars were
paid well, given pleasant living quarters, servants, and suitable lecture halls.
These scholars were not necessarily meant to be part of the government,
but they were invited there to discuss various theories and there was a real
exchange of ideas. Many of the big names in scholarship visited, or lived
in, the Jixia Academy.3 This academy is the most famous one, but there
were others as well.
The scholar-bureaucrats traveled from state to state to these academies,
many with their cartloads of books, trying very hard to make their voices
heard, to defeat their opponents in debate, and to reform the government
of the time. Some of them did indeed get government jobs. They shared
the same concerns Confucius had: the breakdown in central government
might well lead to a loss of civilization itself; the times were dangerous and
governments corrupt; the common people were in serious trouble while the
upper classes and the rich lived in luxury. What they did not agree on was
how to solve these problems.
When we look back at this period, we see an exciting and interesting
time with people debating everything from the very nature of human beings
to how a good government should work. For scholars of the time, these
very debates were a sign of how bad things were. If the brightest minds of
the country could not agree on how to fix things, how would China ever
survive?
The scholar-bureaucrats were almost entirely upper-class men though
some, like Confucius, may not have been wealthy. They were educated,
as Confucius students had been, in the texts of the time, texts like The
Book of History and The Book of Poetry. As the Warring States era progressed, more and more of these scholars would be taught by other scholarbureaucrats and would study the books of that particular teacher, or the
teacher of their teacher. Some students stayed with one teacher, defending

Terms, and Mozi

65

and passing on those teachings; others were less committed, studying with
various teachers. People were identified by, and identified themselves with,
this teaching lineage. This studentteacher relationship is at the core of
what, in some cases, will develop into identifiable groups.

Problems with the Term Confucianism

When the Chinese words jia, school, and jiao, teaching, are translated into English as ism, as in Confucianism, this leads to some big
problems.
When we use -ism in a word, like Buddhism or communism,
we assume a number of things. We assume that there is a shared creed or
shared set of ideas. There may be, as in the case of Buddhism, an initiation
where the believer proclaims his or her membership in the group. Buddhists
share the same goals, many of the same texts, basic principles, and methods.
Even when Buddhism splits into sub-groups these basics are still there.
Communism works in much the same way: despite differences in interpretation, there is a shared goal, some shared texts, and basic principles.
Looking at the word Confucianism we tend to make the same assumptions about it. This is when we run into trouble. Confucianism does not
have a creed or an initiation. There is no membership card in fact, there
is no organization to be a member of. Actually, there is no such thing as
Confucianism.
Five hundred years ago, when Roman Catholic missionaries first went to
China, they found an important person and tradition being talked about,
especially by the upper classes and government officials. First they Latinized
the name Kongfuzi to Confucius. Then they assumed that Confucius
was the founder of the tradition. They further assumed that all traditions
are based on a founder, and so they called the tradition Confucianism.
The assumptions they made were based on their own religion: Christianity
takes its name from its founder, Jesus Christ. All traditions, it was assumed,
had a founder and a name that reflected that founder.4
Confucianism does not. In Chinese, the term is Ru or Ru jia
(the Ru school) or Ru jiao (Ru-ist teachings) and there is no reference
to Confucius, or even Kongzi, in the term. Ru assumes a long tradition,
even before Confucius, going back to the sage-kings and the most ancient
of texts.5 However, we do not just have problems with the English word
Confucianism; there are also problems with the Chinese term Ru.
An opponent of Confucius, the philosopher Mozi (c.480 BCE, see the
section Mozi and Mohism below) is the first to identify people as Ru,
but he does not say where the name came from.6 This means that the first
use of the term to describe a certain loosely organized group is in the latter

66 Terms, and Mozi

part of the Spring and Autumn period, probably shortly after Confucius
death.
While Xunzi (c.310210 BCE, see chapter 7) was the first Ru to identify
himself as a Ru, and while he distinguished various groups of Ru as false,
base, or proper, he too gives no history of the name.7 The Han dynasty
historian, Ban Gu, claimed that the word Ru came from the office of educators whose job included assisting the ruler in understanding the changes
of the yin and yang and in teaching the people. This would place the use of
the term back into the early Zhou, prior to Confucius, and that is unlikely.8
There are two traditions about the origin of the word Ru. In the first,
it is said that the Ru were descendents of the Shang dynasty who had been
overthrown by the Zhou. They taught that one should be pliable and they
were experts in classical ritual. Confucius was said to have been a descendent of the Shang royal house. The second tradition claims that the Ru were
minor members of the Zhou royal family who lost their positions in the
breakdown of 770 BCE, and so had no choice but to make their living from
their specialized knowledge of ancient texts and rituals. Neither of these
traditions is verifiable.9
Attempts to trace the history of the word Ru by analyzing the character
have not been successful either. In the 1920s, Hu Shi argued that Ru is
related to rou, pliable, and represented the resigned attitude of the Shang
people who had been conquered by the Zhou; however, many other scholars disagree.10 John Knoblock and others also understand the term Ru as
related to pliable but say it was used to mean weakling, or something
close to our modern nerd.11 So the Chinese term Ru was likely first
used by people shortly after Confucius death, but we do not know the
origin of the term or why it was used.
While it might be more accurate to use the terms Ru, Ru jia, and Ru-ist,
they are awkward and difficult for non-Sinologists.12 I will continue to use
the terms Confucian and Confucianism, but we must keep in mind
that the Ru tradition refers to a time before Kongzi (Confucius) and, while
Confucius is the sage par excellence of the tradition, he is not considered
to be its founder.
The next problems are: was there a Confucian school? were there
people who considered themselves Confucians (Ru)? how did they identify
themselves?
The Mozi (see the section Mozi and Mohism below), written after the
death of Confucius, has a chapter, A Condemnation of Confucians. Mozi
describes Confucians as a group with certain shared occupations and views;
he says that they were associated with mourning rituals. He accuses them
of not believing in an afterlife, yet carrying out funerals as if they did. He
criticizes Confucians for believing in fate. He says Confucians promoted
elaborate rituals and music and that they believed that a gentleman must

Terms, and Mozi

67

wear the clothes of the past and speak with the speech of the past in order
to be considered a proper gentleman. He complains that the rituals they
practiced were so minute and complicated that one could spend a lifetime
studying them and never know all of them; as well, one could have a fortune
and still not be able to pay for the performance of all of their music. He
says that they were fond of music and used it to corrupt people; Confucians
attracted followers with the sounds of singing, drums, and dancing.13
These descriptions of Confucians come from an opponent: Mozi and
his followers frequently debated the followers of Confucius and there was
no love lost between them, so Mozis criticisms of Confucian behavior and
thought should not be taken at face value. However, at least in his descriptions of Confucian ideas and occupations, Mozi seems to be accurate.14
To take some of Mozis descriptions one at a time, one way Confucians
were identified was by their relation to a number of texts. These are texts
like The Book of History and The Book of Poetry that we have seen before
and that Confucians believed Confucius himself had either written or edited
(see chapter 8). These texts were known to be earlier than Confucius and
part of the heritage of the Zhou dynasty. The texts would, in the Han
dynasty, become part of the Five Classics. A Warring State text describes the
scholars associated with the state of Lu, Confucius state, and the classics
of Confucianism. It says that the laws and traditions of ancient times have
been handed down and can be found in The Book of History, The Book
of Poetry, the Book of Rites, and the Classic of Music. The scholars of the
state of Lu, with their large sashes and writing tablets, are known for their
understanding of these texts.15
Using these texts, Confucians discussed the virtue of filial piety, respect
for and service to ones parents, elder brother, teacher, and ruler. They
also discussed concepts like humanity, the gentleman, and good government that benefited the people. According to a number of their adversaries,
Confucians believed in fate, and said that ones life was decided at birth.
This charge has caused some difficulty because it is not a clear position in
any of the Confucian texts. It may be that only some Confucians held this
position and that their arguments were not included in the later Confucian
canon (see chapter 8).
Confucians looked to the past, to the early sage-kings and cultural heroes
like the Duke of Zhou, for patterns of behavior. We have seen Confucius
do this and his followers continued the tradition. The past provides a model
of what government and society should do in the present.16
Confucians had expert knowledge of ritual and music. As for funeral
ritual, it may be that many Confucians earned their living performing
funeral rituals for the nobility. They may also have had government jobs
as Music Masters. Confucians were closely associated with both musical
performance and music theory and this brought them into conflict with

68 Terms, and Mozi

those who argued that music was useless and should be banned (see the
section Mozi and Mohism below).
Confucians were also identified by their clothes and their way of talking.
They are described as wearing clothes from ancient times an antique hat,
ornamented shoes, a large sash and they carried tablets used by officials
in court ceremonies.17 To match their antique dress, they were said to have
spoken in an antiquated manner. This was to indicate their allegiance to
the past, and it would certainly have made them stand out, much as people
would today if they wore doublets and hose from Elizabethan times and
spoke the English of Shakespeare. It may be that only some Confucians
dressed and spoke this way, but it was one of the ways they made themselves distinct.
Confucians were distinct in terms of texts, ideas, teachers, dress, and
speech. While their enemies might make fun of them, Confucians had a
view of themselves as an elite, as gentlemen or superior men. Their status,
they believed, was based not solely on birth but on their professional and
moral abilities. Along with this view of themselves came the tradition that,
even though they might have the knowledge and ability to advise the ruler,
the ruler did not often listen to them. The counsel that Confucian officials
gave their lords was, according to the Confucians, often overlooked in
favor of short-term gain or extravagance. Rulers might not even recognize
worthy officials and might not bring them to their court. Confucians often
portray themselves as neglected advisors, and, in the Confucian classics,
again and again rulers find themselves facing disaster for not following
Confucian advice.
Confucius students wanted to become government officials: they were
already qualified on the basis of birth, and they worked for the second
qualification education. We are told that Confucius had three thousand
students; but those who knew the six accomplishments numbered only
72. His students scattered after his death: some did attain office, becoming
advisors and high officials in governments in Lu and in other states, while
others became teachers.18
The students of these teachers taught others in turn until, by 300 BCE,
there were from five to eight different groups of Confucians. Han Feizi says
that by his time, about 250 BCE, there were eight groups of Confucians
and each claimed to have the traditional teaching of Confucius. While there
might have been differences among these groups, they all understood themselves to be Confucians though some considered their Ru tradition better
than others. Xunzi, a Confucian, for example, criticized those Confucians
he described as vulgar. He described these lesser Confucians as claiming loyalty to the early kings, Confucius, and a Confucian lineage, but,
he said, they were not proper: they followed Confucius teachings in a
partial or distorted way.19

Terms, and Mozi

69

It may be that the term Confucian was applied to a large number of

people, and meant something more general like literati. Of these literati,
only some were strict followers of Confucius and stayed closely associated
with his teachings. Others may have studied with Confucian teachers,
but went their own way.20
To sum up, the term Confucianism can indeed be misleading if it
is understood as an organized group with a structured ideology that all
Confucians were required to follow. Confucians, or Ru, belonged neither
to an organized party that had a required party line nor to an organized
religion with a set creed and an initiation. They did, though, follow teaching lineages that drew their authority from Confucius and the ancient
sage-kings.
In terms of identifying Confucians prior to the Han dynasty, it is clear
that there was a basic core of shared ideas and teaching lineages that do
provide some basis for an -ism. There was also, however, a fluidity
to interpretations and practices. These sub-schools of Confucianism may
have dressed and spoken in much the same antique style. They handled
the same lore of antiquity, though probably different versions of it, and
educated their students in particular interpretations that were tied to teaching lineages.
Though loosely formed, the Confucians were a group identified as Ru
by their enemies. They also used the term Ru to describe themselves. We
have seen that Confucians were identified by their allegiance to the past,
to the ideals of humanity, good government, rituals, and music, and also
identifiable by their dress and manner. No matter how fierce the infighting
may have been among Confucian groups, they all seem to have agreed on
a basic set of ideas and practices.

Mozi and Mohism

Confucians established their complex rituals and music to delude people.
With their false grief at their long funerals, they fool the family. They say
that all is fated and ignore the poverty around them. They are exceedingly
arrogant and proud. They ignore what is essential and enjoy being lazy and
overbearing. They love their food, but are too lazy to work.21

We have already seen one of the opponents of Confucians, the philosopher Mozi. Traditionally, he was said to have lived from 479 to 301 BCE.
There is a long tradition that Mozi was from the lower classes, possibly a
craftsman. He was assumed to be a contemporary of Confucius, and, like
Confucius family, according to tradition, from the state of Song. Mozis
dedication can be seen in the story that, in order to try to prevent a war,

70 Terms, and Mozi

he walked from one end of the China of the time to the other, arriving with
his feet bloody and swollen.
Modern scholarship rejects these traditions and says that he was born
about 480 BCE, just after the death of Confucius, which would make Mozi
a contemporary of the Greek philosopher Socrates (469399 BCE). Like
Confucius, Mozi was probably also a minor noble and clearly identified
himself with the scholar-bureaucrats of the upper classes. There is a book
named after him, the Mozi, and, even though most of it was written after his
time, it still accurately describes Mozis thought, because we find it repeated
both by his enemies and in the later works of his followers.22
Mozi is a fine example of the passion that the problems of the era produced, and he conveys a real sense of urgency in his thought. To provide the
basics of life for everyone, everyones energies must immediately be put to
work simply to provide food, shelter, clothing, and peace. There is no time
to waste, especially if it is being wasted in frivolous, useless things. Mozis
thinking is straightforward: we must do useful things that will profit us; we
should practice self-interest; we should obey our superiors completely; and,
if we do this, Heaven and the gods will bless us. Mozi is important too for
his contributions to argumentation in the Warring States era. He begins
the discussion of how logic and rational argument work, the necessity of
establishing definitions, and how to argue properly.
Mozi uses two main terms: profit and usefulness.23 He argues that if
something is useful then it is profitable or benefits us. In its simplest terms:
what is profitable is useful; what is useful is profitable. So how do we
define profit for the people? If something helps to build up the wealth of
the state or increase the population of the state, it is profitable. So useful
and profitable things include food, clothing, shelter, enriching the state,
increasing the population, ending conflict among people, preventing war,
and getting blessings from the gods.
Unprofitable and useless things include anything that wastes money,
that wastes time, that does not benefit most people, that does not increase
the population, and that may lead to war. Elaborate funerals, for example,
keep people from doing their jobs, waste time, and waste money. Music
is useless, transitory, wastes time, and wastes money. War is unprofitable
and useless. Money is wasted on armaments; peoples lives are wasted in
battles. If the state wins, it has destroyed the territory it invaded; if it loses,
it loses everything. However, Mozi allowed for defensive wars because the
state needs to be able to defend itself. His followers texts include chapters
on military technology, focusing on defensive engineering and tactics.
Mozi sees the world in black and white. Useful, profitable things are
good things; useless, wasteful things are bad things. Most of the things that
Mozi classifies as useful are either basic necessities, like food and shelter,
or quantifiable in terms of money, like enriching the state.

Terms, and Mozi

71

Mozi also argued that we naturally love ourselves and what motivates
us is self-interest. Self-interest should lead us to want to profit ourselves.
The way to profit ourselves the most is to have a society where the greatest happiness of the greatest number is established. So, we should practice
universal love.24
Do not get too excited by the phrase universal love. Mozi does not
mean anything emotional or spiritual by it. Universal love is based on selfinterest and reciprocity: you love me, I love you back. This love is not an
emotion, but a way to bring ones own self-interest together with the selfinterest of others. If we help out our neighbor, we do it because we want
our neighbor to help us out. Friendship does not enter into it: helping your
neighbor is based on our own self-interest. Universal love is a means to get
us what we want.
A major problem of the time was conflict among people as individuals
and as groups, whether classes or states. If everyone loved one another followed their real self-interest then people would feed, clothe, and care for
one another. Large states would not attack small ones and the rich would
not take advantage of the poor. Mozi argued that universal love existed in
the past, under the sage-kings, but now that civilization has collapsed we
can see only fragments of it, in love of family, for example.
Before civilization was established, Mozi says, everything was chaos
and no one could agree on anything. Then people chose a ruler who had
the choice of Heaven, ultimate control, and decided on right and wrong.
The emperor is the only one who can speak with Heaven, and, as the only
channel of communication, the emperor alone judges right and wrong.
Heavens will and the rulers are the same. Things will go well only when
the ruler respects Heaven and the gods and spirits. The power of the choice
of Heaven flows downward from the emperor to his ministers and to the
common people.
From the emperor down, superiors are always right and should be
obeyed. When inferiors do something right, they should be rewarded; if
they do something wrong, then they should be punished. Mozi called this
agreement with the superior. Social and political peace is only possible when this agreement is maintained. Agreement and obedience are the
responsibilities of the inferior who must always obey his or her superior.
Agreeing with ones superior would put an end to the infinite number of
opinions coming from everyone. It is these opinions that lead to arguments,
fights, and wars. Agreeing with ones superior means that there is only one
opinion in the world.25
Religious arguments in Mozi are very cool: there is no religious fervor
or devotional language. Mozi simply says that Heaven, the gods, and the
spirits bless and reward those who practice universal love and punish
those who do not. He uses examples from antiquity to show how some

72 Terms, and Mozi

sage-kings were blessed, while tyrants, who were overthrown, were not.
If we are successful, it is because we have practiced universal love and
enlightened self-interest, and done useful and profitable things. This is not
fate; we are responsible for what happens to us. There is no discussion
of where Heaven comes from, the nature of the gods and spirits, or their
origins and powers.
If we do all the Mozi recommends practice universal love, and pursue
what is useful and beneficial we can return to the great civilization of
the past.26
As you can imagine, with a point of view like this, Mozi was enraged by
Confucians. As we have seen, one chapter in the Mozi is the Condemnation
of Confucians. Almost everything Confucians do and believe is wrong,
Mozi says.
Confucians are arrogant and pompous and so they are not suitable to teach
other people. They adore music and use it to corrupt others. They cannot be
trusted to teach others to manage government. They think everything is fated
so they see no reason to work. They emphasize funerals and long periods of
grief and so cannot teach others how to take care of the people. Confucius
had an imposing appearance and was knowledgeable, but he used this to
delude people all of his wide learning did nothing to help; his complex
thought did not help the people.27

Confucians, for Mozi, were a wasteful and useless bunch who encouraged
useless things like funerals and music. Confucians talked about filial piety
and love in the family, running counter to universal love. They insisted on
long periods of mourning for family members, wasting time and productivity.28 As ritual masters, they organized wasteful funerals. Rulers were buried
with gold, jewelry, fine clothes, and expensive utensils. The waste horrified
Mozi. To make it worse, while wasting money on funerals, Confucians
seemed not to believe in a life after death or the spirits of the dead. It is
not clear where Mozi gets this idea about Confucians, as nothing in the
Confucian classics indicates a lack of belief in an afterlife (little confirms
such a belief either), but there must have been some Confucians of Mozis
time who argued against an afterlife.
Similarly, Mozi says that Confucians believe that everything in life is
fated, but we do not find that in the Confucian texts even though it was
clearly a belief of some Confucians who Mozi encountered.29 Mozi says
that it was not fate that kept Confucius from receiving Heavens choice and
founding a new dynasty: Confucius was not successful because Confucius
was wrong.
The Mozi also contains a chapter condemning music. Mozi says that the
three things people want are food, clothes, and rest: playing music gives no

Terms, and Mozi

73

one the money to get these things. Musical performances are only for the
amusement of the upper classes, who waste their time instead of governing,
and music gives nothing at all to ordinary people. Music, as it was often performed for the wealthy of his time, wasted money. Musicians, orchestras,
dancers, and musical instruments had to be brought together and paid for.
All of this expense gave only a transitory pleasure. Mozi says that music, in
itself, is pleasant enough, but not worth the time and money wasted on it.
Music is a private pleasure, enjoyed by the few at the expense of the many.
He says that the ancient sages established government, palaces, clothes,
and so on that were sufficient and economical; only later were luxuries like
music invented. Mozi equates music and luxury.30
As Music Masters in some of the courts and as scholars trained in music
as part of their education, Confucians then had to defend music against
Mozi and his followers.
The Mohist31 school became the largest school of the Warring States
period. Like Confucians, they would have stood out because of their dress,
but in the case of the Mohists, their clothing was simple and inexpensive.
Unlike some other schools, the Mohists were indeed an organized group.
The Mohists were not only organized, but clearly hierarchical: the leader
of the Mohists, beginning with Mozi, was called a Supreme Master (there
were three after Mozi). The Supreme Master had the power to execute
anyone in the group who violated Mohist rules. There were many rules
and regulations for the members and total obedience was demanded. This
was based on Mozis agreement with the superior ideas. The school was
organized as a quasi-military group. Despite this, or perhaps because of it,
over time the Mohist school split into three sub-groups.
Even though they made up the largest school of the Warring States era,
the Mohists never achieved their aims. Their ideas were too radical for an
upper class that enjoyed its luxury. Their religious sanctions did not scare
rulers or the upper class. The great achievement of the Mohists was the
way in which they changed the rules of debate, discussing the nature of
language, setting up rules of logic, and making all other thinkers argue for
their positions.
Mozi and his followers talked a lot about disputation or argumentation
as a way to arrive at the truth. This is the beginning of not only rational
argumentation, but also the self-conscious notion that one is arguing and
that there are proper ways to do it. Argument became a mode of combat
used to convince rulers of the right way to act and to defeat ones intellectual enemies. Later Mohists would continue to pursue these issues and
would influence the form of argumentation to come.
After the death of Confucius we see a number of scholars or would-be
bureaucrats, each with their own approach to solving the problems of the
time. The followers of Confucius formed groups based on teachers and

74 Terms, and Mozi

continued to support Confucius teachings. They were described as distinctive because of their allegiance to Confucius and association with certain
texts.
Mozi had his own ideas of how to solve the problems of the Warring
States era. Work on practical things, he said, things like food, clothes, and
shelter. End war, luxury, and waste. If we all want to act in our own selfinterest, we should practice universal love. Heaven and the gods will bless
us. Mozi condemned Confucius for being wrong about almost everything.
More criticism from other thinkers was aimed at Confucius and that is
what we will look at next.

5
Opponents

When Confucius arrived Lao Lai-tzu [Lao Laizi] said to him, Get rid
of your proud bearing and that knowing look on your face and you
can become a gentleman. You cant bear to watch the sufferings of
one age and so you go make trouble for ten thousand ages to come!
Are you just naturally a boor?1

Daoism
Confucians were attacked by Mozi and his followers for practicing useless
things like ritual and music, for spending time talking about morality, for
making money from useless, elaborate funerals, and for not paying attention to the real things in life, like the bottom line. Deep as this disagreement
was, the most profound attack against Confucius came from another direction. This attack is found both in a text called the Laozi or the Dao De Jing
and from a thinker named Zhuangzi (c.399285 BCE, a contemporary of
the Greek philosopher Plato) and the text named after him, the Zhuangzi.
Later, in the Han dynasty, these two texts and thinkers, along with some
others, were categorized as the Daoist school, though none of these people
understood themselves as belonging to a school and, as we will see, organizing Daoists would be as difficult as herding cats.
The first text, the Laozi, was traditionally thought to have been written
by a philosopher, Laozi, who was a contemporary of Confucius. There
are some problems with this. First, Laozi is not a persons name. The zi
means teacher or master, as we have seen with Mozi, for example,
but the Lao of Laozi in this case is not a family name.2 Lao means
old or venerable. So Laozi means the venerable teacher. Second,
modern scholarship has shown that there is no one author of the text, but
there are multiple authors, probably from different times.3

76 Opponents
The second text, the Zhuangzi, seems to have been written after the
Laozi as it refers to the Laozi. We know little about its author, Zhuangzi.
He may have been called Zhuang Zhou4 and had an official post. There are
stories about Zhuang Zhou in the Zhuangzi but, like most of the stories
in the text, they are too humorous in intent to be useful in a biography.
As you might guess, the Daoists talk about the Dao. But their view of
the Dao is quite different from Confucius. The Dao pointed to in the Laozi
is natural and spontaneous. We cannot hear, see, or touch it.
Language is not capable of accurately describing the Dao, so the authors
of the Laozi can only point to it, suggest images for it, and describe it
through analogy. One of the reasons that the text is so terse and difficult
is that the authors are trying to talk about something that cannot, in the
end, be talked about. The word Dao, meaning Way or road, is only
a shorthand reference for something language cannot really adequately talk
about.
The ambiguous language and phrases in the text, plus the idea that
human language is not able to adequately talk about the Dao, has led
many readers to see the text as mystical. This view is reinforced by the
texts identification of the Dao with non-being. Daoists see the workings of
the Dao as the interaction of being and non-being, and given that human
language, and indeed human thought, are inadequate to capture the Dao,
Daoists prefer to talk about the Dao in negative terms. This does not necessarily make the text mystical.5
The Dao gives birth to all the things in the universe. While these things
pass in and out of existence, the Dao is eternal. The Dao itself is not a
thing it is a process, a process of birth, death, movement, and stillness.
The Dao is described as weak, non-contending, not acting, and without
an ego. The Dao will not argue with you, it does not have rules, it does
not have plans. It acts naturally and spontaneously. But, if you are foolish
enough to decide to row across an ocean with no experience, no equipment,
and no regard for the weather, the Dao will kill you. That will happen,
not because the Dao hates you the Dao has no emotions but just from
the natural course of events. Everything that goes against the Dao dies. A
creature who plans to work against the natural actions of the Dao will not
be successful or at least not successful in the long term.
One of the images the Laozi uses to describe the Dao is the image of
water. Water is weak: you can easily put your hand under cool water
flowing from a tap and not be harmed. Water flows naturally to the lowest
place: like the Dao, it does not show off. Water, however, in the right
circumstances, can drown people, smash roads and bridges, and obliterate
whole cities. Water does not plan on doing any of these things; it does so
naturally and spontaneously. We can die from disregarding the power of
water.

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77

The Dao is also compared to a baby who is supple, because the child
is still natural, and a baby, unlike adults, can cry all day and not become
hoarse. Another image is that of a woman who is quiet, passive, and noncontending apparently the authors of the Laozi had never actually met
a woman.6
The Laozi often says that the Dao does not act;7 what it means is that
the Dao does not ego-act. Natural and spontaneous action is not directed
by an ego; an ego sets up plans and lists, fighting for what it wants and
imposing its will. The Dao does not do that. Human beings, if we want to
behave properly and successfully, should behave like the Dao. Our aggressive and assertive behavior and our desires keep us fighting each other and
the Dao. A fight with the Dao is one we cannot ever win.
Instead of being like the Dao, human society and human behavior are
dedicated to asserting our will over nature. Civilization is an artificial
imposition of our will on the world. We spend a lot of our time fighting
the erosion of our plans. Much of home ownership, for example, involves
the maintenance of the house against the forces of the Dao gravity, water,
and weather. We keep having to repave roads, rebuild bridges and sidewalks and, not having learned our lesson, then we pave more roads and
build more sidewalks.
We spend a lot of time doing things that are artificial, like education.
Zhuangzi points out that there are two ways of knowing things. We can
learn how to ride a bicycle or to swim. Even if we have not ridden a bicycle
for years, we will still know how. We learn it and it becomes a part of us.
On the other hand, we can take a first year psychology course and, if tested
on the course ten years later, we will discover that we remember next to
nothing. That is because this sort of learning is artificial that is why it is
so hard to learn and so easy to forget. Education of this kind is artificial
and unnatural.
Forgetting, says Zhuangzi, is something we should do more of. We
should forget all the artificial knowledge that has been pumped into us since
we were children. He says, You forget your feet, when shoes are comfortable. You forget your waist when your belt is comfortable. Understanding
forgets right and wrong when the mind is comfortable.8 We forget when
things are not an irritant, when they do not catch our attention, when we
are not filling our minds with artificial things. All the ritual and all the
education we have learned have simply taught us to be unnatural and we
should forget them.
Like the Confucians, Daoists talk about the sage, but given the wide
range of authors it is not surprising that we find a wide range of pictures
of what a Daoist sage would look like.
Chapters in the Laozi describe a control sage. He is a ruler who is said to
be not kind and treats the people like straw dogs,9 that is, as something

78 Opponents
that can be thrown away. Because this sage is one with the Dao, he attracts
and controls other people. He gets rid of any cause of desires among the
people, strengthening their bones and weakening their wills.10 In doing
so he returns everyone to a simpler and less ego-driven time. This picture
of the sage, however, has seemed to some readers to be too active and egodriven to be a Daoist sage.
A sage might also be immortal. He has no place of death in him11 by
virtue of being one with the Dao. There are portraits of a Perfect Man in
the Zhuangzi that show the sage as being able to ascend to the heavens and
ride dragons. How much of this is exaggeration and how much should be
taken seriously is still debated.12
Another description of the Daoist sage is of a person who is simple and
unknown. He has no desires, does not ego-act, is not aggressive or proud.
Should this kind of sage be a ruler, the people will become one with the
Dao but will not notice how it happened.
A sage may also be a hermit or recluse. This is a picture of someone who
has withdrawn from politics and society and cares nothing for the honors of
nobility and riches. He may live in a cave or do the work of a commoner.
He lives on very little and is unknown even to the people around him. The
aim of this sage is not immortality, but survival. As the Laozi says, He who
lives out his days has lived a long life.13 Because this sage has no desires,
he does not get entangled in things; because he does not care about his
honor, he does not die in duels or battles. He lives out his natural life span.
The Laozi, like almost all the other texts from the Warring States era,
is written as advice to the ruler. The Laozi criticizes the upper class of the
time:
Those at court are corrupt:
While the fields are full of weeds,
And the granaries are empty;
Still they are dressed in fine clothes,
Equipped with swords at their sides,
Stuffed with food and drink,
And with far too much money.
This is called being the leading robbers,
And has nothing at all to do with the Dao.14

Like Mozi, the authors of the Laozi were repulsed by the extravagance and
corruption of the rich.
The Laozis advice to rulers begins by explaining that their rigid and
violent policies do not work. The more they try to impose their will on
their subjects, the more the people will learn to evade the laws; the more
they try to be aggressive toward their neighboring states, the more they
are unbalanced. Governing a state, says the Laozi, is like cooking small

Opponents

79

fish.15 To cook them best, one should leave them alone. Be like the Dao
and rule by doing nothing that comes from ones ego.
In the past, when things were better, there was nothing we think of as
civilization. That does not mean there was no society Daoists are not
proposing we go back to living in trees but society was quite different.
The Zhuangzi says:
Long ago [in the times of the sage-kings], the people knotted cords and
used them. They relished their food, admired their clothing, enjoyed their
customs and were content with their houses. Though neighboring states were
within sight of each other, and could hear the cries of each others dogs and
chickens, the people grew old and died without ever traveling beyond their
own borders. At a time such as this, there was nothing but the most perfect
order.16

In this golden age there are no big governments, no bureaucrats, no wars.

The past, and recommended future age, is perfectly ordered: the state is
small; there is little in the way of technology; records are kept by knots on
ropes rather than by writing; and, most importantly, the people have no,
or few, desires. Human beings lived this way successfully, the Daoists say,
until disaster struck. Then the sage came along with
the crouchings and bendings of the rites and music, which were intended
to reform the bodies of the world; with the reaching-for-a-dangled-prize of
benevolence [humanity] and righteousness [rightness], which was intended
to comfort the hearts of the world. Then for the first time people learned to
stand on tiptoe and covet knowledge, to fight to the death over profit, and
there was no stopping them. This in the end was the fault of the sage.17

The Daoists say that when Confucius came along, standing on tiptoe, he
searched for right and wrong and caused an uproar. It was Confucius who
disturbed a harmonious society and caused others to have desires. Then,
when the Dao began to be lost, Confucius began to talk about humanity,
rightness, and filial piety all of which had been practiced perfectly before
without discussion but now that they were lost, people had to talk about
them.
Zhuangzi is alone, however, in not being interested in politics or in giving
advice to the ruler. The Zhuangzi is not written as advice for a ruler, but
is a text full of stories and jokes that takes much of what is in the Laozi
and develops it further.
One of Zhuangzis major criticisms of Confucians is that they insist there
is a definable right and wrong. Zhuangzi argues that right and wrong are
simply a matter of point of view: what is right for you develops from your

80 Opponents
point of view, which I may or may not share. Definitions of right, wrong,
proper, improper, good, bad, ugly, and beautiful are a matter of taste, and
Confucians are wrong to think otherwise. Confucians, like the rest of us,
use their egos and try to impose their wills. Confucians, and most of the rest
of us, think they can define right and wrong. Confucians teach artificiality
and unnatural behavior, like ritual and education. They are convinced that
they know what they are doing and that everyone should follow them.
Zhuangzi saw the Confucians as marvelous targets for jokes and stories.
He made up all sorts of stories about Confucius, Confucians, and things
that they did. One of the stories in the Zhuangzi shows Confucians robbing
graves, while using all the proper ritual to do so. The big Confucian
announces to his underlings: The east grows light. How is the matter proceeding? The little Confucians say, We havent got the graveclothes off him
yet, but theres a pearl in his mouth! They go on to quote ancient texts
until they finally manage to steal all the treasures in the coffin.18 Zhuangzis
more serious point is that Confucian notions of ritual and proper behavior
can be used to justify all sorts of bad behavior in the hands of those with
no conscience.
One of the axioms of Confucianism is that human beings are social
creatures and that we will naturally tend toward the building of civilization. Daoists argue that we have had dozens of civilizations and, whether
they were kingships, theocracies, autocracies, or democracies, the one thing
we know about all of them is that all of them fail. This is because, Daoists
argue, civilization cannot succeed. It is an artificial and unnatural thing.
Everything that goes against the Dao dies. Civilization cannot be fixed, as
the Confucians believe. Civilization is the problem.
Confucians are wrong on two important counts: there is no standard
of right and wrong, and civilization cannot be fixed it is doomed by
definition.

The Strategists
While Mohists may have constituted the largest group in the Warring States
era, followed by Confucians, neither were the most popular. In a time of
constant warfare, it is no wonder that the most popular thinkers and texts
had to do with the military. One military text that has survived is the Sunzi
Bingfa, known in the West as The Art of War.19 This was one of a large
number of military texts written during the Warring States period and these
texts were the most widely read and the most talked about.
Later Chinese scholars looked down on things military and so these
texts were not included in the later categories as a school of thought.
However, during the Warring States era, as one might imagine, they were

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81

extremely important to an upper class trained in both literary and military

accomplishments.
Sunzis Art of War is thought to be a combination of other military and
strategic texts. Like all the Strategists, Sunzi argues that any method, moral
or immoral, can be used to win. Lately in the West it has been read, predictably enough, as a way for corporations to win out over their competition.
For Warring States rulers, war was a serious business: either one won
a war or one was wiped out. So the text begins its advice to a ruler long
before a war is underway. Warfare, for Sunzi, includes diplomacy, economic measures, and the use of spies. For the Strategists, the point is not
only to use these methods, but to do so with methodical planning.
Sunzi talks a lot about planning in order to manipulate a situation until
it is to your advantage. One needs to begin with information, which is why
spies are so important. Then one must go on to weigh the situation and
to make plans.
The use of spies and deceit to deal with ones enemy was essential. The
reason that a farsighted ruler and his commander are able to conquer an
enemy is that they know things first. This does not come from consulting
the gods or the ancestors, but from spies who learn the enemys situation.20
Sunzi devotes a chapter to the effective use of spies of all sorts. Using the
information a ruler can get from spies, a ruler might be able to sow dissension in another state, to encourage sons to rebel against their father, or
to finance a noble familys bid to oust the ruling family.
The best victories have nothing to do with winning a battle and killing all
your enemies. The best victory is to win a war without going to war at all. If
you can bring about the downfall of the enemy state without a battle, then
you have not only not risked your own state, but you have won another.
If you must go to war, you are already on shaky ground. In that case,
Sunzis advice is to never enter a battle that one might lose. The ruler must
be certain of victory before committing his forces. Again, using spies and
encouraging deserters from the other side will allow the ruler, or his general,
to calculate when to fight and when to retreat. Sunzi says,
Warfare is the Way of dishonesty. So, when you are able to act, make it
look like you cannot. When you are ready to attack, make it look like you
are not ready. When you are near your enemy, make it seem like you are far
away; when you are far away, make it look like you are nearby if your
enemy is united, sow disharmony among them. Attack only when they are
not prepared. Be where they will not expect you.21

The Way that a successful ruler must follow is the Way of dishonesty.
Strategists were not interested in morality, ritual, or argument. Success, by
any means, was all that mattered.

82 Opponents

The Logicians22
The Logicians were certainly not a unified group; in fact, aside from later
Mohists, they were not a group at all. The label Logician was applied
to a number of people in the Warring States era who tended to focus on
issues of argument, logic, and language. They were despised by Confucians,
Daoists, and ordinary people who sat through their mind-numbing arguments about logic and language. Unlike many other thinkers of the time,
Logicians were not interested in looking to the past to discover what was
right and wrong they ignored the sage-kings instead they used argument
to decide things.
Some Logicians were perfectly happy to argue any side of a question
and to teach others to do the same. These men were much like the Greek
Sophists, arguing for pay or entertainment, with no commitment to right or
wrong, just like a modern lawyer who will defend anyone if paid enough.
To their credit, Logicians insisted on logic, even if they did not believe what
they were saying.
Others, like the later Mohists, examined how one could make arguments
and what was logical and what was not. The Mohists were also interested
in looking at how one comes to know anything. They talked about how
sense information is transformed into abstract thought. Abstract thought is
a higher form of knowing things and does not always depend on sense information. Knowing time, past, present, future, for example, is not dependent
on the senses. This means that when we know something we are doing more
than just experiencing it. Later Mohists looked at how this works and how
we come to think about things. Logical thought is possible, they concluded,
and gradually this leads us to the knowledge of right and wrong.23
One Logician, Hui Shi,24 is someone we know about only from references
to him in other texts like the Zhuangzi, where he seems to have been a good
friend of Zhuangzis. We have few of Hui Shis arguments, but what we
have are set out in a series of paradoxes. They seem to depend on point of
view: for example, the heavens are as low as the earth and the mountains
only as high as the marshes, depending on where one is standing at the
time. Other paradoxes depend on definitions and point of view: the sun at
noon is declining: the sun can reach no higher point than it does at noon.
A creature born is a creature dying: once a mortal creature is born it can
only die.25 There is nothing in these paradoxes to make us think that Hui
Shi or other Logicians, aside from the Mohists, had any notion that there
was a basic truth or a standard of right and wrong. They were interested
only in how logical arguments work.
Other Logicians worked more with issues around language. What is the
relationship between the thing and the name or word we have for it? Is

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83

t-a-b-l-e a table? If not, what is it? The most well-known of these

Logicians was Gongsun Long.26 He said that there are names/words for
particular, concrete, things and for abstract things, but they do not work in
the same way. His most famous statement is a white horse is not a horse:
The name/word horse points to a certain shape, while the name/word
white points to a color. When a horse is needed, yellow and black ones
will do, but when one needs a white horse, yellow or black horses will not
do therefore yellow and black horses are separate kinds and can respond
to the call for a horse, but not to the call for a white horse. A white horse
is horse plus white. Horse plus white is not horse. Thus, a white
horse is not a horse.27

Words/names like white are abstract,28 what Gongsun Long calls an

idea, a universal. You can show me white paint, white paper, white
walls, but you cannot show me white. White cannot exist by itself,
but only as an abstract term that, when paired with another word, like
paper, becomes the concrete particular white paper.
Concrete, particular things exist in time and space and we have words
for them. Abstract words/names do not exist in time and space. Horse is
another abstract word. It defines a certain genus and species, but does not
refer to a particular horse. A white horse is a concrete, particular thing. A
concrete white horse is not an abstract, so it is not a horse. Thus a white
horse is not a horse.29
Strategists like Sunzi, the Sophists, and Logicians like Hui Shi and
Gongsun Long were not interested in talking about morality. They could
argue about all sorts of things, but none of them were interested in committing themselves to moral behavior. Some, like Hui Shi, may have argued
that morality was just a matter of taste, just as his friend Zhuangzi did.

Legalism
As the Warring States era drew to a close, a number of thinkers began to
talk about government in a particular way. Again, this was a very diverse
group and the label Legalism was applied by later Han organizers.
Most of the thinkers we will look at here assume a painpleasure model
of human nature and, like Mozi, the idea that human nature is basically
self-interested. Human beings want to maximize pleasure and minimize
pain. Politically, this means that a government can use rewards and penalties to motivate people. Like the Mohists, Legalists present their ideas as
utilitarian and logical, claiming that the result for rulers will be wealth and
power. Because of this, they are sometimes, astonishingly, called realists.

84 Opponents
Shang Yang or Lord Shang (d.338 BCE) was a senior advisor to the ruler
of the state of Qin and is said to have written a text called the Book of
Lord Shang. To centralize power, he advocated a taxation system where all
taxes are paid directly to the ruler. Military service should be required from
all men and the military should use extreme penalties as punishments so
that soldiers will find it less frightening to face the enemy than to face the
punishments for running away. Like military service, the law should apply
to all, no matter what their rank in society. Rank should be a reward either
for military service or for service to the state. Erroneous learning and useless
occupations should be banned. Whether in the military or in civil society,
the ruler should use rewards and penalties because, as Shang Yang says,
human beings will naturally tend to pursue self-interest. In short, the ruler
should be in control of a society where people are anxious to serve him.30
Shen Buhai (d.337 BCE), an approximate contemporary of Aristotle
(384322), was a chancellor in the state of Han and interested in how government bureaucracy should work.31 He discussed techniques of statecraft,
bureaucracy, and government organization. He focused on how a ruler
could control his officials. This was a problem, given that the ruler was
related to many of his government officials, many rulers were easily flattered, and many were often not well educated. Shen Buhai says that one way
to limit the power of officials is to encourage them to spy on one another.
As well, if there are job descriptions, we can know if a job is being done
or not, and promotion can be objectively decided. Shen Buhai was trying to
solve practical problems in governing. His ideas and those of Shang Yang
were picked up by later thinkers and woven into a new approach.
Han Feizi (c.280233 BCE) studied with the Confucian teacher Xunzi
(see chapter 7) and read both Shang Yang and Shen Buhai. He understood
them as talking about the same sorts of things: government and law should
apply to all, government and law should be impersonal, and government
can control human behavior through rewards and punishments.
Han Feizi built on these ideas. He argued that power and authority
must be centered in the hands of the ruler. Not only should the ruler run
everything, but he should do so, ideally, in an automatic, unfeeling way so
that not even the rulers personality should be involved. From Daoist texts,
Han Feizi borrowed the idea that the ruler should be hidden and mysterious. People should not know his likes or dislikes, so that they will obey his
orders exactly and not try to do other things to curry favor.
Using fierce punishments, the ruler should ensure that people obey, not
out of love or duty, but because they fear the ruler. Doting mothers produce
spoiled sons; so, too, merciful rulers produce rebellious subjects. Even
though there are good men in every state who do not need to be controlled,
a ruler must control everyone and not base his rule on these exceptions.
Everyone must come to fear the ruler.32

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Looking to the past does not help us, because the sage-kings lived in
different times. Now we need strong government to end the chaos of the
time. One of the causes of this chaos is scholars and texts with different
opinions. Scholars just waste food, says Han Feizi, and should get a real
job. Han Feizi says, In a state with a wise ruler there are no books only
the laws provide teachings.33 Books are not useful and just confuse people
by proposing different ideas.
The first of Han Feizis principles of government was to centralize control
in the hands of the ruler; the second principle is law. Law must apply to all
and the punishment for breaking the law must be fierce. When this was put
into practice, people could have their hands cut off for dumping ashes in
the street. If the punishment for breaking small laws was so awful, people
would not break any laws at all. The law must be strict; the law must be
enforced. Law is an instrument that controls people.
The third principle of Han Feizis thinking is power. Power is used to
make others obey and is far more important than virtue or wisdom. Power
must be centered in the hands of the ruler alone. The ruler chooses ministers on merit, offering them rewards and punishing them severely if they
step out of line. Ministers have no power themselves; only the ruler does.34
Confucians argued that those in government ought to be models for
people. If the law is the model, then why have governors? If laws are just
formulae, then people will simply get smarter at getting around them;
people will not learn to act morally. Confucians continued to argue with
Legalists that making people fear does not work in the long run and that
one has to make people internalize morality for society to work. Han Feizi
believed that systems of behavior could be forced on people, and that would
make them do what is best for society.

Others
The Mohists, the Daoists, the Logicians, and the Legalists were not the only
people Confucians had to contend with. Although we do not have any of
his writings, we hear about Yang Zhu (c.440360 BCE), who advocated a
selfish love. If everyone simply followed self-interest, he seems to have
said, society would benefit. He was also accused of hedonism and it was
commonly reported that he said, even if all the world would benefit, he
would not pull a single hair from his leg.35 That is, he argued that one
should not harm oneself even if it meant saving everyone else. Yang Zhu
seemed to have argued that it was every man for himself.
There were other voices too. Some argued that if everyone, including
the ruler, went back to being a farmer, society would immediately become
more equitable and peaceful. Others were fascinated with finding ways to

86 Opponents
become immortal. Some advocated breathing exercises, others special diets;
others looked for chemical compounds that, when eaten or drunk, would
make one immortal.
All of these views, some more systematic than others, made up the
cacophony of the Warring States era. Confucius followers were promoting
only one view among many. A number of thinkers, like the ones we have
seen in this chapter, argued that morality is simply a matter of point of
view. Others said morality was irrelevant: people act from their own selfinterest and nothing more. Attacks from other thinkers and the increasing
demand for logical argumentation shaped the interpretations of Confucius
thought as the era went on.

6
Mencius

So, when Heaven is about to send down great responsibilities on you,

it will first send sufferings to test your will and hard work to test your
flesh and bones. It will have you suffer from hunger and poverty.
It will frustrate all your plans. In this way it will move your mind,
toughen your nature, and make up for anything you lack.1
The first great interpreter of Confucius thought is Mencius (371289 BCE).
Mencius was considered to be the best interpreter of Confucius from the
1100s on. When the Catholic missionaries arrived in China, they found that
Mencius was honored above all other followers of Confucius and so he too
got a Latin name. In Chinese, his name is Mengzi, Master Meng.2 Mencius
title is the Second Sage, second only to the premier sage, Confucius.
Many stories have been told about Mencius childhood and about his
remarkable mother, Mother Meng. When her husband died while Mencius
was still young, she worked very hard to provide her son with the best
education and taught him the ancient classics. She saw that his behavior
was being influenced by the neighborhood they lived in: when they lived
beside a store, he played at buying, selling, and making a profit. She moved
a number of times until she finally found a neighborhood where Mencius
could pursue his studies. She could not afford school fees, so little Mencius
sat outside the schools window, soaking up knowledge. Finally the teacher
recognized Mencius love of learning and admitted him. Mencius found
school too easy and he began to cut classes. Mother Meng saw him playing
truant one day and, when Mencius returned home, she asked him what he
had done in school that day. In the eternal manner of all children when
asked that by their parents, Mencius replied, Nothing. Mother Meng
picked up a knife and sliced the cloth on the loom right across. She said
that she had spent months weaving this cloth to support Mencius, but now
it was ruined. So too, breaking off from study ruins the student. Mencius

88 Mencius

Figure 6.1 Statue of Mencius

reformed himself. These are charming stories meant to show Mencius

promise, even as a child. But, like the stories around Confucius, we should
probably take them with a grain of salt.3
The later Han dynasty history, the Records of the Historian, contains a
biography of Mencius, saying he was born in the small state of Zou, on the
border of the state of Lu, near Confucius home. He is said to have studied
under Confucius grandson, Zi Si. This tradition about studying with Zi Si
is meant to indicate a direct teaching lineage from Confucius, to his son,
to the grandson, and to Mencius. Like Confucius, Mencius wanted a government position and traveled about China trying to get a job. The later
histories say that he attempted to advise the rulers of the states of Liang
and Qi and may have held a position in the state of Qi, but Mencius was
not able to persuade the ruler to follow his advice and retired to become a
teacher and transmit the teachings of Confucius. He may have had some
minor positions, but Mencius, like Confucius, mostly taught. We have a
book, the Mencius, parts of which might have been written by Mencius.

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89

The bulk of the text, however, was written by his students, who based it
on Mencius teachings and conversations.
Mencius held Confucius in the highest esteem, saying, Ever since human
beings came into this world, there has never been anyone like Confucius!
Mencius only wish was to follow the example of Confucius. In his later
years, Mencius saw himself as the sole transmitter of Confucius teachings,
Heaven does not yet want the world to have peace and order. If it wanted
peace and order, who is there these days, except for me, who could bring
it about?4 Mencius was aware that he had to transmit Confucius teachings not as something people would just accept at face value, but that he
was required to argue and convince people that what Confucius had taught
was correct. After spending his whole life making arguments in defense
of Confucius, Mencius makes a funny remark by saying, It is not that I
enjoy arguing, it is just that I have had no choice.5 Even though Mencius
pretended that he was pushed into arguments, he clearly understood the
threats he faced and was able to come up with a good defense of Confucius
teachings.
In the hundred years since Confucius death, society had begun to change.
The old feudal system was shattered. Rulers were centralizing power more
and more. War among states had increased. More rulers were influenced by
ideas of rewards and punishments, based on the notion that human beings
are merely self-interested.

Human Nature is Good

By Mencius time, Confucius teachings were just one of many competing
teachings. Mencius revered Confucius and much of Mencius thought can
be understood as a replica of Confucius with an important difference.
Mencius faced problems Confucius never had and was up against opponents Confucius never faced. The Mohists, the Daoists, the Logicians, the
Strategists, and most of the other thinkers we have just looked at were
in full cry by Mencius time. They raised issues Confucius never had to
face: What is the usefulness of rites and music? Is success more important
than morality? What is the definition of goodness? Are human beings best
understood as merely self-interested? Are right and wrong just words we
apply to things depending on our point of view?
Mencius had to defend Confucius. For Mencius, the most profound
attack came from the Daoists, and these were the criticisms that moral
behavior is just a matter of taste; right and wrong merely depend on our
point of view; and ethics is only something that we learn, but has no
intrinsic reality. If moral behavior is just a matter of point of view, if it is
different strokes for different folks, then Confucius teachings are one

90 Mencius
point of view. There is no reason to become educated in morality, to be a
gentleman, or to practice humanity.
Mencius responded to all of this by saying that human nature is good.6
Be careful with this statement. Mencius was not a fool; he lived in the
world as we do, and he knew that there were many nasty people out there.
What he is saying is that human nature is good, not that human beings are
good. He says that human nature has within it the potential to grow into
goodness, just as a fruit tree has the potential to grow fruit.
It is all very well to say that human nature is good, but, by Mencius
time, one would have to do more than just say it: Mencius had to prove it.
Mencius uses a form of argument, common in his time, called analogical
reasoning: using an analogy to make his point. As we shall see, he takes
A, describes how it works, and compares it to B, arguing that B works in
the same way.
Mencius backs up his claim that human nature is good by approaching
the issue in five ways. First he talks about the four sprouts or beginnings.
Human nature contains within it four sprouts. We are born with them.
Everyone has a mind/heart that contains within it compassion, shame, respect,
and the knowledge of right and wrong. A mind/heart with the sprout of
compassion leads to humanity. A mind/heart with the sprout of shame leads
to rightness. A mind/heart with the sprout of reverence and respect leads to
ritual. A mind/heart with the sprout of right and wrong leads to wisdom.
Humanity, rightness, ritual, and knowledge are not strapped on to us from
the outside; we most certainly have them already.7

These sprouts or beginnings are: compassion, shame/dislike, modesty, and a

sense of right and wrong. These sprouts are things we are born with and are
part of our emotional reactions to the world. If we cultivate these sprouts,
like a farmer growing a crop, they will develop into moral qualities. The
first, compassion, is a natural sympathy towards others. If we nurture that,
it will grow into the virtue of humanity putting ourselves in the shoes of
others. The second sprout or tendency is shame. When we do something
wrong, we are ashamed of ourselves. If we nurture that, it will grow into
rightness: knowing what is proper, what is right, and what is moral. We
are born with a sprout of modesty that, if cultivated, becomes knowing
what is proper, knowing ritual. Finally we are born with a sense of right
and wrong and that, if tended, will become wisdom. These sprouts are the
beginning of goodness.
Is Mencius right? Do we have these sprouts? Certainly small children
do, at various stages, show a sense of compassion toward others. As well,
we have all heard the childs cry, Its not fair! that presumes some sense
of right and wrong. Modesty may be more culturally learned and it is dif-

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ficult to decide about how much is learned and how much may be natural
in a sense of shame. Sarah Blaffer Hrdy argues that during the evolution
of human beings we adapted by developing ways to share food and involve
ourselves in the care of children who are not our own. This was new and
different. It was based, she argues, on the development of powers of engagement and sympathy with others. This is why even before the development
of language, we know that babies recognize, interpret, and imitate expressions of people around them. In modern humans it has been shown that the
pleasure centers of the brain are stimulated when we help others.8
Whether Mencius is right or wrong on the particulars, his argument is
that, when we are born, we naturally contain within us certain tendencies
that, if nourished by proper adult role models and by education, can lead
us to moral behavior.
Mencius definition of human nature is different from the common
understanding of human nature. Most thinkers of Mencius time saw
human nature as made up of emotions and desires.9 Mencius never argues
against this, but says that our human natures also include natural tendencies toward goodness.
The second approach Mencius takes is to argue that we are all, basically,
the same. The great sages of the past, and Confucius himself, were not
freaks of nature, but were human beings just like us. There is no difference between us and a sage, except that a sage has cultivated the sprouts
within. If sages are capable of cultivating their sprouts, so are we all. And,
if sages are great moral examples, it is because they have the sprouts within
them, and so do we all. Mencius uses the analogy of growing barley, a
cereal grain.
When it comes to growing barley, the seeds are sown and covered in soil.
The soil is the same and the time when the seeds are planted is also the same.
They grow rapidly, and soon are all ripened. If there are differences from one
barley plant to another, these are because of the differences in the richness of
the soil, the unevenness of the rain and differences in farming. So, things of
the same kind are all similar. Why would we think that this did not apply to
human beings alone? Sages and the rest of us are of the same kind.10

The analogy here is between the barley crop and human beings. Any differences among the barley are caused by external circumstances. In the same
way, human beings are the same, just like the barley seeds: any differences
among us are due to circumstances. Mencius goes on to argue that we have
similar tastes in recognizing food and music and, while we may prefer some
things over others, we all know what food is and we all know what sounds
constitute music. Why then, he says, should we think that our minds tastes
would be that very different?

92 Mencius
If we all begin with the same nature, if we all have within us the potential for humanity, rightness, ritual, and wisdom, why then do some of us
become sages while others do not? Mencius says that we simply do not
concentrate on the goodness within and cultivate it. Human beings are
alike: we are all born with the same capacities and, if those capacities reach
their potential, we can all become sages.
We can see this natural potential within us when we are surprised and
act without thinking about our self-interest. In his third approach, Mencius
says,
Everyone has a mind/heart that is aware of the sufferings of others.
Even in these days, if a man saw a young child about to fall into a
well, he, like everyone else, would feel alarm and compassion as his first
reaction. He would feel like this, not because he wanted to get in good
with the childs parents, nor because he wanted to be famous among
their neighbors and friends, nor because he hated the sounds of the childs
cries.
From this we can see that, if one does not have a mind/heart of compassion, then one is not a human being. Similarly, if one does not have a mind/
heart that feels shame, one is not a human being. If one does not have a mind/
heart that feels modesty, one is not a human being. If one does not have a
mind/heart that knows right and wrong, one is not a human being.11

Humanity can be seen to be naturally present within us because, just as

when seeing a child about to fall into the well, even the worst of us will,
if surprised, feel a sense of alarm. When we have time to think about a
situation, we will often begin to figure out how this might work to our
advantage. We calculate the long-term implications; we remember past
slights. It is then that we behave badly. But, when surprised or in an
emergency, we are more like to behave well because all that is operating
is natural to us.
The fourth approach is to defend his theory that human nature is good
from those who point out that there are clearly evil people in the world.
Mencius says that, with the proper cultivation, the basic sprouts in human
nature develop into goodness in ones mind/heart. Without this, we lose
any connection to what is within us. He says,
The trees of Ox Mountain were once beautiful. But because it bordered on a
large city, people attacked the mountain with hatchets and axes. How could
it remain beautiful? The trees were not attacked every day and did get some
rest at night. And there was rain and dew, so it was not that there were no
sprouts at all growing there. But then cattle and sheep were sent out to graze
on the mountain and, after that, it was as if it were totally bald. People, seeing

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it bald, believed that there had never been any trees on Ox Mountain. Was
this really the nature of the mountain?
When we consider what is in people, could they really not have the mind/
hearts of humanity and rightness? The way a person throws away their good
mind/heart is just like the axes and the trees. With the mind/heart being
attacked every day, how can it remain beautiful? With the rest it gets during the
night and at times during the day, a persons likes and dislikes are sometimes
close to those of others. But then what they do during the day once again attacks
the mind/heart. If the attacks are constantly repeated, then even a nights rest is
not enough to preserve the mind/heart. The result is a person not very different
from a beast. When other people see his resemblance to a beast, they think
that he never had any moral capacity. Is this really the nature of the man?12

We can lose our innate goodness to the point where it looks like we never
had any to begin with, just as, in Mencius analogy, the mountain has lost
all its trees. This does not mean that our original goodness is not there; it
means that we have cut and hacked at it to the point where it cannot be seen.
We can see Mencius fifth approach in two related passages. The first is
in his conversation with another thinker, Gaozi.13 Gaozi used analogy in
his argument too and argued that human nature is like water. Water will
flow either east or west, whichever is more natural to it. So too, human
nature is neutral: it does not know good or bad except as it may be moved
in one direction or another.
Mencius replied that, while it is true that water may be made to flow
east or west, depending on what is open to it, the nature of water is
always to flow downwards. Like water that will always flow downhill, so,
too, human nature will tend toward the good. And, just as water may be
manipulated by the use of dams and dikes to flow in certain directions,
so, too, human nature can be manipulated and people may behave badly.
The nature of water is to flow downhill; the nature of human beings is to
tend toward the good.
We can see this natural standard of goodness within us when we look
at our attitudes toward life and death. Mencius says that, much as he loves
his life, he would not do anything at all to stay alive. Similarly, death is
something he hates, but he would not do anything at all to avoid death. The
desire to live is basic to us all, but we will not use any means to stay alive.
There are simply some things that are so horrible to us that we would not
do them, even if it would save our lives. If faced with the choice of saving
their own lives or the lives of their children, most parents would give up
their lives. This means, he argues, that we have within us moral standards
that are more important to us than even our life.14
Human nature is not just self-interest. There are points in life when we
choose to do things, or not to do things, on an ethical basis. Human nature

94 Mencius
may be shaped by the family we grow up in or by external events to flow
east or west, but it will always tend toward the good and we can see that
when we look at decisions we make about life and death.
Mencius argues for his position that human nature is good by taking
these five approaches to it. First, that human nature contains certain sprouts
or tendencies that, if cultivated, can grow into moral qualities. The seeds in
our human nature are what make human nature different from the nature
of other animals. Second, he says that human beings are all alike in having
these sprouts. The sages are not special in their morality; we are just like
them. Sages are special because of their cultivation of the sprouts. The
only reason we are not all sages is that we have not fully cultivated the
tendencies to morality within us. Third, we can see signs of these sprouts
whenever we are surprised and act naturally from them. Only when we have
a chance to think about profiting ourselves do we behave badly. Fourth, if
human nature is good, how can we explain evil people? Evil people exist,
says Mencius. Their natural tendencies toward the good have been hacked
down and covered over to such an extent that it is hard to believe that they
ever had any goodness within them. Fifth, there are some things that we
cannot bear to do. That is because there is a tendency toward the good:
human nature flows toward the good as water flows downward. Mencius
is arguing that our human nature cannot just be reduced to self-interest.
There is a lot more in us that also provides motivations for our actions.15
So the foundation of moral behavior is internal. It is not welded onto
us from the outside. Moral behavior is natural to human beings. Mencius
says that human beings differ from other animals in very little and that
difference is in the human potential for moral growth. We all love all the
parts of ourselves, says Mencius. Those who nurture the goodness within
are greater than those who emphasize their senses. The latter lose their
original mind/heart.
Losing ones original mind/heart16 means we can lose our sense of
morality when we let self-interest and greed guide us: a gentleman maintains his mind/heart by cultivating the goodness within and so is always in
accord with humanity and ritual.17 It is the mind/heart that thinks, decides,
and focuses; we can lose it when we are ensnared by things outside us. The
mind/heart works something like a rational faculty for Mencius, and it is
deeply connected to our inner moral being and to our human nature. The
mind/heart does not work like the ears or the eyes; the mind/heart can think
about things and, unlike the senses, cannot be fooled as easily. However,
if the mind/heart does not think about things, it can be fooled and left
without understanding. Mencius says, To completely develop ones mind/
heart is to understand ones own nature; to know ones own nature is to
know Heaven.18 Our rationality, our inner moral tendencies, and Heaven
are closely connected.

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What makes a gentleman different from other people is that a gentleman preserves his mind/heart and does so through practicing humanity and
ritual. Mencius said, The difference between human beings and animals is
very small. Ordinary people frequently give up this difference; a gentleman
preserves it19 and A great man does not lose his child-like mind/heart.20
Preserving our original mind/heart depends on self-cultivation. This is a
steady, daily growing of moral qualities within us. We do not suddenly
become good people through enlightenment or salvation. Instead we need
to be careful and thoughtful at all times, gradually becoming better in our
actions. We need to reflect on the situation and on what we are doing. Selfinterest conflicts with moral behavior and self-interest must be overcome.
But, this growth must not be forced.
Mencius says that we must not be like the man from Song who was
troubled because his plants were not growing and so pulled at them. When
he returned home he said to his family, I am tired today because I have
been helping the crops to grow. His son hurried to look and found that
the seedlings were dead. There are some who do not help their crop to
grow; seeing no benefit in it, they do not weed their crop. Others help their
crop to grow by pulling at it. This is not only of no benefit, but actually
harmful.21 Expecting perfect results in all our actions, helping the plants
to grow, will lead to failure. And when we fail, we will give up.

Human Nature and Heaven

Mencius says that Heaven gives us humanity, dutifulness, conscientiousness, truthfulness to ones word, and unending delight in what is good. All
that people can give us are honors like titles and high position.22 Mencius
carried his argument further by saying that our basic human nature contains
the potential for good because of its relation to Heaven. Only human beings
can reflect the goodness of Heaven. Heaven, for Mencius, is the metaphysical basis of morality. We already know Heaven is an ethical entity from
the idea of the choice of Heaven. Heaven bases its choices on moral
considerations, choosing, for example, a moral man to be the ruler and
rejecting the immoral one.
We will look more closely at what Mencius says about the relationship
between Heaven and human beings below, but here we can see that he has
argued for two, related, things. First, that morality is innate and unique to
human beings. Second, Mencius has given morality a metaphysical basis.
By arguing that human nature reflects the goodness of Heaven, Mencius
puts morality on a foundation. Heaven itself is moral; human beings reflect
that morality. So moral behavior is not a matter of taste or point of view,
it is natural to human beings and is based in Heaven itself.

96 Mencius

Government
Mencius understood himself as elaborating on Confucius ideas. He believed
that Confucius had taught that human nature is good. Mencius saw himself
as fleshing out the implications of that. Mencius follows Confucius in his
arguments about government as well. The bulk of the Mencius is devoted to
discussions between Mencius and rulers, with Mencius advising the ruler on
moral government or discussing ancient and Warring States politics. When
we read descriptions of Mencius conversations with rulers, it is perfectly
clear why Mencius was so rarely employed:
Mencius spoke to King Xuan of Qi, saying, Imagine that one of your ministers entrusted his wife and children to his friend and traveled to the state of
Chu. When he returned, he found that his friend had let his wife and children
become cold and hungry what should he do?
The King said, Get rid of the friend.
Mencius asked, If the Chief Guard is not able to keep order among the
guards, what should be done?
The King said, Fire him.
Mencius said, If the whole state from border to border is not well governed, what should be done? The King turned toward his servants and talked
about something else.23

If Mencius talked to rulers like this, it is no wonder that they did not hire him.
Like Confucius, Mencius says that government exists for the benefit of
the people. The rulers job is to care for the people and so, says Mencius, a
ruler is not actually very important: The people are the most valuable part
of a country; the spirits of the land and of the grain are second; the ruler
is the least.24 It is the rulers job to look after the people, to put people
first and himself last. Of course this did not go down well with rulers of
the warring states.
As a model for the people and as someone who cares for the people, the
ideal ruler is not authoritarian. Mencius defined a ruler who uses force to
rule as a dictator; a real king rules so as to care for the people.
A ruler is placed in his position by Heaven, says Mencius. If a ruler does
not care for the people, he is, according to the principle of putting words
right, not a ruler. If he is killed, it is not a ruler who has been killed:
Someone who violates humanity is called a violator; someone who destroys
rightness is called a criminal. A violator and a criminal is someone we call a
low-class lout. I have heard that a low-class lout called Zhou [the last ruler
of the Shang dynasty] was killed, but I have not heard of a ruler who was
assassinated.25

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97

While he may call himself ruler, if his behavior is not proper, he is not a
real ruler. He is just some lout. Similarly, and even more radically, just
because a ruler has a son, there is no reason why that son should inherit
the position. Rulers should be chosen on the basis of their conduct, not on
the basis of their fathers. If Heaven wishes to appoint a worthy man, the
worthy man is appointed; if Heaven wishes to appoint the son, the son is
appointed.26 The choice of Heaven should produce a good ruler, not just
the son of a ruler.
Does this mean that one can justifiably overthrow a bad ruler? If the
ruler is not a real ruler, according to the principle of putting words right,
is it permissible to rebel against him? Mencius does not go that far, but we
can speculate that this could have been his conclusion. Instead, Mencius
uses his arguments about government to evaluate rulers, not to suggest
uprisings against them.27
Throughout the Mencius we can see the need for putting words right as
Mencius visited the king of the state of Qi and the king of the state of
Liang. Both were using a title that was not proper to who they were. When
Mencius went to see one of these kings, King Hui of the state of Liang,
the king remarked that it was an honor that Mencius would come so far to
profit his state. Mencius responded by seizing on the word profit and
argued that, when the king thought of nothing but profit, so too would his
government ministers. Seeing how his government ministers behaved, the
common people too would only think about profit. Once profit was all
anyone thought about, the only sure outcome would be competition among
them all for their own self-interest.28
As we have seen in Confucius thought, Mencius says that the ruler
should act as a model for everyone in the state: Treat the elderly in your
family properly as elderly people should be treated and extend this to
elderly people in other families; treat young people in your family properly as young people should be treated and extend this to young people in
other families. If you do this, the empire will fit in your hand.29 As the
model for everyone in every station, it was up to the ruler to always behave
properly. The rulers example would be seen, and copied, by everyone. For
Mencius, the ruler has an awesome responsibility in caring for the people.
People should know that they had an upright ruler and develop confidence
in his government. With the confidence of the people, a ruler will be successful. The ruler acts toward the people as a father does to his children.
This is a paternal view of government, patterned on what we have seen in
Confucius thought.
Mencius says that we must all be given a chance to cultivate the goodness
within. If we are raised by bad models and if we are never taught how to
cultivate our goodness, we are unlikely to be able to cultivate goodness. A
bad environment is one reason that many people do not develop what is

98 Mencius
within them. A bad economy is the second reason. Mencius said, In years
of plenty, most young men are quiet; in years of poverty, most young men
are violent; it is not that the potential that Heaven has sent down to them
changes. They become violent because of what traps and drowns their mind/
hearts.30 Mencius thought that we cannot expect people not to steal if they
are starving. If people are forced to live in poverty they cannot be expected
to develop moral behavior.
Mencius spent a lot of time talking about the economy. Poverty is the
source of all moral and social evil; poverty among the people is the fault
of selfish rulers. The ideal state should provide economic well-being for its
people. This will allow everyone to share in the wealth and allow everyone
to cultivate their inherent goodness. The government must not overtax the
people. People must be allowed to provide for themselves and rulers should
not be taking tax money from them so as to enjoy a luxury that the people
cannot dream of.
Mencius proposed a new tax system where all the fields would be divided
into nine sections. Individuals would farm their own fields and the crops
from the center field, the ninth, would be given to the ruler in taxes.31 This
way a year of bad harvests would affect the ruler as much as the people.
Mencius was also the first to call for environmental awareness, the preservation of forests and fishing, and for diversified farming as ways to protect
and enhance peoples livelihoods:
If you want to put a government of humanity into effect, then simply return
to the basics. Plant mulberry trees in every household of five fields; that
way, fifty-year-olds can wear silk. If chickens, pigs, and dogs are raised, then
seventy-year-olds can eat meat. If you do not disturb the work of planting
and harvesting in each of one hundred fields, even a household that has
eight mouths to feed will not go hungry. If you are careful about education,
explaining the rightness of filial piety and respect for brothers, then the elderly
will not be carrying loads on the roads. It has always been that, when the
elderly are able to wear silk and eat meat, and when the Chinese people are
not hungry nor cold, their ruler has become the emperor.32

A ruler who concentrates on enriching his people, improving the economy,

and educating them in morality is well on his way to ruling all of China.
Mencius says that the government should respect all classes; the government should be loved and revered and provide models of good behavior.
Governments should not be feared: the four evils of government are cruelty,
oppression, injury, and meanness. The ruler must care for the people and
be a model to the people. Any ruler who does not rule properly does not
deserve the title ruler. The rulers primary concern must be the economy
because ordinary people cannot be expected to behave well in bad times.

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99

Mencius on Confucian Themes

Now that we have seen Mencius theory of human nature and his ideas
about society and government, we can look at how these ideas play out
when Mencius develops other ideas from Confucius.
When King Xuan of Qi confessed that he felt sorry for an ox that was
about to be slaughtered at a sacrifice, Mencius used the occasion to point
out that the king was capable of kindness and compassion, but chose not
to act that way when he ruled his people. The kings fault was not that he
lacked the ability to rule well, but that he refused to rule well.33 The compassion that the king felt should be developed into the virtue of humanity
and extended to his people. The king was clearly capable of ruling well,
but chose not to.
Mencius told the king to use humanity in governing his state. The result
would be that he would attract talented ministers, ordinary people who
would farm, and merchants who would want to do business. The king
would be a model and his government would be successful. Mencius went
on to say,
To not have a constant means of income, but to be able to maintain a constant
mind/heart only a scholar is able to do that. As for the common people, if
they do not have a constant means of income, they will not be able to maintain a constant mind/heart. Without a constant mind/heart, they will fall into
sleaziness and evil. Once they have sunk into crime, to punish them is just to
trap the people. How could a man of humanity entrap people?
So an intelligent ruler regulates the peoples livelihood to make sure that
they have enough both to serve their father and mother and to manage for
their wives and children. This way the people will have enough food when
times are good and still not starve even when times are bad. This way they
will quickly move toward goodness and follow it easily.34

Like Confucius, Mencius believed that ordinary people could only follow
the example of their superiors. Only a gentleman can preserve his mind/
heart in good times and bad. As for the people, they are like children who
must be provided for and led to goodness.
In conclusion, Mencius tells the king that, should he rule morally, good
advisors would be drawn to his government, farmers would be anxious
to farm in his state, merchants would flock to his markets, and he would
attract people from other states who cannot bear their rulers.
Mencius faced another issue that Confucius had also faced: should one
take a job in a corrupt government? Mencius argues that one should not
be blinded by money to either the way we are offered jobs nor the kinds
of jobs we are offered:

100 Mencius
A basket of food and a bowl of soup. If you get them, then you will live; if
you do not get them, then you will die. But, if they are given to you with
contempt, then even a homeless person will not take them. And if they are
trampled in the dirt, then even a beggar wont take them.
But, when it comes to a high salary, then you think you can overlook ritual
and rightness and accept them. What does a big salary add to me? Am I going
to take it for the sake of living in a beautiful mansion? For the enjoyment of
a wife and concubines? To have my poorer friends feel indebted to me? In
the first case, even for the sake of ones own life, one could not accept what
was offered. In the second case, for the sake of a beautiful mansion one does
accept. this kind of thinking is called losing ones original mind/heart.35

Accepting money and not paying any attention to the moral consequences
of ones position is to lose ones original mind/heart. Mencius refused to
take government positions merely for power and money.
Talking to King Hui of Liang, Mencius criticized rulers who interrupt
farmers in their busiest seasons by sending them to war. This resulted in
families starving and scattering in their search for food. These rulers, says
Mencius, push their people into pits and into water.36 Like Confucius,
Mencius did not discuss military matters, but he did say that the state must
also protect people from invasion, so there needs to be an army, but the
focus should not be on the army and the ruler should not invade other
states. The people should not be bothered by military service in busy seasons
of planting and harvest and they should not be sent to war untrained.
Anyone advocating war or teaching the skills of warfare Strategists presumably Mencius viewed as evil, delighting in piling up corpses. Mencius
said, There are people who say I am good at military formations. I am
good at waging war. This is a great crime. Death is not enough of a
punishment for them.37
Morality can be found in ourselves and we should look to ourselves for
a moral compass. Mencius articulates that admirable Confucian quality
examining oneself first in any situation. He says that if someone is nasty
to you, first look to see if you have been practicing humanity and proper
ritual. If you have, and the other person is still obnoxious, then look to see
if you have been doing your duty. If he examines himself and finds that he
has done his duty, but the other person is still nasty, a gentleman says, This
person is simply hopeless! There is no difference between a person like this
and an animal. You cannot expect an animal to know how to behave. 38
In the same vein, Mencius said, If you love others, but they do not
respond, then look inwardly at your own humanity. If you govern others,
but they do not obey, then look inwardly at your own wisdom. If you are
ritually polite and others do not return your courtesy, look inwardly at your
own respect. Whenever you do not get a proper response, look for the solution first within yourself.39 When we have problems, particularly with other

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101

people, we are to stop first and look at our own behavior, examining ourselves before blaming others. This is an excellent, if difficult, habit of mind.
Like Confucius, Mencius saw filial piety as the basis for learning morality. Like Confucius too, Mencius had to defend the three-year mourning
period for parents. When King Xuan of Qi wanted to cut the mourning
period down to one year, one of Mencius students asked him if this was
such a bad thing. At least the king would be observing a year of mourning,
which was better than none at all. Mencius responded, This is the same as
saying to someone who is twisting their elder brothers arm Do it gently.
The king must be taught filial piety.40
Mencius was also sensitive to the problems surrounding the practice
of filial piety. When asked if a father should teach his own sons, Mencius
advised against it. After all, he said, a teacher must correct his students
and, if the student still does not learn, he may lose his temper. This ends
up hurting both father and son, as the son, in revenge, may say, You
correct me, but you do not behave correctly yourself. Father and son, he
says, should not demand goodness from each other, for, if they do, they
may become estranged.41
During the time of Mencius, followers of Confucius were gradually developing discussions of ritual in two directions: first, there was an increase in
specific regulations dealing with everything from the proper wood allowed
for a casket depending on the rank of the deceased to regulations about
how one should eat (see chapter 8). Second, we find a stronger set of rules
dealing with the separation of men and women. Separation included separate living quarters in the home, separate spheres of activity, and detailed
regulations concerning the interaction of men and women, as we have seen
in chapter 3. This seems to have been widely discussed among Confucians
at this time and was the point of many debates. Mencius did not, so far as
we can tell, get involved in these arguments. But he did think that rituals
evolved from the expression of ones inner nature. He says that
In ancient times, people did not bury their parents. When the parents died,
they were thrown into the ditch. But, as the sons passed by them one day,
they could see that the corpses were eaten by foxes and flies buzzed around.
The sweat broke out on the sons foreheads and they could not bear to look.
Their sweat was not a show for others, but an expression of their inner hearts.
Then, they went home for shovels and baskets and buried the bodies.42

Not throwing the bodies in a ditch is an expression of the mind/hearts

feeling of compassion and shame.
A rival thinker tried to trip Mencius up by asking about a Confucian
rule about ritual. This is the one we saw in chapter 3 that says that men
and women are not allowed to touch each other. If men and women are not
allowed to touch, what should you do when your sister-in-law is drowning?

102 Mencius
Mencius immediately dismisses the ritual rule, saying that anyone who followed it when their sister-in-law was drowning would be a beast. Clearly
this is an emergency and touching the woman is the proper response.43
The state must provide education, and, again, this would allow people
to cultivate their inner morality. Like Confucius, Mencius was not specific
about whether or not this would include lower-class men and women. The
education Mencius talked about, however, is, like Confucius idea of education, not just learning facts, but an education in morality. As it was for
Confucius, education was crucial to Mencius. Education is the way in which
one cultivates the goodness within. Mencius advocated learning the ways of
antiquity, the sage-kings, the rulers of the early Zhou dynasty, and, of course,
the teachings of Confucius. Education should lead to moral cultivation.
Like Confucius, Mencius had little to say about women, and that may
be just as well. Mencius said, When a daughter marries, her mother gives
her advice. Sending her daughter off at the gate, the mother cautions her,
When you go to your new family, you must be respectful, and you must
be careful. Do not disobey your husband. To be obedient is proper to the
Way of a wife.44 He agrees with Confucius and the Confucians of his time
that women should be respectful and obedient.
Finally we come to about half a dozen passages in the Mencius that will be
emphasized by later Confucians. We have seen that Mencius, like Confucius,
believed that Heaven had endowed him with a mission. Mencius goes
further in his statements about a connection to the cosmos. Mencius says,
Wherever the great gentleman passes there is transformation. Wherever he
stays there is a spiritual influence flowing above and below with Heaven and
Earth.45 A great gentleman is part of the dynamic workings of Heaven and
Earth, a phrase often used to refer to the universe. Mencius also describes
this in a passage where he talks about his vast overflowing qi. When he
was asked what his strong points were, Mencius said,
I know words. I am good at nourishing my vast and overflowing qi. This
qi is, in the highest degree, unlimited and unmoving. If it is nourished with
integrity and is not harmed, it will fill the space between heaven and earth.
This qi unites with rightness and the Way; without rightness and the Way,
the qi will starve. This qi is born from accumulated rightness and not an
occasional show of rightness. Action that is below the standard set in ones
mind/heart will starve the qi.46

We will look more closely at the various meanings of the term qi in chapter
9, but here Mencius uses the term to mean the basic part of a person, the
energy that animates us. It is like human nature and, like human nature,
tends to the good if cultivated over time. This, Mencius says, is closely
connected to rightness, the standard of good, and to the Confucian Way of
morality and civilization.47 The basics in human beings can unite with the

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103

universe but only when we practice morality. Mencius makes the same
sort of point when he says,
Anyone who completely knows their own mind/heart, then, knows their
human nature. When you know your human nature, you know Heaven. To
keep your original mind/heart and nourish your nature, you serve Heaven.
Neither an early death nor a long life should cause you any worry; instead
you should cultivate your self and establish your own destiny.48

The connection between human beings and Heaven can be experienced if

we practice morality and come to know ourselves. Finding, and keeping,
our original mind/heart means behaving properly over time. We have seen
Mencius say that the gentleman does not lose his original mind/heart and
preserves the mind/heart as it was when he was a child. In this way, says
Mencius, we can come to know Heaven.
Mencius also links human beings and Heaven together through the
virtue of sincerity. Sincerity, as we have seen, means to think, act, and
speak without any self-interest or double-mindedness. Mencius uses a
chain argument to talk about sincerity. He begins with the first link, which
is understanding goodness. If a man can do this, then he is true to himself.
This allows him to please his parents. If he can please his parents, his friends
will trust him. If his friends trust him, his superiors will have confidence in
him and he will be able to govern the people. Mencius concludes, So, sincerity is the Way of Heaven; to think about sincerity the Way of man.49 By
being a truly ethical person, being sincere, we can share in Heavens ethical
character. This leads us to one of Mencius most famous statements: All
things are complete within me. If one examines oneself and finds sincerity,
there is no greater joy.50 When Mencius says all things he means all
the things of the universe. They find completion within us when we share
in the universes virtue of sincerity.
Just what Mencius meant by these kinds of statements is much debated.
It looks like he believed that a properly cultivated person could, in some
way, join together with the universe itself in its moral purposes. The difficulty is knowing just what to make of Mencius statements. This is because
what is missing is any description of Heaven or the moral universe, how it
is constituted, how, exactly, it works, and all the other more theological
points we would expect to find.

Summary
Like Confucius, Mencius begins with the individual. We have within us
the potential for moral behavior. Moral behavior always has a social

104 Mencius
dimension: it must be acted out in our family, society, and state. Mencius
defense of Confucius teachings grounds morality in human nature and in
Heaven. He develops these new ideas of human nature and our relationship
to Heaven in the context of Confucius teachings. He also builds on, and
amplifies, political ideas we saw in Confucius. Over a thousand years after
his death, Mencius ideas about our relationship to the universe were picked
up and his reputation vaulted over all other Confucians to make Mencius
the Second Sage. Mencius was the first great interpreter of Confucius in
the Warring States era, but he was not the only one.

7
Xunzi

Low-class Confucians loosely follow the ways of the ancient kings

just enough to cause confusion in our time. their methods are in
error and they pick up knowledge from anywhere. their theories
do not really differ from Mozis. they use antiquity to cheat stupid
people and make money from them.1
The second great interpreter of Confucius is Xunzi.2 Born about 310 BCE,
almost two hundred years after the death of Confucius, Xunzi would have
been in his teens or early twenties when Mencius died. While the date of his
death is not known, there is a long tradition that Xunzi lived to be almost a
hundred years old. This would mean he died somewhere around 210 BCE.
Xunzi, Master Xun, does not have a Latinized name. This is because,
while Xunzis interpretation of Confucius was the dominant one from his
time to the 1100s CE, after that Mencius was taken as the correct interpreter
of Confucius (see chapter 6), and to this day, Mencius is still accepted as the
proper successor to Confucius. As a result, when the Catholic missionaries
came to China, they heard little about Xunzi, but a lot about Mencius, so
Xunzi does not have a Latin name. Xunzis lesser status continues and can
be seen, for example, in the Confucian Museum and Research Center in
Qufu. Mencius is portrayed there as a great Confucian worthy and honored
with a bust, while Xunzi is merely represented by a picture of his portrait
in a collage of pictures of texts and temples.
Though a native of the state of Zhao, in his mid-teens Xunzi traveled to
the Jixia Academy in the state of Qi and was such an impressive scholar
that he may well have become the head of the Jixia Academy in his 40s.
Two of Xunzis students, Han Fei and Li Si, went on to define the Legalist
school.3 Xunzi did not spend all of his time at the academy, but traveled
to many other states, like other scholars, looking for a job. One firm date
in Xunzis life is 255 BCE when he was appointed to be the magistrate of

106 Xunzi
Lanling in the state of Chu. He was dismissed from that post and went to
his native state of Zhao where he was given the rank of a senior minister.
The government of Chu reconsidered and invited Xunzi back to Lanling
where he remained a magistrate until the assassination of his government
patron in 238. He never again took a government position and it is likely
that he lived long enough to see the triumph of the Legalist state of Qin.
We have a text, predictably called the Xunzi, much of which is thought
to have been written by Xunzi himself. This text, however, did not make
it into later canons of Confucian classics. But the Book of Rites is part of
the Confucian canon (see chapter 8), and parts of the Xunzi are repeated in
the Book of Rites.4 We can see the pervasive influence of the Mohists and
Logicians in the text. While a strict Confucian, Xunzi felt obliged to supply
definitions and logical arguments to back up his positions.
Xunzi was very serious in his reverence for Confucius and his thought.
He says,
Confucius possessed humanity, was wise, and was not blind. This is why his
study of government was so great that he was the equal of the early kings.
His teachings included all the ways of the Zhou dynasty and could be put
into practice without any blindness to any point. Therefore his virtue was
equal to the Duke of Zhou; his fame was on a par with that of the founders
of the three dynasties. This was the blessing of being free from blindness.5

Xunzi describes blindness as obsession and a lack of clarity. Confucius was

able to see the truth; unlike so many others, Confucius saw clearly and
completely. As a result, Xunzi says, Confucius was able to teach the ways
of the sage-kings and was so sincere that he was able to bring together different kinds of people and attract men of talent. Like Mencius, Xunzi saw
Confucius as the ultimate teacher and Xunzi wanted nothing more than to
defend the true thought of Confucius from all its enemies, both inside and
outside the Confucian tradition. While Mencius had complained that there
were thinkers he had to argue with, Xunzi was positively besieged not only
by the Mohists and Daoists of Mencius time, but by Logicians, Strategists,
Legalists, and all the other Confucian groups with whom he disagreed. He
was most irate at the pernicious teachings of Mencius.

Human Nature is Evil

Xunzi says that, as an interpreter of Confucius thought, Mencius got
almost everything wrong. Mencius errors began with his views on human
nature. It is clear, Xunzi claims, that human nature is evil and is based
entirely on selfishness.6 This is what Confucius really meant.

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107

As with Mencius claim that human nature is good, we have to be very

careful with Xunzis claim that human nature is evil. When we think of
evil, we may think of devils or the Devil, and that is not at all in Xunzis
use of the word. We may also think of ideas like the Christian idea of the
Fall from grace; again, this is not what Xunzi has in mind. Evil is related
to ugly and used to describe things that evoke a feeling of revulsion.7
When he says that human nature is evil, Xunzi means that we are incapable
of living in a civilized way with other human beings if we just follow what
is natural to our human nature. He says,
Mencius said that human nature is good. I say that this is not correct. From
antiquity to the present day, what the world has called good is what is correct,
ordered, peaceful, and well governed. What has been called evil is what is
biased, disordered, perverse, and chaotic. This is the difference between good
and evil.8

Goodness is the ability to live in a peaceful and well-ordered society and to

behave correctly according to morality and ritual. Evil is self-interest, bias,
disloyalty, and immorality.
Xunzi also carefully defines what he means by human nature: Human
nature is what is produced by nature; it is what is not learned; it is what
needs no effort to be able to do.9 As an example, he says, we are born
able to hear and we do not need to be taught how to do it. Mencius, he
says, did not carefully define human nature and this was one of the reasons
Mencius did not know what he was talking about.
Human nature includes the emotions and desires, which are stirred by
the senses. Xunzi lists as the emotions liking and disliking, happiness and
anger, and sorrow and joy. These emotions are natural to us and, when we
act on them, we will act badly.
Now, the nature of man is that he is born with a love of profiting himself.
Following this nature will cause aggression and greed to grow, while courtesy
and deference are lost. Human beings are born with feelings of hate and envy.
Following these causes violence and crime, while loyalty and trustworthiness
are lost.

Desires develop when the senses tell us about things we want:

Man is born with the desires of the ears and eyes so that we love sounds
and colors. If we follow them, then sleaziness and chaos result, while ritual,
rightness, civilization, and order are lost. Because of this, when we follow
our human nature and our emotions, then we must develop aggression and
greed, we must overturn social divisions, and bring chaos to order all of
this will end in violence.10

108 Xunzi
When emotions and desires rule our actions, we are led to evil. Simply
following our nature will lead us to evil: envy, hatred, violence, crime,
selfishness, disloyalty, and greed. Throughout his chapter Human Nature
is Evil Xunzi lists the attributes of human nature as a love of profit, the
emotions of envy and hate, the desire for what we see and hear, desires for
food, warmth, and rest, prejudice or bias in our favor, and self-interest.
If we all act from our human nature, chaos results. No one would respect
or consider anyone else; society would be impossible. We would all spend
our time fighting each other for the many things we desire. From birth on,
Xunzi says, we naturally love ourselves, follow our desires, and look to our
own interests. If we follow these natural tendencies, we will grab everything
we can. What is basic to all human beings is a nature that drives us to
satisfy all of our desires. Human nature is indeed natural and spontaneous,
as Daoists argued, but this means it is greedy, selfish, and evil.
The desires and emotions, says Xunzi, are the materials of human nature
and react to external stimulation in a natural, if evil, way. The mind,
Xunzi says, sits among the emotions and desires and chooses. When the
mind chooses among our emotions and desires, we think. This Xunzi calls
conscious exertion. It is this alone that can save us from the rampaging
emotions and desires based in our natures. When the mind makes decisions,
this is thought. Desires and emotions cannot be eliminated, but they can
be kept in check by the mind. When the mind thinks and acts properly, it
develops artificiality.11 Artificiality is what is acquired; it is not natural
to us. When artificiality, based on thought and training, is built up, we
can control desires and emotions. If it is continually practiced, artificiality
becomes second nature. An acquired or artificial nature can be developed
through education, teachers, models, and a great deal of effort.
Xunzi points out that we all want to eat, to be warm, and to rest. But we
learn not to eat before our elders; we help our elders out with work when
we would rather rest. We are courteous to them and we subordinate our
needs to theirs. These actions run contrary to our inborn nature and we can
only learn to do them through conscious effort and acquiring artificiality.
Xunzi concludes by saying that
to follow human nature and our true emotions means that we would not
be courteous or deferent to others. To be courteous and deferent to others
runs against our feelings and human nature. We can see from this that it is
clear that human nature is evil and any good in human beings comes from
conscious effort.12

Only conscious exertion, where the natural inclinations we have are held
in check, allows us to act properly. This is artificiality.
Building artificiality is something all human beings are capable of. Like
Mencius, Xunzi argues that everyone can become a sage. A sage can follow

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humanity, morality, and rightness. We can too if we engage in study, focus

the mind/heart on this aim, unify our intentions, think about principles
and accumulate goodness without slacking off.13 Sagehood is within our
grasp, if we build up the artificial shell of morality. We can all become sages
if we work hard enough at it.

Morality is Artificial
Mencius had argued that morality is basic to us, found in the sprouts of our
human nature and given to us by a moral Heaven. Xunzi says that morality
is not natural: it is an artificial construction. For Xunzi, morality is more
like traffic laws. We decide to drive on the right side of the street or the left
side of the street; we decide that red lights mean stop and green lights mean
go. It does not matter if we drive on the left or right hand side of the street;
what matters is that we all do it. Traffic laws are arbitrary, but, once agreed
on, work for everyone. Similarly, for Xunzi, morality is a product of the
human mind, set up by the sage-kings and crafted so that people could live
together. When morality is applied to our evil human nature, we can change.
We are changed by education as we learn artificiality. We learn ritual, we
learn new habits and so morality becomes our second nature. Morality is
the artificial product of culture and education. Xunzi happily accepts Laozis
criticism that morality is artificial. Of course morality is artificial, he says,
and that is a good thing because what is natural to human beings is evil.
One of the first objections that comes to mind about all of this is to ask, if
human beings have natures that are evil and spend their time satisfying their
desires, where did morality come from in the first place? Xunzis answer is
that the sage-kings of the past created morality so as to bring order. But,
where did the sage-kings get their morality? According to Xunzi, morality
is not innate, so how did the sage-kings create it?
Someone may ask, If mans nature is evil, then how were rituals and rightness
created? I can say to them that ritual and rightness came from the sage-kings
artificiality. Ritual and rightness did not come from anything inherent in the
sage-kings nature. So too, when a potter shapes the clay to create the pot, the
pot is the creation of the artificial and acquired nature of the potter and not
the product of anything inherent in his nature. The sage-kings accumulated
thoughts and ideas; they practiced artificiality. That is how they developed
ritual and rightness and raised the standard of government. Ritual and rightness
were born from their artificiality, not the sage-kings human nature.14

Xunzi argued that just because something is produced, like a pot, the pot
was not innate in the potter who produced it. Similarly morality did not
need to be innate in the sage-kings for them to produce moral rules.

110 Xunzi
The sage-kings realized the horror of human life in its natural state of
war of all against all. They wisely set up limits and rules to govern human
behavior. They saw the social chaos that following our natures produced. In
order to control it, they instituted ritual and moral rules, much like traffic
laws. This is the foundation of civilization.
One of Xunzis arguments against Mencius has to do with the sage-kings.
Why would we have needed sage-kings, Xunzi asks, if human nature was
good? Why would we need ritual and morality? Why we would need to
learn anything? It can only be that human nature is evil. That is why we
had to invent ritual and morality.
Now this is an unfair reading of Mencius who argued only that human
nature contains sprouts of goodness that need to be cultivated, but Xunzi
is convinced that civilized values are necessary only because human nature
is evil. Xunzi had read the Daoists and agreed with them that civilization is
artificial and unnatural. But, for Xunzi, the great achievement of civilization
is precisely its artificiality.
Learning an artificially imposed morality will dramatically change us.
Xunzi likens us to a warped piece of wood that has to be steamed, put in
a press, and forced to bend its shape before it can be straight. Teachers
must be obeyed and models must be studied:
So it is that a warped piece of wood must first be pressed in a frame and then
steamed in order to soften it. This allows its shape to be bent before it can
become straight. A dull piece of metal must first be whetted on a grindstone
before it can be made sharp.
Now, human nature is evil. It must receive the instructions of a teacher
and follow models and only then can it be put right. We must learn rituals
and rightness before we can be orderly. These days, men have no teachers or
models, so they are biased, wicked, and not properly behaved. Because they
do not have rituals and rightness, they are wicked, rebellious, and disorderly.15

Teachers are absolutely essential and the Xunzi says that formal education
under a master is a necessity. Education is the enormous task of controlling
the desires of our nature and this can be done only by taking on board all
of the culture of the past. Like all Confucians, Xunzi sees the process of
becoming a better person as a process of self-cultivation that is possible
only through education.

Ritual
For Xunzi, we live in a world of scarcity there is just not enough to
go around. Whether it is food or fame or power, there is not enough for

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111

everyone to have everything they want. If everyone vies for the same things,
violence will result. Ritual was invented to control desires and to deal with
the problem of scarcity. When we follow social rituals, we all get some of
our desires met. Xunzi says that Rituals trim what is too long and extend
what is too short; rituals use up surplus and make up for what is lacking;
rituals extend the civility of love and reverence; rituals gradually bring us to
the beauty of rightness.16 Ritual allows for the establishment, and acceptance, of institutions. We agree to live in a society where some get more
than others. We respect social institutions, like a monarch, for example.
The ruler gets more money and power than the rest of us, but we learn
to respect this social division. When we respect the ways in which society
works, we can live in an ordered way. Without rituals, desires would rule
and there would be no division of resources or of labor.
Ritual also restrains, channels, and refines human emotions. Instead of
losing our minds at the death of a loved one, ritual gives us something
to do and ways of expressing our grief. It teaches us how to express that
grief so that we are not excessive, but are able to express grief in socially
acceptable ways. Ritual tempers our grief and allows us an appropriate
way of expressing it. Similarly, wedding rituals allow us to express joy and
affection and give us ritual ways to do so.
Rituals divide up scarce resources. They can control the ways we express
our desires. Rituals teach us how to practice morality by showing us how
to act. Rituals allow us to properly express our emotions. Rituals allow us
to refine and decorate our actions.
One odd thing with Xunzis arguments about ritual is that they seem,
to some degree, to be trying to prove that ritual is useful. Xunzi says that
ritual has both social and personal uses, negotiating scarce resources and
channeling ones emotions. While Xunzi is still firmly in the Confucian
tradition, it looks like he is trying to justify Confucian teachings on the
grounds of their usefulness.

Government
Like Confucius and Mencius, Xunzi lays the blame for the current state
of affairs solely on corrupt rulers. In his usual acerbic way, he is not shy
about criticizing them:
Rulers double the taxes on necessities like knives and spades in order to
steal money from the common people; they double the taxes on the fields
and meadows in order to steal food from the common people; they charge
custom at border stations and taxes in marketplaces in order to make life
difficult for people.

112 Xunzi
In their greed for money, rulers taxed people unmercifully. These taxes
were not just on farmers produce but on basic necessities. Rulers also
interfered with trade and commerce by charging custom duties on goods
as they came to the borders and by charging sales tax in markets. This was
not the only problem:
This was not enough for rulers. They also promoted spying and underhanded
plots to get more power and begin rebellions in other states. By this they tried
to overthrow other noble families, all of which leads to ruin and destruction.
The Chinese people know perfectly clearly about the wickedness, violence,
and anarchy of these kinds of rulers and they know that rulers like this will
lead to dangers and ruin.
Because of rulers like this, government ministers will assassinate their
lords, subordinates will murder their superiors. Government officials will sell
their own cities, turn their backs on principles, will not do their duty if that
duty may be life-threatening. This whole thing has no other cause than the
ruler, who has brought it about.17

Like other Confucians, Xunzi sees the ruler as acting as a model, and when
the ruler plots, is violent, lives in luxury at the expense of the poor, and
in general exhibits no moral principles, the rest of society will follow. The
result is a society
where the strong bully the weak and the clever intimidate the stupid, where
the lower classes disobey their betters, and where young people insult their
elders. Because morality is not the foundation of government, the old and
weak grieve at having no means of support, while the stronger in society
complain about division and conflict.18

This is a description of society that may sound familiar to us: the use of
rudeness and bullying in social interactions, the lack of respect for others,
the elderly living in poverty, and, in general, a contentious society.
Xunzi argues that class divisions are a necessary thing in order for there
to be a division of labor and for rituals to work. Not everyone can be a
ruler. In addition, there has to be a division of labor so that people can be
skilled in one skill and do not need to learn how to do everything.
Xunzi is a Confucian and believes that the ruler is responsible for caring
for the people, no matter what their class. The ruler must be a good model.
The ruler must choose moral and upright ministers who will also be role
models for the people. Government must not overtax the people. It should
provide some education and defend the state from invasion. Many of the
political ideas we have seen in Mencius we find in Xunzi as well.
Given his views, it is not surprising to find Xunzi arguing that building
a good society based on ritual and morality will be a long-term project.

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113

We are working against evil human natures. When we first start, we will
need to reinforce ritual and morality with rewards and punishments.19 As
incentives, rewards and punishments will lead people toward a true practice
of ritual and an understanding of morality.
When Xunzi visited the state of Qin, he reported on the government
of Shang Yang (see chapter 5). He was horrified to see an orderly and
prosperous state where people obeyed and feared their government and
where there were no factions and no corruption. The government of Qin
had accomplished this even though they had not promoted scholarship nor
used Confucian methods. While he admired much of what he saw, he said
that this kind of state had no moral base and predicted that it would not
last long especially, he said, as it had no Confucians in it.20
Xunzi did not immediately dismiss a dictatorial form of government as
Mencius had.21 Even dictators, ruling by force, were able to impose order
and provide their people with a basic standard of living.22 They unified their
states and set up clear rules for government and laws. Their failure was
their inability to win the hearts of the people. For Xunzi, these dictators
were preferable to many of the rulers of his time who cared only for wealth,
plotted against their subjects and their allies, and behaved treacherously
to everyone. A dictator, though, is no equal to a true ruler who acts from
morality, cares for the people, and follows Confucius ideals.

Language
When it came to dealing with the various Logicians and their discussions of
language, Xunzi maintained Confucius principle of putting words right.
He had a practical view of language, arguing that the names of things are
constructed by human beings for our convenience.23 This way we know what
the other person is referring to. Names for things are agreed upon and become
custom. We come to know things by receiving sense information. The mind/
heart sorts this information into categories of similar and dissimilar, giving
things names and developing ideas. All human beings work this same way
and so language is a reflection of a human understanding that we all share.24
Xunzi compares language to weights and measures, saying words must
be the same for everyone or chaos will follow. The confusion about the
meanings of words has extended to the words right and wrong. People
know what right means as a word, but no longer know what actions are
right. If we put words right, then people will know what the word means
and to what it applies. To obscure the meanings of words or use them in
different and confusing ways will bring chaos to society. Xunzi wanted
anyone who confused words, Logicians presumably, to be punished, just
like those who cheat on weights and measures.25

114 Xunzi

Heaven
In the early Zhou dynasty and in some of Confucius comments, we have
seen Heaven referred to both as a moral entity and as nature. Xunzi uses the
word Heaven to mean nature: Heaven is nature and Heaven is amoral.
Xunzis view of Heaven is close to the Daoists view of the Dao. Heaven
does not give us a good human nature. Heaven does not care about human
behavior at all. He says that the actions of Heaven are natural and do not
respond to the virtues of one ruler nor to the corruption of another ruler.
Good fortune is the result of good government, wise planning, and moderate spending. This will make for a successful government and does not
depend on any decision by Heaven. Heaven deals with all people equally,
whether they are the greatest sage-king or the worst of rulers.
If you answer natures regular course with good government, you will have
good fortune; if you respond to it with bad government, you will have misfortune. If you strengthen the basic things you need to do and regulate the
ways you do things, nature cannot make you poor. If you plant and raise
things properly and your actions are in harmony with the seasons, then
nature cannot afflict you with anything bad. If you follow the Way and act
rightly, then nature cannot bring you calamities. If you do this, then floods
and droughts cannot cause famine, extremes of cold and heat cannot cause
illness, and unlucky and freak events cannot cause misfortune.26

We should use the abundance nature gives and build up supplies of food
and increase the wealth of the state.
Xunzi says that nature does not stop winter just because human beings
dislike the cold.27 Nature is impartial. Our concern is to respond intelligently to what nature does and this will give us successful economies
and governments. So, Xunzi says, instead of singing hymns and glorifying
Heaven, we should spend our time understanding how to farm according
to the seasons.
In Xunzis biography in the Records of the Historian it says that Xunzi
hated evil rulers who focused on magic and prayers, believing in omens
and luck. Instead of governing well, or even rationally, most rulers of
Xunzis time followed superstitious advice about lucky and unlucky days
and planned according to them. They also used natural events, like storms
and comets, as signs of good or bad luck. Xunzi argued that Heaven does
not send omens to regulate human behavior:
When there are comets or trees groan, everyone in the state is terrified. They
ask what the cause of such things could be. I say, so what? When there is a
change in the movements of Heaven and Earth or a change in the yin and

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115

yang, there may be unusual events. It is all right to marvel at them, but not
alright to fear them. Sometimes there are solar and lunar eclipses, sometimes
the wind and rain are unseasonable, sometimes a new star suddenly appears
there has been no time when these kinds of things have not happened.

It is natural for all sorts of strange phenomena to occur. This is just nature,
it is not a sign to us nor does it have any significance for us. Every age has
experienced this kind of thing and none of these phenomena have had any
meaning in terms of human activities. There are omens of a declining society
and these, Xunzi goes on to say, are very easy to see:
What we should be afraid of are man-made horrors. Plowing that is so bad
that the harvest is lost; weeding so badly done that the crop is lost; government rules that are so bad the people are lost; fields that are so overgrown
with weeds that the grain is lost; grain that is so expensive that the people
starve; bodies of the dead scattered along the sides of the roads these are
called man-made horrors.28

There is no meaning in eclipses, great storms, falling stars, and other phenomena that we do not understand. The real omens are plain to see: bad
government and starving people. These are omens that truly portend the
end of a state. Heaven does not send us messages in response to human
activity. There is no link between Heaven and human beings.
Prayer to the gods is all very well for the ignorant who think that it
works, but an educated gentleman should see this as an occasion for a
pleasant ceremony. Xunzi says,
You prayed for rain and it rained what do I think about that? I say, so
what? If you had not prayed for rain, it would have rained anyway. When
there is a solar or lunar eclipse, it is the custom for people to beat drums and
make noise to save themselves; when there is a drought, we pray for rain;
before we start any important project, we hold a ceremony to tell the future
with bones and yarrow stalks [used in the Book of Changes]. We do not do
these things because we think that they will produce the results we want, but
because we want to decorate the occasions with ceremony. So, the gentleman
thinks of these things as decorations, while ordinary people think they are
supernatural. To think of them as decorations is what really brings luck; to
think of them as supernatural is what really is unlucky.29

Xunzi is firmly in the skeptics camp when it comes to ideas of omens,

prayer, and what he would call superstitions. Heaven is amoral and there
is no union between human beings and Heaven: Heaven does what it does;
human beings do what we do.
Xunzi was also a skeptic when it came to common superstitions of the
time, like ghosts. He says,

116 Xunzi
Always when people see ghosts, it is only at times when they are startled and
excited; their sense is confused and blinded. So they claim that what does not
exist, actually does exist and what does exist, does not. And then they believe
they have settled the matter.30

It is all very well for the irrational and deluded to believe these things, but
a wise person does not.
Xunzi also argued against a common practice of his time: physiognomy.
This is the practice of telling a persons character and predicting their future
by signs on a persons face, lines on the hand, or the appearance of the
body. Xunzi argues that appearance tells us nothing about the inner moral
qualities of a person and there is no way we can predict a persons future
from their face.
Finally, Xunzi was especially critical of the various sub-groups of
Confucians in his time. He describes some of them as ignorant Confucians,
some as interested only at playing with ritual. Others, he said, believed
weird things. For Mencius and his followers Xunzi reserved a special
venom. Confucians, says Xunzi, should dress properly, have a proper teaching lineage, and agree with Xunzi.

Xunzi on Confucian Themes

Xunzi uses all the Confucian terms and ideas we have seen before. Xunzi
argues for a morality based on filial piety, humanity, sincerity, and so on,
just as all Confucians do. But, for Xunzi, this morality is arbitrary and artificial. It was made up in the past as a way to control the desires and emotions of our human nature. It is not given by Heaven, as Mencius argued.
Education is crucial for Xunzi. This is how we take on board all the
morality and ritual we need in order to develop our artificial second nature
and become civilized people. That is why education is difficult and why
students must have a teacher and must be obedient to that teacher. Without
education, we have no chance of overcoming what is natural to us.
Xunzi talks about becoming a gentleman and, as we have seen others
do, contrasts the gentleman with the small or petty man. In line with other
Confucian thinkers, Xunzi says that gentlemen must be educated, have
humanity, know ritual, and look within themselves to cultivate goodness.
Like Mencius, Xunzi argues that sages, the great models of moral behavior,
do not differ in any essential way from the rest of us. All of us, by establishing our artificial moral nature, are capable of becoming sages.
Like all Confucians, Xunzi recognizes the importance of ritual. For
Xunzi, ritual refines and directs our raw impulses. Ritual controls our
desires and allows us to express our emotions in a balanced and socially
acceptable way. Ritual also has the social and political function of appor-

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117

tioning scarce resources so that we can all live with some of us getting
more than others.
It is when he discusses government that Xunzi is most like Mencius. They
both argue that rulers must care for the people, be a model to the people,
provide education, and not overtax the people in order to live in luxury.
Xunzi uses Confucius idea of putting words right and extends it to deal
not just with governments, but with the debates over language. Words exist
for our convenience. They must mean the same for all of us or else they
become lies. Xunzi had little patience with those who played with words,
whether they were corrupt rulers or Logicians.
When Xunzi talks about Heaven, we can see how different he is from
Mencius. Mencius thought of Heaven as some sort of moral entity and he
believed that human beings reflect or receive moral abilities from Heaven.
Mencius also talked about human beings forming a relationship with
Heaven.
Xunzi refuses all of what Mencius says about Heaven. He argues that
Heaven is amoral, neither moral nor immoral, but indifferent. Xunzis view
of Heaven is like the Daoist view of the Dao: Heaven is natural, spontaneous, and has no intentions, one way or the other, toward us. We cannot
form a relationship with Heaven. Heaven sends us no omens or signs.
Xunzi is still in the Confucian tradition with this position: we have seen
Confucius refer to Heaven as nature as well. Xunzis defense of Confucius
comes from a different direction.
Like other Confucians, Xunzi attacked competing schools of thought.
When Mozi argued that we should love everyone without distinction, Xunzi
responded by saying that any society must have social distinctions for it to
work. Mozi argued that everyone should live as frugally as possible. Fine
foods and embroidered silks were wasteful, merely decorative, and did not
contribute to profiting the people or the state. Xunzi responded by saying
that, while this might be true in times of famine or a poor economy, there
are usually enough things in the world for us to enjoy. Moderation in
spending is sufficient to avoid waste.
Xunzi also argued against Mozis contention that music was useless and
should be abolished. Music brings harmony to people. And, Xunzi says, if
we gave up producing and doing all the things that Mozi defined as useless,
the economy would collapse. If we had no distinctions among occupations
and classes and no differences between ruler and subject, society would
collapse. Nature provides us with what we need. Moderation and planning
are required for a rich and successful country.31
Xunzi says that Mozi was obsessed, or blinded by, the idea of usefulness
and so he did not understand proper human behavior. His theories would
result in everyone being interested only in profiting themselves and fighting
each other for their own self-interest.

118 Xunzi
Xunzi saw other thinkers as obsessed too. Logicians, he says, became
obsessed with logical propositions and ignored the realities of life. The
Daoists became obsessed with nature and forgot all about human beings.
All these other thinkers were blinded by being obsessed with one, and only
one, point.32

Summary
Mencius was completely wrong: human nature is not good. Human nature
is evil and selfish. Left to our own devices, we will be envious, greedy,
and violent. Because of this the sage-kings instituted morality, an artificial construction, and imposed it on society. To change our naturally evil
nature to a moral nature, we need a long education, teachers, and models.
We can learn rituals that offer respect to others, as Confucius taught.
Rituals also channel and refine the emotions and help us deal with scarcity.
Government must provide models of moral behavior, provide education,
and, in general, care for the people. Part of government is, as Confucius
said, putting words right and all the fancy discussion about language is
useless: words mean what we decide they mean, and they allow us to communicate. The Confucian enterprise of leading people to morality through
education, government models, and the practice of ritual is not based, as
Mencius argued, on a moral Heaven. Heaven is nature and does not care
what human beings do.
Xunzi and Mencius agree on many basics: the importance of education,
morality, and ritual. They agree that government exists for the benefit of
the people. But they explain the underlying reasons for Confucius teachings
in radically different ways.
Some of the acidity of Xunzis arguments stems from a sense he seems to
have had that all was lost. Confucians had broken up into small groups. The
notion that human beings were merely self-interested and could be controlled by rewards and punishments had won the day. The rulers of the central
states were especially incompetent and corrupt and the specter of the state
of Qin haunted them. Xunzi may have lived long enough to see the triumph
of the state of Qin and of his student, Li Si, as the prime minister of Qin.
Mencius and Xunzi were not the only Confucians of the Warring States
era: we know that there were other groups of Confucians. We will look at
what we know about those other Confucian groups and about Confucian
texts in the next chapter.

8
Confucians, Confucian
Texts, and the Qin Dynasty

Confucius said, Do you think that advice from wise men will necessarily be used? Is it not true that Prince Bi Gan had his heart cut
out? Do you think that men who are loyal will keep their jobs? Gong
Longfeng was punished. Do you think that men who criticize their
rulers are listened to? Didnt they cut up Wu Zixus body and put it
outside the Gusu gate? So we can see that there are many men who
had no luck with their times. I am not the only one.1

Other Confucian Groups

As the Warring States era went on, we know that Confucians divided
into sub-groups. Xunzi talks about various groups of Confucians and
we have seen Xunzis student, Han Feizi, say that by his time, about 250
BCE, there were eight groups of Confucians and each claimed to have the
traditional teaching of Confucius.2 While there was conflict among some
of these groups, they all understood themselves to be Confucians though
some, like Xunzi, considered their Confucian tradition to be better than
others.
In the later Han dynasty, we find a description of Confucian groupings. The Han Shu, the Han history,3 looked back at various states of the
Warring States period and said that Confucians in the state of Qi loved
the classics and the accomplishments and of those in the state of Lu that
they honored ritual and rightness. Qi Confucians discussed politics and
government and argued that only the worthy should govern. Mencius was
said to have been influenced by the Confucians of Qi and we have seen that
Mencius does not much discuss rites and music. It is also said that the Qi
school based much of its thinking on the yin-yang and five phases theories
(see chapter 9) along with belief in omens.

120 Confucians, Confucian Texts, the Qin Dynasty

The Confucians of Confucius home state of Lu were said to have taken
the study of ritual as their core; they were not as much interested in government as in rites and music. The Lu school was said to be less systematic in
method, but was interested in morality, and later Confucian metaphysics
was based on their thinking; they were somewhat more involved in methods
of self-cultivation. It is not clear now what the differences were exactly, but
debate between Confucians of Qi and of Lu was vigorous, probably over
the interpretation of the classical tradition.
Xunzi did not describe groups geographically, associated with states. He
listed groups of Confucians whom he described as vulgar. He described
lesser Confucians as claiming loyalty to the early kings, Confucius, and a
Confucian lineage, but, he said, they were not proper Confucians: they
followed the teachings in a partial or distorted way.4
According to the Xunzi, among these lesser Confucians were followers of
Confucius student, Zi Zhang.5 Another group was made up of those who
followed Zi Xia. He was a student of Confucius, a minister to the Marquis
Wen of Wei, and well known for his teaching.6 A third group that Xunzi
describes are the followers of Confucius student Zi You. Zi You held office
in the time of Confucius; Confucius is said to have known that the area
was well governed by the sound of its music. Zi You often appears in the
Analects where he identified the Way with music and rites. The fourth group
of Confucians whom Xunzi disliked were those who claimed to follow Zi
Si, the grandson of Confucius; Mencius was Zi Sis student.7
Xunzi did approve of one of Confucius students, Zigong, saying he
transmitted the Confucian teachings of Confucius and the Duke of Zhou.8
Other students of Confucius who were mentioned as the founding teachers of Confucian groups include Yan Hui from Lu; Yan Hui, as we have
seen, was praised and mourned by Confucius. His group is said to have
emphasized poetry. Another was Qi Diao. The Han Shu Yi Wen Zhi lists
a book under his name, which is no longer extant. The Han Feizi says his
group emphasized ritual. Zhong Liang, also from the state of Lu, is seen in
the Book of Rites Tang Gong chapter discussing funeral ritual; his group
was said to have emphasized music.9
It is not easy to trace all the Confucian groups or the points of debate
among them and I must ask the readers pardon for these partial descriptions. The difficulty of assigning the texts and traditions to any one of the
groups listed in the Xunzi, the Han Feizi, and elsewhere should by now
be clear.
Confucians, even though divided, were recognizable throughout the
Warring States era. They were defined, and defined themselves, as loyal
to Confucius teachings. They followed Confucius, the ancient sage-kings,
and their heroes, the early founders of the Zhou dynasty. They read and
taught versions of certain texts. They talked about morality, ritual, being

Confucians, Confucian Texts, the Qin Dynasty

121

a gentleman, and government for the benefit of the people even if they
disagreed about the basis for these ideas.
Scholars in recent times have held very different opinions about the ways
in which Confucians of the Warring States era operated. For example,
Mark Csikszentmihalyi argues that Confucians were involved in independent traditions that each took their authority from Confucius. The outlook
of each group significantly differed from all the rest and these differences
were more than just differences in interpretation of a single teacher.10 Nylan
understands the term Ru to have referred not just to strict followers of
Confucius, saying that the term applied to a number of professional classicists who had studied Confucius, but used that education to further their
own ambitions or those of their state. This is in contrast to the smaller
groups of self-identified ethical followers of Confucius.11
There are wide differences in opinion. Some see Confucian groups as
having similar concerns and vocabulary, but emphasizing one part of
Confucius teaching and drawing their authority from a teaching lineage.
Others see Confucian groups as far more distinct from each other. Still others,
like Nylan, argue that many of the figures we have called Confucian were
scholars who were not necessarily committed to Confucius teachings.
While the two great interpreters of Confucius thought in the classical
period are clearly Mencius and Xunzi, there were other Confucians with
other points of view. There seem to have been some Confucians who
believed everything in life was ordained by fate and others who denied
the existence of an afterlife. Their enemies describe Confucians with these
views, though no trace of them can be found in what would become the
Confucian canon. Were their enemies wrong or exaggerating? Have their
views been edited out of the texts? We can find some hints in the classics,
particularly in the discussions of music, of Confucians who thought that
human nature was neither basically good nor evil, but just natural. This
would seem to be yet another Confucian interpretation.
The divisions we see among classical Confucians continued on through
Chinese history as one thinker or another reinterpreted Confucius and came
to an interpretation he thought was the correct one.

Confucius and Confucian Texts

One of the markers of following Confucius was the study of, and allegiance
to, certain texts. The Zhuangzi says that Confucius went to the Zhou court
to deposit his books. When he was asked to sum them up, Confucius said
they rested on humanity and rightness. Zhuangzis stories are made up, but
they show the perception that Confucius and certain books were connected.
These texts were tied to Confucius thought and contained his teachings.

122 Confucians, Confucian Texts, the Qin Dynasty

The Zhuangzi names six texts in another discussion where Confucius says
he has studied six classics: the books of Poetry and History, the Spring and
Autumn Annals, the Book of Changes, the Book of Rites, and the Classic
of Music.12
When it comes to understanding these texts how they are made up, and
what they were we need to be very careful. The problems around these
texts are similar to problems around most early texts: what constituted a
text? who wrote it and when? which version of, for example, The Book of
History was Confucius, Mencius, or Xunzi referring to?
One of the problems in discussing these books is the way in which the
books themselves were put together. The texts themselves were fluid in two
senses. First, they were not books, but a collection of chapters that could
be combined in different ways. Second, many of the older texts, like The
Book of History, were used by schools of both Confucians and Mohists, for
example, but there were different versions. The Book of History is thought
to have become a standardized text only by the time of Xunzi.13
Another problem involves the term classic. In the Analects, Confucius
does not refer to classics. He says that texts are important, but it is later
Confucians who describe them as essential. We have seen Confucius say
that one should study The Book of Poetry and that it is important to do
so, but only because it was useful, not because it was a classic.
Mencius talks about classics as the essential teaching of Confucius and
the sage-kings. By the time of Xunzi, the texts were beginning to be recognized as a set. Many of these texts, like The Book of Poetry, were originally
part of a common tradition. Confucians appropriated that tradition and
claimed to speak for it. The reason Confucians appropriated these traditional texts was that they believed that Confucius had written, edited, or
expurgated them.
The oldest texts are The Book of Poetry and The Book of History. The
Book of Poetry is a collection of 305 poems and songs.14 Parts may date
back to early Zhou, while some poems may be as late as the Spring and
Autumn period, that is from the tenth to the seventh centuries BCE. The
poems include everything from praise of the early Zhou rulers to romantic love poems. Some of the poems are thought to be criticisms of rulers,
couched in folk poetry. The text was meant to be read aloud, chanted
as Mencius says. It was memorized by upper-class men who used poetical
references from it when they spoke as a sign of their good breeding. These
poems were shared by the culture at large. Confucius taught this poetry and
his followers came to believe that the text was associated with his teaching.
They believed that Confucius had selected each poem out of three thousand
original poems and that The Book of Poetry had been edited by him.
The Book of History contains speeches and stories that claim to describe
the history of events from the times of the sage-kings to the 600s BCE.15

Confucians, Confucian Texts, the Qin Dynasty

123

The texts descriptions of early periods are considered quite unreliable.

Even Mencius doubted their truthfulness and said, It would be better if
there had been no Book of History than to believe everything it says.16
While most of the early material it covers is considered unreliable, reliability improves as it goes along. The Book of History does not just recount
history, but describes a history that it understands as made up of moral
lessons. Like The Book of Poetry, there were a number of versions of The
Book of History circulating during the Warring States period. Confucius
was said to have taught this text to his students, and it was believed that
he had written or edited it.
During the Warring States period, each state kept its own annals. These
were histories of the activities and events in the state, set out by ruler and
subdivided into seasons. The Spring and Autumn Annals is a chronicle of
the history of the state of Lu. Its full title is the SpringSummerAutumn
Winter Annals. In the city of Qufu, in the Confucian temple area, there
is a bench said to be the one on which Confucius wrote this text. The
Spring and Autumn Annals has traditionally received a great deal of attention as Confucius is reputed to have said, If I am to gain recognition
it is because of my work on the Annals, if I am to be condemned it is
because of my work on the Annals. Mencius confirms the importance
of the text by saying that when Confucius completed it, the Spring and
Autumn Annals struck terror into the hearts of rebellious subjects and
sons who did not do their duty.17
The difficulty with this is that there is very little in the way of moral
teachings in the text and often it is, frankly, boring. For example, the
entry describing the 22nd year of the rule of Duke Zhuang says, In his
twenty-second year, in the spring, the Duke proclaimed a great amnesty.
Our duchess Wen Jiang was buried in Guichou. The people of Chen killed
their dukes son, Yu Kou. It was summer, the fifth month. In the seventh
month, autumn, in Bing Shen, the duke made a treaty with Gao Hou of
Ze in Fang. In the winter, the Duke went to Ze with offerings of silk for
a marriage contract.18 Most of the text is like this. Not only do we not
find discussions of humanity and ritual, but the references the text makes
to events and figures in other states are incomplete.
For this reason the Spring and Autumn Annals is usually read with its
commentary, the Zuo Zhuan. A commentary is a book that explains, or in
the case of the Zuo Zhuan, expands on, another book. The Zuo Zhuan is
a much more lively account of what was happening to various states and
their leaders. For the passage from the Spring and Autumn Annals above,
the Zuo Zhuan tells us that the reason the duke proclaimed a great amnesty
was to atone for the very bad behavior of his mother before her burial. It
also tells us that it was not the people who killed Yu Kou, but a plot set
up by Yu Kous father. The dukes offer of a marriage contract, so soon

124 Confucians, Confucian Texts, the Qin Dynasty

Trigrams above, hexagram below

Figure 8.1 Trigrams and hexagrams in the Book of Changes

after the death of his mother, was considered scandalous and the lady he
became engaged to had as bad a reputation as his late mother. The Zuo
Zhuan commentary has been dated to the fourth century BCE and is the
work of a number of authors.
The Book of Changes or Yi Jing is a book of divination. You may be
more familiar with the title in the WadeGiles version, the I Ching.19 Yi
means change, and the text is meant to be a description of the process
of change. One learns how to avoid misfortune and how to take advantage of opportunities in that process of change. Divination is based on two
lines, solid ______ and broken ___ ___. These lines are arranged in groups
of three, trigrams, beginning with the two basic trigrams, one of which is
three solid lines, the other three broken lines. The solid and broken lines
can be interchanged to make a total of eight trigrams. These eight trigrams
are then multiplied by themselves to make up the final 64 hexagrams or
six-line symbols (see figure 8.1). Each of the 64 hexagrams is meant to
represent some point in a constant, regular, cycle of change or progression
in both the universe and human activity.20

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125

The system of the basic eight trigrams was believed to have been invented
by the sage-king Fu Xi. The hexagram system was said to have been set up
by King Wen, the Confucian hero and founder of the Zhou dynasty. The
Ten Wings and commentaries and explanations of the text were said to
have been written by Confucius himself, but modern scholarship dates them
to the early Han dynasty.
These explanations contain a great deal of moral advice and discussion, so this may be why Confucius was associated with them. The Book
of Changes later became the basis for feng shui, the art of placement. It is
still widely used today in divination, where ones situation in the process is
described and advice given about love, business, and the future.
These texts existed in some form before Confucius, but, as you can
see, all of them were believed to have been connected to him. Confucius
students, and those who followed them, believed that Confucius thought
could be seen in the moral lessons in the historical, poetical, and divination
texts that he had handled and taught. Modern scholarship has debunked
these beliefs and rejects the traditional association of Confucius and these
texts.
Confucius taught his students the classical learning that included the
things that Confucius himself had learned as a boy and young man: poetry,
history, literature, ritual, and music. It is after Confucius that these areas
of learning become associated with texts, like The Book of History and
The Book of Poetry.
There are two more texts mentioned in Zhuangzis description of
Confucius classics. These are the Book of Rites and the Classic of Music.
While Confucius certainly talked about ritual, the Book of Rites that we
now have is not a text he used. It was written after Confucius.21 The text
contains everything from instructions for royal ceremonies to descriptions
of rules about the kind of wood that can be used in coffins, depending on
ones rank, to the ways in which wedding gifts should be exchanged. So
there are parts that are more like manuals of rituals or instructions. Other
parts of the text have philosophical discussions and this is where we find a
great deal of material we can also find in the Xunzi. Two chapters of the
Book of Rites would later go on to have a life of their own.
The first of these chapters is The Great Learning,22 a work traditionally attributed to Confucius grandson, Zi Si. It is a compact rsum of
Confucian ethical and political philosophy. The Great Learning presents
its arguments in chain arguments. Once it establishes one link, it leads
to another:
Once things are investigated, knowledge is complete. Once knowledge is
complete, thought is sincere. Once thought is sincere, the mind/heart is put
straight. When the mind/heart is put straight, the self is cultivated. When

126 Confucians, Confucian Texts, the Qin Dynasty

the self is cultivated, families can be regulated. When families are regulated,
the country is governed well. Once the country is governed well, the whole
world is at peace.

The basic idea is that we must begin with moral self-cultivation. We do

that by investigating things, extending knowledge, being sincere in our
thoughts, and rectifying the mind. Self-cultivation is the basis for a wellordered family, a well-governed state and a harmonious world. The text
solidly links ethics and politics. Later Confucians would give this chapter
singular prominence (see chapter 11).
The second chapter from the Book of Rites that will later gain prominence is the Doctrine of the Mean.23 It too was traditionally attributed to
Confucius grandson, Zi Si. It discusses the mean, the middle course. This
mean, or balance, is also the harmony of the universe, so the text is one of
the few texts that deal with the transcendent.
To have no emotions of pleasure and anger, sorrow or joy surging up is called
being in a state of balance/mean. To have these emotions surging up but all
in due time is called being in a state of harmony. The state of balance is the
supreme foundation of the world and the state of harmony is its universal
path. Once balance and harmony are achieved, Heaven and Earth maintain
their proper positions and all things are nourished.

Balance is found in going beyond the emotions; harmony in controlling

the emotions. The human state of balance or harmony resonates with the
universe.
We also find a discussion of the virtue of sincerity, which is brought to
the forefront in the Doctrine of the Mean. This virtue has been described
as having no distinction between what is internal to oneself and what one
does. In this way we are completely without self-interest. Here sincerity is
expanded to mean that one loses the distinction between what is oneself
and what is other:
Sincerity is the Way of Heaven, to become sincere is the Way of human beings.
To be sincere is to hit the balance without effort, to possess it without the
processes of thought, and to be centered in the Way with a natural ease this
is to be a sage. To be sincere is to choose the good and hold to it.

The Doctrine of the Mean will be used by later Confucians to give a transcendent element to their interpretation of Confucius thought.
What is missing is the Yue Jing, the Classic of Music. There are references
to it in Warring States texts like the Xunzi and the Zhuangzi. There was a
Yue Jing, a Classic of Music, in the Han dynasty and this was understood
by later Confucians to be the Classic of Music. However, this text cannot be

Confucians, Confucian Texts, the Qin Dynasty

127

the Classic of Music referred to in the Warring States period. In 136 BCE,
the Han emperor Wu set up five seats of learning in the imperial academy
for the study of the classics, but these did not include a seat for music. There
was no Yue Jing until the reign of Wang Mang (823 CE) who had a Yue
Jing written. As a usurper of the throne, his aim was to legitimize his rule
and, like the Duke of Zhou, establish the rites and set up music. So the
text from the Han is not the real Classic of Music.
We do, however, have chapters in various texts that are devoted to
philosophical discussions of music. The first is the Yue Lun, the Discussion
of Music, a chapter found in the Xunzi. Much of the Discussion of Music
from the Xunzi is quoted verbatim in the Yue Ji, the Record of Music, now
a chapter in the Book of Rites. The third source is found in the Shi Ji and
is the Yue Ben, the Book of Music. It repeats the Record of Music. The
final source is sections on music in the Lu Shi Chun Qiu compiled about
240 BCE. A pre-Qin encyclopedic work, it is traditionally said to have
been written by scholars of the Confucian, Mohist, and Daoist schools for
Lu Buwei (d.235 BCE).24 What remains unknown is whether any of these
chapters were what was referred to as the Classic of Music in the Warring
States period, or if that Warring States text has vanished.
During the Warring States era, various Confucian groups studied the
group of texts, many of which, as we shall see, would come to form the
Confucian canon. They also wrote texts. After the death of Confucius, we
have the Analects; after the death of Mencius, we have the Mencius; while
Xunzi may have written much of the Xunzi, it was compiled in its present
form after his death. Confucians also wrote the Classic of Filial Piety,
which describes the central Confucian virtue of filial piety (see chapter 2).
It is a very short work that shows Confucius in conversation with one of
his students on the topic of filial piety. The text is thought to be linked to
a chapter in the Book of Rites, and may have been composed before 239
BCE because passages from it appear in the Lu Shi Chunqiu, a text from
that date.25 Confucians also wrote the Book of Rites and included much
of Xunzis thought. Others extended and commented on other texts like
the Zuo Zhuan commentary for the Spring and Autumn Annals. Some
commentary from various groups may have been incorporated into texts
like The Book of History along with their interpretations of Confucius
teachings.
Throughout history, some of these texts, and the pictures that they
present of Confucius, have been preferred to others. From the Warring
States era on, various scholars have, at various times, emphasized certain
texts as representative of Confucius and his thought. The Han dynasty
established what are called the Five Classics, The Book of History, The
Book of Poetry, the Spring and Autumn Annals, the Book of Rites, and
the Book of Changes. In the Middle Ages, Confucians chose The Four

128 Confucians, Confucian Texts, the Qin Dynasty

Books the Analects, the Mencius, the Great Learning, and the Doctrine
of the Mean as the most representative of Confucius teachings. Texts
have been preferred or neglected depending on how Confucius thought
has been interpreted.

The First Emperor and the Reunification of China

In the past the empire was fragmented and in confusion. Now your Majesty
has unified all under heaven yet these adherents of private theories band
together to criticize the laws and directives each one proceeds to discuss it
in light of his private theories. At court they disapprove in their hearts; outside
they debate on the street. They hold it a mark of fame to criticize the ruler,
regard it as lofty to take a dissenting stance. I request that all writings,
The Book of Poetry, The Book of History, and all the sayings of the hundred
schools of philosophy be discarded and done away with.26

The state of Qin, located in the west of Warring States China, had always
been considered semi-barbaric, backward, and uncouth by people in the
central states. In 361 BCE, the duke of the state of Qin hired Shang Yang,
who put into practice his ideas about government (see chapter 5). The result
was a strong, centralized government where noble families had little power.
In a change that ended the old feudal system, taxes were paid directly to
the ruler. Government was based on the military model and military leaders
had, in many cases, risen through the ranks following Shang Yangs idea
of rewarding meritorious service. While the army was strong, taxes were
high to maintain it. In Legalist fashion, people were encouraged to spy on
one another, a legal code was established, and the laws were harsh and
strictly enforced. Families were divided into groups of five or ten and each
group was responsible for the behavior of the individuals in it: if one broke
the law, they were all punished.27
One difficulty that Legalists found with Legalist thought, when put into
practice, was that it made life uncertain for everyone, but especially for
those at the top. People were concerned only with power and their own
self-interest, intrigue and plots were common, and many of Qins top officials, or those who wanted to be, died early and often gruesomely. When
the Duke of Qin, who had hired Shang Yang, died, Shang Yang was killed
by assassins employed by the new duke. Li Si, one of Xunzis students, took
over as prime minister and was likely the source of the orders to kill his
fellow student, Han Feizi, when he visited Qin in 233 BCE.28
In the decade from 230 to 221 BCE, Qin conquered the last of its
enemies, the states of Han, Zhao, Wei, Chu, Yan, and Qi. Some of the
states in the central region had belatedly formed an alliance against Qin
and sent assassins to try to kill the ruler of Qin. Following the Strategists

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129

advice, Qin used bribery, assassins, and terror: they are reported to have
once butchered an enemy army of, so it is said, 100,000 men who had
surrendered. The aim was to terrify any enemy soldiers facing them in the
next battle. The state of Qin finally conquered all of the China of the time
in 221 BCE.
The ruler of the state of Qin was now the ruler of all of China and called
himself The First Emperor.29 The same rules and Legalist philosophy of
government that had governed Qin now governed all of China. Li Si continued as prime minister and devoted himself to centralizing government as
he had in Qin. The old system where the nobility were given land in return
for loyalty was rejected. Instead the territory was divided and governed by
officials appointed by the central government. Civil and military authority
were divided and both were controlled by the emperor. This system laid
the foundation for the imperial period to come.
Now that one government ruled a unified country, weights and measures,
which had been different in each small state, were made uniform. Similarly
the writing system, which had many regional variants, was standardized.
Even the size of carts was made uniform so that the tracks in mud roads
would be the same for all.
Weapons were gathered from all over the country and wealthy, noble
families were moved to the neighborhood of the capital so that the government could keep an eye on them. Spying and denunciation were encouraged.
The First Emperor joined together the many walls along the borders of
northern states to begin what would become the Great Wall of China.30
He also had a number of palaces built, along with an enormous tomb.
Westerners know the First Emperor best through the discovery in 1974 of
the thousands of terracotta soldiers that guard this tomb. The rows and
rows of infantry, cavalry, archers, and generals, all made of clay, are considered one of the greatest archaeological finds of the twentieth century.
All of this was expensive. Taxes were high and the walls and the palaces
were built with forced labor. As the First Emperor expanded his territory,
people were deported to these new areas.
Han dynasty historians hated the First Emperor and accused him of
executing anyone who criticized him or his government. They also said
that in 213 BCE the First Emperor ordered that all books, except those on
medicine, divination, and agriculture, should be burned. Han Feizi was of
the opinion that books are not good for the state because they encourage
opinions; Li Sis rejected texts might glorify the past and use that past to
criticize the present. Given this, the order to destroy books is not out of
line with the First Emperors thought. There are wonderful stories of brave
scholars facing death rather than giving up their books and families that
hid their texts in walls and roof thatch.31 Over 400 scholars approached the
emperor and appealed to him to save the books. It has always been thought

130 Confucians, Confucian Texts, the Qin Dynasty

Figure 8.2 Wall where, it is said, the classics were hidden from the First Emperor

that most of these scholars would have been Confucians, as they were most
closely tied to the texts. The First Emperor had the scholars buried alive
in a pit and has been known ever since, in the Chinese phrase, as the one
who burned the books and buried the scholars.
This is a tremendous story, pitting the forces of culture and knowledge
against the despotic power of ignorance. However, it is likely just a story.
We now know that there were scholars of the classics appointed to the
First Emperors court as experts in The Book of Poetry and The Book of
History. None of the texts used at court were subject to this ban. The real
damage to the transmission of texts was when the Qin capital fell and the
imperial library was burned.32
The First Emperor had reason to fear for his life: there were a number
of assassination attempts. Because of this, and in line with the Legalist
notion that the emperor should be unknown and mysterious, he was forced
to travel secretly and to take a number of security precautions. The First
Emperor did tour the country, ensuring that his orders were being carried
out, and to search for immortality. He was convinced, as were many of his
time, that by finding special foods or drinks he could become immortal. In

Confucians, Confucian Texts, the Qin Dynasty

131

the 11th year of his rule, while following up a report of a marvelous sea
creature whose flesh could ensure immortality, the First Emperor died at the
age of 49. Far away from the capital, his death was kept a secret by filling
his carriage with salted fish so that the smell from his decaying body could
not be identified. So it was that the First Emperor of China returned to his
capital to be buried just outside of the present-day city of Xian. Li Si, still
prime minister, engineered a coup against the First Emperors oldest son
and had another son crowned as his fathers successor. This son, in turn,
had Li Si executed.33 Three years of civil war followed with the enemies of
the Qin rulers breaking into the First Emperors tomb and stealing weapons
from the terracotta warrior statues that were meant to protect the First
Emperor in the afterlife.
The Qin dynasty, which the First Emperor had proclaimed would last
for ten thousand years, ended with the establishment of the Han dynasty in
207 BCE, a mere 14 years after it had been established. The Qin dynastys
lasting success was in setting up many of the institutions that were used for
the next two thousand years in imperial China.

9
The Han Dynasty,
206 BCE220 CE1

History and Development

There were a number of rebellions against the Qin dynasty after the death of
the First Emperor. Liu Bang, who began as a farmer, was one of the rebels,
and he led forces that captured the Qin capital, Xianyang, in 206 BCE.
During the civil war, when Liu Bang was fighting against Xiang Yu for
control of China, Liu Bangs armies encircled the capital of the old state
of Lu. In the city, Confucians, many of whom had supported Xiang Yu,
carried on discussions, chanted poetry, and performed music. In a show
of courage and defiance, they ignored the imminent attack from the leader
they had not supported and the sounds of their playing and singing did
not cease.2 Liu Bang went on to establish the Han dynasty as its first
emperor, Gaozu.
The Han dynasty lasted for four hundred years and was roughly contemporary with the Roman Empire in the West. It was, in general, a very
successful dynasty, expanding its territory both north and south to include
much of what we think of as China today. Iron tools and weapons were
mass-produced in factories. Han military successes were aided by the use
of the crossbow, not seen in Europe till the 900s. The government encouraged settlement in the newly opened north and northwest by tax breaks
and grants. Improvements in food production,3 which had begun during
the Warring States era, meant that there was a surplus of food produced by
farmers who often owned their own land. The government sponsored irrigation projects and the building of roads, bridges, and dams. The result was
a strong internal economy. Foreign trade boomed too: by the first century
BCE, silk and other goods were being sold along the Silk Road to the
west, to India, to what is now the Middle East, and beyond, as far as Rome.
There were other technological advances. Horse harnesses were changed
to put the pressure on the horses chest, not its windpipe, to make it

The Han Dynasty, 206 BCE220 CE

133

easier for a horse to pull greater loads. The wheelbarrow was invented.
Astronomers calculated the orbits of the sun, moon, and planets, the path
of meteors, and the occurrence of eclipses. The Han dynasty had accurate
water clocks, used paper, and calculated the value of pi.4
Liu Bang, the Gaozu Emperor, had no reason to admire Confucians,
but he did have a government to run. He imitated the Qin bureaucracy
and set up a system like the Qin dynastys, with senior and junior ministers each having his own ministry and clear responsibilities. An edict in
196 BCE to bring men of merit into the government is often marked as
the beginning of Confucian influence in government. Fifty years later, the
government prohibited men who had studied Legalist texts from taking
office. In 136 BCE, the government established five seats of learning for
experts in five texts: the books of Poetry, History, Ritual, and Changes,
and the Spring and Autumn Annals. By 124, Emperor Wu had established
an academy where students could study the classics and were examined
on them; if the student passed the examination, he would be eligible for
government employment. The numbers of students at this academy grew
dramatically: it began with 50 and by 144 CE had, it is said, 30,000
students.5 This did not immediately end hereditary posts held by nobles,
but it began the process.
Traditionally, it has been thought that the establishment of seats of learning for each classic in the government-sponsored academy was the triumph
of Confucianism. Those trained in the Confucian classics became, by
virtue of this training, the political elite, bringing philosophy and morality
to the institutions of government. Instead of being merely one voice among
many in the Warring States era, from the Han dynasty on Confucianism
becomes the single dominant voice, and this continues throughout Chinese
history up to the 1900s.
Things are, unfortunately, never this clear-cut. Throughout the Han,
thinkers educated in the classics were mostly ignored and occasionally threatened with execution. Among the Confucians, there was little
agreement about what constituted a Confucian orthodoxy or the correct
way to interpret the classics, as we shall see shortly. Finally, scholars
were not, by any means, all Confucians. Despite their one years study
at the imperial academy, many thinkers were advocating everything from
Legalism to immortality techniques. Confucianism does not seem to have
had much impact on either government or society until very late in the
Han dynasty.
While the Han dynasty cannot be seen as an obvious triumph for
Confucianism, still, the establishment of the academy and the elevation
of the Five Classics did allow for the Confucian appropriation of the classics and for vigorous activity among scholars that laid the foundations for
developments in the Confucian tradition throughout the imperial period.6

134 The Han Dynasty, 206 BCE220 CE

The Classics in the Han

Whatever the truth about the First Emperors orders to destroy books, by
the time of the Han scholars believed that the textual tradition had been
broken. They thought that the texts they had were incomplete and so their
focus was on restoring, preserving, and interpreting these texts. Sima Tan
(d.110 BCE) and his son, Sima Qian (145c.86 BCE), wrote the Shi Ji, the
Records of the Historian, a history meant to restore what had been lost in
the Qin. Liu Xiang (7978 BCE) and his son, Liu Xin (46 BCE23 CE),
imperial librarians, rewrote the texts in the imperial library into the standard characters of the time. They took the material they had and divided it
into books, further subdividing these books into chapters. They also deleted
some material. The result was the form of the texts that we use today.7
Confucians of the Han dynasty should be seen less as a school than as
scholars of the classics. They saw themselves as interpreters of the Five
Classics, and these five classics were problematic. The Spring and Autumn
Annals is a prime example of their problems. Confucius had said that his
reputation stood on the text. But, as we have seen, the text consists of terse
notes of events in the state of Lu. During the Warring States period the
Zuo Zhuan was written as a commentary on it. By the time of the Han,
Confucian scholars were left with a cryptic classic, the Annals, and its
commentary, the Zuo Zhuan, neither of which seemed to reflect Confucius
teachings very much. How could this be?

The New Text School

In the Han dynasty, Confucians disagreed about what versions of the classics to use and how to understand them. The dominant group is called the
New Text School. Their name is based on their use of the new style of
writing begun in the Qin and used by the Han. Their versions of the classics
were written in that style, they used the yin-yang and five phases theories
to interpret the classics, and they understood Confucius to be a very special
kind of person. The New Text Schools was the dominant interpretation of
the five classics in the Han dynasty.
The most well known of the New Text scholars is Dong Zhongshu
(c.179104 BCE). His thought is systematized in the marvelously named text
The Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals.8 Dong Zhongshus
interpretation was based on two theories that we find throughout the New
Text School: the yin-yang theory and the five phases theory. These theories
were used by the New Text School to find the hidden meanings in the classics, especially in the more obscure texts like the Spring and Autumn Annals.

The Han Dynasty, 206 BCE220 CE

135

Figure 9.1 Yin-yang symbol

The Yin-Yang Theory

References to yin and yang can be found in the Warring States era.9 Yin
originally meant shade as in the shady side of a hill; yang originally
meant sunshine, as in the sunny side of a hill. These meanings were
extended to include ideas like cold and dark, hot and light. The yin-yang
theory began as an observation about the seasons and yin or yang was
assigned to them. So in the spring, yang begins to grow, while yin declines;
yang grows until it reaches its height in the longest, hottest days of summer.
Then yang begins to decline in the autumn, while yin grows and the days
become shorter, the weather cooler. Yin continues to increase until the
coldest, shortest, darkest days of winter. Yin reaches its height and then
begins its decline as yang begins to grow, moving us again to spring. Yin
and yang work in a continuing cycle.
The yin-yang system can also be applied to the cycle of day and night:
yang reaches its height at midday with the highest point of the sun and
begins its decline as yin increases. Yin reaches its high point with the darkest
time of the night, then begins its decline, and so on. Westerners are usually
familiar with the yin-yang symbol (figure 9.1).10
As neither yin nor yang dominates the other, but ebbs and flows in
concert with it, the yin-yang system has been seen as complementary.
This means that, unlike a dualist system of opposites, where good fights
evil, for example, yin and yang may be opposites, but they complement
each other rather than conflict with one another.

136 The Han Dynasty, 206 BCE220 CE

Han dynasty scholars were very much taken by the yin-yang theory. With
it, and the five phases theory, which we will look at next, they believed
they had found the secret to the ways in which everything in the universe
worked. As a result we have a number of texts describing the yin-yang
theory and categorizing everything as yin or as yang. The rule of categorization was likeness. This means that yang is hot, so is the sun, so the sun is
also yang. Similarly, yin is cool, so is snow, so snow is yin. Elaborate lists
were developed dividing all sorts of things into the categories of yin or yang.
Yang
heaven
round
day
big states
ruler
superiors/above
man
father
older brother
noble
broad-minded
giving
active
hot
straight
birth
full

Yin
earth
square
night
small states
minister
inferiors/below
woman
son
younger brother
base
narrow-minded
receiving
passive
cold
curved
death
empty

By understanding which item is yin and which is yang, it should be possible to figure out how things work and how they work together. Human
beings can either follow the proper order and measure of yin and yang
or run counter to them. If we act against the cycle of yin and yang and
disrupt its balance, we can, for example, become ill. Illness is the imbalance of yin and yang in the body. The idea that we must all move with the
universal actions of yin and yang is the reason that many of the yin-yang
texts are concerned about the actions of the ruler, the representative of
all human beings, whose actions, emotions, rituals, dress, and food must
follow the proper measure appropriate to the movements of yin and yang.
For example, rulers who go to war and bring death during the season of
yang, life and growth, are running contrary to the natural balance of things
and will pay the price. Should the ruler not follow yin and yang properly,
the seasons could be disrupted, the harvests fail, or the state be lost. The
yin-yang theorists often argued that it was extravagance and imbalance that

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137

ruined states and that the ruler should restrain himself and act according
to the universal yin and yang.
Yin-yang theorists believed they had discovered a universal system that
explained how all things worked and provided a blueprint for the best
actions of the individual and the state. Following this blueprint would lead
to balance, harmony, and success; working against it would lead to illness,
famine, social chaos, and the loss of civilization.
The yin-yang theory has some serious problems, of course. First it
assumes that like moves like and so the reason we feel sleepy on a
rainy day is that the yin in the rain evokes the yin in us. It is true that
we often feel sleepy on a rainy day, but it is not because of the yin in
the weather evoking yin feelings of sleepiness in us; going to war in the
summer takes farmers away from their work and tramples crops and so it
may be unsuccessful, quite aside from anything to do with the workings
of yin and yang. Second, many of the pairs of opposites in the yin-yang
system do not work in the same way that yin as winter and yang as
summer work. So, for example, a government minister does not increase
to his height and then decline in relation to a ruler who also increases
and declines. Many of the pairs of opposites are not opposites in the same
cyclical way that summer and winter are. Third, as you can see from the
list there is a preference for yang, something the yin-yang texts openly
admit. Things that are more affirmative or appreciated have ended up in
the yang column: broad-minded, noble, active, and birth for example.
Finally, assigning gender in the way that the yin-yang texts do is problematic. Male is yang: Spring [plays the role of] father and gives birth
to things; summer [plays the role of] son and nurtures them.11 In the
yin-yang system, if nowhere else, the statement yang is male and gives
birth makes sense. Yang is heaven, heaven gives birth to things in the
yang seasons; yang grows in spring and reaches its height in summer, crops
grow in spring and reach their height in summer.12

Qi
The yin-yang texts talk a great deal about qi, saying things like, it is the
yang qi that grows in the spring. There is no good English equivalent for
the Chinese word qi. It has been translated in many ways, as air, vital
spirit, energy, ether, and so on. You will find today many Westerners
using the word, often incorrectly, with no clear idea of what it means.13
Early in Chinese texts, qi was used to describe a persons character, to
describe emotions, or to describe the atmosphere of a place, and it is still
used that way in words in modern Chinese. Later theories about qi became
more elaborate. It was argued that qi makes up all things and comes in

138 The Han Dynasty, 206 BCE220 CE

various forms. Scholars called it heavy or light qi. In its lighter forms,
qi can be air, light, electricity, or energy; qi in its heavier forms makes up
things like the earth, a desk, or objects perceivable by the senses. An object,
like a desk, may look inert, but it is qi, just qi moving very slowly. Human
beings are made up of qi in many forms: heavy qi forms the bones, slightly
less heavy qi is the flesh, qi in its liquid state is the blood and fluids of the
body, qi is the character and emotions of a person, and qi as sheer energy
animates us as a living person.
The New Text scholars argued that, given that qi is found in the universe
and in human beings, it is what connects everything. Human government,
human life, and human health are all based on the same processes that
everything else in the universe is based on. So when the yin of a rainy day
evokes the yin in a person to cause sleepiness, it is the yin qi of the universe
reacting with the yin qi of the human being that makes this happen.
Taking this further, Dong Zhongshu argues that the qi, the energy and
emotions found in human beings, are also found in Heaven, the workings
of the universe itself. Human emotions are influenced by the actions of
Heaven, and Heaven, in turn, is influenced by human actions and emotions.
All things share the same qi and this is the way the microcosm human
beings and the macrocosm Heaven interact.
The New Text scholars see Heaven as both anthropomorphic, acting
like a human being, and as a natural process, but do not discuss how this
works.14 They do, however, talk about Heaven and Earth (nature, the
universe) and human beings as forming a triad. In this triad, the actions of
one part affect the actions of another. They say,
Heaven, earth, and human beings are the origin of all things. Heaven gives
birth to everything; earth nourishes everything and human beings perfect
them. Heaven gives birth by providing filial piety and respect for elders; earth
nourishes by providing clothing and food; human beings perfect everything
through ritual and music. These three are like hands and feet that come
together to form a body no one part can be dispensed with.15

In this cosmic triangle, human beings, Heaven, and earth all work together.
Matched with Heaven and Earth, human beings hold an exalted place in
creation. The Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals says,
The essence of Heaven and Earth gives birth to all things and none is more
noble than human beings. Human beings receive the choice of Heaven and
this is what elevates human beings above all creatures. Other creatures are
incapable of practicing humanity and rightness, only human beings can. Other
creatures are incapable of matching themselves with Heaven and Earth, only
human beings can.

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139

The passage continues with some fantastical comparisons of the human

body to the sun and moon and other natural phenomena and concludes by
saying that human beings have a mind/heart that expresses sadness, happiness, joy, and anger the same class of feelings as the spirit-like feelings
of Heaven.16
It is the responsibility of human beings, in particular of the ruler, to
make sure that actions and emotions match the cycles of Heaven and
earth. The ruler has the choice of Heaven and is the Son of Heaven. As the
representative of human beings, the rulers moods and actions are reflected
in the moods and actions of Heaven. So, for example, the ruler must not
be angry or carry out executions in the spring as this works against the
growing yang of Heaven. If the ruler runs counter to the cycles of Heaven,
Heaven will send signs and omens like floods, famines, or three-headed
calves to show its displeasure.

The Five Phases17

The New Text school used a second theory in concert with the yin-yang
theory to map the movements of human beings and the universe. This is the
five phases theory, which is based on five basic elements that move from
one phase to another. These are wood, fire, metal, water, and earth. Each
presides over a season, changing, as yin and yang do, from growth to decay
in the cycle of a year. They fit with the movements of yin and yang. Wood
overcomes earth, metal overcomes wood, fire overcomes metal, water overcomes fire. Like the yin and the yang, the five phases move through a cycle:
wood
fire
metal
water
earth

east
south
west
north
center

green
red
white
black
yellow18

growing yang
full yang
growing yin
full yin

The five phases correspond to five colors, the five notes of the pentatonic
scale, five organs of the human body (liver, heart, spleen, kidneys, and
lungs), five tastes (sweet, salty, bitter, spicy, and sour), and so on. Looking
back in history, each dynasty was assigned one of the phases, along with
a color, direction, and so on. As one dynasty fell to another, this was
explained by the movement from one phase to another.
Just as the ruler had to reflect the movements of yin and yang, so too
was he required to align himself with the movements of the five phases.
The colors of the clothes he wore, the food that he ate, the direction of the
palace rooms he lived in were all set out according to yin, yang, and the

140 The Han Dynasty, 206 BCE220 CE

five phases. If the ruler did not follow these minute directions, the forces
of nature would be confounded; famine, floods, and the loss of the state
would follow. The yin-yang and five phases theories could be applied to
many things: government, history, or medicine. They also provided the key
to unlocking the real meaning of texts like the Spring and Autumn Annals.

The Status of Confucius

During the Han dynasty, Confucius came to be seen as something more than
just an ordinary person who tried to work out solutions to the problems
of his time. Confucius began to be called the uncrowned king.19 The
thinking behind this title was that Confucius did indeed possess the choice
of Heaven, even though he did not unify China and become its sole ruler.
The jealous machinations of those who envied and feared him, along with
the simple stupidity of those who did not understand him, kept Confucius
from achieving his political goals.
Confucius biography was expanded. In the Records of the Historian
Confucius is no longer just a minor bureaucrat and little-known teacher.
According to Sima Qian, Confucius held positions in the state of Lu, beginning as the police commissioner and moving up to the senior minister levels,
first as the Minister of Public Works and then as the Minister of Justice,
finally becoming the Chief Minister of the state of Lu.20
During the Han dynasty many of the pious stories about Confucius
appeared, which included his miraculous birth and his supernatural powers.
Even descriptions of his appearance were magnified to make him look more
like the typical sage-king.21
Confucius did not exactly become a god, but certainly he was understood
as someone with more power and a higher status than ordinary people.

The Old Text School

Countering the scholars of the New Text School were those of the, predictably named, Old Text School. The first difference between them was the
texts that they used. The Old Text scholars used texts that were supposedly
concealed during Qin and had been rediscovered; these texts were written in
the older form of writing. The more general grounds of disagreement were
the use of the yin-yang and five phases theories, the growing dependence
on divination texts, and the view that Confucius was a semi-divine person.
While there are still disputes about whether the New or Old Text versions
are the real texts, gradually the Old Text versions won out. By the 900s
they were in general use, and they are the ones we read today. However,

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141

the issue was never as much about the texts themselves as about the commentaries, the interpretations of the texts. Scholars knew what Confucius
had taught, the debates were over what that meant.
The leading scholar of the Old Text school is Wang Chong (2797).22 He
rejected what he saw as the superstition of the New Text School, arguing
against most of the popular scholarship and beliefs of his time.
Wang Chong says that qi is natural and spontaneous; it has no purpose
and no emotions. Qi, like the Dao of the philosophical Daoists, does
not intend anything towards us. While it is certainly true that human
beings are made from the same qi as the universe, all that this means
is that we are alike; it does not mean we are connected. Dong Zhongshu
had written that
Spring has the qi of happiness and thus gives birth; fall has the qi of anger,
and thus things die off; summer has the qi of joy, and thus nourishes things;
winter has the qi of sadness, and thus things are hidden. The four seasons
are in the same unity as are heaven and human beings.23

This connection between the workings of Heaven and human beings is

rejected by Wang Chong. He replies,
The way of heaven is to not have any intention. Therefore, spring does not
give birth to things; summer does not grow them; autumn does not ripen
them; winter does not hide them away. The yang qi comes out spontaneously
and things are born and mature; the yin qi rises spontaneously and things are
ripened and hidden away.24

The world works as it works. It does not act for our benefit. We can take
advantage of spring planting and autumn harvest, but they are not purposefully provided for us. Heaven, the universe, and qi act naturally and
spontaneously, and have no aim. There is no special unity among Heaven,
earth, and human beings. The world is here for us to use. It is not here
because it wants to help us:
Heaven gives birth to all creatures everywhere. Some creatures are hungry
for grain and, feeling the cold, need clothing; therefore, people eat grain and
wear clothes. Heaven did not produce the five grains and silk and hemp just
so people could eat them or wear them, nor are calamities sent down to
punish people. Things are spontaneously produced and people wear them
or eat them.25

The reason that human beings cannot affect what Heaven does by our
moods or behavior is that Heaven, the universe, is simply the natural workings of qi. Criticizing the New Text scholars, Wang Chong says,

142 The Han Dynasty, 206 BCE220 CE

When discussing heat and cold, people say that when the ruler is happy, there
is warmth, and when he is angry, there is cold. How is this supposed to work?
Happiness and anger, they say, develop inside the ruler and are expressed on
the outside in the form of rewards and punishments. With these widespread
expressions of happiness, anger, reward and punishments, they can, in the
extreme, cause things to wither and do harm to people.
The Way of Heaven is spontaneity and spontaneity means it does not act
with any ego or intention. It may be that, when people perform divination,
this matches with human events, but this is only by chance. To see these
things as heaven responding to the actions of human beings is to deny the
spontaneity of heaven.26

As Heaven just flows on its course, no behavior, good or bad, from rulers
or any human being has any effect on what it does. Heaven does not send
us omens to warn us about our behavior; it does not care. If there are
floods and famines, they are natural events; they are not meant to warn us
of faults in individual or government behavior. The New Text School is
wrong in its application of yin-yang and five phases theories. It does not
matter what color clothing the emperor wears, what palace rooms he lives
in, what he eats, and when he orders executions. What matters is that he
govern properly.
Human beings have no special place in the universe. Like other animals
or like plants, we are made of qi, we live in a world of qi, but we have
no special status in a triad of Heaven, earth, and human beings. Human
beings have no way to influence Heaven. Wang Chong argues that a flea
may live under a jacket. However, that flea cannot influence the thoughts
and activities of the person wearing the jacket. So, too, human beings
cannot influence the workings of the universe. To think that human beings
hold such an exalted status is to not understand how the world works.27
The New Text scholars are wrong in thinking that Heaven and earth give
birth to human beings on purpose: human beings are born just as all other
creatures are born. There is nothing special about us.
Another fad of the time, the search for immortality, also came under
Wang Chongs fire. He attacked the whole idea of immortality, saying that
it is natural for human beings to die. Animals all die; what would make
human beings so special that they could somehow avoid death? When we
are born, our qi comes together; when we die, our qi comes apart. This
is a natural process that cannot be avoided. Similarly, the idea of ghosts
makes no sense. Many, many people have died, Wang Chong said, so why
do we not see millions of ghosts? Why do we not see ghost birds, ghost
ants, and ghost fish? What makes human beings so special that there are
human ghosts and not mouse ghosts? Finally, ghosts are always reported
to be clothed. Where do their clothes come from? Can they buy them in
ghost stores?

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143

For Wang Chong we live in a world of nature that is like us; we are
part of it, but nature does not concern itself with human beings. Human
beings have no elevated status in the universe; we are just like all the other
animals. Wang Chong did not argue against the yin-yang and five phases
theories in themselves; they had become part of the fabric of the culture. He
did reject the New Text Schools use of these theories to elevate the status
of human beings, to think that we live in a universe that cares about us,
and to create a system that they thought explained everything.

Other Confucian Texts in the Han Dynasty

In addition to the commentaries and texts generated by the New and
Old Text Schools, other scholars were writing other kinds of texts. One,
the Biographies of Women, was a tribute to extraordinary women, like
Mencius mother, written by Liu Xiang (c.807 BCE).28 The women Liu
Xiang chose were almost always women who respected their parents and
their husbands while caring for the children and the family as a whole.
One theme that began in these biographies that we will see more of is the
idea that, once widowed, a virtuous woman will not remarry. She should
remain loyal to her husbands memory and to her husbands family that
she has married into. In the biographies, virtuous women who were forced
into remarriage committed suicide rather than compromising their loyalty.
The same sorts of themes can be found in Admonitions for Women by Ban
Zhao (c.4551c.11420 CE). Sister to a famous historian, Ban Zhao was
a well-educated woman who completed her brothers history. She argued
that in order to be virtuous, women must be chaste in all ways and obedient
to their parents and husbands. However, women should be encouraged to
develop as moral beings and be educated in order to cultivate this morality. This would allow women to nurture their children and provide a good
model for them.
The second kind of book that became very popular and influential by
the end of the Han dynasty and far beyond was collections of stories about
sons and daughters who were fine examples of filial piety.
For much of the Han dynasty, families were small, usually consisting
of four or five people related in the sort of nuclear family we are used to
now. As the Han dynasty began to decline, families that could afford to do
so banded together for protection and economic strength. The families of
the elite became extended families, including brothers and their wives and
children. The tensions in these large families were usually between brothers
who wanted to go their own way outside of the control of their father, and
who wanted their share of the family fortune to do so. The senior males
in these large families needed some way to maintain their control of the

144 The Han Dynasty, 206 BCE220 CE

family. To do this, they found the ideas of filial piety very useful. Just as a
minister is loyal to a ruler, so, too, a child must be loyal to parents; just as
a servant must be obedient to a master, so, too, a child must be obedient to
parents. The ideas of filial piety coming out of the Confucian tradition and
the yin-yang theorys paired opposites fit into this very well. Loyalty and
obedience on the part of children were as natural as the movement from
spring to summer and just as ordained by Heaven.29 A common motif in
these stories was the filial child, who, when his parent was very ill, would
slice off a part of his flesh in order to make a medicine to cure them. It was
considered a sovereign remedy.
An example of these filial piety stories is one about Han Boyu, who
would grow up to become one of Confucius students.
Han Boyu made a mistake. His mother beat him. When he began weeping,
she said, On other days I have beaten you, you have never wept. Why do
you weep today? He answered, On other days when I have committed an
error, your beating always hurt, but today, because of your failing strength,
you are no longer able to cause me pain. This is the reason I weep.
Therefore it is said, The highest form of conduct is that, when your
parents become angry, resentment does not even register in your thoughts,
nor does it show in your appearance. Also you deeply accept your guilt to the
extent that it causes your parents to feel sorry for you. The medium form of
conduct is that, when your parents become angry, resentment does not even
register in your thoughts, nor does it show in your appearance. The lowest
form of conduct is that, when your parents become angry, resentment registers
in your thoughts and shows in your appearance.30

As Keith Knapp points out, Confucian notions of filial piety allowed

the primary male to have authority over the children, no matter what age,
and Confucian rituals made for a formalized relationship between parent
and child in which the parent held the authority. The result was a family
hierarchy based on generation, age, and gender. The Confucian tradition
did not invent large patriarchal families; instead, large patriarchal families
needed certain Confucian ideas to be able to function.31

Summary
The political and economic success of the Han dynasty meant that China
was a stable and unified country. The status of Confucian texts and ideas
began to rise with the establishment of five seats of learning in the five
Confucian classics and an academy for the study of these classics.
Dong Zhongshu of the New Text School believed he had found the
key to understanding Confucius thought and texts in the yin-yang and

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145

five phases theories. Both of these theories reflect a dependable cycle that
works with everything from the universe to human beings. Basic to New
Text School thought is the idea that qi is shared by the universe and human
beings. Heavens moods and actions are reflected in human beings; human
actions and moods are reflected in Heaven because we all share the same
qi. The ruler represents all human beings and so is subject to minute regulations in order to ensure that he will at all times follow the yin-yang and five
phases cycles. In the view of the New Text School, Confucius has a special
status beyond that of all other people. Confucius was the uncrowned king
of his time. It is during the Han that we find more supernatural stories
about Confucius life.
The opponents of the New Text School, the Old Text School, held that
the overuse of yin-yang and five phases theories had led to superstition.
Wang Chong argued that, while all things in the universe do indeed share
the same qi, this qi is natural and spontaneous and does not pay any attention to the wishes and actions of human beings. We live in a natural world
and we cannot influence it through our actions or our emotions.
During the Han we see the beginnings of biographies of virtuous women
something we will see more of as we go on. By the end of the Han we
also see the beginning of the popularity of stories about filial piety. It is
these tales of filial piety, not scholarly debates, that will bring Confucianism
through to the Middle Ages.

10
From the Han to the Tang
Dynasties, 220907 CE

After the fall of the Han dynasty in 220 CE China was torn apart by
rival kingdoms and invasions by peoples from the north and northwest.
For almost four hundred years, there was no unifying Chinese dynasty
that lasted for very long and fitful peace was all that anyone could hope
for. Finally, in 589, the Sui dynasty unified China under Han Chinese
rule and was replaced in 618 by the great Tang dynasty (618907) that
stabilized the country and is famous for its art, governance, and international relations.1

Buddhism and Its Development

It was during this period that Buddhism, which had come from India,
grew and prospered, adapting to Chinese culture and becoming both a
spiritual and a political force. Buddhism attracted people from every social
rank and built great temples, monasteries, and convents; some Buddhist
monks became tutors of the rulers children and trusted officials in various
governments.
Buddhism, unlike the Confucian tradition, offered a system where one
could expect reward for good deeds a good rebirth. There was justice for
those who did evil because they would have a bad rebirth or go through
lifetimes of hells. For those who aimed higher, Buddhism offered enlightenment through study and meditation, freeing them from the chains of
rebirth. All of this was open to everyone, or at least all men, no matter
their class, and was presented in beautiful temples, carvings, art, and many
texts.
Formed in India, Buddhism brought with it Indian habits of thought and
practice. Monks and nuns left their families and were celibate, not carrying
on the family line; they shaved their heads and wore odd clothes. While they

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147

claimed to be holy people, they shocked Chinese people at first by begging

on the streets for their food. Over the centuries, as Chinese people practiced
Buddhism, Buddhism, not surprisingly, adapted to Chinese culture. Monks
and nuns stopped begging for food and accepted donations instead. They
argued that becoming a monk was a filial act of the highest kind as a holy
monk prayed first for his parents and, should he become an enlightened
bodhisattva, would save his parents first. Buddhist temples began to hold
services for the dead and for ancestors, as they do today.
Objections to Buddhism continued throughout imperial China, especially
criticism of institutional Buddhism for having too much political and economic influence. Even today, some people still criticize Buddhism for being
superstitious and, even worse, foreign this even though Buddhism
has been practiced in China for almost two thousand years.
The form of Buddhism that became most popular in China was Mahayana
and its schools. The most popular school is the Pure Land school. Through
faith in Amitabha Buddha, one can be reborn in the Pure Land and there
have the time, intelligence, and teachers to study Buddhism and become
enlightened. Another popular, and essentially Chinese, form of Buddhism
is Chan, more commonly known in the West by its Japanese name, Zen.
This is the meditation school.
However, during the Tang and early Song dynasties, the schools that
aroused the most interest were philosophical schools. Bizarrely enough,
even today, you can still find texts, written by Westerners and even some
Chinese authors, that say that the Chinese are not interested in philosophy
or not philosophically inclined. If you have gotten this far in this book, you
already know that is not true. Further proof, if needed, can be seen in the
great discussions that took place over issues in the philosophical schools of
Buddhism that formed in China.
Many of these schools based themselves on thinking from Indian philosophical schools like the Yogacharin school.2 In the early Tang dynasty,
a Chinese monk, Fazang (643712), began a philosophical school of
Buddhism called Hua Yan. Fazang used terms and ideas from earlier
Chinese philosophy and began to argue that there are two things going
on in all things. The first is principle. This is what makes the thing that
thing: a tree is a tree, not a book, because the principle of tree-ness
is within it. The second is phenomenon: this is the physical reality
of that tree, its roots, trunk, branches, and leaves as they exist in this
world, right now. Principle and phenomenon exist together in order for
there to be a tree we can look at. Fazang and his Hua Yan school, along
with other Buddhist schools like Tiantai, developed these ideas to deal
with issues in Buddhism that do not concern us here, but the ideas of
the Hua Yan school had a great impact on the Confucianism that would
develop later.3

148 From the Han to the Tang Dynasties, 220907 CE

Confucianism from the Han to the Tang Dynasties

With the fall of the Han dynasty, scholars of the classics busied themselves
with writing commentaries, commentaries on commentaries, studying the
development and meaning of ancient Chinese characters, and other dusty
pursuits. As historians of philosophy describe it, Confucianism fell into
a long sleep. There were no new Confucian interpretations and no new
insights. This does not mean, though, that the Confucian tradition disappeared. Instead it went in another direction.
We have seen the popularity of filial piety stories in the later Han
dynasty. This popularity increased at an even greater pace during the
period of disunity after the Han. Not only were there more and more
texts describing the great feats of filial children, but imperial histories
began to include examples of those who served their parents in extraordinary ways, and tombs were decorated with scenes from famous stories
of filial behavior.4 The reasons behind this were the same ones we saw
in the later Han: elite families found that maintaining a large extended
family gave them protection, economic power, and political influence.
To keep this extended family in order, hierarchy was needed and, to
keep the hierarchy functioning, children had to be raised with tales of
filial behavior. Even as adults, sons and daughters were taught to see
their parents interests as primary; they too would be rewarded with a
proper family and, in the future, children who would respect them in
the same way.5
The second major influence on the Confucian tradition began during
the early 600s, in the Sui dynasty. The Sui instituted the beginnings of the
civil service examination system organized by the Board of Civil Office.
Examinations were held every three years: candidates were required to show
their knowledge of a classic, and awarded three levels of degrees. Successful
candidates were offered a job in government. This developed into an even
more elaborate system in later dynasties.

Civil Service Examinations and the Imperial Civil Service

Chen Shimei left for the capital to sit in the civil service examinations. His
family heard nothing from him for three years, during which time his parents
died and his wife and children began to starve. His wife, Qin Xianglian, took
her children and went to the capital to search for her husband. She discovered that he had attained first place in the examinations and had married the
emperors daughter. She went to their mansion, but her husband pretended
not to know her and had her thrown out. He refused all further attempts
from her for a reconciliation and finally hired one of his followers to kill her

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149

and the children. The follower could not go through with it and Qin sued
her husband at court for desertion and attempted murder.
The judge was Bao Zhang (9991062) who was well known for his disgust
at corruption and for upholding the highest standards of justice. As an investigating officer, he had scores of officials demoted or fired for their corruption.
Despite interventions from the palace, Bao Zhang tried Chen Shimei, found
him guilty, and executed him.
Over time, Bao Zhang became celebrated as Bao Gong, the god of justice,
and is prayed to, especially in his main temple in Kaifeng, even today. He is
also represented as the black-faced official in Chinese opera.

The reason for establishing an examination system was to provide a method

of recruiting people to the civil service based on something other than
noble birth. While the Chinese examination system changed and adapted
over its 1300-year history, its general form remained much the same. The
examination system lasted up to 1904, when the last examinations of this
kind were held. The Chinese system influenced Western governments: civil
service examination began in the 1870s in the UK and in 1883 in the US.
Even today, in many countries around the world, tests are required for
anyone wanting a civil service job.
Study for these exams began at anywhere from five to eight years of
age. Both boys and girls were taught easy texts like the Three Thousand
Character Classic. Boys went on, under the guidance of a tutor, to memorize
all the Confucian classics and then their commentaries. What constituted a
classic and whose commentaries a student read changed over time.
Once a young man had memorized the classics and the commentaries
on them, he would attempt his first level of exams. The examinations were
open to all men except those in prohibited occupations, like actors, who
were considered too low-class. The examinations were held at district,
provincial, and national levels. At each examination, the candidate would
be given a phrase from one of the classics and would have to write out the
entire passage the phrase came from. There were also questions on philosophy, history, government theory, and the theory of poetry. Questions
became more difficult with each level.
The first level, the district examination, was generally taken at about
the age of fifteen. If the candidate passed, he was then allowed to take the
prefectural examination in the biggest city of the area (a province usually
had ten to twelve prefectures). If he passed that one, he was given the
qualifying examination by an authority from the provincial government.
Success at this level gave the candidate a title, licentiate, and the successful candidates were taken to the temple of Confucius where they swore to
become followers of Confucius.6
With their distinctive clothing and caps, students who reached this level
had no official government post, but were respected as if they did. With

150 From the Han to the Tang Dynasties, 220907 CE

further study, often by their late twenties or early thirties, candidates went
on to the provincial, metropolitan, and palace examinations. All of these
examinations were held in special enclosed examination areas. Inside a
walled area were lanes containing rows of small cells, about six feet or two
meters wide. In each cell there was nothing but three boards that, when
placed across the cell, became a shelf, a desk, and a seat. Candidates at
the provincial level spent three days and two nights in these cells, bringing with them inkstones, ink, brushes, pots, food, and bedding. The exam
papers were brought to the candidates, who spent their days and nights
answering them.7
Great efforts were made to eliminate cheating: candidates were stripsearched before the exams and their clothing searched for crib notes; before
they took their places, a guarantor had to authenticate their identity; candidates were assigned a number so that their names would remain secret
throughout the testing and marking; their answer sheets were recopied so
that their handwriting could not be recognized by the examiners. Public
interest in the outcome of these examinations was intense, and if the examiners were thought to have fiddled with the outcome there was a great
outcry, often leading to imperial investigations. It was said that to pass
the exams, the candidate needed the spiritual strength of a dragon, the
physique of a donkey, the insensitivity of a wood louse, and the endurance
of a camel.8
As the examination system took hold, Confucianisms central place in
Chinese culture was solidified. The examinations were based on knowledge of Confucian classics and their commentaries and the result was a
civil service well versed in Confucianism and governments that talked
like Confucians even if they often did not act like Confucians. As the
Confucian tradition became central to the government and to the rich and
powerful, it trickled down into the general culture. As well, it was these
educated Confucian civil servants and scholars who wrote books on proper
rituals for family occasions, like funerals and weddings, and, by their
explanations of these rituals, helped spread Confucian ideas throughout
the culture.
These examinations were, in theory, open to all men of any class.
However, the rich were the only families who could afford the books and
tutors, and to have their young men spend their early lives in study. There
were occasional students from poorer backgrounds who were sponsored
by a town or guild, but, by and large, the examination system was a way
in which the rich and powerful maintained their riches and power. Because
inheritance was divided among the sons, a familys wealth could disappear
within two or three generations. Having sons who did well in the examination system meant that the extended family rose with them as these sons
reached the higher levels of the civil service. It was the responsibility of

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151

each generation to further the familys influence and wealth by entering

the civil service.

The Civil Service

The government was divided into national, provincial, and local levels.
The civil service consisted of a relatively small number of bureaucrats for
a country as large and populous as imperial China. Estimates are that in
the Tang dynasty there were 13,500 officials for 50 million people; by the
Qing dynasty, with a population of about 425 million people, there was
one magistrate for every 300,000 people.9
The foundation of the civil service was the local magistrate. Most successful candidates in the examination system began at this bottom rung.
The law of avoidance meant that magistrates were not allowed to serve
in their native areas. The new magistrate arrived as a stranger and often
could not speak the local dialect, so he would usually speak to the local
gentry who would be fluent in Mandarin or official dialect. To help
him with his duties he had a staff of about a dozen subordinates. A magistrate, as pretty much the sole representative of the imperial government,
had enormous duties to perform. He had to investigate and prosecute
crimes, judge civil disputes, collect taxes, impose corve, and raise a local
militia if needed. He acted as the judge, police, and prosecutor at trials.
He was required to know all the laws and the punishments that went with
them: punishments varied from ten blows to execution, mitigated in some
circumstances if the person was old or mentally ill. His court proceedings
were public and his sentences and decisions were subject to the peoples
approval. His legal duties also included acting as a mediator, especially in
civil cases.10
If a magistrate was competent, he would be promoted to the provincial
and then national levels. Given the small world of the civil service and its
enormous powers, this was the route to power and wealth. Although paid
small salaries, civil servants made up for this by accepting gifts for the
consideration of assistance or to hear civil cases.11 This was only considered
to be a problem if, for example, a magistrate let himself be so influenced by
the bribes he had received that it caused unrest in his district.

The Status of Confucius in Imperial China

With the dominance of Confucianism in the civil service and its examination system and Confucian ideas filtering down through society, what did
people think about Confucius himself?

152 From the Han to the Tang Dynasties, 220907 CE

In 57 CE, the imperial college began sacrifices to Confucius; in 492,
the emperor bestowed the title Accomplished Sage on Confucius. Titles
continued to be bestowed until, in 1530, the emperor stripped Confucius
of previous titles such as duke (1 CE), king (739 CE), and emperor (1106)
and gave Confucius the title Greatest Sage and Ancient Teacher so
that Confucius was unique.12 This title was expanded in 1645 to Classic
Teacher, Accomplished, Illustrious, and Perfect Sage. Titles were not just
awarded to Confucius: the Kong family was ennobled, and financially supported, by the Chinese government up until the 1940s.

Confucian Temples
You can apply for a ticket to the government office of the Council of
Cultural Affairs in Taipei for admission to the celebration of Confucius
birthday, also called Teachers Day, on September 28th. And, if you are
willing to get up before four in the morning, you can attend the celebration
of Confucius birthday that begins just before daybreak in the Confucian
temple in Taipei. Delegations of municipal and governmental dignitaries,
foreign visitors, and a sizeable crowd follow an ancient liturgy. Young
boys dressed in Zhou dynasty costume perform ancient dances and play
ancient musical instruments pipes, zithers, bells, and drums.13 Offerings
are made. Similar ceremonies are held at the older Confucian temple in
Tainan.
These ceremonies are sponsored by the government and by a local committee that oversees the Confucian temple. From Taiwan to Indonesia,
China, Korea, Vietnam, and Japan you will find Confucian temples. Some
are still used; others are museums or tourist sites.14 The Confucian temple
in Beijing, built in 1302, was renovated in 1981. When I last visited it
in the mid-1990s, it was still run down and looking for donations to its
building fund. It is called the Capital Museum and is open to the public
for a small fee. The general sprucing-up of Beijing for the 2008 Olympics
completed the renovations. The Shanghai Confucius temple is also a tourist
draw along with its Sunday second-hand book fair.
Many of the Confucian temples in China decayed through long neglect
from the 1920s to the 1940s. With the establishment of the Communist
government in 1949, some were used for other purposes and some were
demolished. Signs of destruction caused by the Cultural Revolution (1966
76) can still be seen today in patched-together pieces of inscriptions. In
contrast, one can also see renovation in, for example, the brand new statue
of Confucius in the main temple in Qufu built in 1984.
Veneration of Confucius officially began in 195 CE, when the Han
dynasty emperor venerated Confucius in Qufu at Confucius tomb. Later

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153

Figure 10.1 Main building in the Temple of Confucius in Qufu

in the Han, scholars at the imperial academy offered sacrifices to Confucius

and his favorite student Yan Hui. In the 450s, the imperial government built
the first Confucian temple, and during imperial China any city of respectable size had a temple to Confucius.
Imperial governments throughout Chinese history built and managed
Confucian temples and celebrated the spring equinox, the birthday of
Confucius, and the successful candidates of the civil service examinations
with public rituals in these temples. The ceremonies were complex and followed an officially mandated liturgy.
In 1530, after much government debate, it was decided that there should
be no statues in a Confucian temple. It was thought that having statues and
portraits of Confucius and his followers smacked too much of Buddhist and
Religious Daoist temples. Instead, Confucius and his followers were represented by memorial tablets inscribed with their names and titles. The only
exception was, as it is today, in the temple of the Kong family in Qufu.15
Throughout imperial China there was also considerable argument as to
which scholars deserved to be enshrined in a Confucian temple. In theory
the scholars should have played a significant part in the transmission of

154 From the Han to the Tang Dynasties, 220907 CE

the Confucian Way, but the list of the men to whom that applied changed,
reflecting the orthodoxy of the time.16
Imperial governments also supported the Hanlin Academy. Founded in
the Tang dynasty, it was staffed by the elite of scholars who performed
library duties for the court, including interpreting the Confucian classics.

Confucius as a God
We will look at the question of Confucianisms status as a religion below
(chapter 13), but this is a good time to stop and ask if Confucius is a god.
There are those who say that Confucius is indeed a god, particularly when
one looks at imperial China. Confucius has been, at many times, prayed to,
and the worshippers expected to receive happiness or help from him. Others
say that Confucius was respected and venerated as a guide for behavior.17
How can there be such different views?
As with many things in the study of Chinese religions and traditions,
much depends on who you talk to and what expectations you have when
you look at things. So, for example, you can today go to the Confucian
temple in Taipei, and you will see a temple dedicated to Confucius. You see
people burning incense and bowing to the memorial tablet of Confucius.
When you ask them what they are doing, they tell you they are asking
for Confucius favor in something like the upcoming national university
entrance examinations. You can also see students studying quietly in the
study halls or in the garden courtyards. Ask them why they are studying
there and they will tell you that it is a quiet place, and some will say that
the influence of Confucius will help them in their studies.
Are these people in modern day Taipei, just like people in imperial China,
seeing Confucius as a god? Possibly. From conversations I have had, it is
clear that some people see Confucius as possessing supernatural powers,
able to help those who pray to him, especially in petitions concerning school
and examinations. However, when I talk to other people, they say that
burning incense and studying at the Confucian temple is a way to show
respect to the first teacher, to concentrate the mind, and to build motivation. Confucius is someone to whom one should show respect and that is
why people go to the Confucian temple and bow to his memorial tablet.
So, is Confucius a god? Sometimes.
What we can say with more confidence is that, throughout most of imperial China, Confucianism was the state cult. Do not panic at the word cult.
While the media uses the word cult to describe some scary group that
brainwashes its followers, the word itself simply means following. A state
cult, or a state ideology, is the religion that the state uses or the way the government talks. Most governments have something like this. Remembrance

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155

Day or Memorial Day ceremonies are often set up, and paid for, by governments. Fallen soldiers are prayed for using the liturgy and terms of whatever
the dominant religion is, or has been, in that country. In imperial China,
the emperor followed Confucian rituals in matters of marriage and funerals,
and in the sacrifices he alone carried out to Heaven and to Earth. The government built and maintained Confucian temples; the government decided
on titles for Confucius and his followers. Imperial governments talked like
Confucians no surprise, given the bureaucrats had all been trained in the
classics. For example, they referred to neighboring Korea as a younger
brother. Throughout their laws and decrees, imperial Chinese governments
acknowledged their responsibility to care for the people.

Confucianism outside of China

Korea
As early as the fourth century CE, Koreans began to study Confucian
classics and establish academies for their study, but Confucianism did not
have a huge impact on government and culture until the Choson dynasty
(13961910). Early in the Choson dynasty, Confucianism became the state
cult.18 This was specifically the Confucianism of Zhu Xi (see chapter 11).
Korean scholars worked on, refined, and developed the School of Principle.
During the 1500s, Korean scholars took part in famous debates over how
one might interpret the ancient Confucian texts in light of Zhu Xis thought.
Throughout all of these debates and the development of schools of Zhu Xis
thought, there was a common call for reform: reform of society and the
economy so that Korea might become more like a Confucian ideal state.19
Throughout the 1400s and 1500s Korean scholars refined and developed
Neo-Confucian thought (see chapter 11) in more sophisticated ways than
could be found elsewhere. The Koreans used a civil service examination
system, but as Korean society differed from Chinas only the sons of certain
lineages from elite families could sit for these examinations. When the Ming
dynasty in China fell to the Manchus in 1644, the Koreans proclaimed
themselves, with some justification, the only state in East Asia that followed
orthodox Confucianism.
Imperial patronage of the Confucian tradition ended with the fall of the
Choson dynasty in 1910 as Korea was swallowed by Japan. In modern
times, there are still venerable institutions, such as the College of Confucian
Studies, part of Songgyun-gwan University, where the Confucian tradition
is still studied. When members of the Korean National Classical Music
Institute visited Taiwan in 1967, their renditions and understanding of
classical music were of such antiquity and of such a high standard that

156 From the Han to the Tang Dynasties, 220907 CE

the Confucian temples in Taiwan changed the music they had used in the
celebration of Confucius birth.20
While Confucianism no longer has a place in modern Korean government, the Confucian influence on Korean society is deep and the attitudes
of Koreans, whether towards their family, teachers, or international affairs,
are still couched in Confucian terms.21

Japan
Starting in the 600s, the Japanese upper class went through a great fad for
chinoiserie. They imported Chinese clothing, architecture, the writing
system, and everything Chinese. All of these things, including Confucianism
and Buddhism, were brought to Japan by Koreans. Confucianism became
part of the education of the upper class.22 Confucianism was taught in
Buddhist schools and monasteries, which may sound odd, but Buddhist
teachers saw Confucianism as a moral teaching for this life, and Buddhism as
a teaching for the next life and for enlightenment. This was a Confucianism
for the upper class; for much of Japanese history it did not percolate down
to ordinary people.
It was also a Confucianism adapted to the needs of Japanese society and
culture. The emperor of Japan was understood to be a kami, a being with
a supernatural status based on his divine descent. This status was passed
down to the emperors heir in an unbroken line. Confucian ideas around
the choice of Heaven would not work in Japan where the emperor was
chosen on grounds other than the choice of Heaven. So Confucianism had
to adapt. There were no meaningful civil service examinations in Japan
either, as clan loyalty and family relationships were the way to government
positions.
There was an imperial academy, and over time rich and powerful families set up their own academies. Competition among these families was
reflected in competition and factionalism among the Confucian scholars
at their academies during the ninth and tenth centuries. The Confucian
virtues promoted were loyalty and filial piety a filial piety that extended
respect to elders and leaders so that ones own aims and ambitions were
subordinated to ones parents or lord.
Loyalty to ones lord was of interest in teaching samurai warriors and,
along with self-control and faithfulness, Confucian loyalty and filial piety
became part of bushido, the code of the samurai. The status of women,
which had begun its long slide downward since the 600s, was further
debased by bushido and its contempt for emotions, love, and women, and
its admiration for manly values and the military.
It was during the Tokugawa shogunate (16031868) that Confucianism
came into its own in Japan. A shogun was a military ruler, and, while

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157

there was still an emperor, it was the shogun who had real power. The
Tokugawa family, headed by the shogun, the military ruler, was interested
in keeping order and power and so set up a virtual caste system: society
was rigidly controlled. The Tokugawa used Confucianism, focusing on the
idea of loyalty, as part of their way of enforcing order. The Tokugawa
proclaimed an orthodox Confucianism, and in 1790 they banned all schools
of Confucianism considered to be not following that orthodoxy.23 Not all
Confucian scholars followed the Tokugawa: they were divided between
those who supported the continued feudal rule of a shogun and those who
advocated nationalism and a return to the real rule of the emperor.
As a result, Japanese scholarship took up issues and ideas from China
and Korea; this scholarship was stimulated by the business elite families
who set up Confucian academies for their sons. The production of childrens books on Confucian lines and their dissemination among the population at large finally brought Confucian ideas to ordinary people.
Confucian scholarship continues today in Japan. Confucianism, understood as teaching moral virtues, focused on loyalty and filial piety, continued throughout the 20th century and can still be found today being taught
in Japanese schools.

Vietnam
Vietnam was influenced by Confucianism, but that influence was less than
in Japan. While an examination system existed by the eleventh century,
candidates were not tested just on Confucian topics, but on Buddhism
and Religious Daoism as well. The Ming dynasty Chinese occupation of
Vietnam in the early 1400s led to a significant use of Confucianism in the
following Nguyen dynasty (14281883). Confucianism may have been
accepted by the ruling elites, but does not seem to have percolated through
society. This Confucianism was confined to the court and to some of the
upper classes as the court began a more bureaucratic style of governing,
but there was no system of academies or widespread publication of texts.
As in Japan, the Confucian ideas that found most favor with government
and society were the ideas of loyalty and filial piety. However, the impact
of Confucianism on everyday life, on government, and on scholarship
was not deep. By the nineteenth century, rulers used Confucianism and
established a bureaucracy based on it. It was then that most Vietnamese
became familiar with Confucian ideas and terms, but by the mid-twentieth
century Confucianism as a system faded. What remains are the ideas of
loyalty and filial piety, commonly recognized and practiced. More modern
Vietnamese scholars have often interpreted their past as a Confucian past,
but this may be only either to decry the fall of standards or to criticize a
stifling and closed history. The Confucian tradition made much less of an

158 From the Han to the Tang Dynasties, 220907 CE

impact on Vietnamese history and culture than the impact we find in Korea
and Japan.24

Summary
While vigorous intellectual debate in Confucianism disappeared from the
Han to the Tang dynasties, Confucianism did not. Filial piety, so closely
associated with Confucian teachings, became an even more popular idea,
celebrated in texts, art, and histories. The development of the civil service
examination system, in which candidates were tested on their knowledge of
Confucian texts, led to Confucianisms continuing close relationship with
government. Confucianism became the state cult or state ideology of imperial governments, naturally reflecting the training of the members of the
civil service. The status of Confucius continued to rise as he was awarded
title after title and Confucian temples could be found in cities and towns
across the country.
Confucianism spread to Korea where it had a deep impact on both government and people; this impact on Korean culture can still be seen today.
The Japanese adapted Confucianism to their own culture, emphasizing
loyalty, filial piety, and hierarchy; the impression of Confucian thought
can also still be seen in Japan. Vietnam was also, but to a lesser extent,
influenced by the Confucian tradition.
The popularity of Buddhism in China posed real problems to Confucians
in imperial China. Not only was Buddhism politically powerful and edging
into what Confucians saw as their proper sphere of influence, but Buddhist
ideas circulated through the culture. Confucian scholars were both influenced by Buddhist ideas and keen to reject them, as we shall see in the
next chapter.

11
Neo-Confucianism

Neo-Confucianism fully developed during the Southern Song (11271279),

after the humiliating defeat and loss of northern China at the hands
of non-Han Chinese invaders. The name Neo-Confucianism, a new
Confucianism, was invented by those same Jesuit missionaries who gave
us the names Confucius and Mencius. In Chinese, Neo-Confucianism
is called Daoxue Jia, the school, or study, of the Dao, and this is further
divided into Lixue, the school, or study, of principle, and Xinxue, the
school, or study, of the mind/heart. Neo-Confucianism was a reaction to
the rote learning of the examination system, the intellectual and political
power of Buddhism, and the loss of Chinese territories to non-Chinese
invaders. Neo-Confucian thinkers saw themselves as returning to the original Confucianism, sweeping away all the inaccurate interpretations that had
gone before, and developing a new interpretation that really explained the
Confucian tradition.
In this section we will look briefly at the changing times of the Song
dynasty, the ideas of early Neo-Confucian thinkers, the great system maker
Zhu Xi, who brought their ideas together, opposition to Zhu Xi, particularly the thought of Wang Yangming, and the impact all of this had on
Chinese culture and the Confucian tradition.

The Northern and Southern Song Dynasties

The Song dynasty is divided into two parts. In the Northern Song, from
9601125, Chinese emperors held much of the north of China and the
capital was in Kaifeng, near the Yellow River. In the Southern Song,
11271279, Han Chinese rule was pushed south, back to just north of the
Yangzi River, and the capital moved to Hangzhou.

160 Neo-Confucianism
Even with the loss of the north to non-Han Chinese invaders, the Song
capital in Hangzhou was the biggest city in the world at that time, with a
population of two million by 1200.1 International trade boomed. Muslims
moved to port cities like Guangzhou (Canton), helping to spread trade
from the East Indies to India and to East Africa. This sea trade made use
of the worlds first compartmented ships, rudders for steering, charts, and
compasses. The economy also grew with the widespread use of paper currency, something that had begun in the Tang dynasty.
The technological invention that had the greatest impact on the literati
was the invention of the printing of books. Paper had been used in the
Han dynasty, but the widespread availability of books, printed first in
woodblock and then, by 1000 CE, with moveable type in both China and
Korea, meant that the Northern Song was the first society in the world
with printed books.
Western mythology holds that the first printed book was the Bible,
printed by Gutenberg in 1455. Certainly this was the first book printed in
Europe, but the Diamond Sutra, a Buddhist text in Chinese, is the oldest
printed book in the world, printed in 868 CE in the Tang dynasty.2 The
availability of printed books spread ideas throughout China and beyond.
It had an enormous effect on the establishment of schools and, as we shall
see, the development of ideas in the Song dynasty.
The civil service examination system continued for most of the Song. By
the Southern Song, the number of successful candidates in the examination
system began to outnumber the government posts available, so elite families
used their literati status as a sign of prestige and became more involved in
negotiating their power on the local scene. From the Southern Song to the
end of the Qing dynasty in 1911, Chinas social structure centered around
the gentry. In imperial China, this gentry class had economic, social, and
governmental roles. They were often landlords of sizeable portions of land
that they rented or leased to farmers. The aim of this gentry was to maintain, and further, the economic and political power of their family. A gentry
family would include men who had passed the civil service examinations.
Gentry families lived in towns and often lived grandly. As landlords, they
had the biggest impact on the life of local farmers. As civil servants, or as
men who had passed the examinations, they were equal, if not superior, to
the local magistrate, and thus had political power.

Neo-Confucianism
Among these gentry families, sons studied hard to pass the civil service
examinations, but how Confucian were those who passed? These men
are generally called literati rather than Confucian, and many were

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161

attracted to Buddhist ideas;3 some literati learned and discussed Buddhist

ideas, especially those of the Hua Yan school (see below), while others
studied under Chan (Zen) masters. The literati also spent time reading
Daoist philosophy in the Laozi and the Zhuangzi, reading and writing
poetry, painting, collecting antiques, and gourmandizing. They cannot really
be called Confucians just because they had been trained in Confucian
texts and commentaries.

Issues in Neo-Confucianism
It was clear that the examination system did not produce people who lived
a serious Confucian life. Men who passed the exams were often just
looking for wealth and power and had no intention of actually practicing
anything they had just spent half their life memorizing. One of the first
concerns for Neo-Confucian thinkers was how to reform the examination
system so that the result would be men who took Confucianism seriously.
All the Neo-Confucian thinkers rejected Confucian studies in earlier times,
seeing them as merely textual studies, not really felt or practiced.
Given the collapsing political situation in the Song, there was also a
call for political reform: the emperor should employ real Confucians
who would reform government and the examination system, and who
would guide the people. This was how to save the nation from invasion,
venal officials, wealth-obsessed merchants, and a discontented population.
Neo-Confucianism was never just a philosophy, but concerned itself with
economic and political reform.
Finally, Neo-Confucian thinkers faced a major challenge from Buddhism.
Buddhism had set the terms and issues being discussed by anyone interested
in ideas since the Tang dynasty. Neo-Confucians saw Buddhism as dangerously other-worldly, that is, focused on enlightenment and not involved
in the problems of this world. The compelling issues of the time were of
no interest to Buddhists who spent time building up good karma for a
good rebirth or on meditating so as to free themselves from the chains of
this world. Buddhist monks were trying to escape from this world, said
Neo-Confucians, while a good man should face up to lifes responsibilities.

Early Neo-Confucian Thinkers

In the later half of the Tang dynasty, many of these problems were already
being discussed by thinkers like Han Yu (768824). His anti-Buddhist
attitudes can be seen in his memorial, or position paper, the Bone of the
Buddha, addressed to the emperor in 819. He complained that the govern-

162 Neo-Confucianism
ment was spending far too much money to acquire and house relics of the
Buddha, these decayed and rotten bones, an ill-omened and filthy relic of
a barbarian.4 Han Yu came close to execution for this and was banished to
a minor post in the boondocks. In addition to his opposition to Buddhist
influence, Han Yu argued for social action, not withdrawal, and a return to
the sources of the Confucian tradition. In his essay On the Origin of the
Dao, he defines the Way as the one transmitted from sage-king to sageking, then to the early rulers of the Zhou dynasty, then to Confucius, and
then to Mencius where it stopped. It was misunderstood by Xunzi, he says,
and by later Confucians. There is an orthodox or proper understanding of
the Way, the Dao, a Dao tong, and it is this that must be studied.
Han Yus contemporary, Li Ao (c.844), was the first thinker in imperial
China to advocate paying special attention to one of the chapters in the
Book of Rites, the Great Learning. As we have seen, this chapter contains
the idea of the investigation of things and extending knowledge something
that we will see a great deal of later.
During the Northern Song dynasty, Zhou Dunyi (101773) produced
what he called the Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate along with a text
to explain how it all worked (see figure 11.1). At the top is the Supreme
Ultimate, Tai Ji, which is also the Supreme Ultimate-less, Wu Ji.
The Supreme Ultimate is an entity beyond time and space and an entity
that is abstract (or transcendent and metaphysical in philosophyspeak) as opposed to concrete.5
Why is it both the Supreme Ultimate and, at the same time, the Supreme
Ultimate-less? Some of these it is and, at the same time, it is not
statements that one runs across in Chinese philosophy can be frustrating.
What Zhou Dunyi is trying to point to is that this is an entity that can be
thought of as existing (Supreme Ultimate) and should also be thought of as
something beyond our very notions of what existing means, the Supreme
Ultimate-less. This entity, as Zhou Dunyi goes on to explain, is an abstract
principle that is the foundation of the movements of yin and yang and that
underlies the universe.
Once a thinker has established an entity that is abstract and beyond time
and space, the difficulty he now faces is how to connect that to our world of
time, space, and concrete things we can know with our senses. The Supreme
Ultimate is the abstract principle underlying the universe. This means that
our senses cannot perceive it and it is something apart from our physical
world. The Supreme Ultimate, through movement, produces yang (from the
Han dynasty yin-yang theory), and when yang reaches its height, it slows
and stills; this is yin. Yin and yang alternate. The alternations of yin and
yang produce the five phases: water, metal, fire, wood, and earth just as
we saw in the Han dynasty theories. As the yin-yang and five phases interact
ceaselessly, we come to the physical level, the level of qi.

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163

Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate

Supreme Ultimate/
Tai Ji

yang
movement

yin
stillness

fire

water
earth

wood

metal

qian

kun

qi and the birth of all things

Figure 11.1 Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate

The next two terms, qian and kun, are taken from the Confucian classic,
the Book of Changes. They are the names for the two basic hexagrams in
the divination system and are here, as is often the case, assigned gender:
qian is male, kun is female. As they too join the mix of yin and yang and
the five phases, all things in the universe are born.
Zhou Dunyi says that just as there are yin and yang in the universe, so
there is humanity and rightness in human beings; similarly, the five phases
evoke five moral qualities in human beings (humanity, rightness, proper
behavior, wisdom, and sincerity). It is the virtue of sincerity, as described
in the Doctrine of the Mean, that is the basis of all moral behavior and
the way in which we can decide good and evil. Human beings are imbued
with the Supreme Ultimate itself, as human beings and cosmos are united
by human beings sense of order. The sage matches the movement and
stillness of the ultimate.
Another of the early thinkers in Neo-Confucianism was Zhang Zai
(102077), who lived during the Northern Song dynasty. He argued against
the Buddhist doctrine of sunyata, emptiness, which says that this world is

164 Neo-Confucianism
not real. Buddhists say that all things are compound things and all things
will change. This means that there is no eternal thing in the universe.
Yogacharin Buddhism went further and argued that all the world we perceive is an illusion much like the situation presented to Neo in the movie
The Matrix.6
The Buddhists are wrong, Zhang Zai said. There is an eternal, primal,
substance that is real and that substance is qi. Qi condenses and disperses.
He argued that qi has always existed and that all things are made of various
kinds of qi and, when they dissolve, they dissolve back into other forms of qi.
So, the world is not an illusion, it is real and there is something eternal in it.
He saw qi as identified with the Supreme Ultimate, and it is through qi
that human beings are part of the Supreme Ultimate. He carried this further
in his Western Inscription. He applied his theory of qi to argue that all
people are made from the same qi and, by extending the Confucian virtue of
humanity, one could embrace all people. We must extend affection, humanity, from our family out to all people until we form one body with everyone.
Heaven is my father, Earth is my mother, and even such a small creature
as I finds an intimate place in their midst. Therefore, that which fills the
universe, I regard as my body and that which directs the universe, I consider
as my nature. All people are my brothers and sisters and all things are my
companions.
Respect the aged this is the way to treat them as the elderly should be
treated. Show deep love toward the orphaned and the weak this is the way
to treat them as the young should be treated. Even those who are tired,
infirm, crippled or sick, those who have no brothers or children, wives or husbands all are my brothers who are in distress and have no one to turn to.
Wealth, honor, blessing, and benefits are meant for the enrichment of my
life, while poverty, humble station, and sorrow are meant to help me to fulfillment. In life I follow and serve Heaven and Earth. In death I will be at peace.7

This Western Inscription became the manifesto of Neo-Confucianism.

Zhang Zais nephews built upon his work. The two brothers, Cheng Hao
(103285) and Cheng Yi (10331107), also studied under Zhou Dunyi.
They used their uncles ideas about qi and added to them the concept of
principle.
We have seen the idea of principle earlier, in Hua Yan Buddhism.
Fazangs understanding of principle was taken over by the Cheng brothers.
Principle is a metaphysical, abstract idea. It is what makes a thing what it
is. It is the principle of tree-ness that makes a tree a tree. If you cut the
tree down and saw it up, you still have all the material that made up the
tree, but what has been lost is the principle of tree, so that the wood you
are looking at is not a tree. A rose is a rose because it has the principle of
rose and not the principle of fork. The practice of filial piety has a basic

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165

principle that does not depend on the particulars of this son and this father.
Everything, no matter whether it is an object, an action, or a situation, has
a principle. All events, affairs, and things, like a rose, the relationship of
parents and children, the invasion of China during the Northern Song, and
so on, have a principle. There are principles that make things the things
that they are and there are principles that make historical events, family
relationships, and the actions of government what they are.
Principle is found in all things. Although we say principle is within
all things, this does not mean that you can take apart a rose and find the
piece of principle. Principle is abstract and does not exist physically
inside the rose. Principle is in all things and all things can be understood once one understands their principle. For example, the principle in
human beings is human nature, what it is that makes us human beings.
Working with principle is qi, the material by which things are produced.
Principle may give the tree its tree-ness or a human being a human
nature, but there has to be material as well. The material is qi. Wherever
there is qi, principle is present; without qi, principle would have no way to
manifest, or show, itself.
Through thought and study, one can begin to understand the principle
of one thing and then another, finally moving to the realization of principle
itself. This realization is sagehood. It is the understanding that all things in
the universe are, as Mencius said, complete within me. The way to do this
is to rid the mind of desires and to control the emotions. The mind must
become serious, sincere, controlled, and balanced. The mind, and how to
change its habits, then became central to the discourse and Neo-Confucians
began to focus on the inward side of the self.
All of these ideas the Supreme Ultimate, the roles of principle and of
qi, the idea of investigating things and extending knowledge, showing that
Buddhists are incorrect in saying the world is an illusion, controlling and
balancing the mind are brought together by the most famous of the NeoConfucians, the great systematizer, Zhu Xi.

Zhu Xi (11301200) and Li Xue, the School of Principle

Zhu Xi taught at an academy until his death at the age of 70. He attracted
many students and established what would be called the School of
Principle because principle is central to his thinking. Zhu Xi brings
together earlier ideas about qi, principle, the Supreme Ultimate, and an
orthodox transmission of Confucianism.
Zhu Xis understanding of principle is the same one we have just seen in
the discussions from the Cheng brothers. Principle is abstract and beyond
a particular time or space. It is much like the essence of a thing. There is a

166 Neo-Confucianism
principle for all things, and things can only exist with a principle. Principle
is eternal. It is shown in the physical world in a particular thing or event,
like a rose or the practice of filial piety, but even though the rose fades and
dies, principle continues to exist. Principle always exists: this means that,
when we invent something new, like a computer, we are discovering the
principle of computer a principle that already existed.
On the qi level, we live in a physical world of particular things or events.
Qi is found in the concrete, physical world where things are created and
destroyed. Qi condenses and disperses as things, people, and events move
through time and space.
As we saw with Zhou Dunyi, the Supreme Ultimate contains the principles of movement and stillness, operating actively as yang or congealing as
yin, and, with the five phases, produces all things in the physical or qi world.
The Supreme Ultimate, the Tai Ji, and/or the Wu Ji, the Ultimate-less,
is the most perfect principle, the totality of principle. It both changes and
does not change; it both exists and does not exist. It is abstract, beyond time
and space, and the entity that is the source of all things in the universe.
We have come to another instance of what we saw in Zhou Dunyi and
his diagram. The Supreme Ultimate moves but does not move, exists but
does not exist, changes but does not change. The questions are: what does
this mean and why does Zhu Xi argue for it? By using two names, the
Supreme Ultimate and the Supreme Ultimate-less, Zhu Xi wants to argue
that it is beyond us and requires a special insight in order to understand
it. Saying that it moves allows for the next movements of yin-yang and the
five phases, but, as an abstract principle actually, as the abstract principle
the Supreme Ultimate cannot be said to move. If Zhu Xi had argued that
the Supreme Ultimate exists, the next question is going to be, where is it?
He wanted to say that it cannot exist in a place because it is an abstract
principle. It has no form. If the Supreme Ultimate changes, then Buddhists
will argue that it is like all other things that are compound and change. So,
like Zhou Dunyi, Zhu Xi used both the Supreme Ultimate and the Supreme
Ultimate-less as names for the highest.
The Supreme Ultimate is One; it is the totality of all principle. All things
share in it because all things have principle. This means that every thing
and event has the Supreme Ultimate within it. Zhu Xi says,
one Supreme Ultimate exists, which is received by all individual things. The
Supreme Ultimate is received by all individual things as an entire and undivided Supreme Ultimate. It is like the moon shining in the sky reflected in
the lakes and rivers.8

Just as there is one moon with many reflections, so, too, the Supreme
Ultimate is in all things, creatures, and events.

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167

If, after reading this, you object that none of this sounds very much like
the Confucianism you read about in chapters 2 and 3, Zhu Xi is coming to
that. In human beings, principle is human nature, while the body is made
up of qi in its different forms (bones, flesh, blood, animating energy, emotions). Principle is good, human nature is good. This, if you remember, is
part of what Mencius argued, that human nature is good. Zhu Xi, however,
says that, while what Mencius said is true, qi can cloud our human nature.
Some people are simply born with a purer qi, while other people have a
muddier qi. Mencius, says Zhu Xi, was talking about principle when he
said that human nature is good.
For Zhu Xi, the principle in people is human nature. The mind/heart
is where principle (human nature) and qi meet. The mind/heart is pulled
in two directions: first toward the morality of the principle/human nature
within us; second, toward error and desires because of the mind/hearts
involvement with qi.9
Emotions are produced by qi and have to do with the physical world.
Emotions move the mind/heart, leading to desires and excess. When mind/
heart is still, like still water, emotions and desires cannot move it.10
As Mencius said, the sprouts of sympathy, shame/dislike, modesty, and
a sense of right and wrong are found in ones principle, human nature.
And, as Mencius said, when expressed concretely in this world they lead
to humanity, rightness, ritual, and wisdom. While drawing heavily on
Mencius, Zhu Xis interpretation of Mencius is different from any we
have seen before. Zhu Xis position is that the state of ones qi leads us to
develop, or not develop, the seeds within us.
Knowing that we have this marvelous principle within us, we need to
find it. We do that, Zhu Xi says, by extending knowledge and investigating
things. This phrase, as we have seen, comes from the Great Learning. In
the Great Learning, extending knowledge and investigating things form the
basic step that will lead us to complete knowledge, then to sincerity, then
to a proper mind/heart, then to the cultivation of the person, the regulation of the family, the proper government of the country, and peace for all.
When we read that we should extend our knowledge and investigate
things, we might think that this would lead to the study of both humanities and sciences. However, Zhu Xi interprets the phrase to mean we must
learn the principles of things.
If we contemplate things, through what Zhu Xi calls quiet sitting and
by studying all things history, human relations, political issues, moral
behavior, the teachings of Confucius, and so on we will come to understand the principles of each of these areas fully. We need to come to this
project with sincerity and seriousness. Learning each principle is a cumulative process. While principle is different in different things, all principle is
one and differs only in the way that it is manifested in qi. So, when we

168 Neo-Confucianism
have an exhaustive knowledge of the principles of all things, we can come
to an inner enlightenment, a knowledge of the principle that contains all
these things, the Supreme Ultimate.
All things can be understood by reasoning, thinking, and reading. Selfcultivation is important for Zhu Xi, just as it was for early Confucians.
Study is the way to self-cultivation; knowledge comes before action. We
must cultivate a calm mind/heart, like still water, unstirred by emotions
that can overwhelm it like waves on the water.
We can all become sages, as Confucius and Confucians have always
maintained. The sage gets rid of the obstructions of qi and finds the principle within. Clearly this is an intellectual way to sagehood: the human
problem is an intellectual problem that can be solved intellectually through
study and thought. If we think, focusing on principle, in quiet sitting, we
can come to the conclusion that the Supreme Ultimate itself is reflected in
us. This is an inward way where we focus, in the end, on our own natures,
our own principle, our own inward processes.
Zhu Xi has given Confucianism a formally set out cosmology that
links the structure of the universe with the moral and political concerns
of human beings. Our moral behavior is behavior in harmony with the
Supreme Ultimate. This allows Confucianism to now compete with systems
like Buddhism.
Zhu Xi, like the Neo-Confucians before him, called for learning for
learnings sake, not just to pass the examinations. Real learning would make
a man a responsible adult, taking on family and social responsibilities. Zhu
Xi firmly believed that by understanding and practicing the search for principle, a student can come to understand the true teachings of Confucianism
and internalize them not just learn them by rote.
Politically there is a principle for the organization of a state and that is
the moral Dao of early Confucianism. The ancient sage-kings, Confucian
heroes like the Duke of Zhou, and Confucius himself, all knew, and lived
by, this principle. When the ruler and government follow it, there will be
good government. Political reform is based on the reform of the individual
and that, in turn, is based on a deep philosophical understanding. As with
early Confucianism, the best ruler is a sage, but, according to Zhu Xi, a
sage who has gotten rid of the blockages of qi and reaches the principle
within, the Supreme Ultimate.
Zhu Xi argued adamantly against Buddhism. He said that it is because
Buddhists do not understand principle that they think that this world is
not real, but an illusion. Buddhists think that human nature is not really
real: it is an illusion that changes at every moment and is brought together
only by particular circumstances. They are wrong, says Zhu Xi, because
they do not understand principle. Principle is eternal, and the belief that
nothing is eternal is wrong.

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Zhu Xi was a prolific writer and wrote commentaries on the classics,

with a focus on the classics he used as the basis for his interpretation.
These were the Analects, seen as the authentic words of Confucius, and the
Mencius, a text Zhu Xi appreciated for Mencius theory that human nature
is good and for statements in the text like, all things are complete within
me, which Zhu Xi saw as the foundation of his teachings. The other two
are shorter texts, the Great Learning and the Doctrine of the Mean, chapters taken from the Book of Rites. The Great Learning, as we have seen,
begins with the investigation of things and extension of knowledge, leading
to the moral cultivation of the individual and the peace of the world. Moral
behavior and politics are firmly linked. The Doctrine of the Mean describes
living in a state of harmony and balance. It also talks about developing the
virtue of sincerity that connects us to the universe. These four books, as
understood and commented on by Zhu Xi, reflect Zhu Xis theories most
closely. Zhu Xi saw them as the real foundation of Confucian thought.
While all the Confucian classics we have seen earlier11 remained part
of the official Confucian canon, these Four Books the Analects, the
Mencius, the Great Learning, and the Doctrine of the Mean were singled
out as the most important texts of the Confucian canon and, to a large
extent, are still seen that way today. Zhu Xis commentaries and choice
of classics became the orthodox interpretation of Confucianism, maintained by the examination system and imperial patronage. This orthodoxy
remained in force for the next seven hundred years and is often the foundation used by modern Confucian scholars.
Zhu Xi not only established the Four Books and his interpretations of
them as the foremost texts, he also established an orthodoxy called the dao
tong, the orthodox transmission of proper Confucianism. Zhu Xi set up a
list of Confucians from Confucius to Mencius, and on throughout history.
These Confucians were, according to Zhu Xi, proper Confucians. They
and their texts were celebrated in the tradition. Thinkers and texts seen as
dissenting from the tradition were not allowed in the imperial library and,
in some cases, their books were prohibited.12
As intellectual interest turned to Neo-Confucianism and it became influential in the state and society at large, there was a tendency to inwardness,
as people focused on inner principle, and a tendency to conservatism, as
Zhu Xis interpretations were understood to have explained everything.
Zhu Xis Family Rituals set out the principle for families: the father
and husband are the leaders, the wife and daughter are explicitly secondary and inferior. Just as Heaven is superior to earth, and yang is superior
to yin, women are subject to the three obediences: to their father when
young, to their husband when married, and to their son on the death of
their husband. Neo-Confucians were adamant that widows should not
remarry, but should stay loyal to their husbands memory. Histories, from

170 Neo-Confucianism
local gazettes to imperial histories, began to record the fidelity of widows
and they were rewarded with commemorative arches in their city or town,
recording their virtue.
Zhu Xi and his successors wrote a number of pieces describing the ideal
woman, who was focused solely on the family and who would subordinate
herself to her male relatives and, humbly, help them in the path to achieve
the Way. Women themselves were not eligible to study the Way.13
The highest virtues for women were loyalty and chastity. Chastity meant
being a virgin before marriage; being faithful to ones husband during
marriage; and remaining loyal to his memory and not remarrying after his
death. Men, as you might have guessed, were not subject to these rules of
chastity: male sexual behavior was only a problem when it threatened the
stability of the family, and widowers were encouraged to remarry in order
to carry on the family line.
The Neo-Confucian demand that widows should not remarry was based
in part on the ideal of loyalty and in part because widows might well have
to hold a household together, managing its finances. By tracing laws and
customs governing ownership of property and of inheritance, Bettine Birge
shows that up to the end of the Song dynasty women had far more property
and inheritance rights than previously thought. This changed, to the detriment of women, in the following dynasties, for many reasons, including a
far more rigorous application of Neo-Confucian ideals.14
Throughout the Song, women, particularly upper-class women, became
more confined to the home. A number of factors contributed to that; one
of them was the practice of footbinding. Footbinding was first mentioned
in the Song dynasty, in the 1300s, but might be an even older practice.
Scholars suspect that it originated with dancers in the palace, spread among
palace women, and then filtered down through the population who followed it in imitation of the leisured upper classes. By the Ming dynasty
(13681644) footbinding was widespread. Having ones feet bound was a
sign of good breeding; girls with unbound feet would find it hard to marry.
It was thought too that it decreased the likelihood of female unfaithfulness.
The proverb was, If you love your son, dont go easy on his study; if you
love your daughter, dont go easy on her feet a proverb that applied of
course to the gentry, but that lower classes imitated.
At about the age of four or five, two yards of bandages were wrapped
around the feet to keep the feet from growing. The toes were bent under
and into the sole, bones broken, and the toe and heel brought close together.
The result was a three- to five-inch long foot, repulsively called golden
lilies. The practice could lead to paralysis or gangrene and death and many
women could not walk without help, or needed to lean on something while
standing. It was outlawed in 1911, but continued in some places into the
1920s and 30s.15

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171

In the twentieth century, when Confucians were blamed for just about
everything, they were blamed for footbinding as well. Given the explicitly
inferior status of women in many Neo-Confucian texts, one can understand
how this connection was made. However, the practice began, and spread,
outside of the Confucian tradition. It is true that most Confucians did not
condemn it, but the few scholars who publicly opposed footbinding did so
on the Confucian grounds that it ran contrary to filial piety. Binding feet
deformed the body, and, according to filial piety, we must keep our body
whole, just as our parents gave it to us.16 Many factors contributed to the
status of women in imperial China, and Neo-Confucianism was only one.
Neo-Confucianism has also been criticized for being so influenced by
Buddhism. Despite the rejection of, and attacks on, Buddhism, by the Song
dynasty, it would have been impossible for anyone not to have been influenced by Buddhist ideas and habits of thought. Zhu Xis contention that
principle, an eternal unified ultimate, is found in all things echoes the Hua
Yan Buddhist idea of principle and phenomena. The Neo-Confucian ideal
of the sage who has mastered his mind, controls his emotions, understands
all principle, and then understands his interconnection to all is something
like the Buddhist path of meditation. However, most of these similarities
are natural enough given the culture of the time. Neo-Confucianism is quite
clearly Confucian in its loyalties, its texts, and the self-cultivation of the
individual that is meant to lead to an individual taking on responsibilities in
his family, society, and government.17 It is no surprise that Neo-Confucians
talked about quiet sitting, finding the ultimate in the universe, and a
number of other issues that come from the Buddhist tradition. We are all
influenced by our times, and when we talk about Confucianism now we
talk about it in light of science, democracy, and human rights just as
modern Confucians do.
Neo-Confucianism is Confucian in its values and terms; it is clearly
not Buddhist as it affirms the world and continues the Confucian notion
that human beings reflect the universe in our sense of order and value.
Neo-Confucianism, especially Zhu Xis School of Principle, was successful in turning the attention of the educated back to Confucianism and in
establishing an orthodox interpretation of Confucianism that would last for
centuries. With the widespread availability of books, Zhu Xis ideas spread
across China and beyond to Korea and Japan.
This does not mean, of course, that all Neo-Confucians agreed.

The School of Mind/Heart

Lu Jiuyuan (113993) was a younger contemporary of Zhu Xi and disagreed with him. They met to discuss their differences and carried on an

172 Neo-Confucianism
extensive correspondence, but never resolved the issues that divided them.
In brief, Zhu Xi argued that only human nature is principle. The mind/heart
becomes involved in the qi world of emotions and things. As we have seen,
the point is to find the principle within, and that can be done by stilling
the mind/heart.
Lu, on the other hand, argued that our mind/heart is fundamentally one
with the universe. Principle, he said, is nothing other than mind/heart; the
mind/heart is nothing other than principle. This oneness becomes obscured
by desires and the ego as we separate ourselves from the universe. In addition, Zhu Xis ideas were too complicated and involved; understanding
something innate to us should not be so difficult.

Wang Yangming
Lus somewhat sketchy approach was taken up later in the Ming dynasty
(13681644) by Wang Yangming (14721528). While still a teenager,
Wang had tried to follow Zhu Xis instructions. He spent days contemplating a stand of bamboo, trying to understand its principle, but he was
unsuccessful. Giving up, he went on to pass the civil service examinations
and reached high office. When he was 35, he used his office to defend other
officials who had complained about corruption at court. He was arrested
and beaten with 40 strokes in a public ceremony. It very nearly killed him.
He was then demoted and exiled to a remote area. On his way there, his
enemies at court attempted to assassinate him, but Wang escaped. It was in
exile in Guizhou that Wang Yangming came to his great insight about Zhu
Xis thought. He taught, wrote, and, restored to favor, became a successful
general who put down a number of rebellions against the Ming dynasty.
Wang Yangming argued first that the almost total dependence on Zhu
Xis thought had become nothing more than textual studies and that it
restricted new thinking. Second, that finding principle in things was a hopeless task: he himself had spent days studying the principle of bamboo, but
still there was a separation between principle and his mind. And, finally, as
he realized in Guizhou, ones own nature is sufficient it is wrong to look
for principle outside of ones self in external things and events. If principle
is understood as something separate from ones self, then the mind/heart
is divided from principle. Principle must be seen as the same as the mind/
heart. We can only understand principle by doing it.
Knowing about something and doing it are the same. If we study to find
the principle of filial piety, looking for it in books, we will not really find
it. But, when we love and respect our parents, we know and act out the
principle of filial piety. This shows us that principle cannot be known or
found outside of the mind/heart. Zhu Xis attempt to find principle outside

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173

of the mind/heart is based on the incorrect understanding that knowledge

and action are separate.
In another example, Wang says that as soon as we see flowers, we
appreciate them. The knowledge of beauty and the action of appreciation
are woven together; the knowledge of how to do calligraphy cannot be
separated from the practice of calligraphy. So, Wang says, Knowledge is
the beginning of action and action is the completion of knowledge;18 they
are mutually interdependent.
All human beings possess an original mind/heart. As Mencius said, the
four sprouts or beginnings are the external manifestations of this original mind/heart. This original mind/heart is what Wang calls intuitive
knowledge.
Our innate faculty of knowing, our moral consciousness or intuitive
knowledge is the same for sages and for ordinary people. Because of our
intuitive knowledge, we can see whether we are on the right or wrong
course; intuitive knowledge acts like a compass. It is intuitive knowledge
that promotes the good in us and it contains an emotional dimension. A
truly good heart feels the emotion of sympathy for the child at the well.
Intuitive knowledge is innate, as can be seen in the natural love children
have for their parents. If we know about filial piety only in theory, but do
not practice it, it is because knowledge and action have been separated by
selfishness and we have looked for principle outside ourselves, not following
our intuitive knowledge.
Like Lu Jiuyuan, Wang Yangming argued that the universe has never
separated itself from people; it is people who have separated themselves
from the universe through selfishness, ignorance, or incorrect thinking. We
are already one with the universe because our mind/heart is the universes
mind/heart. If we have this sense of the universe, then everyone in the
world is one family, as Zhang Zai said; however, if we are imprisoned by
seeing principle as outside of the self, then we can see only difference and
separation.
Zhu Xi and earlier Neo-Confucians were right to talk about principle and the Supreme Ultimate; they were right to say, as the Western
Inscription does, that we are intimately connected to all people and all
the things of the universe. Where they went wrong was to use an intellectual method to find principle. This will always lead to our understanding
principle as something separate from us.
Wang Yangming was criticized for being a Chan (Zen) Buddhist and not
a Confucian. The Chan idea that the mind naturally and intuitively knows
without any dependence on anything outside of the mind certainly influenced Wangs thinking. Wangs followers debated the nature of intuitive
knowledge: some argued it needed training to be found, others said it was
simply natural. Some followers said they could do anything at all, as long

174 Neo-Confucianism
as their intuitive knowledge justified it. The crux of the problem in Wangs
thought is that it is subjective, so there is no outside standard by which
behavior can be judged. If your intuitive knowledge says there is nothing
wrong in killing me, I can hardly argue that your intuitive knowledge is
not saying that. I can only argue that your intuitive knowledge is wrong,
and, according to Wang Yangming, how can I say that?
Wang Yangming was a great example of someone who was both a
Confucian scholar and active in government. His challenge to the Zhu Xi
School of Principle was a serious one, and by responding to it the School
of Principle had to bring its emphasis back to action.

Summary
Zhu Xis School of Principle and Wang Yangmings school of mind/heart
agree about the existence of the Supreme Ultimate, principle, qi, moral
cultivations relation to political action, and so on. They both agree that
all human beings are related to the Supreme Ultimate. They disagree on
how we should go about finding and expressing the principle within us.
Zhu Xis School of Principle remained the dominant approach. As one
might expect, by setting up an orthodox interpretation, one used in the
examination system, Neo-Confucianism began to fossilize. It resulted, once
again, in men who simply memorized Zhu Xis commentaries and ignored
their real meaning. However, while most literati were not very interested
in practicing the Confucianism they had read, there were always those,
like Han Yu and Wang Yangming, who tried to act on Confucian values.
They were courageous enough to speak truth to power, and many were
demoted, or even executed, for doing so.
For example, Wei Zheng (580643) was a famous minister to the even
more famous Taizong emperor of the Tang dynasty. Wei Zheng did not
hesitate to criticize his emperor and, in a letter in 637, warned the emperor
that when he began his reign he had used rightness as his guide, but as time
had gone on, the emperor had become careless and arrogant, and lived in
luxury. Unlike most of the dynastic rulers of China, the Taizong emperor
accepted the criticism. When Wei Zheng died, the emperor said that he used
three mirrors: one was to straighten his cap, a second mirror was the history
of the past that showed him his errors, and his third mirror was Wei Zheng.
Now that Wei Zheng was dead, he said, I have lost the most important
mirror of all. Su Shi (10371101) was a well-known writer, poet, and
statesman. He was appointed to the government of the city of Hangzhou.
When he arrived, he found that drought and famine had devastated the city,
and set up soup kitchens to feed the hungry. He sold rice though the government granary at a reduced rate and had the local government provide rice,

Neo-Confucianism

175

soup, and medicine to those in need. He used his own money to establish
hospitals. Liu Zongzhu (d.1645) was a great scholar and supporter of the
Ming dynasty in its last days. Despite the Ming clearly having lost Heavens
choice in their defeat by the Manchus, Liu remained loyal to them and
starved himself to death rather than serve the new dynasty. These are just
a few examples of the many men who, through the centuries, tried to live
according to Confucius teachings.
Neo-Confucianism may not have been the source for the dramatic decline
in the status of women during the imperial period, but it did contribute to
it with its insistence that women are secondary. Women were to express
Confucian values by being loyal, serving their families, and maintaining
their chastity.
Neo-Confucians completed Chinese societys assimilation of Confucian
ideas by producing ritual handbooks. Thinkers like Zhu Xi wrote texts
setting out the proper way to conduct funerals, ancestral veneration, or
weddings. Along with the rules, he explained the reason behind them and
those reasons, of course, were couched in Confucian terms. They also
promoted the commemoration arches for loyal widows and filial children
along with government and gentry support for the building and upkeep of
Confucian temples.
Neo-Confucians challenged the Buddhist idea that this world is not real,
that it is a dream. The world is not an illusion, they said, nor is it a prison
we must escape from. The universe holds a secret the relationship between
human beings and the Supreme Ultimate but the universe is not a dream.
Neo-Confucianism was successful in turning intellectual interest toward
Confucianism. Neo-Confucianism remained the orthodoxy for the rest of
imperial China, and most modern scholars of Confucianism continue to
base their interpretation of Confucianism on it.

12
Confucianism and Modernity

The Qing Dynasty, 16441911

The Ming dynasty was defeated by the invading Manchus in 1644. The
Manchus set up their own dynasty, the Qing dynasty, and governed China
in much the same way it had been governed in the Tang, Song, Yuan, and
Ming dynasties.1 The Manchus of the Qing dynasty had a problem: while
they were the rulers of China, they were outnumbered one to ten. Their
major concern, therefore, was to hold on to power.
While there were internal rebellions against the Manchu rulers, the real
threat was to come from foreigners. Since the 1500s European powers had
been traveling the globe, taking over countries and making them into colonies that they added to their empires. By the 1700s European traders had
arrived in China and had accepted limited trade on Chinese terms. For the
British, the one thing they wanted to buy from China was tea, and China
was the only place they could get it. The British were paying gold and silver
for this tea and it began to disrupt the British economy.2
British traders came upon another product they could sell to China to
make up the gold and silver they were losing on the tea trade, and that
was opium. By the 1820s opium was being smuggled into China for about
one million addicts. For this kind of trade, the British needed to have a
steady supply and so the British East India Company forced Indian farmers
to grow opium in India, moving it to the smugglers in China. The Chinese
government, facing a growing number of addicts and the drain of money
flowing out of the country, continually tried to suppress the trade, finally
arresting and executing some British smugglers.
So, from 1840 to 1842, the nation of Great Britain went to war with
China for the right to trade in opium. The fighting was unequal: Chinese
soldiers armed with muskets and lances faced British artillery and rifles. The
result was defeat for China and a series of unequal treaties. These treaties

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177

guaranteed foreigners treaty ports, that is, part of the city set aside for
foreigners to live and trade in. Foreigners also had the right of extraterritoriality: the right to be tried by ones native countrys courts and law system,
rather than the Chinese system, even though the crime occurred in China.
Foreigners ran their own courts, police, legal, and tax systems. China gave
up Hong Kong and the right to set tariffs to protect Chinese industry; it lost
the right to collect customs duties on trade goods and the right to control
its own waterways: foreign navies could sail on any lake or river in China.
Once these concessions were made to the British, other imperial powers
flooded in. China gave concessions to the French, the Germans, the Russians,
and later, the Japanese. As the German Kaiser said, We shall carve up
China like a melon. Because so many imperial powers were involved, no
one of them ever dominated China as the British did India. However, many
foreign countries would continue to control much of China until 1949.
This foreign takeover of China had enormous effects on everything from
the economy to politics to philosophy. China had always been technologically ahead of the West and had always considered itself superior to lesser
nations abroad, but obviously the West had developed technology more
quickly and much further than China. It was clear that something had to
be done; what Chinese thinkers disagreed about was what to do.

Kang Youwei (18581927) and the

Reform of Confucianism
Confucian scholars understood the problems facing China as a problem
of how to apply Confucianism to a radically changing modern world.
One solution they proposed was to view Confucianism as the substance
of Chinese culture, providing moral direction, while accepting Western
technology as the application, a practical expression of modernity. This
substance/application approach continued to be promoted by Chinese
thinkers throughout the twentieth century and can be found in Japan and
Korea as well.
Many reform-minded Confucian scholars established study societies to
discuss how to wed the old and the new, Confucianism and modernity.
They called for an end to the civil service examinations and argued that
China should take ideas from the West. One of the most famous of these
scholars was Kang Youwei, whose book Confucius as a Reformer brought
a radical new interpretation to Confucianism. Confucius, Kang argued, had
always been in favor of democracy, science, and womens rights. These positions had been understood by the New Text scholars of the Han dynasty,
but were lost when the Neo-Confucians returned to the Old Text versions
of the classics and added their own stultifying system. Returning to an

178 Confucianism and Modernity

original Confucianism, Kang argued, makes clear that Confucianism and
modernity are not in conflict.
Kang Youwei continued to write, and in his Book of the Great Unity
he argued that an elected government could evoke true humanity, allowing
for the autonomy of women and a universal harmonious state. This was
what Confucius had really taught, but over the centuries it had been lost.
The national essence of Confucianism could be maintained and would
fit well with modern ideas and practices. In 1898, Kang proposed that
Confucianism be recognized as the official religion of China and that a
Confucian church be set up. He proposed this again in the 1915 debates
on a new constitution for China, but he was not successful. Kangs followers did set up what were called Kongjiaohui meeting centers, which they
compared to churches.3
However odd Kang Youweis ideas may sound to us now, he found
support with the emperor who, in 1898, decreed a series of reforms, including a new system of national education, a new government structure, and
a modern military. These reforms, and they were reforms, not a radical
restructuring, are called the 100 Days of Reform because they lasted
only a few months.
The Dowager Empress, Cixi, the person really in charge of the government, put the emperor under house arrest, revoked the reforms, and
executed the reformers. Kang Youweis brother was killed and Kang himself
fled to Hong Kong. This horrific response did not end the agitation for
change: Chinese thinkers, Chinese living overseas, and Chinese students
returning from study abroad all continued to call for the end of the Qing
dynasty and for a new China. The examination system was abolished in
1905 as the Qing attempted some reform.4 The abolition of the examination
system carried the message that Confucianism was no longer the state cult,
but left open the question of where China would go from there.
The Qing dynasty was overthrown in 1911 and the Republic of China
established. The Republic was weak and faced a host of problems: two
thousand years of tradition had evaporated; the foreigners were still in China
with the same powers; there was a growing provincialism as much of China
was ruled by warlords; and no one had a very clear idea of what to do.5

The May 4th Movement

The May 4th movement got its name because of student demonstrations
against Japans increased appetite for taking over parts of China. Students
demonstrating against Japan in Beijing were shot by British troops on
May 4, 1915. The May 4th movement was a movement, not a political
party and not an organization. It had no membership cards and no single

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179

leader. It was more of a cultural movement articulated by novelists, poets,

newspaper and journal writers, and academics, all of whom flourished in
the 1920s and 1930s. They shared a strong sense of patriotism and a desire
for radical change in Chinese society, government, and culture. They also
shared a common enemy: Confucianism.
Confucianism was seen as the cause of all the failures of Chinese society
and government. Confucianism maintained superstitious ceremonies.
Confucianisms blind loyalty had led to a monolithic and fossilized society.
Confucian emphasis was on the family, not the individual, as the basic unit
of society. Filial piety, understood as the main teaching of Confucianism,
made people subservient and dependent. It led to oppression of women
and the oppression of the young by the old. Confucianism was opposed to
freedom of thought, to democracy, and to science. Confucianism was the
root of Chinas failure to fend off Western powers. Confucianism was to
blame for almost everything. The slogan of the May 4th movement was,
Down with Confucius and sons, as if Confucianism was a shop where
false ideas were sold.6
Lin Yutang wrote a play, Confucius Meets Duchess Nanzi, drawing on
the story in the Analects about the only woman Confucius is said to have
spoken to: the traditionally wise Confucius is portrayed as a fool, while the
traditionally salacious Nanzi is portrayed as wise.
Countering Confucianism, people in the May 4th movement extolled
science and democracy. Science was better than the superstitious past;
democracy would bring an end to filial piety and family values. Ibsens
play A Dolls House became wildly popular, as it was in Europe and North
America. Noras decision to leave her husband and go out of the house to
find her own destiny resonated with these young people, especially women.
The May 4th writers wrote in modern Chinese, not the classical form
that Confucian scholars had used for centuries, and they produced magazines, literary journals, novels, and newspapers7 where they debated the
future direction of Chinese politics, society, and culture.
One of the best-known writers of the May 4th movement was the
short story writer Lu Xun. He did not spare the new Republic, arguing
that the 1911 revolution was controlled by crooks and had led to death
for the gullible and innocent. He criticized those who found it convenient to blame Chinas backwardness on the superstition of the common
people: this was just an example of the educated elite deflecting blame.
In one of his short stories, a madman claims that, after reading the
Confucian classics for years, he has found a secret command between
the lines. This secret command is eat people. Confucian classics have
taught this for so long that the entire society has become a cannibal
society. Confucianism, in the end, teaches people to devour others, especially their children.8

180 Confucianism and Modernity

The May 4th view of Confucianism is problematic in a number of ways.
First, it assumes a single and unchanging Confucian tradition; second, this
tradition is seen as responsible for everything evil in old China, from footbinding to child marriages to a lack of scientific development. Obviously
there were many reasons for these things. As well, they demanded the
complete removal of Confucianism from Chinese culture, something that,
as we shall see, is easier said than done.
However, in many ways the May 4th thinkers were accurate:
Confucianism, in its orthodoxy, had become fossilized; the elevation of
filial piety as the primary teaching of Confucianism allowed for all sorts
of excesses in both government and the family; the Confucian tradition
had contributed to a contempt for women. But is that all Confucianism is?
The May 4th movement was successful in challenging, and often overthrowing, cultural norms like footbinding, but its members never took
political leadership roles.

The Guomindang and the New Life Movement

While the May 4th movement attacked Confucianism, the leadership of
the Republic of China had been taken over by Chiang Kai-shek as the new
leader of the Guomindang (Kuomintang, KMT), the National Peoples
Party.9 Thinkers in the Guomindang had understood the May 4th movements criticisms, but argued that these criticisms applied only to decaying
Manchu rule in the Qing dynasty. Confucianism was not responsible for
the mess that the Qing had created. Chiang Kai-shek proposed a New Life
Movement that used Confucian ideas of loyalty and filial piety as one of
the ways to develop a responsible, patriotic, and obedient new citizen.10 The
New Life Movement wanted to use Confucian terms to reform people and,
it was hoped, to make people proud supporters of the Guomindang. This
was not the first time Confucian ideas had been used for other purposes. It
would become a popular strategy in modern times.
The Guomindang government had the Four Books taught in schools,
restarted the performance of rituals in Confucian temples, and officially
recognized Confucius and his followers as national heroes. While this had
no impact on the civil wars going on in China during the 1920s and 1930s,
it did lay the groundwork for the status of Confucianism on the island of
Taiwan after 1949.

The Communist Party and the Communist Government

From the 1920s on, the Chinese Communist Party accepted most of the
criticisms of Confucius that had been made by the May 4th movement.

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181

Communist theoreticians added a Marxist level to these criticisms. They

argued that the Zhou dynasty had been what they described as a slaveholding society.11 Confucius desire to return to the Zhou made him a reactionary, fighting against the historical movement to feudalism. Coupled with
this was Confucianisms association with intellectuals, a group especially
despised by Mao Zedong. After the attack on intellectuals in the AntiRightist Campaign in 1957, Mao is reported to have said that, while the
First Emperor buried 460 scholars alive, we have buried 460,000 scholars,
surpassing him a hundredfold.12 By the 1950s, when the Communists had
taken over China, Confucianism seemed to be pretty much a dead issue.13
However, when Mao Zedong, as Chairman of the Chinese Communist
Party, initiated the Cultural Revolution (196676), Confucius once again
became a player.
Maos Cultural Revolution was meant to bring him back to power,
but publicly it was painted as a revolution against those, especially in the
Communist Party, who were gradually leading the country away from
communism. Young people were formed into groups of Red Guards and
told to destroy the four olds, old culture, old thinking, old habits,
old customs. They arrested, tortured, and killed people. They destroyed
Buddhist, Religious Daoist, and Confucian temples, statues, inscriptions,
art, and books.
As Confucian ideas had not been taught in China for decades, the first
job was to explain who Confucius was, what he thought, and why he was
an evil reactionary. Enemies of Mao, and thus of the revolution, were
equated with Confucius because, it was said, they wanted to return to the
bad old days of capitalism and misery, just as Confucius wanted to return
to the bad old days of the slave-holding Zhou dynasty.
Once Mao Zedong died and the Cultural Revolution ended in 1976,
Confucius and Confucianism in China seemed completely dead: its temples
were destroyed, its books were nowhere to be found, and Confucius was a
great villain of the past. But some funny things happened in the last quarter
of the twentieth century.

New Confucians
While communism was attacking Confucianism inside China, scholars
outside of China, especially in Hong Kong and Taiwan, were reconsidering
Confucianism. What had happened to the Confucian tradition that made
it so vilified by the May 4th movement and others? What had happened
to China that it had fallen so far behind the West? Why was it that communism, not Confucianism, had succeeded in unifying China and making
it finally independent of foreign powers?

182 Confucianism and Modernity

One of the things that many Westerners often do not appreciate about
China in particular, but many other East Asian countries as well, is the
shock that Western imperialism brought and the corresponding pride in
the defeat of that imperialism. As Chinas GNP grows, as China sends a
manned rocket into space, as China hosts the Olympics, pride and patriotism grow. The defeat of Western imperialism, whether military or economic,
is celebrated as East Asian countries not only catch up to the West but also
surpass it. New Confucianism shares in this same pride and patriotism.14
New Confucian scholars poured their patriotic feelings into Confucianism,
and in 1958 several important scholars15 joined together to call for a return
to the Confucian orthodoxy of Zhu Xi and its religious and philosophical truths. They were to begin a movement called New Confucianism.16
Do not confuse this with the Neo-Confucianism of imperial China. New
Confucians described themselves as the third wave of Confucianism following the first wave, Confucius, and the second wave, Neo-Confucianism.
China, they argued, had a long and unique culture that the West has not
understood and this culture is based in the Confucian tradition. The original
New Confucian scholars were not noticed outside of academic circles, but
events outside of academia would soon change that.
Up until World War II, many Western, and some Chinese, thinkers had
said that Confucianism was opposed to capitalism. With its emphasis on
hierarchy and ritual, and its dismissal of merchants as just money grubbers,
a Confucian society, it was said, was unable to develop a modern capitalist system.17 This was why China and other East Asian countries had not
developed economically until they dismantled their old Confucian system.
This view was proven wrong when, from the 1950s to the 1970s, Japan,
Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, and Singapore experienced tremendous economic growth. How had these economic miracles happened? The
answer, simplistic in the extreme, was that all of these states were based
on Confucianism. Confucianism had taught a strong work ethic, deference
to family, obedience to authority, emphasis on education, and the virtues
of thrift and self-sacrifice. These were the virtues that allowed East Asian
countries to modernize so well and so quickly. The undemanding connection was made: Confucianism was common to all these cultures; therefore,
Confucianism had been responsible for their success.18
This economic success was most gratifying, given the economic decline
of the West and the slow disintegration of Western culture. Western journalists, most not well versed in Asian history and culture, bought into
this notion and began to tell Western corporations that they would have
to follow the Asian, and particularly the Japanese, business model. Less
discussed was the backbreaking work of ordinary people, the poor pay,
poverty, social inequity, and pollution that had made the East Asian economic miracle.

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With the economic miracles of East Asian countries, New Confucians

developed a new confidence in the Confucian tradition. Governments
throughout East Asia began to bring Confucian ideas into their thinking
and to have them taught in their schools. Confucianism began its comeback,
even weathering the Asian stock market crashes of 1997 that might have
made one doubt the Confucianism = economic success theory.

Confucianism as the Foundation of Chinese Culture

New Confucians like Tu Wei-ming (Du Weiming),19 a Chinese American
scholar, describe the Confucian revival as a search for roots: for him, finding
ones cultural roots is finding Confucianism. New Confucians argue that
only by returning to a Confucian foundation can Chinese societies maintain
a solid culture. Confucian values are basic to the culture, attitudes, and
behavior of these societies. Confucianism is not a thing of the past. It permeates Chinese culture. This is true even for the China of the time, where
there was no sign of Confucianism.20
This is because all Chinese people share a common culture: this includes
the importance of family, family values, ancestral veneration, rituals,
and the celebration of festivals. This core of Confucianism is not the
Confucianism that was the state cult of imperial China; it is a real
Confucianism, practiced by Chinese people. Real Chinese culture is based
in Confucianism, New Confucians say. This has led to a debate about the
role Confucian thought and values play in modern East Asia. It has also
led to an examination of the problem of differentiating Confucian and
Chinese values. For many New Confucians, Confucianism is understood
as having a special status in Chinas identity both in the past and in the
present. We can find people talking about a thread running through Chinese
culture and history: this thread is Confucianism.21

Substance/Application
Back in the late 1800s, Chinese scholars had attempted to keep Confucianism
as the substance of Chinese culture and Western technology as the practical application or function of modernity. A superior Confucianism was to
act as the base of a modern society, while Western technology was only
for practical use.
Many New Confucians do a version of this substance/application
approach, saying that Chinese culture is spiritual; Western culture is
materialistic. There are criticisms of the Wests obsession with consumerism and its neglect of spiritual and moral values. Implied again is the

184 Confucianism and Modernity

superiority of Chinese culture and a more religious or mystical version of
Confucianism, as we shall see. Confucianism is the antidote to the faults
of Western culture.22 It is not only Chinese scholars who have developed
this kind of thinking; leading scholars in the West like Roger Ames and
David Hall, in their book Thinking Through Confucius, argue that rationality in Western thinking has failed and that the aesthetic approach of
Confucianism works much better.

The Confucian Core

If Confucianism is the substance, the base, of all Chinese culture, and
Confucianism is a good thing, how are you going to explain all the terrible
things that happened in imperial China when Confucianism was in charge?
The New Confucian response is that the tyrannical governments and backward societies of the past do not represent real Confucianism and, in fact,
they stopped real Confucianism from developing, as it naturally would
have, ideas of democracy.
What was practiced as Confucian from the Han dynasty to the Qing
dynasty was not Confucian at all, just as the so-called Christian
states of Europe did not practice real Christianity.23 The May 4th movements criticism of Confucianism was a criticism of social and political
Confucianism, not real Confucianism. There is a radical difference
between the real Confucianism, with its universal message, and the
institutionalized Confucianism that was practiced in imperial China by
people who did not understand Confucianism.
Do not be too surprised by this. Around the world, many traditions have
been re-evaluated in this way. For example, burning women at the stake
may have been done by both Catholic and Protestant Christians, but modern
Christian thinkers say that was not real Christianity. What you may be surprised by is the description of Confucianism as religious and even mystical.

Confucianism as Religion
Most New Confucians focus on a religious dimension in Confucianism,
arguing that Confucianism is a religion and always has been, when properly understood. This approach is based on passages in the Mencius (all
the things of the universe are complete within me) and later works like
Zhang Zais Western Inscription. The connection between human beings
and the universe has been described throughout Confucianism and it
defines Confucianism. These things have been labeled as mysticism24 in
Confucianism, and the existence of mysticism in the tradition proves that
Confucianism is a religion, according to many New Confucians. There are

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185

Figure 12.1 Students studying at the Confucian Temple in Taichong, Taiwan

also Western scholars of Confucianism who agree that Confucianism is a

religion, or at least a spiritual experience. The reason for seeing Confucianism
as a religion is a desire to experience the Confucian Way. In imperial China,
people simply memorized the classics to pass the examinations. The real
Confucian Way must be experienced, felt, and self-transforming.
The religious, mystical understanding of the Way began with the great
sage-kings of antiquity, was articulated best by Confucius and then Mencius,
was lost and then picked up again by the Neo-Confucians, lost again, and
rediscovered by the New Confucians. This is what the daotong, the orthodox teaching of the Way, is.
New Confucians often emphasize the Book of Changes as the one
Confucian text that describes the universe as a great flow of change in
which human beings find their proper place. Much of the debate about the
religious status of Confucianism among Chinese scholars has also focused
on issues like whether or not Confucius believed in the spirits, to what
extent Heaven is a deity, and whether Confucius had the status of a god.
It is interesting to note as well that many New Confucians are affiliated in
one way or another with Buddhism.25

186 Confucianism and Modernity

If Confucianism is more like a religion, New Confucians say that in order
to truly understand Confucianism, one must practice it. Confucianism,
New Confucians argue, is not to be understood intellectually, but should
be felt and should be practiced. In order to truly understand the Confucian
classics, one must approach them with respect and reverence. The core of
Confucianism is reached by self-cultivation and it is only those who practice
this who truly understand Confucian teaching.26 The difficulty with this
argument is that it can be used to deflect criticism from outsiders: after all,
only those inside the tradition really understand it.27

Asian Values
The world is changing in East Asia as it is in the West. These changes
make some people worry that modernization will kill traditional values.
For example, industrialization splits up families; social status is decided
solely by wealth; women are becoming more independent as they are able
to earn a salary, and so on.
New Confucianism is often used to critique the West: Westerners do not
care about their family or their elderly; Westerners are individualistic to
such a degree that they are rootless; Westerners are self-indulgent; Western
culture is only materialistic and this accounts for its high degree of sleaze.28
Asian values or Asianness, on the other hand, contains the values of
hard work, thrift, emphasis on education, respect for the family, humanity
towards others, a connection to the past, sense of community where the
community is the priority, and self-discipline.29 These are all Confucian
values, New Confucians argue, and these values have led to Asian economic
dominance. Cultural or societal changes are a problem when they begin to
change Asian values.

Governments
Government leaders were happy to sign on to this sort of Confucianism.
After all, it leads to tremendous economic growth, an emphasis on education, harmonious relationships among citizens, and a strong state.

Taiwan
The New Life Movement, which we looked at above, was set up by Chiang
Kai-sheks Guomindang party and emphasized the Confucian ideas of filial
piety and loyalty. In the late 1940s, when the Guomindang lost the civil
war in China to the Communists, they retreated to the island of Taiwan
and continued to support Confucianism.30 The Guomindang government

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187

saw itself as the preserver of Chinese culture and tradition, in contrast to

the godless communism of mainland China. Confucianism was taught in
the schools and the government financially supported Confucian temples,
Confucian societies, and academic research. While this has all had a major
impact on society, it is not clear that it has resulted in people identifying
Confucianism as a religion, let alone their religion. When interviewed in
the 1970s and asked What is your religion? only 1 percent of people
in Taiwan replied Confucian.31 Despite Confucian ideas and practices
being so common in Taiwan, people there have not identified themselves
as practicing Confucianism as a religion. With democratic elections in the
last twenty years, and the election of Democratic Peoples Party (DPP)
candidates, government support of Confucianism declined, but the rhetoric
of Confucianism has not disappeared and Confucianism continues to be
taught in schools. In Taiwan, it is generally accepted that public education
should include moral education and Taiwanese texts emphasize the usual
filial piety, loyalty, and patriotism. People in Taiwan have, however, begun
to debate Confucianisms place in a modern society.

Singapore
The city-state of Singapore, under the dictatorship of Lee Kuan Yew, had
worked very hard at producing a first-class education system, and successfully graduated top-ranking computer programmers, engineers, physicists,
and medical researchers. To Lees dismay, while these young people were
highly educated in their field, they had no clear sense of morality and
many of them told researchers that they saw nothing wrong with cheating
and dishonesty. A society that so emphasized technology had turned into
a moral nightmare. In the 1970s the government responded to this situation by building up the study of Confucianism at all levels in the schools.
The Confucianism that was chosen was that of the New Confucians. The
level of Confucian study in Singapore had been so low that scholars from
abroad had to be brought in to set up the textbooks and courses.32 The
textbooks contain many of the messages of New Confucians: there is a real
Confucianism that is not the Confucianism of imperial China; learning and
practicing Confucian ethics will lead the student to the self-cultivation of
a strong character; when everyone practices Confucianism, society will be
harmonious and Singapore will be economically prosperous.

China
In the 1970s, Deng Xiaoping, the successor to Mao Zedong, had brought
in major economic reforms. People in China had realized that the Cultural

188 Confucianism and Modernity

Revolution had been a hoax and now the very foundations of communism
were changing too. Communism, which had given people a set of values,
was bankrupt. Confucianism could be used to replace those values in ways
that would be natural to Chinese culture. Confucianism promised, as
well, to help with economic growth.
As time went on and capitalism took hold in China, the government
began to worry about what they saw as the bad effects of that capitalism:
dishonesty, corruption,33 selfishness, drug use, and pornography. By the
1980s it was decided to have Confucianism taught in schools to counter
the evils of capitalism and Western spiritual pollution. As in Singapore,
the level of Confucian scholarship in China was so low, given the Cultural
Revolution, that foreigners had to be brought in to set up courses and textbooks at public, high school, and college levels.34 The Confucian classics,
with annotations, have been reprinted and are for sale everywhere, along
with comic book versions of the Analects and other stories about Confucius.
The government established the Academy of Chinese Culture (Zhongguo
Shuyuan), sponsored conferences on Confucianism, and has now set up
the China Confucius Foundation that has established Centers for Classical
Studies all over China and abroad. In 1994, the Chinese Communist government sponsored a major conference in Beijing to celebrate the 2,425th
anniversary of the birth of Confucius a conference attended by many
scholars and dignitaries, including Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore. At this celebration, the International Confucian Association (Guoji Ruxue Lianhehui)
was formed. It continues to hold conferences and publishes a journal,
International Confucian Research (Guoji Ruxue Yanjiu).35
The textbooks in schools in Singapore, China, and Taiwan all draw a
line between core Confucianism and the Confucianism practiced in the
past. In some cases core Confucianism is described as different from the
folk culture of the past that developed things like the concubine system or
footbinding. Texts teach students to have filial piety, to extend that respect
to teachers and authorities, to be loyal to their family and country, to study
hard so as to make their family proud and contribute to the economic and
social well-being of society. In general, Confucianism is taught as supportive of capitalism, but also as the antidote to some of the consequences of
capitalism like individualism, selfishness, and materialism.
It is not just textbooks but government policy and the laws it enacts that
reflect their support for Confucianism. For example, in China, Taiwan, and
Singapore there are laws requiring adult children to provide support for
their parents. Critics point out that it is laws of this kind that allow the
government to avoid providing old-age pensions.
Why are dictatorial governments so happy to promote Confucianism?
When some scholars and government officials define Confucianism as
focused on filial piety, loyalty, and hierarchy, then it is a Confucianism

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189

that fits well with authoritarianism. This kind of Confucianism is what

Joseph Tamney calls the stripped-down version of Confucianism.36 If
Confucianism is nothing more than filial piety, loyalty, and hierarchy,
then Confucianism can be used to teach the acceptance of a paternal form
of government that citizens, as good Confucians, should happily accept.
If the family is paramount, then governments are not required to set up
unemployment insurance or old-age pensions: families will take care of
their own. If Confucianism contributes to a good economy and a rise in
the standard of living, then the hard work and self-sacrifice of one generation benefits the next. If Confucianism is the core of Chinese culture, then
it promotes patriotism.37
This close relationship with dictatorial governments does not reflect the
views of all New Confucians. Many New Confucian scholars protested the
massacre at Tiananmen Square in 1989. Xu Fuguan in Taiwan has always
been a staunch supporter of democracy and has criticized Confucian scholars who aid and abet authoritarian rule, as does Martin Lee in Hong Kong.
Other New Confucians, however, have not found a way to situate themselves independently in regard to authoritarian governments. However, it
is not just totalitarian governments that promote Confucianism. Taiwan
is a good example of a democratic form of government that also uses the
stripped-down version of Confucianism.

Critics of New Confucianism

It is not just on the political level that New Confucianism has come in for
criticism. Inside academic circles there is considerable debate. Some scholars see New Confucianism as too Western influenced; others criticize the
idea of Confucianism as a moral religion. The emphasis on an orthodox Confucian transmission has, in some cases, led to an idolization of
the early New Confucians. Others criticize the orthodox transmission
idea as sealing off Confucianism from new directions. Many criticize their
fellow scholars for being far too anxious to support repressive and dictatorial governments. Others argue that Confucianism, understood as based
on relationships and respect, chains individuals to their roles and makes
them dependent on their superiors. The three basic bonds, fatherson,
husbandwife, rulerminister, are criticized as domination by virtue of age,
gender, and power. Others say that Confucianism developed in a world
that accepted a monarch, and its political and social thought is therefore
completely antithetical to democracy.38 Still others say that Confucianism
did not lead to Asian economic success and, in addition, the whole notion
of Asian values is an artificial one dreamed up by authoritarian states to
make citizens obedient to their rule. Modern Chinese scholars do not all

190 Confucianism and Modernity

agree: some, like Tu Wei-ming, argue that Chinese cultural traditions must
be preserved; others respond that those very cultural traditions have kept
China backward in the past and can lead to authoritarianism.
Outside of academia, New Confucianism has been criticized as being too
interested in theory and not able to deal with the real problems of ordinary life. The use of New Confucian ideas by authoritarian governments
is also, clearly, a problem. Far harsher criticisms come from people who
do not accept that there is a real or core Confucianism that is different from the Confucianism that was practiced in the past. Confucianism is
Confucianism and it is responsible for the disgraceful dismemberment of
China at the hands of Western powers. Confucianism demands that people
live, and think, in a straightjacket. Confucianism is a foe of modernization
and democracy. The 1988 six-part television series He Shang, Yellow River
Elegy argued that the backwardness of Chinese civilization, represented by
the Yellow River, could only be thrown off by the rejection of tradition,
especially its Confucian tradition. Some argue, too, that Confucianism
can never work with modern capitalism: Confucianism emphasizes ritual
and hierarchy contrary to the cash relationships of capitalism and
Confucianism dismisses the mere accumulation of wealth.
In the New Confucian movement there are probably thousands of people,
each with an individual approach to New Confucianism. People often do
not agree with each other and debate is vigorous. There are, however, some
commonalities among them. First, they are almost entirely male. Second,
most of the New Confucians see Confucianism as central to Chinese culture.
Third, they describe an orthodox transmission of Confucianism. Fourth,
New Confucians mostly see Confucianism as religious, or at least with an
emphasis on the spiritual.

New Confucianisms Impact and Importance

Chinese societies in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and China are not all
the same. Societies in other countries like South Korea and Japan are different again. Surveys find support for Asian values in all of these societies,
but less, for example, in Hong Kong than in China. So things like divorce
are becoming more socially acceptable.
However, ideas like paternal authority, that women are responsible for
the housework, and that children should obey their parents are still common
throughout East Asia. Rising rates of domestic violence and divorce are often
blamed on Western influence. Given that government propaganda identifies
Asian values with traditional family practice, changes in attitudes proceed
slowly, but do proceed. It begins to look like the attempt by both governments and New Confucians to stem the tide of change may not be working.

Confucianism and Modernity

191

Why should we care about New Confucianism and the way in which
it plays out in governments and society? First, the government of China
in particular has promoted Confucianism for a number of reasons, one
of which is to establish common ground with, especially, Taiwan, Korea,
and Japan.39 Second, China is a major player on the world stage, and it
will shortly be the major player on the world stage. How Confucianism is
defined and developed in light of Chinese cultural and governmental attitudes will be crucial. How Confucius is evaluated and how Confucianism
is taught is not just important in East Asia; it will affect the West in ways
we cannot imagine.

Summary
There is a new movement among Asian and Western scholars called New
Confucianism. This is a re-evaluation that finds tendencies to democracy,
scientific thought, and economic growth in classical Confucian thought.
New Confucians argue that Confucianism as it was practiced throughout
Chinese history was not authentic Confucianism, but was a misunderstood
and manipulated Confucianism. These scholars say that, by understanding Confucius teachings properly, we have a guide for modern life that is
superior to the morally bankrupt Western world.
Confucianism is now taught in schools in Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and
Singapore, and has been for the last 20 years in China; governments in these
countries sponsor conferences, seminars, university chairs, and programs in
Confucianism. The relationship between New Confucian scholars and government policy and support is not always a direct one. The Confucianism
taught in schools focuses on filial piety, loyalty, forbearance (the way in
which humanity is understood), hierarchy, hard work, education, and
Asian-ness. Critics of the New Confucians argue that theirs is simply
one more interpretation and an interpretation that is not reliably based in
the classical texts. Critics of Confucianism taught in schools say that this
version of Confucianism is crafted merely to keep authoritarian governments in power and to teach obedience and passivity to future citizens.
By the 1970s, Confucianism looked like a dead tradition, practiced only
in Taiwan and overseas Chinese communities and discussed only in abstract
terms in academic circles. Within the space of a few decades, Confucianism
had staged a major comeback. The tradition has revived in the twenty-first
century, especially in China.

13
Issues

What is Confucianism?
By now you should have enough information to answer the question What
is Confucianism? with another question, Which Confucianism? The
Confucianism of the Warring States? of the Han dynasty? of the NeoConfucians? of the May 4th movement? of the New Confucians? or of the
present-day Chinese government? So, when we come to try to answer some
broader questions about Confucianism, the first thing we need to do is to
be clear that there is more than one Confucianism. Confucianism, as Lee
Seung-hwan says, is a discourse with a thousand faces.1
You also know by now that there is really no such thing as Confucianism.
The Ru Confucians follow Ruxue, the Confucian school that is not understood as based on a founder, Confucius (Kongzi), but is a tradition that
began before Confucius. Confucius is the revered sage who articulated the
tradition best. Confucian ideas began to gel around Confucius teachings
and around a set of texts. These ideas have been interpreted in all sorts of
ways by all sorts of people in all sorts of times.
These interpretations depend a great deal on the time: the things people
were talking about, the ideas floating around, the problems people in the
Confucian tradition found themselves facing.
To take one example, Zhu Xi, the great systematizer of the Confucian
tradition, set up a system under the impetus of Chinese Buddhism, drawing
on Confucian texts and ideas, and using the Han dynasty yin-yang and
five elements systems. He was educated for, and passed, the governmentsponsored civil service examinations. He expressed his Neo-Confucian ideas
by writing commentaries on the Confucian classics, selecting some classics
as more important than others, writing ritual textbooks for people, and
assigning a lower status to women. His interpretation went on to become
the orthodox understanding of Confucian ideas, was mandatory study for

Issues

193

the civil service exams, and was backed and enforced by imperial power.
How can one ever disentangle Confucianism from imperial Chinese
culture and society? What parts of the life and thought of Zhu Xi are
Confucian and which influenced by the culture at large and the political
system of the time?
We can see this all playing out again in our times with the New Confucians
as they try to answer the criticisms of the May 4th movement and deal with
issues like democracy and human rights problems Zhu Xi never faced.
Another question has to do more generally with modern Confucianisms
identity. Confucianism lost its official status with the end of the examination system in 1905. There were no more civil service examinations and no
more Confucian-trained civil servants. Confucianism was no longer the state
cult. An important New Confucian scholar, Yu Ying-shih (Yu Yingshi), has
argued that without the institutional expression of Confucianism found in
imperial China, Confucianism now has no specific identity.2
A further question arises from this: who is a Confucian and what does
it mean to be one? Scholar-officials have traditionally been seen as the
Confucians, but as there is no more examination system and no more
Confucian civil service, who can be a Confucian: intellectuals? all intellectuals? women? ordinary people practicing filial piety? only Asians?3
The Boston Confucians are a group of New Confucians centered
around the city of Boston. They include Tu Wei-ming of Harvard, and Robert
Neville and John Berthrong of Boston University.4 They examine ways in
which Confucianism can be adapted to Western culture. For example, the
virtues of sincerity and honesty can be applied to any culture. They argue
that Confucianism does not have to be confined to China and the Chinese,
but can be practiced by anyone from any background who follows any belief.
There is no Pope in Confucianism, no head, no central council. Since the
end of the Hanlin Academy in 1911, there is no one person and no body
to speak with authority about what Confucianism is or is not.

Democracy
Bearing this in mind, when we want to ask the question Can Confucianism
co-exist with democracy? we have to think carefully about what aspects
of Confucianism we are talking about.
The New Confucians answer is that had Confucianism never become
tangled up with imperial politics and government, it would have developed
the idea of democracy on its own. They argue this by drawing on certain
strands of Confucianism. The first strand is that anyone can become a gentleman, or even a sage. It is through education and self-cultivation that we
can become gentlemen or sages; it is not based on birth or social status. If

194 Issues
we have within us the possibility of self-cultivation, then, as in a democratic
ideal, we are all equal.
This presumes, of course, that education and self-cultivation are open to
women, as well as men, and open to all classes of people. So it is argued
that as education has been extended to include everyone as much as possible, democracy is completely compatible with the Confucian tradition.
The second strand of Confucian thought that would have developed into
democracy, they say, is the idea that government exists for the benefit of
the people. While Confucius and later Confucians lived in times of kings
and emperors, the idea that government should benefit the ordinary person
is one that, over time, could have easily developed into ideas of democracy.
Surely democracy is defined as government for the benefit of the people and
by the people. This is the inevitable conclusion of the Confucian ideal of
government for the benefit of the people.
The third strand is the idea of the choice of Heaven. From The Book
of History to Mencius we find the idea that the right to rule, the choice of
Heaven, is bestowed on those who rule with the welfare of the people as
foremost. The supporters of democracy use this to argue that it is obvious
that ordinary people are the best judges of what benefits them and that the
natural extension of the choice of Heaven is democracy. The choice of
Heaven need not be a supernatural idea. If, for example, a government
knows that one of its cities is in danger of flooding and, despite recommendations, does nothing about it and then does nothing much to help after
the flood, it has surely lost its moral authority to rule.
Some have argued that the idea of the choice of Heaven includes in
it the right to rebel. If a government has lost the choice of Heaven, its
moral authority to rule, then rebellion is not only justified, but proper.
Finally, putting words right tells us that, if rulers are good rulers,
then they deserve the title of ruler and should continue to be the ruler.
Confucians who support rulers who are bad rulers are running counter to
the Confucianism they claim to follow.
Putting words right is an excellent tool for dealing with government
issues. Not only does it get at social problems (your call is important to
us) but using it could check governments that tell us that another war is
patriotic or a way to fight terrorism. The word terrorism is a good
example of when we need putting words right to define carefully what
is really meant by terrorism.
These ideas inclusively (that Confucianism is open to all equally) along
with developing the ideas of government for the benefit of the people, the
choice of Heaven, and putting words right can all be a good fit with
modern ideas of democracy.5
Others argue that Confucianism is irredeemably elitist and antidemocratic. It is no coincidence, they say, that Confucianism has flourished

Issues

195

under authoritarian and dictatorial governments, whether those of imperial

China or modern dictatorships. This argument is based on what is seen as
an elitist view in Confucian thought and practice.
It is not hard to find this elitist point of view. Thirty or forty years ago,
one could easily find the argument that, of all the people in the world, the
Chinese were a singular people whose culture could not support democracy. During the 1970s and 1980s, I began to feel that I was eternally
condemned to having to argue against this. My arguments were with a
number of educated Chinese people and some Westerners. Both groups
cited the particularity of Confucian culture as the reason for their antidemocratic views. Lee Kuan Yew, the leader of Singapore, wrote in 1994
that The Confucianist [sic] view of order between subject and ruler helps
in the rapid transformation of society. I believe that what a country needs
to develop is discipline more than democracy. Democracy leads to undisciplined and disorderly conditions.6 One would have thought that the
development of democratic elections in Taiwan would have ended this
view, but fist fights in the legislature and instances of corruption are used
as further proof that democracy cannot exist in Chinese culture.7 Of
course, all modern democracies began this way. Still, it is not hard to find
an elitist view throughout East Asia. The educated and competent, it is
believed, should rule on behalf of the uneducated and dim-witted masses
benevolently of course.
Critics argue that the ground of this elitist view is the Confucian
notion of government. While government is for the benefit of the people,
Confucianism argues that this is a moral obligation of the gentleman in government who must guide the people because they are incapable of making
decisions for themselves. The idea that an educated gentleman is responsible for caring for the people is, in itself, anti-democratic. This argument is
backed up with quotations like the one from the Analects: The virtue of
the gentleman is like the wind and the virtue of the common people is like
the grass: when the wind moves, the grass is sure to bend.8 Critics say
that elitism is part of the fabric of Confucianism and so Confucianism is
not compatible with democracy.

The Emphasis on the Economy

Whether in the West or in East Asia, it is the modern conceit to judge all
things by money. We are dominated by Mozis thinking, not Confucius:
if something is a good thing, it is because it makes money. Everything is
quantified in terms of dollars and cents. Movies are judged not by whether
they are any good, but by how much they make at the box office. The aim
of education is to give us a job that pays well. Heaven help poor students

196 Issues
who are just getting an Arts degree: whatever will they do with their
lives? They will not be able to make money and so the degree is useless.
Many New Confucians credit Confucianism with an important role
in the economic success of East Asian countries, as we have just seen.
Confucianism is a good thing because it leads to greater wealth. This,
however, runs against classical and imperial Confucian ideas about money.
Confucius says, Eating ordinary food, drinking water, and having ones
elbow as a pillow there is joy in this! Wealth and high position when
gotten improperly are no more to me than passing clouds.9 In the
Thousand Character Classic, the first book studied by children in much
of imperial China, merchants are given last place in the social structure.
Throughout the Confucian tradition, making money was seen as somewhat
undignified. It certainly took second place to becoming educated.
So what are we to make of this? Following Confucianism does not
exclude becoming wealthy, say some. Others argue that we cannot follow
Confucius by buying into the values of the modern world, particularly its
obsession with money.

Ritual
While we are unlikely to want to return to a world of bows, curtseys, and
at home days, any more than we would want to start wearing powdered
wigs, Confucian ideas of ritual may be something we would want to consider. Ritual, defined as an exchange of mutual respect, is not a bad thing.
Ritual is a moral action that ensures a proper, civilized society. Ritual is
civilized behavior and it can also function as a way to restrain our selfishness and channel our emotions. Would the practice of ritual help us cure
the modern-day blight of rudeness? Would teaching rituals to children make
for a better society? Would relationships based on ritual, rather than the
exchange of money, lead to a better society or a worse one?
We still practice rituals like weddings and funerals. One ritual that
Western cultures no longer have is coming-of-age rituals. Maybe we should.
One of the things that coming-of-age rituals do is to define what it is to be
an adult. In Western culture, we see a continual infantilization of adults,
who are not expected to act like adults, and, indeed, are encouraged to be
childish.10 Conversely, in places like Taiwan and China there is a lot of conversation about the notion of responsibility and what it means to be an adult.

Filial Piety
Can filial piety work in a modern society? When I survey my students, I
find that most of them like the idea of filial piety, but understand it more

Issues

197

as affection for parents than as obedience to parents. When it comes down

to it, the doctrine of individualism, taught to us in movies and TV, dictates
that children should follow their own hearts, no matter how much they
love their parents. Should we pay more attention to parents wishes? After
all, our parents cared for us for all the years that we were helpless. Parents
are older and may have more experience of the world. Most parents want
the best for their children.
Should parents expect more filial piety? In much of Chinese culture, it is
not the parents who enforce respect and filial piety from the children; the
onus is on the children to provide it. If there is conflict between children
and parents, it is not a failure in parenting, but the childrens fault for not
understanding what they are supposed to do.
Can filial piety be taken too far? How far is a child expected to go in
practicing filial piety? In the Analects Confucius says that a good son should
protect his father, even when his father is a criminal. Most of us would
feel uncomfortable with this. Again, the tool of putting words right is
useful. If a parent is abusive, then that parent is not behaving as a parent
should and does not deserve the title father or mother and thus does
not deserve filial piety. This is not what Confucius and the Confucian tradition construed filial piety as meaning: for most of them filial piety was to
be unquestioning obedience.

Education
Much has been made recently of Confucianisms emphasis on education.
From Confucius himself encouraging his students to learn, through the classical and imperial eras, and today, education is a constant in Confucianism.
But what kind of education are we talking about? Is it education, as
much education is today, that aims at teaching job skills and turning out
technocrats? Both West and East spend the bulk of their education dollars
on education that is useful. A useful education is thought to be one
where the student learns useful, often quantifiable, things that will get them
a good job and, in return, the student will be useful to the economy when
he or she graduates. The spirit of Mozi is alive and well.
In classical Confucianism, education was not seen that way. Education
aimed at producing knowledgeable people who learned moral lessons from
what they were taught. They were then expected to go out into the world
and change it, making society more civilized and government more caring
and responsible. Apparently, students who are just getting an Arts degree
are doing exactly the right thing. Given the corrupt governments and
morally bankrupt societies most of us live with and in, perhaps we might
give the classical Confucian ideas about education a second thought.

198 Issues

Self-cultivation
The Confucian idea of self-cultivation is also a notion worth looking at.
We can tend to the moral virtues within us, practicing them daily, watching ourselves carefully. We are building up the virtues of honesty, sincerity, sympathy for others, and so on. The point is to come to humanity, an
ethical attitude. Confucius did not demand that we become perfect human
beings immediately; this is a task that takes some time and considerable
care. If we do this, and do it properly, then in a crisis or a situation where
we have to make a quick decision, we can trust a moral compass within us.
Self-cultivation is not something we practice for our private satisfaction or
because it leads us to some sort of enlightenment. It is meant to allow us
to act, and act properly, in our family, our neighborhood, and our country.
Perhaps our society would be better off if we talked about self-cultivation.

Does Confucianism Include Women? Can Confucianism

Include Women?
Mao Zedong said, Women hold up half the sky and Chinese women say,
But why is it always the heavier half?

In the last 50 years, scholars around the world have looked again at the
great traditions and re-evaluated them in light of feminist theory and gender
discourse. In general, modern scholars have used four main approaches to
question the tradition about the history of women and to establish a place
for women in the modern tradition.
First, they look at women in the history of the tradition, their accomplishments, and their status. Second, they look at the texts of the tradition,
if applicable, to see what attitudes there have been about women, how
these may have changed over time, and what reasons there were for these
changes. Third, they look for a basic message in the tradition to see if that
can indeed include women. Finally, they re-evaluate the past in light of this
basic message.
Taking Buddhism as an example, in step one scholars find that women
played an important role in early Buddhism, had more social freedom in
the Buddhist community, were students, teachers, and missionaries, and
became enlightened. In step two, they find that the later the Buddhist
sutras, the more anti-women the sutras tend to be, until finally women are
told they cannot become enlightened as long as they are women. In step
three, in Mahayana Buddhism, the basic message, they say, is that all sentient beings contain the Buddha nature and therefore men and women can
become enlightened equally. Finally, they reject a past that discriminated

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199

against women as incorrect and not in keeping with the basic message of
Buddhism. One should note that this does not mean that Buddhist attitudes
around the world have changed and that women are admitted equally with
men scholarly influence is slow in moving thousands of years of culture.
Scholars re-evaluating the Confucian tradition do many of the same
things. First they look at women in the history of Confucianism. Unlike
the enlightened female followers of the Buddha or the female disciples of
Jesus, there are no women recorded as Confucius students. One can begin
with a text we looked at in the Han dynasty (chapter 9), the Biographies of
Women by Liu Xiang, containing over one hundred biographies of famous
women, like Mencius mother. We see portraits of women in traditional
roles, but being active and virtuous, that is, Confucian. More famous is
Ban Zhao. Ban Zhaos Admonitions for Women advocates education for
women because of their important role in the inner world of the home,
which is a foundation for the outer. She believed the rules of proper
behavior had been set out in the Confucian classics and that they applied
to both men and women. Ban Zhao is the first example of a long list of
female authors who, throughout imperial China, wrote texts for women,
poetry, and biographies.
Second, scholars look at the Confucian canon to see what attitudes there
have been about women, how these may have changed over time, and what
reasons there were for these changes. As we saw in chapter 3, The Book of
Poetry contains love poems by women, but we find negative sayings about
women as well. In The Book of History we see active women, involved in
the politics of their day, but more often women are portrayed as leading
rulers astray. In both The Book of History and the Zuo Zhuan the bad
decisions of rulers are often said to have been caused by the beautiful
women around them. In the texts devoted to rituals, we see both men and
women venerating ancestors, for example, and the growth of the idea that
men should be active outside the family, while women are active inside the
household. The separation of the sexes and the division of their responsibilities is found in all the ritual texts. Other Confucian classical texts continue
these themes. None of the Confucian classics label women as evil, but
there is debate as to whether this division between men and women means
equality or inequality.
When we move to the Han dynasty yin-yang texts, the debate continues:
some argue that the yin-yang texts cement the inferiority of women in a
cosmic scheme; others claim that the yin-yang theory is complementary and
works for the equality of men and women.11
Most agree, however, that the status of women declined throughout
imperial China. At birth, a girl was called a small happiness or goods
on which one loses because of the custom of daughters marrying out of the
natal family and living with their husbands family. By the Song dynasty,

200 Issues
daughters had their feet bound. Daughters in well-to-do families received
some education, though not as much as their brothers.12 Most women had
little power in their husbands household and were subject to attitudes and
laws about maintaining their chastity and prohibitions against remarriage
if they were widowed.13
Two very famous stories with Confucian themes about quite different
women come from the imperial age. The first is the story of Yang Guifei,
the beautiful concubine of emperor Xuanzong (71255), who was deeply
in love with her. In the face of a rebellion, the emperor was forced to flee
the palace and his military escort demanded the head of Yang Guifei. They
said that she was the cause of the emperors misrule and this rebellion;
apparently the emperor himself had nothing to do with it. Broken-hearted,
the emperor agreed, and, after her death, returned to his throne, saddened,
but poetic about it. The second is the story of Hua Mulan (c.500). When
China was divided between the Northern Wei dynasty and the Liang, she
was a great example of filial piety: her ill father was conscripted and her
brother too young, so she disguised herself as a man and went in his place.
Her chastity was preserved because no one suspected she was a woman.
She served brilliantly in the army for twelve years, becoming a general.
She returned home and took up her womanly duties.14 The story of Yang
Guifei is like the stories in the Confucian classics in which a beautiful
woman leads her emperor to destruction. The story of Hua Mulan is like
the stories of filial piety in which the filial daughter offered her life in place
of her fathers.
So, if there are no female models among Confucius students, can one
look to women like Ban Zhao and Hua Mulan as examples of a Confucian
woman? Is there a basic message in Confucianism by which to judge the
history of Confucianism and which would include women? Yes, say some.
This is education without distinction. Some argue that Confucius meant
to include women in his view that education should be open to all; others
say that, even if that was not what Confucius meant, it can now be understood that way. Confucians never argued that women were irrational or
incapable of morality. So, given the same education, women can become
just as moral as men.15 The point is that if education is open to both men
and women, then both men and women can study the classics, use selfcultivation, and become gentlemen. In English, the sentence a woman can
become a gentleman sounds a little odd given that gentleman is a word
with obvious gender expectations, but in Chinese, saying a woman can
become a junzi works better (even though, as a class of knights originally,
it too has some gender expectations).
The basic message of Confucianism is that everyone, man or woman,
can become an ethical person through education, and everyone can work
in society for the betterment of society.

Issues

201

If that is so, then how do we understand the past? Like New

Confucians, some scholars of Confucianism argue that much of the past
was not real Confucianism.16 Excluding women from a real education
was not following the message of Confucianism. The Confucians of
the past were too much influenced by the culture around them and did
not really understand the message of Confucianism. Confucian ideas of
gender were formed by the culture around them; as well, they did not
think through the moral implications of real Confucianism. It is perfectly possible to reject Confucianisms view of women while remaining
faithful to Confucianism.

Critics
As you can imagine, all of this is extremely controversial. Critics of
Confucianism argue that Confucianism is a male-dominated philosophy
that has always spoken to mens concerns. Confucianism has in the past, as
it does now, excluded women from public life. Confucianism supports rigid
gender roles that make women secondary to men. It supports a patriarchal
family and a patriarchal state.
The Confucian classics set out this secondary status for women quite
clearly and it was then cemented in place by the ideas of yin and yang which
made womens lowly status a matter of cosmic order.
The basic message of Confucianism is that what men do and what men
think is important, while what women do is not. This, critics argue, is the
only way to understand the Confucian tradition and its history. When
Confucianism excluded women from the public arena and believed that
women could only be active in the home, this meant that women did not
need an education and so could not practice self-cultivation or become
gentlemen. Confucianism not only theoretically and practically excluded
women from government roles, but also limited womens ability to be
independent moral actors by demanding womens obedience to father,
husband, and son.
This plays out even today, critics say, in the New Confucian movement,
where almost all the participants are male and where discussions of modern
ideas of gender equality are very rarely heard. New Confucianism teaches
filial piety and loyalty, but this is filial piety and loyalty in the context of
a patriarchal family and society. All that many New Confucians say to
women is that they must preserve Asian values and not become Westernized
that is, independent.
The differences between those who would redeem the Confucian tradition
and make it more open to women, and those who think that Confucianism
cannot be redeemed and cannot include women, are wide indeed.

202 Issues
How this will play out is still very much up in the air. There are reports
that women in both Taiwan and China are beginning to perform ancestral
veneration for their own, natal, ancestors in the female line. As well, women
in East Asia are becoming better educated and, gradually, have more job
opportunities. What will that mean for their acceptance or rejection of
Confucian ideas?

Is Confucianism a Religion? A Philosophy?

Something Else?
As you have gone through this text, it may have seemed to you that
Confucianism is more like a philosophy than a religion in one section and
then more like a religion than a philosophy in the next. So, which is it?
Westerners have a long history of discussing this problem. When the
Catholic missionary order, the Jesuits, first went to China in the 1500s
they saw people bowing to Confucius tablet in Confucian temples. When
they asked if this was a religion they were told it was not. It was simply an
offering of respect and reverence to the great teacher. Of course, the people
they asked about this ritual were the upper class, educated, elite. Similarly,
when they saw people performing rites of ancestral veneration, they understood these rites as reverence for ones ancestors and rituals of thanks
and praise. They conflated ancestral veneration and Confucianism, and
the Jesuits decided that Confucianism was not a religion. Once the Jesuits
began to translate Confucian texts, these translations had an enormous
impact on European and North American thinkers of the Enlightenment17
who were delighted with an example of a non-religious state that could still
be civilized and successful.
When another Catholic order, the Franciscans, went to China, they
worked with the poor and found Chinese people worshipping their
ancestors as if they were gods. This, the Franciscans said, was idolatry and
not the memorial service the Jesuits, who had been talking to the educated
elite, had said it was. This began the Rites Controversy about whether or
not ancestral veneration was a memorial service or an idolatrous worship
of gods. This controversy spread all over Europe and was a major subject
of debate despite it being based on the smallest possible amount of
knowledge. In the late 1700s the Pope decided in favor of the Franciscans.
Ancestral veneration was religious and any Chinese person who wanted to
convert to Christianity must cease practicing it. Confucianism, so closely
identified in the Western mind with ancestral rites, was then thought to be
a religion.
While both Protestant and Catholic authorities eased the restrictions
on performing ancestral rites by the 1920s, the Western assumption that

Issues

203

Confucianism is a religion has continued. Confucianism is generally

though not entirely taught in university departments of Religious Studies
and appears, labeled as a religion, in most textbooks that cover world religions. Confucianism is rarely taught in Philosophy departments reserved
for the study of white European males though courses may be offered in
East Asian Studies departments.
Confucianism is defined as a religion not just in the Western mind, but,
as we have seen, the New Confucians often stress a religious dimension
to Confucianism, arguing that Confucianism is not just rote learning, but
something to be practiced and experienced.
If Confucianism is a religion, what are the kinds of things we would
expect to see? We think of religions as having moral teachings, a history
of maintaining an orthodoxy, temples, ritual, a following (though not a
congregation in, for example, the Christian sense), a set of texts considered
to be very important, and some sense of the metaphysical in, for example,
the concept of Heaven. Confucianism has all of that.
What would we expect to find in a religion that we do not find in
Confucianism? There is no priesthood, no central leader, no congregation
(that might, for example, support the building and upkeep of a temple), no
sacred texts, no God or gods.
So it may be that the expectations we have around the word religion
make for the difficulty in defining Confucianism.18 Are we the ones who
assume that religion is separate from secular activities? Are we making
assumptions that religion must be defined as something centered around
temples, texts, and a sense of the sacred? Is this why the Confucian school
(jia) or teachings (jiao) do not fit our expectations? Perhaps it is our definition of religion that is the problem here. So when we look at Confucianism
and see things like an emphasis on practice, temples, and lack of a central
deity, we find ourselves at a loss.
The same sorts of problem develop when you try to define Confucianism
as a philosophy. What sort of things do you expect to find in a philosophy?
How is philosophy distinguished from religion?
Another consideration for this discussion is one thing Confucianism
does not do, and has never done: there are no sanctions in Confucianism.
Many Christians believe that bad people will go to hell when they die. In
Buddhism, bad people build up karma and will have a very unpleasant
rebirth in the next life. In the Confucian tradition, if someone behaves
badly, the worst you can do is say to them, Well, you are no gentleman!
This lack of sanctions has, historically, allowed the corrupt, the cruel,
and the bullies to do whatever they like, safe in the knowledge that not
much can be done about them. I have witnessed instances of ill-treatment
of children, students, and subordinates by parents, professors, and bosses
that I would describe as abuse. The children and subordinates have, almost

204 Issues
uniformly, tried to practice humanity and moral virtues in the face of this
abuse, but no such reflection ever seems to have been required from the
parents, teachers, or employers. Expectations about behavior and attitude
often seem to apply only to some. This lack of sanctions has, in practice,
associated Confucianism with all the things the May 4th movement complained about.
On the other hand, this lack of sanctions is a grand thing. The Confucian
tradition does not threaten one with hellfire, but calls us to look at ourselves
first and monitor our own behavior. If we know that we should act with
humanity, we are then supposed to do that. We act from humanity not
because we will be rewarded in the next life, but simply because it is the
right thing to do. We are, in the end, adults who are responsible for what we
do, and we are responsible for doing it well, none of which, unfortunately,
can answer the question of whether or not Confucianism is a religion, a
philosophy, or something else.

Summary
Over 2,500 years ago, Confucius lived in a world where standards were
declining, sleaze and corruption were everywhere, and most people were
behaving badly. Confucius solution to the problems of his time was
twofold: reform of the individual and reform of society. He taught filial
piety, dutifulness, honesty, sincerity, rightness, wisdom, moral courage,
and sympathy for others. These are things we can cultivate within us. If
we study and cultivate the virtues within us, we can come to the general
moral attitude of humanity. Humanity, expressed through ritual, allows us
to act properly in the world. Doing this makes us gentlemen or, if we do
it very well, sages.
Not only are we to act as moral people in the world, we can transform
our society by putting words right, by ensuring that government acts for
the benefit of the people, and by being models for others.
After his death, Confucius followers faced attacks from Mohists,
Daoists, and the many thinkers of the Warring States era. In defense of
Confucius, Mencius was the first to come up with an interpretation of
Confucius thought that would deal with the new problems Mencius faced.
He argued that our human nature is good and reflects the goodness of
Heaven. Confucius ideas of morality were not just a matter of taste, but
natural to human beings and linked to the cosmos itself.
Xunzi rejected Mencius interpretation and defended Confucius, using
another approach. Human nature is evil. The sage-kings set up an artificial
morality and that is what Confucius taught. Confucius understood that
morality was imposed on us; that was the true basis of his teachings.

Issues

205

In the Han dynasty, the New Text scholars believed that they had found
the universal basis of Confucius teachings in the yin-yang and five phases
theories. This too connected Confucius ideas to the workings of the universe. During the Han dynasty four important developments began for the
Confucian tradition: the use of the yin-yang and five phases theories; the
association of Confucianism and certain texts; the beginnings of a civil
service examination system; and the growth of interest in the Confucian
idea of filial piety.
For the next seven hundred years, Confucian studies slept, while
intellectual interest turned to Buddhism. Confucianism did not disappear because of its relation to the important idea of filial piety and the
revival of the civil service examination system. Imperial governments
built and funded Confucian temples, loaded Confucius with titles, and
used Confucianism as the state cult. Confucianism also spread to Korea,
Japan, and Vietnam.
Confucianism went through a great revival in the Southern Song dynasty
as Neo-Confucian thinkers reshaped Confucius ideas. This all came together
in the thought of Zhu Xi, who connected Confucius ideas with the Supreme
Ultimate and with principle. Through study and introspection, we can come
to know all principle, the Supreme Ultimate itself. Zhu Xis system became
the standard and orthodox interpretation throughout imperial China and,
for the most part, remains so today.
The twentieth century saw the uncoupling of Confucianism from the
Chinese state with the end of the civil service examination system. The May
4th movement attacked Confucianism, blaming it for the backwardness and
weakness of Chinese society and government. Attacks continued under the
Communist government, and by the early 1970s Confucianism in China
seemed well and truly dead.
However, two things restored Confucianism: the New Confucian scholarly movement and the economic success of Confucian societies like
Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Bringing in its
own economic reforms, China followed suit. Confucianism is now taught
in schools all over East Asia and governments support Confucian temples,
institutes, and scholarship.
Confucianism in our times still faces a number of problems: how compatible is it with democracy, human rights, feminism, and consumerism? Who
can tell in what ways Confucianism will develop? Despite the pounding it
has taken in its trip through the rapids of history, Confucianism has arrived,
somewhat the worse for wear, in the twenty-first century. Throughout
history, Confucianism has seemed to be heading toward extinction only to
revive in a new incarnation.
As for Confucius himself, surely it is the breadth and depth of his ideas
that have allowed so many, and so many different, interpretations through-

206 Issues
out history. We might want to look very carefully at what Confucius says,
because, like him, we live in a society that is simultaneously childish and
sleazy, where ignorance and the military are celebrated, and where sociopaths are applauded as men with business sense.
It is not just Confucius thought but also his life that can be a model.
We can get rid of our cartoon picture of Confucius. He was no boring old
fogy churning out dull maxims, but a person who fought with passion and
wisdom against the enveloping darkness.

Notes

Notes to Chapter 1
1

2
3

Confucius say, Man who run in front of car get tired. Confucius say, Man
who keep feet firmly on ground have trouble putting on pants. And so on
and so on.
Lonely Planet, Shanghai Confucian Temple entry; see www.lonelyplanet.
com/china/shanghai/sights/369485.
There are two systems of transliteration for Chinese: the older WadeGiles
system and the newer Pinyin system. I will use the Pinyin system in the text,
but both systems in the notes and glossary. The Pinyin comes first, then the
WadeGiles, divided by a slash, for example Kongzi/Kung Tzu. As Pinyin is
still sometimes daunting for English speakers, I have included an approximate
pronunciation in the Glossary.
For a description of Western attitudes toward Confucianism, see Seung-hwan
Lee, A Topography of Confucian Discourse: Politico-philosophical Reflections
on Confucian Discourse Since Modernity, trans. Jaeyoon Song and Seunghwan Lee (Paramus: Homa and Sekley Books, 2006), Ch. 2.
Lewis argues that the emerging elite of the Warring States sought sanction
and precedent and so re-imagined Chinese history where gods become sagekings. The point the elite was making was that institutions were neither
natural nor supernaturally created, but created by human beings. It was rulers,
through their powers, who created civilization and society, perhaps the most
radical claim to political authority ever. See Mark Edward Lewis, Sanctioned
Violence in Early China (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1990),
21012.
The Book of History, Zhou, Jin Teng; compare James Legge, The Chinese
Classics. Volume 3: The Shoo King, or The Book of Historical Documents
[Shu Jing, Book of History] (1865; reprinted Hong Kong: University of Hong
Kong Press, 1960), 351f. For more on The Book of History, see chapter 8.
Ghost-spirits, guishen/ kui-shen, is a phrase commonly used in classical texts
to refer to supernatural powers of gods, ancestors, and the spirits of the dead.

208 Notes
8
9

10
11

12
13

14
15
16
17

18

The Book of History, Da Yu Mo, Gao Yao; compare James Legge, The Shoo
King [Shu Jing, Book of History], 74.
The period of the Eastern Zhou, where the capital city is in the east, is further
divided into the Spring and Autumn period (named after the Spring and
Autumn annals), 722481 BCE, and the Warring States Era, 403221 BCE.
Officially, Zhou rule lasted until 256 BCE when the last Zhou ruler was killed,
but effectively the Zhou had no power by 403 BCE.
Zuo Zhuan, Duke Huan, 16th year. For more on the Zuo Zhuan, see chapter
8.
The Zuo Zhuan is full of such stories. In 548 BCE, Duke Zhuang of Qi carried
on an affair with the wife of one of his advisors. His advisor, allying himself
with another state, surprised the duke who was visiting his lady friend and
had him killed (Duke Xiang, 25th year). King Ling of the state of Chu had
become ruler by murdering his nephew. He accused his grand marshal of
treason and took all of his property, seized the lands of another noble, and
took over various regions that had been fiefs of other noble families. His rule
was so corrupt and violent that three of his younger brothers revolted against
him and killed him in 529 BCE (Duke Zhao, 12th year). Compare Burton
Watson, trans., The Tso Chuan [Zuo Zhuan]: Selections from Chinas Oldest
Narrative History (New York: Columbia University Press, 1989), 168f.
Zuo Zhuan, Duke Ding, 3rd year; compare Watson, trans., The Tso Chuan
[Zuo Zhuan], 178.
Zuo Zhuan, Duke Xuan, 2nd year. Duke Ling also is described as imposing
heavy taxes to decorate his buildings; compare Watson, trans., The Tso Chuan
[Zuo Zhuan], 77f.
Zuo Zhuan, Duke Ai, 1st year.
Zuo Zhuan, Duke Ai, 16th year. Compare Watson, trans., The Tso Chuan
[Zuo Zhuan], 206.
Zuo Zhuan, Duke Xiang, 25th year. Compare Watson, trans., The Tso Chuan
[Zuo Zhuan], 47.
For an excellent description of the changes in the Warring States period, see
Mark Edward Lewis, Sanctioned Violence in Early China. To see the kind of
clothing people wore, the weapons they used, and the palaces royalty lived in,
see the movie Hero (Zhang Yimou, 2002). The plot, however, is fantastical.
Analects 14.38. The standard translation of the Analects is D. C. Laus
Confucius: The Analects (New York: Penguin, 1979 and reprinted frequently).
In the citations from the Analects I am using Laus standard numbering system;
readers can compare that to other translations. Since Laus work there have
been more scholarly translations including Roger Ames and Henry Rosemont,
Jr., The Analects of Confucius: A Philosophical Translation (New York:
Ballantine Books, 1998), which includes useful information about the formation of the text, including the partial text discovered in 1973 in Dingzhou,
Hebei. See also Edward Slingerland, Confucius: Analects with Selections from
Traditional Commentaries (Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett Publishing,
2003), which includes helpful commentaries to explain the terms and sometimes cryptic sayings of the Analects. Two good, non-scholarly translations are
David Hintons The Analects (Washington: Counterpoint, 1998) and Simon

Notes

19
20

21
22
23

24

25
26
27

28
29
30

31

32
33
34
35

209

Leys (Pierre Ryckmans), The Analects of Confucius (New York: W.W. Norton
and Co., 1997); the translations are readable and the books include good
introductions to the text.
I will give a brief description of these texts as we go along, but for a more
complete description, see chapter 8.
For discussions about the composition of the Analects, see Bryan Van Norden,
Introduction in Confucius and the Analects: New Essays, ed. Bryan Van
Norden (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), 336. See also E. Bruce
and Taeko Brooks, The Original Analects: Sayings of Confucius and His
Successors (New York: Columbia University Press, 1998), for a good description of the theories around the formation of the text and their own proposal
that the Analects is layered in four levels. For a description of a number
of the versions of the Analects and related texts from the Han, see Mark
Csikszentmihalyi, Confucius and the Analects in the Han in Van Norden
(ed.), Confucius and the Analects: New Essays, 144f.
Analects 5.10.
Analects 10.17.
For a painstaking examination of the issues involved in the accounts of
Confucius life, see Shigeki Kaizuka, Confucius: His Life and Thought, trans.
Geoffrey Bownas (New York: Macmillan, 1956).
His dates are tentatively given as 624529 BCE. For a reference to He of
Zou, traditionally identified as Confucius father, see the Zuo Zhuan, Duke
Xiang, 10th year (563 BCE); compare Watson, The Tso Chuan [Zuo Zhuan],
139.
In some stories, we are told that her first son was deformed and so unable to
perform sacrificial rituals. Confucius was a second son.
Later, as was customary, taking another name or style, Zhongni.
Some scholars are suspicious of the reports of Confucius rise in rank in the
government of Lu that we find in the traditional stories. They think that, as time
went on, there was a gradual addition to Confucius rank. See, for example,
David L. Hall and Roger Ames, Anticipating China: Thinking through the
Narratives of Chinese and Western Culture (Albany: State University of New
York Press, 1995), 201.
Analects 9.6.
For a discussion of the use of the word knight as noble or true manhood,
based on noble birth, see Lewis, Sanctioned Violence, 32.
Enumerated in The Book of History, Shun Dian, and in the Zhou Li.
Accomplishments is often translated as arts, but they were skills, not fine
art, crafts, or techniques.
Analects 2.2. The Book of Poetry is a collection of 305 poems and songs,
taught by Confucius and, it was believed in the past, edited by him. The poems
include everything from praise of the early Zhou rulers to romantic love poems.
See chapter 8.
Analects 16.13.
Analects 17.9.
Analects 7.32.
Analects 11.26.

210 Notes
36 Analects 7.14. The Shi Ji adds to this story by saying that when Confucius was
in Qi, he discussed music with its Music Master and, when he heard the Shao,
studied it. Shi Ji Kongzi Shi Jia.
37 Analects 17.21.
38 Analects 7.8.
39 Analects 9.23.
40 Analects 9.4.
41 Analects 2.4.
42 Analects 7.3.
43 Analects 7.16.
44 Analects 5.26, following Slingerland, Confucius: Analects 50.
45 Analects 7.19.
46 Analects 9.12.

Notes to Chapter 2
1

2
3
4
5
6

8
9

The term filial piety is not found on the oracle bones from the Shang dynasty.
It develops an independent existence quite late. It is found on the bronze vessels
and in The Book of Poetry and The Book of History. From the early Zhou
on, filial piety is closely tied to blood relationship, particularly in the performance of family and clan sacrifices. Many commentators argue that, although
the character itself is not found on the oracle bones, the Shang and earlier
societies give clear evidence of clan and family solidarity and a continuation
of the clans relationship with the dead. This is the basis of the ideal of filial
piety. Rosemont and Ames suggest alternative translations for xiao such as
family responsibility, family deference, family feeling, or family reverence; see
Henry Rosemont Jr. and Roger Ames, The Chinese Classic of Family Reverence
(Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2009), 1.
Analects 2.5.
Classic of Filial Piety, SPPY ed., 2.8; compare Rosemont and Ames, 111.
Classic of Filial Piety, SPPY ed., 2.7b; compare Rosemont and Ames, 110.
Analects 17.21.
Analects 13.18. See also the Mencius 7A:35 for a similar point of view.
Mencius used the example of the sage-king Shun, and the stories of his filial
piety toward parents who did not love him, as the highest examples of moral
behavior.
Quoting the Analects 2.5, Liu JeeLoo says filial piety is not blind: respect is
not due an elder who is not virtuous. See her An Introduction to Chinese
Philosophy (Malden, MA, and Oxford: Blackwell, 2006), 52. See also John H.
Berthrong and Evelyn Nagai Berthrong, Confucianism: A Short Introduction
(Oxford: Oneworld, 2000), 27 for a similar evaluation.
Analects 4.18.
The Book of Rites, Nei Zei (Domestic Regulations); compare Legge, The Li
Ki [Li Ji ] Sacred Books of China, trans. James Legge (Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1879), vol. 1, 45657. See also the Qu Li Xia chapter that says, The proper
ritual for a minister is that he should not remonstrate in public. If the minister

Notes

10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20

21
22

23
24
25

26
27
28
29

30
31
32
33
34
35

211

remonstrates with his lord three times and the minister is not listened to, the
minister should resign. As for a son and his parents, if the son remonstrates
three times and is not heard, crying and in tears, the son must also go along
with them. Compare Legge, vol. 1, 114.
Analects 4.20.
Compare Rosemont and Ames, The Chinese Classic of Family Reverence, 113.
Analects 2.8.
The Book of Rites, Nei Ze (Domestic Regulations); compare Legge, vol. 1,
44954.
Analects 14.43.
Analects 1.2.
See the Doctrine of the Mean (Zhong Yong), discussed in chapter 8.
Analects 1.2.
Kongzi Jia Yu, SPPY ed., 1.7a.
Classic of Filial Piety, SPPY ed., 2.9; compare Rosemont and Ames, 114.
See Keith N. Knapp, Selfless Offspring: Filial Children and Social Order in
Medieval China (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press), 2005, 3f. This text
gives a thorough description of filial pietys role in Chinese thought and society.
Analects 5.19.
Zhong is often translated as loyalty, but dutifulness is preferable because
the ultimate focus is upon ones ritually-prescribed duties rather than loyalty to
one particular person and, indeed, zhong would involve opposing a ruler who
was acting improperly (13.15, 13.23, 14.7) Slingerland, Confucius, 345. Liu
understands zhong as loyalty, though she agrees it is loyalty to a task, not a
person: An Introduction to Chinese Philosophy, 48f.
Analects 14.7. See also Analects 13.15.
The Book of Rites Nei Ze (Domestic Regulations) noted in Slingerland,
Confucius 35. See above, note 12 for the quotation.
Integrity as a translation is suggested by David L. Hall and Roger T. Ames;
see their discussion in Thinking from the Han: Self, Truth, and Transcendence
in Chinese and Western Culture (Albany, NY: SUNY, 1998), 161.
Analects 4.16; 19.1.
Analects 16.9, following Slingerlands translation.
Analects 7.20; 7.28.
Knowing then, in classical China is not a knowing what provides some
understanding of the environing conditions of the natural world, but is rather
a knowing how to be adept in relationships and how, in optimizing the possibilities that these relationships provide, to develop trust in their viability.
Hall and Ames, Thinking from the Han, 150. See also Analects 15.8.
Analects 12.22.
Analects 2.17.
Analects 2.24.
Analects 17.23.
Analects 4.15.
This is repeated a number of times in the Analects, What I dont want others to
do to me, so I should not do to others (4.15). See also 5.12 and, in Slingerland,
Do not impose upon others, what you yourself do not desire (12.2). For an

212 Notes

36

37
38
39

40
41
42
43
44

45
46
47
48

49

example of the debate about the negative and positive golden rule, see Robert
Allinson, The Golden Rule as the Core Value in Confucianism and Christianity:
Ethical Similarities and Differences, Asian Philosophy 2.2, 17385.
Hall and Ames define understanding or compassion as not imposing oneself
on others. See David L. Hall and Roger Ames, Anticipating China: Thinking
Through the Narratives of Chinese and Western Culture (Albany, NY: SUNY,
1995), 199.
Analects 5.20.
Lewis, Sanctioned Violence, 43.
David L. Hall and Roger Ames. Thinking from the Han, render ren as authoritative person and self: see 27, 2579. And they argue that The problem
[with translating ren as] benevolence is that it psychologizes ren, reducing a
holistic and resolutely social conception of person to someones particular
moral disposition. Humanity, a broader, and hence more adequate term, still
fails to do justice to the profoundly religious dimension of ren and vitiates the
uniqueness inherent in becoming ren (263).Others note that, on one occasion,
in the Analects, ren is referred to as love for others (Analects 12.22), but more
often as an all encompassing ethical ideal (Shun Kwong-loi, Ren and Li
in the Analects, in Confucius and the Analects: New Essays, ed. Bryan Van
Norden (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), 53.
To add to the complexities of an English translation for ren, the term
is used only in certain layers of the Analects, reflecting later agendas. See E.
Bruce Brooks and A. Taeko Brooks, Word Philology and Text Philology in
Analects 9.1, in Confucius and the Analects: New Essays, ed. Bryan Van
Norden, especially 194f. The term evolved after Confucius, so one must be
careful with it, but, as Benjamin Schwartz points out, for Confucius it is an
attainment of human excellence which where it exists is a whole embracing
all the separate virtues (The World of Thought in Ancient China, Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press, 1985), 75.
Analects 4.2, 4.12.
Analects 12.1.
Analects 9.18.
The Chinese word xin means both mind and heart and is often translated as
both or, as here, mind/heart (Analects 4.4).
For a description of early uses of ritual and the ways in which the term changes,
see N. E. Fehl, Li: Rites and Propriety in Literature and Life (Hong Kong:
Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1971).
See Lewis, Sanctioned Violence, 95f.
Analects 12.1.
Analects 8.2.
Others say this is a story about Wu Zixu (526484) who was executed for
giving good advice to the ruler of the state of Wu. His body was thrown in a
river.
A gentleman, a junzi. This term has also been translated as exemplary person
(Hall and Ames, Thinking from the Han), superior man (James Legge), and
superior person (Liu JeeLoo). Gentleman conveys all of the class, political,
and moral implications of the term, especially if one thinks of the way gen-

Notes

50

51
52
53
54
55
56

57
58
59
60
61
62
63

64

65

213

tleman was used, say, in Victorian England. A gentleman was upper-class,

educated, and able to hold office in domestic or colonial government.
There are a number of phrases describing paradigmatic persons in the Analects:
the good man (13.11, 13.29), and the complete man (14.12), but most of the
discussion is aimed at the gentleman, and these terms good and complete
seem to be other ways of saying gentleman. Similarly a scholar/official seems
to be another way of describing a paradigmatic individual who must be strong
and enduring for his burdens are heavy and the Way is long. Humanity is his
burden is it not a heavy thing? His Way ends only at his death is it not
long? Analects 8.7.
Analects 4.11.
Analects 12.16.
Analects 13.23.
Analects 13.25.
Analects 13.26.
Analects 14.23. As Hall and Ames say, the socially expansive and inclusive
gentleman is opposed to the disintegrative and retarding qualities of the small
person. Hall and Ames, Thinking from the Han, 160.
Analects 14.12.
Analects 14.30.
Analects 1.14.
Analects 12.5.
Analects 14.42.
Analects 4.5.
Analects 12.4. The Way of the gentleman has three parts, yet I have achieved
none of them. The humane do not worry; the wise are not confused; and the
courageous are not afraid. Analects 14.28.
The idea that government administrators should be appointed on their merits,
not according to their birth. would have been interesting particularly to the
class of scholar/officials who were looking for these very jobs.
Analects 7.26, 7.34.

Notes to Chapter 3
1
2

Analects 8.13.
Analects 13.3. Zheng ming is often translated as rectification of names. Ming
can mean either words or names. See Analects 12.17 for a play on words:
to govern, zheng, means to correct, zheng.
As is the ubiquitous, We are sorry for any inconvenience. This is meant
to mean, one supposes, that the fact that the flight has been cancelled may,
just as an outside chance, cause someone a moments pang, and for that they
apologize. People who are forced to endure meetings full of this bafflegab have
invented buzzword bingo, where the numbers in a bingo card are replaced
with jargon words. Players cross off the word in the square if it is used in the
presentation.
Analects 12.11.

214 Notes
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17

18

19
20
21

22

23

Analects 13.3.
Analects 12.9.
Analects 12.7.
Analects 14.1.
Analects 8.9.
Analects 2.3.
Ibid.
Curiously, it was difficult to think of an example of behavior that would be
considered shameful these days.
Analects 12.19.
Analects 12.18.
Analects 15.1.
Analects 13.30, 13.29.
The extent to which this meant that ritual was a semi-magical force in
government and society, and whether the government was understood as held
together by religious ritual and a transcendent moral vision, is debated. See
Benjamin Schwartz, The World of Thought in Ancient China and the controversial views of Robert Eno, The Confucian Creation of Heaven: Philosophy
and the Defence of Ritual Mastery (Albany: State University of New York
Press, 1990).
Analects 17.5. Book 17 of the Analects contains a number of stories and conversations about this problem. The conversation in 17.15 points out that it is
not just a corrupt ruler one has to deal with but also the small people who
think only of holding on to the government job they have.
Analects 15.39.
Analects 8.9.
Analects 17.25. Not surprisingly, this passage in particular has been the subject
of much discussion, with some modern commentators reading the passage as
addressed to the problem of dealing with male and female servants. For an
introduction to this discussion, see Slingerlands comments on the passage
Confucius: Analects 21112. For a further discussion of the role of women in
Confucianism, see chapter 13. See also Paul R. Goldin, The View of Women
in Early Confucianism, and Lisa Raphaels, Gendered Virtue Reconsidered:
Notes from the Warring States and Han in Li Chengyang, ed. The Sage and
the Second Sex: Confucianism, Ethics, and Gender (Chicago: Open Court,
2000), 13362; 22348.
Analects 6.28. For the story of Nanzi and the long power struggle in the state
of Wei that she was involved in, see the Zuo Zhuan, Duke Ling 14th year;
compare Watson, trans., The Tso Chuan [Zuo Zhuan], 195f. In the Analects
8.20, Confucius is seen dismissing the possibility of a good minister who is
female when he refers to the ten good ministers of one of his heroes, King Wu.
There were only nine good ministers, Confucius says. The female minister did
not count.
Zigong, a student, told Confucius that he was tired of studying and was thinking of taking a rest in the company of his wife. Confucius replied, A wife
is difficult, how could you think about rest with her? Xunzi 27.9. Compare
Knoblock, trans., Xunzi 3, 230.

Notes

215

24 Book of Poetry Tang, Zhan Zhang; compare Legge, The Chinese Classics.
Volume 4: The She King [Shi Jing] (1871; reprinted Hong Kong: University of
Hong Kong Press, 1960), 5612. The text also contains a number of charming
poems, in a womans voice, speaking of their love.
25 Book of Poetry Qi Fu, Si Gan; compare Legge, The She King [Shi Jing],
3067.
26 Book of Rites Nei Ze; compare Legge, The Li Ki [Li Ji] 1, 4545.
27 Book of Rites Nei Ze; compare Legge, The Li Ki [Li Ji] 1, 470 and 454.
28 See Book of Rites Hun Yi (The Meaning of Marriage); compare Legge The
Li Ki [Li Ji] 2, 434. Some commentators see this as a requirement for complementary responsibilities.
29 Book of Rites Hun Yi; compare Legge The Li Ki [Li Ji] vol. 2, 434. The
context, however, is less equitable. The emperor, the Son of Heaven, is to
regulate masculine energies by establishing what is proper to men; the empress
regulates female energies by means of the obedience proper to women. The
emperor guides all external affairs; the empress internal, household, affairs.
30 Nor do we find womens rituals around birth, for example, described in
Confucian ritual texts.
31 Zhan Guo Ce/Chan Kuo Tse, the Annals of the Warring States, Annals of
Qin, SPPY ed., 4.8b.
32 Analects 7.21.
33 Analects 6.22.
34 Analects 3.12.
35 Analects 11.12.
36 Analects 2.4.
37 Analects 16.8. Along with the choice of Heaven, we should be in awe of the
great men of our times and the teachings of the sages of the past.
38 Analects 17.19.
39 Analects 5.13.
40 Analects 11.9.
41 Analects 7.23.
42 Analects 9.5.
43 Analects 3.24.
44 Analects 14.35.
45 Analects 3.13.
46 Book of History Gao Zong, Rong Ri; compare Legge, She King, 264.
47 See David Schaberg, Command and the Content of Tradition in The
Magnitude of Ming: Command, Allotment, and Fate in Chinese Culture, ed.
Christopher Lupke (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2005), 2348.
48 Analects 14.36. See also 6.19 where the illness and death of Confucius student
is attributed to fate.
49 Analects 7.6.
50 Analects 4.8.
51 Analects 15.29.
52 Schwartz, The World of Thought, 120.
53 See Herbert Fingarette, Confucius: the Secular as Sacred (New York: Harper
and Row, 1972).

216 Notes

Notes to Chapter 4
1
2
3
4

6
7

9
10

11
12

13

14

School or -ism is, in Chinese, jia, school, or jiao, teaching; see below.
Scholars or scholar-bureaucrats were learned men, the great majority from
the upper classes, who looked for, and often achieved, jobs in government.
Mencius (see chapter 6) would not go to Jixia because he refused to accept
payment from a ruler without being part of the government.
This led to other howlers: the abominable term Muhammadanism for Islam
and Lamaism for Tibetan Buddhism. The issue of the development and use
of the term Confucianism is ably set out in Lionel Jensen, Manufacturing
Confucianism: Chinese Traditions and Universal Civilization (Durham, NC:
Duke University Press, 1997).
Even the use of the term Ru has been rejected by some. Li-hsiang Lisa Rosenlee
argues, oddly, that there was neither a literal nor a conceptual counterpart of
Confucianism in the Chinese language. See Confucianism and Women: A
Philosophical Interpretation (Albany, NY: SUNY, 2006), 17. Michael Nylan
says that the stable entity later scholars have called Confucianism never really
existed. Confucianism is an abstraction and a generalization apparently
useful but always obfuscating a product of ongoing intellectual engagement
as well as a subject of it, The Five Confucian Classics, 3.
Mozi calls Confucius a Ru shi, Ru-ist knight/worthy, and Dao shi, a knight/
worthy of the Way.
The word Ru is not found in four of the Five Classics. The Book of Rites
does use the term, but this may be a later addition. It is used only once in the
Analects, where Confucius says that one wants to be a gentlemanly Ru not a
petty Ru (6:13).
According to the Zhou Li, a Warring States text, Ru was first used as a name
for a Zhou official whose duty was to teach the six accomplishments. It may
also have been related to scholars and to teachers.
For a discussion of these stories, see Nylan, The Five Confucian Classics, 23.
This argument is based on an ancient dictionary Shuo Wen Jie Zis definition,
Ru means weak. Hu Shih (Hu Shi, 18911962) also argued that Ru was a
term used prior to Confucius to refer to the shamans of the Shang dynasty.
See John Knoblock, Xunzi 1, 52.
Often, when modern scholars condemn the use of the term Confucianism,
they go on to use the terms Ru and Ru-ist in the same way they used to use
the terms Confucians and Confucianism.
See Mozi, Condemnation of Confucians. The Yanzi Chun Qiu Wai Pian,
8 is also full of the stock Mohist criticisms of the Confucians. It says that
the Confucian connection to music was a deep one: they wallow in music.
Their music was heard everywhere bringing disorder to society; this kind of
ornamentation was used to harm the world. These charges are much the same
as the Mozis Condemnation of Confucians and Condemnation of Music
chapters.
Later, both Zhuangzi and Han Feizi described Confucians in much the same
way: these were people who emphasized ritual, particularly funeral rituals that

Notes

15

16

17

18
19

20

21
22

23

217

were elaborate and expensive; they insisted on a three-year mourning period for
close family; they talked about filial piety and loyalty; they looked to antiquity
and the ways of the early kings for their authority; they were identifiable by
their antique clothing.
Zhuangzi, Tian Xia; see Burton Watson, The Complete Works of Chuang
Tzu [Zhuangzi] (Columbia University Press, 1964), 363. Commentators agree
that this refers to Ru dress.
Confucius himself became a model of behavior as well: his life became the
functional equivalent of a [guiding] concept or principle (Hall and Ames,
Anticipating China, 198).
In the Xunzi, for example, we find a discussion said to have taken place between
Duke Ai of Lu and Confucius. Confucius describes scholars in this way: Scholars
are born in the present generation, but aspire to the Way of the ancient times;
they live amid modern customs, but wear the clothes of ancient times. Duke
Ai wants to know, however, if all who dress in this way are capable officials:
Of course, but of those who wear the Zhang Fu cap, ornamented shoes, and
a large sash with the hu tablet, are they all worthy men? Confucius answered,
Not necessarily. But, those who wear proper clothes with dark lower garments
and a ceremonial cap while they ride in a carriage do not aspire to eat garlic.
Those dressed in mourning clothes, wearing grass sandals, carrying a mourning
staff, and drinking rice gruel, they do not have their aspirations set on meat and
drink. Xunzi, Ai Gong; compare Knoblock, Xunzi, 3, 259.
Shi Ji, Ru Lin Lie Zhuan. D. C. Lau points out that only 25 students are
mentioned in the Lun Yu; see his Analects, Appendix 2.
See, for example, Xunzi, Contra Physiognomy (Knoblock, Xunzi 1, 208)
and Contra Twelve Philosophers 1, 224. In the later Han dynasty, we find
another description of Confucian groupings. In the Han Shu, the Han history,
the Di Li Zhi chapter, which looks back at various states of the Warring
States period, says of the state of Qi that it alone loved the classics and the
accomplishments and of the state of Lu that they honoured ritual and rightness. Scholarly discussions of who belonged to the various schools and what
they argued about are numerous.
Conversely, Nylan argues that originally the term Ru meant classicist and
indicated not a precise moral orientation or body of doctrines but a professional
training with the general goal of state service; not all Ru were devoted to the
Confucian Way identified with the ancients; The Five Confucian Classics, 3.
Mozi, Fei Ru; compare Burton Watson trans., Mo Tzu [Mozi]: Basic Writings
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1963), 127.
There are other traditions about Mozi: that he studied Confucianism as a
young man before rejecting it; that he was an expert in defensive fortifications;
that he traveled widely to assist in defensive wars; and that he and his followers
wore simple clothes and did not have much in the way of possessions. In the
Mozi we are missing some chapters and now have only 53, some of which,
scholars point out, are clearly from a much later date.
Profit can also be translated as benefit and usefulness as accomplishment; one can find these, and other, variations in a number of descriptions
of Mozi.

218 Notes
24 Universal love was not always understood by Mozis followers. There is
a story that Master Dongguo, a follower of Mozi, once found a wolf being
chased by hunters on Mount Zhongshan. Thinking that he should practice
universal love, Master Dongguo put the wolf in a large bag and told the hunters
that he had not seen any animal at all. When the hunters left, Master Dongguo
released the wolf. The wolf said that he had nearly died from suffocation in the
bag and, in compensation, Master Dongguo should let himself be eaten. Just
then an old man came upon the scene and both the wolf and Master Dongguo
explained their view of the situation. The old man suggested that the wolf get
back in the bag so he could prove how much he had suffered. Once he was
in, the old man told Master Dongguo to kill the wolf. Finally seeing the true
situation, Master Dongguo did so. In Chinese, Master Dongguo (Dongguo
Xiansheng) is a synonym for a pedant, while wolf of Zhongshan (Zhongshan
lang) is used to refer to an ingrate.
25 See JeeLoo Liu, Introduction to Chinese Philosophy, 120f.
26 There is considerably more to Mozis thought. For a good introduction to his
logic and thinking, see the section on Mozi in JeeLoo Lius Introduction to
Chinese Philosophy, ch. 5.
27 Mozi, Fei Ru; compare Watson, Mo Tzu [Mozi], 132.
28 Mozi, Jie Zang; compare Watson, Mo Tzu [Mozi], Moderation in Funerals.
29 Mozi, Fei Ming; compare Watson, Mo Tzu [Mozi], Against Fatalism.
30 See Mozi, Fei Yue; compare Watson, Mo Tzu [Mozi], Against Music.
31 Mohist, pronounced moe-ist. The h is added to break the syllables; sometimes you will see this as Mo-ist and Moist.

Notes to Chapter 5
1

Burton Watson, trans., The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu [Zhuangzi], 297.
This episode is imaginary and the Confucius pictured here is fictional. Watsons
translation is so good that I will quote his Zhuangzi translations directly
throughout.
There is a Chinese family name, Lao, but it is a different character from the
Lao in Laozi. The later Han dynasty historian, Sima Qian, says that Laozis
name was Li Er or Lao Dan. He was said to have been a court archivist in
the state of Zhou. There are traditional stories that Confucius visited him and
that before he left China, Laozi was forced by the Keeper of the Pass to write
the text we now have. He may also have been Lao Laizi, a contemporary of
Confucius and an archivist. All of this information is vague, something Sima
Qian admits.
The texts title is sometimes also rendered as the Daodejing/Tao Te Ching. The
title comes from the first word of the first section, Dao, and the first word
of the second section De. The version found at Mawangdui transposes the
two sections. Estimates of the texts date of composition range from the 200s
BCE to as early as the 600s BCE. Most scholars agree that much of the text
was written in the 300s BCE, sometime after Mencius (see chapter 6), possibly
incorporating older material, and put into the form we have now sometime

Notes

7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18

19

20
21
22

219

during the first century CE. The text has been found in a Han dynasty tomb
dating from about 168 BCE and is very like the text we have now.
The text we have now has 33 chapters. The first seven, called the Inner
Chapters, are thought to have been written by Zhuangzi. Chapters 822
are called the Outer Chapters and were written by Zhuangzi or, at least,
following Zhuangzis thought. The rest, chapters 2333, the Miscellaneous
Chapters, contain some pieces by Zhuangzi but are mostly by other hands.
The issue of what is, or is not, mysticism is greatly debated. While mysticism
is a recognized tradition in the biblical religions, it is not easily transported to
Daoist texts. For the beginnings of the discussion, see Steven Katz, Mysticism
and Philosophical Analysis (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978).
Laozi, chs. 8, 78, 40, 125, 6. The Laozi is one of the most translated books
in the world and there are hundreds of translations to choose from. However,
the reader should be wary of many of them and check the credentials of the
translator. The standard translation of the Laozi is D. C. Laus Lao Tzu: Tao
Te Ching [Laozi: Dao De Jing] (Penguin Books, 1963 and reprinted regularly).
I am following Laus chapter numbering. For a translation of the Laozi text
from the Mawangdui finds, see Robert G. Henricks, Lao Tzus [Laozis] Tao
Te Ching [Dao De Jing] (New York: Columbia University Press, 2000).
Non-action, wu-wei. We often find the Laozi saying, The Dao does not act,
but leaves nothing undone.
Zhuangzi, Mastering Life, Watson, The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu
[Zhuangzi], 2067.
Laozi, ch. 5.
Laozi, ch. 3.
Laozi, ch. 50.
The Zhuangzi also calls the sage the Holy Man, the Perfect Man, the True
Man, or the Great Man.
Laozi, ch. 33.
Laozi, ch. 53.
Laozi, ch. 60.
Burton Watson, trans., The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu [Zhuangzi], 112,
106. This view is also in the Laozi, ch. 80.
Burton Watson, trans., The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu [Zhuangzi], 112.
Zhuangzi, External Things, Watson, trans., The Complete Works of Chuang
Tzu [Zhuangzi], 2967. Confucians have many sterling characteristics, but a
sense of humor is not often one of them. These kinds of joking attacks must
have been unbearable.
The Art of War, the Sunzi Bingfa. For a discussion of the formation of the text,
see Michael Loewe, ed., Early Chinese Texts: A Bibliographic Guide (Berkeley,
CA: Society for the Study of Early China, 1993).
Sunzi Bingfa; see the chapter Employing Spies. Ralph D. Sawyer, Sun-tzu
[Sunzi] The Art of War (New York: Barnes and Noble, 1994), 299f.
Sunzi Bingfa Shi Ji; compare Ralph D. Sawyer, Sun-tzu [Sunzi] The Art of
War, 168.
Logicians are also called the School of Disputation, the School of Names/
Words, or the Later Mohists.

220 Notes
23 See the Mohist Canons, which have long discussions about the rules of logic
and how arguments should be structured as well as discussions about similarity
and difference and how they are decided. A. C. Graham, Later Mohist Logic,
Ethics, and Science (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 2003).
24 Hui Shi, Zhuangzis friend as portrayed in the Zhuangzi. We have no firm
dates for him. It is possible that he lived from about 380 to 305 BCE.
25 Zhuangzi; see Watson, The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu [Zhuangzi], 3745.
26 There are no firm dates for Gongsun Long. Some place him from about
325250 BCE; others date him about 380 BCE. Most of Gongsun Longs writings have been lost. There are only six essays in a text, Gongsun Long, which
contains the white horse argument.
27 See Wing-tsit Chan, A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy (Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1963), 235f.
28 Terms like white are what Gongsun Long calls zhi, to point to an idea,
an abstract concept.
29 Similarly, he argues that a white stone is not hard. This is because when we see
the stone, we can see the white, but we cannot see hard. When we feel the
stone, we can feel hard, but we cannot feel white. So we have epistemological proof that hard and white are separate universals. We know them
in different ways, they cannot be the same, and they do not interpenetrate
each other. This is a position that later Mohists will argue against.
30 See J. J. L. Duyvendak, The Book of Lord Shang: A Classic of the Chinese
School of Law (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1963), and Liu Yongping,
The Origins of Chinese Law: Penal and Administrative Law in its Early
Development (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1998).
31 See H. G. Creel, Shen Pu-hai [Shen Buhai]: A Chinese Political Philosopher of
the Fourth Century B.C. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1974).
32 See the Han Feizi, ch. 50, Eminence in Learning.
33 Han Feizi, Wu Du; compare Burton Watson, trans., Han Fei Tzu [Han
Feizi]: Basic Writings (New York: Columbia University Press, 1964), 111.
34 Han Feizi was sent as an envoy from the state of Han to the state of Qin, where
he met his fellow student Li Si, by then prime minister of the state of Qin. Li
Si thought in the same way as Han Feizi and so had Han Feizi imprisoned.
Fittingly enough, Han Feizi died in prison, likely on the orders of Li Si, in 233
BCE.
35 See the Mencius 7A.26. For Mencius and citations from the Mencius see below.

Notes to Chapter 6
1

The Mencius 6.B.15. My translations follow Laus numbering system and

readers can consult alternate translations for comparison. An excellent modern
translation of the Mencius with explanatory notes and a discussion of how NeoConfucian readings of the text have affected our understanding is Bryan W. Van
Nordens Mengzi [Mencius] with Selections from Traditional Commentaries
(Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 2008). An older, though standard, translation of the Mencius is by D. C. Lau (New York: Harmondsworth, Penguin,

Notes

2
3
4
5
6

7
8

9
10
11
12
13

14
15

16

17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27

221

1970). David Hintons Mencius (Washington: Counterpoint, 1999) is also a

good introductory translation. Mencius, 371289 BCE, was a contemporary
of Alexander the Great (d.323 BCE).
Mengzis given name is Ke, also styled Ziyu.
These stories, and others, can be found in later Han dynasty works, the Han
Shi Wai Zhuan and Biographies of Women; see chapter 9.
Mencius 2A.2 and 2B.13.
Mencius 3B.9.
The only thing Confucius says about human nature is one statement
where he says that people are born alike but differ through practice. Analects
17.2.
Mencius 6A.6.
Anyone who assumes that babies are just little egoists who enter the world
needing to be socialized so they can learn to care about others and become
good citizens is overlooking other propensities every bit as species-typical,
Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, Mothers and Others: The Evolutionary Origins of Mutual
Understanding (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 2009), 6.
Gaozi, for example, says that human nature is the appetite for food and sex.
See the Mencius 6A.4.
Mencius 6A.7.
Mencius 2A.6.
Mencius 6A.8.
We know nothing about Gaozi, other than his appearances in the Mencius. In
6A.4, Gaozi seems to argue that morality is taught to us, but is not natural.
See Mencius 6A.1.
Mencius 6A.10.
See Kim-chong Chong, Confucianism (II): Meng Zi and Xun Zi in History
of Chinese Philosophy, ed. Bo Mou, Routledge History of World Philosophies
(New York: Routledge, 2009), vol. 3, 193, 197.
Mencius 6A.10, 6A.1415. For Mencius, goodness is also reflected in the face
and appearance: see 7A.21 and 7A.38. Mencius also says, A great man is one
who does not lose his child-like mind/heart (4B.12). And that, while people
have the sense to go after straying chickens or dogs, they do not go after the
mind/heart when it strays (6A.11).
Mencius 4B.28.
Mencius 7A.1. See also 6A.15.
Mencius 4B.29 and 4B.19.
Mencius 4B.12.
Mencius 2A.2.
Mencius 6A.16
Mencius 1B.6.
Mencius 7B.14. The spirits of the land and grain represented the territory of
the state.
Mencius 1B.8.
Mencius 5A.6.
JeeLoo Liu argues that Mencius did indeed mean revolution against corrupt
rulers, as a corrupt ruler is no longer, according to setting words right, a ruler.

222 Notes

28
29
30
31

32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50

Mencius wanted the ministers of the government to overthrow such a ruler; he

was not looking for a popular revolution from the people.
Mencius 1A.1.
Mencius 1A.7.
Mencius 6A.7.
This is the well field system (well refers to the Chinese character for a well,
which looks like #). The central square is public, the crop goes to the ruler; the
others are privately owned. The land all belongs to the state, and is given to
the people; so the tax goes to the state, not to feudal lords (Mencius 3A.3).
Mencius 1A.7.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Mencius 6A.10.
Mencius 1A.5 and 7B.4.
Mencius 4A.14.
Mencius 4B.28.
Mencius 4A.4.
Mencius 7A.39.
Mencius 4A.18.
Mencius 3.A.5.
Mencius 4A.17.
Mencius 3B.2.
Mencius 7A.13.
Mencius 2A.2.
As I have argued elsewhere: see Mencius and his Vast, Overflowing Qi
(Haoranzhiqi), Monumenta Serica 46, 93104 (1998).
Mencius 7A.1.
Mencius 4A.12.
Mencius 7A.4.

Notes to Chapter 7
1
2
3

Xunzi, Confucian Teachings; compare Knoblock, Xunzi 2, 79. See the

Glossary for pronunciation.
Xunzis given name was Kuang, but he is most often referred to as Xun Qing.
For an excellent biography of Xunzi, a description of Xunzis times, and an
overview of the text, see John Knoblock, Xunzi: A Study and Translation of
the Complete Works (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1988), vol. 1,
General Introduction, 3f. Knoblocks translation, in three volumes, is the
most thorough and modern available. For a shorter introduction to the Xunzi
see Burton Watsons translation, Hzun Tzu [Xunzi]: Basic Writings (New
York: Columbia University Press, 1967).
The text we now have was assembled in the Han dynasty from shorter works.
For a discussion of the composition of the text, see Knoblock, Xunzi, 1, 105f
and 240f.

Notes
5

6
7
8
9
10

11

12
13
14

15
16
17
18
19
20

21

22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29

223

Xunzi, On Getting Rid of Blindness. The Duke of Zhou was a Confucian

hero, a paragon of moral and political behavior. The Three Kings are the
founders of the three dynasties, the Xia, Shang, and Zhou. Compare Knoblock,
Xunzi 3, 103.
Xunzi, Human Nature is Evil; compare Knoblock, 3, 150f.
See Knoblock, Xunzi 3, 139 for a discussion of the term.
Xunzi, Human Nature is Evil; compare Knoblock, Xunzi 3, 155.
Xunzi, Human Nature is Evil; compare Knoblock, Xunzi 3, 152.
Xunzi, Human Nature is Evil; compare Knoblock, Xunzi 3, 151: They
are called the emotions given to us by nature. Discussing Nature; compare
Knoblock, Xunzi 3, 17. For a more detailed discussion of the constitution of
human nature and the emotions according to Xunzi, see Kim-chong Chong,
Confucianism (II): Meng Zi [Mencius] and Xun Zi [Xunzi], 203f.
Wei has been translated as artificial, man-made, conscious activity, human artifice, deliberate effort. See Liu, Introduction to Chinese
Philosophy, 94.
Xunzi, Human Nature is Evil; compare Knoblock, Xunzi 3, 153.
Xunzi, Human Nature is Evil; compare Knoblock, Xunzi 3, 158.
Xunzi, Human Nature is Evil; compare Knoblock, Xunzi 3,153. See also
section 19.1. In discussing the dilemma of the early sages Liu argues that the
early sage-kings used the moral rules that they had devised to become moral
themselves; Liu, Introduction to Chinese Philosophy, 1023.
Xunzi, Human Nature is Evil; compare Knoblock, Xunzi 3, 151.
Xunzi, A Discussion of Ritual; compare Knoblock, Xunzi 3, 65.
Xunzi, Enriching the State; compare Knoblock, Xunzi 2, 1267.
Xunzi, Enriching the State; compare Knoblock, Xunzi 2, 121.
Xunzi, On Kings and Dictators, ch. 11.
Knoblock argues that, when Xunzi visited the state of Qin in about 260 BCE,
he was an orthodox Confucian, teaching many of the same things we have
seen in Confucius and Mencius. What he saw in Qin was such a shock that
he had to re-examine his thinking, and we can see a change in his attitudes,
particularly about government and the effect of moral teachings in government.
See Knoblock, Xunzi 1, 22f.
Dictator is also translated as hegemon or Knoblocks Lord Protector.
This title had been given to various overlords in the Zhou and Warring States
era whose authority came from military force. For a discussion of the origin
and use of the term, see Knoblock, Xunzi 2, 140f.
Xunzi, On Kings and Dictators; see Knoblock, Xunzi 2, 151.
Xunzi, On Putting Words Right; see Knoblock, Xunzi 3, 130-31.
Xunzi, On Putting Words Right; see Knoblock, Xunzi 3, 129f.
See Xunzi, On Putting Words Right, ch. 19.
Xunzi, Discussing Nature; compare Knoblock, Xunzi 3, 14.
Xunzi, Discussing Nature; compare Knoblock, Xunzi 3, 17.
Xunzi, Discussing Nature; compare Knoblock, Xunzi 3, 18-19. For the terms
yin and yang, see chapter 9.
Xunzi, Discussing Nature; compare Knoblock, Xunzi 3, 19. For the Book
of Changes see chapter 8.

224 Notes
30 Xunzi, On Getting Rid of Blindness; compare Knoblock, Xunzi 3,109.
31 Xunzi, Against Twelve Philosophers; see Knoblock, Xunzi 1, 223f.
32 Xunzi, On Getting Rid of Blindness; see Knoblock, Xunzi 3,102f.

Notes to Chapter 8
1

2
3
4
5

Xunzi, You Zuo; compare Knoblock, Xunzi 3, 249. Prince Bi Gan, uncle of
the last Shang emperor, tried to give good advice to his nephew. The emperor,
having heard that a sages heart had seven openings, cut out Bi Gans heart
to inspect it. Guan Longfeng was an advisor to the last emperor of the Xia
dynasty. Wu Zixu was a loyal and wise minister in the state of Wu who was
ordered to commit suicide by his lord. His dying words drove the King of
Wu to have Wus body mutilated and thrown in the Yangzi River. Like them,
Confucians might offer expert and proper advice, but that advice was not
always followed, nor were Confucians necessarily popular with the rulers of
the Warring States period. Confucians often portray themselves as neglected
advisors and, in the Confucian classics, again and again, rulers find themselves
facing disaster for not following Confucian advice.
Han Feizi, Xian Xie.
Han Shu, Di Li Zhi.
See, for example, Xunzi, Against Physiognomy, Knoblock, Xunzi 1, 208 and
Against the Twelve Philosophers, Knoblock, Xunzi 1, 224.
He is frequently seen in the Analects where he asks questions, but Confucius
criticized him for his rashness. The Han Feizi says that Zi Zhangs group
emphasized caps and dress and attracted a great many followers. Zi Zhang is
also found caricatured in the Zhuangzi, Dao Zhi.
He is seen in the Analects as a teacher in his own right, but Confucius criticizes
him for not being a gentleman Confucian (Analects 6.13). He is credited
with the transmission of many of the classics in the Shi Ji Ru Lin Lie Zhuan
and is prominent in the Book of Rites. The followers of Zi Xia were called
petty men because they performed only the outer forms of ritual (bowing,
advancing, and retiring); see the Analects 19.12.
Zi Si is traditionally credited with some of the writing in the Book of Rites and
with writing the Doctrine of the Mean. It is now known that the Doctrine of
the Mean was probably compiled at the beginning of the Qin dynasty. Xunzi
says that in his time, some Confucians used Confucian ideas and tied them to
the wu xing, five phases or processes theory. They then claimed that these were
the ideas of Zi Si and Mencius; see Knoblock, Xunzi 1, 21415; see chapter 9
for wu xing. Xunzi might not have wanted to attack Confucius grandson, but
he did frequently criticize Mencius and his ideas. The Han Feizi credits Mencius
with almost 1,000 students. There is speculation that Zi Si, Yue Zheng, and
Mencius formed one group that might, in turn, have been related to Zi Yous
group.
See the Xunzi, Ru Xiao. He is mentioned in the Analects 6.6, 6.1, 13.2, and
the Shiji 67.9. Scholars think Xunzi may have meant Ran Yong (whose style
was Zhong Gong) but little is known of him.

Notes
9

10
11

12

13

14

15

16

225

Han Feizi, Xian Xue; compare Watson, Han Fei Tzu [Han Feizi]: Basic
Writings, 118f. The Han Feizis reference to a Sun group has led to a debate
about who this is, with many scholars arguing that it is, in fact, Xunzi. For
further information, see Slingerlands Analects, Appendix 2, Disciples of
Confucius.
Mark Csikszentmihalyi, Material Virtue: Ethics and the Body in Early China
(Leiden: Brill Sinica Leidensia, 2004), vol. LXVI, 31f.
Michael Nylan, Boundaries of the Body and Body Politic in Early Confucian
Thought in Confucian Political Ethics, ed. Daniel A. Bell (Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 2008), 85.
Zhuangzi, Tian Dao; compare Watson, The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu
[Zhuangzi], 149 and 165. Confucius is described as talking about the twelve
jing, classics, which commentators take to mean that there were actually six
classics, jing, with six accompanying commentaries. In the list of classics we
have seen above, the Zhuangzi lists four: Poetry, History, Rites, and Music.
A set of the Confucian classics in Chinese can be found at the Chinese Text
Project by Donald Sturgeon, http://chinese.dsturgeon.net. The English translations given there are often from James Legges translations from the late 1800s.
See John B. Henderson, Scripture, Canon, and Commentary: A Comparison of
Confucian and Western Exegesis (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991)
for a description of the various versions of the Documents.
The Book of Poetry, the Shi Jing is also called the Book of Odes, the Book of
Songs or just the Songs. See Arthur Waley, trans., The Book of Songs, edited
and added to by J. R. Allen (New York: Grove Press, 1996). The text has also
been used by linguists; see Bernhard Karlgren, The Book of Odes (Stockholm:
Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, 1954).
The Book of History, the Shu Jing or Shang Shu, is also called the Classic
of Documents, the Classic of History, the Book of Documents or just the
Documents.
In 1993, the archaeologists at the Jingmen City Museum excavated a tomb
in the town of Guodian, Hubei, near the capital of the Warring States state of
Chu, finding 804 bamboo strips of texts, mostly philosophical texts. The tomb
is dated to 300 BCE so these are the earliest versions of the texts that are extant.
In 1994, a cache of 1,200 bamboo strips was bought by the Shanghai Museum
in the antiques market of Hong Kong (likely from tomb robbers). Both of
these discoveries are described in the first section of Edward L. Shaughnessy,
Rewriting Early Chinese Texts (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2006). The discovery of these texts has corroborated the authenticity of several texts we have
now, including the Laozi. For The Book of History, see Liao Mingchun, A
Preliminary Study on the Newly-Unearthed Inscriptions of the Chu Kingdom:
An Investigation of the Materials from and about the Shangshu in the Guodian
Chu Slips (Taipei: Taiwan Guji, 2001).
Mencius 7B.3. Nylan says that the text was not put into a continuous history
until sometime at the end of the Warring States era or in the Han dynasty. See
the Five Confucian Classics, 122f. Nylan gives an excellent description of
these texts and their development. See also her bibliography and long endnotes
on the Yale University Press website.

226 Notes
17 Mencius 3B. 9.
18 Spring and Autumn Annals, Duke Zhuang, 22nd year; compare Legge, The
Chun Tsew with the Tso Chuen [The Spring and Autumn Annals and the Zuo
Zhuan], The Chinese Classics vol. 5 (1872; reprint) (Hong Kong: University of
Hong Kong Press, 1960), 1012 . We do not have annals from any state other
than Lu. Like The Book of History and the Book of Rites, the only complete
translation of the Spring and Autumn Annals and the Zuo Zhuan are these
very old texts from the end of the 1800s.
19 The Book of Changes is also called the Classic of Change, Zhou Yi or Yi. For
a discussion of the Zhou Yi, the Book of Changes as found in the Shanghai
Museum purchase of bamboo strips, see Edward L. Shaughnessy, A First
Reading of the Shanghai Museum Bamboo-Strip Manuscript of the Zhou Yi
in Early China 30 (20056), 125.
20 Because it is the source of cosmology and moral ideas for both Confucian and
Daoist thinkers, Liu argues that it is the single most important work in
the history of Chinese philosophy, Liu, Introduction to Chinese Philosophy,
26. Fascination with this book of divination continues among scholars even
today. There have been recent translations and discussions of the text that
look at the layers in the text and the historical development of the text; see
Edward L. Shaughnessy, trans., I Ching: The Classic of Changes (New York:
Ballantine, 1997) and Richard John Lynn, trans., The Classic of Changes: A
New Translation of the I Ching (New York: Columbia University Press, 1994).
21 The Book of Rites, Li Ji, is also called the Book of Ritual or the Record of
Rites. There are a number of ritual texts in addition to the Book of Rites. For
a description of them, see Nylan, The Five Confucian Classics, ch. 4, 168f.
22 Great Learning, the Da Xue.
23 Doctrine of the Mean, the Zhong Yong.
24 The Xunzis Discussion of Music was probably written between 300 and 200
BCE; most of the Book of Rites Record of Music was written about the same
time, but edited by Han Confucians; the Shi Jis Book of Music repeats the
Record; and the passages from the Lu Shi Chun Qiu were written around 293
BCE. This means that the bases of most of our major sources were written
around much the same time.
25 Its authorship is now considered to be unknown. For a description of the chapters of the Classic of Filial Piety and their contents see Rosemont and Ames,
The Chinese Classic of Family Reverence, 67, and see the rest of the text for
a good discussion of the issues involved and a modern translation.
26 Prime minister Li Sis advice to the First Emperor. Burton Watson, trans., The
Records of the Grand Historian (New York: Columbia University Press, 1993),
185.
27 See Denis Twitchett and Michael Loewe, The Cambridge History of China:
the Chin [Qin] and Han Empires, 221B.C.A.D. 220 (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1986), 34f. They quote Shang Yangs biography, Whoever
did not denounce a culprit would be cut in two; whoever did denounce a culprit
would receive the same reward as he who decapitated an enemy; whoever
concealed a culprit would receive the same punishment as he who surrendered
to an enemy (36).

Notes

227

28 Qin intrigue includes the tale of Lu Buwei, a very wealthy merchant, who
made friends with an heir to the Qin throne, giving this heir his own favorite
concubine. The concubine, according to the later Han dynasty historian, Sima
Qian, was already pregnant by Lu. When she bore a son, this son went on
to become the ruler of Qin. Lu Buwei continued as Qins chancellor with
his illegitimate son on the throne. Lu, unwisely, continued his relations with
the concubine and was forced to commit suicide in 235 BCE. Lu Buwei is
also known as a patron of scholars who wrote the Lu Shi Chun Chiu, an
encyclopedic work. The possibly illegitimate son went on to become the First
Emperor of China.
29 Qin Shi Huangdi. One of those things that people say about China is that
the English word China is based on the word Qin. There is no evidence
for this. There are many of these so-called facts floating around, like the
mistaken notion that Chinese has no verb to be.
30 The Great Wall of China that we know today was mostly built in the Ming
dynasty. The First Emperors wall was more modest in construction and in
length.
31 In modern-day Qufu, one can see the wall where it is said that the Kong family
and the people of Lu hid the Confucian texts.
32 See Nylan, The Five Confucian Classics, 29f.
33 In 208 BCE Li Si had his ears, nose, fingers, and feet amputated, was whipped,
and decapitated. His head was then displayed.

Notes to Chapter 9
1
2
3

The Former or Early Han dynasty, 206 BCE23 CE, the Later Han dynasty,
25220 CE.
Shi Ji, Ru Lin Lie Zhuan.
Other inventions included iron ploughs that not only were better at cutting
into the soil, but also raised and turned the soil at the same time. The invention of the seed drill made sowing seeds more even; grain was winnowed with
a crank-driven machine, the first in the world. Many of these developments
were not seen in Europe for over a thousand years.
More inventions of the time: the cog-wheel, the water mill, a caliper with
decimal scale, belt drives, the suspension bridge, descriptions of blood circulation, and negative numbers. See Joseph Needham, Science and Civilization in
China (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1959) 3, 6278, and Robert
Temple, The Genius of China: 3,000 Years of Science, Discovery, and Invention
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1989), 21824. Like the Roman empire, the
Han dynasty extended its borders and developed sophisticated technology
and government structure. Both empires fell due to barbarian invasions, the
richs possession of enormous estates, intrigue and weakness at court, and the
rise of religion (Christianity and Religious Daoism). But the Chinese empire
was land-based, was more culturally homogeneous, and had a common writing
system. It would rise again, while the Roman empire was never duplicated
(Roberts, A History of China), 39.

228 Notes
5

7
8

10

11
12

13

Keith N. Knapp, Selfless Offspring: Filial Children and Social Order in Medieval
China (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2005), 21. See 22f for a discussion of the debate on the Confucianization of the Han dynasty.
There is disagreement here. Hall and Ames argue that by the first century BCE
Confucianism had become a victor over all the contending voices: Its success
was due in an important degree to its ability to accommodate within a ritually grounded society many of the profound elements of Daoism, Legalism,
and Mohism, a pattern that would be repeated in Confucianisms gradual
appropriation of Buddhist elements by its medieval adherents (Hall and Ames,
Anticipating China, 210).
For a description of this process, see Edward L. Shaughnessy, Rewriting Early
Chinese Texts.
Chinese title Chun Qiu Fan Lu. Recent scholarship has shown that this text
was written by a number of authors and over centuries. For good scholarly
discussions of the yin-yang texts, see Robin S. Yates, Five Lost Classics: Tao
[Dao], Huanglao, and Yin-Yang in Han China (New York: Ballantine, 1997)
and Sarah A. Queen, From Chronicle to Canon: the Hermeneutics of the Spring
and Autumn, According to Tung Chung-shu [Dong Zhongshu] (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1996).
Yin-yang theorists were active by the time of Xunzi. Zou Yan (c.340 BCE)
is thought to have been at the Jixia academy with Xunzi; his works, once
extensive, are now lost. Even though he is considered to be the person most
associated with yin-yang thought, texts describe him as more deeply involved
with the five phases theory or some variation of it. Sima Qian says he assigned
the five virtues to things so as to explain the transformations of these five
virtues. The Records of the Historian also says that Zou Yan used yinyang thought in order to end immorality at court; he looked deeply into
the increases and decreases of yin and yang. See Records of the Historian
74.56. See Knoblock, Xunzi 1, 64f for a brief introduction to Zou Yans
thinking.
The actions of yin and yang depend on their own natures, not on a germ of
yin inside yang nor yang inside yin. The idea that yin and yang interpenetrate
to some degree is not found until the Song dynasty where we see it in Zhou
Dunyis Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate (Tai Ji); see chapter 11.
Chunqiu Fan Lu, ch. 53, section 12.
Issues around the yin-yang theory are still very much debated. For the view that
the yin-yang theory does work as a complementary system, see Hall and Ames,
Anticipating China, 261f. Sherry J. Mou argues that the yin-yang systems of
the Han defined relationships hierarchically, and that this included gender relations and, as she points out, these were then reinforced with ideas of loyalty,
filial piety, rightness, and so on, and regulated by rituals. See Gentlemens
Prescriptions for Womens Lives: A Thousand Years of Biographies of Chinese
Women (New York: M. E. Sharpe, 2004), 7.
The word is often used oddly. There is an advertisement that claims that using
the featured product will result in a state of qi. As everything is made of qi,
everyone already has a state of qi. Many Westerners have heard the term used
in the martial arts where often it means something more like energy.

Notes

229

14 In addition to yin-yang and five phases theories, the New Text school was
influenced by another strand of thought, Huang-Lao, named after the sageking, the Yellow Emperor (Huangdi), and Laozi, believed to be the author of
the Daodejing. In the Western Han, Huang-Lao developed as a combination
of Legalist ideas about the structure of government along with Daoist ideas of
non-action. When a government organization was set up well and laws were
understood, a ruler did not need to involve himself in government. While
Huang-Lao thought died out in the early Han, it is thought to have influenced
the yin-yang thought of the New Text school. In 1973 at Mawangdui (near
modern Changsha in Hunan province) manuscripts associated with Huang-Lao
thought were discovered.
15 Chunqiu Fanlu, ch. 19, section 6.
16 Chunqiu Fanlu, ch. 56, section 13.
17 The five phases, wu xing, is also translated as the five elements or five stages.
18 Because it is the center, there is no yin or yang position for earth/center/yellow.
19 Uncrowned, or unrecognized, king.
20 Hall and Ames, Anticipating China, 201.
21 For a description of changes in the figure of Confucius, see Mark Csikszentmihalyi,
Confucius and the Analects in the Han in Confucius and the Analects: New
Essays, ed. Bryan Van Norden (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002),
13462; for a list of Han stories about Confucius, see ibid., 136.
22 Wang Chong was said to have been so poor that he read the classics by frequenting the bookstores of Luoyang and reading the texts while pretending
to buy. His text is the Lun Heng, Balanced Discourses, which he wrote in
obscurity. It only came to light when one of his in-laws tried to pass off Wang
Chongs thinking as his own. Wang Chong is open about his dependence on
Daoist thought, but says that Daoists did not understand how to prove their
arguments, while he did.
23 Chunqiu Fanlu, Yin Yang Yi, ch. 49.
24 Lun Heng, Ziran; compare A. Forke, trans., Lun Heng (1907 reprint) (New
York: Paragon, 1962), 1, 99.
25 Lun Heng, Ziran; compare Forke, Lun Heng 1, 92.
26 Lun Heng, Han Wen; compare Forke, Lun Heng 1, 278; 283.
27 Lun Heng, Bian Dong; compare Forke, Lun Heng 1, 10910. Human
beings are creatures; even though they are noble lords or rulers, their nature
is no different from the nature of all other creatures, Lun Heng, Dao Xu;
compare Forke, Lun Heng 1,3356.
28 Liu Xiangs Biographies of Women has 104 biographies, divided among seven
chapters. The chapter titles are: The Highest Standard of Motherhood, The
Wise and Intelligent, The Humane and Knowledgeable, The Incorruptible
and Obedient, Those with Principles and Rightness, Those Who Pass on
Examples and Have Good Opinions, and The Evil and Depraved. See Mou,
Gentlemans Prescriptions, 11f. and Appendix A.1, 201f. for her translations.
This organization set the standard for many biographies of women to come.
29 See Knapp, Selfless Offspring, 24.
30 Shuoyuan Zhuzi Suoyin 3.8 by Liu Xiang, cited in Knapp, 29.
31 Knapp, Selfless Offspring, 25.

230 Notes

Notes to Chapter 10
1

7
8
9

Down to modern times, Chinese people refer to themselves as Han ren,

people of the Han, or Tang ren, people of the Tang. These are the only two
dynasties to be so distinguished.
You may have seen the movie The Matrix. The hero, Neo, is offered a red pill
that allows him to see that the world he believed was real is a hoax. It is a computer simulation that creates an artificial reality called the Matrix. If you take
the red pill, you can begin to understand one of the most complex of Buddhist
philosophical schools, Yogacharin Buddhism. It began in India about 300 CE.
It argues that central to all things, central to reality itself, is the Tathagatagarbha, the storehouse consciousness. This storehouse contains seeds that are
all the ideas and mental impressions of consciousness. Consciousness shares
these seeds so that trees look like trees. But the world we see and know through
our senses is not real, it is more like a movie. We think it is real, but only
because the mental seeds look real. This view is similar to what we see in The
Matrix. We are caught up in events, situations, and things that are not really
real. What is real is Consciousness, the storehouse, also understood to be the
real, eternal Buddha, called the Tathagata. Enlightenment then is realizing that
the world we think is real, the one that makes us suffer, is not real at all.
Fazang went on to argue that all phenomena are mutually interpenetrating. For
more on Hua Yan and its arguments with the Tiantai school of Buddhism, see
essays in Peter N. Gregory and Daniel A. Getz Jr., eds., Buddhism in the Sung
[Song], (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1999).
Knapp, Selfless Offspring, 4f. Extraordinary service including making lifesaving medicines for ones parents from pieces of ones own flesh. This, in
turn, led to a number of jokes. An old one is about a doctor who says that
the only thing that will save a father is a medicine made with the flesh of a
filial sons thigh. The son then went out to the mansions gate and found a
beggar sound asleep there. He cut a slice of the beggars thigh and the beggar
screamed in pain. The son told the beggar to calm down, saying, Your flesh
is going to save the life of a dying father. Whats the matter with you, dont
you understand the importance of filial piety?
Knapp, Selfless Offspring, 136. He points out that women appear in filial piety
stories usually only in the absence of brothers and often have to die to show
their filial piety, that is, go further in service to prove it. In the early medieval
period, stories about filial daughters or daughters-in-law were rare; by the
Song-Yuan period, about one quarter of the tales are about women (1856).
Through time, the details of the examination system varied; this is only a
general description. See Ichisada Miyazaki, Chinas Examination Hell: the Civil
Service Examinations of Imperial China, Conrad Schirokauer, trans. (Yale
University Press, 1981), 31.
See Miyazaki, Chinas Examination Hell, 36f.
Ibid., 57.
In the Han dynasty, it is estimated that Chinas population was about 60
million, reaching that height again in the Tang dynasty and, by the Song

Notes

10

11

12
13

14

15

16

17

18

19

231

dynasty, doubled to about 120 million people. Capital cities, like Kaifeng,
were four to five times the size of ancient Rome. See Fairbank and Goldman,
China: a New History, 89. For population and government officials numbers,
see ibid., 106.
For an entertaining insight into the roles of a magistrate in the imperial period,
see R. H. van Guliks series of Judge Dee murder mysteries, such as The Chinese
Lake Murders and The Chinese Nail Murders. For a description of the duties
of magistrates and the problems they faced, see John H. Berthrong and Evelyn
Nagai Berthrong, Confucianism: An Introduction (Oxford: Oneworld, 2000),
107f.
As one old story has it, a very successful pirate was only diverted from his life
of crime by being offered the post of a government official. The pirate said,
Officials take their posts and then become thieves, but I was a thief before
becoming an official.
Greatest Sage and Ancient Teacher, Zhi Sheng Xian Shi, or the most complete
sage and the first master.
At the 2008 ceremony in Taipei on the 2,558th birthday of Confucius, unusually, the eight-row ceremonial dance, the bayi, reserved for performance
in front of emperors, was performed. Taipei city councilors complained that
Confucian temple officials were fawning over the new president, Ma Yingjeou (Ma Yingjiu).
For a description of the Confucian temple in Taipei, see the government
website at http://www.ct.taipei.gov.tw/EN/01-history/hst1.html. For the
Confucian temple in Qufu, see www.china.org.cn/english/kuaixun/74944.htm.
The Confucian temple in Indonesia is the Boen Bio temple, originally built in
1883, rebuilt in 1907, and dedicated to the Prophet Confucius. Refurbished
Confucian temples in China include those in Nanjing, Tianjin, and Ganzhou;
the old Confucian temple in Xian is now the tourist site the Forest of Steles.
Korea has the largest number of Confucian temples outside of China and some
still continue Confucian rites.
For a fascinating discussion of the changing iconography of Confucius and
the debates around it, see Julia K. Murry, Idols in the Temple: Icons and the
Cult of Confucius in the Journal of Asian Studies 68.2 (May 2009), 371411.
For a description, see http://academics.hamilton.edu/asian_studies/home/
chrono.html, the link to chronology of enshrinement. The Hanlin (forest of
scholars) academy was established in the Tang in 725.
For the view that Confucius is a god, see, for example, Henri Maspero,
Taoism and Chinese Religions, F. Kierman, trans. (Amherst: University of
Massachusetts Press, 1981), 12. See Hall and Ames, Anticipating China, 202
for the view of Confucius as a guide.
Before the Choson dynasty, there were private and government academies; the
government created a publishing house for the Confucian classics; a Hanlin
academy (Korean: Hallim-won) was established; and, in 958, a civil service
examination system began.
For a detailed description of Choson dynasty Confucianism see James Huntley
Grayson, Korea: A Religious History (New York: Routledge Curzon, 2002),
especially 11220, 12638.

232 Notes
20 See Grayson, 178f.
21 See Lee Seung-hwan, A Topography of Confucian Discourse, ch. 4. Lee says,
The authentic Confucian spirit has never been achieved in modern Korean
history. Confucianism has been used as an ideological apparatus for the protection of the capitalist system, labor suppression, and the stability of the regime
(170).
22 See Prince Shotokus Constitution of 604 for the use of Confucian terms and
ideas like proper behavior, rightness, loyalty, and so on.
23 But some Confucian scholars used government support to criticize the government: their work on the enormous 226-volume history of Japan, which began
in 1657 and was completed in 1906, was motivated by the idea of using the
past to criticize the present, a common theme in early Confucianism. See
Masaharu Anesaki, History of Japanese Religion (Rutland, VT: Charles E.
Tuttle, 1963), 272f.
24 [T]he Vietnamese manifested some longstanding familiarity with Confucian
teachings, but the impact was far less extensive than in either Korea or China.
Confucianism, as a systematic and coherent body of beliefs had faded in
importance by midcentury, and very few institutions specifically aimed at
the propagation of its teachings remained. But, if one forgoes a search for a
coherent organized set of beliefs and searchers instead for concepts (like loyalty
or filial piety) with clear Confucian origins, then Confucianism remained
quite common; Shawn Frederick McHale, Print and Power: Confucianism,
Communism and Buddhism in the Making of Modern Vietnam (Honolulu:
University of Hawaii Press, 2004), 94. See also his article, Mapping a
Vietnamese Confucian Past and Its Transition to Modernity in Benjamin A.
Elman et al., eds., Rethinking Confucianism: Past and Present in China, Korea,
and Vietnam (Los Angeles: UCLA Press, 2002), 397430.

Notes to Chapter 11
1
2

See Fairbank and Goldman, China: a New History, 92.

There have been theories that, through the influence of the Mongol conquests
of Asia and parts of Europe, knowledge of both woodblock and moveabletype printing spread from China to Europe. Others disagree and describe
the independent historical progression of printing techniques in Europe. See
Tsien Tsuen-hsun, Paper and Printing in Science and Civilisation in China.
Volume 5: Chemistry and Chemical Technology, part 1, ed. Joseph Needham
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985).
See Ari Borrell, Ko-wu [Gewu] or Kung-an [Gongan] Practice, Realization,
and Teaching in the Thought of Chang Chiu-Cheng [Zhang Jiucheng] in
Buddhism in the Sung[Song], ed. Gregory and Getz, 62109 for a description
of the complex relationship between Buddhist thought and Neo-Confucianism.
Han Yu is better known as an excellent writer and his works can be found in collections of prose. See Sjoj Shun Liu, Chinese Classical Prose: the Eight Masters
of the Tang [Tang]-Sung [Song] Period (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press
of Hong Kong, 1979), 45f.

Notes
5

8
9

10
11

12

13

233

Metaphysical is a word that is not helpful. Its literal meaning is after the
Physics in Aristotles books, but the makeup of the word does not tell us what
it means. The Chinese phrase for metaphysical is more helpful: it is xing er
shang, what is above the forms and shapes that we perceive. Metaphysical
describes something that is not perceivable by the senses and that is abstract
as opposed to concrete. Transcendent means beyond our world of time and
space. Early Daoist texts often refer to the Dao as something so far beyond
language that one can say it both exists and does not exist. The Buddhist idea
of Tathagata, the eternal state of the Buddha, is also described as both existing
and not existing.
The Buddha taught that all things are made up of two or more other
things and that all things will change over time. This would mean that there
is nothing eternal, like God or a soul. In Buddhist terms, this means things
are sunyata, empty. Yogacharin Buddhism, developed in India in the 300s
CE, posed another view that is much like the one found in the movie The
Matrix.
Western Inscription, Xi Ming, ch. 17 of his Discipline for Beginners. It is called
the Western inscription because a scroll with the passage hung on the west
side of his study. For an introduction to the writings of the Neo-Confucians,
see Wing-tsit Chan, A Sourcebook of Chinese Philosophy (Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1969). For the Western Inscription see ibid., 4978.
Recorded Sayings, ch. 94. See Chan, Sourcebook, 638.
In at least one passage, though, Zhu Xi sees the distinction between human
nature and mind/heart as simply one of language: such words as feeling,
nature, mind, and ability all mean the same thing (Collected Works of Lu
Xiangshan (Lu Jiuyuan)), ch. 35. Bryan W. Van Norden points out that Zhu
Xi changes Mencius dictum human nature is good to read human nature is
basically good. This is a reflection of Zhu Xis belief that one had to uncover
the basic principle (human nature) within, while Mencius argued that one had
to develop human nature outwardly. See Mengzi, xliiif.
The mind/heart is not principle, human nature is principle. The mind/heart
relates to concrete life and activity and is a union of principle and qi.
The Book of History, The Book of Poetry, the Spring and Autumn Annals with
the Zuo Zhuan commentary, the Book of Changes (Yi Jing) and the Book of
Rites.
This Confucian orthodoxy was enforced especially severely by the emperors
Yongzheng (172336) and Qianlong (173696), who are both well known for
their censorship of books and thinkers.
Ding-hwa E. Hsieh, Images of Women in Chan Buddhist Literature in
Buddhism in the Song, 1789. Zhu Xi also opposed the idea of women becoming Buddhist nuns, as it took them away from their family duties. He banned
the practice when he held the post of assistant magistrate. See Bettine Birge,
Chu Hsi [Zhu Xi] and Womens Education in Neo-Confucian Education: the
Formative Stage, ed. W. T. de Bary (Berkeley: University of California Press,
1989), 3579. For stories of loyal widows, see Patricia Ebrey, Widows Loyal
Unto Death in Patricia Ebrey, ed., Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook (New
York: Maxwell Macmillan, 1993).

234 Notes
14 Bettine Birge, Women, Property, and Confucian Reaction in Sung [Song] and
Yuan China (9601368) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002).
15 It was still possible even in the mid-1990s to meet elderly women with bound feet
in various parts of China. Footbinding was not generally practiced by non-Han
Chinese groups, and when the Manchus conquered China in 1644 they tried to
stop the practice, but were unsuccessful. This has led Li-Hsiang Lisa Rosenlee
to make the astonishing argument that one of the functions of footbinding was
to express Han Chinese nationalism during the Mongol and Manchu invasions.
See Confucianism and Women: a Philosophical Interpretation, 143f.
16 See Patricia Ebrey, The Inner Quarters: Marriage and Lives of Chinese Women
in the Sung [Song] Period, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993). For
a nuanced description of the influence of Confucianism on women, especially in
the Ming and Qing dynasties, see Fangqiu Du and Susan Mann, Competing
Claims on Womanly Virtue in Late Imperial China, in Dorothy Ko, Hyun
Kim Haboush, and Joan R. Piggott, eds, Women in Confucian Cultures in
Premodern China, Korea, and Japan (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of
California Press, 2003), 21947.
17 See Kenneth Chen, Buddhism in China: a Historical Survey (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1964), especially 4713.
18 Wang Yangming, Instructions for Practical Living; see Chan, Sourcebook, 669.

Notes to Chapter 12
1
2

It was the Manchus who decreed that all Chinese men must wear the queue
sometimes derogatorily called a pigtail.
Which is why the British government put such a high tax on tea sold in the
Americas, leading to the Boston tea party, and why taxation on tea was one
of the reasons for the American Revolution in 1776.
Kangs proposal was in part to imitate, in part to prevent, Christian practice
in China. The Kongjiao xueyuan, a Confucian academy along the lines of
a Christian church, was set up in Hong Kong. This academy exists today
and its head is recognized by the Hong Kong government as the head of the
Confucian religion. Confucianism is recognized in Hong Kong as an official
religion, though not in the rest of China; see John Makeham, Lost Soul:
Confucianism in Contemporary Chinese Academic Discourse (Cambridge,
MA: Harvard-Yenching Institute Monographs 64, 2008), 306.
There was also some attempt at military reform and in 1907 the Dowager
Empress, Cixi, announced the setup of federal and provincial assemblies, but
they had no real power.
The founder of the republic, Sun Yat-sen (18661925), wrote that the Confucian
family model, based on filial piety and the second-class status of women, was
one of the biggest problems facing China. See Nylan, The Five Confucian
Classics, 31617.
Pohuai Kongjia dian, smash the Confucian family shop. Wu Zhihuis slogan
was, All thread-bound books [the printing style of old books, including the
Confucian classics] should be thrown away down the toilet.

Notes
7
8
9
10

11

12
13

14

15

16
17

18

19

235

Some of the titles give us a taste of their time: the Dawn, Young China, New
Society, the New Woman.
Lu Xun, A Madmans Diary. He refers to the great practice of filial piety,
using ones own flesh to make a medicine for ailing parents.
Chiang Kai-shek is the version of his name best known in the West; in Mandarin,
his name is Jiang Jieshi.
The New Life Movements short rules, however, contain little one would recognize as Confucian: Dont smoke when walking; look straight ahead; button
up your buttons; sit up straight; be on time.
Slavery in ancient and imperial China is a difficult and disputed issue. The
Marxist interpretation of the Shang and Zhou dynasties as slave-holding societies has not brought clarity to the debates.
See Kenneth Lieberthal, ed., Governing China: From Revolution to Reform
(New York: Norton, 1995), 71.
In 1949, the Communist government of China set up the Peoples Republic of
China, the PRC. Having retreated to the island of Taiwan, Chiang Kai-shek
and the Guomindang continued to maintain that they were the real government
of China as the Republic of China, the ROC. Foreigners often find it hard to
distinguish between the PRC and the ROC.
When French leaders criticized Chinas crackdown on Tibet in early
2008, Carrefour stores in China, incorrectly identified as being antiChinese, were besieged by demonstrators and the Internet was full of an
outpouring of Chinese patriotism from young people inside China and
abroad.
Tang Junyi, Mou Zongsan, Xu Fuguan, and Zhang Junmai issued in 1958
Wei Zhongguo wenhua jinggao shijierenshi xuanyan [Declaration concerning Chinese culture respectfully announced to the people of the world]. In it,
Confucianism is declared to be religious. This continues in the thinking of Mou
Zongsan and Tang Junyi who call Confucianism a humanist religion, renwen
zongjiao. See Makeham, Lost Soul, 280.
In Chinese, Xin Ruxue, new Confucian learning.
Foremost among Western commentators was Max Weber, who argued that
Confucianism and capitalism were antithetical and that one of the reasons that
Confucianism could not cope with modern society was that a Confucian society
could not deal with economic, capitalist growth. This is all nonsense, of course.
There are many, many factors involved in the development of both Western
and Asian countries. Confucianisms role was considerably less important than
the processes of imperialism, for example.
Tu Wei-ming (Du Weiming) was particularly involved in the establishment of
the Confuciancapitalism thesis, but he does not see it as a causal connection.
See John Makeham, Lost 22; 30. Makeham notes that in the early 1980s
Confucianism became associated with capitalist modernity almost overnight
(ibid.).
Tu Wei-ming (Du Weiming) is the Harvard-Yenching Professor of Chinese
History and Philosophy and of Confucian Studies at Harvard University.
See his Centrality and Commonality: An Essay on Confucian Religiousness
(Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1989).

236 Notes
20 Umberto Bresciani, Reinventing Confucianism: the New Confucian Movement
(Taipei: Taipei Ricci Institute for Chinese Studies, 2001), 491.
21 For a discussion of the details and implications see Makeham, Lost, chs. 6, 7,
10, 12, and 13.
22 Western values are function, application, yong, while Confucian humanism,
based on the learning of mind/heart, is the substance/principle, li (Lee Seunghwan, A Topography of Confucian Discourse, 345).
23 Apologists say things like it is important to distinguish between pure doctrines
and their historical realizations, Bresciani, Reinventing, 484. He expands on
this in an endnote: Any apologist for any religion would request that such a
distinction be made. Therefore it should not be the case to discard Confucianism
based on historical realities (authoritarian dynastic regimes, cruel family rules,
backward social customs, and the like). All these negative aspects attributed
to Confucianism in its historical realization arguably might be only slightly
related, or not related at all, to the basic Confucian world-view. Liu Shuxian
observes, Although the Confucian state has been used by historians in the
English-speaking community to characterize the Han and subsequent dynasties,
the Confucian state is no more Confucian than Christendom is Christian, this
is another myth in need of further scrutiny ; Bresciani, Reinventing, 632, note
58. For another example of the argument that there is a difference between
an ideal and a practiced Confucianism see Rosemont and Ames, The Chinese
Classic of Family Reverence, 4.
24 Mysticism is a word that seems to mean whatever the speaker wants it to
mean. Too often it is used as a way to say unexplainable or I am not going
to explain it. For New Confucians, it seems to indicate developing a sense of
oneness with the universe. For a discussion of mysticism and the ways it has
been applied to Asia, see Richard King, Orientalism and Religion: Postcolonial
Theory, India, and the Mystic East (New York: Routledge, 1999). While
King focuses on the Indian traditions, much of his discussion can apply to
studies in China as well. Important scholars like Tang Junyi and Mou Zongsan
have declared Confucianism a religion.
25 Bresciani, Reinventing, 464f. Liu Shuxian says, [it is a misunderstanding when]
they consider Confucianism as just a set of moral rules. They utterly ignore
the whole network of doctrines of Confucianism concerning the meaning and
destiny of human beings and concerning the communion between human beings
and Heaven. We New Confucians continuously stress these religious dimensions
of Confucianism (Bresciani, Reinventing, 466). See Bresciani for a more complete description of the history of, and the similarities among, New Confucians.
26 Tu Weiming, on the other hand, argues that Confucianism is both a philosophy
and a religion, not an exclusively analytical philosophy, nor a religion that talks
about faith and souls; Bresciani, Reinventing, 466. This attitude has affected
scholarship. When the Shanghai strips were published (see notes, chapter 8),
one can see, for example at www.confucius2000.com and www.jianbo.org,
that many of the pieces have been understood as texts from a school associated
with Mencius and Confucius grandson. Thus the texts are read as emphasizing
a more religious or transcendent aspect of Confucianism. See Makeham, Lost,
ch. 10.

Notes

237

27 See Bresciani, Reinventing, 33.

28 In discussions of this sort, I find that there is rarely any distinction made among
the countries of North America and Europe. All are tarred with the same brush.
29 See the 1998 article by Wang Mekui, Chief of the National Affairs Bureau,
quoted in Lee Seung-hwan, Topography, 62.
30 See Huang Chun-chieh and Wu Kuang-ming, Taiwan and the Confucian
Aspiration: Toward the Twenty-first Century, in Cultural Change in Postwar
Taiwan, ed. Steven Harrell and Huang Chun-chieh (Boulder, CO: Westview
Press, 1994).
31 Joseph B. Tamney and Linda Hsueh-Ling Chiang, Modernization, Globalization,
and Confucianism in Chinese Societies (London: Praeger, 2002), 6. Tamney
also points out that in Taiwan Confucianism is often identified with the people
who came to the island with the Guomindang, and folk religion is identified
with the Taiwanese. With the growth in Taiwanese nationalism, it may well
be that we will see Confucianism as a detachable part of Chinese culture; see
85f.
32 Yu Ying-shih (Yu Yingshi) from Yale and Tu Wei-ming of Harvard. It may be
that more study in Confucianism is needed. In Singapore in 2000, a sizeable
increase in ministerial salaries was justified by one minister saying that paying
officials well was an ancient Confucian idea and quoting Sunzi, It is impossible to have good people come forward without the proper rewards (Tamney,
767). But Sunzi is not a Confucian, and the idea of rewards and punishments
to organize the behavior of civil servants is a Legalist idea.
33 While it is impossible to calculate the amount of loss incurred by bureaucratic
corruption in China, it is estimated that four times the amount of the national
GDP is siphoned from the national treasure to private safes every year. Lee
Seung-hwan, Topography, 63.
34 When I traveled in China in the early 1980s and people asked me what I
taught, I would get a blank look when I said, Chinese philosophy. I found
that adding Kongzi, Mengzi (Confucius, Mencius) would evoke some recognition. It is only in the past decade that I have found a general recognition of
Kongzis name, but still only rare recognition of the names of other thinkers of
the Warring States like Laozi or Mozi who are not generally taught in schools.
Makeham argues that teaching about Confucianism has been only with test
groups and Confucius is not widely taught in schools; see Makeham, Lost 313f.
35 Lee Kwan Yew is the journals honorary director. In another approach, John
Makeham makes a strong argument that it is wrong to think that the partystate promotion of Confucianism in China is what is promoting Confucianism
as cultural nationalism. State nationalism explains it better. Confucian centered
Chinese cultural nationalism is a movement of academics; Makeham, Lost,
7,16.
36 Tamney, Modernization, 74.
37 The relationship is reciprocal: many New Confucian academics have their
careers and funding tied to a state-sponsored Confucianism; see Nylan, The
Five Confucian Classics, 337. South Korea, and to a lesser extent Japan, have
also followed this model. A Straits Times [Singaporean newspaper] editorial
(16 October 1989) repeated a point about Confucianism: The most damning

238 Notes
of charges is that it is so easily harnessed by politicians to lend respectability
to their tyrannical ways. Philosophy usually loses its moral worth when
drafted for dubious political purpose and Confucianism, which has much that
is humanist, deserves better than that. However, political leaders in mainland
China and Singapore are prone to using Confucianism selectively to support
their own desire for power, and in the process give Confucianism generally
a bad name; Tamney, Modernization, 80. John Makeham argues that the
Chinese governments promotion of Chinese cultural or traditional values is
not actually closely related to New Confucianism. New Confucianism, he says,
is a separate phenomenon. The equation of traditional culture = Chinese-ness
= Confucianism is to a large extent a response to perceived threats from the
West and a way to define all these things as different from the West. For a
summary, see Makeham, Lost, 342f. He goes on to say that Academic discourse on ruxue [New Confucianism] in China and Taiwan bears little evidence
of a sustained or robust philosophical creativity in ruxue philosophy (344).
38 For a description of the criticism of Zheng Kezhong see Lee Seung-hwan,
Topography 55; for a description of the criticism by Zhu Riayao, see ibid., 56.
39 The Beijing Olympics in 2008 made no mention of Mao Zedong, but leaned
heavily on the figure of Confucius, particularly in the opening ceremonies.

Notes to Chapter 13
1

2
3

Confucian discourse has been couched under the same rubric of Confucianism
which inadvertently produces a vast range of different meanings for this
one term. Although expressed by the identical signifier Confucianism, the
meaning of Confucian discourse cannot be the same; it is carried out by different agents in different contexts. What really matters is who wants to select,
distribute, and use what part of the tradition for which purpose ; Lee, Seunghwan Topography, ixxi.
See Makeham, Lost, 2.
See Tu Wei-ming et al., eds., The Confucian World Observed: a Contemporary
Discussion of Confucian Humanism in East Asia (Honolulu: University of
Hawaii Press, 1992), 17.
For Tu Wei-ming see chapter 12. Robert Neville is Dean of the Boston School of
Theology, see his Boston Confucianism (Albany: SUNY, 2000). See also John
Berthrong, Boston Confucianism: the Third Wave of Global Confucianism,
Journal of Ecumenical Studies Winter/Spring, 2003.
For a fascinating and lively discussion of Confucianism in present-day China,
its relationship to society, and the possibilities for its development, see Daniel
A. Bell, Chinas New Confucianism: Politics and Everyday Life in a Changing
Society (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008).
Lee Kuan Yew, The Economist, April 27, 1994, 5. Quoted in Richard Madsen,
Democracys Dharma: Religious Renaissance and Political Developments in
Taiwan (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007), xx.
Along with this is a view that one can still frequently encounter, namely that
the jury system is a terrible idea. It is much better, elitists argue, to be judged

Notes

8
9
10

11
12

13

14

15

16

239

by a judge who knows the law than by ordinary people who may be very
ignorant.
Analects 12.19.
Analects 7.16.
We are encouraged to pamper ourselves. If you want to see this in action,
advertisements are the best place to look. Many are based on you know you
want it, you deserve it, or if you dont reward yourself , who will? with
no thought for the moral consequences, or financial impact, on life. Others are
more blatant: a recent Christmas ad says, How can I give to my friends and
family, while showing myself how much I care about me? Another says that,
after you have bought gifts for others, Youll have money left over for dare
I say it? yourself. It wont even matter if youve been naughty or nice.
Li-hsiang Lisa Rosenlee, Confucianism and Women, 45f., is a good example
of the latter point of view.
Novels like the Dream of the Red Chamber imply that women with education
tended to be more unfaithful and meet tragic ends, but in general the idea was
that education for women helped society, taught morals, and provided better
early education of children. By the Ming dynasty, womens education was a
topic of debate. The Ming saying was, In women, lack of talent is a virtue,
and this was followed by a Qing dynasty saying, Ignorance in women is a
virtue.
A radical alternative can be found in Ching Hua Yuan, Flowers in the Mirror,
by Li Ru-chen, 17631800. In this novel, everything is turned around. The
hero is kept as a concubine and has his feet bound and his ears pierced and
is covered in makeup. He is in a household ruled by women who also sit for
the civil service exams. There are, however, many Confucian ideas such as
filial piety, chastity, and widows committing suicide, and the villain is that
Confucian arch-enemy, Empress Wu of the Tang dynasty.
The earliest version of this story dates from about the fifth century CE, but
there are many variations on it. For a modern version of this story, ignore
Disney and see Maxine Hong Kingstons novel, Woman Warrior.
Joseph Chan, Confucian Attitudes toward Ethical Pluralism, in Confucian
Political Ethics, ed. Daniel A. Bell (Princeton: Princeton University Press,
2008), 129. I shall argue that this conception of gender [in the Analects and
the Mencius] is primarily a functional distinction assigning women to inner/
domestic duties, and men to outer/public duties. I shall then show how this
conception of gender plays out in the context of the Confucian relationship role
system. Finally I shall argue that this conception of gender can neither justify
those forms of subordination of women, nor itself be justified on Confucian
grounds. One can discard this early Confucian conception of gender, without
relinquishing ones commitment to the core doctrines of early Confucianism
(Sin Yee Chan, Gender and Relationship Roles in the Analects and the
Mencius in Confucian Political Ethics, 147).
Discussing imperial China, Ru [Confucian] learning was not identical to,
nor dependent on, state power. Ru official-literati did not possess substantial political power which was in the hands of the ruling house, Rosenlee,
Confucianism and Women 5.

240 Notes
17 Such as Voltaire, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Leibniz, and Wolff. Confucius
as the Jesuits constructed him offered testimony through his writings of the
natural theology of the Chinese and the prospect of its union with the Jesuits
own revealed theology. Confucius was their Christian other (Jensen,
Manufacturing Confucianism, 94).
18 The issues in defining much of Chinese religiosity are extremely complex.
Modern scholars have moved away from labeling Chinese religiosity as simply
the traditions of Buddhism, Religious Daoism, and possibly Confucianism.
Scholars now look at the synthetic-syncretic practice of religiosity that
includes everything from ancestral veneration to shrines in homes and businesses to funeral rituals to the belief in ghosts and spirits. They do this as a way
to deal with the ubiquitous comment one hears in China, where people will
tell you that they are not religious. This applies in the West as well. In census
data from 2001 Statistics Canada reports that 58.6% of Canadians of Chinese
origin reported no religious affiliation. Meanwhile religious activity is going
on in homes and in the community that is not institutional or text-based. For
a great example of syncretism in Chinese practice, see the autobiography of
Kong Demao, The House of Confucius, Rosemary Roberts, trans. (London:
Hodder and Stoughton, 1988). In her memoirs as one of the daughters of the
Kong family in the period from the early 1900s to the 1970s, she describes
very Confucian family rituals that are syncretic. For an introduction to these
issues, see Adam Yuet Chau, Miraculous Response: Doing Popular Religion in
Contemporary China (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2006).

Glossary of Names and Terms

You will find the English, the Pinyin version, then the WadeGiles transliteration, if
it differs. As Pinyin can be confusing to non-Sinologists, an approximate pronunciation is in quotation marks, followed by the Chinese character.

English

Pinyin

WadeGiles

Pronunciation

accomplishments,
arts
Analects
artificiality

yi

yee

Lun Yu
wei
Ban Zhao
Yi Jing

Pan Chao
Yi Ching

Zhou Yi
Shu Jing
Shi Jing
Li Ji
Cheng Hao

Chou Yi
Shu Ching
Shih Ching
Li Chi
Cheng Hao

Cheng Yi

Cheng Yi

Book of Changes

or
Book of History
Book of Poetry
Book of Rites

Chiang
Kai-Shek

way
yee jing
rhymes with
ring
Zhou, Joe

Lee gee
ch-ung hao,
how
chung yi,
yee
Chiang, cheeahng Kai,
rhymes
with high
shek
rhymes with
check

Chinese
character(s)

242 Glossary of Names and Terms

English

Pinyin

WadeGiles

Pronunciation

choice of Heaven

Tian ming

Tien ming

Chu, state of
classic

jing

Classic of Music
Confucius

Yue Jing
Kungzi

Yueh Ching
Kung Tzu

also

Kongfuzi

also
also

Kong Qiu
Kong
Zhongni
Ru

Kong Fu
Tzu
Kung Chiu
Kung
Chong-ni
Ju

tea-anne
ming
rhymes with
ring
chew
ching rhymes
with ring
you-eh
Kong rhymes
with lung
zi, dzzuh
fu, foo

yong
Dao

yung
Tao

Dao De Jing
Dao shi

Tao Te
Ching
Tao shih

y-uhng
rhymes with
how
De rhymes
with they
sure

Dao Tong

Tao tung

tong, tongue

Daoxue

Tao Hsueh

xue, shoe-eh

Deng
Xiaoping
ba

Teng Hsiaoping
pa

Zhong Yong

Chung
Yung
chung

Confucians (see
Ru below)
courage
Dao, Tao, the
Way
Dao De Jing,
Tao Te Ching
a knight/worthy
of the Way
the orthodox
transmission
of the Dao of
Confucius
school of the
Dao
Deng Xiaoping
dictator,
local lords,
hegemon
Doctrine of the
Mean
dutifulness,
loyalty

zhong
Dong
Zhongshu

Tung
Chungshu

chee-oh
j-uhng
roo

zhong,
zh-uhng
zhong,
zh-uhng
dong, d-uhng
zhong, zhuhng shu,
shoe

Chinese
character(s)

Glossary of Names and Terms

English

Pinyin

fate, choice,
mandate

ming

WadeGiles

Fazang

Fa-tsang

filial piety

xiao
Gaozi

hsiao
Kao Tzu

Gaozu (emperor)

Gaozu

Kaotzu

gentleman

junzi

chun-tzu

ghosts and spirits

guishen

kuei-shen

gods

shen
Gongsun
Long

Kung-sun
Lung

Daxue
Guomindang

Ta Hsueh
Kuomintang

Great Learning

Han dynasty
Han Fei, Han
Feizi
Han, the state of
Hanlin Academy
Heaven
Heavens
Choice, or the
Mandate of
Heaven
honesty

Hanlin Yuan
Han Yu
Tian
Tian Ming

xin
Hua Yan
Huang-Lao

Tien
Tien Ming

hsin
Hua-yen

Pronunciation
rhymes with
ring
faw,
dz-ahng
she-ow
Gao rhymes
with how
Gao rhymes
with how
zoo
j-one
dzzuh
g-way
sh-hen
Gong and
Long
rhyme with
lung sun,
s-one
da shoe-eh
Guo, g-woe
min, mean
dang, d-ahng
h-ahn
fay dzzuh

lin of Linda
Yu, you
tea-en

shin
h-wah yen
huh-wahng
Lao
rhymes with
how

243

Chinese
character(s)

244 Glossary of Names and Terms

English

humanity,
humaneness,
co-humanity,
benevolence,
Goodness and
so on
intuitive
knowledge
Jixia/Chi-hsia
Academy
a gentleman

knight, scholar
knowledge
the female
basic
hexagram
from the Book
of Changes

Pinyin

WadeGiles

Pronunciation

Hui Shi

Hui Shih

ren

jen

Hui, h-way
Shi, sure
rhymes with
hen

liang zhi

liang-chih

Jixia

Chi-hsia

junzi
Kang
Youwei

chun-tzu
Kang
Yu-wei

shi
zhi
kun

shih
chih
kun

Laozi

Lao Tzu

Li Si
Li Xue

Li Ssu
Li Hsueh

liang xin

liang hsin

zhong

chung

Lee Kuan Yew

Li Ao
the school of
principle
original mind
Lin Yutang

loyalty,
dutifulness
Lu, state of

lee-ahng
zhi, zh-ure
Ji, cheee
xia, she-a
jun, j-one
Kang
k-ahng
You, yo
wei, way
sure
j-ure
k-one

Lao rhymes
with how
zi, dzzuh
lee k-wan
you
lee ow
lee s-uh
lee shoe-eh
lee-ahng
shin
Lin the lin
of Linda;
you
t-ahng
zh-ohng
loo

Chinese
character(s)

Glossary of Names and Terms

English

Pinyin

WadeGiles

Pronunciation

Lu Jiuyuan

Lu
Chiu-yuan
Lu Hsun

lew gee-oh
you-ahn
Lu, lew
Xun,
sh-one
lwo-yahng
m-ow z-uh
d-uhng
Meng
rhymes
with lung
dzzuh
shin
Mo rhymes
with toe
dzzuh
rhymes with
lung

Lu Xun

Luoyang
Mao Zedong
Mencius

Mengzi

Mao
Tse-tung
Meng Tzu

mind/heart

xin
Mozi

hsin
Mo Tzu

movement

dong

tung

Perfect Sage
and Ancient
Teacher
phenomenon
principle
energy and
matter
Qi, the state of
the male basic
hexagram
from the Book
of Changes
Qin, the state
of, later the
dynasty
Qing/Ching
dynasty

zhi sheng
xian shi

chih sheng
hsien shih

shi
li
qi

shih
chi

sure
lee
chee

qian

chien

chee
chee-en

Qin

Chin

chin

Qing

Ching

Qu Yuan

Chu Yuan

Qufu
li

Chu Fu

rhymes with
ring
chew
you-anne
chew-foo
lee

yi

yee

Ru

Ju

roo

ritual, rites,
propriety
rightness, right,
righteousness

245

Chinese
character(s)

246 Glossary of Names and Terms

English

Pinyin

Ru-ist knight,
worthy
the school of Ru
Ru teachings

Ru shi

WadeGiles

roo sure

Ru jia
Ru jiao

Ju chia
Ru chiao

jia
jiao
zheng ming

chia
chiao
cheng ming

Shandong

Shantung

Shen Buhai

Shen Pu-hai

Shi Ji

Shih Chi

Sima Qian
Sima Tan

Ssu-ma
Chien
Ssu-ma Tan

sincerity,
integrity
spirits

cheng

cheng

guishen

kuei-shen

Song/Sung, state
of, or dynasty
Spring and
Autumn
still, stillness,
quiescence
Sui dynasty

Song

Sung

Chunqiu

Chun Chiu

jing

ching

Sunzi

Sun Tzu

school (of
thought)
setting words
right

Shang dynasty
Shang Yang

Records of the
Historian

Sunzi Bingfa, the

Art of War

Pronunciation

roo gee-ah
roo
gee-ow
gee-ah
gee-ow
zh-uhng
ming
rhymes with
ring
sh-an
d-uhng
Sh-ahng
sh-ahng
y-ahng
Shen rhymes
with pen
Buhai,
boo-high
sure gee
suh-mah
chee-en
suh-mah
tan

g-way
shen
rhymes with
lung
ch-one
chee-oh
rhymes with
ring
sway
s-one
dzzuh
bing rhymes
with ring
fah

Chinese
character(s)

Glossary of Names and Terms

English

Pinyin

sympathy,
compassion

shu

Taiwan
Supreme
Ultimate
Tang/Tang
dynasty

Wei, state of,

Wey, state of
wisdom, wise
Supreme
Ultimate-less
Xia/Hsia dynasty
filial piety
mind and heart
New Confucians
the school of
mind/heart
Xuanzong, Tang
emperor

Yan/Yen, state of
Zhao, state of

WadeGiles

Pronunciation

Tai Shan
Taipei

Tai Ji

Tai Chi

tie
tie
tie
tie

Tang

Tang

t-ahng

Wang
Chong
Wang
Yangming

Wang
Chung
Wang
Yangming

zhi
Wu Ji

chi
Wu Chi

Xia
xiao
xin
Xin Ruxue

Hsia
hsiao
hsin
Hsin Ju
Hsueh
Hsin Hsueh

wa-ahng
ch-uhng
wa-ahng
y-ahng
ming
rhymes with
ring
way
way
j-ur
Wu woo
gee
shaw
she-ow
shin
shin roo
shoe-eh
shin shoe-eh

Xinxue

Chinese
character(s)

shoe

Taishan
Taibei

Xunzi

Hsun Tzu

Yan Hui or
Yan Yuan

Yen Hui

Yang Guifei

Yang
Kuei-fei

yin-yang
Yan

Yen

Zhang Zai

Chang Tsai

sh-anne
bey
wan
gee

t-ahng
sh-wan
z-uhng
Xun rhymes
with done
dzzuh
Yan rhymes
with hen
h-way
y-ahng gway fay

zh-ow
j-ahng sigh

247

or

248 Glossary of Names and Terms

English

Pinyin

WadeGiles

Pronunciation

Zhou/Chou
dynasty

Zhou

Chou

Joe

Zhou Dunyi

Chou
Tun-yi
Chu Hsi
Chuang Tzu
Tzu Ssu

done yee

Tsou yi

z-oh or zoh yee

Z-woe
j-wahn

Zi Si/Tzu Ssu,
Confucius
grandson
Zou or Zouyi

Zhu Xi
Zhuangzi
Zi Si

Zuo Zhuan

Tso Chuan

Jew shee
zh-wahng
dzzuh suh

Chinese
character(s)

Suggestions for Further

Reading

Chapter 1
Mark Edward Lewis, Sanctioned Violence in Early China. Albany: State University
of New York Press, 1990.
Shigeki Kaizuka, Confucius: His Life and Thought, trans. Geoffrey Bownas. New
York: Macmillan, 1956.
Burton Watson (trans.), The Tso Chuan [Zuo Zhuan]: Selections from Chinas
Oldest Narrative History. New York: Columbia University Press, 1989.

Chapter 2
Roger Ames and Henry Rosemont, The Analects of Confucius: A Philosophical
Translation. New York: Ballantine Books, 1998.
E. Bruce and Taeko Brooks, The Original Analects: Sayings of Confucius and His
Successors. New York: Columbia University Press, 1998.
Edward Slingerland, Confucius: Analects with Selections from Traditional
Commentaries. Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett Publishing, 2003.

Chapter 3
Daniel A. Bell (ed.), Confucian Political Ethics. Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 2008.
David L. Hall and Roger Ames, Thinking Through Confucius. Albany: State
University of New York Press, 1987.
Yao Xinzhong, An Introduction to Confucianism. New York: Cambridge University
Press, 2000.

250 Suggestions for Further Reading

Chapter 4
Philip J. Ivanhoe and Bryan W. Van Norden, Readings in Classical Chinese
Philosophy. New York: Seven Bridges, 2001.
Yuri Pines, Foundations of Confucian Thought: Intellectual Life in the Chunqiu
Period. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2002.
Burton Watson (trans.), Mo Tzu [Mozi]: Basic Writings. New York: Columbia
University Press, 1963.

Chapter 5
D. C. Lau (trans.), Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching [Laozi: Dao De Jing]. London: Penguin
Books, 1963.
Liu JeeLoo, An Introduction to Chinese Philosophy. Oxford: Blackwell, 2006.
Benjamin I. Schwarz, The World of Thought in Ancient China. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press, 1985.
Burton Watson (trans.) The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu [Zhuangzi]. New
York: Columbia University Press, 1964.

Chapter 6
David Hinton, Mencius. Washington, DC: Counterpoint, 1999.
Kwong-loi Shun, Mencius and Early Chinese Thought. Stanford, CA: Stanford
University Press, 1997.
Bryan W. Van Norden, Mengzi [Mencius] with Selections from Traditional
Commentaries. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 2008.

Chapter 7
John Knoblock, Xunzi: A Study and Translation of the Complete Works, 3 vols.
Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1988.
Burton Watson (trans.), Hzun Tzu [Xunzi]: Basic Writings. New York: Columbia
University Press, 1967.

Chapter 8
Michael Loewe (ed.), Early Chinese Texts: A Bibliographic Guide. Berkeley, CA:
Society for the Study of Early China, 1993.
Henry Rosemont, Jr. and Roger Ames, The Chinese Classic of Family Reverence:
A Philosophical Translation of the Xiaojing. Honolulu: University of Hawaii
Press, 2009.
Edward L. Shaughnessy (trans.), I Ching: The Classic of Changes. New York:
Ballantine, 1997.

Suggestions for Further Reading

251

Edward L. Shaughnessy, Rewriting Early Chinese Texts. Albany: State University

of New York Press, 2006.

Chapter 9
David L. Hall and Roger Ames, Thinking from the Han: Self, Truth, and
Transcendence in Chinese and Western Culture. Albany: State University of
New York Press, 1998.
Michael Nylan, The Five Confucian Classics. New Haven: Yale University Press,
2001.
Sarah A. Queen, From Chronicle to Canon: the Hermeneutics of the Spring and
Autumn, According to Tung Chung-shu [Dong Zhongshu]. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1996.
Robin S. Yates, Five Lost Classics: Tao [Dao], Huanglao, and Yin-Yang in Han
China. New York: Ballantine, 1997.

Chapter 10
Keith N. Knapp, Selfless Offspring: Filial Children and Social Order in Medieval
China. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2005.
Ichisada Miyazaki, Chinas Examination Hell: the Civil Service Examinations of
Imperial China, trans. Conrad Schirokauer. New Haven: Yale University Press,
1981.
Sherry J. Mou, Gentlemens Prescriptions for Womens Lives: a Thousand Years of
Biographies of Chinese Women. New York: M. E. Sharpe, 2004.

Chapter 11
John H. Berthrong and Evelyn Nagai, Confucianism: A Short Introduction. Oxford:
Oneworld, 2000.
Wing-tsit Chan (trans.), Instructions for Practical Living, and Other Neo-Confucian
Writings by Wang Yang-ming. New York: Columbia University Press, 1963.
Carson Chang, The Development of Neo-Confucian Thought, 2 vols. New York:
Bookman, 1962.
Patricia Ebrey, The Inner Quarters: Marriage and Lives of Chinese Women in the
Sung [Song] Period. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.

Chapter 12
Daniel A. Bell, Chinas New Confucianism: Politics and Everyday Life in a Changing
Society. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008.
Umberto Bresciani, Reinventing Confucianism: the New Confucian Movement.
Taipei: Taipei Ricci Institute for Chinese Studies, 2001.

252 Suggestions for Further Reading

Joseph B. Tamney and Linda Hsueh-Ling Chiang, Modernization, Globalization,
and Confucianism in Chinese Societies. London: Praeger, 2002.
Tu Wei-ming, Centrality and Commonality: an Essay on Confucian Religiousness.
Albany: State University of New York Press, 1989.

Chapter 13
Seung-hwan Lee, A Topography of Confucian Discourse: Politico-philosophical
Reflections on Confucian Discourse Since Modernity, trans. Jaeyoon Song and
Seung-hwan Lee. Paramus, NJ: Homa and Sekey Books, 2006.
John Makeham, Lost Soul: Confucianism in Contemporary Chinese Academic
Discourse. Harvard-Yenching Institute Monographs 64. Cambridge, MA,
2008.
Robert Neville, Boston Confucianism. Albany: State University of New York Press,
2000.

Bibliography

Ames, Roger and Henry Rosemont. The Analects of Confucius: A Philosophical

Translation. New York: Ballantine Books, 1998.
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Bell, Daniel A., ed. Confucian Political Ethics. Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 2008.
Berthrong, John. Boston Confucianism: the Third Wave of Global Confucianism.
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Berthrong, John H. and Evelyn Nagai. Confucianism: A Short Introduction. Oxford:
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Index

Admonitions for Women 143, 199

afterlife 57, 58, 61, 62, 66, 72, 121
agreement with the superior 71, 73
Ames, Roger 184
Analects 1011
ancestors 4, 24, 58, 147
ancestral veneration 4, 36, 57, 199,
202
Art of War 801
Asian values 186, 189, 191, 201
Ban Zhao 143, 199, 200
Bao Zhang 149
Berthrong, John 193
Biographies of Women 143, 199
Book of Changes 3, 15, 115, 122,
1245, 127, 163, 185
Book of History 15, 60, 64, 67, 1223,
125, 127, 128, 130, 194, 199
Book of Poetry 15, 1819, 55, 56, 60,
64, 67, 122, 125, 127, 128, 130,
199
Book of Rites 26, 27, 57, 67, 106,
120, 122, 125
Boston Confucians 193
Buddhism 467, 65, 156, 158, 159,
161, 164, 171, 185, 192, 1989,
203, 205
Cheng Hao 164
Cheng Yi 164

Chiang Kai-shek 180

Choice of Heaven 45, 6, 15, 71, 138,
139, 140, 156, 194
Confucius 16, 20, 53, 5960
Mencius 95, 97
Chu, state of 13, 42, 96, 106, 128
civil service 151
civil service examination system
14851, 155, 161, 168, 169
Classic of Filial Piety 24, 25, 26, 29,
127
Classic of Music 67, 122, 1267
classics 122, 1334
Communist Party of China 152,
1801, 188, 205
Confucian temples 1, 54, 149, 1524,
203
Confucianism
and texts 67, 1218
as a term 656, 192
core 184
critics 17980, 18090, 191, 201
democracy 1935
economic success 1823
foundation of Chinese culture 183
Han dynasty 133
state cult 1545
sub-groups 11920
Confucianism and religion
Kang Youwei 1778
New Confucianism 1846

Index
Confucius
and texts 15
as a god 154
life 1622
mother and father 1112, 25
name 1
pious stories 1116
status: in imperial China 1512
in the Han dynasty 140
students of 10, 13, 15, 16, 18,
19, 21, 36, 55, 645, 68, 120
courage 3, 23, 312, 33, 40, 41
Csikszentmihalyi, Mark 121
Cultural Revolution 152, 181,
188
Dao De Jing 75
Dao, the Way
Confucian 61
Daoist 767
Daoism
criticisms of Confucians 7980
Dao 767
government 78, 79
Deng Xiaoping 187
Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate
1623
Doctrine of the Mean 1256
Zhu Xi 169
Dong Zhongshu 134, 138, 141
Duke of Zhou 23, 44, 67, 106,
120, 127, 168
dutifulness, loyalty 2930, 188, 191
education
Confucius 18, 43, 45, 545
Mencius 91, 98, 102
modern 187, 195, 197
Xunzi 109, 110, 116
Zhuangzi 77
education without distinction 545,
200
Emperor Wu 127, 133
Family Rituals 169
fate 61, 66, 67, 72, 121
Fazang 147

259

filial piety 48, 72, 138, 1434, 156,

157, 179, 188, 189
Confucius 239
Han to Tang dynasties 148
Mencius 98, 101
modern 1956
remonstrate 26
stories of 234, 144
First Emperor of China 12931
burning the books 12930
Five Classics 67, 127, 133, 134, 205
five phases 119, 134, 136, 13940,
142, 143, 145
in the Supreme Ultimate 162, 163,
166
footbinding 1701, 180, 188
Four Books 169, 180
Franciscans 202
Gaozu emperor 132, 133
gentleman 424, 49, 51, 52, 53, 59,
60, 61, 667, 90, 94, 95, 100,
102, 115, 116, 193, 195, 200,
203
gentry 151, 160, 170, 175
ghosts 4, 58, 11516, 142
gods 2, 4, 70, 71, 72, 115, 203
and Confucius 579, 61
Gongsun Long 83
government
Confucius 4554
Daoists 779
Legalists 845
Mencius 968
Xunzi 11113
Great Learning 1256, 128
Zhu Xi 162, 167, 169
Guomindang 180
in Taiwan 1867
Hall, David 184
Han Boyu 144
Han dynasty 10, 11, 63, 66, 67, 75,
119, 125, 126, 127, 129, 131,
1323, 134
Han Feizi 68, 845, 119, 128
Han Yu 1612

260 Index
Heaven 45, 12, 29, 601, 126, 164,
185, 203
Confucius 21, 58, 59, 62
Mencius 87, 89, 947, 102, 103
Mozi 70, 71
New Text School 137, 1389
Wang Chong 1412, 144
Xunzi 109, 11415, 116, 11718
honesty 30
Hu Shi 66
Hua Mulan 200
Hua Yan 147, 161, 171
Hui Shi 82, 83
human nature 83
Mencius 8996
Xunzi 10610
Zhu Xi 167
humanity 345, 43, 61, 79, 90, 92,
94, 96, 98, 100, 106, 138, 164,
191, 204
and ritual 3940
hundred schools of thought 63, 128
intuitive knowledge 173, 174
Japan 1, 152, 1567, 171, 177, 178,
182, 190, 191, 205
Jesuits 202
Ji family 16, 17, 52
Jixia Academy 64, 106
Kang Youwei 1778
King Wen 59, 125
King Wu 2
knight 17
Knapp, Keith 144
Knoblock, John 66
knowledge 31
and action are one 173
Kong Shu Lianghe 11, 16
Kongzi 1, 65, 66, 192
Korea 1, 152, 1556, 157, 158, 160,
177, 182, 190, 191, 205
language 73
Daoists 76
Logicians 823
Xunzi 113

Laozi 75
law
Confucius 4950
Han Feizi 85
Lee Kuan Yew 187, 188, 195
Lee, Martin 189
Lee Seung-hwan 192
Legalism 835
Li Ao 162
Li Si 105, 118, 128, 129, 131
Lin Yutang 179
literati 69, 1601, 174
Liu Bang 132, 133
Liu Xiang 134, 143, 199
Liu Xin 134
Liu Zongzhu 175
Logicians 823
Lu Jiuyuan 1712
Lu, state of 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17,
18, 33, 47, 51, 52, 67, 68,
88, 119, 120, 123, 132, 134,
140
Lu Xun 179
Luoyang 5
Mao Zedong 181, 187, 198
May 4th movement 17880
Mencius 47, 87104
examining oneself 1001
government 968
Heaven 95
human nature is good 8995
life 878
military 100
union of all things 1023
Zhu Xi 167
models 501
Mohist school 73, 82
Mozi 6974
anti-Confucian 667, 72
anti-music 73
life 6970
music
Confucius 19
Mozi 73
Nanzi 55, 179
negative golden rule 33

Index
Neo-Confucianism 16076
and Buddhism 1612, 1634, 168,
171, 173, 175, 192
issues 161
name 159
women 16971
Neville, Robert 193
New Confucianism 1816, 1901
critics 18990
New Life Movement 180
New Text school 13440
Nylan, Michael 121
Old Text school 1403
Opium Wars 16777
orthodox transmission 162, 165, 169,
185, 189, 190
phenomenon 147
principle 147, 162, 164, 166, 167,
1723
printed books 160
profit 35, 70, 71, 79, 97, 108
qi 102, 1378
Dong Zhongshu 138
in the Supreme Ultimate 166
Wang Chong 1412
Zhang Zai 164
Zhu Xi 166, 167
Qi, state of 13, 17, 19, 48, 64, 88,
96, 97, 101, 105, 119, 120,
128
Qin dynasty 129, 1301
Qin, state of 7, 42, 57, 63, 84, 106,
113, 118, 1289
Qing dynasty 151, 160, 1767, 178,
180, 184
Qufu 1, 15, 16, 105, 123, 152, 153
quiet sitting 167, 168, 171
rightness 31, 41
Rites Controversy 2023
ritual 12, 18, 19, 27, 3540, 45, 50,
52, 56, 62, 67, 75, 77, 80, 120,
138, 175
and humanity 3940
Mencius 90, 1012

261

modern 196
Xunzi 109, 11011, 116
Ru 656, 68, 69, 121, 192
sage 1, 12, 13, 15, 16, 20, 21
Confucian 44, 45, 49, 52, 54, 66,
79, 87, 91, 108, 126, 152, 163,
168, 171, 192, 193
Daoist 778
sage-kings 2, 43, 44, 49, 61, 65, 67,
69, 71, 79, 82, 85, 102, 106,
10910, 120, 122, 168
scholar-bureaucrats 64, 70
School of Mind/Heart 1714
self-cultivation 28, 34, 41, 44, 45, 54,
92, 95, 110, 120, 126, 168, 186,
194, 198
self-interest 9, 31, 35, 52, 62, 84, 85,
92, 93, 94, 95, 97, 103, 107, 108,
117, 126, 128
and Mozi 70, 71, 72
setting words right 194
Confucius 468
Mencius 967
Xunzi 113
shamans 4, 17
Shang dynasty 23, 5, 59, 66, 96
Shang Yang 84, 113, 128
Shen Buhai 84
Sima Qian 134, 140
Sima Tan 134
sincerity 30, 103, 126, 167, 169
Singapore 182, 187, 188, 190, 191,
195, 205
six accomplishments 17, 68
Song dynasty 147, 15960
Song, state of 11, 13, 17, 59, 69, 95
spirits of the dead 4, 36, 38
Confucius 578, 61
Mozi 71, 72
Spring and Autumn Annals 15, 66,
122, 123, 127, 133, 134, 140
Strategists 801, 83, 89, 100, 106,
128
Su Shi 174
substance-application 177, 183
Sui dynasty 146, 148
Sunzi 80, 81, 83

262 Index
Sunzi Bingfa, The Art of War 80
Supreme Ultimate
Zhou Dunyi 1623, 164, 165
Zhu Xi 165, 166, 168, 173, 174,
175, 205
Tamney, Joseph 189
Tang dynasty 146, 147, 154, 158,
160, 161, 174, 176
timeliness 40, 53
Tu Wei-ming 183, 190, 193
uncrowned king 12, 16, 140
understanding/sympathy 323
unequal treaties 176
universal love 71, 72, 74
usefulness 70, 89, 111, 117
Vietnam 152, 1578
Wang Chong 1413, 145
Wang Yangming 159, 1724
Warring States 59
Wei, state of 6, 13, 17, 51, 55, 56, 57,
120, 128
Wei Zheng 174
Western Inscription 164, 173, 184
women 156, 178, 179, 180
Confucius 55
footbinding 1701
in Confucian texts 557, 143
Mencius 1012, 117
modern Confucianism 190, 192,
194, 198202
Neo-Confucianism 16970, 175
Xia dynasty 2
Xiang Yu 132
Xu Fuguan 189
Xuanzong, emperor 200
Xunzi 66, 68, 84, 10518
artificiality 1089
government 11113

Heaven 11416
human nature is evil 1069
language 113
life 1056
morality is artificial 10910
ritual 11011
Yan Hui 55, 59, 120, 153
Yan, state of 128
Yan Zhizai 12, 16
Yang Guifei 200
Yang Zhu 85
yin-yang
in the Han dynasty 1357
in the Supreme Ultimate 162, 163
Yu Yingshi 193
Zhang Zai 1634, 174
Zhao, state of 105, 106, 128
Zhong Liang 120
Zhou Dunyi 1623
Zhou dynasty 24, 7, 9, 12, 15, 17,
32, 42, 44, 53, 59, 66, 120, 125,
162
breakdown 46
Zhu Xi
and Buddhism 168, 171
life 165
orthodox transmission 169
principle 1656, 168
Supreme Ultimate 166
the Four Books 269
women 16970
Zhuangzi 7580, 84, 121, 122, 127,
161
Zi Si 88, 89, 120, 125, 126
Zi Xia 120
Zi You 120
Zi Zhang 120
Zigong 120
Zilu 46, 48, 58
Zou 16, 88
Zuo Zhuan 123, 124, 127, 134, 199