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Confucius, the most sage teacher. (Image source: Adobe Stock)
He was honored as “Teacher of all ages” and “Holy Teacher” by later generations.Confuciussurnamed Kong, given name Qiu, courtesy name Zhongni, a native of Lu, died in 479 BC at the age of seventy-three. The reason why Confucius is great does not lie in his official position or his humility and erudition, but in the fact that he set an example and used wise language to tell the philosophy of how to be a human being! Confucius and later generations formed based on his thoughtsConfucianismIt had an extremely profound impact on ancient Chinese and East Asian culture, and Confucius’ thoughts still have positive significance even for modern people.
History is indeed like a river, sometimes it is clear or it is muddy. In the process of passing on Confucius’ thought, due to the changes of the times, the change of language, the disappearance of context, and the random annotations by the good people of later generations, the spread of fallacies has led to the confusion between Confucius as understood by people today and that of his time. His original intention was completely different.
The purpose of this article is to clarify a few common fallacies. Please forgive me if there are any condescension.
1. Did Confucius discriminate against women?
Because of a sentence in “The Analects of Confucius: Yang Huo”: “Confucius said: Only women and villains are difficult to raise. If you are close, you will not have grandchildren; if you are far, you will resent.” Confucius was considered to be discriminatory against women, and was even considered to be the originator of men’s superiority to women. Of course, there are also people who are complaining about Confucius. However, since mainland China after 1949 has always attached an ideological hat to Confucius, it is difficult for the voices defending Confucius to be heard.
There are a total of 19 characters for “女” in “The Analects of Confucius”, 18 of which are similar to the character “Ru”, which means “you”. Therefore, some people think that the word “女” in this sentence should also be interpreted as “Ru”, but the word “Ruzi” (meaning you people) is too blunt and obviously not the level that a saint should have, so in this sentence Does the word “女” mean “female” in modern Chinese? Of course not.
Ancient Chinese prose has its own specific grammar. Throughout the Analects, the sentence patterns mostly use duality. For example, “A gentleman is always in competition but not in comparison, while a villain is not in competition with others.”, “Learning without thinking is useless, thinking without learning is dangerous.” are such dual sentences. “Only women and villains are difficult to care for. If you are close, you will not have grandchildren, and if you are far away, you will be resentful.” It is also a sentence like this. From a grammatical point of view, “woman” and “villain” here should have similar or similar meanings. Vocabulary, there is only one word for “woman” in the Analects of Confucius, but the word “villain” is used many times, such as: “A gentleman cherishes virtue, a villain cherishes earth; a gentleman” “A gentleman is a man of justice, and a villain is of benefit.” “A gentleman is magnanimous, and a villain is a man of love.” From these sentences, we can see that in the Analects of Confucius. The word “villain” in Chinese has the opposite meaning to the word “gentleman”, so what does “woman”, which has a similar meaning to the word “villain”, mean?
“A person’s yang is called a man, and a person’s yin is called a woman.” The “female” here is actually an adjective “feminine”, which forms the word “woman” and extends to “a person with a sinister and cunning heart.”
Then, “Only women and villains are difficult to raise. If you are close, you will not have grandchildren, and if you are far away, you will resent.” It means that those who are sinister and cunning in heart, and have despicable and dirty personalities are the most difficult to get along with. If you get close to them, they will be helpless. Be polite and alienate them, and they will resent you again. Therefore, the original meaning of this sentence actually has nothing to do with women.
2. Confucius didn’t believe in gods and ghosts?
Because “Confucius did not talk about strange powers and confuse the gods” (“The Analects of Confucius”), many people think that Confucius does not believe in gods and ghosts, and some even say that Confucius has anti-religious thoughts.
However, even if we do not talk about the ancient classics directly related to Confucius, there are many texts in the Analects recorded by his disciples that prove that Confucius believed that there are gods and ghosts in heaven and earth. For example, “It is not ghosts but ghosts.” sacrifice “It’s a matter of flattery.” “The duty of serving the people is to respect the ghosts and gods and keep them at a distance.” “Ji Lu asked about the ghosts and gods, and the Master said: “How can you serve the ghosts if you can’t do anything to others?” Will there still be a “zibuyu, strange power and chaos of gods”?
Confucius was a saint, so he naturally knew that there are countless secrets in the universe that humans cannot understand and master. So in this case, how should humans treat those things that they do not understand? Confucius said, “Knowing is knowing, not knowing is not knowing, it is knowing.” Regarding supernatural or religious things such as “strange powers and gods”, Confucius specifically proposed “respect ghosts and gods and keep away from them”, so that “Confucius is silent”. So why does the Master want to “stay away” and not talk about these things?
People often say that a person must abide by “moral ethics”. Buddhism teaches that one should not belittle the Three Jewels of “Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha,” which includes not using disrespectful or slanderous words to talk about the Three Jewels. Buddhism believes that if people use bad words to treat the Buddha, Dharma, and monks, they will receive great evil retribution. Cultivators, on the other hand, know how to “cultivate their speech” during cultivation, including not swearing, lying, telling lies, saying unpleasant things, etc. Of course, you cannot use bad language to talk about gods, Buddhas, Dharma, etc. Once you do these things, you will get karma.
However, when it comes to gods, Buddhas, Dharma, or other supernatural things that humans know little about, how do we know whether what we are saying is correct? The Master is a saint, and if he says something, it may not be correct. But if ordinary people say it, they may say it wrong or even commit the sin of contempt, and then suffer bad retribution. Therefore, the master simply set an example and emphasized that “the master is silent”.
Therefore, the original meaning of “The Master did not talk about strange powers and confused gods” is not that Confucius did not believe in these things, but rather that he should not talk about them casually, that is, he should “cultivate his mouth” about unknown things.
Throughout the Analects, Confucius tells human beings how to “keep virtue” by talking about “benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness”, among which “Zi Bu Yu” occupies a large proportion. Anyone who believes in religion knows that belittling, slandering, and slandering God, Buddha, Dharma, scriptures, and the sins of cultivators are the greatest of all sins and the most immoral behavior.
It is a pity that many people misunderstand Confucius’ meaning simply by saying “The Master has no words, strange powers, and confuses the gods.” Modern people can understand too little.
3. Does “golden mean” mean being a “good old man”?
I don’t know when “the golden mean” evolved into “the golden mean”, and when “the golden mean” became synonymous with being tactful and being a good person.
Confucius said: “The Doctrine of the Mean is a virtue, and it has reached its end! The people have been around for a long time.” (“The Analects of Confucius Yongye”), what is the Doctrine of the Mean? Zhong, Zhengye, impartiality, the right way of the world; Yong, Changye, neutrality and constantness, the unchanging laws of nature. Doctrine of the mean means that actions must conform to the principles of heaven and follow the right path.
The Doctrine of the Mean plays an extremely important role in Confucianism, and its main content is by no means neutral and mediocre as commonly understood by modern people. In essence, Doctrine of the Mean is the highest state of Confucian cultivation.
By the way, let’s talk about the Doctrine of the Mean in the Four Books. “The Doctrine of the Mean” is said to have been written by Zisi, the grandson of Confucius, and is one of the Confucian classics. Zhongyong was not originally an independent book, but an article in “The Book of Rites of Xiaodai”. Confucianists in the Song Dynasty highly praised the Doctrine of the Mean. Zhu Xi compiled the “Collected Commentary on the Doctrine of the Mean” and included it in the Four Books.
4. What is a gentleman? A gentleman has no power!
“A gentleman holds his body upright, which means he walks upright and sits upright. He looks up and down in a way that is worthy of heaven and earth, and his actions and thoughts are worthy of his own heart.” (Image source: Public Domain)
Confucius said: “A gentleman has no weapons.” (“The Analects of Confucius: Weizheng”)
In the Confucius’ words recorded in The Analects, there are about 100 times where he talks about the gentleman, most of which are directed at certain aspects of the gentleman’s character. As for a complete description of what a gentleman is, it should be this sentence: “A gentleman has no weapons.”
Utensils are just utensils. No matter what utensil, its functions and uses are limited. For a long time, this sentence has been interpreted to mean that a gentleman cannot be limited to one talent and one skill, but must be versatile. This interpretation is particularly consistent with the fact that modern humans are sinking into the material world. In fact, if you think about it carefully, you will know that no matter how versatile you are, there is a limit. It is still at the level of “instrument” and is nothing more than size and quantity. So what does “not have a weapon” mean?
To say “no instrument”, you must first say “tao”. Although “The Analects” does not record what Confucius said “Tao” is, it can prove that “Tao” has a lofty status in Confucius’ mind. “He who hears Tao in the morning will die in the evening.” Confucius also said that a gentleman should “aspire to the Tao, base himself on virtue, rely on benevolence, and play in art.” How should a gentleman pursue the “Tao”? Confucius said, “A gentleman seeks the Way, not food. Plowing is where discouragement lies; learning, where salary lies. A gentleman is concerned about the Way, not poverty.” It can be seen that Confucius believes that the purpose of a gentleman’s work is not to do things, but to care about the Way! Zixia, a disciple of Confucius, explained the difference between the behavior of a gentleman and a craftsman in “A hundred workers live in a workhouse to accomplish their work, and a gentleman learns the way.” The gentleman’s work is to seek the way, while the craftsman only does it to complete his work.
For what purpose does a gentleman seek the Way? For the sake of “gentlemen have no use for weapons”. A gentleman seeks Tao in order to improve his own moral cultivation. If he improves his moral cultivation, he should try his best to use his own cultivation to influence others to correct their hearts. This is the so-called “rectifying the mind, cultivating oneself, ordering the family, governing the country, and bringing peace to the world.” How can a gentleman use his own morality to influence others? Can the role of cultivating and reforming people’s hearts, making their families prosperous, their country wealthy, their world at peace, and their people’s hearts merciful, comparable to talent, learning, or skills? Of course not. Only the power of morality can achieve this goal, which is the so-called “no tool”.
Speaking of this, I remembered a conversation between Master and Zigong. Zigong asked: “How am I like a person?” Confucius said: “You are like a utensil.” Zigong asked again: “What kind of utensil is it?” Confucius said: “It’s Hulian (Hulian is a precious and gorgeous kind of ancient sacrificial vessels).” It seems that although Zigong at that time was talented in the eyes of Confucius, he had not yet reached the state of “not using vessels”!
Confucius despised people who took care of themselves. “The Analects of Confucius – Zi Lu” recorded: “Zigong asked: How can one be called a scholar? Confucius said: “It is shameful to act in one’s own way, and to serve in all directions without insulting the emperor’s orders, one can be called a scholar.” Said: Dare The second question is: “What do you call a filial piety in your clan?” “It’s a shame to be a villain!” “Being true to your words and being resolute in your actions” is already a virtue for normal people, but Confucius believed that if personal cultivation only means “be true to your words.” “Every action must bear fruit” and does not produce the due educational influence among the world, it can also be regarded as a “little person”.
“A gentleman has no weapons” not only puts forward what kind of person a gentleman should be, but also reminds those who want to become a gentleman: they must not forget the true purpose when acting. Confucius said that a gentleman should “aspire to the Tao, base himself on virtue, rely on benevolence, and indulge in art.” This is the code of conduct for a gentleman. In fact, with the rise of the imperial examinations, Confucianism was abolished. When “study” lost its meaning of seeking Taoism and cultivated it and became a “tool” for pursuing fame, it was not only the decline of Confucianism, but also the corruption of people’s hearts. Modern education is even worse. The so-called “talent” means “female talent”.
Editor in charge: Wen Li
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