The life story of Confucius

A great thinker and educator in the late Spring and Autumn Period, and the founder of Confucianism. His name is Qiu and his courtesy name is Zhongni. A native of Lu. Confucius was an aristocrat of the Song Dynasty and moved to the Lu Kingdom to avoid civil strife. His father is Liang He, his mother is Yan. Duke Xiang of Lu was born in Zouyi (now Qufu, Shandong) in the state of Lu in the 22nd year of his reign (551 BC). The State of Lu was the fiefdom of Bo Qin, son of Duke Zhou, and was known as a land of rituals and music. By the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, rituals and music were still intact. The deep-rooted tradition of rituals and music in the State of Lu had a profound impact on Confucius. When Confucius was young, he often made plays with Chen Chudou and setting up rituals. He lost his father in his early years and his family fell into poverty. When he was young, he worked as a minor official in charge of granaries and herding. When he was more than 30 years old, he began to give lectures to apprentices.

In the twenty-sixth year of Lu Zhaogong (516 BC), there was civil strife in Lu. Confucius was dissatisfied with the Sanhuan led by the Ji family who were exercising power, so he left Lu for a time and went to Qi, but soon returned. He began to organize poems, books, rituals, and music. The more students he recruited, the greater his influence. In the ninth year of Duke Dinggong of Lu (501 BC), he served as the Prime Minister of Zhongdu and achieved considerable political achievements. Later he was promoted to Sikong and Da Sikou. In the 10th year of Duke Dinggong of Lu, at the Qilu Jiagu meeting, Confucius paid tribute to each other, and Lu State's military salute was used together to recover the fields of Yun, Guan and Guiyin that had been occupied by Qi State. In the thirteenth year of Dinggong's reign, Confucius proposed to destroy the capitals of Jisun, Shusun, and Mengsun in order to protect his official position. After Jisun, Shusun, and Fei were destroyed, Mengsun resisted with force. Confucius The plan failed. Later, the political situation of Lu State changed, and Confucius saw that it was difficult to realize his ideal, so he led his disciples to leave Lu State and began a wandering career traveling around the country. Confucius was 55 years old. In the past 14 years, Confucius went to Wei, Chen, Song, Cai, Chu and other countries to promote his political ideas to the princes, but to no avail. In the eleventh year of Duke Ai of Lu (484 BC), Ji Kangzi welcomed Confucius with coins, and Confucius returned to Lu at the age of 68. Although Duke Ai of Lu and Ji Kangzi often asked Confucius about political affairs, they never had any use.

Confucius devoted himself to education in his later years, sorting out ancient classics such as "Poems" and "Books", and deleted and revised "Spring and Autumn". His students recorded his thoughts, words and deeds in The Analects of Confucius. Philosophical Thoughts The Spring and Autumn Period in which Confucius lived was a period of transition from slave society to feudal society. Confucius' thoughts were full of contradictions between the old and the new, reflecting the spiritual outlook of the era of great change. Confucius inherited the traditional view of destiny, ghosts and gods, and regarded heaven as the master of all things and the personal god. He believed that destiny dominates human life and death, and also determines the order of society. He advocated that "a gentleman has three fears: fear of destiny, fear of adults, and fear of the words of saints." "If you don't know destiny, you can't be a gentleman." But at the same time, he denied the divination activities that were popular in the Zhou Dynasty, and proposed that "the sky has nothing to say, the four seasons are moving, and the five grains are produced." He believed that the destiny of heaven is contained in the operation of natural things. Therefore, he advocated "respecting ghosts and gods and staying away from them, which can be said to be knowledge." "The Analects of Confucius" records that Confucius "did not talk about strange forces, chaos, and gods", and said that "if you don't know life, how can you know death" and "if you can't serve people, how can you serve ghosts", which avoids the question of whether people become ghosts after death.

The Doctrine of the Mean is the highest standard for Confucius to conduct one's conduct. He said: "The Doctrine of the Mean is a virtue, and it is as good as the people." He advocated that when dealing with affairs, one should neither go too far nor go too far. It cannot be less than, and it is considered that "too much is not enough". Confucius advocated adhering to the "middle way". As recorded in "The Analects of Confucius", Confucius proposed that "quality is better than literature, which leads to wildness, and literature is better than quality, which is history", "literacy and gentleness will lead to a gentleman"; he advocated "the combination of virtue and punishment" and "the combination of leniency and violence". ; Contain students who are too aggressive and encourage those who are too modest. Confucius opposed excessive words and deeds, but at the same time he also opposed unprincipled "hometown wishes" behaviors that "are similar to popular customs, conform to the dirty world, live as if they are loyal, act as if they are honest, everyone is happy with them, and they are self-righteous". He calls "hometown wishes, virtue" He is also a thief."

Confucius paid attention to social ethical issues and regarded etiquette as an important means to maintain the hierarchical system and a symbol of distinguishing Chinese and Yi. He condemned the destruction of Zhou rites, and was extremely indignant at the Ji family of Lu State for stealing the emperor's rites and "eight hundred people dancing in the court", saying, "This is tolerable, but who can't be tolerated?" Confucius advocated "rectification of names" and tried to use the Zhou rites to correct the changed social reality, asking people to "deny themselves and restore rites." However, without violating the basic principles of Zhou Rites, Confucius agreed to make some gains or losses in the specific content of Zhou Rites in light of the changes of the times. The concept of benevolence has been widely used in the Spring and Autumn Period. Confucius gave it a new meaning, making it one of the most important categories in the history of Chinese philosophy.

Confucius’s teachings were broad and profound. Although they contained some traditional conservative ideological elements, their mainstream was conducive to social progress at the time. Therefore, it was further developed during the Warring States Period and became one of the prominent pre-Qin schools. However, due to historical reasons, it did not receive special attention from the rulers before the Han Dynasty.

After the Han Dynasty, centralized feudal rule was established. Confucius’ thoughts suited the needs of the ruling class, so they were valued. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty adopted Dong Zhongshu's strategy of "deposing hundreds of schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone", which formally established the dominance of Confucius and his doctrines in the Chinese intellectual world. Later, rulers of successive dynasties took further measures to deify Confucius and promote Confucianism, thus consolidating Confucius's supreme status.

Confucius’ thoughts had a huge impact on the philosophy, literature, art, education, history, etc. of Chinese feudal society. As an outstanding representative of Chinese traditional culture, this influence spread to East Asia and even the world. However, in the long feudal society, the ruling class, out of its own needs, one-sidedly developed the conservative aspects of Confucius' thoughts and constrained people's thoughts.

Since the May 4th Movement, the conservatism of Confucius’ thoughts has been criticized by progressive thinkers. After the May 4th Movement, some Chinese scholars, including Marxist philosophy and historians, conducted systematic research and evaluation on Confucius and his thoughts, and made great achievements.

Confucius’ thoughts and theories are mainly collected in the Analects of Confucius written by Confucius’ disciples. There are also records of Confucius’ words and deeds in Zuozhuan and Shiji: The Family of Confucius.