Analects Paper

Student: Tushar Jain

Professor: D. Y. Chang

Course Title: East Asian Cultures

Meeting Time: 4:55pm Tuesdays and Thursdays

Due Date: 3/5/12

The Analects of Confucius are a compilation of the teachings of

Confucius, as written both by Confucius himself and his disciples. The

Analects are truly a collection of various chapters and teachings rather

than a singular work; they often deviate from topics and explore the

teachings of Confucius in a winding unpredictable path. These works have

influenced the very fabric of Chinese and East Asian culture, government,

religion and society very heavily; Confucius was one of the most influential

teachers of all time.

The teachings of Confucius are for everyone to study, one of the

most revolutionary of Confucius’s teachings was that not only men of noble

birth should be provided with education. Confucius was the first teacher in

East Asia to open up his school to those of the commoner classes; his

disciples came from all walks of life. Some parts of Confucius’s teachings

are of course targeted towards those with power to change how Chinese

society was run; the peasants were not able to affect the laws and policies

of their governments. Other parts of Confucius’s teachings, such as the

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virtues of the superior man and how all should have a love of learning are

targeted for all people from all classes and of all occupations. Confucius

taught a way of life and wished all to follow his lead and the lead of his

disciples.

The teachings of Confucius were, as is to be expected, influenced by

his situation in life and the environment he was surrounded by as all

people are. His teachings of doing unto others as you would have them do

unto you, improvement of the quality of life of the common people along

with his blunt manner of presenting these teachings made him a political

outsider for much of his life. While he was able to gather quite a large

group of disciples, political power evaded him for the first few decades of

his life because he wished to challenge the status quo and was considered

a threat by large parts of the ruling class.

Confucius was finally able to rise to a position of power in the State

of Lu after he was more than 50 years old. His policies were very

successful and the State of Lu was growing more prosperous and therefore

more powerful. This posed a challenge to opposing powers that saw their

power being eclipsed by the State of Lu. Legend has it that competing

powers who did not like the influence that Confucius’s teachings were

having on the State of Lu and its subsequent increase in power and

prosperity conspired successfully to force Confucius to leave his post. They

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accomplished this by distracting the Duke of Lu from his official duties

which disgusted Confucius and drove him to resign, making him once

again a political outsider. Confucius then roamed China trying to convince

other lords and noblemen to adopt his philosophies in their governance

styles but was unsuccessful. Confucius’s point of view was one of an

innovator and therefore he was shunned by the political elite of China who

wanted to preserve the status quo in which they had power. Confucius was

also unskilled at the game of politics, choosing to be blunt in his speech

and unflattering to those that were born into their positions but

undeserving of them. Because of these factors, Confucius’s teachings are

from the point of view of a political outsider, a cultural outsider, a

reformer and a man that had wisdom way ahead of his times because that

describes the man that Confucius was.

One of the reasons Confucius had so much trouble getting his

policies implemented across China was the inherent bias of the ruling class

to maintain the status quo. The ruling class was comfortable in their role;

in a system dominated by warlords and hereditary power not many

political leaders were willing to risk their position in order to try new

policies meant to improve the wellbeing of all of society with no guarantee

of success or of an increase in the power of the ruling class. In fact,

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Confucius’s focus on merit rather than birthright downright challenged the

very foundation of power of the ruling class!

There was extreme fragmentation of modern China during the period

of Confucius; this created a situation where political leaders had to look

out first and foremost for their own power and survival while putting the

advancement of their societies on the back burner. This was an era of

frequent conflicts between sovereign powers, fighting between warlords

that were nominally in the same state and vast civil strife mostly suffered

by the commoners. The era that Confucius lived in had an enormous

influence on his teachings, he saw the situation around him and wanted to

develop and deploy a system that would lead to peace and prosperity for

all. If there had been one central power in China during the time of

Confucius, he might have had an easier time having his reforms

implemented over a greater area and been able to affect the conditions of

many more lives during his time. It says something about Confucius’s

great discipline and determination that he was able to continue his

learning and teaching despite facing so many headwinds and receiving so

much negative feedback from the ruling class.

It is because of Confucius’s determination and wisdom that his

teachings became so successful as to become one of the bedrocks of

Eastern Asian culture. This success led to the interpretation of his

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teachings by Europeans and the West to be a religion. When westerners

learned of Confucius’s influence over East Asia, they immediately drew

parallels to the other great historical figures with such influence, most

notably the prophets Jesus and Mohammed. However, Confucius did not

consider himself a prophet, he did not consider his philosophies to be the

means toward reaching salvation nor serving a greater being. Confucius’s

teachings are about how to live a good life, a virtuous life, a life devoted to

self-improvement. He does not try to explain the theory of life and urges

his disciples to think for themselves, a quality devoid in most other

religions. An entire chapter, Chapter 10, of the Analects is devoted to

describing various aspects of Confucius’s daily life. Chapter 10 of the

Analects does not portray Confucius as anything other than a wise man, a

teacher and a leader. While Confucius did partake in many rituals

beginning from his childhood, these were in pursuit of being a better

person rather than in pursuit of approval from some divine entity.

A fundamental belief of Confucius was that human beings have

control of their situations and affairs. This is why he urged all people to

continually improve themselves rather than urging them to pray to a divine

being for the hope of receiving aid to better their situation. He repeatedly

says in his teachings that a good government is one of the most important

factors to improving the lives of the people, he does not ever say that

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divine action is needed to better society. According to Confucius, people

are responsible for themselves and for working to improve themselves,

their situation in life and their society.

Confucius believed that we should all feel a sense of duty to live good

and virtuous lives, this was the basis of his definition of morality. Ethics is

the expression of morality, one makes ethical decisions because of one’s

morals. Confucius taught that morality is the way to a better government

and therefore a better life for all people; in one of his most important

analects he states: “If the people be led by laws, and uniformity sought to

be given them by punishments, they will try to avoid the punishment, but

have no sense of shame. If they be led by virtue, and uniformity sought to

be given them by the rules of propriety, they will have the sense of the

shame, and moreover will become good.” To Confucius, morality was the

sense of duty that one must have to be good and to be virtuous.

The values that were at the core of morality according to Confucius

included generosity from the soul, sincerity, earnestness, seriousness,

kindness, righteousness and benevolence. A virtuous man (a gentleman)

would possess these values and always strive to be improving himself in

these avenues. Confucius believed that the path to self-improvement was

through learning; a superior man (a gentleman) should have a deep love of

learning and pursue learning, knowledge and wisdom through his entire

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life. This love of learning was woven deep into Confucius’s teachings, as he

says in Chapter 17, “There is the love of being benevolent without the love

of learning; -- the beclouding here leads to a foolish simplicity. There is the

love of knowing without the love of learning; -- the beclouding here leads

to dissipation of mind. There is the love of being sincere without the love

of learning; -- the beclouding here leads to an injurious disregard of

consequences. There is the love of straightforwardness without the love of

learning; -- the beclouding here leads to rudeness. There is the love of

boldness without the love of learning; -- the beclouding here leads to

insubordination. There is the love of firmness without the love of learning;

-- the beclouding here leads to extravagant conduct.” In Chapter 8,

Confucius further urges all who wish to be superior men to devote

themselves to learning every day until they die: “With sincere faith he

unites the love of learning; holding firm to death.”

Confucius says that virtue is cultivated through learning about what

it is to be a moral person and then following through by acting on that

knowledge. He believed that anyone could be virtuous; virtue was not

reserved for those of noble birth but was also open to the common man.

This fits in with Confucius’s belief that merit should be the determinant of

one’s place in society rather than birthright or wealth. Confucius’s

teaching of common men along with the heirs to great houses and great

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fortunes demonstrates this belief; he taught all of his disciples together

with no discrimination based on factors such as social class, occupation or

affluence.

Confucius preached that each person had to have a sense of duty to

self, family, community and society as a series of concentric circles that

defined who a person was. Each person was to learn how to live a virtuous

life and help himself, his family, his community and his society to the best

of his ability. However, one could not be a virtuous person by just going

through the motions and fulfilling the duties he believed he must. In order

to be virtuous, one must have a sense of duty from within and a love of

learning from within; these must be true emotions, real desires that are

necessary for one to be a virtuous person. This is what Confucius means by

his quote in Chapter 15 “It is Man who is capable of broadening the Way.

It is not the Way that is capable of broadening Man.” One cannot simply

become a virtuous man by following the way; there is more to it than that.

If one is a virtuous man, a man who has a love of learning and teaching,

then one can help others live a righteous life. This is what Confucius

means by the first part of his quote, this how a man may broaden the way.

Confucius did not say that his teachings were perfection, as religion is

ought to do, but rather he accepted that there were improvements to his

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teachings that could be made by his immediate disciples and by other

learned men to follow.

Confucius believed that people had to relate to each other on a more

human level than any teacher before him had preached. He saw potential

in all people and did not agree with the classist structure of Chinese

society in the era in which he lived. Of course a society cannot function

without rule of law and in order for rule of law to prevail the people must

accept that they must obey their superiors and the government. Confucius

was particularly stringent in his belief that a son must obey his parents

while they are alive. This is an effective policy because parents most often

want the best for their children and can impart their wisdom to them,

Confucius saw too many men make decisions against their parents’ wishes

that later ruined them. Because of the times in which he lived, Confucius

was also of the belief that men were the leaders of their households and

women should be subjugated to them. He even decreed that men and

women should walk on opposite sides of the street while he was in a

position of power in the State of Lu! This is the very definition of

paternalism of which Confucius was an advocate and which his legacy

unfortunately propagated through East Asia until modern times when

women were finally given more equal rights.

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Confucius’s teachings added up to a way of life he wished all to

follow. He also had a particular focus on how government should be run;

he disagreed with the contemporary system of hereditary power and

warlords ruling through fear and bloodshed. Confucius believed that rules

should be virtuous to set a good example for their officials and people. This

was mirrored in the way Confucius led his own life, he lived a very

disciplined life according to his own teachings and code, setting an

example for his disciples to emulate. Confucius told rulers that if they were

virtuous, their people would be virtuous and their state would then exist in

peace and prosperity. Unfortunately, not many rulers were willing to

entertain this notion as it challenged the status quo and therefore their

power.

The governmental style advocated by Confucius was one of the

people, he wished that people be installed in government posts because of

their merit and wanted the government to rule through their subjects’

sense of duty over brute force. He wanted rulers to lead by example and

place trust in their subjects to live virtuous lives. As he states in one of his

most important analects: “If the people be led by laws, and uniformity

sought to be given them by punishments, they will try to avoid the

punishment, but have no sense of shame. If they be led by virtue, and

uniformity sought to be given them by the rules of propriety, they will have

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the sense of the shame, and moreover will become good.” This

demonstrates both his idea of morality and his idea that government

should be based on the people rather than laws which typically function by

threatening punishment.

American government on the other hand is a government of laws

because we as a society place less trust on individuals to do the right

thing. This is a symptom of American culture where we are all expected to

look out first and foremost for our own best interests and place other

people’s interests secondary to our own. American culture demonstrates

the values of “to each his own” and is the epitome of individualism

whereas Confucius preached that society should be based on doing well for

others rather than yourself. This is a fundamental difference in values and

opinions which is an entire debate topic in and onto itself, a debate that

has been raging since the advent of human civilization upon this Earth.

The leader of a state, according to Confucius, must be moral and this

would lead him to be competent because he would be leading by example.

This was the most important feature of a leader in Confucius’s teachings

because a state filled with moral people and with a moral leader who

wasn’t entirely competent was better off than a state with a competent

leader whose subjects feared him and acted without virtue towards each

other. A good king according to Confucius would follow the principles of

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generosity from the soul, sincerity, earnestness, seriousness, kindness,

righteousness and benevolence along with a love of learning. In other

words a good ruler was expected to live a virtuous life as were all people,

the only difference was that the ruler was to set an example for his

subjects and therefore his virtue had more positive externalities than the

virtue of a common man.

Confucius, while against the hereditary hierarchy of China in his era,

still believed that there should be a strict hierarchy in society. A son was to

obey his parents without question and a subject was to obey his ruler

without question. The difference between Confucian teaching and the

government at the time was that he thought government officials should be

appointed on merit rather than birth. This was the genesis of the

standardized testing system in Chinese government which was the method

of selection for government officials for many centuries. Confucius died

before his reforms were widely adopted, like many other great men he

passed away without knowing the impact that he had on the lives of

billions of people over the course of millennia.

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Analects Paper

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