Page 88 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book

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Confucius

Kong-zi

If we take deep and persistent effect on succeeding generations as our yardstick, no single
person in the whole history of China can compare with Kong Qiu, or ‘Master Kong’ as he
came to be known. He lived from 551 to 479 BC. He came from a family of minor
nobility and spent his life trying to secure or retain various official posts in the service of
feudal princes. Dismissal from such posts as he secured was always on the same grounds:
his ideas on ethics and morals were not those of his lord and master. So, late in life, he
gave himself over to wandering about with his disciples – most of whom were of noble
birth – whom he inculcated with his doctrines. Tradition has it that he edited the ‘Spring
and Autumn Annals’ (Chun-qiu), thereby turning what had been a purely historical work
into a treatise on ethics and morals. Commentaries on the ‘Book of Changes’ (Yi-jing)
and the compilation of the ‘Book of Odes’ (Shi-jing) were also ascribed to him.
Music affected him deeply; on one occasion, he was so moved by the Shao (the music of
the legendary Emperor Shun) that ‘for three months he did not know the taste of meat’.
He left behind no writings of his own, but his Analects (Lun-yu) were collected by his
pupils and published after his death. Furthermore, the Jia-yu (‘School Talks’), dating
from the 3rd century BC, are at least in part attributable to him. And finally, the ‘Book of
Rites’ (Li-ji) is permeated with his thought.

Confucius with his disciples studying the Yi-jing

It was not until long after his death, however, that the doctrinal system based on his
thought – the body of thought known as ‘Confucianism’ – came into its own. Around 100
BC the rulers of the Han Dynasty were looking about for officials, versed in the rules
of propriety and able to read and write. This was the beginning of the ascendancy of
Confucianism as the sole ideology of the Chinese state and its management. In the 12th