Chinese teacher biography page
Home / General Biography Information / Chinese teacher biography page
Politeness will save one from insults by others; tolerance and generosity will evoke the love of others; honesty brings trust from people; diligence foretells success; and benevolence encourages others to follow your instructions.”
Yu Juo
Yu Juo (also known as Yu-Tsu-yu) was born in the Kingdom of Lu, 12 years after Confucius.
The authority of Confucius was such that during the late Han and the following period of disunity, his imprimatur was used to validate commentaries to the classics, encoded political prophecies, and esoteric doctrines.
By the Song period (960–1279), the post-Buddhist revival known as “Neo-Confucianism” anchored readings of the dialogues of Confucius to a dualism between “cosmic pattern” (li 理) and “pneumas” (qi 氣), a distinctive moral cosmology that marked the tradition off from those of Buddhism and Daoism.
Put slightly differently, Confucius read the traditional culture of the halcyon Zhou period in a particular way, but this reading was continuously reflected and refracted through different lenses during the Pre-Imperial period, prior to the results being fixed in diverse early Imperial period sources like the Analects, the Records of Ritual, and the Records of the Historian. What remains is the work of the hand of Confucius, but also of his “school”, and even sometimes of his opponents during the centuries that his philosophy underwent elaboration and drift.
From the Analects, we can see that he tried to help his disciples solve problems concerning daily life and human relationships.
According to the Records of the Historian, Confucius was a descendant of a branch of the royal house of Shang, the dynasty (a family of rulers) that ruled China prior to the Chou, and a dynasty which ruled China from around 1122 B.C.E.
Another term sometimes translated as “virtue” (de 德), is usually used to describe the authority of a ruler that grows out of goodness or favor to others, and is a key term in many of the social and political works discussed in the following section. His teacher Confucius considered him a virtuous person. This behavior is particularly relevant in official interactions with ordinary people, such as when “employing common people” (5.16), and if a social superior has mastered it, “the common people will all comply” (13.4).
This sort of qualification suggests that as filial piety moved further outside its original family context, it had to be qualified to be integrated into a view that valorized multiple character traits.
Since filial piety was based on a fundamental relationship defined within the family, one’s family role and state role could conflict.
Kung Chi had several hundred students, including Mun Ko (Mencius). Later he worked as supervisor of the fields. Yan’s view is that since these officials were responsible for teaching the rites, music, and the Classic of Odes, it was their combined expertise that developed into the particular vocation that shaped the outlook of Confucius.
Little is known about his last years, although this would have been a logical time for him to work on the many texts and documents he supposedly gathered on his journey. It was in large part this adherence to Zhou period cultural forms, or to what Confucius reconstructed them to be, that has led many in the modern period to label him a traditionalist.
Where Confucius clearly innovated was in his rationale for performing the rites and music.
The Records of Ritual distinguishes between the domains of these two virtues:
In regulating one’s household, kindness overrules righteousness. In doing so, leaders would lead by positive example. (13.18)
In this way, too, Confucius was adapting filial piety to a wider manifold of moral behaviors, honing his answer to the question of how a child balances responsibility to family and loyalty to the state.
By contrast, early discussions between Confucius and his disciples described benefits of ritual performance that went beyond the propitiation of spirits, rewards from the ancestors, or the maintenance of the social or cosmic order. Confucius recognized an opportunity — and an obligation — to reinforce the societal values of compassion and tradition.
The Golden Rule
Confucius’ social philosophy was based primarily on the principle of "ren" or "loving others" while exercising self-discipline.