Life And Work Of Confucius: A Moral Revolutionary

Early Life and Education of Confucius

Question:

Write an Essay which treat some Important issue in traditional Asian history, covering China, Korea and Japan.

The great Confucius is regarded to be a philosopher, political personage and the originator of the Ru school of Chinese thought. He was born in the year 551 BC in the city of Zou, in Lu state in China. Confucius is well known for propagating the philosophy of Confucianism in China. The ideology of Confucianism consists of political and idiosyncratic morality, justness of communal relationships, egalitarianism and probity (Wilhelm, 2013). From time immemorial, the teachings of Confucius have profoundly influenced the conscience and lifestyle of people all around the world. This research essay paper attempts to demonstrate the fact that worldwide, the life and work of Confucius have left a great impact upon the compunction of people.

Eminent historians have provided much valuable literature on Confucius’s lifetime and the work done by Confucius on his lifetime. At birth, the name Kong was assigned to Confucius, but later in his life, he became popular by the name:- Kong-fu-tse. The name Kong-fu-tse signifies a person who possesses great knowledge and has the characteristics to be called as a learned thinker. Confucius was left fatherless at the tender age of three. After this unfortunate incident, he was primarily raised by his beloved mother. It was historically evident that during his adolescent years Confucius demonstrated a yearning for learning and an interest for the atavistic moral and ethical laws of China. The world of compunction and moral scruples fascinated him stupendously (Yang, 2013). Compunction is the innate feeling of moral conscience possessed by humans. This feeling helps to intercept the urge to commit something felonious. He always had this urge to make invaluable contributions to the existent moral practices of the world and specifically of his homeland,  China.

Confucius was betrothed to his bride at the impressionable age of nineteen, however, he proceeded to separate from his wife so that he could give his entire focus to his compunction related study  and societal duties. One of the major factors that paved his life journey as a moral revolutionary was his beloved mother’s untimely demise. He mourned his mother’s unfortunate expiration for a period of three long years by confining himself deliberately in his ancestral property (Rosenlee, 2012). In this solitary period, he devoted his time to scholarly study on moral teachings and principles. Confucius made deep analysis and meditation on the perpetual laws of compunction and their sources of origin. In addition to this, Confucius researched on how the broad spectrum of the prevailing ethical and compunction laws of a nation impose a sense of allegiance and responsibility to its citizens. With this, he decided to make the above perpetual laws of compunction as the constant rule of his deeds. Over the next years, he constructed his career to be a distinguished portrayal of his compunction or ethical system. After the absorption and contemplation of the knowledge of all the existent ethical laws present in China and the faraway world, Confucius framed his own ethical schooling. Confucius then undertook a voyage of travel to spread his ethical teachings and principles for the general welfare and well-being of the common population (Chou, Tu & Huang, 2013). He commenced to provide effective guidance and direction to his compatriots in the field of moral scruples and credo.

Compunction: The Innate Feeling of Moral Conscience Possessed by Humans

In order to instill credibility and trustworthiness about his teachings in the minds of his fellow citizens, Confucius himself became a living example of his moral propositions. As someone has once rightfully pointed out that, a preacher attains great success only when he himself implements his teachings in his own life. Gradually, the strength of the followers of Confucius started to amplify and his aura as well as his teachings began to spread dynamically across China (Hsü, 2012). The pragmatic character of his ideology became more obvious as his followers began to apply his teachings in their practical life. Confucius preferred his followers to be mature, sensible and sagacious. He had the notion that the graveness of his teachings would be cumbersome for the young blood to comprehend and imbibe. This belief of Confucius, further shed light, on both the psyche and prototype of his teachings. Unlike the other preachers of his era, Confucius focused on upholding the moral outlook of life rather than the religious facet. His ultimate aspiration was to inspire his followers, irrespective of their religious affiliations, to lead a life of honor, piety and moral righteousness (Rozman, 2014).  Undoubtedly, his own life, his selfless sacrifices and his vast work composition greatly influenced the compunction of people. During the lifetime of Confucius, the compunction set-up of the people of China and worldwide was based upon rigidness, ignorance and apprehension of influences from foreign cultures. Indeed, the moral situation of the world at that historical era was in dire need of a savior, who would infuse freshness and bring a spectacular compunction change with his individuality and mystique.

Confucius travelled voraciously through many provinces to impart his teachings. Among all his travels, some were fruitful and the others were soul wrenching. At many instances pertaining to social rigidness and prejudiceness, Confucius was subjected to intense humiliation and persecution. However, all the shenanigans of his foes turned out to be a great failure as it miserably failed to cease Confucius in his ardent devotional path (Sin, 2012).  He decided to devote the last few years of his life in the profuse construction of scholarly and lettered works. The publication of those works after his aged demise at the age of seventy served as an enriching source of compunction enlightenment to his compatriots and as well as to people who dwelled outside the boundaries of China. In fact, it can be rightfully said that the honor and eminence of Confucius rose magnificently after his sorrowful demise in comparison to his lifetime. People in China started to construct many beautiful shrines to commemorate the moral teachings of Confucius. Soon, it became such that shrines and temples dedicated to the compunction teachings of Confucius became noticeable in every locality of the vast terrain of  China (Feng & Newton, 2012). The scholarly books composed by Confucius were so informative and progressive of his time that they were immediately enforced into the Chinese curriculum of education for an impressive period of 2000 years.

Teachings of Confucius

Later, the moral teachings of Confucius were termed as Confucianism by the intellectuals. Confucianism was a compiled collection of all the moral, ethical, communal, governmental and theological teachings of Confucius. Confucianism was astutely influenced by the age-old Chinese traditional beliefs (Yu, 2012). The magnificence of Confucianism instantly started to garner interest among the Non-Chinese population of the world. Through the teachings of Confucianism, increasingly, people started to accept the idea that along with being virtuous, a man must also possess considerable moral learning and display proper conduct. The ethos of Confucius’ teachings and his doctrine-Confucianism states that the compunction factor of life transcends beyond the common duty and the mundane details of life. The diligent perseverance of Confucius did ultimately turned out to be effectual as eventually people from all over the world including China started to embrace his moral and ethical principles. Some of his books like The Doctrine of the Mean and The Analects became especially popular among his earnest followers. In comparison to the other books, these books contained in precise detail, the deep moral preaching of Confucius (Zhimin, 2012).

Thereby, at the conclusion, it can certainly be said that the life and work of Confucius have left a great impact upon the compunction of people. In modern times, people from all parts of the world zealously follow the teachings of compunction of Confucius in their daily life. It is also estimated that the percentage of followers to the compunction school of thought of Confucius is going to rise massively in the following years. The philosophy of Confucius reflected that the two spheres of afterlife- The Heaven and The Hell, exists in absolute unison by balancing an incessant dynamism. Similarly, he teaches his followers that human beings in their present life must aspire to mirror the otherworldly model in order to lead a salubrious and content life.

References

Chou, M. J., Tu, Y. C., & Huang, K. P. (2013). Confucianism and character education: a Chinese view. Journal of Social Sciences, 9(2), 59.

Feng, L., & Newton, D. (2012). Some implications for moral education of the Confucian principle of harmony: learning from sustainability education practice in China. Journal of moral education, 41(3), 341-351.

Hsü, L. S. (2013). The Political Philosophy of Confucianism: An Interpretation of the Social and Political Ideas of Confucius, His Forerunners, and His Early Disciples (Vol. 10). Routledge.

Rosenlee, L. H. L. (2012). Confucianism and women: A philosophical interpretation. SUNY Press.

Rozman, G. (Ed.). (2014). The East Asian region: Confucian heritage and its modern adaptation. Princeton University Press.

Sin, T. C. (2012). Confucianism and democratization in East Asia. Cambridge University Press.

Wilhelm, R. (2013). Confucius and Confucianism (Vol. 39). Routledge.

Yang, S. Y. (2013). Wisdom and good lives: A process perspective. New Ideas in Psychology, 31(3), 194-201.

Yu, E. (2014). Confucianism. In Handbook of Global Bioethics(pp. 375-389). Springer Netherlands.

Zhimin, L. I. (2012). Re-interpretation of The Analects of Confucius: Modernization of traditional chinese culture [J]. Journal of Guangzhou University (Social Science Edition), 8, 014