A ceremonial code

A ceremonial code

Confucius advocated the six traditional branches of learning, which were: archery, carriage driving, mathematics, writing, music and ritual. Innately conservative, Confucius was fascinated by the last of these disciplines. He believed that, as the ideally perfect society was unattainable, the next best thing was to organize social relationships through a complex code that laid down strict rules of behavior for each kind of person.

Confucius did not accept the religious ideas of his times, and was sceptical of the supernatural. He told his scholars: ‘We have not yet known life; how can we know about death?’

Confucius was the ultimate conservative. He was not so much the creator of a new system of ethics and behavior as a systematize of old ones. He practiced Li, a ceremonial code of social and religious behavior, and maintained that it was the true code for a gentleman to follow. The Li code embraced beliefs, ethics, manners, deportment, social behavior, ceremony and statecraft. Many of the students who came to Confucius for instruction profited so much from his teaching that they gained high places in government service. After Confucius’ death in 479 BC, his students collected his sayings in the Lun Yii (The Analects).

It was important for a man to study, taught Confucius, not merely to gain knowledge but rather to improve his. character. Learning was not an end in itself; when a man had taken the trouble to learn something, he should put it to practical use. The man who sought the good life should be ready to learn from anyone, irrespective of whatever he ranked higher or lower socially than himself.

Confucius taught that in all things a man should be a chuntzu (gentleman). Whether or not a man was a chintzu depended upon his character and his behavior; it had nothing to do with his birth. The chiintzu would never allow his desires to deflect him from doing what he thought was right. His conduct would be prudent and cautious; neither extreme nor ostentatious. He would be known as an honest man who kept his promises and remained true to his principles. To others he would be scrupulously fair. If others refused his advice he would not lose his temper. He would in any case always strive to be calm and avoid demonstrative words or behavior.

The white Tiger, carved in white jade, was a mythical beast
symbolic of the west.

The chiintzu would naturally follow the rules and etiquette of Li. But he would observe the principle rather than the form; he would act intelligently rather than mechanically. He would meticulously observe and practice the correct rituals and ceremonies and adjust his behavior according to what was appropriate for each class and rank of person. But he would do this not because convention demanded it, but rather because he genuinely believed that this was the best thing to do.

The true chüntzu would, by example, civilize and educate those he' met, and persuade through his superior moral power. He would be courageous, calm and self assured, but neither pompous nor hypercritical. Whatever task he under took he would carry out to the best of his ability. He would be a natural leader, but if none recognized his worth and he went unrewarded he would not be resentful. Such was the ideal gentleman, taught Confucius. Few could reach such perfection but all might strive towards it.

This ritual vessel, created in the eighth
century BC, pre-dates Confucius but s
hows in its formal interlacing ribbon
decoration the same concern with
rational processes that the philosopher shared.

Besides propagating his ideas by teaching, Confucius turned to writing. Ever a lover of the past, which he tended to idealize as a golden age, he revised and edited a book of history, Spring and Autumn Annals. He probably also edited a collection of earlier writings: the Book of Changes, the Book of History, the Book of Songs and the Book of Rites. These four books and the Annals are still known to the Chinese as "The Five Classics'. It was two of these classics, the Book of History and the Book of Songs which incurred the special wrath of the Ch’in Emperor nearly three centuries later.

In propagating the good life and pushing forward his views on how rulers should go about their business, Confucius cared less for power than for doing what he thought was right. He filled with distinction various government posts in Lu, his home state, including that of magistrate and Minister of Justice. His fame spread and he travelled far and wide for about 13 years, but never gained a post of great power. Not everyone agreed with his views.

One tale about Confucius — possibly no more than a legend — tells how he once met Lao-tzu. This sage (whom some scholars regard as a mythical character) is the reputed founder of Taoism, which alongside Confucianism has been a Chinese religion and philosophy for about 2,500 years. According to the story, Lao-tzu, the older of the two sages, thought very little of Confucius. The old man upbraided Confucius for harping on the past, expressed his disbelief in the virtues of learning and advised him to stop meddling in other people’s affairs.

After the death of Confucius in 479 BC, his fame spread; his followers grew in number and influence and modified his doctrines. The greatest disciple of Confucius, Meng K’o (c. 370-c. 290 BC), better known by his Latinized name, Mencius, expounded Confucianism about 200 years after the death of Confucius. Although he had advised against ostentatious behaviour, Confucius had never been a puritan and he abhorred asceticism. Not so Mo Ti, a peasant philosopher born at about the time that Confucius died. Mo Ti also drew his inspiration from the past, but despised the ceremony-loving Confucianites. Mo Ti championed the cause of the peasants and puritanically stressed the virtues of hard work. He also stressed the ideal of universal love. If everyone loved others as himself, taught Mo Ti, the. troubles of society would disappear. He strongly opposed the ceremonial pomp of the Confucians.

Pi disc symbolized heaven, with the sun its centre.

Another of the many schools of philosophy that flourished in China between the sixth and third centuries BC was the Legalist school, of which mention has already been made. The Legalists rejected both the moral standards of the Confucianists and the democratic leanings of the Mohists (followers of Mo Ti’s doctrines). The Legalists believed that power should be exercised by a strong man — a benevolent and efficient dictator who would rule with a rod of iron. To Legaliste like Li Ssu, Grand Councillor of the China Empire, the First Emperor was the ideal ruler, whose dynasty should last for ever.

The Ch’in despotism tore the peasants from their farms and families and sent hundreds of thousands of them to build the Great Wall and to construct new military roads. Other peasants slaved at building the Emperor a sumptuous palace, one floor of which could hold 10,000 people. Still more conscripts, organized into ‘gangs like convicts, sweated at constructing for the Emperor, a magnificent tomb 500 feet high and 14 miles in circumference. Hatred of the régime grew.

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