Confucianism
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Confucius (551–479 BCE) was a Chinese philosopher and educator whose teachings laid the foundation for much of East Asian culture and thought.
Born in the state of Lu, he emphasized personal morality, social harmony, and the importance of education. While Confucius did not author any texts himself, his disciples compiled his teachings, notably in the “Analects.”
Over millennia, his philosophies deeply influenced Chinese governance, society, and ethics, especially during the Han Dynasty when Confucianism became the state doctrine.
Although challenged during certain periods, such as the rise of communism in the 20th century, his teachings remain a significant component of East Asian identity and wisdom today.
| Date | Event/Description |
|---|---|
| 551 BCE | Birth of Confucius in the state of Lu. Birth name: Kong Qiu. |
| 532 BCE | Death of Confucius’ father. Confucius was raised by his mother in relative poverty. |
| c. 527 BCE | Confucius began his education, showing interest in history, poetry, and rituals. |
| c. 500 BCE | Confucius started teaching, emphasizing perso
Who was Confucius?
Confucius believed that education and reflection led to virtue, and that those who aspired to command others must cultivate discipline and moral authority in themselves. He strove to rise through the government ranks, but he tended to offend others with his forceful personality, using his position as a bully pulpit for preaching good governance. He eventually was appointed to the influential post of minister of crime in the state of Lu but fell from favor through his aggressive reform efforts. He tried for years to reenter public service in order to improve it from within, but he found far greater success as a teacher instead. Confucius broke with tradition in his belief that all human beings could benefit from education. He espoused lifelong learning “for the sake of the self,” meaning self- knowledge and self-improvement. He attracted a wide circle of followers, who knew him as Kongfuzi (Master Kong). Those pupils recorded his words in The Ana Because of the wide range of texts and traditions identified with him, choices about which version of Confucius is authoritative have changed over time, reflecting particular political and social priorities. The portrait of Confucius as philosopher is, in part, the product of a series of modern cross-cultural interactions. In Imperial China, Confucius was identified with interpretations of the classics and moral guidelines for administrators, and therefore also with training the scholar-officials that populated the bureaucracy. At the same time, he was closely associated with the transmission of the ancient sacrificial system, and he himself received ritual offerings in temples found in all major cities. By the Han (202 BCE–220 CE), Confucius was already an authoritative figure in a number of different cultural domains, and the early commentaries show that reading texts associated with him about history, ritual, and proper behavior was important to rulers. The first commentaries to the Analec
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