B. Confucius, a member of the ju class, not its founder
C. The six talents of the ju = the Confucians
Who was this man, Confucius? And what were his beliefs that made such a huge impact upon Chinese politics. The Chinese call him, KÕung-tzu, i.e. Master Kung, which has been Romanized to Confucius in the West. We will use all three names to soften our brains.
Confucius was probably born into a family of impoverished nobility in the feudal Chou dynasty in 551 BCE. He worked hard to improve his situation. Although self taught he became one of the most learned men of his time. Although he had a legendary reputation as a scholar, he was more concerned with the condition of the masses. He had a deep compassion for the suffering of the populace, as did both Buddha and Jesus.
During the Chou dynasty China had become feudalized with a weak king. ÒThe aristocrats made war as a pastime, and taxed their subjects, exhausted them with forced labor and oppressed them at will. In bad years starvation was common.Ó These are classical types of behaviors for the Bronze Age military aristocracies, which rule the world.[i]
Under these political conditions, Confucius decided that the fault lay not ÔwithinÕ but ÔwithoutÕ in the political leadership of the country. He taught that the responsible citizen, whether leader or family member, should work towards the common good, rather than pursue the quest for individual enlightenment. This is a crucial difference between Confucianism and the other 2 Doctrines of China, Taoism and Buddhism. Confucius emphasized social activism and the reform of society over the pursuit of self-purification and perfection. (Note however that the 3 Doctrines merge at the peak of the mountain.)
He was especially interested in the leaders themselves. ÒHe believed that the solution must be fundamental: a reform of the government that would make its objective not the pleasure of the rulers but the happiness of their subjects.Ó Needless to say the rulers did not exactly flock to his doorstep.
Confucius himself was not dogmatic, nor did he lecture. Instead he spoke with small groups of students in the Socratic fashion, questioning rather than telling. A classic in this style is his quote: ÒIf, when I point out one corner of the subject, the student cannot work out the other three for himself, I do not go on.Ó[ii] This concept comes to play again in Taoism.
He spent his life, somewhat unsuccessfully, attempting to convince leaders to govern with the good of their subjects at heart. He, himself, hoped to be put in a position of administrative authority, but was never successful. ÒHis doctrines had little practical effect in his own day.Ó[iii] He did have a group of disciples, of whom some were able to find influential positions in society. But, as always, the political reality gives the teachings of the masters an interesting spin.
A great mythology has grown up around Confucius because of his prestige. Literary works written many centuries after his death were attributed to him. Confucius, like both Jesus and Buddha, was so admired by the populace that the ruling classes co-opted his teachings for prestige and the power this conferred. This association was made in spite of his ideas, rather than because of his ideas. The propaganda of the powerful has always been awesome – in the web of deceit it spins.
Before exploring the teachings of Confucius in more depth itÕs necessary to clear up some ambiguities concerning the man and his legend. Let us begin by differentiating between the philosophies of Confucius and Confucianism.
The teachings of Confucius and Confucianism are connected but are not the same, just as the teachings of Jesus and Christianity are connected but not the same. Confucianism is the aristocratic religion of the state, while Confucius is an influential thinker in this line of thinking. However while Jesus preceded Christianity, Buddha preceded Buddhism, and Mohammed preceded Mohammedism, Confucius did not precede Confucianism. Confucius was a reformer within the aristocratic Confucian tradition.
First let us look at Confucianism.
ÒThe Confucian school, called Ju in Chinese, originally consisted of specialists on the six arts of ceremonies, music, archery, charioteering, history and numbers. É Confucius (551-479 BCE) É was not the founder of the school but only one of the group.Ó[iv]
We remember the ju from the Western Chou period. The ju were a group of the military aristocracy, the shih, who stressed cultural and political training in addition to military training for the ruler caste. While ju originally meant weaklings, presumably because they were as much concerned with cultural pursuits as they were with military training, they always continued their warrior training.
There were certainly proto-ju in the Shang dynasty. These would be the cultured warriors of the ruling class. We can imagine that the ÔcivilizedÕ Shang warrior differentiated himself from the ÔbarbariansÕ he was fighting against by his ability to read and perform crucial ceremonies.[v]
Hence these ju, the cultured warrior rulers, have always been a part of Chinese written history. It was they who threw the oracles and it was they who had inscriptions made on their bronzes. They were not like the illiterate military cultures of European history Franks and Normans.
While KÕung-tzu, i.e. Confucius, did not found the ju school, he was a part of it. KÕung-tzu was a ju. Although ju is translated as Confucianism in English, he did not found the ju class. Indeed, as weÕve pointed out, the ju were around for centuries before Confucius was born.
Because his name is associated with the ju school in the west, it is assumed that he was the founder of that school. In fact, as weÕve seen, the Ju School was actually more of a social class than a school of philosophy. They specialized in the six arts of the Chinese warrior officials, but were not really a philosophical school as such.[vi] However because of the prestige of Confucius, the ju class liked to associate his name with their social philosophy. Because of these factors, the interconnection between the man, his legend and the Ju School are complex.
As a member of the ju class, Master Kung participated in many of their ideas and concepts. However many of the ideas that he enunciated were unique to him or harked back to the I Ching and Chou Kung. Indeed the differences between the ju class and Confucius are so extreme that to translate ju as Confucianism is misleading.
ÒThe difference between the ideas of Confucius and some aspects of what has later been called Confucianism, is so great that one may be tempted to question the extent of his influence.Ó[vii]
This identification of the ju class with Confucius and Confucianism has been the cause of a great amount of false attributions.
These ju, specialists in their six talents, reserved their talents for the military aristocracy warrior-official, the shih. They didnÕt waste the training on the peasantry. Thus these talents differentiated the ruling class from the peasantry and the ÔbarbarianÕ outsiders.
In fact the ju class were specialists in these 6 virtues or accomplishments. Confucius as a ju was also a specialist in the six accomplishments. The ju like Confucius felt that only those who specialized in these six talents should rule. While the self-absorbed ju class were concerned only with their class, the aristocrats, Confucius felt these political talents should be taught to anyone of talent, regardless of social class.
Two of the six talents, charioteering and archery, reveal the militaristic patriarchal nature of the origins of the ju class. Three of the six talents, music, history and numbers, reflect the cultural background. The last talent of ritual or ceremony was what endeared it to the imperial system. This art in its manifestation had patriarchal roots because the ceremonies tended to institutionalize the hierarchy. These six talents are still spoken of in the Ming dynasty 2000 years later. The ju school is definitely patriarchal and was a dominant force in the government of China for over two millennia.
The peasant farmer, which constituted the bulk of the populace, had no time to become experts in archery or charioteering. Furthermore their crops did not benefit from the study of history, music or numbers. And the sixth talent of ritual was useless information to the bulk of the populace, except as it related to staying out of trouble. However the knowledge was very important for those who wanted to be upwardly mobile. Doing the right thing at the right time to the right people was of paramount importance to those who wanted to participate in the Empire. This was the ju class.
[i] It is reminiscent of the Viking society that was overlaid on top of Christian Europe as its leaders 1500 years later. ÒWar as a pastime, and taxed their subjects, exhausted them with forced labor and oppressed them at will.Ó These words could almost be used to describe Europe 1000 AD to 2000 AD.
[ii]EB, Confucius 6-240a. Master Ni teaches in this fashion. He points defects out quietly, infrequently. He is more than willing to help if there is interest expressed by the student, but will let students do the form improperly for years without correcting them in an obvious manner. Perhaps the rationale is that the student will learn when they are ready.
[iii]EB, Confucius 6-240b
[iv]EB 5, 521
[v]Indeed the ability to read and write about oneÕs culture is the difference between pre-historic and historic. Hence literacy determines the difference between archaeology and history. There is much evidence that the Japanese of the early centuries of the first millennium had a very advanced culture, but they had no writing. Thus we know little about them compared to the literate cultures.
[vi]In England and the United States the nobility as a class learned French, took a tour of Europe, and knew all the proper rituals and ceremonies of the upper class but were never considered a school of aristocracy, although they wielded enormous influence.
[vii]EB, Confucius 6-240d