The Wisdom of Confucius - 6 books in One Edition. Confucius
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of Confucius in their attitude ; notwithstanding that in the two instances of Christianity and Buddhism the qualities which have secured the reverence of hundreds of millions are in many respects precisely the qualities possessed by Confucius. Confucius commands the regard of the European critics ; but somehow it always seems that he does not secure a full measure of respect. He certainly was not a handsome man ; his heavy round back, long ears, projecting teeth, and misshapen head were scarcely heroic ; he disliked to discuss athletic sports ; his habit of moving about in a springless ox-cart, or when on foot with his arms extended like wings, scarcely suggests perfect dignity to us ; his skill as a musician would perhaps appeal more strongly to our sympathy if we were ignorant of modern Chinese music. At the same time, there is reason to believe that much of the ancient theory and science of music has been lost. It is certain that a custom existed of collecting popular ballads for purposes of government record. Many of the ancient ballads are very beautiful and simple, besides being perfectly comprehensible to the modern ear. We may therefore assume that Confucius possessed genuine bardic feeling. His treatment of women was rather contemptuous, and he says almost nothing about marriage ; his love for truth was, as we have seen, occasionally tempered by prudence. His fondness for forms, ceremonies, and, above all, for funerals and mourning is not at all in our line. But here, again, a due show of grief at the loss of a parent only forms a continuous chain with the filial obedience required during life, and solemn sacrifices after death. In short, we can only account for the unmeasured reverence which Confucius has secured in the hearts of his countrymen by slightly modifying the words of Lord Beaconsfield, who remarked that ” every country possessed the government it deserves,” and by suggesting that China possesses the teacher she deserves ; or, to put the matter into a more subjective light, by suggesting that, when a great teacher or prophet appears, the mere fact that he is recognized as a prophet or as an instrument of Heaven connotes the circumstance that he is suitable to the people who believe in him and recognize him. If we have a difficulty in appreciating Confucianism to the full, the Chinese have a similar difficulty with our beliefs, which often appear to them somewhat absurd. An able Chinese Jesuit who a few years ago published a very learned critical work upon comparative religions, thus sums up in his native tongue the attributes of Confucius : ” Although Confucius taught the necessity of reverence and disinterested charity, he had no true belief in a self-existing Creator of an organized universe ; no faith in promised
The Life, Labours and Doctrines of Confucius. i 7
grace to come, or in eternal life ; no true love of God as a Perfect Being above and superior to all things ; no true fear of God as the Supreme and Sole Ruler of the universe ; and no true obedience to His command-ments.” Professor Tiele of Leyden treats the worship of spirits and nature as though the ancient religion were not monotheistic ; but Dr. Legge, in criticising this view, defends Confucius from the charge of animism and fetichism in their most unfavourable sense.
Others again have charged Confucius with cold-blooded eudasmonism, that is with only insisting upon virtue because it leads to temporal happiness. What Confucius said was ” He who heaps up goodness shall have much happiness,” and vice-versa. I must confess I do not see anything very terrible in this ; but it is evident that argument upon so abstract a point might last for ever. He declined to pray for recovery when he was sick, but he did this in such a dubious way that the commentators and the missionaries have not yet come to an understanding upon what he really thought on the subject of prayer. Dr. Edkins considers that, in the absence of Christian revelation to serve him as a guide to belief in the doctrine of rewards and punishments, Confucius did the next best and noblest thing, by maintaining the impartiality of moral retribution and the immortality of good fame. In this view he seems to be supported by Dr. Legge.
We will now quit this misty region of metaphysics, and transfer ourselves to the town and home of the Chinese philosopher, the residences of the dukes of Confucius.
The Rev. Alexander Williamson visited the spot in 1865, having first paid his respects to the home of the philosopher Mencius, who lived two centuries after Confucius, and whose descendant in the yoth generation received the traveller courteously. Dr. Williamson was less fortunate with the descendant of Confucius, who was then a youth of 16. But he saw the temple and the cemetery; and, as he passed up the River Sz, discerned about seven miles to the south-east from the city the Ni moun-tains, in a cave of one of which Confucius was born, and where there is a temple in honour of his mother. It is curious that Dr. Williamson should tell us that the modern house is west of the temple, whilst Dr. Edkins calls it east.
In 1873 Dr. Legge and the Rev. Joseph Edkins approached the cemetery (which the latter estimates at 66 acres in extent) from the north, and afterwards visited the city and temple ; but they also were unsuccessful in their attempts to obtain an interview with the duke. They noticed that the poppy was cultivated even up to the birthplace of Confucius, and were disappointed to find that the wealthy duke, who increased his already large income by extensive trading, seemed to do nothing in the way of charity for his clan, not even to the extent of a university or a school. Many of the family were very ignorant and poor, and two of them actually wheeled Dr. Edkins in a barrow to the next town. But, on the other hand, the dukes have to support a large number of officers, musicians, and dancers ; in fact, a petty court of their own.
Dr. Edkins published one account of the temple 13 years before his
1 8 The Life, Labours and Doctrines of Confucius.
visit, and strange to say he is as self-contradictory as other visitors upon the question whether it is the palace or the temple which stands on the site of the original house. He even says the family residence was at Mount Ni, which he places north of the tomb.
When I landed at Chefoo on the i6th May, 1869, I found that Her Majesty’s Consul, Mr. Markham, had just returned from a visit to Confucius, town, and had been received by the 75th descendant, who was then 22 years of age, evidently the same one whom Mr. Williamson described in 1865 as being a lad of 16. The duke was diminutive in stature, and slightly deformed, but as intellectual in appearance as he was attractive in manner. The consul was agreeably surprised at the cordiality of his reception, for even viceroys have to knock their heads nine times on the ground when admitted to an audience. The duke’s relatives were all tall fine men, and were exceedingly eager to learn what they could about Europe. The interview took place in a small study, the walls of which were lined with book-shelves : there were besides ancient manuscripts, urns, and various relics of the Sage. Mr. Markham also visited the cemetery, a mile or so outside the city wall, and thence proceeded to the town of Mencius.
In 1893 the Rev. J. H. Laughlin visited the temple and cemetery of Confucius, but failed to obtain an interview with the present duke, the y6th in descent, who was then 21 years of age.
The city which contains the dwelling of Confucius is now called in the northern dialects K’ii-fu Hien, which, as we have said, means “Crooked Mound City.” It is stated to lie a mile and a half to the west of the ancient capital of the ducal state of Lu, whose rulers Confucius served. It is described by those who have seen it as being a small neat city, surrounded, as is customary in China, by high walls ; like the walls of Chester, but more solid ; and pierced by four gates, with broad towers and guard-houses above them. The eastern part of the city contains the temple erected to Confucius’ chief disciple by the Mongols, 500 years ago. The south gate is double, which really makes up a total of five gates ; but the westernmost of the two south gates is reserved for the visits of imperial personages, and this gate leads straight up to the temple and palace, which together occupy half the city area; that is, the northern and western quarters : the palace, which adjoins the temple, includes the site of Confucius’ old house, in the hollow walls of which were concealed, in the year B.C. 212, when the so-called ” First Emperor” of united China ordered the destruction of all the works on history and philosophy, a number of manuscripts and classical works. During the Taiping rebellion of forty years ago the city was threatened, but only because the rebels wished in a general way to put all mandarins to death : hearing that the local mandarin was of the Confucian family, they did no harm to the town beyond massacring a number of. people who had taken refuge in the cemetery. The majority of the inhabitants of the city, including the executive and educational mandarins, bear the family name of Confucius, or K’ung, and there would seem to be about 20,000 of them in