CONFUCIUS AND HIS IMMEDIATE DISCIPLES.
SECTION I.
LIFE OF CONFUCIUS.
1. 'And have you foreigners surnames as well?' This
question has often been put to me by Chinese. It marks the
ignorance which belongs to the people of all that is external to
[Sidebar] His ancestry.
themselves, and the pride of antiquity which enters largely as an
element into their character. If such a pride could in any case be
justified, we might allow it to the family of the K'ung, the
descendants of Confucius. In the reign of K'ang-hsi, twenty-one
centuries and a half after the death of the sage, they amounted to
eleven thousand males. But their ancestry is carried back through
a period of equal extent, and genealogical tables are common, in
which the descent of Confucius is traced down from Hwang-ti, in
whose reign the cycle was invented, B.C. 2637 [1].
The more moderate writers, however, content themselves
with exhibiting his ancestry back to the commencement of the
Chau dynasty, B.C. 1121. Among the relatives of the tyrant Chau,
the last emperor of the Yin dynasty, was an elder brother, by a
concubine, named Ch'i [2], who is celebrated by Confucius, Ana.
XVIII. i, under the title of the viscount of Wei. Foreseeing the
impending ruin of their family, Ch'i withdrew from the court; and
subsequently he was invested by the emperor Ch'ang, the second
of the house of Chau, with the principality of Sung, which
embraced the eastern portion of the present province of Ho-nan,
that he might there continue the sacrifices to the sovereigns of
Yin. Ch'i was followed as duke of Sung by a younger brother, in
whose line the succession continued. His great-grandson, the duke
Min [3], was
l See Memoires concernant les Chinois, Tome XII, p. 447 et seq.
Father Amiot states, p. 501, that he had seen the representative
of the family, who succeeded to the dignity of 衍聖公 in the ninth
year of Ch'ien-lung, A.D. 1744. The last duke, not the present, was
visited in our own time by the late Dr. Williamson and Mr. Consul
Markham. It is hardly necessary that I should say here, that the
name Confucius is merely the Chinese characters 孔夫子 (K'ung Fu-
tsze, 'The master K'ung') Latinized.
2 啟.
3 愍公.
followed, B.C. 908, by a younger brother, leaving, however, two
sons, Fu-fu Ho [1] and Fang-sze [2]. Fu Ho [3] resigned his right to
the dukedom in favour of Fang-sze, who put his uncle to death in
B.C. 893, and became master of the State. He is known as the duke
Li [4], and to his elder brother belongs the honour of having the
sage among his descendants.
Three descents from Fu Ho, we find Chang K'ao-fu [5], who
was a distinguished officer under the dukes Tai, Wu, and Hsuan [6]
(B.C. 799-728). He is still celebrated for his humility, and for his
literary tastes. We have accounts of him as being in
communication with the Grand-historiographer of the kingdom,
and engaged in researches about its ancient poetry, thus setting
an example of one of the works to which Confucius gave himself
[7]. K'ao gave birth to K'ung-fu Chia [8], from whom the surname of
K'ung took its rise. Five generations had now elapsed since the
dukedom was held in the direct line of his ancestry, and it was
according to the rule in such cases that the branch should cease
its connexion with the ducal stem, and merge among the people
under a new surname. K'ung Chia was Master of the Horse in Sung,
and an officer of well-known loyalty and probity. Unfortunately
for himself, he had a wife of surpassing beauty, of whom the
chief minister of the State, by name Hwa Tu [9], happened on one
occasion to get a glimpse. Determined to possess her, he
commenced a series of intrigues, which ended, B.C. 710, in the
murder of Chia and of the ruling duke Shang [10]. At the same
time, Tu secured the person of the lady, and hastened to his
palace with the prize, but on the way she had strangled herself
with her girdle.
An enmity was thus commenced between the two families
of K'ung and Hwa which the lapse of time did not obliterate, and
the latter being the more powerful of the two, Chia's great-
grandson withdrew into the State of Lu to avoid their persecution.
There he was appointed commandant of the city of Fang [11], and
is known
1 佛父何.
2 魴(al. 方) 祀.
3 I drop here the 父 (second tone), which seems to have been used
in those times in a manner equivalent to our Mr.
4 厲公.
5 正考甫; 甫 is used in the same way as 父; see note 3.
6 戴, 武, 宣, 三公.
7 See the 魯語, and 商頌詩序; quoted in Chiang Yung's (工永) Life of
Confucius, which forms a part of the 鄉黨圖考.
8 孔父嘉.
9 華督.
10 殤公.
11 防.
in history by the name of Fang-shu [1]. Fang-shu gave birth to Po-
hsia [2], and from him came Shu-liang Heh [3], the father of
Confucius. Heh appears in the history of the times as a soldier of
great prowess and daring bravery. In the year B.C. 562, when
serving at the siege of a place called Peh-yang [4], a party of the
assailants made their way in at a gate which had purposely been
left open, and no sooner were they inside than the portcullis was
dropped. Heh was just entering; and catching the massive
structure with both his hands, he gradually by dint of main
strength raised it and held it up, till his friends had made their
escape.
Thus much on the ancestry of the sage. Doubtless he could
trace his descent in the way which has been indicated up to the
imperial house of Yin, nor was there one among his ancestors
during the rule of Chau to whom he could not refer with
satisfaction. They had been ministers and soldiers of Sung and Lu,
all men of worth, and in Chang K'ao, both for his humility and
literary researches, Confucius might have special complacency.
2. Confucius was the child of Shu-liang Heh's old age. The
soldier had married in early life, but his wife brought him only
[Sidebar] From his birth to his first public employments. B.C. 551-
531.
daughters,-- to the number of nine, and no son. By a concubine he
had a son, named Mang-p'i, and also Po-ni [5], who proved a
cripple, so that, when he was over seventy years, Heh sought a
second wife in the Yen family [6], from which came subsequently
Yen Hui, the favourite disciple of his son. There were three
daughters in the family, the youngest being named Chang-tsai [7].
Their father said to them, 'Here is the commandant of Tsau. His
father and grandfather were only scholars, but his ancestors
before them were descendants of the sage sovereigns. He is a man
ten feet high [8], and of extraordinary prowess, and I am very
desirous of his alliance. Though he is old and austere, you need
have no misgivings about him. Which of you three will be his
wife? 'The two elder daughters were silent, but Chang-tsai said,
'Why do you ask us, father? It is for you to determine.' 'Very well,'
said her father in reply, 'you will do.' Chang-tsai, accordingly,
became Heh's wife, and in due time gave
1 防叔.
2 伯夏.
3 叔梁紇.
4 偪陽.
5 孟皮, 一字伯尼.
6 顏氏.
7 徵在.
8 其人, 身長十尺. See, on the length of the ancient foot, Ana. VIII.
vi, but the point needs a more sifting investigation than it has yet
received.
birth to Confucius, who received the name of Ch'iu, and was
subsequently styled Chung-ni [1]. The event happened on the
twenty-first day of the tenth month of the twenty-first year of
the duke Hsiang, of Lu, being the twentieth year of the emperor
Ling, B.C. 552 [2]. The birth-place was in the district of Tsau [3],
of which Heh was the governor. It was somewhere within the
limits of the present department of Yen-chau in Shan-tung, but
the honour of being the exact spot is claimed for two places in
two different districts of the department.
The notices which we have of Confucius's early years are
very scanty. When he was in his third year his father died. It is
related of him, that as a boy he used to play at the arrangement of
1 名邱, 字仲尼. The legends say that Chang-tsai fearing lest she
should not have a son, in consequence of her husband's age,
privately ascended the Ni-ch'iu hill to pray for the boon, and that
when she had obtained it, she commemorated the fact in the
names -- Ch'iu and Chung-ni. But the cripple, Mang-p'i, had
previous been styled Po-ni. There was some reason, previous to
Confucius's birth, for using the term ni in the family. As might be
expected, the birth of the sage is surrounded with many
prodigious occurrences. One account is, that the husband and wife
prayed together for a son in a dell of mount Ni. As Chang-tsai
went up the hill, the leaves of the trees and plants all erected
themselves, and bent downwards on her return. That night she
dreamt the black Ti appeared, and said to her, 'You shall have a
son, a sage, and you must bring him forth in a hollow mulberry
tree.' One day during her pregnancy, she fell into a dreamy state,
and saw five old men in the hall, who called themselves the
essences of the five planets, and led an animal which looked like
a small cow with one horn, and was covered with scales like a
dragon. This creature knelt before Chang-tsai, and cast forth from
its mouth a slip of jade, on which was the inscription,-- 'The son
of the essence of water shall succeed to the decaying Chau, and
be a throneless king.' Chang-tsai tied a piece of embroidered
ribbon about its horn, and the vision disappeared. When Heh was
told of it, he said, 'The creature must be the Ch'i-lin.' As her time
drew near, Chang-tsai asked her husband if there was any place in
the neighborhood called 'the hollow mulberry tree.' He told her
there was a dry cave in the south hill, which went by that name.
Then she said, 'I will go and be confined there.' Her husband was
surprised, but when made acquainted with her former dream, he
made the necessary arrangements. On the night when the child
was born, two dragons came and kept watch on the left and right
of the hill, and two spirit-ladies appeared in the air, pouring out
fragrant odors, as if to bathe Chang-tsai; and as soon as the birth
took place, a spring of clear warm water bubbled up from the
floor of the cave, which dried up again when the child had been
washed in it. The child was of an extraordinary appearance; with
a mouth like the sea, ox lips, a dragon's back, &c. &c. On the top of
his head was a remarkable formation, in consequence of which he
was named Ch'iu, &c. See the 列國志, Bk. lxxviii.--Sze-ma Ch'ien
seems to make Confucius to have been illegitimate, saying that
Heh and Miss Yen cohabited in the wilderness (野合). Chiang Yung
says that the phrase has reference simply to the disparity of
their ages.
2 Sze-ma Ch'ien says that Confucius was born in the twenty-
second year of duke Hsiang, B.C. 550. He is followed by Chu Hsi in
the short sketch of Confucius's life prefixed to the Lun Yu, and by
'The Annals of the Empire' (歷代統紀表), published with imperial
sanction in the reign of Chia-ch'ing. (To this latter work I have
generally referred for my dates.) The year assigned in the text
above rests on the authority of Ku-liang and Kung-yang, the two
commentators on the Ch'un-Ch'iu. With regard to the month,
however, the tenth is that assigned by Ku-liang, while Kung-yang
names the eleventh.
3 Tsau is written 郰, 鄹, 陬, and 鄒.
sacrificial vessels, and at postures of ceremony. Of his schooling
we have no reliable account. There is a legend, indeed, that at
seven he went to school to Yen P'ing-chung [1], but it must be
rejected as P'ing-chung belonged to the State of Ch'i. He tells us
himself that at fifteen he bent his mind to learning [2]; but the
condition of the family was one of poverty. At a subsequent
period, when people were astonished at the variety of his
knowledge, he explained it by saying, 'When I was young, my
condition was low, and therefore I acquired my ability in many
things; but they were mean matters [3].'
When he was nineteen, he married a lady from the State of
Sung, of the Chien-kwan family [4], and in the following year his
son Li was born. On the occasion of this event, the duke Chao sent
him a present of a couple of carp. It was to signify his sense of
his prince's favour, that he called his son Li (The Carp), and
afterwards gave him the designation of Po-yu [5] (Fish Primus).
No mention is made of the birth of any other children, though we
know, from Ana. V. i, that he had at least one daughter. We know
also, from an inscription on her grave, that he had one other
daughter, who died when she was quite young. The fact of the duke
of Lu's sending him a gift on the occasion of Li's birth, shows that
he was not unknown, but was already commanding public
attention and the respect of the great.
It was about this time, probably in the year after his
marriage, that Confucius took his first public employment, as
keeper of the stores of grain [6], and in the following year he was
put in charge of the public fields and lands [7]. Mencius adduces
these employments in illustration of his doctrine that the
superior man may at times take office on account of his poverty,
but must confine himself in such a case to places of small
emolument, and aim at nothing but the discharge of their humble
duties. According to him. Confucius, as keeper of stores, said, 'My
calculations must all be right:-- that is all I have to care about;'
and when in charge of the public fields, he said, 'The oxen and
sheep must be fat and strong and
1 晏平仲.
2 Ana. II. iv.
3 Ana. IX. vi.
4 娶宋之幵官氏.
5 名曰鯉, 而字伯魚.
6 為委吏. This is Mencius's account. Sze-ma Ch'ien says 嘗為季氏吏,
but his subsequent words 料量平 show that the office was the
same.
7 Mencius calls this office 乘田, while Sze-ma Ch'ien says 為司職
吏.
superior:-- that is all I have to care about [1].' It does not appear
whether these offices were held by Confucius in the direct
employment of the State, or as a dependent of the Chi family in
whose jurisdiction he lived. The present of the carp from the duke
may incline us to suppose the former.
3. In his twenty-second year, Confucius commenced his
labors as a public teacher, and his house became a resort for
young and inquiring spirits, who wished to learn the doctrines of
antiquity.
[Sidebar] Commencement of his labors as a teacher. The death of
his mother. B.C. 531-527.
However small the fee his pupils were able to afford, he never
refused his instructions [2]. All that he required, was an ardent
desire for improvement, and some degree of capacity. 'I do not
open up the truth,' he said, 'to one who is not eager to get
knowledge, nor help out any one who is not anxious to explain
himself. When I have presented one corner of a subject to any one,
and he cannot from it learn the other three, I do not repeat my
lesson [3].'
His mother died in the year B.C. 527, and he resolved that
her body should lie in the same grave with that of his father, and
that their common resting-place should be in Fang, the first home
of the K'ung in Lu. But here a difficulty presented itself. His
father's coffin had been for twenty years where it had first been
deposited, off the road of The Five Fathers, in the vicinity of
Tsau:-- would it be right in him to move it? He was relieved from
this perplexity by an old woman of the neighborhood, who told him
that the coffin had only just been put into the ground, as a
temporary arrangement, and not regularly buried. On learning this,
he carried his purpose into execution. Both coffins were conveyed
to Fang, and put in the ground together, with no intervening space
between them, as was the custom in some States. And now came a
new perplexity. He said to himself, 'In old times, they had graves,
but raised no tumulus over them. But I am a man, who belongs
equally to the north and the south, the east and the west. I must
have something by which I can remember the place.' Accordingly
he raised a mound, four feet high, over the grave, and returned
home, leaving a party of his disciples to see everything properly
completed. In the meantime there came on a heavy storm of rain,
and it was a considerable time before the disciples joined him.
'What makes you so late?' he asked. 'The grave in Fang fell down,'
they said. He made no reply, and they repeated their
1 Mencius, V. Pt. II. v. 4.
2 Ana. VII. vii.
3 Ana. VII. viii.
answer three times, when he burst into tears, and said, 'Ah! they
did not make their graves so in antiquity [1].' 'Confucius mourned
for his mother the regular period of three years,-- three years
nominally, but in fact only twenty-seven months. Five days after
the mourning was expired, he played on his lute, but could not
sing. It required other five days before he could accompany an
instrument with his voice [2].
Some writers have represented Confucius as teaching his
disciples important lessons from the manner in which he buried
his mother, and having a design to correct irregularities in the
ordinary funeral ceremonies of the time. These things are
altogether 'without book.' We simply have a dutiful son paying the
last tribute of affection to a good parent. In one point he departs
from the ancient practice, raising a mound over the grave, and
when the fresh earth gives way from a sudden rain, he is moved to
tears, and seems to regret his innovation. This sets Confucius
vividly before us,-- a man of the past as much as of the present,
whose own natural feelings were liable to be hampered in their
development by the traditions of antiquity which he considered
sacred. It is important, however, to observe the reason which he
gave for rearing the mound. He had in it a presentiment of much of
his future course. He was 'a man of the north, the south, the east,
and the west.' He might not confine himself to any one State. He
would travel, and his way might be directed to some 'wise ruler,'
whom his counsels would conduct to a benevolent sway that
would break forth on every side till it transformed the empire.
4. When the mourning for his mother was over, Confucius
remained in Lu, but in what special capacity we do not know.
Probably he continued to encourage the resort of
[Sidebar] He learns music; visits the court of Chau; and returns to
Lu.
B.C. 527-517.
inquirers to whom he communicated instruction, and pursued his
own researches into the history, literature, and institutions of
the empire. In the year B.C. 525, the chief of the small State of
T'an [3], made his appearance at the court of Lu, and discoursed in
a wonderful manner, at a feast given to him by the duke, about the
names which the most ancient sovereigns, from Hwang-ti
downwards, gave to their
1 Li Chi, II. Sect I. i. 10; Sect. II. iii. 30; Pt. I. i. 6. See also the
discussion of those passages in Chiang Yung's 'Life of Confucius.'
2 Li Chi, II. Sect. I. i. 23.
3 See the Ch'un Ch'iu, under the seventh year of duke Chao,-- 秋, 郯
子來朝.
ministers. The sacrifices to the emperor Shao-hao, the next in
descent from Hwang-ti, were maintained in T'an, so that the chief
fancied that he knew all about the abstruse subject on which he
discoursed. Confucius, hearing about the matter, waited on the
visitor, and learned from him all that he had to communicate [1].
To the year B.C. 525, when Confucius was twenty-nine years
old, is referred his studying music under a famous master of the
name of Hsiang [2]. He was approaching his thirtieth year when, as
he tells us, 'he stood [3]' firm, that is, in his convictions on the
subjects of learning to which he had bent his mind fifteen years
before. Five years more, however, were still to pass by, before
the anticipation mentioned in the conclusion of the last paragraph
began to receive its fulfillment [4], though we may conclude from
the way in which it was brought about that he was growing all
the time in the estimation of the thinking minds in his native
State.
In the twenty-fourth year of duke Chao, B.C. 518, one of the
principal ministers of Lu, known by the name of Mang Hsi, died.
Seventeen years before, he had painfully felt his ignorance of
ceremonial observances, and had made it his subsequent business
to make himself acquainted with them. On his deathbed, he
addressed his chief officer, saying, 'A knowledge of propriety is
the stem of a man. Without it he has no means of standing firm. I
have heard that there is one K'ung Ch'iu, who is thoroughly versed
in it. He is a descendant of sages, and though the line of his
family was extinguished in Sung, among his ancestors there were
Fu-fu Ho, who resigned the State to his brother, and Chang K'ao-
fu, who was distinguished for his humility. Tsang Heh has
observed that if sage men of intelligent virtue do not attain to
eminence, distinguished men are sure to appear among their
posterity. His words are now to be verified, I think, in K'ung Ch'iu.
After my death, you must
1 This rests on the respectable authority of Tso Ch'iu-ming's
annotations on the Ch'un Ch'iu, but I must consider it apocryphal.
The legend-writers have fashioned a journey to T'an. The
slightest historical intimation becomes a text with them, on
which they enlarge to the glory of the sage. Amiot has reproduced
and expanded their romancings, and others, such as Pauthier
(Chine, pp. 121-183) and Thornton (History of China, vol. i. pp.
151-215), have followed in his wake.
2 師襄. See the 'Narratives of the School,' 卷三, art 辯樂解; but the
account there given is not more credible than the chief of T'an's
expositions.
3 Ana. II. iv.
4 The journey to Chau is placed by Sze-ma Ch'ien before
Confucius's holding of his first official employments, and Chu Hsi
and most other writers follow him. It is a great error, and arisen
from a misunderstanding of the passage from the 左氏傳 upon the
subject.
tell Ho-chi to go and study proprieties under him [1].' In
consequence of this charge, Ho-chi [2], Mang Hsi's son, who
appears in the Analects under the name of Mang I [3], and a
brother, or perhaps on]y a near relative, named Nan-kung Chang-
shu [4], became disciples of Confucius. Their wealth and standing
in the State gave him a position which he had not had before, and
he told Chang-shu of a wish which he had to visit the court of
Chau, and especially to confer on the subject of ceremonies and
music with Lao Tan. Chang-shu represented the matter to the duke
Ch'ao, who put a carriage and a pair of horses at Confucius's
disposal for the expedition [5].
At this time the court of Chau was in the city of Lo [6]. in
the present department of Ho-nan of the province of the same
name. The reigning sovereign is known by the title of Chang [7],
but the sovereignty was little more than nominal. The state of
China was then analogous to that of one of the European kingdoms
during the prevalence of the feudal system. At the commencement
of the dynasty, the various states of the kingdom had been
assigned to the relatives and adherents of the reigning family.
There were thirteen principalities of greater note, and a large
number of smaller dependencies. During the vigorous youth of the
dynasty, the sovereign or lord paramount exercised an effective
control over the various chiefs, but with the lapse of time there
came weakness and decay. The chiefs --corresponding somewhat
to the European dukes, earls, marquises, barons, &c. -- quarrelled
and warred among themselves, and the stronger among them
barely acknowledged their subjection to the sovereign. A similar
condition of things prevailed in each particular State. There there
[sic] were hereditary ministerial families, who were continually
encroaching on the authority of their rulers, and the heads of
those families again were frequently hard pressed by their
inferior officers. Such was the state of China in Confucius's time.
The reader must have it clearly before him, if he would
understand the position of the sage, and the reforms which, we
shall find, it was subsequently his object to introduce.
Arrived at Chau, he had no intercourse with the court or any
of
1 See 左氏傳, 昭公七年.
2 何忌.
3 孟懿子.
4 南宮敬叔.
5 The 家語 makes Chang-shu accompany Confucius to Chau. It is
difficult to understand this, if Chang-shu were really a son of
Mang Hsi who had died that year.
6 洛.
7 敬王 (B.C. 519-475)
the principal ministers. He was there not as a politician, but as
an inquirer about the ceremonies and maxims of the founders of
the existing dynasty. Lao Tan [1], whom he had wished to see,
generally acknowledged as the founder of the Taoists, or
Rationalistic sect (so called), which has maintained its ground in
opposition to the followers of Confucius, was then a curator of
the royal library. They met and freely interchanged their views,
but no reliable account of their conversations has been preserved.
In the fifth Book of the Li Chi, which is headed 'The philosopher
Tsang asked,' Confucius refers four times to the views of Lao-
tsze on certain points of funeral ceremonies, and in the
'Narratives of the School,' Book XXIV, he tells Chi K'ang what he
had heard from him about 'The Five Tis,' but we may hope their
conversation turned also on more important subjects. Sze-ma
Ch'ien, favourable to Lao-tsze, makes him lecture his visitor in
the following style:-- 'Those whom you talk about are dead, and
their bones are moldered to dust; only their words remain. When
the superior man gets his time, he mounts aloft; but when the
time is against him, he moves as if his feet were entangled. I
have heard that a good merchant, though he has rich treasures
deeply stored, appears as if he were poor, and that the superior
man whose virtue is complete, is yet to outward seeming stupid.
Put away your proud air and many desires, your insinuating habit
and wild will [2]. These are of no advantage to you. This is all
which I have to tell you.' On the other hand, Confucius is made to
say to his disciples, 'I know how birds can fly, how fishes can
swim, and how animals can run. But the runner may be snared, the
swimmer may be hooked, and the flyer may be shot by the arrow.
But there is the dragon. I cannot tell how he mounts on the wind
through the clouds, and rises to heaven. Today I have seen Lao-
tsze, and can only compare him to the dragon [3].'
While at Lo, Confucius walked over the grounds set apart for
the great sacrifices to Heaven and Earth; inspected the pattern of
the Hall of Light, built to give audience in to the princes of the
kingdom; and examined all the arrangements of the ancestral
temple and the court. From the whole he received a profound
1 According to Sze-ma Ch'ien, Tan was the posthumous epithet of
this individual, whose surname was Li (李), name R (耳), and
designation Po-yang (伯陽).
2 逸態與淫志.
3 See the 史記, 列傳第三, and compare the remarks attributed to
Lao-tsze in the account of the K'ung family near the beginning.
impression. 'Now,' said he with a sigh, 'I know the sage wisdom of
the duke of Chau, and how the House of Chau attained to the royal
sway [1].' On the walls of the Hall of Light were paintings of the
ancient sovereigns from Yao and Shun downwards, their
characters appearing in the representations of them, and words of
praise or warning being appended. There was also a picture of the
duke of Chau sitting with his infant nephew, the king Ch'ang, upon
his knees, to give audience to all the princes. Confucius surveyed
the scene with silent delight, and then said to his followers,
'Here you see how Chau became so great. As we use a glass to
examine the forms of things, so must we study antiquity in order
to understand the present time [2].' In the hall of the ancestral
temple, there was a metal statue of a man with three clasps upon
his mouth, and his back covered over with an enjoyable homily on
the duty of keeping a watch upon the lips. Confucius turned to his
disciples and said, 'Observe it, my children. These words are true,
and commend themselves to our feelings [3].'
About music he made inquiries at Ch'ang Hung, to whom the
following remarks are attributed:-- 'I have observed about Chung-
ni many marks of a sage. He has river eyes and a dragon forehead,-
- the very characteristics of Hwang-ti. His arms are long, his
back is like a tortoise, and he is nine feet six inches in height,--
the very semblance of T'ang the Completer. When he speaks, he
praises the ancient kings. He moves along the path of humility and
courtesy. He has heard of every subject, and retains with a strong
memory. His knowledge of things seems inexhaustible.-- Have we
not in him the rising of a sage [4]?'
I have given these notices of Confucius at the court of Chau,
more as being the only ones I could find, than because I put much
faith in them. He did not remain there long, but returned the same
year to Lu, and continued his work of teaching. His fame was
greatly increased; disciples came to him from different parts,
till their number amounted to three thousand. Several of those
who have come down to us as the most distinguished among his
followers, however, were yet unborn, and the statement just
given may be considered as an exaggeration. We are not to
conceive of the disciples as forming a community, and living
together. Parties
1 2 3 See the 家語, 卷二, art. 觀周.
4 Quoted by Chiang Yung from the 'Narratives of the School.'
of them may have done so. We shall find Confucius hereafter
always moving amid a company of admiring pupils; but the greater
number must have had their proper avocations and ways of living,
and would only resort to the Master, when they wished specially
to ask his counsel or to learn of him.
5. In the year succeeding the return to Lu, that State fell
into great confusion. There were three Families in it, all
connected irregularly with the ducal House, which had long kept
the rulers in a condition of dependency. They appear frequently in
the Analects as the Chi clan, the Shu, and the Mang; and while
Confucius freely spoke of their
[Sidebar] He withdraws to Chi and returns to Lu the following
year. B.C. 515, 516.
usurpations [1], he was a sort of dependent of the Chi family, and
appears in frequent communication with members of all the three.
In the year B.C. 517, the duke Chao came to open hostilities with
them, and being worsted, fled into Ch'i, the State adjoining Lu on
the north. Thither Confucius also repaired, that he might avoid the
prevailing disorder of his native State. Ch'i was then under the
government of a ruler (in rank a marquis, but historically called
duke) , afterwards styled Ching [2], who 'had a thousand teams,
each of four horses, but on the day of his death the people did not
praise him for a single virtue [3].' His chief minister, however,
was Yen Ying [4], a man of considerable ability and worth. At his
court the music of the ancient sage-emperor, Shun, originally
brought to Ch'i from the State of Ch'an [5], was still preserved.
According to the 'Narratives of the School,' an incident
occurred on the way to Ch'i, which I may transfer to these pages
as a good specimen of the way in which Confucius turned
occurring matters to account, in his intercourse with his
disciples. As he was passing by the side of the Tai mountain,
there was a woman weeping and wailing by a grave. Confucius
bent forward in his carriage, and after listening to her for some
time, sent Tsze-lu to ask the cause of her grief. 'You weep, as if
you had experienced sorrow upon sorrow,' said Tsze-lu. The
woman replied, 'It is so. My husband's father was killed here by a
tiger, and my husband also; and now my son has met the same
fate.' Confucius asked her why she did not remove from the place,
and on her answering,' There is here no oppressive government,' he
turned to his disciples, and said, 'My
1 See Analects, III. i. ii, et al.
2 景公.
3 Ana. XVI. xii.
4 晏嬰. This is the same who was afterwards styled 晏平仲.
5 陳.
children, remember this. Oppressive government is fiercer than a
tiger [1].'
As soon as he crossed the border from Lu, we are told he
discovered from the gait and manners of a boy, whom he saw
carrying a pitcher, the influence of the sages' music, and told the
driver of his carriage to hurry on to the capital [2]. Arrived there,
he heard the strain, and was so ravished with it, that for three
months he did not know the taste of flesh. 'I did not think,' he
said, 'that music could have been made so excellent as this [3].'
The duke Ching was pleased with the conferences which he had
with him [4], and proposed to assign to him the town of Lin-ch'iu,
from the revenues of which he might derive a sufficient support;
but Confucius refused the gift, and said to his disciples, 'A
superior man will only receive reward for services which he has
done. I have given advice to the duke Ching, but he has not yet
obeyed it, and now he would endow me with this place! Very far is
he from understanding me [5]!'
On one occasion the duke asked about government, and
received the characteristic reply, 'There is government when the
ruler is ruler, and the minister is minister; when the father is
father, and the son is son [6].' I say that the reply is
characteristic. Once, when Tsze-lu asked him what he would
consider the first thing to be done if entrusted with the
government of a State, Confucius answered, 'What is necessary is
to rectify names [7].' The disciple thought the reply wide of the
mark, but it was substantially the same with what he said to the
marquis Ching. There is a sufficient foundation in nature for
government in the several relations of society, and if those be
maintained and developed according to their relative significancy,
it is sure to obtain. This was a first principle in the political
ethics of Confucius.
Another day the duke got to a similar inquiry the reply that
the art of government lay in an economical use of the revenues;
and being pleased, he resumed his purpose of retaining the
philosopher in his State, and proposed to assign to him the fields
of Ni-ch'i. His
1 See the 家語, 卷四, art. 正論解. I have translated, however, from
the Li Chi, II. Sect. II. iii. 10, where the same incident is given,
with some variations, and without saying when or where it
occurred.
2 See the 說苑, 卷十九, p. 13.
3 Ana. VII. xiii.
4 Some of these are related in the 'Narratives of the School;'--
about the burning of the ancestral shrine of the sovereign 釐, and
a one-footed bird which appeared hopping and flapping its wings
in Ch'i. They are plainly fabulous, though quoted in proof of
Confucius's sage wisdom. This reference to them is more than
enough.
5 家語, 卷二, 六本.
6 Ana. XII. xi.
7 Ana. XIII. iii.
chief minister Yen Ying dissuaded him from the purpose, saying,
'Those scholars are impracticable, and cannot be imitated. They
are haughty and conceited of their own views, so that they will
not be content in inferior positions. They set a high value on all
funeral ceremonies, give way to their grief, and will waste their
property on great burials, so that they would only be injurious to
the common manners. This Mr. K'ung has a thousand peculiarities.
It would take generations to exhaust all that he knows about the
ceremonies of going up and going down. This is not the time to
examine into his rules of propriety. If you, prince, wish to employ
him to change the customs of Ch'i, you will not be making the
people your primary consideration [1].'
I had rather believe that these were not the words of Yen
Ying, but they must represent pretty correctly the sentiments of
many of the statesmen of the time about Confucius. The duke of
Ch'i got tired ere long of having such a monitor about him, and
observed. 'I cannot treat him as I would the chief of the Chi
family. I will treat him in a way between that accorded to the
chief of the Chi, and that given to the chief of the Mang family.'
Finally he said, 'I am old; I cannot use his doctrines [2].' These
observations were made directly to Confucius, or came to his
hearing [3]. It was not consistent with his self-respect to remain
longer in Ch'i, and he returned to Lu [4].
6. Returned to Lu, he remained for the long period of about
fifteen years without being engaged in any official employment.
It
[Sidebar] He remains without office in Lu, B.C. 516-501.
was a time indeed of great disorder. The duke Chao continued a
refugee in Ch'i, the government being in the hands of the great
Families, up to his death in B.C. 510, on which event the rightful
heir was set aside, and another member of the ducal House, known
to us by the title of Ting [5], substituted in his place. The ruling
authority of the principality became thus still more enfeebled
than it had been before, and, on the other hand, the chiefs of the
Chi, the Shu, and the Mang, could hardly keep their ground against
their own officers. Of those latter, the two most conspicuous
were Yang Hu [6], called also Yang Ho [7], and
1 See the 史記, 孔子世家, p. 2.
2 Ana. XVIII. iii
3 Sze-ma Ch'ien makes the first observation to have been
addressed directly to Confucius.
4 According to the above account Confucius was only once, and for
a portion of two years, in Ch'i. For the refutation of contrary
accounts, see Chiang Yung's Life of the Sage.
5 定公.
6 陽虎.
7 陽貨.
Kung-shan Fu-zao [1]. At one time Chi Hwan, the most powerful of
the chiefs, was kept a prisoner by Yang Hu, and was obliged to
make terms with him in order to obtain his liberation. Confucius
would give his countenance to none, as he disapproved of all, and
he studiously kept aloof from them. Of how he comported himself
among them we have a specimen in the incident related in the
Analects, XVII. i.-- 'Yang Ho wished to see Confucius, but
Confucius would not go to see him. On this, he sent a present of a
pig to Confucius, who, having chosen a time when Ho was not at
home, went to pay his respects for the gift. He met him, however,
on the way. "Come, let me speak with you," said the officer. "Can
he be called benevolent, who keeps his jewel in his bosom, and
leaves his country to confusion?" Confucius replied, "No." "Can he
be called wise, who is anxious to be engaged in public
employment, and yet is constantly losing the opportunity of being
so?" Confucius again said, "No." The other added, "The days and
months are passing away; the years do not wait for us." Confucius
said, "Right; I will go into office."' Chinese writers are eloquent
in their praises of the sage for the combination of propriety,
complaisance and firmness, which they see in his behavior in this
matter. To myself there seems nothing remarkable in it but a
somewhat questionable dexterity. But it was well for the fame of
Confucius that his time was not occupied during those years with
official services. He turned them to better account, prosecuting
his researches into the poetry, history, ceremonies, and music of
the nation. Many disciples continued to resort to him, and the
legendary writers tell us how he employed their services in
digesting the results of his studies. I must repeat, however, that
several of them, whose names are most famous, such as Tsang
Shan, were as yet children, and Min Sun [2] was not born till B.C.
500.
To this period we must refer the almost single instance
which we have of the manner of Confucius's intercourse with his
son Li. 'Have you heard any lessons from your father different
from what we have all heard?' asked one of the disciples once of
Li. 'No,' said Li. 'He was standing alone once, when I was passing
through the court below with hasty steps, and said to me, "Have
you learned the Odes?" On my replying, "Not yet," he added, "If you
do not learn the Odes, you will not be fit to converse with."
Another day,
1 公山佛擾(史記, 狃).
2 閔損.
in the same place and the same way, he said to me, "Have you read
the rules of Propriety?" On my replying, "Not yet," he added, "If
you do not learn the rules of Propriety, your character cannot be
established." I have heard only these two things from him.' The
disciple was delighted and observed, 'I asked one thing, and I have
got three things. I have heard about the Odes. I have heard about
the rules of Propriety. I have also heard that the superior man
maintains a distant reserve towards his son [1].'
I can easily believe that this distant reserve was the rule
which Confucius followed generally in his treatment of his son. A
stern dignity is the quality which a father has to maintain upon
his system. It is not to be without the element of kindness, but
that must never go beyond the line of propriety. There is too little
room left for the play and development of natural affection.
The divorce of his wife must also have taken place during
these years, if it ever took place at all, which is a disputed point.
The curious reader will find the question discussed in the notes
on the second Book of the Li Chi. The evidence inclines, I think,
against the supposition that Confucius did put his wife away.
When she died, at a period subsequent to the present, Li kept on
weeping aloud for her after the period for such a demonstration
of grief had expired, when Confucius sent a message to him that
his sorrow must be subdued, and the obedient son dried his tears
[2]. We are glad to know that on one occasion the death of his
favourite disciple, Yen Hui -- the tears of Confucius himself
would flow over and above the measure of propriety [3].
7. We come to the short period of Confucius's official life.
In the
[Sidebar] He holds office. B.C. 500-496.
year B.C. 501, things had come to a head between the chiefs of the
three Families and their ministers, and had resulted in the defeat
of the latter. In that year the resources of Yang Hu were
exhausted, and he fled into Ch'i, so that the State was delivered
from its greatest troubler, and the way was made more clear for
Confucius to go into office, should an opportunity occur. It soon
presented itself. Towards the end of that year he was made chief
magistrate of the town of Chung-tu [4].
1 Ana. XVI. xiii.
2 See the Li Chi, II. Pt. I. i. 27.
3 Ana. XI. ix.
4 中都宰. Amiot says this was 'la ville meme ou le Souverain
tenoit sa Cour' (Vie de Confucius, p. 147). He is followed of course
by Thornton and Pauthier. My reading has not shown me that such
was the case. In the notes to K'ang-hsi's edition of the 'Five
Ching,' Li Chi, II Sect. I. iii. 4, it is simply said-- 'Chung-tu,-- the
name of a town of Lu. It afterwards belonged to Ch'i when it was
called Ping-lu (平陸).'
Just before he received this appointment, a circumstance
occurred of which we do not well know what to make. When Yang-
hu fled into Ch'i, Kung-shan Fu-zao, who had been confederate
with him, continued to maintain an attitude of rebellion, and held
the city of Pi against the Chi family. Thence he sent a message to
Confucius inviting him to join him, and the Sage seemed so
inclined to go that his disciple Tsze-lu remonstrated with him,
saying, 'Indeed you cannot go! why must you think of going to see
Kung-shan?' Confucius replied, 'Can it be without some reason
that he has invited me? If any one employ me, may I not make an
eastern Chau [1]?'
The upshot, however, was that he did not go, and I cannot
suppose that he had ever any serious intention of doing so. Amid
the general gravity of his intercourse with his followers, there
gleam out a few instances of quiet pleasantry, when he amused
himself by playing with their notions about him. This was
probably one of them.
As magistrate of Chung-tu he produced a marvellous
reformation of the manners of the people in a short time.
According to the 'Narratives of the School,' he enacted rules for
the nourishing of the living and all observances to the dead.
Different food was assigned to the old and the young, and
different burdens to the strong and the weak. Males and females
kept apart from each other in the streets. A thing dropped on the
road was not picked up. There was no fraudulent carving of
vessels. Inner coffins were made four inches thick, and the outer
ones five. Graves were made on the high grounds, no mounds being
raised over them, and no trees planted about them. Within twelve
months, the princes of the other States all wished to imitate his
style of administration [2].
The duke Ting, surprised at what he saw, asked whether his
rules could be employed to govern a whole State, and Confucius
told him that they might be applied to the whole kingdom. On this
the duke appointed him assistant-superintendent of Works [3], in
which capacity he surveyed the lands of the State, and made many
improvements in agriculture. From this he was quickly made
minister of Crime [4], and the appointment was enough to put an
end to crime. There was no necessity to put the penal laws in
execution. No offenders showed themselves [5].
1 Ana. XVII. v.
2 家語, Bk. I.
3 司空. This office, however, was held by the chief of the Mang
Family. We must understand that Confucius was only an assistant
to him, or perhaps acted for him.
4 大司寇.
5 家語, Bk. I.
These indiscriminating eulogies are of little value. One
incident, related in the annotations of Tso-shih on the Ch'un-Ch'iu
[1], commends itself at once to our belief, as in harmony with
Confucius's character. The chief of the Chi, pursuing with his
enmity the duke Chao, even after his death, had placed his grave
apart from the graves of his predecessors; and Confucius
surrounded the ducal cemetery with a ditch so as to include the
solitary resting-place, boldly telling the chief that he did it to
hide his disloyalty [2]. But he signalized himself most of all in
B.C. 500, by his behavior at an interview between the dukes of Lu
and Ch'i, at a place called Shih-ch'i [3], and Chia-ku [4], in the
present district of Lai-wu, in the department of T'ai-an [5].
Confucius was present as master of ceremonies on the part of Lu,
and the meeting was professedly pacific. The two princes were to
form a covenant of alliance. The principal officer on the part of
Ch'i, however, despising Confucius as 'a man of ceremonies,
without courage,' had advised his sovereign to make the duke of
Lu a prisoner, and for this purpose a band of the half-savage
original inhabitants of the place advanced with weapons to the
stage where the two dukes were met. Confucius understood the
scheme, and said to the opposite party, 'Our two princes are met
for a pacific object. For you to bring a band of savage vassals to
disturb the meeting with their weapons, is not the way in which
Ch'i can expect to give law to the princes of the kingdom. These
barbarians have nothing to do with our Great Flowery land. Such
vassals may not interfere with our covenant. Weapons are out of
place at such a meeting. As before the spirits, such conduct is
unpropitious. In point of virtue, it is contrary to right. As
between man and man, it is not polite.' The duke of Ch'i ordered
the disturbers off, but Confucius withdrew, carrying the duke of
Lu with him. The business proceeded, notwithstanding, and when
the words of the alliance were being read on the part of Ch'i,-- '
So be it to Lu, if it contribute not 300 chariots of war to the help
of Ch'i, when its army goes across its borders,' a messenger from
Confucius added, 'And so be it to us, if we obey your orders,
unless you return to us the fields on the south of the Wan.' At the
conclusion of the ceremonies, the prince of Ch'i wanted to give a
grand entertainment, but Confucius demonstrated that such a
thing would be
1 左傳, 定公元年.
2 家語, Bk. I.
3 實其.
4 夾谷.
5 泰安府, 萊蕪縣.
contrary to the established rules of propriety, his real object
being to keep his sovereign out of danger. In this way the two
parties separated, they of Ch'i filled with shame at being foiled
and disgraced by 'the man of ceremonies;' and the result was that
the lands of Lu which had been appropriated by Ch'i were restored
[1].
For two years more Confucius held the office of minister of
Crime. Some have supposed that he was further raised to the
dignity of chief minister of the State [2], but that was not the
case. One instance of the manner in which he executed his
functions is worth recording. When any matter came before him,
he took the opinion of different individuals upon it, and in giving
judgment would say, 'I decide according to the view of so and so.'
There was an approach to our jury system in the plan, Confucius's
object being to enlist general sympathy, and carry the public
judgment with him in his administration of justice. A father
having brought some charge against his son, Confucius kept them
both in prison for three months, without making any difference in
favour of the father, and then wished to dismiss them both. The
head of the Chi was dissatisfied, and said, 'You are playing with
me, Sir minister of Crime. Formerly you told me that in a State or
a family filial duty was the first thing to be insisted on. What
hinders you now from putting to death this unfilial son as an
example to all the people?' Confucius with a sigh replied, 'When
superiors fail in their duty, and yet go to put their inferiors to
death, it is not right. This father has not taught his son to be
filial; to listen to his charge would be to slay the guiltless. The
manners of the age have been long in a sad condition; we cannot
expect the people not to be transgressing the laws [3].'
At this time two of his disciples, Tsze-lu and Tsze-yu,
entered the employment of the Chi family, and lent their
influence, the former especially, to forward the plans of their
master. One great cause of disorder in the State was the fortified
cities held by the three chiefs, in which they could defy the
supreme authority, and were in turn defied themselves by their
officers. Those cities were like the castles of the barons of
England in the time of the Norman
1 This meeting at Chia-ku is related in Sze-ma Ch'ien, the
'Narratives of the school,' and Ku-liang, with many exaggerations.
I have followed 左氏傳, 定公十年.
2 The 家語 says Bk. II, 孔子為魯司寇, 攝相事. But he was a 相 only in
the sense of an assistant of ceremonies, as at the meeting in
Chia-ku, described above.
3 See the 家語, Bk. II.
kings. Confucius had their destruction very much at heart, and
partly by the influence of persuasion, and partly by the assisting
counsels of Tsze-lu, he accomplished his object in regard to Pi
[1], the chief city of the Chi, and Hau [2], the chief city of the Shu.
It does not appear that he succeeded in the same way in
dismantling Ch'ang [3], the chief city of the Mang [4]; but his
authority in the State greatly increased. 'He strengthened the
ducal House and weakened the private Families. He exalted the
sovereign, and depressed the ministers. A transforming
government went abroad. Dishonesty and dissoluteness were
ashamed and hid their heads. Loyalty and good faith became the
characteristics of the men, and chastity and docility those of the
women. Strangers came in crowds from other States [5].'
Confucius became the idol of the people, and flew in songs
through their mouths [6].
But this sky of bright promise was soon overcast. As the
fame of the reformations in Lu went abroad, the neighboring
princes began to be afraid. The duke of Ch'i said, 'With Confucius
at the head of its government, Lu will become supreme among the
States, and Ch'i which is nearest to it will be the first swallowed
up. Let us propitiate it by a surrender of territory.' One of his
ministers proposed that they should first try to separate between
the sage and his sovereign, and to effect this, they hit upon the
following scheme. Eighty beautiful girls, with musical and
dancing accomplishments, and a hundred and twenty of the finest
horses that could be found, were selected, and sent as a present
to duke Ting. They were put up at first outside the city, and Chi
Hwan having gone in disguise to see them, forgot the lessons of
Confucius, and took the duke to look at the bait. They were both
captivated. The women were received, and the sage was
neglected. For three days the duke gave no audience to his
ministers. 'Master,' said Tsze-lu to Confucius, 'it is time for you
to be going.' But Confucius was very unwilling to leave. The spring
was coming on, when the sacrifice to Heaven would be offered,
and he determined to wait and see whether the
1 費.
2 郈.
3 成.
4 In connexion with these events, the 'Narratives of the School'
and Sze-ma Ch'ien mention the summary punishment inflicted by
Confucius on an able but unscrupulous and insidious officer the
Shaou chang, Maou (少正卯). His judgment and death occupy a
conspicuous place in the legendary accounts. But the Analects,
Tsze-sze, Mencius, and Tso Ch'iu-ming are all silent about it, and
Chiang Yung rightly rejects it as one of the many narratives
invented to exalt the sage.
5 See the 家語, Bk. II.
6 See 孔叢子, quoted by Chiang Yung.
solemnization of that would bring the duke back to his right mind.
No such result followed. The ceremony was hurried through, and
portions of the offerings were not sent round to the various
ministers, according to the established custom. Confucius
regretfully took his departure, going away slowly and by easy
stages [1]. He would have welcomed a message of recall. But the
duke continued in his abandonment, and the sage went forth to
thirteen weary years of homeless wandering.
8. On leaving Lu, Confucius first bent his steps westward to
the State of Wei, situate about where the present provinces of
Chih-li and Ho-nan adjoin.
[Sidebar] He wanders from State to State. B.C. 497-484.
He was now in his fifty-sixth year, and felt depressed and
melancholy. As he went along, he gave expression to his feelings
in verse:--
'Fain would I still look towards Lu,
But this Kwei hill cuts off my view.
With an axe, I'd hew the thickets through:--
Vain thought! 'gainst the hill I nought can do;'
and again,--
'Through the valley howls the blast,
Drizzling rain falls thick and fast.
Homeward goes the youthful bride,
O'er the wild, crowds by her side.
How is it, O azure Heaven,
From my home I thus am driven,
Through the land my way to trace,
With no certain dwelling-place?
Dark, dark; the minds of men!
Worth in vain comes to their ken.
Hastens on my term of years;
Old age, desolate, appears [2],'
A number of his disciples accompanied him, and his sadness
infected them. When they arrived at the borders of Wei at a place
called I, the warden sought an interview, and on coming out from
the sage, he tried to comfort the disciples, saying, 'My friends,
why are you distressed at your master's loss of office? The world
has been long without the principles of truth and right; Heaven is
going to use your master as a bell with its wooden tongue [3].'
Such was the thought of this friendly stranger. The bell did indeed
sound, but few had ears to hear.
1 史記, 孔子世家, p. 5. See also Mencius, V. Pt. II. i. 4.; et al.
2 See Chiang Yung's Life of Confucius, 去魯周遊考.
3 Ana. III. xxiv.
Confucius's fame, however, had gone before him, and he was
in little danger of having to suffer from want. On arriving at the
capital of Wei, he lodged at first with a worthy officer, named
Yen Ch'au-yu [1]. The reigning duke, known to us by the epithet of
Ling [2], was a worthless, dissipated man, but he could not
neglect a visitor of such eminence, and soon assigned to
Confucius a revenue of 60,000 measures of grain [3]. Here he
remained for ten months, and then for some reason left it to go to
Ch'an [4]. On the way he had to pass by K'wang [5], a place probably
in the present department of K'ai-fung in Ho-nan, which had
formerly suffered from Yang-hu. It so happened that Confucius
resembled Hu, and the attention of the people being called to him
by the movements of his carriage-driver, they thought it was
their old enemy, and made an attack upon him. His followers were
alarmed, but he was calm, and tried to assure them by declaring
his belief that he had a divine mission. He said to them, 'After the
death of king Wan, was not the cause of truth lodged here in me?
If Heaven had wished to let this cause of truth perish, then I, a
future mortal, should not have got such a relation to that cause.
While Heaven does not let the cause of truth perish, what can the
people of K'wang do to me [6]?' Having escaped from the hands of
his assailants, he does not seem to have carried out his purpose
of going to Ch'an, but returned to Wei.
On the way, he passed a house where he had formerly lodged,
and finding that the master was dead, and the funeral ceremonies
going on, he went in to condole and weep. When he came out, he
told Tsze-kung to take the outside horses from his carriage, and
give them as a contribution to the expenses of the occasion. 'You
never did such a thing,' Tsze-kung remonstrated, 'at the funeral of
any of your disciples; is it not too great a gift on this occasion of
the death of an old host?' 'When I went in,' replied Confucius, 'my
presence brought a burst of grief from the chief mourner, and I
joined him with my tears. I dislike the thought of my tears not
being followed by anything. Do it, my child [7].' On reaching Wei,
he lodged with Chu Po-yu, an officer of whom
1 顏讎由. See Mencius, V. Pt. I. viii. 2.
2. 靈公.
3 see the 史記, 孔子世家, p. 5.
4 陳國.
5. 匡.
6 Ana. IX. v. In Ana. XI. xxii, there is another reference to this
time, in which Yen Hui is made to appear.
7 See the Li Chi, II. Sect. I. ii. 16.
honourable mention is made in the Analects [1]. But this time he
did not remain long in the State. The duke was
[Sidebar] B.C. 495.
married to a lady of the house of Sung, known by the name of Nan-
tsze, notorious for her intrigues and wickedness. She sought an
interview with the sage, which he was obliged unwillingly to
accord [2]. No doubt he was innocent of thought or act of evil, but
it gave great dissatisfaction to Tsze-lu that his master should
have been in company with such a woman, and Confucius, to
assure him, swore an oath, saying, 'Wherein I have done
improperly, may Heaven reject me! May Heaven reject me [3]!' He
could not well abide, however, about such a court. One day the
duke rode out through the streets of his capital in the same
carriage with Nan-tsze, and made Confucius follow them in
another. Perhaps he intended to honour the philosopher, but the
people saw the incongruity, and cried out, 'Lust in the front;
virtue behind!' Confucius was ashamed, and made the observation,
'I have not seen one who loves virtue as he loves beauty [4].' Wei
was no place for him. He left it, and took his way towards Ch'an.
Ch'an, which formed part of the present province of Ho-nan,
lay south from Wei. After passing the small State of Ts'ao [5], he
approached the borders of Sung, occupying the present prefecture
of Kwei-teh, and had some intentions of entering it, when an
incident occurred, which it is not easy to understand from the
meagre style in which it is related, but which gave occasion to a
remarkable saying. Confucius was practising ceremonies with his
disciples, we are told, under the shade of a large tree. Hwan T'ui,
an ill-minded officer of Sung, heard of it, and sent a band of men
to pull down the tree, and kill the philosopher, if they could get
hold of him. The disciples were much alarmed, but Confucius
observed, 'Heaven has produced the virtue that is in me; what can
Hwan T'ui do to me [6]?' They all made their escape, but seem to
have been driven westwards to the State of Chang [7], on arriving
at the gate conducting into which from the east, Confucius found
himself separated from his followers. Tsze-kung had arrived
before him, and was told by a native of Chang that there was a
man standing by the east gate, with a forehead like Yao, a neck
like Kao-yao, his shoulders on a level with those of Tsze-ch'an,
but wanting, below the waist, three
1 Ana. XIV. xxvi; XV. vi.
2 See the account in the 史記, 孔子世家, p. 6.
3 Ana. VI. xxvi.
4 Ana. IX. xvii.
5 曹.
6 ana. IX. xxii.
7 鄭.
inches of the height of Yu, and altogether having the disconsolate
appearance of a stray dog.' Tsze-kung knew it was the master,
hastened to him, and repeated to his great amusement the
description which the man had given. 'The bodily appearance,' said
Confucius, 'is but a small matter, but to say I was like a stray
dog,-- capital! capital!' The stay they made at Chang was short,
and by the end of B.C. 495, Confucius was in Ch'an.
All the next year he remained there, lodging with the
warder of the city wall, an officer of worth, of the name of Chang
[2], and we have no accounts of him which deserve to be related
here [3].
In B.C. 494, Ch'an was much disturbed by attacks from Wu
[4], a large State, the capital of which was in the present
department of Su-chau, and Confucius determined to retrace his
steps to Wei. On the way he was laid hold of at a place called P'u
[5], which was held by a rebellious officer against Wei, and before
he could get away, he was obliged to engage that he would not
proceed thither. Thither, notwithstanding, he continued his route,
and when Tsze-kung asked him whether it was right to violate the
oath he had taken, he replied, 'It was a forced oath. The spirits do
not hear such [6].' 'The duke Ling received him with distinction,
but paid no more attention to his lessons than before, and
Confucius is said then to have uttered his complaint, 'If there
were any of the princes who would employ me, in the course of
twelve months I should have done something considerable. In
three years the government would be perfected [7].'
A circumstance occurred to direct his attention to the State
of Tsin [8], which occupied the southern part of the present Shan-
hsi, and extended over the Yellow river into Ho-nan. An invitation
came to Confucius, like that which he had formerly received from
Kung-shan Fu-zao. Pi Hsi, an officer of Tsin, who was holding the
town of Chung-mau against his chief, invited him to visit him,
and Confucius was inclined to go. Tsze-lu was always the mentor
on such occasions. He said to him, 'Master, I have heard you say,
1 See the 史記, 孔子世家, p. 6.
2 司城貞子. See Mencius, V. Pt. I. viii. 3.
3 Chiang Yung digests in this place two foolish stories,-- about a
large bone found in the State of Yueh, and a bird which appeared in
Ch'ia and died, shot through with a remarkable arrow. Confucius
knew all about them.
4 吳.
5 蒲.
6 This ia related by Sze-ma ch'ien 孔子世家, p. 7, and also in the
'Narratives of the School.' I would fain believe it is not true. The
wonder is, that no Chinese critic should have set about disproving
it.
7 Ana. XII. x.
8 晉.
that when a man in his own person is guilty of doing evil, a
superior man will not associate with him. Pi Hsi is in rebellion; if
you go to him, what shall be said?' Confucius replied, 'Yes, I did
use those words. But is it not said that if a thing be really hard,
it may be ground without being made thin; and if it be really
white, it may be steeped in a dark fluid without being made
black? Am I a bitter gourd? Am I to be hung up out of the way of
being eaten [1]?'
These sentiments sound strangely from his lips. After all,
he did not go to Pi Hsi; and having travelled as far as the Yellow
river that he might see one of the principal ministers of Tsin, he
heard of the violent death of two men of worth, and returned to
Wei, lamenting the fate which prevented him from crossing the
stream, and trying to solace himself with poetry as he had done
on leaving Lu. Again did he communicate with the duke, but as
ineffectually, and disgusted at being questioned by him about
military tactics, he left and went back to Ch'an.
He resided in Ch'an all the next year, B.C. 491, without
anything occurring there which is worthy of note [2]. Events had
transpired in Lu, however, which were to issue in his return to
his native State. The duke Ting had deceased B.C. 494, and Chi
Hwan, the chief of the Chi family, died in this year. On his death-
bed, he felt remorse for his conduct to Confucius, and charged his
successor, known to us in the Analects as Chi K'ang, to recall the
sage; but the charge was not immediately fulfilled. Chi K'ang, by
the advice of one of his officers, sent to Ch'an for the disciple
Yen Ch'iu instead. Confucius willingly sent him off, and would
gladly have accompanied him. 'Let me return!' he said, 'Let me
return [3]!' But that was not to be for several years yet.
In B.C. 490, accompanied, as usual, by several of his
disciples, he went from Ch'an to Ts'ai, a small dependency of the
great fief of Ch'u, which occupied a large part of the present
provinces of Hu-nan and Hu-pei. On the way, between Ch'an and
Ts'ai, their provisions became exhausted, and they were cut off
somehow from obtaining a fresh supply. The disciples were quite
overcome with want, and Tsze-lu said to the master, 'Has the
superior man indeed to endure in this way?' Confucius answered
him, 'The superior man may indeed have to endure want; but the
mean man
l Ana. XVII. vii.
2 Tso Ch'iu-ming, indeed, relates a story of Confucius, on the
report of a fire in Lu, telling whose ancestral temple had been
destroyed by it.
3 Ana. V. xxi.
when he is in want, gives way to unbridled license [1].' According
to the 'Narratives of the School,' the distress continued seven
days, during which time Confucius retained his equanimity, and
was even cheerful, playing on his lute and singing [2]. He retained,
however, a strong impression of the perils of the season, and we
find him afterwards recurring to it, and lamenting that of the
friends that were with him in Ch'an and Ts'ai, there were none
remaining to enter his door [3].
Escaped from this strait, he remained in Ts'ai over B.C. 489,
and in the following year we find him in Sheh, another district of
Ch'u, the chief of which had taken the title of duke, according to
the usurping policy of that State. Puzzled about his visitor, he
asked Tsze-lu what he should think of him, but the disciple did
not venture a reply. When Confucius heard of it, he said to Tsze-
lu. 'Why did you not say to him:-- He is simply a man who in his
eager pursuit of knowledge forgets his food, who in the joy of its
attainment forgets his sorrows, and who does not perceive that
old age is coming on [4]?' Subsequently, the duke, in conversation
with Confucius, asked him about government, and got the reply,
dictated by some circumstances of which we are ignorant, 'Good
government obtains, when those who are near are made happy, and
those who are far off are attracted [5]'
After a short stay in Sheh, according to Sze-ma Ch'ien, he
returned to Ts'ai, and having to dross a river, he sent Tsze-lu to
inquire for the ford of two men who were at work in a neighboring
field. They were recluses, men who had withdrawn from public
life in disgust at the waywardness of the times. One of them was
called Ch'ang-tsu, and instead of giving Tsze-lu the information
he wanted, he asked him, 'Who is it that holds the reins in the
carriage there?' 'It is K'ung Ch'iu.' 'K'ung Ch'iu of Lu?' 'Yes,' was
the reply, and then the man rejoined, 'He knows the ford.'
Tsze-lu applied to the other, who was called Chieh-ni, but
got for answer the question, 'Who are you, Sir?' He replied, 'I am
Chung Yu.' 'Chung Yu, who is the disciple of K'ung Ch'iu of Lu?'
'Yes,' again replied Tsze-lu, and Chieh-ni said to him, 'Disorder,
like a swelling flood, spreads over the whole kingdom,
1 Ana. XV. i. 2, 3.
2 家語, 卷二, 在危, 二十篇.
3 Ana. XI. ii.
4 Ana. VII. xviii.
5 Ana. XIII. xvi.
and who is he that will change it for you? Than follow one who
merely withdraws from this one and that one, had you not better
follow those who withdraw from the world altogether?' With this
he fell to covering up the seed, and gave no more heed to the
stranger. Tsze-lu went back and reported what they had said,
when Confucius vindicated his own course, saying. 'It is
impossible to associate with birds and beasts as if they were the
same with us. If I associate not with these people,-- with
mankind,-- with whom shall I associate? If right principles
prevailed through the kingdom, there would be no need for me to
change its state [1].'
About the same time he had an encounter with another
recluse, who was known as 'The madman of Ch'u.' He passed by the
carriage of Confucius, singing out, 'O phoenix, O phoenix, how is
your virtue degenerated! As to the past, reproof is useless, but
the future may be provided against. Give up, give up your vain
pursuit.' Confucius alighted and wished to enter into conversation
with him, but the man hastened away [2].
But now the attention of the ruler of Ch'u -- king, as he
styled himself -- was directed to the illustrious stranger who
was in his dominions, and he met Confucius and conducted him to
his capital, which was in the present district of I-ch'ang, in the
department of Hsiang-yang [3], in Hu-pei. After a time, he
proposed endowing the philosopher with a considerable territory,
but was dissuaded by his prime minister, who said to him, 'Has
your majesty any officer who could discharge the duties of an
ambassador like Tsze-kung? or any one so qualified for a premier
as Yen Hui? or any one to compare as a general with Tsze-lu? The
kings Wan and Wu, from their hereditary dominions of a hundred
li, rose to the sovereignty of the kingdom. If K'ung Ch'iu, with
such disciples to be his ministers, get the possession of any
territory, it will not be to the prosperity of Ch'u [4]? On this
remonstrance the king gave up his purpose; and, when he died in
the same year, Confucius left the State, and went back again to
Wei.
The duke Ling had died four years before, soon after
Confucius
[Sidebar] B.C. 489.
had last parted from him, and the reigning duke, known to us by
the title of Ch'u [5], was his grandson, and was holding the
principality against his own father. The relations
1 Ana. XVIII. vi.
2 Ana XVII. v.
3 襄陽府宜城縣.
4 See the 史記, 孔子世家, p. 10.
5 出公.
between them were rather complicated. The father had been
driven out in consequence of an attempt which he had instigated
on the life of his step-mother, the notorious Nan-tsze, and the
succession was given to his son. Subsequently, the father wanted
to reclaim what he deemed his right, and an unseemly struggle
ensued. The duke Ch'u was conscious how much his cause would be
strengthened by the support of Confucius, and hence when he got
to Wei, Tsze-lu could say to him, 'The prince of Wei has been
waiting for you, in order with you to administer the government;-
- what will you consider the first thing to be done [1]?' The
opinion of the philosopher, however, was against the propriety of
the duke's course [2], and he declined taking office with him,
though he remained in Wei for between five and six years. During
all that time there is a blank in his history. In the very year of his
return, according to the 'Annals of the Empire,' his most beloved
disciple, Yen Hui, died, on which occasion he exclaimed, 'Alas!
Heaven is destroying me! Heaven is destroying me [3]!' The death
of his wife is assigned to B.C. 484, but nothing else is related
which we can connect with this long period.
9. His return to Lu was brought about by the disciple Yen Yu,
who, we have seen, went into the service of Chi K'ang, in B.C. 491.
[Sidebar] From his return to Lu to his death. B.C. 484-478.
In the year B.C. 483, Yu had the conduct of some military
operations against Ch'i, and being successful, Chi K'ang asked him
how he had obtained his military skill;-- was it from nature, or
by learning? He replied that he had learned it from Confucius, and
entered into a glowing eulogy of the philosopher. The chief
declared that he would bring Confucius home again to Lu. 'If you
do so,' said the disciple, 'see that you do not let mean men come
between you and him.' On this K'ang sent three officers with
appropriate presents to Wei, to invite the wanderer home, and he
returned with them accordingly [4].
This event took place in the eleventh year of the duke Ai [5],
who succeeded to Ting, and according to K'ung Fu, Confucius's
descendant, the invitation proceeded from him [6]. We may
suppose that
1 Ana. XIII. iii. In the notes on this passage, I have given Chu Hsi's
opinion as to the time when Tsze-lu made this remark. It seems
more correct, however, to refer it to Confucius's return to Wei
from Ch'u, as is done by Chiang Yung.
2 Ana. VII. xiv.
3 Ana. XI. viii. In the notes on Ana. XI. vii, I have adverted to the
chronological difficulty connected with the dates assigned
respectively to the deaths of Yen Hui and Confucius's own son, Li.
Chiang Yung assigns Hui's death to B.C. 481.
4 See the 史記, 孔子世家.
5 哀公.
6 See Chiang Yung's memoir, in loc.
while Chi K'ang was the mover and director of the proceeding, it
was with the authority and approval of the duke. It is represented
in the chronicle of Tso Ch'iu-ming as having occurred at a very
opportune time. The philosopher had been consulted a little before
by K'ung Wan [1], an officer of Wei, about how he should conduct a
feud with another officer, and disgusted at being referred to on
such a subject, had ordered his carriage and prepared to leave the
State, exclaiming, 'The bird chooses its tree. The tree does not
choose the bird.' K'ung Wan endeavoured to excuse himself, and to
prevail on Confucius to remain in Wei, and just at this juncture
the messengers from Lu arrived [2].
Confucius was now in his sixty-ninth year. The world had
not dealt kindly with him. In every State which he had visited he
had met with disappointment and sorrow. Only five more years
remained to him, nor were they of a brighter character than the
past. He had, indeed, attained to that state, he tells us, in which
'he could follow what his heart desired without transgressing
what was right [3],' but other people were not more inclined than
they had been to abide by his counsels. The duke Ai and Chi K'ang
often conversed with him, but he no longer had weight in the
guidance of state affairs, and wisely addressed himself to the
completion of his literary labors. He wrote a preface, according
to Sze-ma Ch'ien, to the Shu-ching; carefully digested the rites
and ceremonies determined by the wisdom of the more ancient
sages and kings; collected and arranged the ancient poetry; and
undertook the reform of music [4]. He has told us himself. 'I
returned from Wei to Lu, and then the music was reformed, and
the pieces in the Songs of the Kingdom and Praise Songs found all
their proper place [5].' To the Yi-ching he devoted much study, and
Sze-ma Ch'ien says that the leather thongs by which the tablets
of his copy were bound together were thrice worn out. 'If some
years were added to my life,' he said, 'I would give fifty to the
study of the Yi, and then I might come to be without great faults
[6].' During this time also, we may suppose that he supplied Tsang
Shan with the materials of the classic of Filial Piety. The same
year that he returned, Chi Kang sent Yen Yu to ask his opinion
about an
1 孔文子, the same who is mentioned in the Analects, V. xiv.
2 See the 左傳, 哀公十一年.
3 Ana. II. iv. 6.
4 See the 史記, 孔子世家, p. 12.
5 Ana. IX. xiv.
6 Ana. VII. xvi.
additional impost which he wished to lay upon the people, but
Confucius refused to give any reply, telling the disciple privately
his disapproval of the proposed measure. It was carried out,
however, in the following year, by the agency of Yen, on which
occasion, I suppose, it was that Confucius said to the other
disciples, 'He is no disciple of mine; my little children, beat the
drum and assail him [1].' The year B.C. 483 was marked by the
death of his son Li, which he seems to have borne with more
equanimity than he did that of his disciple Yen Hui, which some
writers assign to the following year, though I have already
mentioned it under the year B.C. 489.
In the spring of B.C. 481, a servant of Chi K'ang caught a
Ch'i-lin on a hunting excursion of the duke in the present district
of Chia-hsiang [2]. No person could tell what strange animal it
was, and Confucius was called to look at it. He at once knew it to
be a lin, and the legend-writers say that it bore on one of its
horns the piece of ribbon, which his mother had attached to the
one that appeared to her before his birth. According to the
chronicle of Kung-yang, he was profoundly affected. He cried out,
'For whom have you come? For whom have you come?' His tears
flowed freely, and he added, 'The course of my doctrines is run
[3].'
Notwithstanding the appearance of the lin, the life of
Confucius was still protracted for two years longer, though he
took occasion to terminate with that event his history of the
Ch'un Ch'iu. This Work, according to Sze-ma Ch'ien, was altogether
the production of this year, but we heed not suppose that it was
so. In it, from the standpoint of Lu, he briefly indicates the
principal events occurring throughout the country, every term
being expressive, it is said, of the true character of the actors
and events described. Confucius said himself, 'It is the Spring and
Autumn which will make men know me, and it is the Spring and
Autumn which will make men condemn me [4].' Mencius makes the
composition of it to have been an achievement as great as Yu's
regulation of the waters of the deluge:-- 'Confucius completed
the Spring and Autumn, and rebellious ministers and villainous
sons were struck with terror [5].'
Towards the end of this year, word came to Lu that the duke
1 Ana. XI. xvi.
2 兗州府嘉祥縣.
3 公羊傳, 哀公十四年. According to Kung-yang, however, the lin was
found by some wood-gatherers.
4 Mencius III. Pt. II. ix. 8.
5 Mencius III. Pt. II. ix. 11.
of Ch'i had been murdered by one of his officers. Confucius was
moved with indignation. Such an outrage he felt, called for his
solemn interference. He bathed, went to court, and represented
the matter to the duke, saying, 'Ch'an Hang has slain his
sovereign, I beg that you will undertake to punish him.' The duke
pleaded his incapacity, urging that Lu was weak compared with
Ch'i, but Confucius replied, 'One half the people of Ch'i are not
consenting to the deed. If you add to the people of Lu one half the
people of Ch'i, you are sure to overcome.' But he could not infuse
his spirit into the duke, who told him to go and lay the matter
before the chiefs of the three Families. Sorely against his sense
of propriety, he did so, but they would not act, and he withdrew
with the remark, 'Following in the rear of the great officers, I did
not dare not to represent such a matter [1].'
In the year B.C. 479, Confucius had to mourn the death of
another of his disciples, one of those who had been longest with
him, the well-known Tsze-lu. He stands out a sort of Peter in the
Confucian school, a man of impulse, prompt to speak and prompt
to act. He gets many a check from the master, but there is
evidently a strong sympathy between them. Tsze-lu uses a
freedom with him on which none of the other disciples dares to
venture, and there is not one among them all, for whom, if I may
speak from my own feeling, the foreign student comes to form
such a liking. A pleasant picture is presented to us in one passage
of the Analects. It is said, 'The disciple Min was standing by his
side, looking bland and precise; Tsze-lu (named Yu), looking bold
and soldierly; Yen Yu and Tsze-kung, with a free and
straightforward manner. The master was pleased, but he
observed, "Yu there!-- he will not die a natural death [2]."'
This prediction was verified. When Confucius returned to Lu
from Wei, he left Tsze-lu and Tsze-kao [3] engaged there in
official service. Troubles arose. News came to Lu, B.C. 479, that a
revolution was in progress in Wei, and when Confucius heard it,
he said, 'Ch'ai will come here, but Yu will die [4].' So it turned out.
When Tsze-kao saw that matters were desperate he made his
escape, but Tsze-lu would not forsake the chief who had treated
1 See the 左傳, 哀公十四年 and Analects XIV. xxii.
2 Ana. XI. xii.
3 子羔, by surname Kao (高), and name Ch'ai (柴).
4 See the 左傳, 哀公十五年.
him well. He threw himself into the melee, and was slain.
Confucius wept sore for him, but his own death was not far off. It
took place on the eleventh day of the fourth month in the same
year, B.C. 479 [1]. Early one morning, we are told, he got up, and
with his hands behind his back, dragging his staff, he moved about
by his door, crooning over,--
'The great mountain must crumble;
The strong beam must break;
And the wise man wither away like a plant.'
After a little, he entered the house and sat down opposite
the door. Tsze-kung had heard his words, and said to himself, 'If
the great mountain crumble, to what shall I look up? If the strong
beam break, and the wise man wither away, on whom shall I lean?
The master, I fear, is going to be ill.' With this he hastened into
the house. Confucius said to him, 'Ts'ze, what makes you so late?
According to the statutes of Hsia, the corpse was dressed and
coffined at the top of the eastern steps, treating the dead as if he
were still the host. Under the Yin, the ceremony was performed
between the two pillars, as if the dead were both host and guest.
The rule of Chau is to perform it at the top of the western steps,
treating the dead as if he were a guest. I am a man of Yin, and last
night I dreamt that I was sitting with offerings before me
between the two pillars. No intelligent monarch arises; there is
not one in the kingdom that will make me his master. My time has
come to die.' So it was. He went to his couch, and after seven days
expired [2].
Such is the account which we have of the last hours of the
great philosopher of China. His end was not unimpressive, but it
was melancholy. He sank behind a cloud. Disappointed hopes made
his soul bitter. The great ones of the kingdom had not received his
teachings. No wife nor child was by to do the kindly offices of
affection for him. Nor were the expectations of another life
present with him as he passed through the dark valley. He uttered
no prayer, and he betrayed no apprehensions. Deep-treasured in
his own heart may have been the thought that he had endeavoured
to serve his generation by the will of God, but he gave no sign.
'The mountain falling came to nought, and the rock was removed
1 See the 左傳, 哀公十六年, and Chiang Yung's Life of Confucius, in
loc.
2 See the Li Chi, II, Sect. I. ii. 20.
out of his place. So death prevailed against him and he passed; his
countenance was changed, and he was sent away.'
10. I flatter myself that the preceding paragraphs contain a
more correct narrative of the principal incidents in the life of
Confucius than has yet been given in any European language. They
might easily have been expanded into a volume, but I did not wish
to exhaust the subject, but only to furnish a sketch, which, while
it might satisfy the general reader, would be of special
assistance to the careful student of the classical Books. I had
taken many notes of the manifest errors in regard to chronology
and other matters in the 'Narratives of the School,' and the
chapter of Sze-ma Ch'ien on the K'ung family, when the digest of
Chiang Yung, to which I have made frequent reference, attracted
my attention. Conclusions to which I had come were confirmed,
and a clue was furnished to difficulties which I was seeking to
disentangle. I take the opportunity to acknowledge here my
obligations to it. With a few notices of Confucius's habits and
manners, I shall conclude this section.
Very little can be gathered from reliable sources on the
personal appearance of the sage. The height of his father is
stated, as I have noted, to have been ten feet, and though
Confucius came short of this by four inches, he was often called
'the tall man.' It is allowed that the ancient foot or cubit was
shorter than the modem, but it must be reduced more than any
scholar I have consulted has yet done, to bring this statement
within the range of credibility. The legends assign to his figure
'nine-and-forty remarkable peculiarities [1],' a tenth part of
which would have made him more a monster than a man. Dr.
Morrison says that the images of him which he had seen in the
northern parts of China, represent him as of a dark, swarthy
colour [2]. It is not so with those common in the south. He was, no
doubt, in size and complexion much the same as many of his
descendants in the present day. Dr. Edkins and myself enjoyed the
services of two of those descendants, who acted as 'wheelers' in
the wheelbarrows which conveyed us from Ch'u-fau to a town on
the Grand Canal more than 250 miles off. They were strong,
capable men, both physically and mentally superior to their
companions.
1 四十九表.
2 Chinese and English Dictionary, char. 孔. Sir John Davis also
mentions seeing a figure of Confucius, in a temple near the Po-
yang lake, of which the complexion was 'quite black' (The Chinese,
vol. ii. p. 66).
But if his disciples had nothing to chronicle of his personal
appearance, they have gone very minutely into an account of many
of his habits. The tenth Book of the Analects is all occupied with
his deportment, his eating, and his dress. In public, whether in the
village, the temple, or the court, he was the man of rule and
ceremony, but 'at home he was not formal.' Yet if not formal, he
was particular. In bed even he did not forget himself;-- 'he did not
lie like a corpse,' and 'he did not speak.' 'He required his sleeping
dress to be half as long again as his body.' 'If he happened to be
sick, and the prince came to visit him, he had his face set to the
east, made his court robes be put over him, and drew his girdle
across them.'
He was nice in his diet,-- 'not disliking to have his rice
dressed fine, nor to have his minced meat cut small.' 'Anything at
all gone he would not touch.' 'He must have his meat cut properly,
and to every kind its proper sauce; but he was not a great eater.'
'It was only in drink that he laid down no limit to himself, but he
did not allow himself to be confused by it.' 'When the villagers
were drinking together, on those who carried staffs going out, he
went out immediately after.' There must always be ginger at the
table, and 'when eating, he did not converse.' 'Although his food
might be coarse rice and poor soup, he would offer a little of it in
sacrifice, with a grave, respectful air.'
'On occasion of a sudden clap of thunder, or a violent wind,
he would change countenance. He would do the same, and rise up
moreover, when he found himself a guest at a loaded board.' 'At
the sight of a person in mourning, he would also change
countenance, and if he happened to be in his carriage, he would
bend forward with a respectful salutation.' 'His general way in his
carriage was not to turn his head round, nor talk hastily, nor point
with his hands.' He was charitable. 'When any of his friends died,
if there were no relations who could be depended on for the
necessary offices, he would say, "I will bury him."
'The disciples were so careful to record these and other
characteristics of their master, it is said, because every act, of
movement or of rest, was closely associated with the great
principles which it was his object to inculcate. The detail of so
many small matters, however, hardly impresses a foreigner so
favourably. There rather seems to be a want of freedom about the
philosopher.
SECTION II.
HIS INFLUENCE AND OPINIONS.
1. Confucius died, we have seen, complaining that of all the
princes of the kingdom there was not one who would adopt his
[Sidebar] Homage rendered to Confucius by the sovereigns of
China.
principles and obey his lessons. He had hardly passed from the
stage of life, when his merit began to be acknowledged. When the
duke Ai heard of his death, he pronounced his eulogy in the words,
'Heaven has not left to me the aged man. There is none now to
assist me on the throne. Woe is me! Alas! O venerable Ni [1]!' Tsze-
kung complained of the inconsistency of this lamentation from
one who could not use the master when he was alive, but the
prince was probably sincere in his grief. He caused a temple to be
erected, and ordered that sacrifice should be offered to the sage,
at the four seasons of the year [2].
The sovereigns of the tottering dynasty of Chau had not the
intelligence, nor were they in a position, to do honour to the
departed philosopher, but the facts detailed in the first chapter
of these prolegomena, in connexion with the attempt of the
founder of the Ch'in dynasty to destroy the literary monuments of
antiquity, show how the authority of Confucius had come by that
time to prevail through the nation. The founder of the Han
dynasty, in passing through Lu, B.C. 195, visited his tomb and
offered the three victims in sacrifice to him. Other sovereigns
since then have often made pilgrimages to the spot. The most
famous temple in the empire now rises near the place of the
grave. The second and greatest of the rulers of the present
dynasty, in the twenty-third year of his reign, the K'ang-hsi
period, there set the example of kneeling thrice, and each time
laying his forehead thrice in the dust, before the image of the
sage.
In the year of our Lord 1, began the practice of conferring
honourary designations on Confucius by imperial authority. The
emperor Ping [3] then styled him-- 'The duke Ni, all-complete and
l Li Chi, II. Sect. I. iii. 43. This eulogy is found at greater length in
the 左傳, immediately after the notice of the sage's death.
2 See the 聖廟祀典圖考, 卷一, art. on Confucius. I am indebted to
this for most of the notices in this paragraph.
3 平帝.
illustrious [1].' This was changed, in A.D. 492, to-- 'The venerable
Ni, the accomplished Sage [2].' Other titles have supplanted this.
Shun-chih [3], the first of the Man-chau dynasty, adopted, in his
second year, A.D. 1645, the style, 'K'ung, the ancient Teacher,
accomplished and illustrious, all-complete, the perfect Sage [4];'
but twelve years later, a shorter title was introduced,-- 'K'ung,
the ancient Teacher, the perfect Sage [5].' Since that year no
further alteration has been made.
At first, the worship of Confucius was confined to the
country of Lu, but in A.D. 57 it was enacted that sacrifices should
be offered to him in the imperial college, and in all the colleges
of the principal territorial divisions throughout the empire. In
those sacrifices he was for some centuries associated with the
duke of Chau, the legislator to whom Confucius made frequent
reference, but in A.D. 609 separate temples were assigned to
them, and in 628 our sage displaced the older worthy altogether.
About the same time began the custom, which continues to the
present day, of erecting temples to him,-- separate structures, in
connexion with all the colleges, or examination-halls, of the
country.
The sage is not alone in those temples. In a hall behind the
principal one occupied by himself are the tablets -- in some
cases, the images -- of several of his ancestors, and other
worthies; while associated with himself are his principal
disciples, and many who in subsequent times have signalized
themselves as expounders and exemplifiers of his doctrines. On
the first day of every month, offerings of fruits and vegetables
are set forth, and on the fifteenth there is a solemn burning of
incense. But twice a year, in the middle months of spring and
autumn, when the first ting day [6] of the month comes round, the
worship of Confucius is performed with peculiar solemnity. At
the imperial college the emperor himself is required to attend in
state, and is in fact the principal performer. After all the
preliminary arrangements have been made, and the emperor has
twice knelt and six times bowed his head to the earth, the
presence of Confucius's spirit is invoked in the words, 'Great art
thou, O perfect sage! Thy virtue is full; thy doctrine is complete.
Among mortal men there has not been thine equal. All kings
honour thee. Thy statutes and laws have come gloriously
1 成宣尼公.
2 文聖尼父.
3 順治.
4 大成至聖, 文宣尼師, 孔子
5 至聖先師孔子
6 上丁日
down. Thou art the pattern in this imperial school. Reverently
have the sacrificial vessels been set out. Full of awe, we sound
our drums and bells [1].'
The spirit is supposed now to be present, and the service
proceeds through various offerings, when the first of which has
been set forth, an officer reads the following [2], which is the
prayer on the occasion:-- 'On this ... month of this ... year, I, A.B.,
the emperor, offer a sacrifice to the philosopher K'ung, the
ancient Teacher, the perfect Sage, and say,-- O Teacher, in virtue
equal to Heaven and Earth, whose doctrines embrace the past time
and the present, thou didst digest and transmit the six classics,
and didst hand down lessons for all generations! Now in this
second month of spring (or autumn), in reverent observance of the
old statutes, with victims, silks, spirits, and fruits, I carefully
offer sacrifice to thee. With thee are associated the philosopher
Yen, Continuator of thee; the philosopher Tsang, Exhibiter of thy
fundamental principles; the philosopher Tsze-sze, Transmitter of
thee; and the philosopher Mang, Second to thee. May'st thou enjoy
the offerings!'
I need not go on to enlarge on the homage which the
emperors of China render to Confucius. It could not be more
complete. He was unreasonably neglected when alive. He is now
unreasonably venerated when dead.
2. The rulers of China are not singular in this matter, but in
entire sympathy with the mass of their people. It is the
distinction
[Sidebar] General appreciation of Confucius.
of this empire that education has been highly prized in it from the
earliest times. It was so before the era of Confucius, and we may
be sure that the system met with his approbation. One of his
remarkable sayings was,-- 'To lead an uninstructed people to war
is to throw them away [3].' When he pronounced this judgment, he
was not thinking of military training, but of education in the
duties of life and citizenship. A people so taught, he thought,
would be morally fitted to fight for their government. Mencius,
when lecturing to the ruler of T'ang on the proper way of
governing a kingdom, told him that he must provide the means of
education for all, the poor as well as the rich. 'Establish,' said he,
'hsiang, hsu, hsio, and hsiao,-- all those educational
institutions,-- for the instruction of the people [4].'
1 2 See the 大清通禮卷十二.
3 Ana. XIII. xxx.
4 Mencius III. Pt. I. iii. 10.
At the present day, education is widely diffused throughout
China. In few other countries is the schoolmaster more abroad,
and in all schools it is Confucius who is taught. The plan of
competitive examinations, and the selection for civil offices only
from those who have been successful candidates,-- good so far as
the competition is concerned, but injurious from the restricted
range of subjects with which an acquaintance is required,-- have
obtained for more than twelve centuries. The classical works are
the text books. It is from them almost exclusively that the
themes proposed to determine the knowledge and ability of the
students are chosen. The whole of the magistracy of China is thus
versed in all that is recorded of the sage, and in the ancient
literature which he preserved. His thoughts are familiar to every
man in authority, and his character is more or less reproduced in
him.
The official civilians of China, numerous as they are, are
but a fraction of its students, and the students, or those who
make literature a profession, are again but a fraction of those
who attend school for a shorter or longer period. Yet so far as the
studies have gone, they have been occupied with the Confucian
writings. In the schoolrooms there is a tablet or inscription on
the wall, sacred to the sage, and every pupil is required, on
coming to school on the morning of the first and fifteenth of
every month, to bow before it, the first thing, as an act of
reverence [1]. Thus all in China who receive the slightest tincture
of learning do so at the fountain of Confucius. They learn of him
and do homage to him at once. I have repeatedly quoted the
statement that during his life-time he had three thousand
disciples. Hundreds of millions are his disciples now. It is hardly
necessary to make any allowance in this statement for the
followers of Taoism and Buddhism, for, as Sir John Davis has
observed, 'whatever the other opinions or faith of a Chinese may
be, he takes good care to treat Confucius with respect [2].' For
two thousand years he has reigned supreme, the undisputed
teacher of this most populous land.
3. This position and influence of Confucius are to be
ascribed, I conceive, chiefly to two causes:-- his being the
preserver, namely of
l During the present dynasty, the tablet of 文昌帝君, the god of
literature, has to a considerable extent displaced that of
Confucius in schools. Yet the worship of him does not clash with
that of the other. He is 'the father' of composition only.
2 The Chinese, vol. ii. p. 45.
the monuments of antiquity, and the exemplifier and expounder of
[Sidebar] The causes of his influence.
the maxims of the golden age of China; and the devotion to him of
his immediate disciples and their early followers. The national
and the personal are thus blended in him, each in its highest
degree of excellence. He was a Chinese of the Chinese; he is also
represented as, and all now believe him to have been, the beau
ideal of humanity in its best and noblest estate.
4. It may be well to bring forward here Confucius's own
estimate of himself and of his doctrines. It will serve to
illustrate the
[Sidebar] His own estimate of himself and of his doctrines.
statements just made. The following are some of his sayings:--
'The sage and the man of perfect virtue;-- how dare I rank myself
with them? It may simply be said of me, that I strive to become
such without satiety, and teach others without weariness.' 'In
letters I am perhaps equal to other men; but the character of the
superior man, carrying out in his conduct what he professes, is
what I have not yet attained to.' 'The leaving virtue without
proper cultivation; the not thoroughly discussing what is learned;
not being able to move towards righteousness of which a
knowledge is gained; and not being able to change what is not
good;-- these are the things which occasion me solicitude.' 'I am
not one who was born in the possession of knowledge; I am one
who is fond of antiquity and earnest in seeking it there.' 'A
transmitter and not a maker, believing in and loving the ancients,
I venture to compare myself with our old P'ang [1].'
Confucius cannot be thought to speak of himself in these
declarations more highly than he ought to do. Rather we may
recognise in them the expressions of a genuine humility. He was
conscious that personally he came short in many things, but he
toiled after the character, which he saw, or fancied that he saw,
in the ancient sages whom he acknowledged; and the lessons of
government and morals which he labored to diffuse were those
which had already been inculcated and exhibited by them.
Emphatically he was 'a transmitter and not a maker.' It is not to
be understood that he was not fully satisfied of the truth of the
principles which he had learned. He held them with the full
approval and consent of his own understanding. He believed that if
they were acted on, they would remedy the evils of his time.
1 All these passages are taken from the seventh Book of the
Analects. See chapters xxxiii, xxxii, iii, xix, and i.
There was nothing to prevent rulers like Yao and Shun and the
great Yu from again arising, and a condition of happy tranquillity
being realized throughout the kingdom under their sway.
If in anything he thought himself 'superior and alone,' having
attributes which others could not claim, it was in his possessing
a divine commission as the conservator of ancient truth and rules.
He does not speak very definitely on this point. It is noted that
'the appointments of Heaven was one of the subjects on which he
rarely touched [1].' His most remarkable utterance was that which
I have already given in the sketch of his Life:-- 'When he was put
in fear in K'wang, he said, "After the death of king Wan, was not
the cause of truth lodged here in me? If Heaven had wished to let
this cause of truth perish, then I, a future mortal, should not have
got such a relation to that cause. While Heaven does not let the
cause of truth perish, what can the people of K'wang do to me
[2]?"' Confucius, then, did feel that he was in the world for a
special purpose. But it was not to announce any new truths, or to
initiate any new economy. It was to prevent what had previously
been known from being lost. He followed in the wake of Yao and
Shun, of T'ang, and king Wan. Distant from the last by a long
interval of time, he would have said that he was distant from him
also by a great inferiority of character, but still he had learned
the principles on which they all happily governed the country, and
in their name he would lift up a standard against the prevailing
lawlessness of his age.
5. The language employed with reference to Confucius by his
disciples and their early followers presents a striking contrast
with his own.
[Sidebar] Estimate of him by his disciples and their early
followers.
I have already, in writing of the scope and value of 'The Doctrine
of the Mean,' called attention to the extravagant eulogies of his
grandson Tsze-sze. He only followed the example which had been
set by those among whom the philosopher went in and out. We
have the language of Yen Yuan, his favourite, which is
comparatively moderate, and simply expresses the genuine
admiration of a devoted pupil [3]. Tsze-kung on several occasions
spoke in a different style. Having heard that one of the chiefs of
Lu had said that he himself -- Tsze-kung -- was superior to
Confucius, he observed, 'Let me use the comparison of a house and
its encompassing wall. My wall
1 Ana. IX. i.
2 Ana. IX. iii.
3 Ana. IX. x.
only reaches to the shoulders. One may peep over it, and see
whatever is valuable in the apartments. The wall of my master is
several fathoms high. If one do not find the door and enter by it,
he cannot see the rich ancestral temple with its beauties, nor all
the officers in their rich array. But I may assume that they are
few who find the door. The remark of the chief was only what
might have been expected [1]'
Another time, the same individual having spoken revilingly
of Confucius, Tsze-kung said, 'It is of no use doing so. Chung-ni
cannot be reviled. The talents and virtue of other men are hillocks
and mounds which may be stepped over. Chung-ni is the sun or
moon, which it is not possible to step over. Although a man may
wish to cut himself off from the sage, what harm can he do to the
sun and moon? He only shows that he does not know his own
capacity [2].'
In conversation with a fellow-disciple, Tsze-kung took a
still higher flight. Being charged by Tsze-ch'in with being too
modest, for that Confucius was not really superior to him, he
replied, 'For one word a man is often deemed to be wise, and for
one word he is often deemed to be foolish. We ought to be careful
indeed in what we say. Our master cannot be attained to, just in
the same way as the heavens cannot be gone up to by the steps of
a stair. Were our master in the position of the prince of a State,
or the chief of a Family, we should find verified the description
which has been given of a sage's rule:-- He would plant the
people, and forthwith they would be established; he would lead
them on, and forthwith they would follow him; he would make
them happy, and forthwith multitudes would resort to his
dominions; he would stimulate them, and forthwith they would be
harmonious. While he lived, he would be glorious. When he died, he
would be bitterly lamented. How is it possible for him to be
attained to [3]?'
From these representations of Tsze-kung, it was not a
difficult step for Tsze-sze to take in exalting Confucius not only
to the level of the ancient sages, but as 'the equal of Heaven.' And
Mencius took up the theme. Being questioned by Kung-sun Ch'au,
one of his disciples, about two acknowledged sages, Po-i and I
Yin, whether they were to be placed in the same rank with
Confucius, he replied, 'No. Since there were living men until now,
there never was another Confucius;' and then he proceeded to
fortify his
1 Ana. XIX. xxiii.
2 Ana. XIX. xxiv.
3 Ana. XIX. xxv.
opinion by the concurring testimony of Tsai Wo, Tsze-kung, and Yu
Zo, who all had wisdom, he thought, sufficient to know their
master. Tsai Wo's opinion was, 'According to my view of our
master, he is far superior to Yao and Shun.' Tsze-kung said, 'By
viewing the ceremonial ordinances of a prince, we know the
character of his government. By hearing his music, we know the
character of his virtue. From the distance of a hundred ages after,
I can arrange, according to their merits, the kings of those
hundred ages;-- not one of them can escape me. From the birth of
mankind till now, there has never been another like our master.'
Yu Zo said, 'Is it only among men that it is so? There is the ch'i-
lin among quadrupeds; the fung-hwang among birds; the T'ai
mountain among mounds and ant-hills; and rivers and seas among
rainpools. Though different in degree, they are the same in kind.
So the sages among mankind are also the same in kind. But they
stand out from their fellows, and rise above the level; and from
the birth of mankind till now, there never has been one so
complete as Confucius [1].' I will not indulge in farther
illustration. The judgment of the sage's disciples, of Tsze-sze,
and of Mencius, has been unchallenged by the mass of the scholars
of China. Doubtless it pleases them to bow down at the shrine of
the Sage, for their profession of literature is thereby glorified. A
reflection of the honour done to him falls upon themselves. And
the powers that be, and the multitudes of the people, fall in with
the judgment. Confucius is thus, in the empire of China, the one
man by whom all possible personal excellence was exemplified,
and by whom all possible lessons of social virtue and political
wisdom are taught.
6. The reader will be prepared by the preceding account not
to expect to find any light thrown by Confucius on the great
problems of the human condition and destiny. He did not speculate
on the creation of things or the end of them. He was not troubled
to account for the origin of man, nor did he seek to know about his
hereafter. He meddled neither with physics nor metaphysics [2].
[Sidebar] Subjects on which Confucius did not treat.-- That he
was unreligious, unspiritual, and open to the charge of
insincerity.
The testimony of the Analects about the subjects of his teaching
is the following:-- 'His frequent themes of discourse were the
Book
1 Mencius, II. Pt. I. ii. 23-28.
2 'The contents of the Yi-ching, and Confucius's labors upon it,
may be objected in opposition to this statement, and I must be
understood to make it with come reservation. Six years ago, I
spent all my leisure time for twelve months in the study of that
Work, and wrote out a translation of it, but at the close I was
only groping my way in darkness to lay hold of [footnote continued
next page].
of Poetry, the Book of History, and the maintenance of the rules
of Propriety.' 'He taught letters, ethics, devotion of soul, and
truthfulness.' 'Extraordinary things; feats of strength; states of
disorder; and spiritual beings, he did not like to talk about [1].'
Confucius is not to be blamed for his silence on the
subjects here indicated. His ignorance of them was to a great
extent his misfortune. He had not learned them. No report of them
had come to him by the ear; no vision of them by the eye. And to
his practical mind the toiling of thought amid uncertainties
seemed worse than useless.
The question has, indeed, been raised, whether he did not
make changes in the ancient creed of China [2], but I cannot
believe that he did so consciously and designedly. Had his
idiosyncrasy been different, we might have had expositions of the
ancient views on some points, the effect of which would have
been more beneficial than the indefiniteness in which they are
now left, and it may be doubted so far, whether Confucius was not
unfaithful to his guides. But that he suppressed or added, in order
to bring in articles of belief originating with himself, is a thing
not to be charged against him.
I will mention two important subjects in regard to which
there is a conviction in my mind that he came short of the faith
of the older sages. The first is the doctrine of God. This name is
common in the Shih-ching and Shu-ching. Ti or Shang-Ti appears
there as a personal being, ruling in heaven and on earth, the
author of man's moral nature, the governor among the nations, by
whom kings reign and princes decree justice, the rewarder of the
good, and the punisher of the bad. Confucius preferred to speak of
Heaven. Instances have already been given of this. Two others may
be cited:-- 'He who offends against Heaven has none to whom he
can pray [3]?' 'Alas! ' said he, 'there is no one that knows me.'
Tsze-kung said, 'What do you mean by thus saying that no one
knows you?' He replied, 'I do not murmur against Heaven. I do
[footnote continued from previous page] its scope and meaning,
and up to this time I have not been able to master it so as to
speak positively about it. It will come in due time, in its place, in
the present Publication, and I do not think that what I here say of
Confucius will require much, if any, modification.' So I wrote in
1861; and I at last accomplished a translation of the Yi, which
was published in 1882, as the sixteenth volume of 'The Sacred
Books of 'the East.' I should like to bring out a revision of that
version, with the Chinese text, so as to make it uniform with the
volumes of the Classics previously published. But as Yang Ho said
to Confucius, 'The years do not wait for us.'
1 Ana. VII. xvii; xxiv; xx.
2 See Hardwick's 'Christ and other Masters,' Part iii, pp. 18, 19,
with his reference in a note to a passage from Meadows's 'The
Chinese and their Rebellions.'
3 Ana. III. xiii.
not grumble against men. My studies lie low, and my penetration
rises high. But there is Heaven;-- THAT knows me [1]!' Not once
throughout the Analects does he use the personal name. I would
say that he was unreligious rather than irreligious; yet by the
coldness of his temperament and intellect in this matter, his
influence is unfavourable to the development of ardent religious
feeling among the Chinese people generally; and he prepared the
way for the speculations of the literati of medieval and modern
times, which have exposed them to the charge of atheism.
Secondly, Along with the worship of God there existed in
China, from the earliest historical times, the worship of other
spiritual beings,-- especially, and to every individual, the
worship of departed ancestors. Confucius recognised this as an
institution to be devoutly observed. 'He sacrificed to the dead as
if they were present; he sacrificed to the spirits as if the spirits
were present. He said. "I consider my not being present at the
sacrifice as if I did not sacrifice [2]."' The custom must have
originated from a belief in the continued existence of the dead.
We cannot suppose that they who instituted it thought that with
the cessation of this life on earth there was a cessation also of
all conscious being. But Confucius never spoke explicitly on this
subject. He tried to evade it. 'Chi Lu asked about serving the
spirits of the dead, and the master said, "While you are not able
to serve men, how can you serve their spirits?" The disciple
added, "I venture to ask about death," and he was answered, "While
you do not know life, how can you know about death [3]."' Still
more striking is a conversation with another disciple, recorded in
the 'Narratives of the School.' Tsze-kung asked him, saying, 'Do
the dead have knowledge (of our services, that is), or are they
without knowledge?' The master replied, 'If I were to say that the
dead have such knowledge, I am afraid that filial sons and dutiful
grandsons would injure their substance in paying the last offices
to the departed; and if I were to say that the dead have not such
knowledge, I am afraid lest unfilial sons should leave their
parents unburied. You need not wish, Tsze, to know whether the
dead have knowledge or not. There is no present urgency about the
point. Hereafter you will know it for yourself [4].' Surely this was
not the teaching proper to a sage.
1 Ana. XIV. xxxvii.
2 Ana. III. xii.
3 Ana. XI. xi.
4 家語, 卷二, art. 致思, towards the end.
He said on one occasion that he had no concealments from his
disciples [1]. Why did he not candidly tell his real thoughts on so
interesting a subject? I incline to think that he doubted more
than he believed. If the case were not so, it would be difficult to
account for the answer which he returned to a question as to
what constituted wisdom:-- 'To give one's self earnestly,' said
he, 'to the duties due to men, and, while respecting spiritual
beings, to keep aloof from them, may be called wisdom [2].' At any
rate, as by his frequent references to Heaven, instead of
following the phraseology of the older sages, he gave occasion to
many of his professed followers to identify God with a principle
of reason and the course of nature; so, in the point now in hand, he
has led them to deny, like the Sadducees of old, the existence of
any spirit at all, and to tell us that their sacrifices to the dead
are but an outward form, the mode of expression which the
principle of filial piety requires them to adopt when its objects
have departed this life.
It will not be supposed that I wish to advocate or to defend
the practice of sacrificing to the dead. My object has been to
point out how Confucius recognised it, without acknowledging the
faith from which it must have originated, and how he enforced it
as a matter of form or ceremony. It thus connects itself with the
most serious charge that can be brought against him,-- the charge
of insincerity. Among the four things which it is said he taught,
'truthfulness' is specified [3], and many sayings might be quoted
from him, in which 'sincerity' is celebrated as highly and
demanded as stringently as ever it has been by any Christian
moralist; yet he was not altogether the truthful and true man to
whom we accord our highest approbation. There was the case of
Mang Chih-fan, who boldly brought up the rear of the defeated
troops of Lu, and attributed his occupying the place of honour to
the backwardness of his horse. The action was gallant, but the
apology for it was weak and unnecessary. And yet Confucius saw
nothing in the whole but matter for praise [4]. He could excuse
himself from seeing an unwelcome visitor on the ground that he
was sick, when there was nothing the matter with him [5]. These
were small matters, but what shall we say to the incident which
I have given in the sketch of his Life, p. 79,-- his deliberately
breaking the oath which he had sworn, simply on the ground that
it had been forced from him?
1 Ana. VII. xxiii.
2 Ana. VI. xx.
3 See above, near the beginning of this paragraph.
4 Ana. VI. xiii.
5 Am. XVII. xx.
I should be glad if I could find evidence on which to deny the truth
of that occurrence. But it rests on the same authority as most
other statements about him, and it is accepted as a fact by the
people and scholars of China. It must have had, and it must still
have, a very injurious influence upon them. Foreigners charge a
habit of deceitfulness upon the nation and its government;-- on
the justice or injustice of this charge I say nothing. For every
word of falsehood and every act of insincerity, the guilty party
must bear his own burden, but we cannot but regret the example
of Confucius in this particular. It is with the Chinese and their
sage, as it was with the Jews of old and their teachers. He that
leads them has caused them to err, and destroyed the way of their
paths [1].
But was not insincerity a natural result of the un-religion
of Confucius? There are certain virtues which demand a true
piety in order to their flourishing in the heart of man. Natural
affection, the feeling of loyalty, and enlightened policy, may do
much to build up and preserve a family and a state, but it requires
more to maintain the love of truth, and make a lie, spoken or
acted, to be shrunk from with shame. It requires in fact the living
recognition of a God of truth, and all the sanctions of revealed
religion. Unfortunately the Chinese have not had these, and the
example of him to whom they bow down as the best and wisest of
men, does not set them against dissimulation.
7. I go on to a brief discussion of Confucius's views on
government, or what we may call his principles of political
science. It
[sidebar] His views on government.
could not be in his long intercourse with his disciples but that he
should enunciate many maxims bearing on character and morals
generally, but he never rested in the improvement of the
individual. 'The kingdom, the world, brought to a state of happy
tranquillity [2],' was the grand object which he delighted to think
of; that it might be brought about as easily as 'one can look upon
the palm of his hand,' was the dream which it pleased him to
indulge [3]. He held that there was in men an adaptation and
readiness to be governed, which only needed to be taken advantage
of in the proper way. There must be the right administrators, but
given those, and 'the growth of government would be rapid, just
as vegetation is rapid in the earth; yea, their
1 Isaiah iii. 12.
2 天下平. See the 大學, 經, pars. 4, 5; &c.
3 Ana. III. xi; et al.
government would display itself like an easily-growing rush [1].'
The same sentiment was common from the lips of Mencius.
Enforcing it one day, when conversing with one of the petty rulers
of his time, he said in his peculiar style, 'Does your Majesty
understand the way of the growing grain? During the seventh and
eighth months, when drought prevails, the plants become dry.
Then the clouds collect densely in the heavens; they send down
torrents of rain, and the grain erects itself as if by a shoot. When
it does so, who can keep it back [2]?' Such, he contended, would be
the response of the mass of the people to any true 'shepherd of
men.' It may be deemed unnecessary that I should specify this
point, for it is a truth applicable to the people of all nations.
Speaking generally, government is by no device or cunning
craftiness; human nature demands it. But in no other family of
mankind is the characteristic so largely developed as in the
Chinese. The love of order and quiet, and a willingness to submit
to 'the powers that be,' eminently distinguish them. Foreign
writers have often taken notice of this, and have attributed it to
the influence of Confucius's doctrines as inculcating
subordination; but it existed previous to his time. The character
of the people molded his system, more than it was molded by it.
This readiness to be governed arose, according to Confucius,
from 'the duties of universal obligation, or those between
sovereign and minister, between father and son, between husband
and wife, between elder brother and younger, and those belonging
to the intercourse of friends [3].' Men as they are born into the
world, and grow up in it, find themselves existing in those
relations. They are the appointment of Heaven. And each relation
has its reciprocal obligations, the recognition of which is proper
to the Heaven-conferred nature. It only needs that the sacredness
of the relations be maintained, and the duties belonging to them
faithfully discharged, and the 'happy tranquillity' will prevail all
under heaven. As to the institutions of government, the laws and
arrangements by which, as through a thousand channels, it should
go forth to carry plenty and prosperity through the length and
breadth of the country, it did not belong to Confucius, 'the
throneless king,' to set them forth minutely. And indeed they were
existing in the records of 'the ancient sovereigns.' Nothing new
was needed. It was only
1 中庸, xx. 3.
2 Mencius, I. Pt. I. vi. 6.
3 中庸, xx. 8.
requisite to pursue the old paths, and raise up the old standards.
'The government of Wan and Wu,' he said, 'is displayed in the
records,-- the tablets of wood and bamboo. Let there be the men,
and the government will flourish; but without the men, the
government decays and ceases [1].' To the same effect was the
reply which he gave to Yen Hui when asked by him how the
government of a State should be administered. It seems very wide
of the mark, until we read it in the light of the sage's veneration
for ancient ordinances, and his opinion of their sufficiency.
'Follow,' he said, 'the seasons of Hsia. Ride in the state carriages
of Yin. Wear the ceremonial cap of Chau. Let the music be the Shao
with its pantomimes. Banish the songs of Chang, and keep far
from specious talkers [2].'
Confucius's idea then of a happy, well-governed State did
not go beyond the flourishing of the five relations of society
which have been mentioned; and we have not any condensed
exhibition from him of their nature, or of the duties belonging to
the several parties in them. Of the two first he spoke frequently,
but all that he has said on the others would go into small
compass. Mencius has said that 'between father and son there
should be affection; between sovereign and minister
righteousness; between husband and wife attention to their
separate functions; between old and young, a proper order; and
between friends, fidelity [3].' Confucius, I apprehend, would
hardly have accepted this account. It does not bring out
sufficiently the authority which he claimed for the father and the
sovereign, and the obedience which he exacted from the child and
the minister. With regard to the relation of husband and wife, he
was in no respect superior to the preceding sages who had
enunciated their views of 'propriety' on the subject. We have a
somewhat detailed exposition of his opinions in the 'Narratives of
the School.'-- 'Man,' said he, 'is the representative of Heaven, and
is supreme over all things. Woman yields obedience to the
instructions of man, and helps to carry out his principles [4]. On
this account she can determine nothing of herself, and is subject
to the rule of the three obediences. When young, she must obey her
father and elder brother; when married, she must obey her
husband;
1 中庸, xx. 2.
2 Ana. XV. x.
3 Mencius, III. Pt. I. iv. 8.
4 男子者, 任天道而長萬物者也; 女子者, 順男子之道, 而長其理者也.
when her husband is dead, she must obey her son. She may not
think of marrying a second time. No instructions or orders must
issue from the harem. Woman's business is simply the preparation
and supplying of drink and food. Beyond the threshold of her
apartments she should not be known for evil or for good. She may
not cross the boundaries of the State to attend a funeral. She may
take no step on her own motion, and may come to no conclusion on
her own deliberation. There are five women who are not to be
taken in marriage:-- the daughter of a rebellious house; the
daughter of a disorderly house; the daughter of a house which has
produced criminals for more than one generation; the daughter of
a leprous house; and the daughter who has lost her father and
elder brother. A wife may be divorced for seven reasons, which,
however, may be overruled by three considerations. The grounds
for divorce are disobedience to her husband's parents; not giving
birth to a son; dissolute conduct; jealousy-- (of her husband's
attentions, that is, to the other inmates of his harem);
talkativeness; and thieving. The three considerations which may
overrule these grounds are-- first, if, while she was taken from a
home, she has now no home to return to; second, if she have
passed with her husband through the three years' mourning for his
parents; third, if the husband have become rich from being poor.
All these regulations were adopted by the sages in harmony with
the natures of man and woman, and to give importance to the
ordinance of marriage [1].'
With these ideas of the relations of society, Confucius
dwelt much on the necessity of personal correctness of character
on the part of those in authority, in order to secure the right
fulfillment of the duties implied in them. This is one grand
peculiarity of his teaching. I have adverted to it in the review of
'The Great Learning,' but it deserves some further exhibition, and
there are three conversations with the chief Chi K'ang in which it
is very expressly set forth. 'Chi K'ang asked about government,
and Confucius replied, "To govern means to rectify. If you lead on
the people with correctness, who will dare not to be correct?"'
'Chi K'ang, distressed about the number of thieves in the State,
inquired of Confucius about how to do away with them. Confucius
said, "If you, sir, were not covetous, though you should reward
them to do it, they would not steal."' 'Chi K'ang asked about
government,
1 家語卷三, 本命解
saying, "What do you say to killing the unprincipled for the good
of the principled?" Confucius replied, "Sir, in carrying on your
government, why should you use killing at all? Let your evinced
desires be for what is good, and the people will be good. The
relation between superiors and inferiors is like that between the
wind and the grass. The grass must bend, when the wind blows
across it [1]."'
Example is not so powerful as Confucius in these and many
other passages represented it, but its influence is very great. Its
virtue is recognised in the family, and it is demanded in the
church of Christ. 'A bishop'-- and I quote the term with the simple
meaning of overseer-- 'must be blameless.' It seems to me,
however, that in the progress of society in the West we have
come to think less of the power of example in many departments
of state than we ought to do. It is thought of too little in the
army and the navy. We laugh at the 'self-denying ordinance,' and
the 'new model' of 1644, but there lay beneath them the principle
which Confucius so broadly propounded,-- the importance of
personal virtue in all who are in authority. Now that Great Britain
is the governing power over the masses of India and that we are
coming more and more into contact with tens of thousands of the
Chinese, this maxim of our sage is deserving of serious
consideration from all who bear rule, and especially from those
on whom devolves the conduct of affairs. His words on the
susceptibility of the people to be acted on by those above them
ought not to prove as water spilt on the ground.
But to return to Confucius.-- As he thus lays it down that
the mainspring of the well-being of society is the personal
character of the ruler, we look anxiously for what directions he
has given for the cultivation of that. But here he is very
defective. 'Self-adjustment and purification,' he said, 'with
careful regulation of his dress, and the not making a movement
contrary to the rules of propriety;-- this is the way for the ruler
to cultivate his person [2].' This is laying too much stress on what
is external; but even to attain to this is beyond unassisted human
strength. Confucius, however, never recognised a disturbance of
the moral elements in the constitution of man. The people would
move, according to him, to the virtue of their ruler as the grass
bends to the wind, and that virtue
1 Ana. XII. xvii; xviii; xix.
2 中庸, xx. 14.
would come to the ruler at his call. Many were the lamentations
which he uttered over the degeneracy of his times; frequent were
the confessions which he made of his own shortcomings. It seems
strange that it never came distinctly before him, that there is a
power of evil in the prince and the peasant, which no efforts of
their own and no instructions of sages are effectual to subdue.
The government which Confucius taught was a despotism,
but of a modified character. He allowed no 'jus divinum,'
independent of personal virtue and a benevolent rule. He has not
explicitly stated, indeed, wherein lies the ground of the great
relation of the governor and the governed, but his views on the
subject were, we may assume, in accordance with the language of
the Shu-ching:-- 'Heaven and Earth are the parents of all things,
and of all things men are the most intelligent. The man among
them most distinguished for intelligence becomes chief ruler, and
ought to prove himself the parent of the people [1].' And again,
'Heaven, protecting the inferior people, has constituted for them
rulers and teachers, who should be able to be assisting to God,
extending favour and producing tranquillity throughout all parts
of the kingdom [2].' The moment the ruler ceases to be a minister
of God for good, and does not administer a government that is
beneficial to the people, he forfeits the title by which he holds
the throne, and perseverance in oppression will surely lead to his
overthrow. Mencius inculcated this principle with a frequency and
boldness which are remarkable. It was one of the things about
which Confucius did not like to talk. Still he held it. It is
conspicuous in the last chapter of 'The Great Learning.' Its
tendency has been to check the violence of oppression, and
maintain the self-respect of the people, all along the course of
Chinese history.
I must bring these observations on Confucius's views of
government to a close, and I do so with two remarks. First, they
are adapted to a primitive, unsophisticated state of society. He is
a good counsellor for the father of a family, the chief of a clan,
and even the head of a small principality. But his views want the
comprehension which would make them of much service in a great
dominion. Within three centuries after his death,the government
of China passed into a new phase. The founder of the Ch'in dynasty
conceived the grand idea of abolishing all its feudal kingdoms,
and centralizing their administration in himself. He effected the
revo-
l 2 See the Shu-ching, V. i. Sect. I. 2, 7.
lution, and succeeding dynasties adopted his system, and
gradually molded it into the forms and proportions which are now
existing. There has been a tendency to advance, and Confucius has
all along been trying to carry the nation back. Principles have
been needed, and not 'proprieties.' The consequence is that China
has increased beyond its ancient dimensions, while there has been
no corresponding development of thought. Its body politic has the
size of a giant, while it still retains the mind of a child. Its hoary
age is in danger of becoming but senility.
Second, Confucius makes no provision for the intercourse of
his country with other and independent nations. He knew indeed of
none such. China was to him 'The Middle Kingdom [1],' 'The
multitude of Great States [2],' 'All under heaven [3].' Beyond it
were only rude and barbarous tribes. He does not speak of them
bitterly, as many Chinese have done since his time. In one place
he contrasts their condition favourably with the prevailing
anarchy of the kingdom, saying 'The rude tribes of the east and
north have their princes, and are not like the States of our great
land which are without them [4].' Another time, disgusted with
the want of appreciation which he experienced, he was expressing
his intention to go and live among the nine wild tribes of the east.
Some one said, 'They are rude. How can you do such a thing?' His
reply was, 'If a superior man dwelt among them, what rudeness
would there be [5]?' But had he been a ruler-sage, he would not
only have influenced them by his instructions, but brought them
to acknowledge and submit to his sway, as the great Yu did [6].
The only passage of Confucius's teachings from which any rule
can be gathered for dealing with foreigners is that in the
'Doctrine of the Mean,' where 'indulgent treatment of men from a
distance' is laid down as one of the nine standard rules for the
government of the country [7]. But 'the men from a distance' are
understood to be pin and lu [8] simply,-- 'guests,' that is, or
officers of one State seeking employment in another, or at the
royal court; and 'visitors,' or travelling merchants. Of independent
nations the ancient classics have not any knowledge, nor has
Confucius. So long as merchants from Europe and other parts of
the world could have been content to appear in China as
suppliants, seeking the privilege of trade, so
1 中國.
2 諸夏; Ana. III. v.
3 天下; passim.
4 Ana. III. v.
5 Ana. IX. xiii.
6 書經, III. ii. 10; et al.
7 柔遠人.
8 賓旅.
long the government would have ranked them with the barbarous
hordes of antiquity, and given them the benefit of the maxim
about 'indulgent treatment,' according to its own understanding of
it. But when their governments interfered, and claimed to treat
with that of China on terms of equality, and that their subjects
should be spoken to and of as being of the same clay with the
Chinese themselves, an outrage was committed on tradition and
prejudice, which it was necessary to resent with vehemence.
I do not charge the contemptuous arrogance of the Chinese
government and people upon Confucius; what I deplore, is that he
left no principles on record to check the development of such a
spirit. His simple views of society and government were in a
measure sufficient for the people while they dwelt apart from
the rest of mankind. His practical lessons were better than if
they had been left, which but for him they probably would have
been, to fall a prey to the influences of Taoism and Buddhism, but
they could only subsist while they were left alone. Of the earth
earthy, China was sure to go to pieces when it came into collision
with a Christianly-civilized power. Its sage had left it no
preservative or restorative elements against such a case.
It is a rude awakening from its complacency of centuries
which China has now received. Its ancient landmarks are swept
away. Opinions will differ as to the justice or injustice of the
grounds on which it has been assailed, and I do not feel called to
judge or to pronounce here concerning them. In the progress of
events, it could hardly be but that the collision should come; and
when it did come it could not be but that China should be broken
and scattered. Disorganization will go on to destroy it more and
more, and yet there is hope for the people, with their veneration
for the relations of society, with their devotion to learning, and
with their habits of industry and sobriety; there is hope for them,
if they will look away from all their ancient sages, and turn to
Him, who sends them, along with the dissolution of their ancient
state, the knowledge of Himself, the only living and true God, and
of Jesus Christ whom He hath sent.
8. I have little more to add on the opinions of Confucius.
Many of his sayings are pithy, and display much knowledge of
character; but as they are contained in the body of the Work, I
will not occupy the space here with a selection of those which
have struck myself as most worthy of notice. The fourth Book of
the Analects,
which is on the subject of zan, or perfect virtue, has several
utterances which are remarkable.
Thornton observes:-- 'It may excite surprise, and probably
incredulity, to state that the golden rule of our Saviour, 'Do unto
others as you would that they should do unto you,' which Mr. Locke
designates as 'the most unshaken rule of morality, and foundation
of all social virtue,' had been inculcated by Confucius, almost in
the same words, four centuries before [1].' I have taken notice of
this fact in reviewing both 'The Great Learning' and 'The Doctrine
of the Mean.' I would be far from grudging a tribute of admiration
to Confucius for it. The maxim occurs also twice in the Analects.
In Book XV. xxiii, Tsze-kung asks if there be one word which may
serve as a rule of practice for all one's life, and is answered, 'Is
not reciprocity such a word? What you do not want done to
yourself do not do to others.' The same disciple appears in Book V.
xi, telling Confucius that he was practising the lesson. He says,
'What I do not wish men to do to me, I also wish not to do to men;'
but the master tells him, 'Tsze, you have not attained to that.' It
would appear from this reply, that he was aware of the difficulty
of obeying the precept ; and it is not found, in its condensed
expression at least, in the older classics. The merit of it is
Confucius's own.
When a comparison, however, is drawn between it and the
rule laid down by Christ, it is proper to call attention to the
positive form of the latter, 'All things whatsoever ye would that
men should do unto you, do ye even so to them.' The lesson of the
gospel commands men to do what they feel to be right and good. It
requires them to commence a course of such conduct, without
regard to the conduct of others to themselves. The lesson of
Confucius only forbids men to do what they feel to be wrong and
hurtful. So far as the point of priority is concerned, moreover,
Christ adds, 'This is the law and the prophets.' The maxim was to
be found substantially in the earlier revelations of God. Still it
must be allowed that Confucius was well aware of the
importance of taking the initiative in discharging all the
relations of society. See his words as quoted from 'The Doctrine
of the Mean' on pages 48, 49 above. But the worth of the two
maxims depends on the intention of the enunciators in regard to
their application. Confucius, it seems to me, did not think of the
reciprocity coming into action beyond the circle of his five
relations of society. Possibly, he might have
1 History of China, vol. i. p. 209.
required its observance in dealings even with the rude tribes,
which were the only specimens of mankind besides his own
countrymen of which he knew anything, for on one occasion, when
asked about perfect virtue, he replied, 'It is, in retirement, to be
sedately grave; in the management of business, to be reverently
attentive; in intercourse with others, to be strictly sincere.
Though a man go among the rude uncultivated tribes, these
qualities may not be neglected [1].' Still Confucius delivered his
rule to his countrymen only, and only for their guidance in their
relations of which I have had so much occasion to speak. The rule
of Christ is for man as man, having to do with other men, all with
himself on the same platform, as the children and subjects of the
one God and Father in heaven.
How far short Confucius came of the standard of Christian
benevolence, may be seen from his remarks when asked what was
to be thought of the principle that injury should be recompensed
with kindness. He replied, 'With what then will you recompense
kindness? Recompense injury with justice, and recompense
kindness with kindness [2].' The same deliverance is given in one
of the Books of the Li Chi, where he adds that 'he who
recompenses injury with kindness is a man who is careful of his
person [3].' Chang Hsuan, the commentator of the second century,
says that such a course would be 'incorrect in point of propriety
[4].' This 'propriety' was a great stumbling-block in the way of
Confucius. His morality was the result of the balancings of his
intellect, fettered by the decisions of men of old, and not the
gushings of a loving heart, responsive to the promptings of
Heaven, and in sympathy with erring and feeble humanity.
This subject leads me on to the last of the opinions of
Confucius which I shall make the subject of remark in this place.
A commentator observes, with reference to the inquiry about
recompensing injury with kindness, that the questioner was
asking only about trivial matters, which might be dealt with in
the way he mentioned, while great offences, such as those
against a sovereign or a father, could not be dealt with by such an
inversion of the principles of justice [5]. In the second Book of
the Li Chi there is the following passage:-- 'With the slayer of
his father, a man may not live under the same heaven; against the
slayer of his brother, a man must never have to go home to fetch a
weapon; with the slayer of
1 Ana. XIII. xix.
2 Ana. XIV. xxxvi.
3 禮記, 表記, par. 12.
4 非禮之正.
5 See notes in loc., p. 288.
his friend, a man may not live in the same State [1].' The lex
talionis is here laid down in its fullest extent. The Chau Li tells
us of a provision made against the evil consequences of the
principle, by the appointment of a minister called 'The Reconciler
[2].' The provision is very inferior to the cities of refuge which
were set apart by Moses for the manslayer to flee to from the
fury of the avenger. Such as it was, however, it existed, and it is
remarkable that Confucius, when consulted on the subject, took
no notice of it, but affirmed the duty of blood-revenge in the
strongest and most unrestricted terms. His disciple Tsze-hsia
asked him, 'What course is to be pursued in the case of the murder
of a father or mother?' He replied, 'The son must sleep upon a
matting of grass, with his shield for his pillow; he must decline
to take office; he must not live under the same heaven with the
slayer. When he meets him in the marketplace or the court, he
must have his weapon ready to strike him.' 'And what is the
course on the murder of a brother?' 'The surviving brother must
not take office in the same State with the slayer; yet if he go on
his prince's service to the State where the slayer is, though he
meet him, he must not fight with him.' 'And what is the course on
the murder of an uncle or a cousin?' 'In this case the nephew or
cousin is not the principal. If the principal on whom the revenge
devolves can take it, he has only to stand behind with his weapon
in his hand, and support him [3].'
Sir John Davis has rightly called attention to this as one of
the objectionable principles of Confucius [4]. The bad effects of it
are evident even in the present day. Revenge is sweet to the
Chinese. I have spoken of their readiness to submit to
government, and wish to live in peace, yet they do not like to
resign even to government the 'inquisition for blood.' Where the
ruling authority is feeble, as it is at present, individuals and
clans take the law into their own hands, and whole districts are
kept in a state of constant feud and warfare.
But I must now leave the sage. I hope I have not done him
injustice; the more I have studied his character and opinions, the
more highly have I come to regard him. He was a very great man,
and his influence has been on the whole a great benefit to the
Chinese, while his teachings suggest important lessons to
ourselves who profess to belong to the school of Christ.
1 禮記, I. Sect. I. Pt. v. 10.
2 周禮, 卷之十四, pp. 14-18.
3 禮記, II. Sect. I. Pt. ii. 24. See also the 家語, 卷四, 子貢問.
4 The Chinese, vol. ii. p. 41.
SECTION III.
HIS IMMEDIATE DISCIPLES.
Sze-ma Ch'ien makes Confucius say: 'The disciples who
received my instructions, and could themselves comprehend them,
were seventy-seven individuals. They were all scholars of
extraordinary ability [1].' The common saying is, that the
disciples of the sage were three thousand, while among them
there were seventy-two worthies. I propose to give here a list of
all those whose names have come down to us, as being his
followers. Of the greater number it will be seen that we know
nothing more than their names and surnames. My principal
authorities will be the 'Historical Records,' the 'Narratives of the
School,' 'The Sacrificial Canon for the Sage's Temple, with
Plates,' and the chapter on 'The Disciples of Confucius' prefixed to
the 'Four Books, Text and Commentary, with Proofs and
Illustrations.' In giving a few notices of the better-known
individuals, I will endeavour to avoid what may be gathered from
the Analects.
1. Yen Hui, by designation Tsze-yuan (顏回, 字子淵). He was a
native of Lu, the favourite of his master, whose junior he was by
thirty years, and whose disciple he became when he was quite a
youth. 'After I got Hui,' Confucius remarked, 'the disciples came
closer to me.' We are told that once, when he found himself on the
Nang hill with Hui, Tsze-lu, and Tsze-kung, Confucius asked them
to tell him their different aims, and he would choose between
them. Tsze-lu began, and when he had done, the master said, 'It
marks your bravery.' Tsze-kung followed, on whose words the
judgment was, 'They show your discriminating eloquence.' At last
came Yen Yuan, who said, 'I should like to find an intelligent king
and sage ruler whom I might assist. I would diffuse among the
people instructions on the five great points, and lead them on by
the rules of propriety and music, so that they should not care to
fortify their cities by walls and moats, but would fuse their
swords and spears into implements of agriculture. They should
send forth their flocks without fear into the plains and forests.
There should be no sunderings of families, no widows or
widowers. For a thousand
1 孔子曰，受業身通者，七十有七人，皆異能之士也.
years there would be no calamity of war. Yu would have no
opportunity to display his bravery, or Ts'ze to display his oratory.'
The master pronounced, 'How admirable is this virtue!'
When Hui was twenty-nine, his hair was all white, and in
three years more he died. He was sacrificed to, along with
Confucius, by the first emperor of the Han dynasty. The title
which he now has in the sacrificial Canon,-- 'Continuator of the
Sage,' was conferred in the ninth year of the emperor, or, to speak
more correctly, of the period, Chia-ching, A. D. 1530. Almost all
the present sacrificial titles of the worthies in the temple were
fixed at that time. Hui's place is the first of the four Assessors,
on the east of the sage [1].
2. Min Sun, styled Tsze-ch'ien (閔損，字子騫). He was a native
of Lu, fifteen years younger than Confucius, according to Sze-ma
Ch'ien, but fifty years younger, according to the 'Narratives of the
School,' which latter authority is followed in 'The Annals of the
Empire.' When he first came to Confucius, we are told, he had a
starved look [2], which was by-and-by exchanged for one of
fulness and satisfaction [3]. Tsze-kung asked him how the change
had come about. He replied, 'I came from the midst of my reeds
and sedges into the school of the master. He trained my mind to
filial piety, and set before me the examples of the ancient kings. I
felt a pleasure in his instructions; but when I went abroad, and
saw the people in authority, with their umbrellas and banners,
and all the pomp and circumstance of their trains, I also felt
pleasure in that show. These two things assaulted each other in
1 I have referred briefly, at p. 91, to the temples of Confucius.
The principal hall, called 大成殿, or 'Hall of the Great and
Complete One,' is that in which is his own statue or the tablet of
his spirit, having on each side of it, within a screen, the statues,
or tablets, of his 'four Assessors.' On the east and west, along the
walls of the same apartment, are the two 序, the places of the 十
二哲, or 'twelve Wise Ones,' those of his disciples, who, next to
the 'Assessors,' are counted worthy of honour. Outside this
apartment, and running in a line with the two 序, but along the
external wall of the sacred inclosure, are the two 廡, or side-
galleries, which I have sometimes called the ranges of the outer
court. In each there are sixty-four tablets of the disciples and
other worthies, having the same title as the Wise Ones, that of 先
賢, or 'Ancient Worthy,' or the inferior title of 先儒, 'Ancient
Scholar.' Behind the principal hall is the 崇聖祠殿, sacred to
Confucius's ancestors, whose tablets are in the centre, fronting
the south, like that of Confucius. On each side are likewise the
tablets of certain 'ancient Worthies,' and 'ancient Scholars.'
2 菜色.
3 芻豢之色.
my breast. I could not determine which to prefer, and so I wore
that look of distress. But now the lessons of our master have
penetrated deeply into my mind. My progress also has been helped
by the example of you my fellow-disciples. I now know what I
should follow and what I should avoid, and all the pomp of power
is no more to me than the dust of the ground. It is on this account
that I have that look of fulness and satisfaction.' Tsze-ch'ien was
high in Confucius's esteem. He was distinguished for his purity
and filial affection. His place in the temple is the first, east,
among 'The Wise Ones,' immediately after the four assessors. He
was first sacrificed to along with Confucius, as is to be
understood of the other 'Wise Ones,' excepting in the case of Yu
Zo, in the eighth year of the style K'ai-yuan of the sixth emperor
of the T'ang dynasty, A.D. 720. His title, the same as that of all
but the Assessors, is-- 'The ancient Worthy, the philosopher Min.'
3 . Zan Kang, styled Po-niu (冉耕, 字白 [al. 百] 牛). He was a
native of Lu, and Confucius's junior only by seven years. When
Confucius became minister of Crime, he appointed Po-niu to the
office, which he had himself formerly held, of commandant of
Chung-tu. His tablet is now fourth among 'The Wise Ones,' on the
west.
4. Zan Yung, styled Chung-kung (冉雍, 字仲弓). He was of the
same clan as Zan Kang, and twenty-nine years younger than
Confucius. He had a bad father, but the master declared that was
not to be counted to him, to detract from his admitted excellence.
His place is among 'The Wise Ones,' the second, east.
5. Zan Ch'iu, styled Tsze-yu (冉求, 字子有). He was related to
the two former, and of the same age as Chung-kung. He was noted
among the disciples for his versatile ability and many
acquirements. Tsze-kung said of him, 'Respectful to the old, and
kind to the young; attentive to guests and visitors; fond of
learning and skilled in many arts; diligent in his examination of
things:-- these are what belong to Zan Ch'iu." It has been noted in
the life of Confucius that it was by the influence of Tsze-yu that
he was finally restored to Lu. He occupies the third place, west,
among 'The Wise Ones.'
6. Chung Yu, styled Tsze-lu and Chi-lu (仲由, 字子路, 又字季路).
He was a native of P'ien (卞) in Lu and only
nine years younger than Confucius. At their first interview, the
master asked him what he was fond of, and he replied, 'My long
sword.' Confucius said, 'If to your present ability there were
added the results of learning, you would be a very superior man.'
'Of what advantage would learning be to me?' asked Tsze-lu.
'There is a bamboo on the southern hill, which is straight itself
without being bent. If you cut it down and use it, you can send it
through a rhinoceros's hide;-- what is the use of learning?' 'Yes,'
said the master; 'but if you feather it and point it with steel, will
it not penetrate more deeply?' Tsze-lu bowed ' twice, and said, 'I
will reverently receive your instructions.' Confucius was wont to
say, 'From the time that I got Yu, bad words no more came to my
ears.' For some time Tsze-lu was chief magistrate of the district
of P'u (蒲), where his administration commanded the warm
commendations of the master. He died finally in Wei, as has been
related above, pp. 86, 87. His tablet is now the fourth, east, from
those of the Assessors.
7. Tsai Yu styled Tsze-wo (宰予, 字子我). He was a native of
Lu, but nothing is mentioned of his age. He had 'a sharp mouth,'
according to Sze-ma Ch'ien. Once, when he was at the court of
Ch'u on some commission, the king Chao offered him an easy
carriage adorned with ivory for his master. Yu replied, 'My master
is a man who would rejoice in a government where right
principles were carried out, and can find his joy in himself when
that is not the case. Now right principles and virtue are as it
were in a state of slumber. His wish is to rouse and put them in
motion. Could he find a prince really anxious to rule according to
them, he would walk on foot to his court and be glad to do so. Why
need he receive such a valuable gift, as this from so great a
distance?' Confucius commended this reply; but where he is
mentioned in the Analects, Tsze-wo does not appear to great
advantage. He took service in the State of Ch'i, and was chief
magistrate of Lin-tsze, where he joined with T'ien Ch'ang in some
disorderly movement [1], which led to the destruction of his
kindred, and made Confucius ashamed of him. His tablet is now
the second, west, among 'The Wise Ones.'
8. Twan-mu Ts'ze, styled Tsze-kung (端木賜, 字子貢 [al. 子贛]),
whose place is now third, east, from the Assessors. He
1 與田常作亂. See Sze-ma Ch'ien's Biographies, chap. 7, though
come have doubted the genuineness of this part of the notice of
Tsze-wo.
was a native of Wei (衛), and thirty-one years younger than
Confucius. He had great quickness of natural ability, and appears
in the Analects as one of the most forward talkers among the
disciples. Confucius used to say, 'From the time that I got Ts'ze,
scholars from a distance came daily resorting to me.' Several
instances of the language which he used to express his admiration
of the master have been given in the last section. Here is
another:-- The duke Ching of Ch'i asked Tsze-kung how Chung-ni
was to be ranked as a sage. 'I do not know,' was the reply. 'I have
all my life had the heaven over my head, but I do not know its
height, and the earth under my feet, but I do not know its
thickness. In my serving of Confucius, I am like a thirsty man who
goes with his pitcher to the river, and there he drinks his fill,
without knowing the river's depth.' He took leave of Confucius to
become commandant of Hsin-yang (信陽宰), when the master said
to him, 'In dealing with your subordinates, there is nothing like
impartiality; and when wealth comes in your way, there is
nothing like moderation. Hold fast these two things, and do not
swerve from them. To conceal men's excellence is to obscure the
worthy; and to proclaim people's wickedness is the part of a mean
man. To speak evil of those whom you have not sought the
opportunity to instruct is not the way of friendship and harmony.'
Subsequently Tsze-kung was high in office both in Lu and Wei, and
finally died in Ch'i. We saw how he was in attendance on
Confucius at the time of the sage's death. Many of the disciples
built huts near the master's grave, and mourned for him three
years, but Tsze-kung remained sorrowing alone for three years
more.
9. Yen Yen, styled Tsze-yu (言偃, 字子游), now the fourth in
the western range of 'The Wise Ones.' He was a native of Wu (吳),
forty-five years younger than Confucius, and distinguished for his
literary acquirements. Being made commandant of Wu-ch'ang, he
transformed the character of the people by 'proprieties' and
music, and was praised by the master. After the death of
Confucius, Chi K'ang asked Yen how that event had made no
sensation like that which was made by the death of Tsze-ch'an,
when the men laid aside their bowstring rings and girdle
ornaments, and the women laid aside their pearls and ear-rings,
and the voice of weeping was heard in the lanes for three months.
Yen replied, 'The influences of Tsze-ch'an and my master might be
compared
to those of overflowing water and the fattening rain. Wherever
the water in its overflow reaches, men take knowledge of it,
while the fattening rain falls unobserved.'
10. Pu Shang, styled Tsze-hsia (卜商, 字子夏). It is not
certain to what State he belonged, his birth being assigned to Wei
(衛), to Wei (魏), and to Wan (溫). He was forty-five years younger
than Confucius, and lived to a great age, for we find him, B.C. 406,
at the court of the prince Wan of Wei (魏), to whom he gave copies
of some of the classical Books. He is represented as a scholar
extensively read and exact, but without great comprehension of
mind. What is called Mao's Shih-ching (毛詩) is said to contain the
views of Tsze-hsia. Kung-yang Kao and Ku-liang Ch'ih are also
said to have studied the Ch'un Ch'iu with him. On the occasion of
the death of his son he wept himself blind. His place is the fifth,
east, among 'The Wise Ones.'
11. Chwan-sun Shih, styled Tsze-chang (顓孫師, 字子張), has
his tablet, corresponding to that of the preceding, on the west. He
was a native of Ch'an (陳), and forty-eight years younger than
Confucius. Tsze-kung said, 'Not to boast of his admirable merit;
not to signify joy on account of noble station; neither insolent nor
indolent; showing no pride to the dependent:-- these are the
characteristics of Chwan-sun Shih.' When he was sick, he called
(his son) Shan-hsiang to him, and said, 'We speak of his end in the
case of a superior man, and of his death in the case of a mean
man. May I think that it is going to be the former with me to-
day?'
12. Tsang Shan [or Ts'an] styled Tsze-yu (曾參, 字子輿 [al. 子
與]). He was a native of south Wu-ch'ang, and forty-six years
younger than Confucius. In his sixteenth year he was sent by his
father into Ch'u, where Confucius then was, to learn under the
sage. Excepting perhaps Yen Hui, there is not a name of greater
note in the Confucian school. Tsze-kung said of him, 'There is no
subject which he has not studied. His appearance is respectful.
His virtue is solid. His words command credence. Before great
men he draws himself up in the pride of self-respect. His
eyebrows are those of longevity.' He was noted for his filial
piety, and after the death of his parents, he could not read the
rites of mourning without being led to think of them, and moved
to tears. He was a voluminous writer. Ten Books of his
composition are said to be contained in the 'Rites of the elder Tai'
(大戴禮). The Classic of Filial Piety he is said to have made under
the eye of Confucius. On his connexion with 'The Great Learning,'
see above, Ch. III. Sect. II. He was first associated with the
sacrifices to Confucius in A.D. 668, but in 1267 he was advanced
to be one of the sage's four Assessors. His title-- 'Exhibitor of
the Fundamental Principles of the Sage,' dates from the period of
Chia-ching, as mentioned in speaking of Yen Hui.
13. Tan-t'ai Mieh-ming, styled Tsze-yu (澹臺滅明, 字子羽). He
was a native of Wu-ch'ang, thirty-nine years younger than
Confucius, according to the 'Historical Records,' but forty-nine,
according to the 'Narratives of the School.' He was excessively
ugly, and Confucius thought meanly of his talents in consequence,
on his first application to him. After completing his studies, he
travelled to the south as far as the Yang-tsze. Traces of his
presence in that part of the country are still pointed out in the
department of Su-chau. He was followed by about three hundred
disciples, to whom he laid down rules for their guidance in their
intercourse with the princes. When Confucius heard of his
success, he confessed how he had been led by his bad looks to
misjudge him. He, with nearly all the disciples whose names
follow, first had a place assigned to him in the sacrifices to
Confucius in A.D. 739. The place of his tablet is the second, east,
in the outer court, beyond that of the 'Assessors' and 'Wise Ones.'
14. Corresponding to the preceding, on the west, is the
tablet of Fu Pu-ch'i styled Tsze-tsien (宓 [al. 密 and 虙, all = 伏] 不
齊, 字子賤). He was a native of Lu, and, according to different
accounts, thirty, forty, and forty-nine years younger than
Confucius. He was commandant of Tan-fu (單父宰), and hardly
needed to put forth any personal effort. Wu-ma Ch'i had been in
the same office, and had succeeded by dint of the greatest
industry and toil. He asked Pu-ch'i how he managed so easily for
himself, and was answered, 'I employ men; you employ men's
strength.' People pronounced Fu to be a superior man. He was also
a writer, and his works are mentioned in Liu Hsin's Catalogue.
15. Next to that of Mieh-ming is the tablet of Yuan Hsien,
styled Tsze-sze (原憲, 字子思) a native of Sung or according to
Chang Hsuan, of Lu, and younger than Confucius by thirty-six
years. He was noted for his purity and modesty, and for his
happiness in the principles of the master amid deep poverty.
After the death of Confucius, he lived in obscurity in Wei. In the
notes to Ana. VI. iii, I have referred to an interview which he had
with Tsze-kung.
16. Kung-ye Ch'ang [al. Chih], styled Tsze-ch'ang [al. Tsze-
chih], (公冶長 [al. 芝], 字子長 [al. 子芝]), has his tablet next to that
of Pu-ch'i. He was son-in-law to Confucius. His nativity is
assigned both to Lu and to Ch'i.
17. Nan-kung Kwo, styled Tsze-yung (南宮括 [al. 适 and, in the
'Narratives of the School,' 縚 (T'ao)], 字子容), has the place at the
east next to Yuan Hsien. It is a question much debated whether he
was the same with Nan-kung Chang-shu, who accompanied
Confucius to the court of Chau, or not. On occasion of a fire
breaking out in the palace of duke Ai, while others were intent on
securing the contents of the Treasury, Nan-kung directed his
efforts to save the Library, and to him was owing the
preservation of the copy of the Chau Li which was in Lu, and other
ancient monuments.
18. Kung-hsi Ai, styled Chi-ts'ze [al. Chi-ch'an] (公皙哀, 字季
次 [al. 季沉]). His tablet follows that of Kung-ye. He was a native
of Lu, or of Ch'i. Confucius commended him for refusing to take
office with any of the Families which were encroaching on the
authority of the princes of the States, and for choosing to endure
the severest poverty rather than sacrifice a tittle of his
principles.
19. Tsang Tien, styled Hsi (曾蒧[al. 點], 字皙). .He was the
father of Tsang Shan. His place in the temples is the hall to
Confucius's ancestors, where his tablet is the first, west.
20. Yen Wu-yao, styled Lu (顏無繇, 字路). He was the father of
Yen Hui, younger than Confucius by six years. His sacrificial place
is the first, east, in the same hall as the last.
21. Following the tablet of Nan-kung Kwo is that of Shang
Chu, styled Tsze-mu (商瞿, 字子木). To him, it is said, we are
indebted for the preservation of the Yi-ching, which he received
from Confucius. Its transmission step by step, from Chu down to
the Han dynasty, is minutely set forth.
22. Next to Kung-hsi Ai is the place of Kao Ch'ai, styled
Tsze-kao and Chi-kao (高柴, 字子羔 [al. 季羔; for 羔 moreover, we
find 皋, and 睾]), a native of Ch'i, according to the 'Narratives
of the School,' but of Wei, according to Sze-ma Ch'ien and Chang
Hsuan. He was thirty (some say forty) years younger than
Confucius, dwarfish and ugly, but of great worth and ability. At
one time he was criminal judge of Wei, and in the execution of his
office condemned a prisoner to lose his feet. Afterwards that
same man saved his life, when he was flying from the State.
Confucius praised Ch'ai for being able to administer stern justice
with such a spirit of benevolence as to disarm resentment.
23. Shang Chu is followed by Ch'i-tiao K'ai [prop. Ch'i],
styled Tsze-k'ai, Tsze-zo, and Tsze-hsiu (漆雕開 [pr. 啟], 字子開, 子
若, and 子修脩), a native of Ts'ai (蔡), or according to Chang Hsuan,
of Lu. We only know him as a reader of the Shu-ching, and refusing
to go into office.
24. Kung-po Liao, styled Tsze-chau (公伯僚, 字子周). He
appears in the Analects, XIV. xxxiii, slandering Tsze-lu. It is
doubtful whether he should have a place among the disciples.
25. Sze-ma Kang, styled Tsze-niu (司馬耕, 字子牛), follows
Ch'i-tiao K'ai; also styled 黍耕. He was a great talker, a native of
Sung, and a brother of Hwan T'ui, to escape from whom seems to
have been the labour of his life.
26. The place next Kao Ch'ai is occupied by Fan Hsu, styled
Tsze-ch'ih (樊須, 字子遲), a native of Ch'i, or, according to others,
of Lu, and whose age is given as thirty-six and forty-six years
younger than Confucius. When young, he distinguished himself in a
military command under the Chi family.
27. Yu Zo, styled Tsze-zo (有若, 字子若). He was a native of
Lu, and his age is stated very variously. He was noted among the
disciples for his great memory and fondness for antiquity. After
the death of Confucius, the rest of the disciples, because of some
likeness in Zo's speech to the Master, wished to render the same
observances to him which they had done to Confucius, but on
Tsang Shan's demurring to the thing, they abandoned the purpose.
The tablet of Tsze-zo is now the sixth, east among 'The Wise
Ones,' to which place it was promoted in the third year of Ch'ien-
lung of the present dynasty. This was done in compliance with a
memorial from the president of one of the Boards, who said he
was moved by a dream to make the request. We may suppose that
his real motives were a wish to do Justice to the merits of Tsze-
zo, and to restore the symmetry of the tablets in the 'Hall of the
Great and Complete One,' which had been disturbed by the
introduction of the tablet of Chu Hsi in the preceding reign.
28. Kung-hsi Ch'ih, styled Tsze-hwa (公西赤, 字子華), a native
of Lu, younger than Confucius by forty-two years, whose place is
the fourth, west, in the outer court. He was noted for his
knowledge of ceremonies, and the other disciples devolved on him
all the arrangements about the funeral of the Master.
29. Wu-ma Shih [or Ch'i], styled Tsze-Ch'i (巫馬施 [al. 期], 字
子期 [al. 子旗]), a native of Ch'an, or, according to Chang Hsuan, of
Lu, thirty years younger than Confucius. His tablet is on the east,
next to that of Sze-ma Kang. It is related that on one occasion,
when Confucius was about to set out with a company of the
disciples on a walk or journey, he told them to take umbrellas.
They met with a heavy shower, and Wu-ma asked him, saying,
'There were no clouds in the morning; but after the sun had risen,
you told us to take umbrellas. How did you know that it would
rain?' Confucius said, 'The moon last evening was in the
constellation Pi, and is it not said in the Shih-ching, "When the
moon is in Pi, there will be heavy rain?" It was thus I knew it.'
30. Liang Chan [al. Li], styled Shu-yu (梁鱣 [al. 鯉] 字叔魚),
occupies the eighth place, west, among the tablets of the outer
court. He was a man of Ch'i, and his age is stated as twenty-nine
and thirty-nine years younger than Confucius. The following story
is told in connexion with him.-- When he was thirty, being
disappointed that he had no son, he was minded to put away his
wife. 'Do not do so,' said Shang Chu to him. 'I was thirty-eight
before I had a son, and my mother was then about to take another
wife for me, when the Master proposed sending me to Ch'i. My
mother was unwilling that I should go, but Confucius said, 'Don't
be anxious. Chu will have five sons after he is forty.' It has turned
out so, and I apprehend it is your fault, and not your wife's, that
you have no son yet.' Chan took this advice, and in the second year
after, he had a son.
31. Yen Hsing [al. Hsin, Liu, and Wei], styled Tsze-liu (顏幸
[al. 辛, 柳, and 韋], 字子柳), occupies the place, east, after Wu-ma
Shih. He was a native of Lu, and forty-six years younger than
Confucius.
32. Liang Chan is followed on the west by Zan Zu, styled
Tsze-lu [al. Tsze-tsang and Tsze-yu] (冉孺 [al. 儒] 字*子魯 [al. 子曾
* Digitizer's note: This is 宇 in the source text; I have corrected
what is an obvious misprint.
and 子魚]), a native of Lu, and fifty years younger than Confucius.
33. Yen Hsing is followed on the east by Ts'ao Hsu, styled
Tsze-hsun (曹卹, 字子循), a native of Ts'ai, fifty years younger than
Confucius.
34. Next on the west is Po Ch'ien, styled Tsze-hsi, or, in the
current copies of the 'Narratives of the School,' Tsze-ch'iai (伯虔,
字子皙 [al. 子析] or 子楷), a native of Lu, fifty years younger than
Confucius.
35. Following Tsze-hsun is Kung-sun Lung [al. Ch'ung] styled
Tsze-shih (公孫龍 [al. 寵], 字子石), whose birth is assigned by
different writers to Wei, Ch'u, and Chao (趙). He was fifty-three
years younger than Confucius. We have the following account:--
'Tsze-kung asked Tsze-shih, saying, "Have you not learned the
Book of' Poetry?" Tsze-shih replied, "What leisure have I to do
so? My parents require me to be filial; my brothers require me to
be submissive; and my friends require me to be sincere. What
leisure have I for anything else?" "Come to my Master," said Tsze-
kung, "and learn of him."'
Sze-ma Ch'ien here observes: 'Of the thirty-five disciples
which precede, we have some details. Their age and other
particulars are found in the Books and Records. It is not so,
however, in regard to the fifty-two which follow.'
36. Zan Chi, styled Tsze-ch'an [al. Chi-ch'an and Tsze-ta] (冉
季, 字子產 [al. 季產 and 子達), a native of Lu, whose place is the
11th, west, next to Po Ch'ien.
37. Kung-tsu Kau-tsze or simply Tsze, styled Tsze-chih (公
祖勾茲 [or simply 茲], 字子之), a native of Lu. His tablet is the 23rd,
east, in the outer court.
38. Ch'in Tsu, styled Tsze-nan (秦祖, 字子南), a native of
Ch'in. His tablet precedes that of the last, two places.
39. Ch'i-tiao Ch'ih, styled Tsze-lien (漆雕哆 [al. 侈], 字子斂), a
native of Lu. His tablet is the 13th, west.
40. Yen Kao, styled Tsze-chiao (顏高字子驕). According to the
'Narratives of the School,' he was the same as Yen K'o (刻, or 剋),
who drove the carriage when Confucius rode in Wei after the duke
and Nan-tsze. But this seems doubtful. Other
authorities make his name Ch'an (產), and style him Tsze-tsing (子
精). His tablet is the 13th, east.
41. Ch'i-tiao Tu-fu [al. . Ts'ung], styled Tsze-yu, Tsze-ch'i,
and Tsze-wan (漆雕徒父 [al. 從], 字子有 or 子友 [al. 子期 and 子文]), a
native of Lu, whose tablet precedes that of Ch'i-tiao Ch'ih.
42. Zang Sze-ch'ih, styled Tsze-t'u, or Tsze-ts'ung (壤 [al. 穰]
駟赤, 字子徒 [al. 子從]), a native of Ch'in. Some consider Zang-sze
(壤駟) to be a double surname. His tablet comes after that of No.
40.
43. Shang Chai, styled Tsze-Ch'i and Tsze-hsiu (商澤, 字子季
[al. 子秀]), a native of Lu. His tablet is immediately after that of
Fan Hsu, No. 26.
44. Shih Tso [al. Chih and Tsze]-shu, styled Tsze-ming (石作
[al. 之 and 子], 蜀, 字子明). Some take Shih-tso (石作) as a double
surname. His tablet follows that of No. 42.
45. Zan Pu-ch'i, styled Hsuan (任不齊, 字選), a native of Ch'u,
whose tablet is next to that of No. 28.
46. Kung-liang Zu, styled Tsze-chang (公良孺 [al. 儒], 字子正),
a native of Ch'in, follows the preceding in the temples. The
'Sacrificial Canon' says:-- 'Tsze-chang was a man of worth and
bravery. When Confucius was surrounded and stopped in P'u, Tsze-
chang fought so desperately, that the people of P'u were afraid,
and let the Master go, on his swearing that he would not proceed
to Wei.'
47. Hau [al. Shih] Ch'u [al. Ch'ien], styled Tsze-li [al. Li-ch'ih]
(后 [al. 石] 處 [al. 虔], 字子里 [al. 里之]), a native of Ch'i, having his
tablet the 17th, east.
48. Ch'in Zan, styled K'ai (秦冉, 字開), a native of Ts'ai. He is
not given in the list of the 'Narratives of the School,' and on this
account his tablet was put out of the temples in the ninth year of
Chia-tsing. It was restored, however, in the second year of Yung-
chang, A.D. 1724, and is the 33rd, east, in the outer court.
49. Kung-hsia Shau, styled Shang [and Tsze-shang] (公夏首
[al. 守], 字乘 [and 子乘]), a native of Lu, whose tablet is next to that
of No. 44.
50. Hsi Yung-tien [or simply Tien], styled Tsze-hsi [al. Tsze-
chieh and Tsze-ch'ieh] (系容蒧 [or 點], 字子皙 [al. 子偕 and 子楷]), a
native of Wei, having his tablet the 18th, east.
51. Kung Chien-ting [al. Kung Yu], styled Tsze-chung (公肩 [al.
堅] 定 [al. 公有], 字子仲 [al. 中 and 忠]). His nativity is assigned to Lu,
to Wei, and to Tsin (晉). He follows No. 46.
52. Yen Tsu [al. Hsiang], styled Hsiang and Tsze-hsiang (顏祖
[al. 相], 字襄, and 子襄), a native of Lu, with his tablet following
that of No. 50.
53. Chiao Tan [al. Wu], styled Tsze-kea (鄡單 [al. 鄔＊], 字子
家), a native of Lu. His place is next to that of No. 51.
54. Chu [al. Kau] Tsing-ch'iang [and simply Tsing], styled
Tsze-ch'iang [al. Tsze-chieh and Tsze-mang] (句 [al. 勾 and 鉤] 井疆
[and simply 井], 字子疆 [al. 子界 and 子孟]), a native of Wei,
following No. 52.
55. Han [al. Tsai]-fu Hei, styled Tsze-hei [al. Tsze-so and
Tsze-su] (罕 [al. 宰] 父黑, 字子黑 [al. 子索 and 子素]), a native of Lu,
whose tablet is next to that of No. 53.
56. Ch'in Shang, styled Tsze-p'ei [al. P'ei-tsze and Pu-tsze]
(秦商, 字子丕 [al. 丕茲 and 不茲]), a native of Lu, or, according to
Chang Hsuan, of Ch'u. He was forty years younger than Confucius.
One authority, however, says he was only four years younger, and
that his father and Confucius's father were both celebrated for
their strength. His tablet is the 12th, east.
57. Shin Tang, styled Chau (申黨字周). In the 'Narratives of
the School' there is a Shin Chi, styled Tsze-chau (申續, 字子周). The
name is given by others as T'ang (堂 and 儻) and Tsu (續), with the
designation Tsze-tsu (子續). These are probably the same person
mentioned in the Analects as Shin Ch'ang (申棖). Prior to the Ming
dynasty they were sacrificed to as two, but in A.D. 1530, the
name Tang was expunged from the sacrificial list, and only that
of Ch'ang left. His tablet is the 31st, east.
58. Yen Chih-p'o, styled Tsze-shu [or simply Shu] (顏之僕, 字
子叔 [or simply 叔]), a native of Lu, who occupies the 29th place,
east.
59. Yung Ch'i, styled Tsze-ch'i [al. Tsze-yen] (榮旂 [or 祈], 字
子旗 or 子祺 [al. 子顏]), a native of Lu, whose tablet is the 20th,
west.
*Digitizer's note: The actual variant used by Legge is (鄔左即右).
60. Hsien Ch'ang, styled Tsze-ch'i [al. Tsze-hung] (縣成, 字子
棋 [al. 子橫]), a native of Lu. His place is the 22nd, east.
61. Tso Zan-ying [or simply Ying], styled Hsing and Tsze-
hsing (左人郢 [or simply 郢], 字行 and 子行), a native of Lu. His
tablet follows that of No. 59.
62. Yen Chi, styled An [al. Tsze-sze] (燕伋 [or 級], 字恩 [al. 子
思) a native of Ch'in. His tablet is the 24th east.
63: Chang Kwo, styled Tsze-t'u (鄭國, 字子徒), a native of Lu.
This is understood to be the same with the Hsieh Pang, styled
Tsze-ts'ung (薛邦, 字子從), of the 'Narratives of the School.' His
tablet follows No. 61.
64. Ch'in Fei, styled Tsze-chih (秦非, 字子之), a native of Lu,
having his tablet the 31st, west.
65. Shih Chih-ch'ang, styled Tsze-hang [al. ch'ang] (施之常, 字
子恆 [al. 常]), a native of Lu. His tablet is the 30th, east.
66. Yen K'wai, styled Tsze-shang (顏噲, 字子聲), a native of
Lu. His tablet is the next to that of No. 64.
67. Pu Shu-shang, styled Tsze-ch'e (步叔乘 [in the
'Narratives of the School' we have an old form of 乘], 字子車), a
native of Ch'i. Sometimes for Pu (步) we find Shao (少). His tablet
is the 30th, west.
68. Yuan K'ang, styled Tsze-chi (原亢, 字子籍), a native of Lu.
Sze-ma Ch'ien calls him Yuan K'ang-chi, not mentioning any
designation. The 'Narratives of the School' makes him Yuan K'ang
(抗), styled Chi. His tablet is the 23rd, west.
69. Yo K'o [al. Hsin], styled Tsze-shang (樂欬, [al. 欣], 字子聲),
a native of Lu. His tablet is the 25th, east.
70. Lien Chieh, styled Yung and Tsze-yung [al. Tsze-ts'ao] (廉
潔, 字庸 and 子庸 [al. 子曹), a native of Wei, or of Ch'i. His tablet is
next to that of No. 68.
71. Shu-chung Hui [al. K'wai], styled Tsze-ch'i (叔仲會 [al. 噲],
字子期), a native of Lu, or, according to Chang Hsuan, of Tsin. He
was younger than Confucius by fifty-four years. It is said that he
and another youth, called K'ung Hsuan (孔琁), attended by turns
with their pencils, and acted as amanuenses to the sage, and when
Mang Wu-po expressed a doubt of their competency, Confucius
declared his satisfaction with them. He follows Lien Chieh in the
temples.
72. Yen Ho, styled Zan (顏何, 字冉), a native of Lu. The present
copies of the 'Narratives of the School' do not contain his name,
and in A.D. 1588 Zan was displaced from his place in the temples.
His tablet, however, has been restored during the present dynasty.
It is the 33rd, west.
73. Ti Hei, styled Che [al. Tsze-che and Che-chih] (狄黑, 字晢
[al. 子晢 and 晢之]), a native of Wei, or of Lu. His tablet is the 26th,
east.
74. Kwei [al. Pang] Sun, styled Tsze-lien [al. Tsze-yin] (□
(kui1 刲左邦右) [al. 邦] 巽, 字子歛 [al. 子飲]), a native of Lu. His tablet
is the 27th, west.
75. K'ung Chung, styled Tsze-mieh (孔忠, 字子蔑). This was
the son, it is said, of Confucius's elder brother, the cripple Mang-
p'i. His tablet is next to that of No. 73. His sacrificial title is 'The
ancient Worthy, the philosopher Mieh.'
76. Kung-hsi Yu-zu [al. Yu], styled Tsze-shang (公西輿如 [al.
輿], 字子上), a native of Lu. His place is the 26th, west.
77. Kung-hsi Tien, styled Tsze-shang (公西蒧 [or 點], 字子上
[al. 子尚]), a native of Lu. His tablet is the 28th, east.
78. Ch'in Chang [al. Lao], styled Tsze-k'ai (琴張 [al. 牢], 字子
開), a native of Wei. His tablet is the 29th, west.
79. Ch'an K'ang, styled Tsze-k'ang [al. Tsze-ch'in] (陳亢, 字子
亢 [al. 子禽]), a native of Ch'an. See notes on Ana. I. x.
80. Hsien Tan [al. Tan-fu and Fang], styled Tsze-hsiang (縣亶
[al. 亶父 and 豐], 字子象), a native of Lu. Some suppose that this is
the same as No. 53. The advisers of the present dynasty in such
matters, however, have considered them to be different, and in
1724, a tablet was assigned to Hsien Tan, the 34th, west.
The three preceding names are given in the 'Narratives of
the School.'
The research of scholars has added about twenty others.
81. Lin Fang, styled Tsze-ch'iu (林放, 字子邱), a native of Lu.
The only thing known of him is from the Ana. III. iv. His tablet
was displaced under the Ming, but has been restored by the
present dynasty. It is the first, west.
82. Chu Yuan, styled Po-yu (蘧瑗, 字伯玉), an officer of Wei,
and, as appears from the Analects and Mencius, an intimate
friend of Confucius. Still his tablet has shared the same changes
as that of Lin Fang. It is now the first, east.
83 and 84. Shan Ch'ang (申棖) and Shan T'ang (申堂). See No.
57.
85. Mu P'i (牧皮), mentioned by Mencius, VII. Pt. II. xxxvii. 4.
His entrance into the temple has been under the present dynasty.
His tablet is the 34th, east.
86. Tso Ch'iu-ming or Tso-ch'iu Ming (左丘明) has the 32nd
place, east. His title was fixed in A.D. 1530 to be 'The Ancient
Scholar,' but in 1642 it was raised to that of 'Ancient Worthy.' To
him we owe the most distinguished of the annotated editions of
the Ch'un Ch'iu. But whether he really was a disciple of Confucius,
and in personal communication with him, is much debated.
The above are the only names and surnames of those of the
disciples who now share in the sacrifices to the sage. Those who
wish to exhaust the subject, mention in addition, on the authority
of Tso Ch'iu-ming, Chung-sun Ho-chi (仲孫何忌), a son of Mang Hsi
(see p. 63), and Chung-sun Shwo (仲孫說), also a son of Mang Hsi,
supposed by many to be the same with No. 17; Zu Pei, (孺悲),
mentioned in the Analects, XVII. xx, and in the Li Chi, XVIII. Sect.
II. ii. 22; Kung-wang Chih-ch'iu (公罔之裘) and Hsu Tien (序點),
mentioned in the Li Chi, XLIII. 7; Pin-mau Chia (賓牟賈), mentioned
in the Li Chi, XVII. iii. 16; K'ung Hsuan (孔琁) and Hai Shu-lan (惠叔
蘭), on the authority of the 'Narratives of the School;' Ch'ang Chi
(常季), mentioned by Chwang-tsze; Chu Yu (鞫語), mentioned by
Yen-tsze (晏子); Lien Yu (廉瑀) and Lu Chun (魯峻), on the authority
of 文翁石室; and finally Tsze-fu Ho (子服何), the Tsze-fu Ching-po
(子服景伯) of the Analects, XIV. xxxviii.
CHAPTER VI.
LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL WORKS WHICH HAVE BEEN CONSULTED IN
THE PREPARATION OF THIS VOLUME.
SECTION I.
CHINESE WORKS, WITH BRIEF NOTICES.
十三經註疏, 'The Thirteen Ching, with Commentary and
Explanations.' This is the great repertory of ancient lore upon the
Classics. On the Analects, it contains the 'Collection of
Explanations of the Lun Yu,' by Ho Yen and others (see p. 19), and
'The Correct Meaning,' or Paraphrase of Hsing Ping (see p. 20). On
the Great Learning and the Doctrine of the Mean, it contains the
comments and glosses of Chang Hsuan, and of K'ung Ying-ta (孔穎
達) of the T'ang dynasty.
新刻批點四書讀本, 'A new edition of the Four Books,
Punctuated and Annotated, for Reading.' This work was published
in the seventh year of Tao-kwang (1827) by a Kao Lin (高琳). It is
the finest edition of the Four Books which I have seen, in point of
typographical execution. It is indeed a volume for reading. It
contains the ordinary 'Collected Comments' of Chu Hsi on the
Analects, and his 'Chapters and Sentences' of the Great Learning
and Doctrine of the Mean. The editor's own notes are at the top
and bottom of the page, in rubric.
四書朱子本義匯參, 'The Proper Meaning of the Four Books as
determined by Chu Hsi, Compared with, and Illustrated from,
other Commentators.' This is a most voluminous work, published
in the tenth year of Ch'ien-lung, A.D. 1745, by Wang Pu-ch'ing (王
步青), a member of the Han-lin College. On the Great Learning and
the Doctrine of the Mean, the 'Queries' (或問) addressed to Chu Hsi
and his replies are given in the same text as the standard
commentary.
四書經註集證, 'The Four Books, Text and Commentary, with
Proofs and Illustrations.' The copy of this Work which I have was
edited by a Wang T'ing-chi (汪廷機), in the third
year of Chia-ch'ing, A.D. 1798. It may be called a commentary on
the commentary. The research in all matters of Geography,
History, Biography, Natural History, &c., is immense.
四書諸儒輯要, 'A Collection of the most important Comments
of Scholars on the Four Books.' By Li P'ei-lin (李沛霖); published in
the fifty-seventh K'ang-hsi year, A.D. 1718. This Work is about as
voluminous as the 匯參, but on a different plan. Every chapter is
preceded by a critical discussion of its general meaning, and the
logical connexion of its several paragraphs. This is followed by
the text, and Chu Hsi's standard commentary. We have then a
paraphrase, full and generally perspicuous. Next, there is a
selection of approved comments, from a great variety of authors;
and finally, the reader finds a number of critical remarks and
ingenious views, differing often from the common interpretation,
which are submitted for his examination.
四書翼註論文, 'A Supplemental Commentary, and Literary
Discussions, on the Four Books.' By Chang Chan-t'ao [al. T'i-an] (張
甄陶 [al. 惕菴]), a member of the Han-lin college, in the early part,
apparently, of the reign of Ch'ien-lung. The work is on a peculiar
plan. The reader is supposed to be acquainted with Chu Hsi's
commentary, which is not given; but the author generally supports
his views, and defends them against the criticisms of some of the
early scholars of this dynasty. His own exercitations are of the
nature of essays more than of commentary. It is a book for the
student who is somewhat advanced, rather than for the learner. I
have often perused it with interest and advantage.
四書遵註合講, 'The Four Books, according to the Commentary,
with Paraphrase.' Published in the eighth year of Yung Chang, A.D.
1730, by Wang Fu [al. K'eh-fu] (翁復 [al. 克夫]). Every page is
divided into two parts. Below, we have the text and Chu Hsi's
commentary. Above, we have an analysis of every chapter,
followed by a paraphrase of the several paragraphs. To the
paraphrase of each paragraph are subjoined critical notes,
digested from a great variety of scholars, but without the
mention of their names. A list of 116 is given who are thus laid
under contribution. In addition, there are maps and illustrative
figures at the commencement; and to each Book there are prefixed
biographical notices, explanations of peculiar allusions, &c.
新增四書補註附考備旨, 'The Four Books, with a
Complete Digest of Supplements to the Commentary, and
additional Suggestions. A new edition, with Additions.' By Tu
Ting-chi (杜定基). Published A.D. 1779. The original of this Work
was by Tang Lin (鄧林), a scholar of the Ming dynasty. It is perhaps
the best of all editions of the Four Books for a learner. Each page
is divided into three parts. Below, is the text divided into
sentences and members of sentences, which are followed by short
glosses. The text is followed by the usual commentary, and that
by a paraphrase, to which are subjoined the Supplements and
Suggestions. The middle division contains a critical analysis of
the chapters and paragraphs; and above, there are the necessary
biographical and other notes.
四書味根錄, 'The Four Books, with the Relish of the Radical
Meaning.' This is a new Work, published in 1852. It is the
production of Chin Ch'ang, styled Chi'u-t'an (金澂, 字秋潭), an
officer and scholar, who, returning, apparently to Canton
province, from the North in 1836, occupied his retirement with
reviewing his literary studies of former years, and employed his
sons to transcribe his notes. The writer is fully up in all the
commentaries on the Classics, and pays particular attention to
the labours of the scholars of the present dynasty. To the
Analects, for instance, there is prefixed Chiang Yung's History of
Confucius, with criticisms on it by the author himself. Each
chapter is preceded by a critical analysis. Then follows the text
with the standard commentary, carefully divided into sentences,
often with glosses, original and selected, between them. To the
commentary there succeeds a paraphrase, which is not copied by
the author from those of his predecessors. After the paraphrase
we have Explanations (解). The book is beautifully printed, and in
small type, so that it is really a multum in parvo, with
considerable freshness.
日講四書義解, 'A Paraphrase for Daily Lessons, Explaining the
Meaning of the Four Books.' This work was produced in 1677, by a
department of the members of the Han-lin college, in obedience to
an imperial rescript. The paraphrase is full, perspicuous, and
elegant.
御製周易折中; 書經傳說彙纂; 詩經傳說彙纂; 禮記義疏; 春秋傳說彙纂.
These works form together a superb edition of the Five Ching,
published by imperial authority
in the K'ang-hsi and Yung-chang reigns. They contain the standard
views (傳); various opinions (說); critical decisions of the editors
(晏) ; prolegomena; plates or cuts; and other apparatus for the
student.
毛西河先生全集, 'The Collected Writings of Mao Hsi-ho.' See
prolegomena, p. 20. The voluminousness of his Writings is
understated there. Of 經集, or Writings on the Classics, there are
236 sections, while his 文集, or other literary compositions,
amount to 257 sections. His treatises on the Great Learning and
the Doctrine of the Mean have been especially helpful to me. He is
a great opponent of Chu Hsi, and would be a much more effective
one, if he possessed the same graces of style as that 'prince of
literature.'
四書拓餘說, 'A Collection of Supplemental Observations on
the Four Books.' The preface of the author, Ts'ao Chih-shang (曹之
升), is dated in 1795, the last year of the reign of Ch'ien-lung. The
work contains what we may call prolegomena on each of the Four
Books, and then excursus on the most difficult and disputed
passages. The tone is moderate, and the learning displayed
extensive and solid. The views of Chu Hsi are frequently well
defended from the assaults of Mao Hsi-ho. I have found the Work
very instructive.
鄉黨圖考, 'On the Tenth Book of the Analects, with Plates.'
This Work was published by the author, Chiang Yung (江永), in the
twenty-first Ch'ien-lung year, A.D. 1761, when he was seventy-
six years old. It is devoted to the illustration of the above portion
of the Analects, and is divided into ten sections, the first of
which consists of woodcuts and tables. The second contains the
Life of Confucius, of which I have largely availed myself in the
preceding chapter. The whole is a remarkable specimen of the
minute care with which Chinese scholars have illustrated the
Classical Books
四書釋地; 四書釋地續; 四書釋地又續; 四書釋地三續. We may call
these volumes-- 'The Topography of the Four Books; with three
Supplements.' The Author's name is Yen Zo-ch'u (閻若璩). The first
volume was published in 1698, and the second in 1700. I have not
been able to find the dates of publication of the other two, in
which there is more biographical and general matter than
topographical. The author apologizes for the inappropriateness of
their titles by saying that he could not
help calling them Supplements to the Topography, which was his
'first love.'
皇清經解, 'Explanations of the Classics, under the Imperial
Ts'ing Dynasty.' See above, p. 20. The Work, however, was not
published, as I have there supposed, by imperial authority, but
under the superintendence, and at the expense (aided by other
officers), of Yuan Yuan (阮元), Governor-general of Kwang-tung
and Kwang-hsi, in the ninth year of the last reign, 1829. The
publication of so extensive a Work shows a public spirit and zeal
for literature among the high officers of China, which should keep
foreigners from thinking meanly of them.
孔子家語, 'Sayings of the Confucian Family.' Family is to be
taken in the sense of Sect or School. In Liu Hsin's Catalogue, in
the subdivision devoted to the Lun Yu, we find the entry:--
'Sayings of the Confucian Family, twenty-seven Books,' with a
note by Yen Sze-ku of the T'ang dynasty,-- 'Not the existing Work
called the Family Sayings.' The original Work was among the
treasures found in the wall of Confucius's old house, and was
deciphered and edited by K'ung An-kwo. The present Work is by
Wang Su of the Wei (魏) dynasty, grounded professedly on the
older one, the blocks of which had suffered great dilapidation
during the intervening centuries. It is allowed also, that, since
Su's time, the Work has suffered more than any of the
acknowledged Classics. Yet it is a very valuable fragment of
antiquity, and it would be worth while to incorporate it with the
Analects. My copy is the edition of Li Yung (李容), published in
1780. I have generally called the Work 'Narratives of the School.'
聖廟祀典圖考, 'Sacrificial Canon of the Sage's Temples, with
Plates.' This Work, published in 1826, by Ku Yuan, styled Hsiang-
chau (顧沅, 字湘舟), is a very painstaking account of all the Names
sacrificed to in the temples of Confucius, the dates of their
attaining to that honour, &c. There are appended to it Memoirs of
Confucius and Mencius, which are not of so much value.
十子全書, 'The Complete Works of the Ten Tsze.' See
Morrison's Dictionary, under the character 子. I have only had
occasion, in connexion with this Work, to refer to the writings of
Chwang-tsze (莊子) and Lieh-tsze (列子). My copy is an edition of
1804.
歷代名賢列女氏姓譜, 'A Cyclopaeia of Surnames, or
Biographical Dictionary, of the Famous Men and Virtuous Women
of the Successive Dynasties.' This is a very notable work of its
class; published in 1793, by 蕭智漢, and extending through 157
chapters or Books.
文獻通考, 'General Examination of Records and Scholars.' This
astonishing Work, which cost its author, Ma Twan-lin (馬端臨),
twenty years' labour, was first published in 1321. Remusat says,-
- 'This excellent Work is a library in itself, and if Chinese
literature possessed no other, the language would be worth
learning for the sake of reading this alone.' It does indeed display
all but incredible research into every subject connected with the
Government, History, Literature, Religion, &c., of the empire of
China. The author's researches are digested in 348 Books. I have
had occasion to consult principally those on the Literary
Monuments, embraced in seventy-six Books, from the 174th to the
249th.
朱彝尊經義考, 'An Examination of the Commentaries on the
Classics,' by Chu I-tsun. The author was a member of the Han-lin
college, and the work was first published with an imperial
preface by the Ch'ien-lung emperor. It is an exhaustive work on
the literature of the Classics, in 300 chapters or Books.'
續文獻通考, 'A Continuation of the General Examination of
Records and Scholars.' This Work, which is in 254 Books, and
nearly as extensive as the former, was the production of Wang
Ch'i (王圻), who dates his preface in 1586, the fourteenth year of
Wan-li, the style of the reign of the fourteenth emperor of the
Ming dynasty. Wang Ch'i brings down the Work of his predecessor
to his own times. He also frequently goes over the same ground,
and puts things in a clearer light. I have found this to be the case
in the chapters on the classical and other Books.
二十四史, 'The Twenty-four Histories.' These are the
imperially-authorized records of the empire, commencing with
the 'Historical Records,' the work of Sze-ma Ch'ien, and ending
with the History of the Ming dynasty, which appeared in 1742, the
result of the joint labours of 145 officers and scholars of the
present dynasty. The extent of the collection may be understood
from this, that my copy, bound in English fashion, makes sixty-
three volumes, each one larger than this. No nation has a history
so thoroughly digested; and on the whole it is trustworthy. In pre-
paring this volume, my necessities have been confined mostly to
the Works of Sze-ma Ch'ien, and his successor, Pan Ku (班固), the
Historian of the first Han dynasty.
歷代統記表, 'The Annals of the Nation.' Published by imperial
authority in 1803, the eighth year of Ch'ia-ch'ing. This Work is
invaluable to a student, being, indeed, a collection of
chronological tables, where every year, from the rise of the Chau
dynasty, B.C. 1121, has a distinct column to itself, in which, in
different compartments, the most important events are noted.
Beyond that date, it ascends to nearly the commencement of the
cycles in the sixty-first year of Hwang-ti, giving -- not every
year, but the years of which anything has been mentioned in
history. From Hwang-ti also, it ascends through the dateless ages
up to P'an-ku, the first of mortal sovereigns.
歷代疆域表, 'The Boundaries of the Nation in the successive
Dynasties.' This Work by the same author, and published in 1817,
does for the boundaries of the empire the same service which the
preceding renders to its chronology.
歷代沿革表, 'The Topography of the Nation in the successive
Dynasties.' Another Work by the same author, and of the same date
as the preceding.
___________________________
The Dictionaries chiefly consulted have been:--
The well-known Shwo Wan (說文解字), by Hsu Shan, styled
Shu-chung (許慎, 字叔重), published in A.D. 100; with the
supplement (繫傳) by Hsu Ch'ieh (徐鍇), of the southern Tang
dynasty. The characters are arranged in the Shwo Wan under 540
keys or radicals, as they are unfortunately termed.
The Liu Shu Ku (六書故), by Tai T'ung, styled Chung-ta (戴侗,
字仲達), of our thirteenth century. The characters are arranged in
it, somewhat after the fashion of the R Ya (p. 2), under six general
divisions, which again are subdivided, according to the affinity of
subjects, into various categories.
The Tsze Hui (字彙), which appeared in the Wan-li (萬歷)
reign of the Ming dynasty (1573-1619). The 540 radicals of the
Shwo Wan were reduced in this to 214, at which number they have
since continued.
The K'ang-hsi Tsze Tien (康熙字典), or Kang-hsi Dictionary,
prepared by order of the great K'ang-hsi emperor in 1716. This
is the most common and complete of all Chinese dictionaries for
common use.
The I Wan Pi Lan (蓺文備覽), 'A Complete Exhibition of all the
Authorized Characters,' published in 1787; 'furnishing,' says Dr.
Williams, 'good definitions of all the common characters, whose
ancient forms are explained.'
The Pei Wan Yun Fu (佩文韻府), generally known among
foreigners as 'The Kang-hsi Thesaurus.' It was undertaken by an
imperial order, and published in 1711, being probably, as Wylie
says, 'the most extensive work of a lexicographical character
ever produced.' It does for the phraseology of Chinese literature
all, and more than all, that the Kang-hsi dictionary does for the
individual characters. The arrangement of the characters is
according to their tones and final sounds. My copy of it, with a
supplement published about ten years later, is in forty-five large
volumes, with much more letter-press in it than the edition of
the Dynastic Histories mentioned on p. 133.
The Ching Tsi Tswan Ku, ping Pu Wei (經籍□(纂上饗下)詁并補
遺), 'A Digest of the Meanings in the Classical and other Books,
with Supplement,' by, or rather under the superintendence of, Yuan
Yuan (p. 132). This has often been found useful. It is arranged
according to the tones and rhymes like the characters in the
Thesaurus.
SECTION II.
TRANSLATIONS AND OTHER WORKS.
CONFUCIUS SINARUM PHILOSOPHUS; sive Scientia Sinensis
Latine Exposita. Studio et opera Prosperi Intorcetta, Christiani
Herdritch, Francisci Rougemont, Philippi Couplet, Patrum
Societatis JESU. Jussu Ludovici Magni. Parisiis, 1837.
THE WORKS OF CONFUCIUS; containing the Original Text,
with a Translation. Vol. 1. By J. Marshman. Serampore, 1809. This
is only a fragment of 'The Works of Confucius.'
THE FOUR BOOKS; Translated into English, by Rev. David
Collie, of the London Missionary Society. Malacca, 1828.
L'INVARIABLE MILIEU; Ouvrage Moral de Tseu-sse, en Chinois
et en Mandchou, avec une Version litterale Latine, une Traduction
Francoise, &c. &c. Par M. Abel-Remusat. A Paris, 1817.
LE TA HIO, OU LA GRANDE ETUDE; Traduit en Francoise, avec
une Version Latine, &c. Par G. Pauthier. Paris, 1837.
Y-KING; Antiquissimus Sinarum Liber, quem ex Latina
Interpretatione P. Regis, aliorumque ex Soc. JESU PP. edidit Julius
Mohl. Stuttgartiae et Tubingae, 1839.
MEMOIRES concernant L'Histoire, Les Sciences, Les Arts, Les
Moers, Les Usages, &c., des Chinois. Par les Missionaires de Pekin.
A Paris, 1776-1814.
HISTOIRE GENERALE DE LA CHINE; ou Annales de cet Empire.
Traduites du Tong-Kien-Kang-Mou. Par le feu Pere Joseph-Annie-
Marie de Moyriac de Mailla, Jesuite Francoise, Missionaire a Pekin.
A Paris, 1776-1785.
NOTITIA LINGUAE SINICAE. Auctore P. Premare. Malaccae,
cura Academiae Anglo-Sinensis, 1831.
THE CHINESE REPOSITORY. Canton, China, 20 vols., 1832-
1851.
DICTIONNAIRE DES NOMS, Anciens et Modernes, des Villes et
Arrondissements de Premier, Deuxieme, et Troisieme ordre,
compris dans L'Empire Chinois, &c. Par Edouard Biot, Membre du
Conseil de la Societe Asiatique. Paris, 1842.
THE CHINESE. By John Francis Davis, Esq., F.R.S., &c. In two
volumes. London, 1836.
CHINA: its State and Prospects. By W. H. Medhurst, D. D., of
the London Missionary Society. London, 1838.
L'UNIVERS: Histoire et Description des tous les Peuples.
Chine. Par M. G. Pauthier. Paris, 1838.
HISTORY OF CHINA, from the earliest Records to the Treaty
with Great Britain in 1842. By Thomas Thornton, Esq., Member of
the Royal Asiatic Society. In two volumes. London, 1844.
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM: A Survey of the Geography,
Government, Education, Social Life, Arts, Religion, &c., of the
Chinese Empire. By S. Wells Williams, LL.D. In two volumes. New
York and London, 1848. The Second Edition, Revised, 1883.
THE RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF THE CHINESE. By Rev. Joseph
Edkins, B. A., of the London Missionary Society. London, 1859.
CHRIST AND OTHER MASTERS. By Charles Hardwood, M. A.,
Christian Advocate in the University of Cambridge. Part III.
Religions of China, America, and Oceanica. Cambridge, 1858.
INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF. CHINESE CHARACTERS. By J.
Edkins, D.D. London, 1876.
THE STRUCTURE OF CHINESE CHARACTERS, under 300
Primary Forms. By John Chalmers, M.A., LL.D. Aberdeen, 1882.