Attitude of Confucius.--Under the influence of Confucius, B.C. 551-479,
the old order of things began to undergo a change. The Sage's attitude
of mind towards religion was one of a benevolent agnosticism, as summed
up in his famous utterance, "Respect the spirits, but keep them at a
distance." That he fully recognised the existence of a spirit world,
though admitting that he knew nothing about it, is manifest from the
following remarks of his:--
"How abundantly do spiritual beings display the powers that belong to
them! We look for, but do not see them; we listen for, but do not hear
them; yet they enter into all things, and there is nothing without them.
They cause all the people in the empire to fast and purify themselves,
and array themselves in their richest dresses, in order to attend at
their sacrifices. Then, like overflowing water, they seem to be over the
heads, and on the right and left, of their worshippers."
He believed that he himself was, at any rate to some extent, a prophet
of God, as witness his remarks when in danger from the people of
K'uang:--
"After the death of King Wen, was not wisdom lodged in me? If God were
to destroy this wisdom, future generations could not possess it. So long
as God does not destroy this wisdom, what can the people of K'uang do to
me?"
Again, when Confucius cried, "Alas! there is no one that knows me," and
a disciple asked what was meant, he replied, "I do not murmur against
God. I do not mumble against man. My studies lie low, and my penetration
lies high. But there is God; He knows me."
We know that Confucius fasted, and we know that "he sacrificed to the
spirits as though the spirits were present;" it is even stated that
"when a friend sent him a present, though it might be a carriage and
horses, unless it were flesh which had been used in sacrifice, he did
not bow." He declared that for a person in mourning food and music were
without flavour and charm; and whenever he saw anyone approaching
who was in mourning dress, even though younger than himself, he
would immediately rise from his seat. He believed in destiny; he was
superstitious, changing colour at a squall or at a clap of thunder; and
he even countenanced the ceremonies performed by villagers when driving
out evil spirits from their dwellings. He protested against any attempt
to impose on God. He said that "he who offends against God has none to
whom he can pray;" and when in an hour of sickness a disciple asked to
be allowed to pray for him, he replied, "My praying has been for a long
time." Yet he declined to speak to his disciples of God, of spiritual
beings or even of death and a hereafter, holding that life and its
problems were alone sufficient to tax the energies of the human race.
While not altogether ignoring man's duty towards God, he subordinated
it in every way to man's duty towards his neighbour. He also did much
towards weakening the personality of God, for whom he invariably
used _T'ien_, never _Shang Ti_, regarding Him evidently more as
an abstraction than as a living sentient Being, with the physical
attributes of man. Confucianism is therefore entirely a system of
morality, and not a religion.
It is also a curious fact that throughout the _Spring and Autumn_, or
Annals of the State of Lu, which extend from B.C. 722 to B.C. 484, there
is no allusion of any kind to the interposition of God in human affairs,
although a variety of natural phenomena are recorded, such as have
always been regarded by primitive peoples as the direct acts of an
angered or benevolent Deity. Lu was the State in which Confucius was
born, and its annals were compiled by the Sage himself; and throughout
these Annals the term God is never used except in connection with the
word "King," where it always has the sense of "by the grace of God,"
and once where the suzerain is spoken of as "the Son of God," or, as we
usually phrase it, "the Son of Heaven."
How to bring rain.--In the famous Commentary by Tso-ch'iu Ming on the
_Spring and Autumn_, which imparts a human interest to the bald entries
set against each year of these annals, there are several allusions to
the Supreme Being. For instance, at a time of great drought the Duke of
Lu wished, in accordance with custom, to burn a witch and a person in
the last stage of consumption; the latter being sometimes exposed in the
sun so as to excite the compassion of God, who would then cause rain
to fall. A Minister vigorously protested against this superstition,
pointing out that the proper way to meet a drought would be to reduce
the quantity of food consumed, and to practise rigid economy in all
things. "What have these creatures to do with the matter?" he asked. "If
God had wished to put them to death, He had better not have given
them life. If they can really produce drought, to burn them will only
increase the calamity." The Duke accordingly desisted; and although
there was a famine, it is said to have been less severe than usual.
In B.C. 523 there was a comet. A Minister said, "This broom-star sweeps
away the old, and brings in the new. The doings of God are constantly
attended by such appearances."
Under B.C. 532 we have the record of a stone speaking. The Marquis of
Lu enquired of his chief musician if this was a fact, and received the
following answer: "Stones cannot speak. Perhaps this one was possessed
by a spirit. If not, the people must have heard wrong. And yet it
is said that when things are done out of season, and discontents and
complaints are stirring among the people, then speechless things do
speak."
Human Sacrifices.--Human sacrifices appear to have been not altogether
unknown. The _Commentary_ tells us that in B.C. 637, in consequence of
a failure to appear and enter into a covenant, the Viscount of Tseng was
immolated by the people of the Chu State, to appease the wild tribes
of the east. The Minister of War protested: "In ancient times the six
domestic animals were not offered promiscuously in sacrifice; and for
small matters, the regular sacrificial animals were not used. How then
should we dare to offer up a man? Sacrifices are performed for the
benefit of men, who thus as it were entertain the spirits. But if men
sacrifice men, who will enjoy the offering?"
Again, in B.C. 529, the ruler of the Ch'u State destroyed the Ts'ai
State, and offered up the heir apparent as a victim. An officer said,
"This is inauspicious. If the five sacrificial animals may not be used
promiscuously, how much less can a feudal prince be offered up?"
The custom of burying live persons with the dead was first practised in
China in B.C. 580. It is said to have been suggested by an earlier
and more harmless custom of placing straw and wooden effigies in the
mausolea of the great. When the "First Emperor" died in B.C. 210, all
those among his wives who had borne no children were buried alive with
him.
Praying for Rain.--From another Commentary on the _Spring and Autumn_,
by Ku-liang Shu, fourth century B.C., we have the following note on
Prayers for Rain, which are still offered up on occasions of drought,
but now generally through the medium of Taoist and Buddhist priests:--
"Prayers for rain should be offered up in spring and summer only; not in
autumn and winter. Why not in autumn and winter? Perhaps the moisture of
growing things is not then exhausted; neither has man reached the limit
of his skill. Why in spring and summer? Because time is pressing and
man's skill is of no further avail. How so? Because without rain just
then nothing could be made to grow; the crops would fail, and famine
ensue. But why wait until time is pressing, and man's skill of no
further avail? Because to pray for rain is the same thing as asking a
favour, and the ancients did not lightly ask favours. Why so? Because
they held it more blessed to give than to receive; and as the latter
excludes the former, the main object of man's life is taken away. How
is praying for rain asking a favour? It is a request that God will do
something for us. The divine men of old who had any request to make to
God were careful to prefer it in due season. At the head of all his high
officers of State, the prince would proceed in person to offer up his
prayer. He could not ask any one else to go as his proxy."
Posthumous Honours for Confucius.--Before leaving Confucius, it is
necessary to add that now for many centuries he has been the central
figure and object of a cult as sincere as ever offered by man to any
being, human or divine. The ruler of Confucius' native State of Lu was
profoundly distressed by the Sage's death, and is said to have built a
shrine to commemorate his great worth, at which sacrifices were offered
at the four seasons. By the time however that the Chou dynasty was
drawing to its close (third century B.C.), it would be safe to say
that, owing to civil war and the great political upheaval generally, the
worship of Confucius was altogether discontinued. It certainly did not
flourish under the "First Emperor" (see _post_), and was only revived in
B.C. 195 by the first Emperor of the Han dynasty, who visited the grave
of Confucius in Shantung and sacrificed to his spirit a pig, a sheep,
and an ox. Fifty years later a temple was built to Confucius at his
native place; and in A.D. 72 his seventy-two disciples were admitted
to share in the worship, music being shortly afterwards added to the
ceremonial. Gradually, the people came to look upon Confucius as a
god, and women used to pray to him for children, until the practice was
stopped by Edict in A.D. 472. In 505, which some consider to be the date
of the first genuine Confucian Temple, wooden images of the Sage were
introduced; in 1530 these were abolished, and inscribed tablets of wood,
in use at the present day, were substituted. In 555 temples were placed
in all prefectural cities; and later on, in all the important cities
and towns of the empire. In the second and eighth months of each
year, before dawn, sacrifices to Confucius are still celebrated with
considerable solemnity and pomp, including music and dances by bands of
either thirty-six or sixty-four performers.
Mencius and Confucianism.--Mencius, who lived B.C. 372-289, and devoted
himself to the task of spreading and consolidating the Confucian
teachings, made no attempt to lead back the Chinese people towards their
early beliefs in a personal God and in a spiritual world beyond the ken
of mortals. He observes in a general way that "those who obey God are
saved, while those who rebel against Him perish," but his reference is
to this life, and not to a future one. He also says that those whom God
destines for some great part, He first chastens by suffering and
toil. But perhaps his most original contribution will be found in the
following paragraph:--
"By exerting his mental powers to the full, man comes to understand his
own nature. When he understands his own nature, he understands God."
In all the above instances the term used for God is _T'ien_. Only in one
single passage does Mencius use _Shang Ti_:--"Though a man be wicked, if
he duly prepares himself by fasting and abstinence and purification by
water, he may sacrifice to God."
Ch'u Yuan.--The statesman-poet Ch'u Yuan, B.C. 332-295, who drowned
himself in despair at his country's outlook, and whose body is still
searched for annually at the Dragon-Boat festival, frequently alludes to
a Supreme Being:--
Almighty God, Thou who art impartial,
And dost appoint the virtuous among men as Thy Assistants.
One of his poems is entitled "God Questions," and consists of a number
of questions on various mysteries in the universe. The meaning of the
title would be better expressed by "Questions put to God," but we are
told that such a phrase was impossible on account of the holiness of
God and the irreverence of questioning Him. One question was, "Who has
handed down to us an account of the beginning of all things, and how
do we know anything about the time when heaven and earth were without
form?" Another question was, "As Nu-ch'i had no husband, how could she
bear nine sons?" The _Commentary_ tells us that Nu-ch'i was a "divine
maiden," but nothing more seems to be known about her.
The following prose passage is taken from Ch'u Yuan's biography:--
"Man came originally from God, just as the individual comes from his
parents. When his span is at an end, he goes back to that from which
he sprang. Thus it is that in the hour of bitter trial and exhaustion,
there is no man but calls to God, just as in his hours of sickness and
sorrow every one of us will turn to his parents."
The great sacrifices to God and to Earth, as performed by the early
rulers of China, had been traditionally associated with Mount T'ai, in
the modern province of Shantung, one of China's five sacred mountains.
Accordingly, in B.C. 219, the self-styled "First Emperor," desirous
of restoring the old custom, which had already fallen into desuetude,
proceeded to the summit of Mount T'ai, where he is said to have carried
out his purpose, though what actually took place was always kept a
profound secret. The literati, however, whom the First Emperor had
persecuted by forbidding any further study of the Confucian Canon, and
burning all the copies he could lay hands on, gave out that he had been
prevented from performing the sacrifices by a violent storm of rain,
alleging as a reason that he was altogether deficient in the virtue
required for such a ceremony.
It may be added that in B.C. 110 the then reigning Emperor proceeded
to the summit of Mount T'ai, and performed the great sacrifice to God,
following this up by sacrificing to Earth on a hill at the foot of
the mountain. At the ceremony he was dressed in yellow robes, and was
accompanied by music. During the night there was light, and a white
cloud hung over the altar. The Emperor himself declared that he saw
a dazzling glory, and heard a voice speaking to him. The truthful
historian--the Herodotus of China--who has left an account of these
proceedings, accompanied the Emperor on this and other occasions; he
was also present at the sacrifices offered before the departure of the
mission, and has left it on record that he himself actually heard the
voices of spirits.