How Confucius is depicted in Analects

In order to achieve the political purpose of returning to the Rites of Zhou, Confucius made a very important move, namely, rectifying the discipline and status. The Rites of Zhou had strict regulations on hierarchy, emphasizing the order of Kings and ministers, the upper and the lower rank, and the senior and the young, which represented the status, power and property corresponding to various hierarchies. In order to figure out where people stand in society, it is necessary to "rank them" so that everyone is in his place and not messing around. At that time, many people could not consciously abide by their own status, always doing things above their level, enjoy the treatment above their level. The idea of rectifying the discipline and status, proposed by Confucius, attempted to change this phenomenon so that people could be satisfied with their status.

According to the chapter "Zi Lu", Confucius and his disciple Zi Lu had this conversation when traveling around the countries,

“子路曰:“卫君待子而为政,子将奚先?"子曰:“必先正名乎!"子路曰:“有是哉,子之迁也!奚其正?"子曰:“野哉,由也!君子于其所不知,盖阙如也。名不正则言不顺,言不顺则事不成,事不成则礼乐不兴,礼乐不兴则刑罚不中,刑罚不中则民无所措手足。故君子名之必可言也，言之必可行也。君子于其言,无所苟而已矣。”[1]

At that time, something complicated and difficult happened in the state of Wei. Disliked by the King Wel Linggong, the prince Kuaikui had to flee to a foreign country. When the King Wel Linggong died, Zhe, the son of Kuaikui and the grandson of Wel Linggong, succeeded to the throne. Nine years later, Kuaikui returned with the help of the State of Jin and demanded his restoration. But Zhe sent troops to stop it. Zi Lu who was serving as an official in the state of Wei, asked Confucius, if he were an official of the state of Wei, what would he do first?

In the above conversation, Confucius proposed that “we must rectify the discipline and status according to the orthodox ethical concepts and etiquette relations”, which was a idea based on the rites and music system of the Zhou Dynasty. In the Zhou Dynasty, a dynasty with a fairly perfect patriarchal hierarchy, it was all right for the King to manage a country well as long as his people were in their own positions and did their own things well. However, the struggle between Kuaikui and Zhe, a struggle for power, is difficult to resolve only by rectifying their status. Thus, Zi Lu criticized Confucius’ idea as obsolete. Although this idea of Confucius was not enough to solve the problem at that time, it had a great influence on Chinese culture. "Rectifying the discipline and status" is always an indispensable part of Chinese political thought.

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According to the chapter "Xian Wen", Confucius and his disciple Zi Lu had this conversation about being a superior man,

子路问君子。子曰:“修己以敬。”曰:“如斯而已乎?"曰:“修已以安人。”曰：“如斯而已乎?”曰:“修已以安百姓。修已以安百姓,尧舜其犹病诸?”[1]

Zi Lu asked what constituted the superior man. The Master said, "The cultivation of himself in reverential carefulness.""And is this all?" said Zi Lu. "He cultivates himself so as to give rest to others," was the reply. "And is this all?" again asked Zi Lu.  The Master said, "He cultivates himself so as to give rest to all the people. He cultivates himself so as to give rest to all the people - even Yao and Shun were still solicitous about this." 

Confucius put forward an important proposition here, that is, "修已以安百姓", which means “To cultivate people and give them rest”. According to Confucius, a monarch should first improve his own self-cultivation, and on this basis make life better for his people. This goal was so high that even Yao and Shun could not really achieve it, but the ideal political system must be so. In the point of view of Confucius, ruling a country by decree and punishment alone can certainly achieve some results, but it is unlikely to win people's support, nor for long. People do it out of fear and pressure, and there's no real sense of shame. On the contrary, the combination of moral education with the administrative system can arouse people's moral consciousness, making them not only have a sense of shame, but also sincerely submit to the government. Only in this way can social governance be sustainable.

Confucius lived at the end of the Spring and Autumn period, a time when the old and the new were changing, when everything was growing and disappearing, and when people were most concerned about how to face theTimes and how to get out of the turmoil. Confucius was the descendant of the Yin people and lived in the State of Lu, where the Rites of Zhou was relatively intact. This special background decided that he chose the road of the Return to the Rites of Zhou. In this process, he studied and spread the Rites of Zhou seriously, and made great efforts to restore the Rites of Zhou. More importantly, he creatively transformed the ancient concept of "benevolence" and endowed it with new content, taking benevolence as the internal basis of performing rites, thus forming a complete set of moral theories. Totally different from other schools of thought at that time, Confucius’ thought followed a moral path. The school based on the moral path is Confucianism. Confucianism has exerted a great influence on all aspects of Chinese national spiritual life during its development of more than two thousand years.

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[1] Confucius. (2021, November 23). Retrieved December 05, 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucius

[2] ​Confucius. (1999). The analects of Confucius : a philosophical translation. New York :Ballantine Books

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