Confucius (551 BC-479 BC), named Qiu, whose courtesy name was Zhongni, was born in the State of Lu. He was a great thinker, politician, educator and founder of the Confucian School in ancient China. His thoughts had a profound impact on China and even the world.
Confucius founded a moral theory with benevolence as the core.“ At fifteen, I had my mind bent on learning. At thirty, I stood firm. At forty, I had no doubts. At fifty, I knew the decrees of Heaven. At sixty, my ear was an obedient organ for the reception of truth. At seventy, I could follow what my heart desired, without transgressing what was right.” This was Confucius’ summary of all stages of his life. Confucius’ highest political ideal was to establish a public- oriented society of great harmony. People in the world not only took their families as relatives and showed their parents and children love, but respected each other and loved everyone in the world.
Confucius advocated“ education without discrimination”, broke the monopoly of education, initiated private education, and proposed benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom and trust. In terms of teaching methods, Confucius advocated“ teaching students in accordance with their aptitude”. He would not open up the truth to one who was not eager to get knowledge, nor help out any one who was not anxious to explain himself. He proposed heuristic teaching, and teachers should properly inspire and en lighten students when they had seriously considered and reached a certain level.
Confucius had as many as 3000 disciples, of whom the famous group was“72 sages”. Many of the seventy- two people were senior officials in various countries, and had continued the glory of the Confucian School. After the death of Confucius, his disciples and disciples’ disciples recorded his words, deeds, quotations and thoughts and compiled them into The Analects. The Analects, together with The Great Learning, The Doctrine of the Mean and Mencius, are called the Four Books. The contents of The Analets are mainly quotations and dialogues. The language is concise and refined with profound meanings.They reflect Confucius’ political views, ethical thoughts, moral concepts and educational principles, and are regarded as Confucian classics.
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