37
aphorisms and anecdotes that form
a sort of rule book for good
government—but his use of the
word junzi (literally “gentleman”) to
denote a superior, virtuous man,
indicates that his concerns were as
much social as political. Indeed,
many passages of the Analects
read like a book of etiquette. But
to see the Analects as merely a
social or political treatise is to miss
its central point. At its heart lies a
comprehensive ethical system.
The virtuous life
Before the appearance of the
Hundred Schools of Thought,
the world had been explained by
mythology and religion, and power
and moral authority were generally
accepted to be god-given. Confucius
is pointedly silent about the gods,
but he often refers to tian, or
See also: Thales of Miletus 22–23 ■ Laozi 24–25 ■ Pythagoras 26–29 ■ Siddhartha Gautama 30–33 ■ Heraclitus 40 ■
Hajime Tanabe 244–45
THE ANCIENT WORLD
Heaven, as the source of moral
order. According to the Analects,
we humans are the agents that
Heaven has chosen to embody its
will and to unite the world with
the moral order—an idea that was
in line with traditional Chinese
thinking. What breaks with
tradition, however, is Confucius’s
belief that de—virtue—is not
something Heaven-sent for the
ruling classes, but something that
can be cultivated—and cultivated
by anyone. Having himself risen to
be a minister of the Zhou court,
he believed that it was a duty of
the middle classes, as well as the
rulers, to strive to act with virtue
and benevolence (ren) to achieve
a just and stable society.
To reconcile the fact that society
was a rigid class system with his
belief that all men can receive theblessing of the Heavenly Mandate,
Confucius argues that the virtuous
man is not simply one who stands
at the top of the social hierarchy,
but one who understands his
place within that hierarchy and
embraces it to the full. And to
define the various means of acting
in accordance with de—virtue—he
turns to traditional Chinese values:
zhong, loyalty; xiao, filial piety; li,
ritual propriety; and shu, reciprocity.
The person who sincerely observes
these values Confucius called junzi,
the gentleman or superior man, by
which he means a man of virtue,
learning, and good manners.
The values of de had evolved
within the ruling classes but had
become little more than empty
gestures in the disintegrating
world of the Zhou Dynasty.
Confucius is attempting to ❯❯Virtue can then
be seen by others.Faithfulness
and sincerity...Virtue is then
made manifest
in the world.Others are
transformed
by virtue.Faithfulness and sincerity
hold the power of
transformation....are shown in traditional
rituals and ceremonies.These qualities in these
settings allow virtue to
become visible.