The Chinese Classics (Prolegomena), James Legge [popular books of all time TXT] 📗

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 ���O, ���O, par. 12.

4 �D������.

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 ���O, I. Sect. I. Pt. v. 10.

2 �P��, �����Q�|, pp. 14-18.

3 ���O, II. Sect. I. Pt. ii. 24. See also the �a�y, ���|, �l�^��.

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 (�C�^, �r�l�W). 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 ���l���A���~���q���A�C�Q���C�H�A���������h�].

 

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 (�{�l�A�r�l��). 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 �j����, 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 ��, the places of the �Q �G��, 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 ��, but along the external wall of the sacred inclosure, are the two �u, 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 �� ��, or ‘Ancient Worthy,’ or the inferior title of ����, ‘Ancient Scholar.’ Behind the principal hall is the �R�t����, 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 ����.

3 ��������.

 

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 (�T��, �r�� [al. ��] ��). 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