WORDS OF WISDOM | Confucius Life-Changing Quotes( Ancient Chinese Philosophy)

The philosophy of Confucius, also known as Confucianism, emphasized personal and governmental morality, the correctness of social relationships, justice, kindness, and sincerity. His followers competed successfully with many other schools during the Hundred Schools of Thought era only to be suppressed in favor of the Legalists during the Qin dynasty.

Confucius’s life, in contrast to his tremendous importance, seems starkly undramatic, or, as a Chinese expression has it, it seems “plain and real.” The plainness and reality of Confucius’s life, however, underlines that his humanity was not revealed truth but an expression of self-cultivation, of the ability of human effort to shape its own destiny. The faith in the possibility of ordinary human beings to become awe-inspiring sages and worthies is deeply rooted in the Confucian heritage, and the insistence that human beings are teachable, improvable, and perfectible through personal and communal endeavor is typically Confucian.

Although the facts about Confucius’s life are scanty, they do establish a precise time frame and historical context. Confucius was born in the 22nd year of the reign of Duke Xiang of Lu (551 BCE). The traditional claim that he was born on the 27th day of the eighth lunar month has been questioned by historians, but September 28 is still widely observed in East Asia as Confucius’s birthday. It is an official holiday, “Teachers’ Day,” in Taiwan.

The keynote in Chinese philosophy is humanism: man and his society have occupied, if not monopolized, the attention of Chinese philosophers throughout the ages. Ethical and political discussions have overshadowed any metaphysical speculation. It must quickly be added, however, that this humanism does not imply any indifference to a supreme power or to Nature. Instead, the general conclusion represented in Chinese philosophy is that of the unity of man and heaven. This spirit of synthesis has characterized the entire history of Chinese philosophy.

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