Confucian Disciples Ideological Differentiation

This dissertation aims at clarifying the respective ideology of the main disciples of Confucius, thereby exploring the potential development of Confucianism after Confucius. By studying the different behavior and thought of disciples of Confucius, this dissertation classifies them into four types: Confucians keeping the Dao of Confucianism, Confucians devoted to politics, Confucians devoted to ceremony and literature and dissociated Confucians.Part â…  Confucians keeping the Dao of Confucianism They usually clung to the basic spirit and principle of Confucius and embodied its character in an all-around way. They not only practiced benevolence and righteousness, but also clung to the social and political ideal of "changing the world by practicing the doctrines of Confucius". Among these disciples of Confucius, the most important person was Yanhui, next was Zengshen. They developed the mental aspect of Confucianism from different perspectives.Of all the disciples of Confucius. Yanhui was the very person who understood thespirit of Confucius most deeply and practiced them most adequately. If he hadn't passedaway too early, he would be the most influential person who could carry on the cause ofConfucius. Yanhui studied hard and kept the doctrines of Confucius even if it wasdeviated from the realistic utility in fact, showing his affirmation of surmounting valueto the doctrines of Confucius. The significance of Yanhui's behavior lies in the fact thatalthough he lived a simple and unadorned life, he constructed a subjective inner worldand eschewed the dependence on exterior social reality. This also means thatConfucianism can have strong theoretical vigor in the face of life, soul and emotion, thelife state of Yanhui himself being a best embodiment of the theoretical vigor. At thesame time, Confucianism as a part of social political theory was laid aside temporarilyin a sense, but it was never given up. Confucianism called on everybody to pay closeattention to his own inner world and moral life by a kind of happy sense of life state,and it also realized its pursuit of "doctrines of the world". Though its feasibility isdeficient, it has relatively intact theoretical system.Zengzi was one of the representative disciples in Confucius' old age. He had the systematic and profound understanding of Confucianism. He interpreted Confucius' "consistent doctrines" as "conscientiousness and altruism", thus constructing basic theoretical principle of Confucius. He also proposed self-cultivating method of "introspecting myself three times every day" in order to pursue ethical purity and perfection. More important, Zengzi still had a strong sense of duty though he was restricted by rules and criteria. He carried out his knowledge into his life consciousness, and developed the academic characteristic of "keeping forging ahead" of Confucianism. Also he showed the Confucian personality idea of "first improving oneself, then improving all the other people". All in all, we can grasp the principle, method and goal of Confucianism by the theory of Zengzi. Therefore, it is safe to say that Zengzi was the exact person who kept doctrines of Confucius. In addition, the idea of filial piety occupied a fundamental position in Zengzi's theory and it became a theoretical prerequisite of practicing benevolence and realizing virtue. Parents were the foundation of every person's actual being and every person also embodied the continuity of his parents* body and spirit because of blood relationship. So filial piety became a kind of bounden responsibility and also a starting point of one's behavior. Because filial piety was the foundation and starting point of all of the moral behavior, such as benevolence, righteousness, ritual and good faith, fulfilling his duty to his parents became an agent urging a person to be kind to other people. The moral concept of Zengzi provides an explanation of life ontology from a specific angle and we can regard it as a new form of the development of Confucianism.Part II Confucians devoted to politicsConfucians of this type usually participated in governing the nation and tried to realize their political ambition. Especially those disciples of Confucius who followed Confucius and participated in the social and political activities regarded governing the nation as the main goal of studying Confucianism. Compared with Confucians keeping the doctrines of Confucius, they paid more attention to the function and influence of Confucianism in practical politics, thus giving prominence to one aspect of Confucianism as political philosophy.Zilu was the outstanding representative and his ambition was to govern the nation and to serve the people. As far as Zilu was concerned, the ultimate goal of theory waspointing to reality and taking actions, so as long as he accepted the principle, he must resolutely show it in action. But Zilu had reservations about several ideas such as rectification of name, recovery ritual, etc. Zilu thought that the foundation of political action was unnecessarily searched for in ancient books and records: it should be based on the realistic political life. He regarded "benevolence and righteousness" as the absolute foundation of action and he defined it into "sharing with everyone and making a profit together" in order to surpass the restriction of traditional ceremony. In this way, Zilu had made a slope to a certain degree on the idea of "benevolence and righteousness" which was in a basic balance in Confucius.Zigong made a contribution in commerce and diplomacy. He changed the basic principle of Confucius into concrete tactics through his own commercial and political actions. He raised Confucius' status and expanded its influence as well as his own. Zigong had strong realistic sense and he advocated realistic moral behavior and wit, objecting to formalized etiquette and superstition. On the understanding of Confucianism, Zigong emphasized its function and influence in social aspect. For example, he annotated the connotation of '"benevolence" from the point of view of "benefaction to the people", which was different from introspection of "continence to accord with Ceremony". It was this understanding that became the thought foundation of Zigong's participating in various kinds of political activities actively.Zizhang was a disciple of Confucius in old age. There were no records of his participating in political activities, but his purpose of studying Confucianism was to engage in political activities. Zizhang had strong sense of participating in the social life and paid close attention to practical politics and showed obvious wish of achievement. He understood Confucianism against the background of political philosophy, for example, his understanding of such categories as "benevolence", "attentiveness", "loyalty" and "forgiveness". Zizhang also formed a sect which became an important one of Hanfei's "Confucianism departed into eight parts".Part III Confucians devoted to ceremony and literature Confucians of this type were familiar with ritual regulations and ancient books. They inherited and developed the thought of Ceremony. Ziyou and Zixia were the main representatives. They consolidated the influence of Confucianism on common customs by constructing social customs and annotating the traditional classics.Ziyou was an adviser of ritual and custom. His theory exerted great influence in society. He attempted to put ritual and education infiltrating into practical politics, showing Confucian though of "governing the nation by ritual". Ziyou also had a deep understanding of the cultural and social function of Ceremony and Music. He thought ritual was originated from humans' true emotion and the norm ritual could control and guide humans' emotion. Ziyou paid more attention to the emotional factor of ritual itself and regarded "appealing to emotion" as the basis and focus of Ceremony.Compared with Ziyou, Zixia emphasized the stipulation of ritual for human behavior. He thought the construction of moral needed a course from external to internal as far as most people were concerned. Certainly, during this course, respectful attitude and strong will should not be ignored. All this needed a clear understanding of the purpose of study and self-orientation. Its internal foundation didn't lie in simple response to emotion, but in a rational self-identification by learning and thinking. Zixia had taught in the area of Xihe and had several students who promoted Confucianism greatly. The most important contribution of Zixia was his inheritance and development of Confucianism. From the record of ancient works, we know that Zixia made contributions to recording and annotating the traditional classics, such as Poetry, Booh of History. Ritual, Book of Changes, Spring and Autumn Annuals, etc.Part IV Dissociated ConfuciansThe division of Confucians keeping the Dao of Confucianism, Confucians devoted to politics and Confucians devoted to ceremony and literature represented three basic directions of Confucianism, but along these three directions, there were some Confucians who came to a halt or deviated from Confucianism gradually.Those who kept the Dao of Confucius were usually persistent on the mind and nature, lacking courage of external development. For example, Yuanxian and Jici gave up their ideal of "change the world by Confucianism" and their study approached the theory of Taoist school. Those Confucians devoted to politics often had no time to cultivate their moral character and gradually pursued utility, such as Ranqiu. As far as Confucians devoted to ceremony and literature were concerned, some of them adhered rigidly to article and diction or limited in the ritual. It was also possible for them to depart from the right way of Confucianism.PostscriptThe division of thought among the disciples of Confucius wasn't a one-off incident, but had gone through a long-time complicated process. It had come into being before the death of Confucius, and spread to academe and society in several decades. As the group that received systematic education in the set-up times of Chinese culture, the disciples of Confucius had an important academic status. Their divergence of opinion not only made a profound influence on the development of Confucianism itself, but also accelerated the appearance and development of new ideologies, such as Taoism, Mohism and Legalism.