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Confucius (孔夫子; Kǒng Fū Zǐ, lit. " Master Kong, " but most frequently referred to as Kongzi (孔子), traditionally 551 – 479 BCE) was a famous Chinese thinker and social philosopher, whose teachings have deeply influenced East Asian life and thought.
Filial piety was taught by Confucius as part of a broad ideal of self-cultivation (Chinese: 君子; pinyin: jūnzǐ) toward being a perfect human being. [ 18 ] Modern philosopher Hu Shih argued that filial piety gained its central role in Confucian ideology only among later Confucianists.
Throughout the Analects, Confucius's students frequently request that Confucius define ren and give examples of people who embody it, but Confucius generally responds indirectly to his students' questions, instead offering illustrations and examples of behaviours that are associated with ren and explaining how a person could achieve it.
The Classic of Filial Piety occupied an important position in classical education as one of the most popular foundational texts through to late imperial China. [5] The text was used in elementary and moral education together with the Analects , Elementary Learning , and the Biographies of Exemplary Women . [ 6 ]
This is illustrated through the five main relationships Confucius interpreted to be the core of society: ruler-subject, father-son, husband-wife, elder brother-younger brother, and friend-friend. In these bonds, the latter must pay respect to and serve the former, while the former is bound to care for the latter.
Print version of the Kongzi Jiayu (1589) depicting Confucius and his students examining a qiqi (tilting vessel) Due to the controversy surrounding the Kongzi Jiayu , and the fact that much of its content was known from other ancient texts, early Western sinologists did not pay much attention to the work. [ 3 ]
Confucius, who incorporated ideas from earlier philosophers, compiled or edited the Classic of Rites and the Spring and Autumn Annals, two of the Five Classics. Confucius' student Zengzi wrote the introduction and exposition of the Great Learning. Zengzi lived from 505 to 436 BCE. Confucius taught 100 pupils, 72 of whom mastered his teachings .
A historical record of the State of Lu, Confucius's native state, 722–481 BC attributed to Confucius. The Classic of Music is sometimes considered the sixth classic but was lost. Up to the Western Han, authors would typically list the Classics in the order Poems-Documents-Rituals-Changes-Spring and Autumn.