He also proposed a complete set of principles concerning study. He said, "Studying without thinking leads to confusion; thinking without studying leads to laziness." Today's quality-education was nothing new to him.
Imparting knowledge was only part of his teaching; he was a living example of the concepts he promoted and this had a deep and lasting influence upon his disciples. His private life was a model of his doctrines. The Analects of Confucius provide a vivid record of his teachings but although he wrote nothing personally, his words were collected and recorded for posterity by his disciples. The accumulated words of wisdom have come down to us as "The Analects", one of the most important of all the Chinese classics.
He took great delight in studying and was modest enough to learn from anyone. He never tired of teaching his disciples while diligence, his unremitting pursuit of truth, ideas and perfect personality, his integrity, kindness, modesty and courteousness inspired his disciples and the intellects of subsequent generations. Uniquely, only he is qualified to be called "the teacher of ten thousand generations". It is said that among 3000 of his disciples, there were 72 who were brilliant and who succeeded in morality, literature, language, and especially politics. These politicians contributed much to the spreading, formation and development of Confucianism.
He stuck to righteousness, saying, "Improper fortunes are just flowing clouds to me. For proper fortunes, I will do jobs such as a driver." He was quite easy with his ideas despite of poverty. He was virtuous, always ready to help others and treated others with tolerance and honesty. To him, a benevolent person is one who loves others. He said, "Do not give others what you do not want yourself", similar to the Bible teaching of "All those things which you would have men do to you, even so do you to them: because this is the law and the prophets."
Influenced by Confucianism, in Chinese culture, an intellectual is not limited in study alone. He should be successful in being a human and in his bearing of himself. A key objective of an intellectual should be to make full use of his ability, personality and intelligence to do good for the state, society and the world at large. This idea is so precious that we cannot help asking why the products of today's education system are far from satisfactory! Why do not we pay attention to our ancestor's core values instead of wasting so much of our time and energy in word puzzles!
His marriage was ignored purposefully by his followers. All we know is he got married at 19 and divorced his wife at 23 and remained single for the rest of his life. As Confucianism laid down the social ethnics of the Chinese society, why he divorced remained a puzzle. We cannot find out how he behaved as a husband or as a father. However, the records show that he loved his disciples as much as his own children. He was not a cold or dull old man; instead, he was affectionate, humorous and optimistic. It is something of an enigma that this humble and wise man should have been first apotheosized as a Saint then demonized only to be re-established as a Saint by succeeding generations. In Chinese, he was known as Kong Sheng Ren (Saint Kong). We hope our introduction goes some way to show him as a truly human being.
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