文档介绍：Confucius
Born in 551 .
died in 479 .
About Confucius
Confucius (BC 551 - BC 479), name Qiu, styled Zhong Ni, was born in Lu. He is a great ancient thinker and educator and social philosopher of the Spring and Autumn Period. He is a very important person in history of the development of national culture . His philosophy emphasized personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice and sincerity. These values gained prominence in China over other doctrines, such as Legalism (法家) or Taoism (道家) during the Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD). Confucius' thoughts have been developed into a system of philosophy known as Confucianism (儒家).
His teachings may be found in the Analects of Confucius (論語), a collection of "brief aphoristic fragments", which piled many years after his death. For nearly 2,000 years he was thought to be the editor or author of all the Five Classics (五經) such as the Classic of Rites (禮記) (editor), and the Spring and Autumn Annals(春秋) .
The Analects of Confucius
In the Analects (論語), Confucius presents himself as a "transmitter who invented nothing". He puts the greatest emphasis on the importance of study,and it is the Chinese character for study that opens the text. In this respect, he is seen by Chinese people as the Greatest Master. Far from trying to build a systematic theory of life and society or establish a formalism of rites, he wanted his disciples to think deeply for themselves and relentlessly study the outside world
"To know your faults and be able to change is the greatest virtue." 知錯能改,善莫大焉
"What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others." 己所不欲,勿施於人。
Ethics
The Confucian theory of ethics as exemplified in Lǐ (禮) is based on three important conceptual aspects of life:
ceremonies associated with sacrifice to ancestors and deities of various types,
social and political institutions,
and the etiquette of daily behavior.
It was believed by some that lǐ originated from the heavens. C