Learning Confucius

THE SUPERIOR MAN – Gentle or Noble man :
Cultivating knowledge and sincerity is the fountain head of self confidence and well being which is very important for one’s own sake; the superior person loves learning for the sake of true learning and righteousness for the sake of self righteousness.

Confucius’s description of superior man is a person who acts before he speaks, and afterwards speaks according to his actions.

The superior man has nine things that are under thoughtful consideration :

    The use of his eyes, he is anxious to see clearly,
    The use of his ears, he is anxious to hear distinctly,
    His countenance – he is anxious that it should be benign,
    His demeanor – he is anxious that it should be respectful,
    His speech – he is anxious that it should be sincere.

     His way of doing business - he is anxious that it should be reverently careful.

    What he doubts about – he is anxious to question others,
    When he is angry – he thinks of the difficulties his anger may involve him in,
    When he sees gain to be got – he thinks of righteousness.

The superior man wishes to be slow in his speech and earnest in his conduct. He is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.

In every action he considers righteousness to be essential.He performs it according to the rules of propriety.He executes it with humility – he completes it with sincerity.

THIS IS INDEED THE WAY OF A SUPERIOR MAN.

He is most distressed by his want of ability – he is not distressed by men’s not knowing him. He is correctly firm, and not firm merely.

He does not promote a man simply on account of his words, nor does he put aside good words because of the man.

He who does not anticipate attempts to deceive him, nor think beforehand of his not being believed, and yet apprehends these things readily when they occur – is he not a man of superior worth? 

There are three things that superior man guard against:

    In youth – when the physical powers are not yet settled, he guards against lust.
    When he is strong – his physical powers are full of vigor, he guards against quarrelsomeness .
    When he is old – the animal powers are decaying, he guards against covetousness.

The differences between a superior man and small (petty) man :

In dealing with people, the superior man does not set his mind either for anything, or against anything; what is right he will follow.

The superior man may indeed have to endure want, but the mean man, when he is in want, gives way to unbridled license.

 The superior man cannot be known in little matters; but he may be entrusted with great concerns.

The small man may not be entrusted with great concerns but he may be known in little matters.

The superior man thinks of virtue, and the small man thinks of comfort.

The mind of a superior man is conversant with righteousness; the mind of a small man is conversant with gain.

The superior man seeks to perfect the admirable qualities of men, and does not seek to perfect their had qualities. The small man does the opposite of this by perfecting the bad qualities and criticize the admirable qualities.

What the superior man seeks is within him. What the mean man seeks is in others.

Respectfulness without the rules of propriety becomes labourious bustle;

Carefulness without the rules of propriety, becomes timidity ;

Boldness without the rules of propriety becomes insubordination;

Straight forwardness without the rules of propriety becomes rudeness.


Superior man emphasizes :

In doing the proper thing at the proper time;

Balancing between maintaining existing norms to perpetuate and ethical social fabric, and violating them in order to accomplish ethical good.

Training in the LI cultivates virtues in people, including ethical judgment and when it must be adapted in light of situational contests.

His concept of LI is closely related to YI, which is based upon the idea of reciprocity. YI translated as righteousness, although it mean what is ethically nest to do in a certain context. This offer contrasts with action done out of self-interest, While pursuing one’s own self-interest is not necessarily bad, yet one would be a better, more righteous person if one’s life was based on following a path designed to enhance the greater good. Thus an outcome of YI is doing the right thing for the right reason.

 To confirm to the aspiration of adhering to YI, it must be linked to the core value of REN.

REN consists of five basic virtues; - seriousness, generosity, sincerity, diligence and kindness.

REN is the virtue of perfectly fulfilling one’s responsibilities toward others, most often translated as  “benevolence” or “Humaneness”, it often includes “authoritativeness” and “selflessness”.

Confucius’s moral system was based upon empathy and understanding others, rather than divinely ordained rules. In order to develop one’s spontaneous responses of REN so that it could guide action intuitively and it is better than living by the rules of YI.

He asserts that virtue is a means between extremes. For example, the properly generous person believed in giving the right amount – not too much and not too less.