Confucius: The Middle Years

Drum used for calling Confucian scholars to study
Such was his dedication to education, that at the age of twenty two, Confucius set up what is credited in China as the first private school. His ideas of justice, personal conduct, ethics, government and morality were brought to the audience of those disciples who listened. It was his core belief that education was what could bring about true equality amongst the people, and that only by appreciation and realization of one's inner talents could learning become a reality. Education was, for Confucius, not simply a matter of literary and artistic elements - a proper education held just as much (if not more) store by morals and ethical teaching. Self-conduct was what separated people from each other, and thus true equality was a matter of

bringing all people to the highest level of propriety (li). Confucius' inspiration was rooted in the legendary figures of the Chou Dynasty and the Ages of Legend in China. Thus, much of his philosophy was built on certain cornerstones dating back several thousand years, making Confucianism one of the oldest traditions in the world. Confucius' skill of rhetoric produced a great many disciples around him, some three-thousand all told, and of these, seventy two would become the most learned. Though his ideas for moral and social change were not accepted in his home state of Lu, this did not dissuade Confucius from his cause. At the age of thirty-five, he left his home state and travelled to Ch'i where he would reside for eight years of his life. He returned to Lu at the age of forty-three, whereupon he set about compiling and editing the Six Classics - The Odes, The Book, The I Ching, The Book of Rites, The Book of Music and the Spring and Autumn Annals. At fifty-one, he became the head official of Chung Tu, and by his sheer number of accomplishments was promoted in the same year to the post of Official of Public Works and then to Grand Official of Justice for Lu. But this was not to be the end of Confucius' quest for social, poltical and moral rejuvenation...

Stairs to the main hall in the Beijing Confucian Temple