Happy Birthday Confucius

“Teaching is not a lost art, but the regard for it is a lost tradition”~ Jacques Barzun

While not as hip as the free spirited Lao Tze and the Tao De Ching, the more stuffy and conventional Confucius (K’ung Fu Tze) is often considered China’s greatest teacher. He had a profound influence on all South East Asian culture — China, Korea, Japan & Vietnam and perhaps the world.

Although some of his ideas reflect an arcane feudal society and are anachronistic, the essence of his teachings are universal. His thoughts also have a practical application: structure. To create social order, Confucius advocated a shared consciousness based on righteousness, justice and benevolence would create a harmonious life and a peaceful world. Sounds good to us.

His humanistic philosophy focuses on cultivation of  scholarship, morality and virtue. He was an early advocate of self improvement through life long learning. In fact, many martial artists may be surprised to learn how Confucius’ ideas on form, ritual and learning have deeply influenced martial arts teaching tradition.

He viewed humans as social beings and taught the importance of developing sensitivity to relationships with others and cultivating human heartedness.  “Do not do to others, what you would not want them to do you,” is his version of the Golden Rule.

Confucius’ ideas emerged in a tumultuous period in Chinese history. Today  in our era of chaos, these ideas of an ancient Chinese sage are still  relevant.

In his honor, his birthday is commemorated by National Teacher’s Day in the  Republic of China.

Happy Birthday Confucius! 2560 years old…

Lawrence & Toni

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