Confucius
Kung Fu Tzu (Confucius), 551-479 B.C.E.
A failure at politics, Confucius found success as a teacher in troubled times, the so-called "Warring States Period" (8th to the 3rd centuries, B.C.E.) when conflict between rival feudal warlords decimated China. Confucius' governing question was, "How can we keep from destroying one another?" Order and peace in society come from reverence for custom or tradition, and the practice of Jen, (humanity, goodness, perfect virtue) and Li (proper behavior toward both the living and toward one's ancestors). The Chinese character for Jen is the basis for the "Five Relationships": father-son, older sibling-younger sibling, husband-wife, older friend-younger friend, ruler-subject, with the first in each case occupying the position of superiority relative to the second.
At the root of his moral system is the individual in the family. For Confucius tradition is everything. Duty to obey one's parents (filial piety) is at the center of his system: "When the personal life is cultivated, the family will be regulated; when the family is regulated, the state will be in order; and when the state is in order, there will be peace throughout the world."
Virtue moves out from the self in concentric circles: Jen thus goes hand in hand with Hsin : empathy. (Smith, 182). The Chinese character for Hsin denotes both mind and heart. Self expands to include family, family expands to include community, community expands to include nation, nation expands to include all humanity. The self therefore is a meeting place where lives converge, it is not an entity unto itself.
From the Analects, "When Confucius was traveling to Wei, Jan Yu drove him. Confucius observed: " What a dense population!" Jan Yu said, " The people having grown so numerous, what next should be done for them?" "Enrich them," was the reply. " And when one has enriched them, what next should be done?" Confucius said, " Educate them."
Doctrine of the Mean (chun yung, "middle constant"). [cf. Aristotle's Golden Mean and Islam's "qasd", moderation (iqtisad, economy)]. Confucius' disciple, Tzu Ssu, is famous for his summing up of Confucius' teaching on this subject: "Before the feelings of pleasure, anger, sorrow, and joy are aroused it is called equilibrium. When these feelings are aroused and each and all attain due measure and degree, it is called harmony. Equilibrium is the great foundation of the world, and harmony its universal path. When equilibrium and harmony are realized to the highest degree, heaven and earth will attain their proper order and all things will flourish....The superior man does what is proper to his position and does not want to go beyond this. If he is in a noble station, he does what is proper to a position of wealth and honorable station. If he is in a humble station, he does what is proper to a position of poverty...If he is in the midst of barbarian tribes, he does what is proper in the midst of barbarian tribes. In a position of difficulty...he does what is proper to a position of difficulty...He can find himself in no situation in which he is not at ease...He rectifies himself and seeks nothing from others, hence he has no complaint to make. He does not complain against heaven above or blame men below. Thus it is that the superior man lives peacefully...and waits for his destiny, while the inferior man takes to dangerous courses and hopes for good luck."
Sources: National Geographic Society, Great Religions of the World (Washington, D.C., 1978), pp. 124, 128, 167-168.
Huston Smith, The World's Religions (San Francisco: Harper, 1991), ch. IV.