The Historical Confucius II

Confucious delivering a speech 

But his frustrated attempts to spread his views hardly seemed to render Confucius a cynic. In one story, Confucius and his followers were surrounded and imprisoned by soldiers in Fuhan, a disorderly place frequently at war. They were running out of food. Hungry and exhausted, many fell sick. But Confucius remained optimistic, playing his qin and singing along with other students. Some students were offended by his apparently happy-go-lucky antics.

"Why choose to suffer in misery?" replied Confucius. "Is there something wrong about our philosophy?" This behavior reflected his idealism and belief in each and every individual seeking to achieve his fullest potential virtue, regardless of any ugly interfering realities. The student's response is equally revealing of the sage's unfailing idealism and heady personality: "My teacher, your ideal is so high that it cannot be consistent with reality everywhere. However, you don't give up your efforts to realize it. What does it matter whether your ideal is accepted or not?

It was only four hundred years after his death that Confucius attained unprecedented respect. Emperor Han Wudi (156-87 BC) found his teachings useful in sustaining a proper and orderly society and ordered Confucianism become the official creed of the nation. Confucius's teachings were well adapted to the stability and cohesion of Song Dynasty (960-1279) feudal civilization, according to Zhu Xi, the most famous philosopher at that time.

Confucius emphasized ethical principles. Just as the individual should be subordinate to the family, so the family should be subordinate to the emperor. The natural obedience of the lower order appealed to those at the top. Confucius was idolized and his thoughts became mainstream orthodoxy for centuries. Scholars and statesmen still studied for exams before 1911. The collapse of the old imperial order that year opened a direct challenge to Confucianism.