The Disciples' Observations on Confucius' Teachings

An initial observation of The Analects may be one that notes the informal tone of the text. This informality stems from the conversational style in which Master Confucius’ disciples recorded his teachings. The disciples’ observations of their Master allow the reader to be able to obtain a more thorough image of Confucius of not only his methodology, but also of his persona. Amid all the underlying philosophy towards topics such as humaneness (ren), The Analects reveals an important characteristic of the Master: that he himself is human.

The pages of The Analects depict Confucius as a regular man involved in relationships, social interaction and occasional lightheartedness.

Confucius ideas –whether original or synthesized–are strengthen by the malleability of his lessons; the Master can shape the basic ideals of ren, li, yi, and junzi to fit a particular individual. Confucius would be unable to form personalized sayings if he was not well established in friendships and relationships. In The Analects, translated by William Edward Soothill, there is a certain occurrence that best humanizes Confucius in respect to relationships.

In Book XI, both Tzu Lu and Jan Ch’iu come to Confucius with a similar question of whether to put what they heard into immediate practice. Tzu Lu receives an answer that he should not, and Jan Ch’iu is told that he should. When questioned about this discrepancy, Confucius replies that, “[Jan Ch’iu] lags behind, so I urged him forward, but [Tzu Lu] has energy for two men, so I held him back” (63).

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The Master was not just a oracle that spoke generalized statements given to those who sought counsel. He combined what he knew about the person he was speaking to, as well as the Mandate of Heaven, and altered appropriately. Even questions congruent with each other, but imposed by different people, would be given variable answers. The first three chapters of Book XII has Confucius being asked the meaning of virtue multiple times. Undoubtedly, Confucius arrives on separate truths for each inquiry (67). Thus is part of the system that Confucius conducted his instruction. Moreover, there is also a conversational aspect that plays an important role in how he engages with his students. Confucius would converse, rather than lecture in a traditional classroom. The reason for this is that Confucius expects the passing of knowledge between teacher and student to be an act of reciprocity. There is a bit of resentment to students if Confucius gives out a certain angle, and they cannot contribute any additional angles (34).

In addition, he did not see it as beneficial for someone to completely be satisfied with what he said (59). Even through the emphasis of king/peasant mentality, the Confucian hierarchical structure of society did not constraint relationships to be one-sided. Confucius expected some exchange of ideas, to the point that plenty of his aphorisms are formatted as a question. Famously, Chapter I from Book I follows this rhetoric when Confucius says, “Is it not indeed a pleasure to acquire knowledge and constantly to exercise oneself therein?” (1). The statements are not meant to be answered directly, but instead to merely retrieve some sort of response; a hint of open-endedness resides in his intellectual dialog. Confucius is a higher type of man and therefore not a machine (7). And since he is not a machine, Confucius thrives on this social intercourse between him and other human beings. Even if this means being a bit funny sometimes. Confucius is, to some extent, a humorist. A trait that is often overlooked is that Confucius can at times be quite witty. If there is one great humanizer, it would be humor.

Upon hearing that Chi Wen Tzu thinks three times before taking action, Confucius remarks, “twice would do”(25). Here, Confucius is being a bit cheeky, but also saying that thinking too much may be harmful. The Master is not a stranger to sarcasm as well. In a hypothetical aside, he asks Tzu Lu if he were to get a raft and float away would Tzu Lu accompany him. Tzu Lu seems happy about this, but Confucius instead makes fun of him by saying, “[Tzu Lu] is fonder of daring than 1; he also exercises no discretion” (22). It would not be wrong to imagine a slight grin on Confucius’ face at this moment! It is true because of the linguistic obstacles of translation that there may be some misunderstandings of what is or what is not an attempt at being witty. Nevertheless, many instances are fairly obvious to notice. Confucius speaks so much of the junzi as having a high moral code. There are many examples in The Analects that appear to have some meanness or rudeness in some of Confucius actions. Under serious scrutiny, these instances of rudeness and the constant emphasis of the junzi it may appear to be paradoxical. For example, Ju Pei (a former disciple) was unable to see Confucius because of his declaration of being sick.

However, Confucius “took up his harpsichord and began to sing, so that Ju Pei might hear it” (109). The serious academic recognizes that Confucius has lied and acted the opposite of a noble man. It is either Confucius has gone awry from the Mandate of Heaven or he is just having a bit of fun. Confucius speaks with a form of subtlety that it makes it quite difficult to truly discern if he is joking or not. The subtlety is even more confusing if one is reading an English translation. Like any ancient foreign literature, unless one is fluent in the origin language there are things that may be lost in translation. Confucius subtle jokes are not only difficult for the modern reader to catch, his fellow people have a hard time figuring it out too.

Confucius visit to Wu city and hearing sound of music everywhere had him jokingly say “why use a cleaver to kill a chicken?” Tzu Yu became a bit offended by this remark because it seemed that Confucius was being a bit hypocritical. At recognizing that he was misunderstood Confucius replied that “what I said before was only in jest” (106). The people around him had taken him too seriously. Being such a influential thinker, it is not easy to think of Confucius as a practical man. In social interactions, Confucius can also be a victim of snarky humour. As the gate keeper said of The Master, who learned of one disciples’ relation to Confucius, “is not he the one who knows he cannot succeed and keeps on trying to do so?” (89). This is the type of comment that would ground Confucius’ character. Being susceptible to such form of commentary also brings to light that Master Confucius is still just a man. The disciples’ observations of Confucius’ actions and sayings has a humanizing effect on Confucius’ character.

Depicting Confucius as a human is essential to the whole academic analysis of The Analects; seeing Confucius as not only an ancient figure, but also as a man gives credibility to his philosophy. Something Confucius would say is “how legitimate is wisdom on humanness if it is not spoken from the mouth of a mortal?” Works Cited Confucius, and William Edward Soothill. The Analects. New York: Dover Publications, 1995. Print.