Confucius was, as he himself said, not a re former, but a conserver. This is strikingly evi dent in his services to the literature of China. Although he is sometimes called a prolific author, he was in reality but a careful though volumi nous editor, and he may, if this is clearly under stood, .be termed the founder of Chinese litera ture. Thus he established the canon of four of the 'five classics,' the Alit Ching, or Book of Poems, the Li Citing, or Book of Rites, the I Ching, or Book of Changes (originally a cosmo logical work), and the She Ching, or Book of Historical Documents, for which Confucius is said to have composed a preface, although mere ly a list of books which the She Ching once con tained now remains. His one independent work, apart from his apothegms which were recorded by his disciples, is the Wen Tsin, or Spring and Autumn. This is an extremely dry, annalistic history, very meagre in content and information, and altogether untrustworthy as a source of Chi nese history, and records the events in the Prov ince of Lu from B.C. 721 to 430.
Confucius was in no real sense of the word a religious teacher. His doctrines were entirely ethical and political. His attitude toward the supernatural may be summed up in his own words: "Respect the gods! hut have as little as possible to do with them," and it is recorded that he spoke but seldom of four subjects—mar vels, feats of strength, rebellions, and spiritual beings. In harmony with this attitude, he ex presses no opinion concerning the immortality of the soul. Ile inculcates ever the duty, which lie himself had observed so faithfully, of honor to parents and of obedience to temporal power. In this way the individual becomes absorbed in the family and the family in the State, which was regarded by Confucius as the highest con cept on earth. For a State to be prosperous, mercy and all other virtues are necessary, and these qualities are to be manifested by the en tire body of citizens. His teachings are, con sequently, wholly worldly in character, and the dry maxims in which he expressed his views are permeated by a utilitarian philosophy which is devoid of any touch of idealism. His attitude toward women is the one generally current in the Orient. Metaphysical speculation, like religious investigation, is absent from his system, which sums tip its principles in the five cardinal vir tues—humanity. uprightness, decorum, wisdom,
and truth. Confucius may perhaps be said to be China incarnate in his lack of originality; but with his devotion to the practical and his moral principles as patriot. sage, and teacher, lie ranks among the foremost men that the world has ever seen. The most valuable account of Con fueius is contained in the Len YU, or Philo sophical Dialogues, which record his conversa tions, while the To Ilsfreh, or Great Learning, and the Chung Yung, or Doctrine of the Mean, are important sources for the study of his system of philosophy.
As illustrations of the maxims of Confucius, the following characteristic ones may be cited: Learning without thought is labor lost ; thought without learning is death of the mind. Riches and honor are what men desire; yet, except in accordance with right. they should not be en joyed: poverty and degradation are what men dread; yet, except in accordance with right, they should not be avoided. What the superior man seeks is in himself; what the small man seeks is in others. The foundation of all good is the virtue of individual men. Confucius also enun ciated the Golden Rule, although in negative terms, as follows: "What ye would not that others should do unto you, do ye not unto them." Despite the negative form of this maxim, it is to all intents and purposes closely parallel to the Golden Rule as given by Christ.
Consult,: ]'lath, Confucius and seiner Schiller Lawn Lc-limn I S67-74) ; von dcr Gabelentz, Confucius und seine ',Owe (Leipzig, l888) ; tang, Confucius der Weise Chinas ( Ber lin, ISSO) ; Dvorak, Chinas Rcligionen, Band i., Confucius mid seine Lehrc (Miinster. 1S95) ; Legge, Life and Teachings of Confucius (London, ) ; Douglass, Confucianism and Taoism (London, 1 S79 ) . For the original sources, Legge's translations of the Lim Ta lisiich, and rhu ng Yang in the first volume of his Chinese Classics (Hong Kong and London, 15(i1) should be consulted as of the first importance. The same scholar's translations of the Tests of Con fucianism (comprising the Shit Ching, lIsiao Ching, I ('hing, Li Cluing, and portions of the Shilb Ching), vols. iii., xvi., xxvii., X XV i i. of the Sacred Books of the East (Oxford, lS79-85) are also of value.