Confucius - Swami Sivananda

Confucius was born in 551 BC in the feudal State of Lu, a portion of what is now the province of Shandong on the north-eastern seaboard of China. The name of Confucius in Chinese is Kung-fu-tzu, which means "Statesman-philosopher Kung". The first European scholars who visited China found that name hard to pronounce. So they turned it into Latin and called him Confucius.

There are three religions in China—Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. Confucius and Lao-Tze, founder of Taoism, were contemporaries. They were sages and philosophers. They are not regard as saviors. Lao-Tze was fifty-three years older than Confucius. They met each other. Lao-Tze was 83 years old, more than twice the age of Confucius, when they met. There was much difference in the ideas and beliefs of the two men as there was so much difference in their age. The substance of their conversation has been handed down to us by the Chinese historians. Socrates and Buddha also were the contemporaries of Confucius.

Confucianism is not a religion in the customary sense. It has neither priesthood nor any monastic order. It existed in China long before the time of Confucius. In one of his recorded sayings, Confucius speaks of himself as a ‘transmitter’ and not a maker or originator. Confucius did not give a new religion to the world or a new ethical code. He issued a new and improved edition of the old one. What he gave to the world was only a powerful re-statement of the fundamental principles of human morality or ethics. The moral code he framed was most admirable. It contained grand ethical truths.

© "Lives of Saints " by Swami Sivananda, published by The Divine Life Society, The Sivananda Publication League, Shivanandanagar 249 192, Tehri-Garhwal Dist. Website: www.divinelifesociety.org. Reprinted with permission.

<< Back