Confucius, the famous sage and Chinese philosopher concerned with practical moral values and the founder of Confucianism, was called Kong Qiu at his birth in 551 B.C. He lived until 479. He was called Kong Fuzi or Kong Zi or Master Kong, until a Western missionary renamed him Confucius.
His biographer Sima Qian (100 B.C.) says his family was from Lu. He claims his father (Shu-liang He) was an elderly minor prefect in a small town called Qufu. Confucius was conceived illicitly and born with a hill-shaped deformity on his forehead for which reason he was given the name Qiu meaning "mound". His mother wouldn't tell him his father's name, but after she died at a young age, an elderly villager told him the secret. The status of his father allowed Kong Qiu, too, to claim a certain level of status, but the members of society thought otherwise.
Confucius failed to attain high office or a hefty crew of disciples during his own time, but achieved prominence by the Han dynasties.
Confucius wrote the:
- Analects (Lun Yu),
- The Great Learning (Da Xue),
- The Doctrine of the Mean (Zhong Yong),
- Mencius (Meng Zi),
- The Book of Changes (Yi Jing or IChing),
- Book of Poetry (Shi Jing),
- Classic of History (Shu Jing),
- The Rites (Li Ji or Li Chi),
- Spring and Autumn Annals,
- Book of Filial Piety (Xiao Jing), and
- Book of Music (Yue Jing).
Continue: An introduction to the teachings of Confucius
Confucius is known for his sayings. Here is one from Confucius' Analects ch. 2, v. 11: "A man who reviews the old so as to find out the new is qualified to teach others."
Source:
"Confucius" The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations. Ed. Susan Ratcliffe. Oxford University Press, 2006.
References:
- Lives of Confucius: Civilizations Greatest Sage Through the Ages, by Michael Nylan and Thomas Wilson; Doubleday: 2010.
- Confucius" The Oxford Dictionary of English (revised edition). Ed. Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson. Oxford University Press, 2005.
- Chinese Culture - Confucius
Also see About.com's Asian History Guide's biography of Confucius.
