Confucianism & Calligraphy

Confucianism is central to Chinese civilisation.

So, too is calligraphy.

The relationship between these core cultural elements of Chinese culture goes back around 2,500 years.

Both separately and together they have been key features in the lives of Chinese politicians, philosophers, artists, poets, and more.

Contents

Confucianism: A Definition

Confucianism is a Chinese school of thought based on:

• Confucius’ Analects
• Older texts Confucius promoted in the Analects
• Later texts that were related to or commentaries on the above.

It is primarily concerned with ethics, especially around society, family, and political governance.

Although there are Confucian temples, it is not a religion, or directly concerned with an afterlife. The Analects makes this clear:

However, it is useful to compare it to religions, especially in its wide range of forms over the millennia. 

Just like Christianity, for example, different interpretations and practices around it have flourished at different times. 

And many disagreements and debates about its doctrine have taken place between thinkers.

Neo-Confucianism

Neo-Confucianism refers an intellectual movement (known as Learning of the Way (道学) in Chinese) with roots in the 9^th century AD.

In the 11th century, it advanced rapidly with the work of several thinkers and schools.

In the 12th century, this preceding work was increasingly synthesised. The most famous intellectual working on this was Zhu Xi (1130 – 1200 AD).

The culture of [Neo-Confucianism] in the twelfth century, despite its claim to “orthodoxy,” was not so much the orthodox culture as a counterculture that thought of itself as transmitting true values [….] [Zhu Xi and associated thinkers] selected those pieces they believed gave the best access to the sages’ minds and principles, and they interpreted them for others.

Bol, Peter K., This Culture of Ours: Intellectual Transitions in T’ang and Sung China (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1992), p. 341 -2

By from the 13^th century onwards, Zhu Xi’s school of thought was official, state-endorsed orthodoxy in most dynasties until the early 20^th century.

Its main difference with earlier Confucianism is its emphasis on specific principles, such as individual and human nature, for example.

And it also provided guided programmes for learning (especially focused on the Four Books, see below: ‘A changing canon’). 

However, as with earlier Confucianism, there are noticeable differences between different schools of thought within it.

One famous example is the Learning of Principle (力学) school that competed with the Learning of the Way school around the late 12^th century.

The real Confucius

Confucius’ real name was Kong Qiu (孔丘) (ca. 551 – 479 BC). So, Confucius (Kongzi (孔子)) is a respectful term that combines his family name Kong (孔) with ‘master’ zi (子).

Direct historical evidence for his life is sparse.

He was born during the Spring and Autumn period (c. 770 – c. 481 BC) in the town Zouyi (near today’s Qufu, Shandong Province) in the state of Lu.

Many believe his father was the warrior and Minister of Crime Shuliang He, who died when Confucius was two years old. 

(Despite never knowing his father, Confucius often emphasised the importance of the father-son relationship. Societies and individuals who neglected this were straying from decency.)

Thereafter, Confucius was raised by his mother and grew up with her side of the family, the Yan clan.

(Commentators have pointed out that this explains why so many of his diciples had the surname, Yan.)

Confucius spent his adult life looking for an influential position in a government as an advisor. He travelled between states to gain a hearing.

These were chaotic times, as several competing states were at war with one another.

A new class of administrators appeared to service these states, many with their own ideas and ideologies.

Confucius’ goal was to influence governance, ethics, and culture, which he believed would naturally increase a state’s strength and flourishing.

But most rulers were only interested in the kind of ruthless efficiency that violent times brought to the fore.

As we can tell from the Analects, later in life he realised that he had failed to fulfil his ambitions. But we also know that his perspective was broader than that.

Confucius died in his early 70s.

Confucianism’s importance to calligraphy

Over the years, Confucianism was often – but not always – the central imperial ideology in China.

Calligraphers, who were often highly educated men (and sometimes women), were steeped in it.

They studied intensely the Confucian cannon as youths. And they were expected to adhere to its principles (or interpretations of its principles) throughout life.

Art theory associated with calligraphy became more sophisticated over the centuries.

So, it was inevitable that attempts to reconcile it with Confucianism were popular and frequent.

(There were also many attempts to do the same between calligraphy and Daoism and Buddhism, too.)

The imperial exams importance to Confucianism

China’s imperial examinations ran almost continuously for around 1,300 years. Confucianism was central to them (although at times Daoist texts were incorporated, too).

They were used to help select officials for the government. With a relatively low pass rate of about 1%, some candidates kept re-attempting to pass them into old age. 

This meant that their influence spread well beyond government.

China’s education system was based around studying for these exams. Young children even began to write by learning the following primer:

上大人孔乙己化三千七十士爾小生八九子佳作仁可知禮也
Let’s present our work to father. Confucius taught three thousand. Seventy were able gentlemen. You young scholars, eight or nine. Strive to attain benevolence, you will attain correctness.

– The ‘Dear Father’ Primer

So, anyone even partially educated would have been well-aware of the central importance of Confucian principles to Chinese civilisation.

In early imperial China, the Five Classics made up the main curriculum. This changed to the Four Books by the Song dynasty.

And later still, the Thirteen Classics were essential learning for candidates. They include:

• The Four Classics
• The Five Books
• The Three Ritual Classics (三礼): Rites of Zhou (周礼), Ceremonies and Rites (仪礼), and Classic of Filial Piety (孝经)
• Erya (尔雅)
• Three commentaries on the Spring and Autumn Annals: Commentary of Zuo (左传), Commentary of Gongyang (公羊传), and Commentary of Guliang (谷梁传).

By the Qing dynasty (1644 – 1912), successful candidates would gather outside a Confucian temple, where the chief examiner would announce that they were now disciples of Confucius.

A brief history of Confucianism & calligraphy

Spring and Autumn period (772 BC – 481 BC)

Confucius passed away in 479 BC. 

The Analects were completed in the following century.

Warring States period (403 BC – 221 BC)

During the Warring States period, states competed for control of differet regions of what we now know as China. 

As in Confucius’ time, a class of scholars (士) (sometimes referred to as knights because they were allowed to be armed) existed to service these states. 

Some of these scholars travelled between states to find work. Later historians referred to the ‘Hundred Schools of Thought’ (诸子百家) that competed for prominence across the states. 

(Here, ‘hundred’ simply means ‘many’. Six major schools were later identified, including Confucianism).

Mencius (372 – 289 BC)

After Confucius, the next great Confucian sage was Mencius (孟子) (real name Meng Ke). 

He was from the same region of eastern China as Confucius and was even taught by one of Confucius’ disciples (or possibly grandson), Zisi.

Like Confucius, Mencius travelled between states throughout his long life (he lived to his 90s) and taught several disciples. He briefly held an honorary position the Jixia Academy in the state of Qi.

Unlike Confucius, Mencius’ recorded his own thoughts and writings during his lifetime in the text that is simply called The Mencius.

His work focused more on human nature than human relations. However, he believed that the two areas were closely linked. 

He famously articulated the concept of an innate four sprouts of virtue (四善端) in every person:

1. Benevolence (仁)
2. Righteousness (义)
3. Propriety/adherence to ritual (礼)
4. Wisdom (智)

These innate senses, Mencius argued, simply needed to be cultivated well in each individual. 

Xunzi (ca. 313 – 238 BC)

Xunzi (荀子) (real name Xun Zhaung) was born about 60 years after Mencius.

Like Confucius and Mencius, he also travelled between states. He variously worked in the state of Chu and visited the state of Qin and Qi (in the latter he visited the Jixia Academy where Mencius had worked).

His thought was recorded in his own work, named Xunzi. This text expounds upon Confucian principles and defends them against other schools of thought, such as the Mohists and Daoists.

One of the 32 chapters of his work is entitled ‘Human Nature is Bad’ (性恶).

Here, Xunzi argues with Mencius’ notion that human nature is innately good.

Qin dynasty (221 BC – 206 BC)

The brief-lived (15 years) Qin dynasty was the first empire to unite most of today’s China.

Despite his achievement, its ruler Qin Shi Huang (r. 210 – 221 BC) has long held a reputation for being excessively tyrannical.

The Qin was run along principles from the Legalist school of thought, a rival to Confucianism.

His alleged most notorious two crimes were connected:

• He was first said have ordered the of burning all books except those on divination, medicine and planting trees.
• Next, he buried alive of 460 Confucian scholars that had failed to follow this order.

However, today many historians speculate that these events may have been misrepresented by later Han dynasty historians. After all, this was useful for their propaganda purposes.

During the Qin, Chinese seal script was standardised into what is know known as small seal script. (Large seal script is the name for the earlier, more varied version of the script.)

Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD)

Like the Qin before them, and all subsequent dynasties after, the Han were concerned with the unity of their empire.

And it helped to have a unified ideology to achieve this.

Under its first emperor, Liu Bang (the Emperor Gaozu (r. 202 – 195 BC)), the Five Classics were promoted by the state, replacing the centrality of legalism under the Qin.

Clerical script also replaced small seal script as the standardised writing form.

Tens of thousands of the elite studied Confucianism and clerical script, laying the ground for their importance in the civil service.

But it wasn’t until the Emperor Wu (r. 141 BC – 87 BC) that Confucianism alone was explicitly promoted. During his reign, Legalists and Daoists were dismissed from office.

Early forms of the imperial exam also appeared.

As time went on, clerical script was replaced by regular script, and running script and a new version of cursive script appeared, too.

Northern and Southern dynasties (220 AD – 589 AD)

After the Han dynasty collapsed, the empire was divided between competing kingdoms in the north and south. 

The Han state’s collapse arguably damaged Confucianism’s position in society (though some argue this began before the state’s collapse).

Intellectuals across the former empire now explored other schools of thought, particularly Daoism and Buddhism. (The latter of which had first arrived in China during the Han).

The label Dark Studies (玄学) has been given to much of the philosophy from this time.

This movement included range of thinkers, many concerned with metaphysical musings that were frowned upon in the Analects. 

Some were Daoists hostile to Confucianism. Others were Confucianists who wanted to radically re-interpret Confucianism (often in a way that later commentators considered too radical to be plausible).

During this period, Chinese calligraphy’s most important figure appeared: Wang Xizhi (303 – 361 AD).

Wang was an aristocratic scholar-official who retired from office relatively young after experiencing political conflict.

He was also a devoted Doaist, as both biographical accounts of him and his surviving texts attest to.

However, later commentators worked hard to create an image of Wang as an ideal Confucian official.

Sui dynasty (581 – 618 AD)

The Sui dynasty unified the empire after centuries of separation. Like the first empire, the Qin, in was short-lived and replaced with a state led by one of its former generals.

The Sui laid the foundations for the Tang dynasty. These included infrastructure projects such as the Grand Canal. 

They also began founded then-modern version of the Imperial Examinations and commissioned a project to establish definitive versions of The Five Classics.

Tang dynasty (618 – 907 AD)

During the Tang, Confucianism formed the basis of the state examinations. This meant it dominated the learning of elite.

Calligraphy was also an essential component of the imperial examinations.

(In the Song dynasty, it would be dropped to encourage more objective evaluations by examiners.)

Art theory for calligraphy developed in new ways during this period, too. We see this early on with Sun Guoting’s (646 – 691 AD) Treatise on Calligraphy (687 AD), which quotes Confucian classics at least five times.

仲尼云：“五十知命”、“七十从心。”【…】是以右军之书，末年多妙，当缘思虑通审，志气和平，不激不厉，而风规自远。Confucius said: ‘At 50, I knew Heaven’s will. At 70, I could distinguish what I heard.’… This is why Wang Xizhi’s calligraphy was so excellent when he was older. His thoughts were incisive, his disposition calm, not excitable or extreme, [he was] self-retrained and looked ahead.

– Sun Guoting, Treatise on Calligraphy

The influence of Confucian principles can be seen in many important artistic and political figures of the day. For example:

• The official great poet Du Fu (712 – 770 AD). Many later commentators remarked on his humbleness and patient willingness to serve the empire

• The statesman and calligrapher Yan Zhenqing (709 – 758) who exhibited the Confucian principles of both outspokenness and loyalty. (He was a central figure in Tang dynasty calligraphy, which is has long been considered a golden age of the art.)

It’s no coincidence that these two were elevated to positions of high esteem by the literati in the decades after their deaths.

However, Daoism and Buddhism also pervaded through all levels of society and competed for state patronage. Their temples even outnumbered Confucian temples in most cities.

Early on, Buddhism gained a strong foothold, with patronage from the second dynasty emperor, Taizong (r. 626 – 649). 

Daoism reached its height of its cultural and political influence under Xuanzong (r. 712 – 756).

However, Xuanzong also simultaneously advocated Confucianism. In 722, for example, he wrote a commentary and preface for an authorised text of The Classic of Filial Piety.

After the An Lu Shan Rebellion (755 – 763), which happened during Xuanzong’s reign, the empire was fatally weakened.

In part as a response to this, writers such as Han Yu (768 – 824 AD) and Liu Zongyuan (773 – 819 AD) helped revive Confucianism.

Their Ancient Prose (古文) movement advocated looking directly at the Confucian classics rather than relying on commentaries. And it emphasised the direct link between language and the Confucian Way.

Their work can also be seen as a way of adapting to metaphysics and scholastic philosophy of Daoism and Chan Buddhism.

Lineage of the Way

Another important aspect of Han Yu’s work was his elaboration on a notion inherited from Mencius. This has become known as the lineage or transmission of the Way (道统).

It creates a direct link between the following Confucian thinkers:

• The Duke of Zhou
• Yao
• Shun 
• Yu 
• King Wen of Zhou 
• King Wu of 
• Confucius
• Mencius.

The concept of lineages would also become popular when discussing calligraphy later on.

Song dynasty (960 – 1279 AD)

The Song dynasty emerged after half a century of disunity (in a period known as the Five dynasties period (907 – 960 AD)). 

It has long been considered a period almost equivalent to a renaissance in China. Song dynasty calligraphy is perhaps second only to that of the Tang.  

Many of its emperors consciously cultivated a Confucian image and principles for rule. It famously emphasised the civil (文) aspect of ruling over the martial (武).

And the intellectuals that emerged from this new, relatively accessible, civil class revived Confucianism.

Today, this is known as Neo-Confucianism. It has its roots in the writings of Han Yu and other late Tang writers.

Two distinct periods are typically referenced when discussing the Song dynasty:

• The Northern Song period: When the empire was at its largest and most powerful. It’s capital was based in Bianjing (today’s Kaifeng, Henan Province)
• The Southern Song period: When the northern part of the empire was taken by the Jurchen-ruled Jin dynasty. The empire’s capital was moved to Lin’an (today’s Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province).

Northern Song period (960 – 1127)

Ouyang Xiu (1007 – 1072) continued Han Yu’s reformation of the written language (in terms of language structure, not its calligraphy – although he was a keen calligraphy collector). 

Philosophers such as such as Zhou Dunyi (1017 – 1073) and his student Cheng Yi (1033 – 1107) reinterpreted the Confucian Canon.

As did their philosophical rival, the polymath (and brilliant calligrapher) Su Shi (1037 – 1101) (albeit in a less systematic way).

Throughout this period, there was a growing trend towards scholar-officials implicitly linked Confucian virtues with themselves.

This often manifested itself in focus on ideal Confucian figures like Du Fu and Yan Zhenqing.

The conflict between this section of the scholar-official class (often referred to as the conservatives) and the imperial rulers reached a head at the turn of the 11th century.

In 1104, the Emperor Huizong (r. 1100 – 1125) paid his respects to the image of Confucius at Biyong Academy.

His actions afterwards suggest a sensitivity towards a potential lack of Confucian association on his part:

After the visit, Huizong issued a hand-drafted edict […]. This edict was then carved on a stele erected at the Biyong Academy. […] copies of the stele [were] made and distributed to all prefectural schools so that they could replicate it. The timing […] suggests that the new stele was intended to counter any sense that Huizong was an enemy of the literati, education, or Confucian principles.

– Patricia Buckley Ebrey, Emperor Huizong (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2014), p. 121

Southern Song period (1127 – 1279)

Confucianism flourished amongst the imperial family and scholar-officials during the Southern Song period.

For example, the first ruler of this period, Emperor Gaozong (r. 1127 – 1162), often commissioned painters to illustrate aspects of the Confucian classics.

And he had copies of his own transcriptions of classics (including the Analects and Mencius) engraved on stele that were placed at government schools.

Zhu Xi (1130 – 1200 AD)

Zhu Xi is generally regarded as the most important Confucian thinker after Confucius. No small feat.

He lived during the Southern Song period (1127 – 1279), when the empire had been cut in half by the invasion of the non-Chinese Jin dynasty (1115 – 1234).

Zhu’s enormous output of writings placed Confucianism in a more coherent, systemised and accessible way.

His school of Confucianism was called the Learning of the Way (道学). In the last years of his life, his writings were banned and enemies from a rival Confucian Learning of the Mind derided and persecuted him.

Despite this, thousands attended his funeral. And four decades later, he was posthumously honoured by the state. 

Zhu Xi’s work was thereafter generally recognised as the authority on Confucianism by the state for the rest of China’s imperial history.

In calligraphy, Zhu Xi made comments that criticised characters that were not ‘upright’ (i.e., in regular script). However, an extremely prodigious writer himself, Zhu Xi appears to have frequently gone against his own principle here.

Yuan dynasty (1279 – 1368 AD)

Despite the violence with which they conquered, the Mongols were tolerant to Chinese different religions and ideologies.

They restored Confucian temples and exempted Confucian scholars from taxes.

However, they initially ended the imperial examination system.

It was then resumed during in 1315, but with strict quotas that favoured non-Chinese candidates (as well as northern Chinese over southern Chinese candidates).

Many would-be Chinese officials had to spend their careers as clerks, teachers, etc.

The literati class here even became a distinct professional group (as opposed to being largely made up of officials who did calligraphy, painting and poetry in their free time).

Ultimately, Confucianism was no longer the state-endorsed ideology. It had to compete with Daoism and Buddhism for the Mongol rulers’ patronage. 

The latter two were famously debated in the Mongol court in 1258. The Mongols were not persuaded by either side – or didn’t take sides, anyway.

Despite the dynasty’s relatively brief tenure, Yuan dynasty calligraphy was rich in innovation and variety.

Zhao Mengfu (1254 – 1322 AD)

Zhao Mengfu was the greatest calligrapher of the Yuan dynasty. (He was also an excellent painter.)

However, as a descendent of the Song royal family, his position as a high-ranking official serving the Mongols was seen by some contemporaries and later commentators as a breach of Confucian principle.

This led some to even question his greatness as a calligrapher:

Zhao, though a famous calligrapher, as a person had no backbone… The very fluidity of his calligraphy is thought to reflect the instability of his character, and his style is often considered unsuitable for beginning calligraphers to copy.

– Liu Rong, ‘The Wonderful World of Calligraphy’, China Reconstructs (November 1985)

Ming dynasty (1368 – 1644 AD)

The Ming emperor, Hongwu (1368 – 1398) came to power assuring the elite that he would re-instate Song dynasty style of Confucian rule. 

His actions soon showed otherwise. Thousands of officials, artists, and other elites were executed in his purges.

The dynasty’s authoritarian beginnings loosened over subsequent rulers. But it’s subtle hostility to Confucianism continued.

In 1530, for example, the state changed Confucius’ officially recognised title from Supreme Sage to King of Spreading Culture to Our Deceased Teacher, Confucius.

Despite this, important new Confucian thinkers emerged. 

One of these was the statesman and philosopher Wang Yangming (also known as Wang Shouren) (1472 – 1529). 

He challenged the Confucian orthodoxy by emphasising the ability to cultivate innate goodness via reflection over study.

This didn’t render study of the Confucian classics useless, he argued, as they could still be studied to help reveal one’s own moral goodness.

But it went against centuries of precedent and authority and directly challenged ideas in Zhu Xi’s work.

Qing dynasty (1644 – 1912 AD)

With its expanding population and literacy rates, and un-challenged supremacy as the official state ideology, Confucianism reached its pinnacle of influence during the Qing.

The non-Chinese (Manchu) Qing rulers, enthusiastically promoted it. Many of them had received Confucian educations and genuinely believed in Confucian principles.

It also remained the core of the official examination system, which expanded over the course of the Qing’s 267-year rule.

Qing emperors even took the unprecedented steps kneeling twice and prostrating six times to Confucius during official ceremonies in Beijing. They also fully kowtowed to him in Qufu, Shandong (his birthplace).

The ideas of Zhu Xi were still the official orthodoxy and therefore the best base for passing the exams. 

Meanwhile, the ideas of Xunzi and Wang Yangming were officially discouraged but still examined by some private scholars. 

And many new treatise and commentaries on Confucianism were published and debated amongst intellectuals.

The concept of benevolence (仁) (mentioned in the Analects and the first of Mencius’ five sprouts of virtue) came to the fore.

It placed emphasis on social harmony and good relations – essential principles to appeal to for the Qing to retain its legitimacy.

The imperial examinations, which for so long had been the backbone to Chinese education and politics, ended in 1905 – seven years before the dynasty.

Liang Qichao (1873 – 1929)

Liang Qichao was a Confucian politician and philosopher before, during and after the fall of the Qing government.

Before the Qing fell, Liang had to flee China because of his involvement in the Hundred Days Reform of 1898.

Many radicals were openly criticising Confucianism, saying that it had held China’s progress back. They believed modern Western ideas such as science and democracy were needed for China to thrive.

However, Liang, like his mentor Kang Youwei (1858 – 1927), still advocated for Confucian principles. They believed these could be blended with aspects of modern Western ideas. 

Liang even went as far as to suggest a descendant of Confucius be appointed as the figurehead of the Qing state.

Republican period (1912 – 1949 AD)

Lu Xun (1881 – 1926)

Lu Xun (born Lu Zhou Shuren) is the most famous Chinese writer of the 20^th century. 

Like many of his contemporaries, he blamed Confucianism – at least in part – for many of China’s social and political problems.

Despite his love of Chinese literature, calligraphy, and history, he often published essays criticising Confucianism. 

His fiction is arguably even harsher. One of his most famous short stories (he didn’t ever write any full-length novels), ‘Diary of a Madman’ (1918)is a good example. 

In it, a young man goes mad as he discovers references to Cannibalism in Confucian classics (such as The Commentary of Zuo, one of the Thirteen Books).

And in ‘Kong Yiji’ (1919) a classically educated visitor to a local bar cuts a ridiculous and pityful figure.

Despite his classical education, we are told that he has become poorer and more decrepit over the years. 

He quotes obscure classical references, but behaves poorly: stealing and borrowing what he can’t pay back.

He could arguably be read as the sad embodiment of Confucianism in modern China.

People’s Republic of China (1949 – present)

When the Communists came to power in October 1949, they brought with them new ideology. Early on, this was Marxism and later on Mao Zedong Thought.

The Cultural Revolution (1966 – 76)

The Cultural Revolution took place during the last decade of Mao Zedong’s (1893 – 1976) rule. 

It was a mass political and social movement focused on removing old influences from China. During its later stages, its intensity picked up after a relative lull. 

Confucius was targeted as representative of the ‘Four Olds’ (‘all the old ideas, old culture, old customs and old habits of the exploiting classes.’).

In 1967, in Confucius’ hometown of Qufu, Red Guards attacked a Confucian shrine that had been maintained by the descendants of Confucius for over 2,000 years.

This event captured by a photograph of a triumphant Red Guard with a sledge hammer held aloft moments before being brought down onto the marble entrance pillar at his feet. 

Another well-known campaign against the old was the ‘Criticise Lin [Biao], Criticise Confucius’ Campaign of 1973 – 76. 

A joint editorial by three separate Chinese newspapers in January 1974 put in this way:

‘The struggle between the proletariat is a long, complicated and sometimes acute struggle… The reactionaries both in and out of China and some of the leaders of various opportunist lines in China’s history all worship Confucius.’

Post-Mao (1976 – today)

The Cultural Revolution ended in 1976. Within a decade China’s Reform and opening up (改革开放) was launched by the government.

Confucius and Confucianism was now embraced, not vilified. The Analects was introduced in schools (no longer memorised and made the centre of the education system!)

It also became more widely accessible than ever thanks to rising literacy rates and new popular commentaries (like the work of Yu Dan (1965 – present)).

In 2004, China had launched its soft power programme for spreading Chinese culture and language abroad: The Confucian Institute. 

I was one such beneficiary of the programme. In 2018, I was given a scholarship to study in Harbin Normal University for one year.

This was a great opportunity for learning the language and delving deeper into the culture of China.

Examples of Confucian principles

Confucianism is difficult to summarise. Much is open to interpretation. There are often nuances, context, and linguistic details consider. 

However, below are a few representative examples of key principles from the Analects.

The Way

The Way (Dao; 道) is a key concept in Confucianism and other Chinese philosophies. 

Daoism (literally: ‘Way School [of thought]’; 道家), for example, is based around it. 

But Daoism’s Way is different to Confucianism’s way, which in turn is different to Chinese Buddhism’s Way, etc.

子曰：“道不同，不相为谋。”
The Master [Confucius] said: ‘When the Way someone follows is different, don’t discuss the Way with them.’

– The Analects (15.40)

For Confucius, the Way was a harmonious socio-political order achieved by proper governance and conduct. It was an impersonal force that needed to be relentlessly pursued.

子曰：“人能弘道，非道弘人。”
The Master said: “Man can carry the Way forward. The Way can’t carry men forward.”

– The Analects (15.29)

The further society and individuals strayed from it, the more chaos crept in. At different times and places, it has flourished or withered. Confucius wants his disciples to help others cultivate it, but urges them to be cautious:

The Gentleman

Confucius often mentions the gentleman (junzi; 君子), his concept of a morally upright man. 

This is almost like the Way but on an individual level, i.e., a state of being to continuously stive towards.

Just as good kingdoms that follow the Way are contrasted to chaotic ones that don’t, Confucius’ gentleman has it’s opposite: the petty man (xiaoren; 小人).

Just as with the English Gentleman, the Confucian junzi previously (before Confucius’ time) simply denoted class status. However, Confucius added a moral aspect to it. 

The Analects very first statement mentions this term:

子曰：“学而时习之，不亦说乎？有朋自远方来，不亦乐乎？人不知而不愠，不亦君子乎？”
The Master said: “To study and often put it into practice, is this not pleasing? Having friends from afar visit, is this not joyful? To remain unruffled by being unknown, is this not what a gentleman does?”

-The Analects (1.1)

And it frequently comes back to it.

子曰：“君子贞而不谅。”
The Master said: “A gentleman is upright but not rigid.”

– The Analects (15.37)

As do his disciples, who are also quoted throughout the Analects:

“君子所贵乎道者三：动容貌，斯远暴慢矣；正颜色，斯近信矣；出辞气，斯远鄙倍矣。”
[.…] [Master Zeng said:] “A gentleman pays attention to three aspects of the Way: In his facial expressions, he is not crude or lax. In his manner, he adheres to good faith. In his speech, he is not crude or deviant.”

– The Analects (8.4)

Rectifying the names

Rectifying the names (正名) is an important principle for Confucius. It refers to using language correctly so that the understanding and behaviour that follows is based on truth.

This passage above reflects another of Confucius’ principles – that of ignoring petty gains:

It might be easier to not rectify the names – to call something by another name to please others, for example. But in the long run, this compromise will undermine future actions.

More, much more!

There is a lot more to Confucius’ doctrine than the above. And, of course, there is a lot more to Confucianism more broadly, too.

Some of the latter is outlined in the below (brief) history of Confucianism.