THE SOCIAL SAGE: CONFUCIUS

10th Grade Mrs. Karen Hernández

Confucius is the Latinized name of K`ung Fu-tzu or Master K`ung, a legendary teacher who saw social decline, and took a more active approach than Lao-tzu, he promoted social order based on hummanity, custom, and personal moral cultivation.

Confucius began teaching in his twenties or thirties, legends say that he was the first man in Chinese history to devote his life to teaching, we can describe him as witty, humane, complicated, confident and modest. He was unimpressed by wealth and social standing.

Shortly before he died, Confucius wept and said. “For a long time the world has been living in moral chaos and no ruler has been able to follow me”. Leaning on a stick, he walked slowly around his door, singing “Ah the mountain is crumbling down! The pillar is falling down! The philosopher is passing out!”.

Confucian Humanism and The Golden Mean

If one word characterizes the overall approach of the ancient sages, it is humanism, the name given to any philosophy that emphasizes human welfare and dignity.

In general humanism is based on the belief that human intelligence and effort are capable of improving present conditions.

Confucian humanism is rooted in Confucius`s visión of himself as a preserver and restorer of a declining culture rather than as an inventor or creator of something new.

Confucius acknowledged the need to think, but focused on the importance of learning. “I used to go without food all day, without sleep all night, to think,” he said. “No use, better to learn.” Learn the way of chung-yung, the Golden Mean. The mean means “centrality and universality.” The mean is the same as equilibrium or harmony. By restoring equilibrium to the individual, Confucius thought order would be restored to the family, to other relationships, to state, to the world, to the universe.

What heaven imparts to man is called human nature. To follow our nature is called the Way (Tao). Cultivating the Way is called Education. The Way cannot be separated from us even for a moment.

Before the feelings of pleasure, anger, sorrow and joy are aroused it is called equilibrium. When these feelings are aroused it is called equilibrium, this is the great foundation of the world, and harmony its universal path.

CONFUCIUS QUOTES

THE BUDDHA SIDDHARTHA GAUTAMA

10th Grade Mrs. Karen Hernández

So powerful was the person and visión of Siddhartha Gautama, that he was recognized during his lifetime as an archetype himself.

Today the archetype of Buddha is a mayor source of meaning and purpose for over 2 billion people.

The Buddha was a sage, yet more than a sage, among his names, perhaps the most enduring are the Awakened or Enlightened One, and the Compassionate Buddha. Yet of all his influence we have very little factual information about him, what we know comes from oral tradition and myth.

Unlike Lao-tzu and Confucius, Siddhartha Gautama was born into wealth and power as the son of a prince (rajah) in what is now Nepal. He was intelligent and alert, a talented student and athlete. Legend says that he was a first-rate hunter and archer and that he enjoyed a rich and active life.

As an only son, Siddhartha was spoiled and indulged by his family; he became a hedonist and a womanizer. At sixteen he married his cousin, but this did not seem to have slowed dowm his pleasure seeking. The Young prince lived in protected isolation, surrounded by servants who catered to his whim. One versión of his life claims that Siddhartha`s parents took great pain to protect him from the ugliness of life, even surrounding him with young attractive servants. His parents tried to protect him from knowing about poverty, hunger, sickness and death by trying to confine him within the palace.

But Siddhartha was not content. As many young people, curiosity led him away from home. During his secret trips outside the palace to a nearby city, he saw three of the now famous Four Signs that altered his life forever:

- A destitute and homeless beggar

- A dead man being prepared for cremation by his weeping mourners.

- A diseased and handicapped person

The seeds of the Buddha were planted when Siddhartha encountered his first sight of suffering.

SIDDHARTHA THE SEEKER

Before his excursions outside the family compound, Siddhartha had no real idea of what sickness or old age could do to the body and spirit. He had no real sense of the depths that poverty could reach. He was unaware of the power of grief. The price he had paid for living in a cocoon of soft pleasures and hidden from suffering of others was a feeling of bored unease. But ignorance could not protect him forever. All the pleasures of his wealthy family could not quell his nagging sense of discomfort. He simply had to know more.

The Young prince had no one to talk about his troubled questions except his servant Channa, a hired companion who was also a guardian and bodyguard. To every question Siddhartha raised about life outside the family, good Channa could only reply, with great sadness and resignation, “Yes, master, there is no escape to old age, sickness and death.

In today`s language we might say the Siddhartha “had his eyes opened”. His naive unawareness was spoiled forever. No longer were his pleasures as sweet, he could not shake the haunting images of old age, sickness and death. His anxiety grew, and he asked to himself again and again, How could anyone be happy if there is absolutely no escape from suffering, dissapointment, sadness and loss?

Walking outside the palace one day, Siddhartha saw a wondering monk, an ascetic. Ascetics turn away from pleasure and severely limit all sensual appetites in order to achieve salvation or peace of mind. Ascetics involve long hours of prayer, living on plain food, and wearing simple clothes.

When Siddhartha looked closely into the face of the wandering monk, he was astonished to see serenity, purpose, and detachment.

This was the last of the Four Signs.

Siddhartha concluded that he must leave the security of his home and live as a monk, homeless, with a simple robe and a beggar`s bowl.

Section Review

1. List the different names by which people reffered to, Siddhartha Gautama.

2. Describe Siddharthas` life as a young prince.

3. Name the first three signs that changed Siddharthas` view of life.

4. What opened Siddharthas` eyes to the reality of life?

5. What was the fourth and final sign?

6. How do ascetics live their lives?