Master Kung (Confucius)
551-478 B.C.E.
Master Kung (Kung Fu Tzu) was born in the province of Lu (now
Shandong, Eastern China) in 551 B.C.E.. His family was not rich but
provided humble yet wide educational opportunities. He had no particular
teacher yet he became well known as an apt tutor.
In his twenties he began his long career as a teacher using the practical
wisdom of classic Chinese tradition. He desired to pursue public office so
that his philosophy for a new society--based on equality, respect and
justice--could be spread into reality. He apparently never achieved his
dream though his reputation made his influence on some rulers
unavoidable.
In his fifties and sixties he set out on the path of a peripatetic (traveling
teacher). As perhaps the first person in Chinese history to devote himself
solely to teaching, he went about expounding his philosophy of social
reform, gathering a small band of disciples.
Five years before his death he returned to Lu where he worked on editing
The Classics (five fundamental cultural books). He died at the age of
seventy-three, somewhat disappointed that he had not become either a
public official or his own "superior human being."
Master Kung was no failure. He's been described as "one of the world's
greatest teachers" and one who was "in the manner of Socrates, a oneman university." His ability to relate to the common people, his wit and
wisdom, and his practical scheme for the "Just State" endeared him to the
masses. So much was he revered that within a few generations of his
passing he was nearly deified by disciples and friends.
For the past 2000 years every Chinese school child has raised clasped
hands each morning to a tablet in the corner of the classroom bearing the
name: Kung Fu Tzu.