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Since the dawn of civilisation, the forces of nature | 0:00:05 | 0:00:09 | |
and the whims of gods held sway over humanity. | 0:00:09 | 0:00:13 | |
But 2,500 years ago, | 0:00:15 | 0:00:17 | |
humankind experienced a profound transformation. | 0:00:17 | 0:00:21 | |
Suddenly, there were new possibilities. | 0:00:24 | 0:00:27 | |
This is a time when rationality overrode superstition and belief. | 0:00:27 | 0:00:32 | |
This is an ethic which does not rely on the gods. | 0:00:32 | 0:00:36 | |
The world is now explained in terms of natural forces. | 0:00:36 | 0:00:39 | |
We are now responsible for our own destiny. | 0:00:39 | 0:00:42 | |
Upheavals across the globe sparked an ambitious | 0:00:46 | 0:00:49 | |
vision of what humans could achieve, | 0:00:49 | 0:00:52 | |
spearheaded by three trailblazers. | 0:00:52 | 0:00:56 | |
Socrates, Confucius and the Buddha - | 0:00:57 | 0:01:00 | |
great thinkers from the ancient world | 0:01:00 | 0:01:02 | |
whose ideas still shape our own lives. | 0:01:02 | 0:01:05 | |
Is wealth a good thing? | 0:01:07 | 0:01:09 | |
How do you create a just society? | 0:01:09 | 0:01:12 | |
How do I live a good life? | 0:01:13 | 0:01:15 | |
By daring to think the unthinkable, | 0:01:17 | 0:01:20 | |
they laid the foundations of our modern world. | 0:01:20 | 0:01:23 | |
I've always been intrigued by the fact that these men, | 0:01:24 | 0:01:27 | |
who lived many thousands of miles apart, | 0:01:27 | 0:01:30 | |
seemed almost spontaneously, within 100 years of one another, | 0:01:30 | 0:01:35 | |
to come up with such radical ways of thinking. | 0:01:35 | 0:01:38 | |
So, what was going on? | 0:01:42 | 0:01:44 | |
I want to investigate their revolutionary ideas | 0:01:44 | 0:01:47 | |
to understand what set them in motion. | 0:01:47 | 0:01:50 | |
In this programme, I'm on the trail of that quintessential | 0:01:50 | 0:01:53 | |
Eastern sage - Confucius. | 0:01:53 | 0:01:56 | |
He had a mission. But many people at that time did not agree with him. | 0:01:56 | 0:02:01 | |
His vision was modelled on the power of the past and the family. | 0:02:01 | 0:02:05 | |
He believed that education could transform both individuals | 0:02:05 | 0:02:09 | |
and society. | 0:02:09 | 0:02:10 | |
He is talking about your state of mind. Your feelings. | 0:02:10 | 0:02:16 | |
But in the 20th century, Confucius was declared an enemy of communism. | 0:02:16 | 0:02:21 | |
So now, he should be out of favour. | 0:02:21 | 0:02:24 | |
But that hardly seems to be the case. | 0:02:24 | 0:02:27 | |
This is the longest continuous civilisation in the world, | 0:02:28 | 0:02:32 | |
and Confucius has a huge role in that. | 0:02:32 | 0:02:34 | |
It's so amazing to be so close to them. My heart is beating! | 0:02:34 | 0:02:37 | |
In 551 BC, an elderly ex-soldier from the ancient state of Lu | 0:02:53 | 0:02:59 | |
faced a grave predicament. | 0:02:59 | 0:03:01 | |
His family line was in danger of ending. | 0:03:01 | 0:03:04 | |
He needed a son to continue his name, | 0:03:04 | 0:03:07 | |
someone who would be able to perform the vital rituals to honour him | 0:03:07 | 0:03:12 | |
and his ancestors. | 0:03:12 | 0:03:13 | |
The old man took a young wife. | 0:03:16 | 0:03:18 | |
We are told that she went to a sacred mountain | 0:03:18 | 0:03:21 | |
and prayed hard for a boy. | 0:03:21 | 0:03:23 | |
The son she bore would be known as Master Kong. | 0:03:25 | 0:03:28 | |
In Chinese, Kong Fuzi. | 0:03:28 | 0:03:31 | |
In the West, we call him Confucius. | 0:03:31 | 0:03:35 | |
Confucius was born into one of the most advanced | 0:03:40 | 0:03:43 | |
civilisations in the world. | 0:03:43 | 0:03:46 | |
The ancient Chinese were innovators in art, | 0:03:46 | 0:03:49 | |
metal work, agriculture and weaponry. | 0:03:49 | 0:03:52 | |
And from around 1000 BC, | 0:03:57 | 0:04:00 | |
they developed a sophisticated political system. | 0:04:00 | 0:04:03 | |
A network of vassal lords who bore allegiance to one king. | 0:04:03 | 0:04:07 | |
But by the time Confucius was going up, | 0:04:10 | 0:04:13 | |
stability had turned to chaos. | 0:04:13 | 0:04:16 | |
This was an age when all of ancient China | 0:04:16 | 0:04:19 | |
was trapped in a ruthless cycle of war. | 0:04:19 | 0:04:22 | |
Tribal invasions from the west, along with rebellion amongst | 0:04:27 | 0:04:31 | |
the lords, splintered the empire into independent states. | 0:04:31 | 0:04:35 | |
All vying for power. | 0:04:39 | 0:04:41 | |
Spurred on by a kind of arms race, now that cast iron meant that | 0:04:45 | 0:04:49 | |
weapons could be mass-produced, families attacked families. | 0:04:49 | 0:04:53 | |
This was total war. | 0:04:53 | 0:04:54 | |
This collapse in society would become | 0:04:57 | 0:05:00 | |
the catalyst for Confucius' ground-breaking philosophy. | 0:05:00 | 0:05:04 | |
The oldest record of Confucius' life and ideas, the Analects, | 0:05:11 | 0:05:15 | |
were compiled about a century after his death. | 0:05:15 | 0:05:18 | |
These fragments of his conversations, | 0:05:19 | 0:05:21 | |
along with other later histories, give us clues to his life story. | 0:05:21 | 0:05:26 | |
We are told that Confucius was just three when his father died. | 0:05:28 | 0:05:32 | |
Old aristocracy, he had fallen on hard times - | 0:05:32 | 0:05:36 | |
one of the victims of the turmoil of the age - | 0:05:36 | 0:05:38 | |
leaving Confucius' mother to raise her son on her own | 0:05:38 | 0:05:43 | |
in a kind of genteel poverty. | 0:05:43 | 0:05:45 | |
Interestingly, it seems that education was Confucius' lifeline. | 0:05:47 | 0:05:52 | |
Somehow, probably through a mix of private teachers | 0:05:52 | 0:05:55 | |
and home-schooling and, you suspect, the sheer grit and determination | 0:05:55 | 0:06:00 | |
of his mother, Confucius was taught history, poetry and ritual. | 0:06:00 | 0:06:06 | |
While other children played with toys, he's said to have acted | 0:06:12 | 0:06:16 | |
out sacred rituals by laying out cups and bowls. | 0:06:16 | 0:06:20 | |
Now, these weren't just empty gestures, | 0:06:21 | 0:06:24 | |
a bit of spiritual theatre. | 0:06:24 | 0:06:26 | |
The kinds of rituals that Confucius learned played a crucial role | 0:06:26 | 0:06:30 | |
in the ancient Chinese world view. | 0:06:30 | 0:06:34 | |
A world view in which order and harmony, | 0:06:34 | 0:06:36 | |
both on Earth and in the cosmos, | 0:06:36 | 0:06:39 | |
were considered essential goals | 0:06:39 | 0:06:41 | |
if life on Earth was to continue. | 0:06:41 | 0:06:43 | |
The ancient rites that young Confucius knew were performed here, | 0:06:58 | 0:07:01 | |
at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, right up until the 20th century. | 0:07:01 | 0:07:05 | |
The Chinese had a particular religious outlook which | 0:07:09 | 0:07:12 | |
meant that these rituals weren't directed towards a deity. | 0:07:12 | 0:07:16 | |
There is no creative god. | 0:07:17 | 0:07:19 | |
There's nothing like the idea | 0:07:19 | 0:07:22 | |
of a supreme power that dreams | 0:07:22 | 0:07:24 | |
everything into being. | 0:07:24 | 0:07:26 | |
What it posits instead is this notion that there are | 0:07:26 | 0:07:29 | |
two cosmic forces. They're not even really divine, | 0:07:29 | 0:07:32 | |
they're just natural forces, a bit like gravity in a sense. | 0:07:32 | 0:07:36 | |
And on the temple here, you have perhaps the most common, | 0:07:36 | 0:07:41 | |
the most powerful symbols of these two great forces. | 0:07:41 | 0:07:44 | |
And that is the dragon, the heavenly force. | 0:07:44 | 0:07:47 | |
And the phoenix is the female, the cold, the earthly force. | 0:07:47 | 0:07:51 | |
And they are locked in perpetual struggle. | 0:07:51 | 0:07:55 | |
They try to overcome each other. | 0:07:55 | 0:07:57 | |
And it's this incredible dance of power | 0:07:57 | 0:08:01 | |
out of which all life pours. | 0:08:01 | 0:08:04 | |
So what's humanity's role in all of this? | 0:08:04 | 0:08:06 | |
We're fundamental to this. You've got these two great cosmic forces | 0:08:06 | 0:08:10 | |
and our role is to keep the balance, and we do this through ritual. | 0:08:10 | 0:08:15 | |
And that's what this kind of temple complex was built for. | 0:08:15 | 0:08:18 | |
This is where the ruler would come to make offerings to | 0:08:18 | 0:08:22 | |
rebalance these two forces. | 0:08:22 | 0:08:24 | |
And it wasn't just for the rulers, it took place in every single temple, | 0:08:24 | 0:08:28 | |
every local shrine, right down to the household. | 0:08:28 | 0:08:31 | |
Sounds like a potent and a pervasive world view | 0:08:31 | 0:08:34 | |
that Confucius is being brought up with. | 0:08:34 | 0:08:36 | |
Absolutely. It's the only world view he knows. | 0:08:36 | 0:08:39 | |
As he reached adulthood, it looks as though Confucius grew to | 0:08:47 | 0:08:50 | |
appreciate the gaping disparity between the ancient ideal of order | 0:08:50 | 0:08:56 | |
and the reality of life subject to the chaos that raged all around him. | 0:08:56 | 0:09:00 | |
His search for a solution to that intractable problem | 0:09:01 | 0:09:05 | |
at the very heart of Chinese society | 0:09:05 | 0:09:08 | |
would prove to be his life's work. | 0:09:08 | 0:09:11 | |
Fortunately, conditions across the ancient world were nourishing | 0:09:16 | 0:09:21 | |
new ways of thinking. | 0:09:21 | 0:09:23 | |
Improvements in agriculture, increased trade, | 0:09:23 | 0:09:26 | |
and growing urbanisation meant that some in society were less | 0:09:26 | 0:09:30 | |
tied to a life of subsistence, creating the opportunity for | 0:09:30 | 0:09:35 | |
men like Socrates, the Buddha and Confucius to develop their ideas. | 0:09:35 | 0:09:39 | |
The scale of change - economic and technological - | 0:09:42 | 0:09:45 | |
is reflected in archaeological remains, | 0:09:45 | 0:09:49 | |
like this monumental grain store. | 0:09:49 | 0:09:52 | |
Advances in technology from the Iron Age onwards led to an increase | 0:10:05 | 0:10:08 | |
in agricultural yields that were stored in massive pits like this. | 0:10:08 | 0:10:14 | |
Suddenly, for ordinary people, because they had enough food, | 0:10:14 | 0:10:17 | |
life just wasn't a grinding cycle of a kind of hand-to-mouth existence. | 0:10:17 | 0:10:22 | |
Obviously, stores like this provided grain, | 0:10:22 | 0:10:26 | |
but they also gave another great gift - time to think. | 0:10:26 | 0:10:31 | |
When Confucius was about 20, we're told | 0:10:34 | 0:10:37 | |
he landed a bureaucratic job managing grain stores like this. | 0:10:37 | 0:10:41 | |
But his mind was occupied by the turmoil of the day. | 0:10:41 | 0:10:45 | |
Looking around him, | 0:10:47 | 0:10:48 | |
it seemed obvious to Confucius that humanity needed help. | 0:10:48 | 0:10:52 | |
And how he responded is considered a first in Chinese history. | 0:10:52 | 0:10:57 | |
He began to engage in systematic philosophical enquiry. | 0:10:58 | 0:11:02 | |
One thing I like about Confucius is the sense that you get | 0:11:14 | 0:11:17 | |
that he had a kind of natural curiosity, | 0:11:17 | 0:11:20 | |
that he felt compelled to explore, and to try to understand the world. | 0:11:20 | 0:11:24 | |
And in his early 20s, he decided to leave his home state of Lu, | 0:11:24 | 0:11:29 | |
and get on the road. | 0:11:29 | 0:11:30 | |
Travelling west, he would have eventually met the great | 0:11:34 | 0:11:37 | |
Yellow River. | 0:11:37 | 0:11:38 | |
I think we have to imagine him | 0:11:42 | 0:11:43 | |
at this point in his life as a kind of ethnographer, | 0:11:43 | 0:11:46 | |
going from one place to another with open eyes | 0:11:46 | 0:11:49 | |
and an open mind, gathering together experiences and encounters. | 0:11:49 | 0:11:53 | |
The Analects describe Confucius meeting people who had | 0:11:59 | 0:12:02 | |
renounced civilised society and lived amongst nature. | 0:12:02 | 0:12:06 | |
These recluses were the forerunners of Daoism, | 0:12:08 | 0:12:11 | |
that other great belief system of ancient China. | 0:12:11 | 0:12:14 | |
They believed in something known as the Way. | 0:12:14 | 0:12:18 | |
Could you explain to me what exactly the Way is? | 0:12:19 | 0:12:23 | |
Is it possible for humans to influence or control the Way? | 0:12:38 | 0:12:42 | |
Xiexie. Xiexie. | 0:12:52 | 0:12:53 | |
The Daoists believed that developed society diverted us from the Way. | 0:12:58 | 0:13:04 | |
Society was artificial, something people imposed on the natural | 0:13:04 | 0:13:08 | |
spontaneous way of the universe. | 0:13:08 | 0:13:10 | |
Only by reconnecting with the forces of nature could | 0:13:11 | 0:13:14 | |
we achieve harmony once again. | 0:13:14 | 0:13:16 | |
Confucius reacted to Daoist belief with a kind of frustrated | 0:13:19 | 0:13:22 | |
indignation. | 0:13:22 | 0:13:24 | |
"We can't go and live with the birds and the beasts. | 0:13:24 | 0:13:27 | |
"Am I not a man among men? | 0:13:27 | 0:13:29 | |
"If the Way prevailed in the world, there would be no need for me | 0:13:29 | 0:13:32 | |
"to change it." | 0:13:32 | 0:13:33 | |
Confucius' search for solutions to the problems of his day | 0:13:36 | 0:13:40 | |
took on a more practical, political dimension. | 0:13:40 | 0:13:43 | |
For him, the Way wasn't an intangible cosmic force. | 0:13:43 | 0:13:48 | |
Instead, he saw it as the harmony that could be brought about | 0:13:49 | 0:13:52 | |
by a perfectly ordered society, | 0:13:52 | 0:13:55 | |
something attainable by human action. | 0:13:55 | 0:13:59 | |
It was a claim the Daoists thought the height of arrogance. | 0:13:59 | 0:14:03 | |
This critical dispute is embodied in one legendary encounter. | 0:14:05 | 0:14:10 | |
Confucius is said to have come here, the city of Luoyang. | 0:14:11 | 0:14:15 | |
As he was studying in the state archives, | 0:14:20 | 0:14:23 | |
he met an older man and they struck up a philosophical discussion. | 0:14:23 | 0:14:27 | |
As Confucius got up to leave, the old man chastised him. | 0:14:31 | 0:14:34 | |
"Put away your proud air and many desires, | 0:14:35 | 0:14:39 | |
"your insinuating habit and wild will. | 0:14:39 | 0:14:43 | |
"These are of no advantage to you." | 0:14:43 | 0:14:46 | |
The enigmatic old man was none other than Laozi, | 0:14:48 | 0:14:53 | |
credited as the founder of Daoism. | 0:14:53 | 0:14:55 | |
Whether it's true or not, this pairing with such a great figure | 0:14:57 | 0:15:00 | |
reveals the iconic status Confucius would later reach. | 0:15:00 | 0:15:04 | |
And it tells us something else. | 0:15:04 | 0:15:07 | |
That setting in the archive gives us a clue to Confucius' methods. | 0:15:07 | 0:15:12 | |
For him, solutions to contemporary problems lay in a close study | 0:15:12 | 0:15:17 | |
of what had gone before. | 0:15:17 | 0:15:19 | |
The past was a kind of reservoir of truth. | 0:15:20 | 0:15:24 | |
Ever since he was a boy, he had been schooled in ancient texts. | 0:15:29 | 0:15:34 | |
Now, as a man, they became the inspiration for, | 0:15:34 | 0:15:37 | |
and the very foundation of his philosophy. | 0:15:37 | 0:15:40 | |
Recent discoveries have shed new light on these classic texts | 0:15:42 | 0:15:45 | |
of Chinese history - | 0:15:45 | 0:15:47 | |
800 bamboo slips which contain the earliest | 0:15:47 | 0:15:52 | |
evidence of Confucius's words. | 0:15:52 | 0:15:54 | |
They were found in 1993 in the tomb of an old noble man. | 0:15:54 | 0:16:00 | |
Amazing. And they date back to when? | 0:16:00 | 0:16:03 | |
Oh, these were dated to the 4th century BCE, | 0:16:03 | 0:16:08 | |
roughly 100 years after Confucius. | 0:16:08 | 0:16:13 | |
It says something like, | 0:16:13 | 0:16:15 | |
"Set your mind on the way and be virtuous. | 0:16:15 | 0:16:20 | |
"Do everything in accordance with humanity." | 0:16:20 | 0:16:23 | |
Not only the earliest words of Confucius but beautiful words too. | 0:16:24 | 0:16:28 | |
Wow. | 0:16:28 | 0:16:30 | |
And they were so amazing because they provide us new | 0:16:30 | 0:16:34 | |
information on early classics that were very important | 0:16:34 | 0:16:38 | |
to Confucius himself. | 0:16:38 | 0:16:40 | |
And, for example, this particular slip | 0:16:40 | 0:16:44 | |
mention about the classics he would have read. | 0:16:44 | 0:16:48 | |
The Book Of Odes - ritual and music. | 0:16:49 | 0:16:53 | |
But The Book Of History is very important, because it recorded | 0:16:53 | 0:16:57 | |
figures such as the Duke of Zhou, and early kings of the Western Zhou | 0:16:57 | 0:17:02 | |
that was about 500 years before Confucius' time. | 0:17:02 | 0:17:06 | |
And these men were able to lead a society of harmony. | 0:17:06 | 0:17:11 | |
Confucius found in the words of The Book Of History | 0:17:21 | 0:17:24 | |
what he was looking for - | 0:17:24 | 0:17:26 | |
an ideal model where social and political harmony had prevailed, | 0:17:26 | 0:17:31 | |
engineered by the almost super-humanely sage rulers | 0:17:31 | 0:17:34 | |
of the early Zhou dynasty, | 0:17:34 | 0:17:37 | |
in particular, the Duke of Zhou. | 0:17:37 | 0:17:40 | |
When his brother, King Wu, died, | 0:17:43 | 0:17:45 | |
the Duke could have seized the throne. | 0:17:45 | 0:17:48 | |
But it's reported that instead he acted loyally, | 0:17:48 | 0:17:51 | |
ruling as a regent for his nephew, the king's son. | 0:17:51 | 0:17:55 | |
And then, when the boy grew up, fairly and faithfully, | 0:17:55 | 0:17:59 | |
he handed over the reins of power. | 0:17:59 | 0:18:01 | |
Whether these accounts were entirely true is a moot point, | 0:18:08 | 0:18:12 | |
but Confucius saw huge potential in them. | 0:18:12 | 0:18:16 | |
This golden age was robust evidence that social order was possible. | 0:18:18 | 0:18:23 | |
By following the practices and the examples of the early Zhou, | 0:18:24 | 0:18:27 | |
by reviving the past, | 0:18:27 | 0:18:29 | |
there could be solutions to the problems of the present. | 0:18:29 | 0:18:33 | |
It is the great thing about golden ages, they're very comforting. | 0:18:33 | 0:18:37 | |
We believe that if humanity was capable of wonderful things | 0:18:37 | 0:18:40 | |
in the past, we can achieve them once again. | 0:18:40 | 0:18:43 | |
Confucius believed that early Zhou society was the ideal | 0:18:52 | 0:18:56 | |
manifestation of his concept of the Way. | 0:18:56 | 0:18:59 | |
To recreate that harmony, | 0:19:00 | 0:19:02 | |
society needed to return to their high standards. | 0:19:02 | 0:19:05 | |
Especially in terms of ritual. | 0:19:05 | 0:19:08 | |
Confucius was convinced that the ancient rites had been corrupted. | 0:19:09 | 0:19:14 | |
In order to restore the golden age, | 0:19:14 | 0:19:16 | |
he would have to reinstate proper ritual. | 0:19:16 | 0:19:19 | |
Here, in Confucius' hometown of Qufu, | 0:19:25 | 0:19:28 | |
is a temple dedicated to the master. | 0:19:28 | 0:19:32 | |
It's the ultimate place of pilgrimage for many of his devotees. | 0:19:32 | 0:19:35 | |
Mr Kong traces his ancestry back to Confucius | 0:19:39 | 0:19:43 | |
and often leads rituals that his illustrious relative | 0:19:43 | 0:19:46 | |
set such store by. | 0:19:46 | 0:19:48 | |
HE CALLS OUT | 0:20:22 | 0:20:25 | |
But ritual here has always meant more than just ceremony. | 0:20:28 | 0:20:32 | |
It's an all-encompassing ethos that shapes every | 0:20:32 | 0:20:36 | |
aspect of people's behaviour, | 0:20:36 | 0:20:38 | |
including what we might call etiquette and customs. | 0:20:38 | 0:20:41 | |
It seems that Confucius threw himself into understanding | 0:21:18 | 0:21:22 | |
and perfecting the rites of the early Zhou. | 0:21:22 | 0:21:25 | |
Confucius was nothing if not a stickler for detail. | 0:21:27 | 0:21:30 | |
We hear he wouldn't even sit on a mat unless it was dead straight. | 0:21:30 | 0:21:35 | |
But there seems to have been a kind of beauty in his precision. | 0:21:35 | 0:21:39 | |
Just listen to these wonderful words describing him. | 0:21:39 | 0:21:43 | |
"His expression was serious, his step brisk. | 0:21:43 | 0:21:47 | |
"When with his clasped hands he bowed to his colleagues on left | 0:21:47 | 0:21:51 | |
"and right, his robes moved evenly in front and back. | 0:21:51 | 0:21:55 | |
"His hurrying advance was a glide." | 0:21:55 | 0:21:58 | |
Confucius set out to transmit the importance of proper ritual, | 0:22:09 | 0:22:14 | |
promoting his ideas right across the land. | 0:22:14 | 0:22:17 | |
One account describes his rather hostile reception | 0:22:18 | 0:22:21 | |
from a government advisor from the state of Qi. | 0:22:21 | 0:22:23 | |
"Confucius lays such stress on appearance and costume, | 0:22:25 | 0:22:28 | |
"elaborate etiquette and codes of behaviour that it would take | 0:22:28 | 0:22:32 | |
"generations to learn his rule. One lifetime wouldn't be enough." | 0:22:32 | 0:22:37 | |
To this day, Confucius is often criticised for his pedantic | 0:22:40 | 0:22:43 | |
attachment to intricate forms of antiquated ritual. | 0:22:43 | 0:22:48 | |
But what his critics didn't understand is that he had | 0:22:48 | 0:22:51 | |
discovered something radically new within these ancient rites, | 0:22:51 | 0:22:56 | |
something which marked a critical shift in his thinking. | 0:22:56 | 0:23:00 | |
When Confucius' was in his mid-20s, his mother died. | 0:23:09 | 0:23:14 | |
For three years, he dutifully carried out ancestral rites | 0:23:14 | 0:23:17 | |
in her honour. | 0:23:17 | 0:23:19 | |
But he would breathe new life and new meaning into these traditions. | 0:23:21 | 0:23:25 | |
-WHISPERS: -Ah! Oh, yes. | 0:23:26 | 0:23:29 | |
Wow, how beautiful. | 0:23:32 | 0:23:35 | |
So these are things that would actually have been | 0:23:35 | 0:23:37 | |
used in ancestor worship? | 0:23:37 | 0:23:39 | |
Exactly. Ancient Chinese believed that the ghost | 0:23:39 | 0:23:41 | |
and spirits continue to exist after the ancestors die. | 0:23:41 | 0:23:46 | |
So it's important to offer them food and wine in these kind of vessels. | 0:23:46 | 0:23:52 | |
In particular, those made of very expensive bronze. | 0:23:52 | 0:23:57 | |
And everyone would be really engaging in the ritual to continue | 0:23:57 | 0:24:03 | |
a kind of relationship they had before. | 0:24:03 | 0:24:06 | |
Do we know what Confucius thought about all of this? | 0:24:06 | 0:24:09 | |
Well, Confucius still believed that ancestors were still | 0:24:09 | 0:24:13 | |
very important part, | 0:24:13 | 0:24:15 | |
but he started to shift emphasis towards the living, | 0:24:15 | 0:24:20 | |
by saying that it meant that it's important | 0:24:20 | 0:24:23 | |
for us to develop this kind of reverence | 0:24:23 | 0:24:27 | |
and the proper relationship while they are still alive. | 0:24:27 | 0:24:31 | |
As he said in the Analects very clearly, that if you don't know | 0:24:31 | 0:24:35 | |
how to serve the living, how would you know how to serve the dead? | 0:24:35 | 0:24:39 | |
That's really interesting. He's saying actually focus first | 0:24:39 | 0:24:42 | |
on the here and now and on those who are still around you in | 0:24:42 | 0:24:44 | |
the day-to-day before you start to think about those who are long dead. | 0:24:44 | 0:24:48 | |
You are so right. | 0:24:48 | 0:24:50 | |
It's no longer just about objects like this. | 0:24:50 | 0:24:53 | |
It's about your state of mind, | 0:24:53 | 0:24:56 | |
your feelings, | 0:24:56 | 0:24:57 | |
your love and sincerity | 0:24:57 | 0:25:00 | |
from inside that you would have towards these people around you. | 0:25:00 | 0:25:05 | |
Confucius realised that ritual brought out positive emotions in us. | 0:25:11 | 0:25:15 | |
But his really big revelation was that this could permanently | 0:25:15 | 0:25:20 | |
change who we are. | 0:25:20 | 0:25:22 | |
Habitually performing the rituals of history, | 0:25:23 | 0:25:26 | |
with the right attitude and sincerity, | 0:25:26 | 0:25:29 | |
could transform our mind-set. | 0:25:29 | 0:25:32 | |
Virtuous feelings could make virtuous beings. | 0:25:32 | 0:25:36 | |
Ritual for him was not just the way you do things, | 0:25:36 | 0:25:41 | |
exactly follow the traditional and this and the rules, | 0:25:41 | 0:25:45 | |
but even more importantly, you've got to have something inside. | 0:25:45 | 0:25:50 | |
You've got to have a reverence, respect, | 0:25:50 | 0:25:54 | |
because this was the way to cultivate | 0:25:54 | 0:25:57 | |
your inside of goodness, the inside of this kind of | 0:25:57 | 0:26:00 | |
and the qualities. | 0:26:00 | 0:26:02 | |
And the whole person would be transformed on the inside. | 0:26:02 | 0:26:06 | |
But, I mean, that sounds really radical. So he's saying | 0:26:06 | 0:26:09 | |
you need to do things properly, but they're not just a mechanical | 0:26:09 | 0:26:13 | |
action. It affects who you are inside, sort of psychologically? | 0:26:13 | 0:26:17 | |
Yes, yeah, I think this exactly. | 0:26:17 | 0:26:19 | |
Not only just bring order to the social and life, | 0:26:19 | 0:26:23 | |
but also this to create a new psychological under this | 0:26:23 | 0:26:27 | |
meaning there and tried to cultivate this good human qualities. | 0:26:27 | 0:26:32 | |
Yeah. I mean, it's interesting cos he doesn't sell himself | 0:26:32 | 0:26:35 | |
as an innovator, but he was. | 0:26:35 | 0:26:37 | |
Yes, he was, | 0:26:37 | 0:26:38 | |
I think. Confucius said, you know, he was the only transmitter | 0:26:38 | 0:26:41 | |
that transmitted the ancient culture to today, to the future. | 0:26:41 | 0:26:47 | |
But actually, what he did was innovation. | 0:26:47 | 0:26:50 | |
These new things that are really coming from his reinterpretation | 0:26:50 | 0:26:54 | |
of something that already exists, such as the ritual. | 0:26:54 | 0:26:58 | |
Nourishing virtue lay at the core of Confucius' vision. | 0:27:00 | 0:27:05 | |
And he saw transformative opportunities in everyday rituals - | 0:27:05 | 0:27:09 | |
how we speak, how we dress and how we eat. | 0:27:09 | 0:27:13 | |
But one that was particularly close to his heart was music. | 0:27:13 | 0:27:17 | |
He's said to have played the zither and the sounding chimes. | 0:27:19 | 0:27:22 | |
This was a time and place where music was all around, | 0:27:27 | 0:27:30 | |
played on totally wonderful things like this monumental | 0:27:30 | 0:27:35 | |
set of bells that date to just after Confucius' death. | 0:27:35 | 0:27:38 | |
Music was played to accompany ritual in temples and homes, | 0:27:40 | 0:27:44 | |
so if you listen to these, then you'll be hearing the sounds | 0:27:44 | 0:27:48 | |
that would have surrounded Confucius during his lifetime. | 0:27:48 | 0:27:51 | |
BELL DINGS | 0:27:54 | 0:27:56 | |
Confucius was convinced that music had the power to harmonise, | 0:27:59 | 0:28:03 | |
to transform and perfect an individual. | 0:28:03 | 0:28:07 | |
Basically, | 0:28:07 | 0:28:08 | |
this is art as therapy 2,500 years before we invent the phrase. | 0:28:08 | 0:28:12 | |
This practical application of philosophical ideas | 0:28:30 | 0:28:34 | |
in day-to-day life is something that really marks out Confucius, | 0:28:34 | 0:28:37 | |
as well as those other game-changing philosophers - | 0:28:37 | 0:28:40 | |
the Buddha and Socrates. | 0:28:40 | 0:28:43 | |
As a philosopher, you don't just indulge in abstract musings, | 0:28:43 | 0:28:48 | |
you develop a robust delivery mechanism for your theories. | 0:28:48 | 0:28:52 | |
Ideas have to have traction, and they have to have tangible impact. | 0:28:52 | 0:28:57 | |
Confucius was a practical man. | 0:28:59 | 0:29:01 | |
He had been spurred into action by the bellicose times | 0:29:01 | 0:29:04 | |
into which he was born. | 0:29:04 | 0:29:06 | |
His philosophy would only truly be a success | 0:29:06 | 0:29:09 | |
if he it could affect change on a grand scale. | 0:29:09 | 0:29:13 | |
Confucius came to think this - | 0:29:15 | 0:29:17 | |
that shaping and cultivating moral individuals | 0:29:17 | 0:29:20 | |
was the key to creating a stable social and political order. | 0:29:20 | 0:29:25 | |
By figuring out what made a good person, | 0:29:25 | 0:29:27 | |
you could make a good society. | 0:29:27 | 0:29:30 | |
And so his mission was this - | 0:29:30 | 0:29:33 | |
to teach people how to be virtuous in a world of political disorder | 0:29:33 | 0:29:38 | |
and moral decay. | 0:29:38 | 0:29:40 | |
Confucius had given himself a mountain to climb. | 0:29:54 | 0:29:57 | |
How to instil virtue in society, when society's moral contract | 0:29:58 | 0:30:03 | |
was so broken was Confucius' big challenge. | 0:30:03 | 0:30:06 | |
He was to find inspiration from a familiar and enduring institution. | 0:30:08 | 0:30:13 | |
The family. | 0:30:14 | 0:30:16 | |
Hello! Thank you. | 0:30:16 | 0:30:17 | |
Wow, that was quite some welcome! Thank you. Xiexie. | 0:30:26 | 0:30:30 | |
'Confucius noted how families are organised along hierarchical lines,' | 0:30:31 | 0:30:35 | |
with fixed responsibilities. | 0:30:35 | 0:30:38 | |
From birth, we learn our place within key relationships. | 0:30:38 | 0:30:41 | |
Husband, wife. | 0:30:43 | 0:30:45 | |
Father, son. | 0:30:45 | 0:30:47 | |
Older brother, younger brother. | 0:30:47 | 0:30:49 | |
Recognising... Oh, thanks. | 0:30:53 | 0:30:56 | |
Ah, yeah. Thank you very much. | 0:30:56 | 0:30:57 | |
Recognising your... Oh, xiexie. | 0:30:59 | 0:31:01 | |
Recognising your place within these relationships | 0:31:04 | 0:31:07 | |
and fulfilling your mutual responsibilities within that | 0:31:07 | 0:31:10 | |
hierarchy taught essential moral values. | 0:31:10 | 0:31:14 | |
From the family, we developed a sense of loyalty, of honesty, | 0:31:14 | 0:31:19 | |
of duty, of respect, of filial responsibility. | 0:31:19 | 0:31:22 | |
Basically, to love those around us. | 0:31:22 | 0:31:26 | |
Confucius saw that the concept of family was a potent model | 0:31:29 | 0:31:33 | |
and a potential solution for society's ills. | 0:31:33 | 0:31:36 | |
The family showed how authority could be both exercised | 0:31:38 | 0:31:41 | |
and submitted to, fairly and productively. | 0:31:41 | 0:31:44 | |
Not through intimidation, but through mutual assent. | 0:31:45 | 0:31:49 | |
The moral values learnt in the family - affection and care | 0:31:54 | 0:31:58 | |
directed downwards, and loyalty and obedience directed above - | 0:31:58 | 0:32:02 | |
had the potential to transform everyone. | 0:32:02 | 0:32:06 | |
But Confucius saw that arguably their greatest value | 0:32:06 | 0:32:09 | |
lay in relation to the glaring problem at the heart of society - | 0:32:09 | 0:32:13 | |
the waywardness of its rulers. | 0:32:13 | 0:32:16 | |
This magnificent sword embodies what, for Confucius, | 0:32:29 | 0:32:33 | |
was the fundamental problem with Chinese leadership. | 0:32:33 | 0:32:37 | |
This was made when Confucius was alive, | 0:32:38 | 0:32:41 | |
and it tells us all about itself. | 0:32:41 | 0:32:43 | |
There's an inscription here that reads, | 0:32:43 | 0:32:45 | |
"Belonging to King Goujian of Yue. Made for his personal use." | 0:32:45 | 0:32:52 | |
Now, this is obviously a fabulously deluxe object. | 0:32:52 | 0:32:55 | |
And Confucius wouldn't have had a problem with that per se. | 0:32:55 | 0:32:59 | |
He wasn't puritanical. | 0:32:59 | 0:33:01 | |
He enjoyed the good things of life - swimming in rivers, | 0:33:01 | 0:33:04 | |
singing with friends - | 0:33:04 | 0:33:06 | |
and he understood the need for worldly goods. | 0:33:06 | 0:33:09 | |
But he did not think that good men should devote their time and energy | 0:33:09 | 0:33:14 | |
to the pursuit of personal gain. | 0:33:14 | 0:33:16 | |
And he didn't believe in immoderate action, | 0:33:16 | 0:33:19 | |
anywhere, any time, from anyone. | 0:33:19 | 0:33:22 | |
In Confucius' opinion, kings who commissioned swords like this | 0:33:28 | 0:33:32 | |
often abandoned virtue if it got in the way of worldly success. | 0:33:32 | 0:33:36 | |
He saw the way to transform society was to instil | 0:33:37 | 0:33:41 | |
the values at work in the family in the rulers of his day. | 0:33:41 | 0:33:45 | |
To understand the power they wielded, | 0:33:48 | 0:33:50 | |
you only need look at the way they were honoured in death. | 0:33:50 | 0:33:54 | |
This ruler, from around the time of Confucius, | 0:33:54 | 0:33:57 | |
was buried along with 26 expensive chariots | 0:33:57 | 0:34:01 | |
and 70 sacrificial horses. | 0:34:01 | 0:34:04 | |
What kind of connection did Confucius see | 0:34:05 | 0:34:07 | |
between the relationships that he'd observed | 0:34:07 | 0:34:10 | |
between father and son and the family, | 0:34:10 | 0:34:12 | |
and what's going on here? | 0:34:12 | 0:34:13 | |
Well, he looked at the fact that if you had a good father, | 0:34:13 | 0:34:16 | |
he could bring up a good son. | 0:34:16 | 0:34:18 | |
And a good son could then respect the father, and this could work. | 0:34:18 | 0:34:22 | |
So he said "Well, look, if it works at this level, | 0:34:22 | 0:34:24 | |
"let's just take it to the top." | 0:34:24 | 0:34:26 | |
If the ruler views those beneath him as his children | 0:34:26 | 0:34:31 | |
and treats them with love but with firmness, with compassion | 0:34:31 | 0:34:35 | |
but with integrity, then it would it roll down through the system. | 0:34:35 | 0:34:41 | |
And the Confucianist could say, "Look, you see the ruler's | 0:34:41 | 0:34:44 | |
"living like this, you should live like this." | 0:34:44 | 0:34:46 | |
And literally, it would roll down, | 0:34:46 | 0:34:49 | |
like the clouds from the mountain and bring blessing to everyone. | 0:34:49 | 0:34:53 | |
So, for him, might in and of itself wasn't a problem, | 0:34:53 | 0:34:57 | |
but if you had might, then you also had to have | 0:34:57 | 0:34:59 | |
a kind of philosophical responsibility to your people? | 0:34:59 | 0:35:02 | |
Yes. Confucius continued the Zhou tradition that a ruler has | 0:35:02 | 0:35:07 | |
the right to rule because heaven has clearly given them | 0:35:07 | 0:35:11 | |
the power and the authority. | 0:35:11 | 0:35:12 | |
And that's why the top, top ruler was called the son of heaven. | 0:35:12 | 0:35:16 | |
However, that mandate, that right to rule, | 0:35:16 | 0:35:19 | |
can be taken away by heaven. And a sign that heaven has taken it away | 0:35:19 | 0:35:23 | |
is natural disasters, massive earthquakes, floods. | 0:35:23 | 0:35:27 | |
Confucius said if a ruler becomes corrupt | 0:35:27 | 0:35:30 | |
and people are suffering through this cruelty, | 0:35:30 | 0:35:33 | |
then the people have the right to rebel. | 0:35:33 | 0:35:36 | |
And so Confucius, at one level, | 0:35:36 | 0:35:38 | |
tells you - respect, honour, duty, loyalty. | 0:35:38 | 0:35:41 | |
And he also said, "And if that fails, you have the right to overthrow." | 0:35:41 | 0:35:46 | |
Amazing trick. | 0:35:46 | 0:35:47 | |
Confucius' tactic was very direct. | 0:36:00 | 0:36:03 | |
He set out to influence those in power by getting | 0:36:04 | 0:36:06 | |
a governmental post. | 0:36:06 | 0:36:08 | |
One snag was his personality. | 0:36:09 | 0:36:12 | |
He was often seen as arrogant, | 0:36:12 | 0:36:14 | |
too blunt in the way he delivered his advice. | 0:36:14 | 0:36:17 | |
But he also faced a bigger problem. | 0:36:18 | 0:36:20 | |
With enemy armies numbering as many as 300,000 camped on their | 0:36:23 | 0:36:27 | |
borders, and disloyal sons plotting behind their backs, | 0:36:27 | 0:36:32 | |
perhaps it's no surprise that the rulers of the day | 0:36:32 | 0:36:34 | |
failed to take Confucius seriously. | 0:36:34 | 0:36:36 | |
Cultivating moral character and virtuous actions | 0:36:38 | 0:36:41 | |
in such precarious times was just not a priority. | 0:36:41 | 0:36:45 | |
With rejection upon rejection, | 0:36:58 | 0:37:00 | |
Confucius' faltering political career looked set to fail | 0:37:00 | 0:37:05 | |
and his ideas in danger of being lost to history. | 0:37:05 | 0:37:08 | |
But he was tenacious and resourceful. | 0:37:10 | 0:37:12 | |
In his early 50s, | 0:37:14 | 0:37:15 | |
it looks as though he decided to change his strategy. | 0:37:15 | 0:37:18 | |
He gathered together a few belongings | 0:37:18 | 0:37:21 | |
and hit the road once again to continue his moral crusade. | 0:37:21 | 0:37:24 | |
Only this time, he wasn't alone. | 0:37:25 | 0:37:28 | |
He was travelling together with a group of devoted students. | 0:37:28 | 0:37:32 | |
His ability to attract motivated young men | 0:37:38 | 0:37:41 | |
put his mission to transform self and society back on track. | 0:37:41 | 0:37:46 | |
By all accounts, Confucius possessed a kind of compelling, raw charisma. | 0:37:49 | 0:37:55 | |
Now, combine that with intellectual rigour, with bold, | 0:37:55 | 0:37:58 | |
exciting new ideas and inspiring moral instruction, | 0:37:58 | 0:38:03 | |
and you've got a potent mix. | 0:38:03 | 0:38:04 | |
Whilst Confucius had failed alone, a band of around 70 students could | 0:38:09 | 0:38:13 | |
infiltrate the corridors of power at many levels and in many states. | 0:38:13 | 0:38:19 | |
They could be a moral vanguard to advise | 0:38:19 | 0:38:22 | |
and instruct rulers on how to rule virtuously. | 0:38:22 | 0:38:25 | |
And for this vital role, Confucius was scrupulously meritocratic, | 0:38:26 | 0:38:32 | |
accepting students even from the poorest of backgrounds. | 0:38:32 | 0:38:36 | |
In the Analects, Confucius said, "I have never refused instruction | 0:38:36 | 0:38:41 | |
"to anyone, if, of his own accord, he comes to me." | 0:38:41 | 0:38:45 | |
This in itself | 0:38:48 | 0:38:49 | |
was a truly innovatory moment marking an historic shift. | 0:38:49 | 0:38:54 | |
He was urging that Chinese society should no longer be governed | 0:38:54 | 0:38:58 | |
by an hereditary elite, | 0:38:58 | 0:39:00 | |
people who owed their positions simply to their bloodlines. | 0:39:00 | 0:39:03 | |
Rather, it was those who were most virtuous, | 0:39:03 | 0:39:06 | |
most concerned about the wellbeing of others, who should lead. | 0:39:06 | 0:39:10 | |
His way was open to people from any background | 0:39:10 | 0:39:14 | |
to rise to positions of authority. | 0:39:14 | 0:39:16 | |
Confucius shared his ground-breaking commitment to a kind of | 0:39:18 | 0:39:22 | |
egalitarianism with Socrates and the Buddha. | 0:39:22 | 0:39:25 | |
Their solutions were, in theory, available to everyone. | 0:39:25 | 0:39:30 | |
But, to a greater or lesser extent, | 0:39:30 | 0:39:32 | |
when it came to women, they all seemed to have struggled. | 0:39:32 | 0:39:36 | |
None of them were exactly model family men. | 0:39:36 | 0:39:39 | |
The Buddha left his wife and child. | 0:39:39 | 0:39:41 | |
Socrates treated his young wife pretty cursorily. | 0:39:41 | 0:39:45 | |
But at least those two included women in their thinking | 0:39:45 | 0:39:48 | |
and suggested they could be part of a solution to society's problems. | 0:39:48 | 0:39:52 | |
However, when it comes to Confucius, | 0:39:52 | 0:39:55 | |
it seems he had next to no time for the female of the species. | 0:39:55 | 0:39:58 | |
The ultimate goal for Confucius' students was to become a junzi. | 0:40:10 | 0:40:15 | |
Now, this wasn't a title he'd made up. | 0:40:15 | 0:40:18 | |
Just as with ritual, he took something traditional | 0:40:18 | 0:40:21 | |
and gave it a potent new twist. | 0:40:21 | 0:40:23 | |
Junzi was an aristocratic word meaning a son of the lord, | 0:40:25 | 0:40:29 | |
denoting qualities that could only belong to a privileged social elite. | 0:40:29 | 0:40:34 | |
Now, as part of his shift towards a moral elite, | 0:40:34 | 0:40:37 | |
Confucius appropriated it | 0:40:37 | 0:40:40 | |
and changed it to mean the ultimate moral person, a superior man. | 0:40:40 | 0:40:45 | |
A new kind of gentleman, in its most literal sense. | 0:40:46 | 0:40:50 | |
For Confucius, education was crucial. | 0:40:55 | 0:40:58 | |
Drawing on his own life experience, | 0:40:58 | 0:41:01 | |
he saw an unswerving commitment to critical learning | 0:41:01 | 0:41:05 | |
as the path to self cultivation. | 0:41:05 | 0:41:08 | |
He likened the process to polishing jade, crafting one's | 0:41:08 | 0:41:12 | |
virtuous character, to become the perfect moral person. | 0:41:12 | 0:41:16 | |
You had to know The Book Of History | 0:41:16 | 0:41:18 | |
to live by the example of the sage kings and to enact correct ritual. | 0:41:18 | 0:41:24 | |
But what was essential was to be morally alive to your environment. | 0:41:24 | 0:41:30 | |
To understand how to behave intuitively in any situation. | 0:41:30 | 0:41:34 | |
To think for yourself. | 0:41:34 | 0:41:36 | |
Confucius' students joined their master, | 0:41:47 | 0:41:50 | |
moving across war-torn China to try to influence its errant rulers. | 0:41:50 | 0:41:55 | |
They were attacked, beaten and almost starved. | 0:41:56 | 0:42:01 | |
But these testing times sharpened their education. | 0:42:01 | 0:42:04 | |
The challenges they faced forced them | 0:42:06 | 0:42:08 | |
to engage in urgent moral debate. | 0:42:08 | 0:42:11 | |
They proposed solutions to their problems | 0:42:11 | 0:42:13 | |
and then interrogated those, | 0:42:13 | 0:42:15 | |
provoking the intense intellectual discussions | 0:42:15 | 0:42:19 | |
between master and students that you find in the Analects. | 0:42:19 | 0:42:22 | |
They asked questions like, | 0:42:22 | 0:42:24 | |
"Should the junzi accept office in degenerate times?" | 0:42:24 | 0:42:29 | |
"Can you serve a corrupt master | 0:42:29 | 0:42:31 | |
"if you think you can make a difference?" | 0:42:31 | 0:42:33 | |
Confucius encouraged this open-ended, | 0:42:36 | 0:42:38 | |
free-thinking discussion. | 0:42:38 | 0:42:40 | |
Yet his students still looked to him for definitive answers. | 0:42:40 | 0:42:44 | |
Ultimately, they wanted to know - what was the essence of goodness? | 0:42:45 | 0:42:49 | |
For Confucius, there was one all-embracing virtue, | 0:42:51 | 0:42:55 | |
the most essential to cultivate and yet the most difficult to attain. | 0:42:55 | 0:42:59 | |
Something called ren. | 0:43:01 | 0:43:03 | |
Ren is a very splendid word idea, but what does it actually mean? | 0:43:04 | 0:43:10 | |
What quality does it imply? | 0:43:10 | 0:43:13 | |
Well, many people tried to translate it differently. | 0:43:13 | 0:43:17 | |
It's been translated as human heartedness, as good or goodness, | 0:43:17 | 0:43:22 | |
but we prefer now to use the word simply humanity. | 0:43:22 | 0:43:26 | |
Because virtually all Confucian values are linked to this notion. | 0:43:26 | 0:43:33 | |
Courage with ren, then its real courage | 0:43:33 | 0:43:36 | |
rather than just simply bravery. | 0:43:36 | 0:43:38 | |
Justice with ren, then it's a humane justice | 0:43:38 | 0:43:43 | |
rather than just harsh punishment. | 0:43:43 | 0:43:45 | |
Wisdom with ren, then it's being wise not just being smart. | 0:43:45 | 0:43:50 | |
And is this something that you achieve, | 0:43:50 | 0:43:53 | |
or is looking for ren a constant quest? | 0:43:53 | 0:43:56 | |
Every person, by definition of being a person, embodies ren. | 0:43:57 | 0:44:02 | |
In other words, every human being's capable of sympathetic | 0:44:02 | 0:44:06 | |
response to the external world. | 0:44:06 | 0:44:09 | |
But at the same time, to realise ren fully, which means human flourishing | 0:44:09 | 0:44:15 | |
in the most comprehensive sense of the term, | 0:44:15 | 0:44:19 | |
that requires learning. | 0:44:19 | 0:44:21 | |
And learning, of course, | 0:44:21 | 0:44:23 | |
it's not simply the acquisition of knowledge | 0:44:23 | 0:44:25 | |
or internalisation of skills, | 0:44:25 | 0:44:28 | |
but basically learning to build one's character. | 0:44:28 | 0:44:32 | |
And in that sense, it's like the highest ideal. | 0:44:32 | 0:44:36 | |
At the same time, it's a minimum requirement to be human. | 0:44:36 | 0:44:40 | |
Do you think that Confucius felt that he'd achieved ren? | 0:44:40 | 0:44:45 | |
No. | 0:44:46 | 0:44:47 | |
And the interesting thing is many students or followers | 0:44:47 | 0:44:51 | |
of Confucius also said no. | 0:44:51 | 0:44:53 | |
Ren requires continuous process of struggling. | 0:44:53 | 0:44:56 | |
Even to the end of your life, this is still a task incomplete. | 0:44:56 | 0:45:02 | |
So no matter what, the struggle to be fully human continues. | 0:45:03 | 0:45:09 | |
There's something in Confucian philosophy, | 0:45:12 | 0:45:15 | |
a core message, that I find really, genuinely inspiring. | 0:45:15 | 0:45:19 | |
It's his golden rule taken from the Analects. | 0:45:19 | 0:45:22 | |
One student said, "Is there a single word that | 0:45:22 | 0:45:26 | |
"I should use as a rule to live my life by?" | 0:45:26 | 0:45:29 | |
The master replied, | 0:45:29 | 0:45:32 | |
"That would be empathy, perhaps. | 0:45:32 | 0:45:35 | |
"What you do not wish for yourself, don't do to others." | 0:45:35 | 0:45:39 | |
It's this focus on human relations and being compassionate | 0:45:44 | 0:45:48 | |
that I think comes closest to defining | 0:45:48 | 0:45:50 | |
what Confucius meant by the term ren. | 0:45:50 | 0:45:53 | |
I do love this about all three of the philosophers whose | 0:45:55 | 0:45:58 | |
stories I'm investigating. | 0:45:58 | 0:46:00 | |
They made it clear that none of us operate in isolation. | 0:46:00 | 0:46:04 | |
It isn't that man is the measure of all things, | 0:46:04 | 0:46:08 | |
but man's relationship with man. | 0:46:08 | 0:46:11 | |
Confucius continued to travel, and to teach into his later years. | 0:46:21 | 0:46:25 | |
But only a handful of his students went on to hold political office. | 0:46:26 | 0:46:30 | |
When Confucius was 73, he fell ill. | 0:46:35 | 0:46:38 | |
Unable to fulfil his mission, his final words seem defeated | 0:46:38 | 0:46:43 | |
and bitterly disappointed. | 0:46:43 | 0:46:44 | |
"No intelligent monarch arises. | 0:46:46 | 0:46:48 | |
"There is none who will make me his master. | 0:46:48 | 0:46:52 | |
"It is my time to die." | 0:46:52 | 0:46:53 | |
Confucius was buried here, in his hometown, Qufu. | 0:47:04 | 0:47:07 | |
The great transformation he had worked for his entire life | 0:47:08 | 0:47:12 | |
had not been fulfilled. | 0:47:12 | 0:47:14 | |
But his devoted students planted trees around his grave... | 0:47:16 | 0:47:21 | |
and kept his dream alive. | 0:47:21 | 0:47:23 | |
For 300 years, Confucius' ideas continued as just one of many | 0:47:32 | 0:47:36 | |
Chinese schools of thought. | 0:47:36 | 0:47:38 | |
Competing with the likes of Daoism, | 0:47:39 | 0:47:42 | |
it was unable to effect real change in a chaotic world. | 0:47:42 | 0:47:45 | |
But once China was reunited under all-powerful emperors, | 0:47:48 | 0:47:52 | |
stability changed the political landscape. | 0:47:52 | 0:47:55 | |
The first emperor of the Han Dynasty was convinced by his principal | 0:47:55 | 0:47:59 | |
advisor that ruling by brutality had served his predecessor badly. | 0:47:59 | 0:48:04 | |
Allying himself with Confucianism - | 0:48:06 | 0:48:08 | |
and its ideal of rule by virtue - | 0:48:08 | 0:48:11 | |
would lend to his dynasty greater legitimacy. | 0:48:11 | 0:48:14 | |
Many of the values that Confucius set great store by - | 0:48:15 | 0:48:19 | |
the importance of education, | 0:48:19 | 0:48:21 | |
a shared cultural heritage, | 0:48:21 | 0:48:23 | |
an ethical government - | 0:48:23 | 0:48:25 | |
had seemed an irrelevance during the chaos of his lifetime. | 0:48:25 | 0:48:29 | |
But these would prove hugely effective in holding | 0:48:29 | 0:48:32 | |
the new empire together. | 0:48:32 | 0:48:34 | |
Successive emperors enthusiastically took up Confucian ideas, | 0:48:38 | 0:48:42 | |
and education was central. | 0:48:42 | 0:48:45 | |
THEY RECITE IN CHINESE | 0:48:45 | 0:48:48 | |
The poetry, arts, and music of the early Zhou were revived | 0:48:51 | 0:48:55 | |
as a means of cultivating the goodness and virtue within. | 0:48:55 | 0:48:58 | |
School children learnt the Confucian canon by heart, | 0:49:01 | 0:49:05 | |
meticulously writing it out in their best calligraphy. | 0:49:05 | 0:49:08 | |
Knowledge of The Book Of History and rituals of the Zhou Dynasty | 0:49:10 | 0:49:15 | |
became a prerequisite to be part of the civil service. | 0:49:15 | 0:49:18 | |
Confucian education and Confucian texts | 0:49:23 | 0:49:26 | |
became a powerfully integrative force in Chinese history. | 0:49:26 | 0:49:30 | |
And of course it was very useful for rulers to have all that emphasis | 0:49:30 | 0:49:34 | |
on obedience and respect and top-down structure. | 0:49:34 | 0:49:38 | |
THEY REPLY IN CHINESE | 0:49:38 | 0:49:42 | |
Even those who didn't get to go to school learnt his words. | 0:49:43 | 0:49:47 | |
It's actually why we've developed that rather crass form | 0:49:47 | 0:49:50 | |
"Confucius says," because for 24 centuries, right across China, | 0:49:50 | 0:49:56 | |
people WERE all quoting Confucius. | 0:49:56 | 0:49:59 | |
# Confucius say a boy A girl, a moon | 0:50:01 | 0:50:05 | |
# Make wedding bells ring out In month of June | 0:50:06 | 0:50:10 | |
# Confucius say when love come Don't delay | 0:50:12 | 0:50:15 | |
# So, honey, hold me tight | 0:50:17 | 0:50:19 | |
# Tonight's the night | 0:50:19 | 0:50:21 | |
# Remember what Confucius say. # | 0:50:22 | 0:50:25 | |
But all that changed in the 20th century. | 0:50:33 | 0:50:36 | |
Confucianism came under attack. | 0:50:37 | 0:50:39 | |
In 1919, students who wanted China to modernise | 0:50:41 | 0:50:44 | |
and become democratic condemned Confucius for holding them back. | 0:50:44 | 0:50:49 | |
But it was Chairman Mao's Cultural Revolution of the 1960s | 0:50:51 | 0:50:55 | |
that tried to annihilate all vestiges of his legacy. | 0:50:55 | 0:50:59 | |
His Red Guard destroyed statues, temples and texts. | 0:51:00 | 0:51:04 | |
They even came here, | 0:51:06 | 0:51:08 | |
to his burial place. | 0:51:08 | 0:51:10 | |
In a telegram to Chairman Mao, they wrote, | 0:51:13 | 0:51:16 | |
"We have dragged out the statue of Confucius. | 0:51:16 | 0:51:19 | |
"We have torn down the plaque extolling | 0:51:19 | 0:51:21 | |
"the teacher of 10,000 generations. | 0:51:21 | 0:51:23 | |
"We have levelled Confucius' grave. | 0:51:23 | 0:51:26 | |
"We have destroyed." | 0:51:27 | 0:51:29 | |
It is really chilling coming here to see how a raging, rigid form | 0:51:36 | 0:51:41 | |
of an ideology tried to obliterate the memory of a man of ideas. | 0:51:41 | 0:51:46 | |
CHILDREN READ TOGETHER | 0:51:53 | 0:51:57 | |
But thousands of years of ubiquitous Confucian education, | 0:52:00 | 0:52:04 | |
particularly the exam system, | 0:52:04 | 0:52:07 | |
had embedded his principles deep within Chinese culture. | 0:52:07 | 0:52:10 | |
By the start of the 21st century, the government began, | 0:52:12 | 0:52:15 | |
once again, to embrace his ideals. | 0:52:15 | 0:52:18 | |
Today, Confucianism is undergoing a renaissance. | 0:52:22 | 0:52:25 | |
And education remains at the forefront. | 0:52:25 | 0:52:28 | |
This is a Confucian school in Qufu. | 0:52:33 | 0:52:36 | |
120 pupils from the ages of six to 18 study the Confucian texts | 0:52:37 | 0:52:42 | |
and classical arts here. | 0:52:42 | 0:52:44 | |
It just one of around 3,000 schools in China | 0:52:44 | 0:52:49 | |
that teaches Confucian values and philosophy. | 0:52:49 | 0:52:52 | |
WOMAN SPEAKS IN CHINESE | 0:52:52 | 0:52:54 | |
STUDENTS REPEAT | 0:52:54 | 0:52:57 | |
So, what is your favourite Confucius quote? | 0:53:01 | 0:53:03 | |
Why do you like Confucius? | 0:53:07 | 0:53:09 | |
Why did you decide to send your daughter to a Confucian school? | 0:53:17 | 0:53:20 | |
It is just fascinating seeing these kids being brought up with | 0:53:37 | 0:53:41 | |
an ancient philosophy at the heart of everything that they think | 0:53:41 | 0:53:44 | |
and say and do. | 0:53:44 | 0:53:46 | |
And actually, they seem to be having a great time. | 0:53:46 | 0:53:48 | |
It's also even more incredible, though, if you think that | 0:53:48 | 0:53:52 | |
just a few decades ago, Confucius was considered an | 0:53:52 | 0:53:55 | |
enemy of the state and none of this would have been allowed to happen. | 0:53:55 | 0:53:59 | |
Or if it did, it would've had to have happened in secret, | 0:53:59 | 0:54:01 | |
behind closed doors | 0:54:01 | 0:54:03 | |
and at the risk of really severe punishment. | 0:54:03 | 0:54:06 | |
In modern China, greater individualism is seen to have | 0:54:11 | 0:54:15 | |
undermined a collective sense of right and wrong. | 0:54:15 | 0:54:18 | |
Confucius' resurgence can be explained by the desire | 0:54:19 | 0:54:22 | |
for a clearer sense of moral purpose. | 0:54:22 | 0:54:25 | |
But I wonder if Confucius' appeal is very simple. | 0:54:26 | 0:54:30 | |
He tells us that whatever our character, | 0:54:30 | 0:54:33 | |
whatever situation we're born into, | 0:54:33 | 0:54:35 | |
being good, living a good life is a possibility. | 0:54:35 | 0:54:40 | |
And that the root to goodness is wisdom. | 0:54:40 | 0:54:44 | |
Now, that means that as a species, in our finest form, | 0:54:44 | 0:54:49 | |
we are all philosophers | 0:54:49 | 0:54:52 | |
in the true sense of the word - | 0:54:52 | 0:54:55 | |
lovers of wisdom. | 0:54:55 | 0:54:57 | |
Across this series, I have examined the ideas of three inspiring minds | 0:55:11 | 0:55:16 | |
of the ancient world. | 0:55:16 | 0:55:18 | |
Socrates brought philosophy down from the heavens | 0:55:18 | 0:55:21 | |
and into people's homes, so that through the training | 0:55:21 | 0:55:24 | |
of our reason, we can achieve happiness for ourselves. | 0:55:24 | 0:55:28 | |
The Buddha changed the question from, | 0:55:30 | 0:55:32 | |
"Is there a god?" | 0:55:32 | 0:55:34 | |
to questions like how to agree on good action | 0:55:34 | 0:55:39 | |
without necessarily agreeing on what happens after death. | 0:55:39 | 0:55:43 | |
Confucius said a ritual is a way to bring out the inside | 0:55:45 | 0:55:50 | |
good qualities, like benevolence, like reverence. | 0:55:50 | 0:55:54 | |
And if more people possess good qualities and they become real human, | 0:55:54 | 0:55:59 | |
then their social life, family life, or community life | 0:55:59 | 0:56:02 | |
will become peaceful. | 0:56:02 | 0:56:04 | |
But, ultimately, | 0:56:07 | 0:56:08 | |
what do they have to teach us in the here and now? | 0:56:08 | 0:56:11 | |
Although these were ideas that were developed 25 centuries ago, | 0:56:14 | 0:56:18 | |
do you think they have as much relevance to our world | 0:56:18 | 0:56:23 | |
as they did to ancient China, ancient Greece, ancient India? | 0:56:23 | 0:56:28 | |
If I want to exaggerate, probably even more so. | 0:56:28 | 0:56:32 | |
They were confronted with a world in disintegration. | 0:56:32 | 0:56:36 | |
Little rationality. Little compassion. | 0:56:36 | 0:56:39 | |
And we are in a world that's much more serious. | 0:56:40 | 0:56:44 | |
Because it's not simply the human world is in trouble, | 0:56:45 | 0:56:49 | |
the planet is in trouble. | 0:56:49 | 0:56:52 | |
And we have in our power the destruction | 0:56:52 | 0:56:58 | |
of all civilisations, including the planet itself. | 0:56:58 | 0:57:01 | |
So a change has to be made. | 0:57:01 | 0:57:03 | |
Not just a change of a political system or economic system - | 0:57:03 | 0:57:08 | |
these are absolutely necessary - but a change of mind-set. | 0:57:08 | 0:57:12 | |
And the retrieval of the wisdom of Socrates, of Buddha and Confucius | 0:57:12 | 0:57:17 | |
is not a question of relevance, it's a question of human survival. | 0:57:17 | 0:57:21 | |
These extraordinary thinkers aren't remote historical figures. | 0:57:25 | 0:57:30 | |
They're pioneers of human consciousness | 0:57:30 | 0:57:33 | |
whose ideas have informed and enriched the lives | 0:57:33 | 0:57:36 | |
of countless people to this day. | 0:57:36 | 0:57:38 | |
Their radical responses to the social upheaval of their age | 0:57:40 | 0:57:43 | |
have, in many ways, determined who we are now. | 0:57:43 | 0:57:47 | |
Their message was inspiring and challenging. | 0:57:48 | 0:57:51 | |
That the world isn't unknowable, unchangeable. | 0:57:52 | 0:57:57 | |
By engaging with it fully, we can lead better | 0:57:57 | 0:58:00 | |
and more meaningful lives. | 0:58:00 | 0:58:01 | |
We have agency. | 0:58:02 | 0:58:04 | |
Our minds can shape the world. | 0:58:05 | 0:58:08 | |
If the mind of Confucius has made you think, | 0:58:16 | 0:58:19 | |
then explore further with The Open University | 0:58:19 | 0:58:22 | |
to discover how great minds have influenced our world today. | 0:58:22 | 0:58:26 | |
Go to the address on the screen | 0:58:26 | 0:58:28 | |
and follow the links to The Open University. | 0:58:28 | 0:58:31 |