WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.520 Welcome back to The Deep Dive, the place where 00:00:02.520 --> 00:00:05.179 we take complex source material, the history, 00:00:05.339 --> 00:00:08.339 the philosophy, the sociology, and extract the 00:00:08.339 --> 00:00:10.640 ultimate knowledge nuggets, custom -tailored 00:00:10.640 --> 00:00:13.500 just for you, the learner. Today we are opening 00:00:13.500 --> 00:00:16.859 up the sources on a historical figure whose cultural 00:00:16.859 --> 00:00:20.160 footprint is, well, it's arguably the single 00:00:20.160 --> 00:00:22.960 largest in recorded history, a man whose ideas 00:00:22.960 --> 00:00:25.359 shaped a civilization for over two and a half 00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:27.899 millennia. And yet, and this is the core paradox 00:00:27.899 --> 00:00:30.460 we're going to unpack, His own personal career 00:00:30.460 --> 00:00:32.899 was, for all intents and purposes, a spectacular 00:00:32.899 --> 00:00:35.899 political failure. Exactly. We're diving deep 00:00:35.899 --> 00:00:38.659 into Master Kong, or as the Western world knows 00:00:38.659 --> 00:00:41.100 him, Confucius. He's the traditional paragon 00:00:41.100 --> 00:00:43.719 of Chinese sages, right? The source from which 00:00:43.719 --> 00:00:45.719 so much of the shared cultural heritage of the 00:00:45.719 --> 00:00:48.140 entire Sinosphere flows. That's right. From China 00:00:48.140 --> 00:00:51.299 and Korea to Japan and Vietnam, his ideas are 00:00:51.299 --> 00:00:54.479 just, they're foundational. So our mission today 00:00:54.479 --> 00:00:57.719 is to unpack the life of this historical titan. 00:00:57.759 --> 00:01:00.119 We want to understand the frustrating reality 00:01:00.119 --> 00:01:03.359 of his political career, but also distill the 00:01:03.359 --> 00:01:06.519 timeless humanistic philosophy that not only 00:01:06.519 --> 00:01:09.519 codified East Asian governance, but, and this 00:01:09.519 --> 00:01:12.180 is the surprising part, became a major influence 00:01:12.180 --> 00:01:14.459 on core thinkers of the Western Enlightenment. 00:01:14.579 --> 00:01:17.599 Yeah, people like Voltaire and even Thomas Jefferson 00:01:17.599 --> 00:01:20.209 were reading him. The fascinating story of cross 00:01:20.209 --> 00:01:22.469 -cultural influence. Okay, but before we get 00:01:22.469 --> 00:01:24.590 into the man himself, we have to talk about that 00:01:24.590 --> 00:01:28.390 name. Because Confucius, his mom wouldn't have 00:01:28.390 --> 00:01:30.730 called him that, would she? Not at all. That 00:01:30.730 --> 00:01:33.290 name is a brilliant piece of... You know, late 00:01:33.290 --> 00:01:35.629 16th century intellectual translations, a bit 00:01:35.629 --> 00:01:37.609 of historical trivia. It's Latinized, isn't it? 00:01:37.689 --> 00:01:41.489 It is. The name Confucius or Confucius was coined 00:01:41.489 --> 00:01:43.829 by the early Jesuit missionaries. We're talking 00:01:43.829 --> 00:01:46.269 about Matteo Ricci and his colleagues. They were 00:01:46.269 --> 00:01:48.129 translating the Chinese classics for European 00:01:48.129 --> 00:01:50.049 scholars for the first time. And they needed 00:01:50.049 --> 00:01:52.450 a name that would sound, what, more classical, 00:01:52.569 --> 00:01:55.530 more familiar to a European audience? Precisely. 00:01:55.530 --> 00:01:58.510 They took the Mandarin Chinese title, which means 00:01:58.510 --> 00:02:01.439 something like. Great Master Kong. Great Master 00:02:01.439 --> 00:02:03.799 Kong or Wise Teacher Kong. Exactly. They took 00:02:03.799 --> 00:02:06.299 that title and adapted it. They needed a single 00:02:06.299 --> 00:02:09.939 recognizable sage to present to the West. And 00:02:09.939 --> 00:02:12.620 so Kong Kui became Confucius. And that simple 00:02:12.620 --> 00:02:15.620 act of translation almost. It almost foretells 00:02:15.620 --> 00:02:18.439 his entire legacy, doesn't it? A man who couldn't 00:02:18.439 --> 00:02:20.840 convince the rulers in his own time. He's immediately 00:02:20.840 --> 00:02:23.379 recognized centuries later by a totally different 00:02:23.379 --> 00:02:25.680 culture as a universal philosopher. Yeah. His 00:02:25.680 --> 00:02:28.159 actual name was Kong Kui. His courtesy name, 00:02:28.319 --> 00:02:30.800 what he'd be called by his peers, was Zhongni. 00:02:30.900 --> 00:02:34.199 So we are talking about Kong Kui, the man, and 00:02:34.199 --> 00:02:38.199 his legacy, Confucianism, it's... Less a religion 00:02:38.199 --> 00:02:41.020 in the Western sense and more of a powerful secular 00:02:41.020 --> 00:02:43.020 morality, right? That's the perfect way to put 00:02:43.020 --> 00:02:44.840 it. It's an ethical framework. It's entirely 00:02:44.840 --> 00:02:47.800 focused on establishing harmonious social relationships 00:02:47.800 --> 00:02:50.439 through things like righteousness, kindness and 00:02:50.439 --> 00:02:52.719 sincerity. And the core idea for government, 00:02:52.919 --> 00:02:55.460 his big political pitch, was deceptively simple. 00:02:55.939 --> 00:02:58.639 Deceptively simple, but incredibly radical for 00:02:58.639 --> 00:03:02.240 his time. The ruler's number one job is to lead 00:03:02.240 --> 00:03:05.669 by virtue. If you... the leader, or a moral example, 00:03:06.030 --> 00:03:08.110 your people will just, they'll naturally follow. 00:03:08.530 --> 00:03:11.689 No need for force. That is a bold claim, especially 00:03:11.689 --> 00:03:13.849 for the time period he was living in. It was 00:03:13.849 --> 00:03:16.650 an age of absolute chaos. So let's set that stage. 00:03:16.810 --> 00:03:19.789 To really get Confucius and his ambition, you 00:03:19.789 --> 00:03:21.590 have to understand the world he was born into 00:03:21.590 --> 00:03:25.210 around 551 BCE. This is the spring and autumn 00:03:25.210 --> 00:03:27.270 period of Chinese history. Right. And when you 00:03:27.270 --> 00:03:30.610 hear spring and autumn, it sounds pleasant, idyllic 00:03:30.610 --> 00:03:32.960 even. Like a nice walk in the park. But the reality 00:03:32.960 --> 00:03:35.379 our sources paint is one of relentless political 00:03:35.379 --> 00:03:38.400 fragmentation and, frankly, constant warfare. 00:03:38.659 --> 00:03:41.759 So fragmentation is the key word here. It is. 00:03:41.840 --> 00:03:44.639 The old Zhu dynasty had set up this huge feudal 00:03:44.639 --> 00:03:47.419 system. But by the time Confucius is on the scene, 00:03:47.599 --> 00:03:50.340 the central authority of the Zhu kings is, well, 00:03:50.400 --> 00:03:52.539 it's purely symbolic. So they have the title 00:03:52.539 --> 00:03:54.819 but not the real power. Exactly. They maintain 00:03:54.819 --> 00:03:57.000 ritual control, but the actual power had been 00:03:57.000 --> 00:03:59.659 completely decentralized into hundreds of competing 00:03:59.659 --> 00:04:02.240 armed feudal states. They were all vying for 00:04:02.240 --> 00:04:04.900 dominance. Which means the very system he wanted 00:04:04.900 --> 00:04:08.000 to restore, that old orderly zoo system, was 00:04:08.000 --> 00:04:11.099 already a ghost. It was gone. Precisely. And 00:04:11.099 --> 00:04:14.000 this lack of a unifying power led to constant 00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:18.300 small scale wars, shifting alliances and just 00:04:18.300 --> 00:04:20.519 intense friction between these little states. 00:04:20.540 --> 00:04:23.519 Like his home state of Liu was always maneuvering 00:04:23.519 --> 00:04:26.180 against his powerful neighbor, Qi. But the sources 00:04:26.180 --> 00:04:28.939 also say that this political chaos actually created 00:04:28.939 --> 00:04:32.800 a. marketplace of ideas it did the disorder created 00:04:32.800 --> 00:04:35.819 a huge demand for philosophical solutions everyone 00:04:35.819 --> 00:04:37.899 was scrambling to come up with a blueprint for 00:04:37.899 --> 00:04:40.639 order and Confucius was just one of many thinkers 00:04:40.639 --> 00:04:43.180 trying to sell his particular blueprint So what 00:04:43.180 --> 00:04:45.420 about his own background? Was he from this ruling 00:04:45.420 --> 00:04:47.779 class that was causing all the chaos? Not quite. 00:04:47.959 --> 00:04:50.040 He was born in Zu, a town in the state of Lu, 00:04:50.139 --> 00:04:52.980 which is modern Quafu today. His ancestry is 00:04:52.980 --> 00:04:56.199 traditionally traced back to nobility through 00:04:56.199 --> 00:04:57.899 the Dukes of Song all the way to the previous 00:04:57.899 --> 00:05:00.040 Shang Dynasty. But modern scholars are a little 00:05:00.040 --> 00:05:02.620 skeptical of that claim. They are. But regardless 00:05:02.620 --> 00:05:04.480 of whether he had this distant noble lineage, 00:05:04.680 --> 00:05:07.579 his actual childhood was defined by real poverty 00:05:07.579 --> 00:05:10.639 and hardship. So a fancy pedigree, but no money 00:05:10.639 --> 00:05:14.620 to back it up. You got it. His father, Kong Yi, 00:05:14.860 --> 00:05:18.060 was an elderly local official who died when Confucius 00:05:18.060 --> 00:05:21.240 was only three. So his mother, Yan Zhengzai, 00:05:21.379 --> 00:05:25.420 raised him alone and in poverty. This early experience 00:05:25.420 --> 00:05:27.879 of loss and struggle, it really shaped his deep 00:05:27.879 --> 00:05:30.939 appreciation for stability, tradition, and family. 00:05:31.339 --> 00:05:33.439 So he's not quite an aristocrat, but he's not 00:05:33.439 --> 00:05:35.600 a commoner either. He's in this sort of in -between 00:05:35.600 --> 00:05:38.819 social class, the Shia. Yes, the Shi class. They 00:05:38.819 --> 00:05:40.879 sat right below the established aristocracy, 00:05:40.980 --> 00:05:44.620 but above the common farmers and artisans. They 00:05:44.620 --> 00:05:46.720 were essentially the educated gentry. The potential 00:05:46.720 --> 00:05:49.519 bureaucrats. Exactly. Men who had the knowledge 00:05:49.519 --> 00:05:52.120 and the skills for administration, for diplomacy, 00:05:52.339 --> 00:05:54.279 maybe even warfare, but they didn't have the 00:05:54.279 --> 00:05:55.879 inherited political power. They were waiting 00:05:55.879 --> 00:05:58.379 for a wise ruler to see their talent and employ 00:05:58.379 --> 00:06:00.750 them. And despite being poor, he got this incredible 00:06:00.750 --> 00:06:03.709 education. He mastered the six arts. And this 00:06:03.709 --> 00:06:05.230 is where the practical and the philosophical 00:06:05.230 --> 00:06:08.149 parts of his life really collide. It is because 00:06:08.149 --> 00:06:10.930 this wasn't just about reading books. The education 00:06:10.930 --> 00:06:13.689 for the elite back then was intensely practical. 00:06:14.069 --> 00:06:18.899 The six arts were rights, music. archery, charioteering, 00:06:19.040 --> 00:06:21.560 calligraphy, and mathematics. It seems a little 00:06:21.560 --> 00:06:23.920 strange to us now, right? The great philosopher 00:06:23.920 --> 00:06:26.240 of morality is also being judged on how well 00:06:26.240 --> 00:06:29.660 he can drive a war chariot. It does. But it tells 00:06:29.660 --> 00:06:32.740 you what their ideal of a leader, the junzi, 00:06:32.860 --> 00:06:35.699 or superior man, was supposed to be. A complete 00:06:35.699 --> 00:06:38.639 leader, not just a thinker. Absolutely. The junzi 00:06:38.639 --> 00:06:41.000 wasn't some academic locked away in an ivory 00:06:41.000 --> 00:06:44.209 tower. He was a potential administrator, a diplomat, 00:06:44.209 --> 00:06:47.209 and yes, a military leader. Archery and charioteering 00:06:47.209 --> 00:06:49.230 weren't just sports, they were essential military 00:06:49.230 --> 00:06:52.310 skills. They demonstrated discipline, coordination, 00:06:52.689 --> 00:06:55.329 reliability. So mastering the six arts was about 00:06:55.329 --> 00:06:57.550 developing a whole person, someone who could 00:06:57.550 --> 00:07:00.350 handle both internal moral chaos and external 00:07:00.350 --> 00:07:03.250 governance. Perfectly put. Rights in music taught 00:07:03.250 --> 00:07:05.829 social harmony. The physical arts taught discipline 00:07:05.829 --> 00:07:08.310 and readiness. The whole package was designed 00:07:08.310 --> 00:07:10.829 to produce a person fit to govern, not just to 00:07:10.829 --> 00:07:12.769 sit around and theorize. And this is why in his 00:07:12.769 --> 00:07:14.949 early 20s, he starts getting these minor government 00:07:14.949 --> 00:07:18.649 jobs. He does. He works as a bookkeeper, a caretaker 00:07:18.649 --> 00:07:21.050 of sheep and horses, you know, very practical, 00:07:21.129 --> 00:07:23.910 low -level stuff. But it gave him experience 00:07:23.910 --> 00:07:27.069 in how organizations actually work. And his personal 00:07:27.069 --> 00:07:30.029 life also reflected this deep commitment to tradition. 00:07:30.639 --> 00:07:33.379 The three -year mourning period for his mother, 00:07:33.480 --> 00:07:36.620 for example. A huge deal. That was a profound 00:07:36.620 --> 00:07:40.259 ritual act that showed his commitment to Ilgan 00:07:40.259 --> 00:07:43.300 or ritual propriety long before he ever started 00:07:43.300 --> 00:07:45.600 teaching it as core concept. Which brings us 00:07:45.600 --> 00:07:47.560 back to his core mission. He never saw himself 00:07:47.560 --> 00:07:50.199 as an inventor, did he? No. He famously said 00:07:50.199 --> 00:07:52.660 he was a transmitter who invented nothing. He 00:07:52.660 --> 00:07:55.040 believed the great values of the past, specifically 00:07:55.040 --> 00:07:57.319 the orderly governance of the early Zhu dynasty, 00:07:57.639 --> 00:08:00.240 had been abandoned. His whole project was to 00:08:00.240 --> 00:08:02.980 master and transmit that ancient wisdom to fix 00:08:02.980 --> 00:08:05.339 the chaos of his present. So he's looking backward 00:08:05.339 --> 00:08:08.339 to an idealized past, but he's using that vision 00:08:08.339 --> 00:08:10.980 to try and create a revolutionary new future 00:08:10.980 --> 00:08:14.439 based on merit, not just birth. That is the essential 00:08:14.439 --> 00:08:17.040 project of his life. And that ambition was always 00:08:17.040 --> 00:08:19.079 political. He didn't just want to teach a few 00:08:19.079 --> 00:08:20.720 students. He wanted to implement his system. 00:08:20.839 --> 00:08:23.420 He wanted to fix the state of Lou. And around 00:08:23.420 --> 00:08:27.500 501 BCE, he finally gets his chance. His reputation 00:08:27.500 --> 00:08:29.779 is growing and he gets appointed governor of 00:08:29.779 --> 00:08:32.299 a small town. And he's good at it. Very successful 00:08:32.299 --> 00:08:34.620 in that role, which leads to rapid promotion. 00:08:34.860 --> 00:08:37.139 He eventually climbs all the way to the high 00:08:37.139 --> 00:08:39.480 office of minister of crime for the entire state. 00:08:39.679 --> 00:08:42.039 He's finally in a position of real power. He 00:08:42.039 --> 00:08:44.740 can put his ideas into practice. He can. And 00:08:44.740 --> 00:08:47.080 this is where we run straight into one of the 00:08:47.080 --> 00:08:49.659 most difficult and controversial moments of his 00:08:49.659 --> 00:08:53.570 career. the execution of Xiaosheng Mao. This 00:08:53.570 --> 00:08:56.659 story is... It's a profound moral contradiction, 00:08:56.860 --> 00:08:59.039 isn't it? It is. And our source for it is the 00:08:59.039 --> 00:09:02.100 Zunzi, a later text. The story goes that almost 00:09:02.100 --> 00:09:04.840 as soon as he takes office, Confucius orders 00:09:04.840 --> 00:09:07.240 the swift execution of this man, Xiaojiang Mao, 00:09:07.419 --> 00:09:09.440 who was another official and a rival scholar. 00:09:09.779 --> 00:09:12.500 And the narrative suggests Mao was kind of poaching 00:09:12.500 --> 00:09:14.919 his students, right? His lectures were very popular, 00:09:15.080 --> 00:09:16.899 which makes this whole thing look like a political 00:09:16.899 --> 00:09:19.539 purge disguised as justice. It certainly can 00:09:19.539 --> 00:09:22.879 be read that way. But the justification Confucius 00:09:22.879 --> 00:09:26.139 gave was entirely moral. He accused Mao of five 00:09:26.139 --> 00:09:29.179 crimes, each of which, in his view, justified 00:09:29.179 --> 00:09:32.200 the death penalty because they destabilized the 00:09:32.200 --> 00:09:34.200 very fabric of society. What were these crimes? 00:09:34.539 --> 00:09:38.320 Things like concealed evilness, eloquent duplicity. 00:09:38.679 --> 00:09:41.139 So being able to twist the truth with beautiful 00:09:41.139 --> 00:09:43.200 language. And the one that always stands out 00:09:43.200 --> 00:09:46.750 is erudition in bizarre facts. Wait, wait. Erudition 00:09:46.750 --> 00:09:49.730 in bizarre facts is a capital offense. That sounds 00:09:49.730 --> 00:09:52.450 incredibly authoritarian. How do you justify 00:09:52.450 --> 00:09:55.070 executing someone for knowing weird things? It 00:09:55.070 --> 00:09:57.090 raises a critical question about what a state 00:09:57.090 --> 00:10:00.409 governed purely by virtue looks like. Confucius 00:10:00.409 --> 00:10:03.370 saw Xiao Jing Mao as a moral poison. He called 00:10:03.370 --> 00:10:05.509 him a superhero of the petty man. His argument 00:10:05.509 --> 00:10:07.190 was that if you have someone with great intellectual 00:10:07.190 --> 00:10:09.649 influence, but they use it to spread moral decay 00:10:09.649 --> 00:10:11.990 or even just confusion, they have to be removed. 00:10:12.210 --> 00:10:14.730 Because their very existence corrupts the state. 00:10:14.889 --> 00:10:18.669 Yes. For Confucius, the greatest act of benevolence, 00:10:18.690 --> 00:10:21.110 or ren, is establishing order for the millions. 00:10:21.570 --> 00:10:24.590 And sometimes, that requires a ruthless action 00:10:24.590 --> 00:10:26.769 against one individual who threatens that order. 00:10:27.169 --> 00:10:30.149 In his mind, it wasn't a political hit, it was 00:10:30.149 --> 00:10:32.679 a moral necessity. But later critics, especially 00:10:32.679 --> 00:10:34.700 during the Cultural Revolution, they jumped all 00:10:34.700 --> 00:10:36.539 over this, didn't they? They absolutely did. 00:10:36.639 --> 00:10:39.879 They used this exact incident as proof that Confucian 00:10:39.879 --> 00:10:42.360 morality was just a tool for class oppression 00:10:42.360 --> 00:10:44.860 and eliminating your rivals. It's the central 00:10:44.860 --> 00:10:47.440 tension in his thought. Okay, so with his rivals 00:10:47.440 --> 00:10:49.539 out of the way, he moves on to his main objective, 00:10:49.820 --> 00:10:53.200 the centralization reform. He wants to give power 00:10:53.200 --> 00:10:56.159 back to the Duke of Lu. Exactly. The duke's power 00:10:56.159 --> 00:10:58.740 had been completely hollowed out by three powerful 00:10:58.740 --> 00:11:01.840 aristocratic families, the Ji, the Meng, and 00:11:01.840 --> 00:11:04.539 the Shu. Each one had its own fortified city, 00:11:04.639 --> 00:11:06.320 which was essentially its own little kingdom. 00:11:06.480 --> 00:11:09.200 And Confucius' plan was to get them to tear down 00:11:09.200 --> 00:11:12.220 their own walls. A stunningly ambitious plan, 00:11:12.419 --> 00:11:14.679 especially since he had no army. He was relying 00:11:14.679 --> 00:11:17.080 entirely on diplomacy and his own moral authority. 00:11:17.440 --> 00:11:20.879 And at first it actually worked. It did. In 498 00:11:20.879 --> 00:11:23.460 BCE, he convinces the Xu and the Ji families 00:11:23.460 --> 00:11:27.000 to start dismantling their fortresses. For a 00:11:27.000 --> 00:11:29.179 moment, it looks like Lu is about to unify and 00:11:29.179 --> 00:11:31.379 become this beacon of virtuous government that 00:11:31.379 --> 00:11:33.440 he had always dreamed of. But the whole plan 00:11:33.440 --> 00:11:36.039 collapses when he gets to the third family, the 00:11:36.039 --> 00:11:38.799 Ming family. Yes. The governor of their city, 00:11:38.960 --> 00:11:42.899 Cheng, just refuses. And he has a pretty practical 00:11:42.899 --> 00:11:45.960 excuse. He says, if we tear down our walls, we'll 00:11:45.960 --> 00:11:48.080 be vulnerable to attack from our neighbor. the 00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:50.500 state of Chi. So the Ming family backs out. The 00:11:50.500 --> 00:11:53.320 duke tries to lay siege to the city himself and 00:11:53.320 --> 00:11:56.100 it fails. And that's it. That's the definitive 00:11:56.100 --> 00:11:58.580 political failure of his entire reform project. 00:11:58.919 --> 00:12:01.779 His ideal of virtuous persuasion just crashed 00:12:01.779 --> 00:12:04.220 against the rocks of military pragmatism and 00:12:04.220 --> 00:12:06.519 entrenched self -interest. And this failure gives 00:12:06.519 --> 00:12:08.580 his enemies the opening they need. And that's 00:12:08.580 --> 00:12:10.159 when the State of Chi, which was watching all 00:12:10.159 --> 00:12:11.860 this and getting very nervous about a potentially 00:12:11.860 --> 00:12:14.980 strong and unified Liu, decides to step in with 00:12:14.980 --> 00:12:17.200 a bit of creative sabotage. This is one of the 00:12:17.200 --> 00:12:19.379 most famous stories of political sabotage in 00:12:19.379 --> 00:12:21.639 history, isn't it? The Dancing Girls. It is. 00:12:21.779 --> 00:12:24.019 The Shiji, the records of the grand historian. 00:12:24.460 --> 00:12:26.940 tells us that Key sent a diplomatic gift to the 00:12:26.940 --> 00:12:30.200 Duke of Lu. And this gift was perfectly engineered 00:12:30.200 --> 00:12:33.840 to destroy moral seriousness. It was 100 fine 00:12:33.840 --> 00:12:37.580 horses and 80 beautiful dancing girls. A psychological 00:12:37.580 --> 00:12:40.779 weapon. Absolutely. And the Duke fell for it 00:12:40.779 --> 00:12:43.940 completely. He accepted the gift, installed the 00:12:43.940 --> 00:12:46.500 women in his court, and for three straight days, 00:12:46.659 --> 00:12:49.539 he just completely neglected all of his official 00:12:49.539 --> 00:12:52.240 duties, all of the state rituals. And Confucius 00:12:52.240 --> 00:12:55.340 is watching this just horrified. The very ruler 00:12:55.340 --> 00:12:57.580 he was trying to prop up had just collapsed in 00:12:57.580 --> 00:13:00.120 the face of the first major temptation. He knew 00:13:00.120 --> 00:13:03.019 he had to leave. His project was dead. But he 00:13:03.019 --> 00:13:05.220 still didn't want to publicly humiliate the duke, 00:13:05.279 --> 00:13:07.159 which would just make things worse. So he needed 00:13:07.159 --> 00:13:10.580 a pretext, an excuse. He waited. and he used 00:13:10.580 --> 00:13:13.419 a seemingly minor breach of ritual. At a state 00:13:13.419 --> 00:13:16.019 sacrifice, the Duke was supposed to send a portion 00:13:16.019 --> 00:13:17.980 of the sacrificial meat to his high -ranking 00:13:17.980 --> 00:13:20.600 ministers, and he neglected to send Confucius 00:13:20.600 --> 00:13:23.639 his portion. A clear violation of ritual propriety. 00:13:23.720 --> 00:13:27.539 Exactly. And Confucius used that neglect of custom 00:13:27.539 --> 00:13:31.600 as his official face -saving reason to resign 00:13:31.600 --> 00:13:35.100 his post and go into self -imposed exile in 497 00:13:35.100 --> 00:13:38.720 BCE. So the political failure launches the philosophical 00:13:38.720 --> 00:13:42.639 success. This kicks off his famous 14 -year journey. 00:13:42.820 --> 00:13:45.820 His journey of ideas. And you shouldn't picture 00:13:45.820 --> 00:13:48.519 this as some peaceful intellectual tour. He was 00:13:48.519 --> 00:13:51.179 a wandering, increasingly desperate statesman 00:13:51.179 --> 00:13:53.419 going from state to state. Pitching his blueprint. 00:13:53.620 --> 00:13:55.440 Pitching his blueprint for virtuous government 00:13:55.440 --> 00:13:57.919 to any ruler who would listen. He went to Wei, 00:13:58.039 --> 00:14:01.740 Song, Chu, Qi. But the rulers of that era... 00:14:02.039 --> 00:14:03.399 They weren't looking for moral philosophers. 00:14:03.620 --> 00:14:05.419 They were looking for generals and strategists 00:14:05.419 --> 00:14:07.500 who could give them an immediate military edge. 00:14:07.679 --> 00:14:09.500 He wasn't always welcomed either. He was in real 00:14:09.500 --> 00:14:11.799 danger at times. Oh, absolutely. In the state 00:14:11.799 --> 00:14:14.019 of Song, he was nearly assassinated. In other 00:14:14.019 --> 00:14:15.759 places, he and his disciples were surrounded 00:14:15.759 --> 00:14:18.779 by troops and nearly starved. The sources show 00:14:18.779 --> 00:14:20.620 him constantly arguing with his students about 00:14:20.620 --> 00:14:22.440 whether they should just give up and get practical 00:14:22.440 --> 00:14:25.240 jobs. But he never did. He stuck to his principles. 00:14:25.759 --> 00:14:28.960 He did. He insisted that the superior man remain 00:14:28.960 --> 00:14:31.240 steadfast, even when things were at their worst. 00:14:31.379 --> 00:14:34.639 And after 14 long years of this, he finally returned 00:14:34.639 --> 00:14:38.120 home to Lou. He was 68 years old. He came back 00:14:38.120 --> 00:14:40.740 not to govern, but to do something else entirely. 00:14:41.220 --> 00:14:43.519 His final years were spent teaching and editing. 00:14:43.720 --> 00:14:46.480 That's right. He spent his last years consolidating 00:14:46.480 --> 00:14:49.399 his true legacy. He taught something like 3 ,000 00:14:49.399 --> 00:14:52.759 students with a core group of about 72 who were 00:14:52.759 --> 00:14:55.480 said to have mastered the six arts. And he dedicated 00:14:55.480 --> 00:14:58.259 himself to editing and transmitting the foundational 00:14:58.259 --> 00:15:01.159 texts, the five classics. And his final resting 00:15:01.159 --> 00:15:04.259 place, the Cemetery of Confucius in Kofu, is 00:15:04.259 --> 00:15:06.740 now this massive UNESCO World Heritage Site. 00:15:07.120 --> 00:15:09.460 A testament to the ultimate victory of his philosophy 00:15:09.460 --> 00:15:11.960 over his politics. It really is. Okay, so let's 00:15:11.960 --> 00:15:13.919 make that transition from his life to his philosophy. 00:15:14.139 --> 00:15:15.960 And the first thing to understand is that he 00:15:15.960 --> 00:15:19.100 was, at his core, a humanist. He was focused 00:15:19.100 --> 00:15:22.019 entirely on this world, on human relationships. 00:15:22.720 --> 00:15:24.600 When his students would ask him about spirits 00:15:24.600 --> 00:15:27.100 or the afterlife, he was always deliberately 00:15:27.100 --> 00:15:30.299 vague. He'd say something like, if you don't 00:15:30.299 --> 00:15:32.960 yet understand how to serve living people, how 00:15:32.960 --> 00:15:35.240 can you worry about serving the dead? So his 00:15:35.240 --> 00:15:37.799 whole philosophy is a kind of ethics designed 00:15:37.799 --> 00:15:41.259 to fix society right here, right now. Exactly. 00:15:41.460 --> 00:15:43.399 And that's why it's almost always classified 00:15:43.399 --> 00:15:45.940 as a type of virtue ethics. Which is different 00:15:45.940 --> 00:15:50.480 from, say, an ethics based on divine rules or 00:15:50.480 --> 00:15:52.779 on calculating the best outcome. Virtue ethics 00:15:52.779 --> 00:15:55.019 is all about the moral character of the person 00:15:55.019 --> 00:15:57.840 acting. It is. It emphasizes self -cultivation. 00:15:57.840 --> 00:16:01.639 cultivation and, crucially, emulating moral exemplars. 00:16:02.019 --> 00:16:04.000 It's about developing a kind of skill judgment 00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:06.500 so you know how to do the right thing in a complex 00:16:06.500 --> 00:16:08.799 situation. And this is why his teachings in the 00:16:08.799 --> 00:16:11.039 Analects are often so indirect. They're not a 00:16:11.039 --> 00:16:13.179 list of rules. They're stories and anecdotes. 00:16:13.299 --> 00:16:15.480 The perfect example of this is the fire anecdote, 00:16:15.720 --> 00:16:18.379 Analects XC11. A fire breaks out of the stables. 00:16:18.740 --> 00:16:20.700 Confucius comes back from court and asks only 00:16:20.700 --> 00:16:23.120 one question. Was anyone hurt? Was anyone hurt? 00:16:23.279 --> 00:16:25.730 He doesn't ask about the horses. Which in that 00:16:25.730 --> 00:16:29.470 time were incredibly valuable assets, more valuable 00:16:29.470 --> 00:16:32.549 than many servants. Immensely valuable. And that 00:16:32.549 --> 00:16:35.629 one moment is the clearest possible statement 00:16:35.629 --> 00:16:39.029 of his humanism. His immediate concern for human 00:16:39.029 --> 00:16:42.129 well -being over economic loss just completely 00:16:42.129 --> 00:16:44.950 reorients your moral priorities. And that commitment 00:16:44.950 --> 00:16:47.570 to human relationships leads directly to his 00:16:47.570 --> 00:16:51.070 concept of shoe or reciprocity. This is what's 00:16:51.070 --> 00:16:53.570 often called the silver rule. It's the negative 00:16:53.570 --> 00:16:55.690 formulation of the golden rule we all know. A 00:16:55.690 --> 00:16:58.370 disciple asks them if there's one single word 00:16:58.370 --> 00:17:00.649 you could live by your whole life. And he says, 00:17:00.669 --> 00:17:03.289 how about reciprocity? And then he defines it. 00:17:03.470 --> 00:17:05.849 Never impose on others what you would not choose 00:17:05.849 --> 00:17:08.049 for yourself. So don't do to others what you 00:17:08.049 --> 00:17:10.109 don't want done to you. Why is that negative 00:17:10.109 --> 00:17:12.630 framing so powerful? Well, you could argue it's 00:17:12.630 --> 00:17:15.029 more pragmatic for building a stable society. 00:17:15.289 --> 00:17:17.910 It sets a minimum ethical standard. It's focused 00:17:17.910 --> 00:17:20.549 on restraint and avoiding harm, which is a lot 00:17:20.549 --> 00:17:22.549 easier to maintain across a whole population 00:17:22.549 --> 00:17:25.950 than demanding constant active altruism, which 00:17:25.950 --> 00:17:27.890 the golden rule sort of implies. It's the foundation 00:17:27.890 --> 00:17:31.190 of a social contract. Exactly. But all of this 00:17:31.190 --> 00:17:34.069 ethical action has to start internally with the 00:17:34.069 --> 00:17:36.650 virtues you cultivate in yourself. And for him, 00:17:36.690 --> 00:17:39.309 the twin virtues here were sincerity and the 00:17:39.309 --> 00:17:42.630 cultivation of knowledge. Yes. Good intentions 00:17:42.630 --> 00:17:44.910 are useless if you're ignorant and knowledge 00:17:44.910 --> 00:17:47.880 is empty if you're not sincere. He was very clear 00:17:47.880 --> 00:17:50.599 that being a good person without also being a 00:17:50.599 --> 00:17:53.000 learned person just makes you a fool who's easy 00:17:53.000 --> 00:17:55.119 to manipulate. Which redefines what learning 00:17:55.119 --> 00:17:57.859 even is. It's not just accumulating facts for 00:17:57.859 --> 00:18:01.380 a test. No. For him, learning Sway was a process 00:18:01.380 --> 00:18:04.420 of moral cultivation. It was the thing that transforms 00:18:04.420 --> 00:18:08.420 a student into a genesy, a superior person. The 00:18:08.420 --> 00:18:10.359 point of mastering the classics and the six arts 00:18:10.359 --> 00:18:12.960 was to transform yourself. And the Jinzi is dedicated 00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:16.079 to virtue, while the opposite, the Joran or petty 00:18:16.079 --> 00:18:19.220 man, is obsessed with profit. That's the fundamental 00:18:19.220 --> 00:18:21.220 divide. And you can see that conflict everywhere 00:18:21.220 --> 00:18:23.539 today. The Jinzi is the leader who thinks about 00:18:23.539 --> 00:18:25.200 the long -term well -being of the community. 00:18:25.400 --> 00:18:27.700 The Jinzi is the one who can only see the next 00:18:27.700 --> 00:18:31.039 quarterly report. Okay, so this internal cultivation 00:18:31.039 --> 00:18:33.720 then informs how the Jinzi actually interacts 00:18:33.720 --> 00:18:36.140 with the world through what you call the ethical 00:18:36.140 --> 00:18:40.500 triad. Yes, these are the three big concepts. 00:18:40.680 --> 00:18:42.460 And they can be a little tricky for a Western 00:18:42.460 --> 00:18:44.240 audience, so it's worth spending some time on 00:18:44.240 --> 00:18:46.579 them. Let's start with Elyim. That's rights, 00:18:46.640 --> 00:18:51.000 propriety, ritual. Right. But you shouldn't think 00:18:51.000 --> 00:18:53.680 of Elyim as just, you know, specific religious 00:18:53.680 --> 00:18:56.200 ceremonies. Think of it more like the social 00:18:56.200 --> 00:18:59.160 software, the operating system for a civilization. 00:18:59.769 --> 00:19:01.829 The grammar of good behavior. That's a great 00:19:01.829 --> 00:19:04.269 way to put it. It started with ancient ceremonies, 00:19:04.369 --> 00:19:07.309 like ancestor veneration, but Confucius expanded 00:19:07.309 --> 00:19:10.130 it to include everything. All social institutions, 00:19:10.450 --> 00:19:13.230 diplomatic protocols, daily etiquette, from how 00:19:13.230 --> 00:19:16.109 you serve tea to how you dress a ruler. So eleum 00:19:16.109 --> 00:19:18.190 provides the predictable structure that lets 00:19:18.190 --> 00:19:21.130 society function smoothly. Exactly. Without eleum, 00:19:21.170 --> 00:19:23.509 you just have chaos and disrespect. It's the 00:19:23.509 --> 00:19:25.630 container that holds society together. Okay, 00:19:25.690 --> 00:19:27.730 so that's the structure. Then you have ye, which 00:19:27.730 --> 00:19:30.289 is righteousness. If L .A. is the structure, 00:19:30.509 --> 00:19:33.470 Yi is your moral compass that helps you navigate 00:19:33.470 --> 00:19:36.529 within that structure. It's knowing what is ethically 00:19:36.529 --> 00:19:39.089 the best thing to do in any given context. And 00:19:39.089 --> 00:19:41.150 it's based on reciprocity in the greater good, 00:19:41.289 --> 00:19:43.569 which is why it's the direct opposite of acting 00:19:43.569 --> 00:19:47.529 for your own self -interest or Li. Precisely. 00:19:47.529 --> 00:19:50.009 So Elkan tells me the proper way to greet my 00:19:50.009 --> 00:19:53.150 boss. Yi tells me that I should do it with genuine 00:19:53.150 --> 00:19:55.349 respect because it's the right thing to do, not 00:19:55.349 --> 00:19:57.970 because I'm hoping for a raise. It's about doing 00:19:57.970 --> 00:20:00.190 the right thing for its own sake. And that brings 00:20:00.190 --> 00:20:03.190 us to the core value, the highest virtue of them 00:20:03.190 --> 00:20:07.710 all. Ren. Benevolence. Humaneness. Ren is the 00:20:07.710 --> 00:20:10.289 goal. It's the virtue of perfectly fulfilling 00:20:10.289 --> 00:20:12.650 your responsibilities to other people. It's often 00:20:12.650 --> 00:20:14.910 just translated as goodness with a capital G. 00:20:15.230 --> 00:20:18.109 It's the spontaneous, empathetic, moral feeling 00:20:18.109 --> 00:20:20.089 that should be motivating all of your correct 00:20:20.089 --> 00:20:22.150 rituals and righteous actions. So what does that 00:20:22.150 --> 00:20:24.329 look like in practice? Well, Confucius broke 00:20:24.329 --> 00:20:26.990 it down into five basic virtues. Seriousness, 00:20:27.029 --> 00:20:30.190 generosity, sincerity, diligence, and kindness. 00:20:30.789 --> 00:20:33.990 But at its heart, Ren is about empathy. It's 00:20:33.990 --> 00:20:35.789 about being able to put yourself in someone else's 00:20:35.789 --> 00:20:38.970 shoes. So let's use an example. Yi, righteousness, 00:20:39.390 --> 00:20:41.690 might tell me I should donate to charity. Yes. 00:20:42.150 --> 00:20:45.109 But ren determines how you do it. If you write 00:20:45.109 --> 00:20:47.529 the check just to get a tax deduction or to brag 00:20:47.529 --> 00:20:50.589 about it, that's an act of Yi without any ren. 00:20:50.869 --> 00:20:52.589 It's technically righteous, but it's hollow. 00:20:52.849 --> 00:20:55.230 But if you donate with genuine empathy for the 00:20:55.230 --> 00:20:57.349 people you're helping, with kindness and sincerity, 00:20:57.690 --> 00:21:00.859 then the action is rooted in ren. And that is 00:21:00.859 --> 00:21:03.460 what truly makes you human in the Confucian sense. 00:21:03.700 --> 00:21:06.180 It's what transforms just following the rules 00:21:06.180 --> 00:21:09.000 into a truly moral act. And this whole ethical 00:21:09.000 --> 00:21:12.240 system becomes the blueprint for his ideal government. 00:21:12.500 --> 00:21:14.900 It's just a direct extension. The best government 00:21:14.900 --> 00:21:18.119 runs on alien and morality, not on strict laws 00:21:18.119 --> 00:21:20.980 and coercion. This was a direct shot at the other 00:21:20.980 --> 00:21:23.160 big school of thought at the time, the legalists. 00:21:23.319 --> 00:21:26.579 It was. The legalists were all about harsh universal 00:21:26.579 --> 00:21:30.269 laws and swift punishments. But Confucius understood 00:21:30.269 --> 00:21:32.809 that external controls only get you the bare 00:21:32.809 --> 00:21:35.230 minimum of compliance. People will just look 00:21:35.230 --> 00:21:37.089 for loopholes. And this is where his famous quote 00:21:37.089 --> 00:21:39.630 about shame as a governing tool comes from. It's 00:21:39.630 --> 00:21:42.450 in the Analects 2 .3, and it's so relevant today. 00:21:42.750 --> 00:21:45.630 He says, basically, if you lead the people with 00:21:45.630 --> 00:21:48.269 laws and punish them, they will try to avoid 00:21:48.269 --> 00:21:50.230 the punishment, but they will have no sense of 00:21:50.230 --> 00:21:53.430 shame. If you lead them by virtue and the rules 00:21:53.430 --> 00:21:55.769 of propriety, they will have a sense of shame, 00:21:55.809 --> 00:21:59.140 and what's more, they will become good. So it's 00:21:59.140 --> 00:22:02.059 about internalizing morality. The fear shifts 00:22:02.059 --> 00:22:04.660 from the police officer to your own conscience. 00:22:04.920 --> 00:22:07.619 Exactly. And that internalized sense of duty, 00:22:07.740 --> 00:22:11.039 that shame, is a much more powerful and efficient 00:22:11.039 --> 00:22:13.799 way to govern a society than having a cop on 00:22:13.799 --> 00:22:16.099 every corner. This whole political project was 00:22:16.099 --> 00:22:18.619 aimed at what he called restoring the mandate 00:22:18.619 --> 00:22:20.839 of heaven. Right. The mandate of heaven was this 00:22:20.839 --> 00:22:23.680 ancient idea that a ruler's authority came from 00:22:23.680 --> 00:22:26.440 a divine source. But it was conditional. You 00:22:26.440 --> 00:22:28.640 only kept the mandate as long as you ruled virtuously. 00:22:28.779 --> 00:22:30.599 And in the chaos of his time, he believed the 00:22:30.599 --> 00:22:33.039 mandate had been lost. He did. He thought the 00:22:33.039 --> 00:22:35.960 rulers had become morally bankrupt, and his system 00:22:35.960 --> 00:22:38.240 was the way to get it back, which would then, 00:22:38.380 --> 00:22:41.259 theoretically, bring peace and prosperity back 00:22:41.259 --> 00:22:43.480 to the land. And even though he was looking to 00:22:43.480 --> 00:22:46.759 the past, his system was pushing a really radical 00:22:46.759 --> 00:22:51.809 new idea for a feudal society. A moral meritocracy. 00:22:52.109 --> 00:22:54.569 In an age where power was all about who your 00:22:54.569 --> 00:22:57.470 father was, he was arguing that rulers and ministers 00:22:57.470 --> 00:23:00.589 should be chosen based on their moral merit and 00:23:00.589 --> 00:23:03.230 their competence, not their bloodline. The ruler 00:23:03.230 --> 00:23:06.089 had to be a moral role model for the entire society. 00:23:06.410 --> 00:23:08.650 And if the ruler is morally correct, then you 00:23:08.650 --> 00:23:10.430 don't even need orders or punishments because 00:23:10.430 --> 00:23:13.049 people will just naturally follow his good example. 00:23:13.329 --> 00:23:16.089 Yes. And it also puts a big burden on the people 00:23:16.089 --> 00:23:19.230 working for the ruler. A good minister had a 00:23:19.230 --> 00:23:21.809 duty to speak up and correct a ruler who was 00:23:21.809 --> 00:23:24.490 going down the wrong path. Blind obedience to 00:23:24.490 --> 00:23:26.789 a corrupt leader was a moral failure. Okay, this 00:23:26.789 --> 00:23:29.109 brings us to a part of his system that can seem 00:23:29.109 --> 00:23:32.069 a little strange to us, which is the huge importance 00:23:32.069 --> 00:23:34.230 he placed on music and ritual. It was absolutely 00:23:34.230 --> 00:23:36.869 central to his political science. Music was one 00:23:36.869 --> 00:23:39.450 of the six arts, and he saw music and rights 00:23:39.450 --> 00:23:42.289 as two sides of the same coin. They were the 00:23:42.289 --> 00:23:44.309 mechanisms that structured both the individual 00:23:44.309 --> 00:23:46.269 and the society. They operate on different levels, 00:23:46.390 --> 00:23:48.730 right? The internal and the external. Yes, that's 00:23:48.730 --> 00:23:51.069 the key. He said, music is that which moves man 00:23:51.069 --> 00:23:53.630 from the internal. Rights are that which affects 00:23:53.630 --> 00:23:57.109 man on the external. So the rights, L .A. Amara, 00:23:57.269 --> 00:24:00.549 provide the external discipline and order. Music 00:24:00.549 --> 00:24:02.849 provides the internal harmony and emotional resonance. 00:24:03.150 --> 00:24:05.450 So if you have the right music and the right 00:24:05.450 --> 00:24:07.970 rituals, your state will be in tune with the 00:24:07.970 --> 00:24:11.029 cosmos and your citizens will be naturally peaceful 00:24:11.029 --> 00:24:14.390 and orderly. It's a kind of social engineering 00:24:14.390 --> 00:24:17.130 through art. It is. And the same goes for poetry. 00:24:17.490 --> 00:24:20.910 The classic of poetry, the Xi Jiang, was a foundational 00:24:20.910 --> 00:24:23.789 text in his school. And not just because it was 00:24:23.789 --> 00:24:26.009 beautiful. He saw it as a practical, functional 00:24:26.009 --> 00:24:29.279 tool for governance. Extremely functional. He 00:24:29.279 --> 00:24:31.420 said the poems could be used to stimulate the 00:24:31.420 --> 00:24:34.240 mind, for self -reflection, for learning how 00:24:34.240 --> 00:24:36.259 to be sociable. He even said they could be used 00:24:36.259 --> 00:24:39.200 to regulate resentment. How does that work? Poetry 00:24:39.200 --> 00:24:41.940 has an emotional release valve. Sort of. If you 00:24:41.940 --> 00:24:44.059 felt you were wronged by your ruler, you could 00:24:44.059 --> 00:24:46.599 quote a specific appropriate poem that subtly 00:24:46.599 --> 00:24:48.720 expressed your complaint without being openly 00:24:48.720 --> 00:24:51.609 rebellious. It was a way to voice criticism within 00:24:51.609 --> 00:24:54.069 the accepted rules of propriety. That's fascinating. 00:24:54.170 --> 00:24:56.509 It's like a form of coded diplomatic language. 00:24:56.829 --> 00:24:59.529 It was. It was a whole system for moral, political, 00:24:59.609 --> 00:25:02.630 and even emotional education packed into one 00:25:02.630 --> 00:25:05.970 art form. So the great irony of his life is that 00:25:05.970 --> 00:25:08.630 his political failure is what allowed his philosophy 00:25:08.630 --> 00:25:11.769 to eventually have this incredible success. It 00:25:11.769 --> 00:25:13.809 was his first followers, his disciples, who made 00:25:13.809 --> 00:25:15.950 it happen. They're the ones who compiled his 00:25:15.950 --> 00:25:18.190 sayings into the Analects and kept his ideas 00:25:18.190 --> 00:25:20.190 alive through the chaos of the Warring States 00:25:20.190 --> 00:25:22.470 period. And two of his most famous followers 00:25:22.470 --> 00:25:25.769 really defined the big debate within Confucianism 00:25:25.769 --> 00:25:29.390 for centuries to come. Mencius and Zunzi. Right. 00:25:29.509 --> 00:25:32.049 Mencius was the idealist. He's the one who argued 00:25:32.049 --> 00:25:34.470 that human nature is innately good. His famous 00:25:34.470 --> 00:25:37.130 example is that if you see a child about to fall 00:25:37.130 --> 00:25:40.109 into a well, your first instinct is horror and 00:25:40.109 --> 00:25:42.710 a desire to help. That, for him, was proof of 00:25:42.710 --> 00:25:44.950 our innate goodness. But then you have Zunzi, 00:25:45.089 --> 00:25:47.609 who was much more of a pragmatist. Zunzi argued 00:25:47.609 --> 00:25:49.730 the opposite. He said human nature is inherently 00:25:49.730 --> 00:25:52.710 bad, or at least selfish, and that morality is 00:25:52.710 --> 00:25:54.470 something that has to be beaten into us through 00:25:54.470 --> 00:25:57.269 rigorous training and tradition. Society has 00:25:57.269 --> 00:25:59.849 to impose it on us. And Zunzi's more disciplined 00:25:59.849 --> 00:26:02.369 approach was probably more appealing to the empires 00:26:02.369 --> 00:26:05.430 that were about to form. It was. But the road 00:26:05.430 --> 00:26:07.869 to becoming the state philosophy was not smooth. 00:26:08.150 --> 00:26:11.700 The first unified empire. the Qin Dynasty, was 00:26:11.700 --> 00:26:15.059 run by legalists. They actively suppressed Confucian 00:26:15.059 --> 00:26:17.720 ideas. So Confucianism lost the first round. 00:26:17.920 --> 00:26:20.740 It did. But the Qin Dynasty was so brutal and 00:26:20.740 --> 00:26:23.380 collapsed so quickly that the next dynasty, the 00:26:23.380 --> 00:26:26.160 Han, needed a more stable, legitimate ideology. 00:26:26.579 --> 00:26:28.960 And they turned to Confucius. And this is the 00:26:28.960 --> 00:26:31.279 moment the Han Dynasty sanctioned. This is the 00:26:31.279 --> 00:26:33.799 moment it goes mainstream. Under Emperor Wu of 00:26:33.799 --> 00:26:37.539 Han, around 140 BCE, Confucius' works become 00:26:37.539 --> 00:26:41.029 the official imperial philosophy. And most importantly, 00:26:41.210 --> 00:26:43.269 they become the mandatory curriculum for the 00:26:43.269 --> 00:26:45.230 civil service examinations. So if you want a 00:26:45.230 --> 00:26:46.930 job in the government, you have to master the 00:26:46.930 --> 00:26:49.829 Confucian classics. That one act institutionalized 00:26:49.829 --> 00:26:52.049 his philosophy for nearly 2 ,000 years, right 00:26:52.049 --> 00:26:54.930 up until 1912. It created a scholar bureaucracy 00:26:54.930 --> 00:26:57.369 that was steeped in his ideas. And as it became 00:26:57.369 --> 00:26:59.529 the state ideology, the philosophy itself kept 00:26:59.529 --> 00:27:02.849 evolving, which led to Neo -Confucianism. Right. 00:27:03.519 --> 00:27:06.319 During the Tang and Song dynasties, Confucian 00:27:06.319 --> 00:27:08.180 scholars started to feel a little threatened 00:27:08.180 --> 00:27:10.799 by the growing popularity of Buddhism, which 00:27:10.799 --> 00:27:13.339 had all these complex metaphysical ideas that 00:27:13.339 --> 00:27:15.759 Confucius himself had ignored. So they needed 00:27:15.759 --> 00:27:18.759 to update their own system. They did. Scholars 00:27:18.759 --> 00:27:20.779 like Zhu Xi, who's the most famous of the Neo 00:27:20.779 --> 00:27:23.299 -Confucians, started incorporating metaphysical 00:27:23.299 --> 00:27:26.380 concepts from both Buddhism and Taoism to create 00:27:26.380 --> 00:27:28.980 a full cosmology, an explanation for how the 00:27:28.980 --> 00:27:31.240 universe worked. And they even adopted some of 00:27:31.240 --> 00:27:34.859 their practices, like meditation. Exactly. Zushi 00:27:34.859 --> 00:27:37.579 promoted a practice called quiet sitting, which 00:27:37.579 --> 00:27:39.259 was basically a form of Confucian meditation. 00:27:39.720 --> 00:27:42.339 It was heavily influenced by Buddhist and Taoist 00:27:42.339 --> 00:27:45.220 practices and became a core part of a scholar's 00:27:45.220 --> 00:27:47.660 self -cultivation. And then this whole system 00:27:47.660 --> 00:27:51.200 jumps continents. The Jesuit translations introduce 00:27:51.200 --> 00:27:54.160 him to the West. And he has this massive, unexpected 00:27:54.160 --> 00:27:57.160 impact on the Enlightenment. Thinkers who were 00:27:57.160 --> 00:27:59.119 looking for a system of morality that wasn't 00:27:59.119 --> 00:28:01.980 based on religious revelation found it in Confucius. 00:28:02.000 --> 00:28:05.420 He was this rational, secular sage. So people 00:28:05.420 --> 00:28:08.019 like Voltaire see his system as a model for a 00:28:08.019 --> 00:28:09.900 rational government that doesn't need a state 00:28:09.900 --> 00:28:13.220 church. And Leibniz was fascinated by the mathematics 00:28:13.220 --> 00:28:16.619 of the Yijing, the book of changes. In America, 00:28:16.740 --> 00:28:19.299 Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson were interested 00:28:19.299 --> 00:28:22.019 in how you could build a moral society without 00:28:22.019 --> 00:28:24.319 relying on religion. And that influence is literally 00:28:24.319 --> 00:28:27.500 carved in stone in the U .S. Supreme Court. It 00:28:27.500 --> 00:28:30.059 is. He's on the South Wall freeze right there 00:28:30.059 --> 00:28:32.839 with Moses and Solon, honored as one of the great 00:28:32.839 --> 00:28:35.720 lawgivers and teachers of history. A stunning 00:28:35.720 --> 00:28:38.279 confirmation of his global reach. Which brings 00:28:38.279 --> 00:28:41.039 us to the 20th century and this violent backlash 00:28:41.039 --> 00:28:43.900 during the Cultural Revolution. A complete 180 00:28:43.900 --> 00:28:47.410 -degree turn. The Communist Party saw Confucianism 00:28:47.410 --> 00:28:49.470 as the ultimate symbol of everything they were 00:28:49.470 --> 00:28:52.710 fighting against. Feudalism, elitism, backwardness. 00:28:52.970 --> 00:28:55.670 So they launched this massive campaign to criticize 00:28:55.670 --> 00:28:58.309 him. Criticized Lin, criticized Confucius' campaign. 00:28:58.430 --> 00:29:01.089 He was branded Kong Lauer, a derogatory nickname. 00:29:01.230 --> 00:29:03.390 They reexamined his whole life. His execution 00:29:03.390 --> 00:29:05.470 of Shao Zeng Mao was held up as proof that his 00:29:05.470 --> 00:29:07.950 virtue was just a cover for crushing his rivals. 00:29:08.289 --> 00:29:10.970 His emphasis on hierarchy was blamed for centuries 00:29:10.970 --> 00:29:13.309 of social oppression. And the destruction was 00:29:13.309 --> 00:29:15.799 physical, too. His tomb was... attacked. His 00:29:15.799 --> 00:29:18.819 tomb in Quafu was desecrated by Red Guards. It 00:29:18.819 --> 00:29:21.059 was a violent, systematic attempt to erase him 00:29:21.059 --> 00:29:23.660 from Chinese culture. But the system proved to 00:29:23.660 --> 00:29:27.099 be incredibly resilient. Since the 1980s, the 00:29:27.099 --> 00:29:29.519 government's attitude has shifted again, and 00:29:29.519 --> 00:29:31.599 now he's being promoted as a symbol of Chinese 00:29:31.599 --> 00:29:35.319 culture. And the final, almost unbelievable testament 00:29:35.319 --> 00:29:38.519 to that resilience is his actual family line. 00:29:39.019 --> 00:29:41.740 The Kong family lineage. It holds the record 00:29:41.740 --> 00:29:44.420 for the longest recorded extant pedigree in the 00:29:44.420 --> 00:29:47.240 entire world. Unbroken for how long? It's now 00:29:47.240 --> 00:29:50.140 in its 83rd generation, stretching back two and 00:29:50.140 --> 00:29:52.619 a half millennia. An estimated three million 00:29:52.619 --> 00:29:55.359 descendants are alive today. That continuity 00:29:55.359 --> 00:29:58.259 is just statistically mind -boggling through 00:29:58.259 --> 00:30:01.339 all the wars and dynastic changes. It is. The 00:30:01.339 --> 00:30:03.960 family has branches that fled south during invasions, 00:30:03.960 --> 00:30:06.779 branches that migrated to Korea. There are even 00:30:06.779 --> 00:30:09.059 Muslim branches of the family from intermarriages 00:30:09.059 --> 00:30:11.420 centuries ago. And this isn't just a historical 00:30:11.420 --> 00:30:13.839 claim. Modern science has backed it up. It has. 00:30:14.039 --> 00:30:18.000 A 2013 DNA study tested multiple different families 00:30:18.000 --> 00:30:20.900 who all claim descent and found they shared the 00:30:20.900 --> 00:30:23.779 same Y chromosome, confirming this unbroken... 00:30:23.849 --> 00:30:27.450 male lineage over 2 ,500 years. It's an incredible 00:30:27.450 --> 00:30:30.109 intersection of history, culture, and genetics. 00:30:30.329 --> 00:30:32.750 So when you pull it all together, it's this remarkable 00:30:32.750 --> 00:30:36.910 story. Kong Kui, a poor clerk who becomes a successful 00:30:36.910 --> 00:30:39.670 governor, a controversial minister, and then 00:30:39.670 --> 00:30:42.329 a failed political reformer who spends more than 00:30:42.329 --> 00:30:44.910 a decade in the wilderness. But that very failure 00:30:44.910 --> 00:30:47.250 is what forced him to become a teacher. He took 00:30:47.250 --> 00:30:49.910 these ancient, sometimes harsh rituals, and he 00:30:49.910 --> 00:30:52.450 reinterpreted them, transforming them into this 00:30:52.450 --> 00:30:54.890 sophisticated humanistic prescription for order. 00:30:55.029 --> 00:30:57.789 His insistence on personal moral virtue became 00:30:57.789 --> 00:30:59.869 the foundation of governance for two millennia. 00:30:59.970 --> 00:31:02.349 So what's the big takeaway from this deep dive 00:31:02.349 --> 00:31:05.549 for us today? His philosophy, rooted in humanism 00:31:05.549 --> 00:31:07.690 rather than divine commands, it offers a really 00:31:07.690 --> 00:31:10.029 powerful model for a modern secular morality. 00:31:10.369 --> 00:31:13.400 I think though, so what? is that Confucius showed 00:31:13.400 --> 00:31:15.619 how social order can come from cultivating an 00:31:15.619 --> 00:31:18.299 internal sense of duty, not just from external 00:31:18.299 --> 00:31:20.880 surveillance and punishment. It's a system that 00:31:20.880 --> 00:31:23.339 proves that ethical action, empathy, and self 00:31:23.339 --> 00:31:26.259 -cultivation can create real, lasting social 00:31:26.259 --> 00:31:29.250 harmony. It's the lesson that valuing the human 00:31:29.250 --> 00:31:31.569 being over the price of the horse is the true 00:31:31.569 --> 00:31:33.750 foundation of leadership. He always considered 00:31:33.750 --> 00:31:36.430 himself just a transmitter who invented nothing. 00:31:36.769 --> 00:31:39.289 But his act of transmitting and reinterpreting 00:31:39.289 --> 00:31:41.849 the past created something radically new. His 00:31:41.849 --> 00:31:44.450 whole life was about reviving what he saw as 00:31:44.450 --> 00:31:47.289 abandoned values that were essential for a flourishing 00:31:47.289 --> 00:31:49.450 society. So we'll leave you with this provocative 00:31:49.450 --> 00:31:51.970 thought to chew on. Given Confucius' foundational 00:31:51.970 --> 00:31:55.029 emphasis on study and moral self -cultivation, 00:31:55.190 --> 00:31:59.230 what forgotten or abandoned values, maybe a commitment 00:31:59.230 --> 00:32:01.869 to deep knowledge, rigorous moral discipline, 00:32:01.950 --> 00:32:04.849 or true reciprocity, what values might you need 00:32:04.849 --> 00:32:07.849 to transmit today to cultivate the superior person 00:32:07.849 --> 00:32:10.170 that our modern society needs? Thank you for 00:32:10.170 --> 00:32:11.970 joining us for The Deep Dive. We'll see you next 00:32:11.970 --> 00:32:12.109 time.