Confucius’ life and thought

Confucius(551—479 BC) was a great thinker and teacher in the Spring and Autumn Period of China. He was born in Qufu, capital of the state of Lu (part of Shandong). He acted as an official(官員) there. But he was perhaps a better thinker than he was an official and he ended up having to leave the state of Lu. He spent 13 years travelling around the other states, spreading his ideas. And he tried to teach people that peace was very important for a healthy society. However, it was not until the rule of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty(156-87 BC) that his ideas were finally put into practice. In his last few years, he returned to Qufu where he spent the rest of his life teaching. His teachings were recorded by his followers in a book called Lunyu.

Confucius’ teachings formed the base of Chinese thought. Confucius thought everyone should develop virtues(美德) and always do the right thing. Confucius’ thought is considered to have been the necessity of Eastern thought.

To help people understand how to behave towards others, he taught five virtues accepted by all Chinese. They are ren(kindness, charity), yi (fairness), li(ceremony, tradition), zhi(knowledge), and xin(trust). Another virtue is xiao. Xiao is the duties a person has to their parents. It means loving, respecting, obeying(服從), and taking care of one’s parents in their old age. Xiao forms the base of a peaceful society. And he is the final goal according to his thought. It means social peace.

Here’s one of Confucius’ famous sayings, “Do not do to others as you do not wish to be done to you.” Another saying of his is “In the company of two others, I can always find one worthy of being my teacher.”

It is clear that Confucius’ thought will continue to be a necessary part of Chinese culture. And it will continue to do something good to the development of China and even the whole world.

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A man walking through an elephant camp was surprised to find that the elephants weren't being kept in cages or held by chains. All that was holding them back from running away from the camp was a small piece of rope— it was just 【1】 to one of their legs.

As the man looked at the elephants, he couldn't understand it. Why didn't the elephants just use their power to break the rope and run away?

Wanting to know the 【2】, he asked a trainer nearby why it was so.

"When they were very young and much smaller, we used the same size of rope to tie them, and at that age, it was enough 【3】 them. As they grew up, they still believed that they couldn't break away. Even now, they believe the rope can still control them, so they have the 【4】 courage to try to break free, "the trainer answered.

The man was 【5】. These animals were able to break away from the rope whenever they wanted, but it was only because over time, they believed that it was just 【6】.

How many of us go through life like the elephants -—believing that it was beyond(超越)our 【7】 to do something only because we failed once or some times before?

Failure is part of 【8】. If we fail at something, we can still get something from it. Failure in the past doesn't mean we can never 【9】 in the future. We should keep on trying with confidence 【10】 even after we have experienced failures in life.