Ancient sages think Confucius is a clown

[charlie cho]

I'm curious how Leo and all of you think of Confucius. I always had a suspicion for him. Always felt something fishy going on with the person. Overly political. Too disciplinary. Has no understanding of the essence of human nature. Status based. Rituals and history is more important to him than the future or the present. 

Chinese legalist philosopher, Han Fei Tzu, an author that the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, adored most as a political writer, used to criticize Confucian principles saying,

"They think that wisdom comes from the past and they try to implement those ideas to the present. They think they can hunt a bunny the same way they had killed an old bunny yesterday. They pollute the realm with their fixed ideas and make people fixed in the past. We are now seeing how deluded people are becoming, how ugly their mannerisms have become because of their traditional ritualism, how vile they have become of their fixed principles of the past. They destroy the human soul and body, thus destroying the whole country of China because they cannot see what's happening now. The principles of the past do not apply to the future. The prince should understand this and apply current principles for the future, not the past like those vile Confucian scholars."

Funny enough, Emperor Qin went too far and dumped all those Confucian scholars in the ground burying them alive. Lol. (One of the reasons he is crowned as one of the most evil emperors ever. But there is no doubt he was talented in leadership and managing a country.)

It's hard for many to conceive that a philosopher in East Asia would think like this 2500 years ago, but they indeed existed. It's doubly hard that an Chinese Emperor was able to understand what the philosopher had just said about how the past do not apply to the present, and how fixed ideas in the past will destroy a clear perception of the world. We would normally think these high status people in ancient times would be traditional, fixed, and disciplinary.

And don't get me started on how much Chuang Tzu calls Confucius a hypocrite, a world destroyer, a mere failing student of Lao Tzu, a status seeker, a failing preacher of his foolish ideas. I can go on and on. 

If you have any ideas on Confucianism, ask me. If you have any opinions. I would love to hear it. If you would like to argue that my scornful attitude on Confucius is wrong, then I welcome the challenge. 

Edited October 11, 2021 by charlie cho