Questions to ask Confucius

Kong Qiu, the man called Confucius

Confucius was born Kong Qiu in the small state of Lu, in what is now Shandong province, traditionally in 551 BCE. Chinese writers call him Kongzi or Kong Fuzi, Master Kong; “Confucius” is the Latin form Jesuit missionaries made from that title. His father, an old soldier, died when he was a small child, and he grew up in modest circumstances. In the Analects (9.6) he says he was of humble station when young and so learned many practical skills. Mencius records that he once kept granary accounts and looked after livestock.

Around 500 BCE he held office in Lu under Duke Ding. The Zuo Commentary records his part in a diplomatic meeting with the state of Qi at Jiagu that year. Later accounts give him a high post, minister of crime, but historians treat that as partly legend. In about 497 BCE he left Lu and spent some fourteen years travelling through neighbouring states, looking for a ruler who would take his advice. None did. He came home in 484 BCE, taught, and died in 479 BCE. His favourite disciple Yan Hui and his son Kong Li (Boyu) both died before him.

Where his words come from

Confucius wrote no book we can be sure of. The Analects (Lunyu, “selected sayings”) is a collection of about 500 short passages in 20 books, put together by his followers and their students over a long period after his death. Some later books read differently from earlier ones, and scholars such as E. Bruce and A. Taeko Brooks argue that it grew in layers. Other early sources are the Zuo Commentary, the book of Mencius, and Sima Qian's biography in the Records of the Grand Historian (about 91 BCE), written some four centuries later.

Cite the Analects by book and passage, for example Analects 12.7. Passage numbers differ slightly between editions: the numbers here follow the common modern numbering, and Legge sometimes counts one or two differently. Translations differ a great deal too, so name yours (James Legge's 1861 version is free online; modern ones by D. C. Lau, Edward Slingerland or Annping Chin are clearer). And be wary of “Confucius says” proverbs on posters and in fortune cookies. Most are not in the Analects at all; our guide on how to check if a quote is real shows how to look one up.

One tip before you start: he answered the person, not the question

In Analects 11.22 two disciples ask the same question, whether to act at once on what they have heard. He tells bold Zilu to wait and consult his father and elder brothers, and tells hesitant Ran You to act. Asked why, he says one needed holding back and the other pushing forward. So in your interview, let the interviewer introduce themselves, and let Confucius fit the answer to them. Keep his answers short. Most Analects passages are a few lines long.

For a wax museum, set him around 500 BCE, aged about 51 and newly in office in Lu, or around 485 BCE, an old teacher back home after his travels.

Questions about learning

Where the answer is: Analects 2.4 sets out his life in stages, from setting his heart on learning at fifteen to following his heart's desire without overstepping the line at seventy. In 7.1 he calls himself a transmitter, not a creator, who loves the ancients. In 2.15 he warns that learning without thinking is wasted, and thinking without learning is dangerous.

1. What did you set your heart on at fifteen, and why so young?
2. Why do you say you transmit old wisdom and do not create anything new?
3. Which is worse: learning without thinking, or thinking without learning?
4. You taught students who could pay only a bundle of dried meat (7.7). Why take poor students?

Questions about ruling well

Where the answer is: in 2.1 a ruler who governs by virtue is like the pole star, which stays in place while the other stars turn toward it. In 2.3, people led by laws and punishments stay out of trouble but feel no shame, while people led by virtue and ritual develop shame and correct themselves. In 13.3 the first task of government is to rectify names, so that words match reality. In 12.7 he ranks the people's trust above food and weapons.

1. What is wrong with governing by laws and punishments?
2. Why would you begin government by correcting names?
3. If a ruler had to give up weapons, food or the people's trust, which should go first?
4. Why did no ruler in fourteen years of travel give you real power?
5. What would you say to a ruler who rules by fear?
6. When your group ran out of food between the states of Chen and Cai, what did you tell your angry disciples? (15.2)
7. Did you really edit the old classics, as later tradition says?

Questions about being a good person

Where the answer is: the junzi, often translated “gentleman” or “exemplary person”, is the Analects' model of a good person, contrasted with the petty person (xiaoren), for example in 4.16 on rightness and profit. Ren, translated humaneness or goodness, is discussed throughout; in 12.22 he defines it as loving others. In 15.24 his disciple Zigong asks for one word to live by and is told reciprocity: what you do not want for yourself, do not do to others. In 4.15 the disciple Zengzi says the Master's way is one thread, loyalty and reciprocity.

1. What makes someone a junzi rather than a petty person?
2. Is your saying about not doing to others what you do not want the same as the Golden Rule?
3. Can anyone become a junzi, or only people of good family?
4. How do you treat someone who has wronged you?

Questions about ritual, family and spirits

Where the answer is: filial piety (xiao) runs through Book 2 (2.5 to 2.8): serve parents according to ritual in life and in death. In 17.21 he defends three years of mourning for parents against a disciple who thinks one year is enough. In 6.22 he advises respecting ghosts and spirits while keeping them at a distance, and in 11.12 he tells Zilu that if you cannot yet serve people you cannot serve spirits, and if you do not yet understand life you cannot understand death.

1. Why does ritual (li) matter so much? Is it more than good manners?
2. Why insist on three years of mourning for a parent?
3. Do you believe in an afterlife?
4. How did you feel when Yan Hui died? (In 11.9 he cries out that Heaven has destroyed him.)
5. What did you think of women and servants? (Analects 17.25 says they are hard to deal with.)

Ask the last question honestly. Passage 17.25 is real, its meaning and date are debated, and later Confucian teaching was used to restrict women's lives. A good answer gives his words, the debate, and the later history.

Sample answers from the Analects

Question: What is real knowledge? He told his disciple Zilu, whose personal name was You:

Question: Does it bother you that rulers ignored you?

Question: What holds a state together?

Question: How would you describe your own life? A sourced answer, in paraphrase: in 2.4 he says that at fifteen he set his heart on learning, at thirty he stood firm, at forty he had no doubts, at fifty he knew the decree of Heaven, at sixty his ear was attuned, and at seventy he could follow his heart without overstepping the bounds.

Questions he could not answer

• Anything about “Confucianism”, a word he never used, or its adoption as state teaching under the Han dynasty in the 2nd century BCE.
• The imperial examinations, which later tested candidates on Confucian classics.
• Mencius and Xunzi, the great Confucian thinkers who lived after him.
• Buddhism, which reached China centuries later.
• Modern politics. Keep present-day governments out of the interview; he speaks only of rulers in his own world.

Where to read the Analects

The Chinese Text Project (ctext.org) has the whole Analects in Chinese with James Legge's English, passage by passage, so you can check numbering. Project Gutenberg has Legge's Chinese Classics volume containing the Analects. Wikisource has other translations. In Qufu, his temple, cemetery and the Kong family mansion are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

To practise asking questions aloud, Yuga has an AI recreation of Confucius that keeps to the Analects and early sources. It is not Confucius and can be wrong, so cite the Analects by book and passage in your work. To compare him with a Greek teacher who also wrote nothing, see Confucius and Socrates compared and questions to ask Socrates.