wrote little (his followers recorded his ideas) he is credited with building a system of ethics by which China has subsequently lived. He died in 479 B.C. Although he disclaimed any credit for founding a faith, he was venerated by successive dynasties as a sage. Even shrines were erected in his honor, and offerings were brought. The heart of Confucian teachings is found in the Analects, the Confucian bible. They are precepts that are applicable to daily living, but the book also contains a good deal of relevant and interesting information on the life of Confucius. For example: regarding the possiblity of meeting a faultless man, he said: "A faultless man I cannot ever hope to meet; the most I can hope for is to meet a man of fixed principles. Yet where all around I see Nothing pretending to be Something, and Emptiness pretending to be Fullness, and Penury pretending to be Affluence, even a man of fixed principles will be hard to find." The short maxims and proverbs that constitute the core of Confucianism are all attributed to the Master. The range of topics is wide, f.ex. Ritual and Sacrifice; The Individual Path; Goodness; Aesthetics; Government and A Gentleman's Conduct. A few excerpts and paraphrases follow: 1. "Just as lavishness leads easily to presumption, so does frugality to meanness. But meanness is a far less serious fault than presumption." 2. "Is courage to be prized by a gentleman? A gentleman gives the first place to Right. If a gentleman has courage but neglects Right, he becomes turbulent. If a small man has courage but neglects Right, he becomes a thief." 3. "It is Goodness that gives to a neighborhood its beauty. ... Imperturbable, resolute, tree-like, slow to speak - such a one is near to Goodness. Neither the scholar who has truly the heart of a scholar nor the man of good stock who ;has the qualities that belong to good stock, will ever seek life at the expense of Goodness, and it may be that he has to give his lif...
