Lives
Notes on SJ 47
E Bruce BrooksSJ 47 has become the standard biography of Confucius. This is a good joke on posterity, since SJ 47 was written by someone who at bottom was hostile to Confucius, namely the Dauist-trained Hàn court astrologer Szma Tan. That chapter was left intact by Tan's Confucian-trained and thus more sympathetic son Szma Chyen, except for the evaluative paragraph at the end, which records Chyen's pilgrimage to the house of Confucius in Lu, and which also does what it can (within the limits of not altering the father's text, a stratagem which was not available to the filial Chyen) to at least bring the biography out on a note positive to Confucius.
Szma Tan was an eclectic Dauist; up to a point he accepted and even respected Confucius. But in this chapter, he lost few opportunities to poke holes in the official image of Confucius. For this, he did not hesitate to draw on such originally hostile sources as the Dauist and Legalist texts. In the interest of increasing the amount of humor available to posterity, these notes point out a few of the places where Confucius's pretensions are subtly punctured. There are also a few notes on other matters. References are to the pages of the Eric Henry translation of SJ 47, which is available elsewhere on this site.
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One of them: Actually, Kung Fang-shu was the sole founder of the Kung line in Lu. He had fled Sung because of a military debacle in which he had been involved. For this and other details, see the consecutive account of Confucius's Kung ancestors, and of Confucius's life in outline, in The Original Analects, Appendix 4.
In his old age: this translates the awkward Chinese phrase ye-hv, which is capable of being construed as "copulated in the wilds." The ritual commentaries (and there are no other commentaries, in the Confucian tradition) explain this as pointing to one or another irregularity in the marriage. It seems to have been true that Confucius was beyond the normal age of marriage at this point; this may not, however, have been uncommon with military men. It has recently been suggested that the Yen clan, that of Confucius's wife, may have been in part of native (that is, Yi ethnic) extraction, rather than of pure Sinitic stock. There is considerable to be said in favor of this possibility.
Ni Qiu: Also given as Ni-shan, "Mount Ni," which was located some distance on the other side of the Lu capital. A visit there would have involved something like a pilgrimage. It was probably the wife, not the husband, who made the actual prayer. The occasion for the prayer was that their first son had been born with some sort of deformity of the feet which would have prevented him inheriting the role and military obligation of his father, so that another and sounder son was an absolute necessity if the family were to survive beyond that generation.
Twenty-second year. Eric's 0531 is a typo for 0551. We argue in The Original Analects that 0551 is actually his older brother's birthdate; Confucius himself should have been born in 0549.
Concavity: Obviously, Confucius was named Chyou "hill" and Jung-ni "Brother Ni" from the mountain at which his mother had prayed. The shape of his head was not involved, and the suggestion of concavity in SJ 47 is gratuitous.
Soon after: The Kungdz Jya-yw, which has a milder parallel to some of this material, says that Confucius was in his third year when his father died. If that detail was available to Tan, he left it out, perhaps for consistency with some of his other flights of fancy.
Mount Fang. This was the Kung family's seat in Lu, and that location was thus perfectly proper for Hv's interment. It is however obvious from the list of Confucius's ancestors that Confucius's father had given up the family name Kung, perhaps in order to improve his chances of personal advancement in Lu. At what point his family or his descendants became reconciled with the Kung main line is not known, but since Confucius is referred to as "Master Kung" in even the early layers of the Analects, that reconciliation probably occurred within Confucius's lifetime. It may have occurred at the time of his father's death, and if so, it would have been arranged by Confucius's mother. That Confucius did not know the location of his father's grave makes a delicious story, at the expense of one later renowned as a champion of filial piety, but is probably both apocryphal and malicious. It should be read as one more good joke at the expense of the pious but phony Confucius. Many more will follow.
Play with sacrificial vessels. A similar story, and one with nothing more going for it in the way of probable truth, is told of Mencius. The lore of Confucius in several respects parallels, and in some cases imitates, the lore surrounding Mencius. This SJ 47 statement is intended to document Confucius's early taste for ritual. Since the adult Confucius, in his teachings, gave scant attention to ritual, and since the ritual emphasis in the Analects comes only 80 years after Confucius's death, when his successor school was taken over by Dz-sz, of the Kung lineage (but not a direct descendant of Confucius; see the note on Confucius's Death), we may easily identify this as a Kung-ized picture of Confucius. So is most of what immediately follows. Since this is late and tendentious tradition, we are left without any information at all about the real childhood and early manhood of Confucius.
(The same is true of Mencius; most tales of his youth and early manhood occur in texts, such as the works of the anti-Mencian philosopher Sywndz, which are hostile to Mencius, and those tales quite logically make Mencius out to be a continual violator of the basic principles of propriety).
Wu-fu Lane. There is a typo; the name is actually "Street of the Five Fathers." There is an indecent suggestion here, which casts doubt on Confucius's paternity. Such suggestions are typical of the Shr Ji, which elsewhere lets it be inferred that the First Emperor of Chin was the bastard son of the Chin minister Lw Bu-wei.
The mother of Wan-fu of Lu. Another typo; should be "of Dzou," the hometown of Confucius's father. Wan-fu is not a plausible name; it looks more like an occupational designation. The phrase means "mourner" (and the fu portion is the word for "father"), so this name reiterates the leading themes of this part of the chapter: the scanted mourning and Confucius's uncertainty about his father.
Men-at-arms. This is a contestable translation of shr, perhaps more neutrally "officers" or "men of the military elite class." If Confucius was still in mourning at the time, he would presumably have been in his single-digit years, which strains credulity, or would do so if Tan had included the family tradition about Confucius being three at the time of his father's death. The whole thing does make a good joke, since it shows the supposedly ritualistic Confucius violating the most sacred ritual prescriptions to which members of the military elite were responsible. And toadying up to the Ji family, the chief threat to the legitimate Lu ruler, to whom Confucius and his father were in fact loyal. And being rebuked therefor. And having nothing to say in his defense. And silently withdrawing.
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For the Ji clan. This is a persistent legend, but not a probable one. Some of Confucius's protégés did serve the Ji clan, but it is clear that he disapproved of their doing so. Confucius seems to have always been loyal to the legitimate Princely line in Lu, and to have spent his own life in its service. If so, then these tales are another poke at Confucius, time not at his sense of ritual, but at his loyalty.
Over six feet. The Chinese measure chr, though often translated "foot," is actually a span measure; it contained ten fvn or "Chinese inches." The Han standard span was 9 English inches, but measures varied considerably in pre-Imperial times. If we accept the Han standard, the text's "nine span six inches" works out to 9.6 times 9 English inches, or about 87 English inches: more than eight English feet tall. Any Chinese of the late Spring and Autumn period who was more than six English feet tall would probably have stood out in a crowd. The translation "over six feet" makes cultural sense and is therefore inevitable, though the metrology behind it must remain something of a mystery.
Offered good terms. The original text is not quite this cynical; "held him in regard" might suffice.
To study the rites. This of course contradicts the idea that Confucius was precocious in his knowledge of the rites.
Met Laudz. The following tale is yet another variant of the many late Warring States tales of Confucius meeting Laudz and being reproved by him. A C Graham, himself a Dauist by temperament and no fan of Confucius, argued that these stories must rest on fact since there are so many of them. There are so many of them because they proved to be an effective propaganda device, and they were effective as propaganda because they were funny: they reversed field on the already stuffy image of Confucius and made him defer to the Dauist patriarch Laudz.
In the SJ 47 addition to this fund of funny Confucius/Laudz stories, which is notable in being located at the beginning of Confucius's career rather than near its end, Laudz in effect reproves the entire life of Confucius, as so far lived and as it was to be lived in future, as a violation of the most elementary principles of filial piety and dutiful loyalty.
Cockfight. In actuality, Jau-gung of Lu had made a plan to dismantle the walls of the Three Clans' fortresses (located at strategic points on the border of Lu, not near its capital), and when the plan misfired, he was compelled to leave the state. He was first given a home at Ywn on the northern border of Lu, with the Lord of Chi as his patron; only later did he move to Gan-hou, on the western border and in the zone of influence of Jin, which finally supported him militarily. He died at the beginning of an attempt to reconquer his own state.
Went to Chi. During the exile, Jau-gung several times visited the capital of Chi, and on these occasions, Confucius as a member of Jau-gung's escort could have heard the Chi music that Analects 7 records as greatly impressing him. The idea that Confucius later served Chi in his own right is an unwarranted elaboration of this small kernel of fact. Confucius in all probability never served anyone but the legitimate rulers of Lu during his lifetime: Jau-gung, then Ding-gung, and finally Ai-gung. All the rest is either wishful elaboration on the part of his followers, or malicious rumors put out by his enemies.
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The Ruler be a Ruler. This does indeed turn up in Analects 12, but it was not a saying of Confucius. Like many other lines in Analects 12-13, it is an echo of a Legalist maxim in the contemporary Gwandz, a collection of Chi Legalist recommendations.
Lord Ding. It is correct that Jau-gung died at Gan-hou. Ding-gung was his brother, and thus came to the throne at an unusually mature age. He showed great energy and also great patience in restoring the relative power of the ruling lineage in Lu, and finally near the end of his reign, in 0500, the walls of the Three Clan fortresses were indeed dismantled.
A Skeleton. This is one of many tales which show the omniscience of Confucius in the area of natural history. The old conception of a sage was a man of wisdom and practical insight. The late and vulgar conception was a walking encyclopedia; a master of trivia. This story is based on a late and vulgar concept, and has no claim to be accepted as historical.
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No official post. This contradicts other parts of SJ 47, but never mind. As SJ 47 goes, it seems to be fairly near the truth. As a loyalist, Confucius was non grata at the Lu court for nearly all of the reign of Ding-gung, the time of his maturity. That he received no official post was a matter of prudence, not neglect, on Ding-gung's part.
Jou in the East. This tale is from LY 17, an early 03c layer of the text, and reflects late ideas. The "Jou in the East" idea itself was undoubtedly earlier; since the onset of the Warring States period, every state of any consequence at all aspired to be a successor to the once powerful Jou, either in their own area (hence "the East"), or in the entire Sinitic culture area. During Confucius's lifetime, the states were refashioning themselves along more economically and militarily powerful lines, in order to pursue that goal with all possible strength. Confucius's contribution to that process seems to have been to have guided members of the client circle in adjusting to the new-style bureaucracy, and in the process creating an ethos of public service which has been one of the most durable features of mature Chinese culture, ever since its official recognition in the Han Dynasty. Of all this, of course, one gets not the slightest hint in SJ 47, which is fond of stories, and especially fond of malicious ones, but has no interest in history, either at the event level (as with Jau-gung's exile) or at the level of large developments.
Minister of Crime. This Legalist post is another hostile fiction, presumably arising in Legalist circles. Tales told of the Legalist "Confucius" in one text are told, identically, of such extremely harsh figures as Lord Shang, in another text. Go figure.
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Demolished. It will be noticed that this event is dated three years too late, and that the text gives Confucius's disciples a leading role in it. The Dzwo Jwan, which has its own set of tales to tell of these unwallings, which it also puts in the year 0497, but makes no mention of any of Confucius's disciples in those tales. Szma Tan has obviously used the Dzwo Jwan as one of his sources, and has let his inspiration take it from there. A study of the Dzwo Jwan myth of Confucius as a stage in the evolution of the Shr Ji myth of Confucius would be very valuable. A fine state has been made in Chavannes' translation and study of this chapter, which marks the end of the part of the Shr Ji which he had sufficient energy to prepare for final publication. Drafts of much of the remaining material are still preserved in France.
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Prime Minister. Not very likely. Nor is Confucius's execution of Shau-jvng Mau, which is another element in the hagiography of the Legalist "Confucius."
[To be continued]
Comment. The life of Confucius is not to be sought in the various late traditions which are drawn on by Szma Tan in the above sketch, and certainly not in the hostile portion of those traditions. It needs a calmer hand on the tiller, and sounder waters to steer the boat through. Until that should happen, SJ 47 is fun to read as one more bit of controversialist literature; the Warring States period having its final fling with the subject. As a source of fact, it is absolutely perilous.
14 Oct 2009 / Contact The Project / Exit to Results Page
