Confucius :: essays research papers

Confucius and Lao TzuConfucius and Lao Tzu were two highly known scholars in Ancient China. These scholars with their intellectual writings changed the views of the Chinese people. Confucius believed in the moral value and filial piety, he also wanted civic obedience. Lao Tzu was a mystical writer, his comparison between a "perfect serviceman" and the "real world" made people think to act as loving and caring peoples. (Expand on what they thought about)Confucius was brought to the world sometime in 551 BCE in the state of Lu. Confucius was innate(p) to the name Kung Chiu, and his father died when he was only 3 years old, leaving his family to a look of poverty. Even though poor, Confucius was given a really well education. Then at the age of 19, he married and had a son and two daughters, but after two years of marriage he was smitten with poverty once again. With poverty striking again he was forced into menial labors for the chief of the district in which he l ived. When his mother died in 527 BCE he mourned for a long period of time. After this stage of his life he began a new way of life as a teacher, traveling from spot to place with a small group of disciples preaching. His teachings of Chinese ideals and customs soon spread all throughout Lu. In his speeches he also taught the people self-possessed his view of filial piety and his views of moral values. Then at the age of fifty he was appointed as the minister of crime of Lu. This administration was very successful, and Confucius made Lu very powerful and free from crime. Confucius never wrote his teachings out on paper himself, however they were passed down through his disciples and later wrote out in text form in a document called "Lun Yu."(Encarta 98, "Confucius)Lao Tzu was born sometime around 570 in the province of Henan and there he was a tap librarian. Lao Tzu was not his real name this name was given to him as an honorific title meaning "Old Master." La o Tzu spoke to groups of people, about life the way he thought it should be, which was a natural way of life with goodness, serenity, and respect. He did not lay down any code of law of air he believed that conduct came from instincts. He also believed that human life as well as everything else was influenced by outside forces, and simplicity was the key to truth and freedom.