Life Confucianism As A New Philosophy by Huang Yushun;Li Xuening;

Author:Huang Yushun;Li Xuening;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / General
Publisher: Casemate Publishers & Book Distributors, LLC
Published: 2020-07-19T00:00:00+00:00

4.2 Confucius and Hui’s Cheerfulness

The other topic that has a close relationship with the question of dimensions is Confucius and Hui’s cheerfulness (kong yan le chu 孔颜 乐处). In my opinion, Confucius and Hui’s cheerfulness is not just any dimension of Confucianism; it is the highest dimension.13

In the Reason Philosophy of the Song and Ming dynasties, Zhou Dunyi (周敦颐) first talked about Confucius and Hui’s cheerfulness in the Neo-Confucianism of the Song and Ming dynasities.14 When Cheng Hao and Cheng Xi followed Zhou to learn Confucianism in their early years, Zhou gave them a quiz: why were Confucius and Hui cheerful?15

This question is taken from the two records of Analects of Confucius. Confucius once said that he himself could find cheerfulness in them. The passage quoted from Analects of Confucius reads as follows: “With coarse rice to eat, with water to drink, and my bended arm for a pillow; I have still joy in the midst of these things.”16 The other one is the praise of his disciple Yan Yuan (颜渊). The original text is: “Admirable indeed was the virtue of Hui (回) (Yan Yuan’ name). With a single bamboo dish of rice, a single gourd dish of drink, and living in his mean narrow lane while another could not have endured the distress, he did not allow his joy to be affected by it. Admirable indeed was the virtue of Hui!”17

What do the passages teach?

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