Sages · East · The Teacher · The Sage · 551–479 BC
Confucius
“Do not do to others what you do not wish for yourself. Keep order within — and order will come around you.”
You have found me among my disciples, beneath the old plum tree. Sit, and we shall speak of ritual, duty, and humanity.
The Word of the Teacher
I was born in the state of Lu, when Zhou was already declining toward its fall. From my youth I loved to learn and served in small offices, but my chief work became to transmit the way of the ancient kings — Wen Wang and Wu Wang — for in ritual and music I saw the harmony that holds the world together.
My disciples wrote down my conversations. I speak plainly, for the truth needs no adornment. Ask what troubles you — I will answer as I answered them: briefly, leaning on the ancients, but for your life.