Confucius Not Only Said It… He Brought It

Shawn Conners — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 19:16:32 +0000

Playing a traditional zither

Confucius not only said interesting things, he sang them and accompanied himself on a kind of zither. The Smithsonian Institution’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery has frequent shows of musical instruments from Confucius’ time, 2,500 years ago. A collection of his lyrics (there are no melodies preserved) is one of the first pieces of Chinese literature handed down through the centuries.

“It is said that Confucius accompanied himself on a ‘qin’ while singing the odes of the Shi Jing, or the ‘Classic of Poetry,’” says cellist Yo-Yo Ma in a guide to the exhibit. “We don’t know what Confucius’ qin may have looked like, but in popular accounts of his life, the image of the philosopher-musician became firmly established.” The qin is a kind of zither. Today’s Chinese musicians still use one kind. Ma is an American of Chinese ancestry, one of today’s leading cellists playing classical western music.

Jenny F. So, the Sackler’s curator of ancient Chinese art, said in an interview that some of the “odes” were just folk songs. Confucius reportedly made a practice of dancing with his disciples every day. In his time, music was considered of great social significance, linking rulers to subjects, parents to children. “It is by poetry that one’s mind is aroused; it is by ceremony that one’s character is regulated; it is by music that one becomes accomplished,” he said.

Most of the instruments on display come from a tomb of the Marquis Yi, found by Chinese soldiers in 1977 when they were leveling a hill as a site for a factory. The instruments are borrowed from a museum in Hubei, China. So said this is the first time they have been displayed in a musical context.

Confucius had definite ideas about what music ought to be. “Get rid of the tunes of Zheng,” he is quoted as saying. “The tunes of Zheng are lascivious.” The Zheng area lies just to the south of Lu, Confucius’ home state. A later chronicler, who So says may have been using his imagination some, told of a Chinese king who was fond of licentious music. “He assembled a large company of musicians and actors at the Shaqiu garden,” says the account, “filling a pond with wine and hanging up meats to make a forest. He caused men and women to disrobe and pursue each other through this scenery, as part of a drinking feast lasting long into the night.”

A costumed musician, Mei Min Su of the local Chinese Music Society, played more recent Chinese music for visitors before the official opening, on a zither like one from Confucius’ time. The marquis apparently had two sets of musicians: one for public ceremonials, which emphasized percussion instruments, and a smaller, more intimate one with strings. Chinese authorities considered his ceremonial set of 65 huge bronze bells too precious to leave the country. Inscriptions on them identify the notes they produce on the Chinese five-tone scale. So far as scholars can find, it took nearly another thousand years before actual tunes were written out, Su said. In one chamber of the tomb archaeologists found an elaborately lacquered double coffin with the body of a middle-aged man, presumably the marquis. Eight smaller coffins contained the skeletons of eight young women.

New: Biographies of Immortals – Legends of China on Kindle and Paperback

Shawn Conners — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 08:02:16 +0000

Biographies of Immortals - Legends of China

This special edition brings together three classic works by Western scholars of ancient Chinese texts. The men were family friends and colleagues, and were all living in Shanghai during the late 19th century. Much of their combined transcription became shaped into the book we know today as the “Tao Te Ching.”

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“Leaves from My Chinese Scrapbook” by Frederic Balfour is a collection of stories, legends and anecdotes by a British expatriate scholar, who was working for local Chinese newspapers such as “Celestial Empire” and contributing travel articles to “Harpers Magazine”. Many of these stories are taken from the source scrolls Balfour used to write the ground-breaking “Taoist Texts” in 1884.

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Lao Tzu was a native of Ch’en.

His surname was Li (Plum), his personal name was Erh and his “style” was Po-yang. His mother gave birth to him while leaning against a plum tree. He was able to speak as soon as he was born, and pointing to the plum tree said: “I take my surname from this tree.” Though born in the Yin period, he became Palace Secretary under the Chou dynasty. He made a practice of nourishing his vital essence, his great aim being to absorb strength without dissipating any. In due course he was made Custodian of the Archives, a post which he held for more than eighty years–the Shih Chi says, for over two hundred years. His contemporaries called him the Noble Recluse, and his posthumous title was Tan (Flat-eared). When , Confucius came to Chou and visited Lao Tzu, he recognized him as an inspired sage and took him as his Master.

Later on, when the virtue of Chou had fallen into decay, he mounted a chariot drawn by a black ox and departed for the land of Ta Ch’in. When he passed through the Western Barrier, the Warden of the Pass, Yin Hsi, received him with honor, knowing that he was a saintly man, and persuaded him to write a treatise, which was no other than the Tao Te Ching in two parts, one roll to each.

Confucius paid a visit to the Chou State in order to question Lao Tzu on matters of ceremonial. The latter replied, saying: “Those about whom you speak are men whose bones have all turned to dust, and whose words alone survive. Now, when the princely man finds his opportunity, he rides in a State chariot; if he fails to find his opportunity, he goes on foot in humble guise. I have heard it said that a clever merchant, though possessed of great hoards of wealth, will act as though his coffers were empty; and that the princely man, though of perfect moral excellence, maintains the air of a simpleton. Abandon your arrogant ways and countless desires, your suave demeanor and unbridled ambition, for they do not promote your welfare. That is all I have to say to you.”

Confucius went away, and said to his disciples: “I understand how birds can fly, how fishes can swim, and how four-footed beasts can run. Those that run can be snared, those that swim may be caught with hook and line, those that fly may be shot with arrows. But when it Comes to the dragon, I am unable to conceive how he can soar into the sky riding upon the wind and clouds. To-day I have seen Lao Tzu, and can only liken him to a dragon.”

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Confucius Not Only Said It… He Brought It

New: Biographies of Immortals – Legends of China on Kindle and Paperback