Images of the Temple of Culture
Thomas A. Wilson
History and Asian Studies
Hamilton College

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"Confucianism" is a tradition that traces its beginnings to an educated elite called shi ¤h of late antiquity that advised royal and regional feudal authorities during the Zhou dynasty (1134-250 B.C.) on governing, which emphasized the importance of virtuous rule through benevolence ¤¯ and proper conduct called ritual (li §). The most prominent figure of this educated elite was a man named Kong Qiu ¤Õ¥C (551 to 479 B.C.), usually referred to as Master Kong (Kong-fu zi ¤Õ¤Ò¤l or Kongzi ¤Õ¤l). In the West, Kongzi is called Confucius, a name given him by Jesuit missionaries in the sixteenth century. Kongzi was born in the Watch Tower (Queli Âö¨½) district of Qufu ¦±ªú, then the capital of the state of Lu ¾| of the Zhou kingdom. Kongzi was the son of Shuliang He ¨û¸d¬ø, who, according to some sources, was a descendant of a prestigious lessor branch of a ducal lineage of the neighboring state of Song §º. Kongzi was raised by his mother, Yan Zhengzai ÃC¼x¦b after his father died before he was three.
During much of the imperial era of Chinese history, the teachings and ritual practices of Confucianism occupied a privileged status in the education and training of the men who served in the civil bureaucracy. The precise ways in which the government expressed its preference for Confucianism over competing schools, and the extent to which the state actually adhered to Confucian doctrine, waxed and waned significantly during the course of the last two thousand years. Although Confucius enjoyed a certain notoriety during his own lifetime, it was not until the Han (206 B.C.-A.D. 220) that rulers began to distinguish his teachings from those of other thinkers of the Zhou dynasty by canonizing Confucianism as an officially favored teaching. The canonization of Confucianism was a gradual and complex process that involved several different types of official acts and proclamations that were not always consistently applied. Perhaps the most signal act that effected this canonization was in 136 B.C., when the Han emperor Wu (r. 141-87 B.C.), acting on the advice of Dong Zhongshu (ca. 179-104 B.C.), eliminated all court positions of canonical scholars called Erudites ³Õ¤h who taught non-Confucian books, in effect establishing Confucianism as the sole teaching of the imperial court. The court's privileging of the "Confucian canon" became a critical part of the establishment of Confucianism as orthodoxy in the Song (960-1279), with the emergence of the civil service examination system ¬ìÁ| as the most important means of appointment to positions in the bureaucracy.
Besides promoting a specific curriculum in the examination halls, the court also articulated its understanding of Confucian orthodoxy in a temple called the Kong temple ¤Õ¼q, or the Temple of Culture ¤å¼q. Here the spirits of Kongzi, his disciples, and later canonical exegetes and "transmitters of the Way" were enshrined and received sacrifices from representatives of the emperor. The question of which Confucians of later ages would be enshrined in the temple was controversial because it raised such issues as which commentaries on the Confucian canon were acceptable and, by the Song, who was believed to have received the true transmission of the Dao from Kongzi and Mengzi (Mencius). A basic chronology of enshrinement shows the gradual canonization of the Dao School ¹D¾Ç version of the Confucian tradition, beginning in the 1240s and particularly by Ming times.
The imperial court promoted Confucianism by posthumously ennobling Kongzi, first as duke and later as king. In addition to elevating the figure of Kongzi to ever greater status, emperors also conferred hereditary titles of nobility upon his descendants, initially as marquises, and by Song times as dukes; a position Kongzi's descendants held until the 1940s. Critical to this careful attention to the person of Kongzi as the embodiment of the literati tradition was the state cult, which centered upon offering sacrifices to Kongzi's spirit in the Kong temple.
An important event in the canonizing process occurred in 195 B.C., when the founding emperor of the Han dynasty, Han Gaozu º~°ª¯ª (r. 206-195 B.C.), offered a Great Sacrifice ¤Ó¨c to the spirit of Confucius at his tomb in Qufu. As early as 241, sacrfices to the spirits of Kongzi and his most prominent disciple, Yan Hui, were offered in the Imperial University (Biyong). The first state temple devoted to Kongzi was built in the Liu-Song, which ruled over south China from 420 to 479. The Confucius temple in Beijing was first built in 1302, and was periodically repaired and rebuilt during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. Beginning in the Tang era, and particularly from Song times on, the state sacrifices to Confucius in the capital became increasingly complex and closely regulated by an official liturgy.
When the founder of the Southern Song dynasty reestablished the capital in Lin'an (modern Hangzhou), an imperial Confucius Temple was constructed. Kongzi's forty-eighth generation descendant, Duke Kong Duanyou ¤ÕºÝ¤Í, followed the Song emperor, and established the southern Kong lineage «n¤Õ. By 1136 the Kongs settled in Quzhou, Quzhou, Zhejiang ®ý¦¿Åü¦{, where they converted the local school temple into a temple operated by Kongzi's descendants. Later a family temple honoring Kongzi was established at a nearby lake. Around 1279, when the Southern Song fell, this temple was destroyed by fire, and was not rebuilt until 1407. The present day Quzhou Confucius temple was moved to its current location in 1520.
According to most accounts, a temple honoring Kongzi was built in his hometown in 478 B.C. (17th year of Duke Ai of Lu), a year after his death. The sources suggest that, since the early years of this temple, the spirits of Kongzi and his disciples were represented with wall paintings and clay or wooden statues. After years of court debate, it was decided in 1530 that these spirits would not be represented by an iconic image of his likeness in the imperial temples in the capital and other bureaucratic locations. Opponents of iconic representations of Kongzi argued that such statues copied Buddhist practices of temple worship and also tended to confuse ritual ideas in ancestral sacrifice. They argued that imperial temples were constructed to honor Kongzi's teachings, not just the spirit of the flesh-and-blood man. The statues of Kongzi were removed from official temples, but they remained in the temples operated by Kongzi's family descendants, such as this statue of Kongzi in the Main Hall of Great Completion of the Confucius Temple in Qufu.
Evidence suggests that as early as the eleventh century, Confucius temples had rooms to pay sacrifices to Confucius' father Shuliang He ¨û±ç¬ø, and in 1048, a hall was built for this purpose. During the Yuan and Ming dynasties, ritualists explored the connection between the family cult of Confucius' descendants and the state cult of Confucius. When Shuliang He was posthumously honored as Duke who Gave Birth to the Sage ±Ò¸t¤½, shrines called the Shrine for the Duke who Gave Birth to the Sage (Qisheng ci ±Ò¸t¯¨) were constructed to honor Confucius' father. The shrine in Qufu pictured here, was located immediately west of the Hall of Great Completion in 1729. The Qufu shrine has fallen into disrepair and is currently undergoing renovation; pictured here is the spirit statue of Shuliang He.
Bibliography of sources on Confucius, his cult, and the intellectual traditions that trace their origins to him

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Appendix A. "Confucianism"
The word "Confucianism" is a sixteenth-century Jesuit conceit that purports to be a translation of a Chinese term. The most common Chinese term for what Westerners call Confucianism, however, is more felicitously rendered the "School of the Learned" (Ru jia ¾§®a). This educated Ru group may have emerged within lower echelons of the aristocracy as early as the Shang °Ó (1766-1027 B.C.), but it was apparently not understood as a distinctive school of thought until relatively late. The three most prominent figures of the early "School of the Learned" -- viz., Confucius (Kongzi), Mencius (Mengzi), and Xunzi -- did not use it to name their tradition. They tended to speak, instead, of the "Way of the Gentleman" §g¤l¤§¹D, not so much as a name for a philosophical tradition than as a prescriptive persona who successfully embodied the qualities and conduct they valued most. In one of the earliest histories of ancient Chinese philosophy, Sima Tan ¥q°¨½Í (d. 110 B.C.) names the "School of the Learned" (or Ru jia) among other competing philosophical schools ®a in order to demonstrate that only the School of the Way and Potency ¹D¼w (usually referred to as Daoism) can encompass the strengths of all schools. The division of the philosophical masters ¤l and their followers of the late Zhou into discrete schools gained greater currency in the Han when Sima Tan's essay appeared in the Historical Records ¥v°O, begun under his editorship and completed by his son, Sima Qian ¥q°¨¾E. Even in Liu Xiang's ¼B¦V (77-6 B.C.) more "Confucian" essay summarizing seven schools of the late Zhou, one is struck by a concern that Kongzi's followers had splintered rather than unified this school. Liu distinguishes among 103 schools ®a of Kongzi's followers, divided according to different exegetical traditions of the Confucian canon. Two other terms to refer to this school were coined in Sima Qian's Historical Records: the "forest of the learned" (ru lin ¾§ªL), which became the standard term in most subsequent dynastic histories, and Ru Learning ¾§¾Ç, which, along with Ru jia, is commonly used today to refer to Confucianism.

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Appendix B. Posthumous noble titles conferred upon Kongzi

  • (¦èº~¥­«Ò¤¸©l¤¸¦~¤»¤ë¤Q¤é = 7/9/AD 1): Exalted Ni Duke of Consummate Perfection ½Ç¦¨«Å¥§¤½ (Ni is a reference to Mt. Ni, southeast of Qufu, where Kongzi's mother prayed for a child before he was born.)
  • A.D. 492 («áÃQ°ª¯ª§µ¤å«Ò¤Ó©M¤Q¤»¦~): Sage of Culture Venerable Ni ¤å¸t¥§¤÷
  • 580 («á©PÀR«Ò¤j¶H¤G¦~¤T¤ë¤@¤é = 4/1?/580): Duke of the state of Zou ¹Q°ê¤½
  • 581 (Ðäå«Ò¶}¬Ó¤@¦~): First Teacher Venerable Ni ¥ý®v¥§¤÷
  • 628 (­ð¤Ó©v­sÆ[¤G¦~): First Sage ¥ý¸t
  • 637 (­ð¤Ó©v­sÆ[¤Q¤@¦~): Exalted and Venerable «Å¤÷
  • 657 (­ð°ª©vÅã¼y¤G¦~): restored to First Sage ¥ý¸t
  • 739 (­ð¥È©v¶}¤¸¤G¤Q¤C¦~¤K¤ë¤G¤Q¤T¤é¤K¤ë¤G¤Q¥|¤é = 10/1/739): Exalted King of Culture ¤å«Å¤ý
  • 1008 (§º¯u©v¤j¤¤²»²Å¤¸¦~¤Q¤@¤ë¤@¤é = 12/1/1008): Profound Sage and Exalted King of Culture ¥È¸t¤å«Å¤ý
  • 1013 (§º¯u©v¤j¤¤²»²Å¤­¦~¤Q¤G¤ë¤G¤Q¤E¤é = 2/12/1013): Ultimate Sage and Exalted King of Culture ¦Ü¸t¤å«Å¤ý
  • 1307 (¤¸ªZ©v¤j¼w¤Q¤@¦~¤C¤ë¤Q¤K¤é = 8/16/1307): Great Completer, Ultimate Sage and Exalted King of Culture ¤j¦¨¦Ü¸t¤å«Å¤ý
  • 1530 (©ú¹Å¹t¤E¦~): Ultimate Sage, First Teacher Master Kong ¦Ü¸t¥ý®v¤Õ¤l
  • 1645 (²M¥@¯ª¶¶ªv¤G¦~¤@¤ë¤G¤Q¤T¤é = 2/19/1645): Great Completer, Ultimate Sage, Exalted First Teacher of Culture ¤j¦¨¦Ü¸t¤å«Å¥ý®v¤Õ¤l

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    Appendix C. Chronology of enshrinement in the Culture Temple
  • Kongzi received the main offering as sage ¸t in the temple of the Tang era and Yan Hui ÃC¦^ received offerings as correlate °t. For a short time in the seventh century the Duke of Zhou ©P¤½ was placed in the primary position facing south as sage. In 657 the Duke of Zhou was removed and enshrined in the temple for kings of the Zhou dynasty. Also ten of Kongzi's disciples were enshrined as savants ­õ for their surpassing virtue in conduct, speech, governance, culture and learning (see Analects 11.3).
  • 647: enshrinement of twenty-two canonical commentators and exegetes from the Zhou to the Han
  • 720: seventy of Kongzi's disciples formally enshrined
  • 1083: Mengzi (Mencius) enshrined as a correlate with Yan Hui; Xunzi (Hsun-tzu), Yang Xiong, and Han Yu enshrined as scholars ¾§
  • 1104: Wang Anshi enshrined as correlate after Mengzi (later demoted to scholar in 1126 and removed entirely in 1241)
  • 1241: five Dao School (Daoxue) masters (Zhou Dunyi, Zhang Zai, the Cheng brothers, Zhu Xi) enshrined
  • 1267: Zeng Can (reputed author of the Great Learning) and Kong Ji (reputed author of the Doctrine of the Mean) were promoted to correlates marking the court's recognition of the canonical status of the Four Books; enshrinement of Shao Yong, Sima Guang, and Lu Zuqian
  • 1530: enshrinement of five Song Confucians (including Ouyang Xiu and Lu Xiangshan); removal of thirteen scholars and canonical exegetes; demotion of seven others to local temples; elimination of earlier ranking system based on posthumous titles (king, duke, marquis, earl) and exclusive use of a hierarchy that divided the men enshrined into sage, correlate, savant (housed in the main temple hall) and worthy ½å and scholar ¾§ (housed in the eastern and western cloisters)
  • 1642: six Dao School masters (Zhou Dunyi, the Cheng brothers, Zhang Zai, Shao Yong, and Zhu Xi) elevated to status of worthy
  • 1712: Zhu Xi elevated to correlate
  • 1724: restoration of several scholars removed in 1530

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    Appendix D. Versions of the Confucian Canon
    Tang ­ð:
    Imperial Edition (653)
    Correct Meaning of the Five Classics ¤­¸g¥¿¸q
    Ed. Kong Yingda, et al.
  • Mao Odes ¤ò¸Ö: Mao Heng ¤ò¦ë (3rd c. B.C.)
  • Record of Rites §°O: Zheng Xuan ¾G¥È (127-200)
  • Book of Documents ©|®Ñ: Kong Anguo ¤Õ¦w°ê (156-174?)
  • Zhou Changes ©P©ö: Wang Bi ¤ý´] (226-249)
  • Zuo Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals ¬K¬î¥ª¶Ç: Du Yu §ù¹w (222-284)
    Tang-Song ­ð¡ã§º:
    Nine Classics ¤E¸g
  • Zheng Xuan ¾G¥È (127-200), Mao Odes ¤ò¸Ö
  • _______, Record of Rites §°O
  • _______, Rites of Zhou ©P§
  • _______, Ceremonial Rites »ö§
  • Kong Anguo ¤Õ¦w°ê (156-174?),Ancient Text Book of Documents ¥j¤å©|®Ñ
  • Wang Bi ¤ý´] (226-249), Zhou Changes ©P©ö
  • Du Yu §ù¹w (222-284), Zuo Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals ¬K¬î¥ª¶Ç
  • He Xiu ¦ó¥ð (129-182), Gongyang Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals ¬K¬î¤½¦Ï¶Ç
  • Fan Ning ­SÚ¬ (339-401), Guliang Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals ¬K¬î½\±ç¶Ç
    Yuan ¤¸:
    The Four Books ¥|®Ñ and Five Classics ¤­¸g
  • Zhu Xi ¦¶¿Q (1130-1200), Analects ½×»y³¹¥y¶°ª`
  • _______, Mencius ©s¤l³¹¥y¶°ª`
  • _______, Great Learning ¤j¾Ç³¹¥y¶°ª`
  • _______, Doctrine of the Mean ¤¤±e³¹¥y¶°ª`
  • _______, Basic Meaning of the Zhou Changes ©P©ö¥»¸q
  • Cai Shen ½²¨H (1167-1230), Collected Commentaries on the Book of Documents ®Ñ¸g¶°¶Ç
  • Zhu Xi ¦¶¿Q (1130-1200), Collected Commentaries on the Odes ¸Ö¸g¶°¶Ç
  • Chen Hao ³¯æP (fl. Yuan dynasty), Collected Explanations on the Record of Rites §°O¶°»¡
  • Hu Anguo ­J¦w°ê (1074-1138), Three Commentaries on the Spring and Autumn Annals ¬K¬î¤T¶Ç
    Ming ©ú:
    Imperial Edition (1415)
    Great Collection of the Four Books and Five Classics ¥|®Ñ¤­¸g¤j¥þ
    Ed. Hu Guang, et al.
  • Four Books: Ni Shiyi ­Ù¤h¼Ý, ¥|®Ñ¿èÄÀ
  • Change: Dong Zhenqing ¸³¯u­ë, ©P©ö·|³q; Hu Yigui ­J¤@®Û, ©P©ö¥»¸q; Hu Bingwen ­J¬±¤å, ©P©ö¥»¸q³qÄÀ
  • Odes: Zhu Xi ¦¶¿Q, ¸Ö¸g¶°¶Ç
  • Documents: Chen Li ³¯òR, ©|®Ñ¶°Ä¡; Chen Shikai ³¯®v³Í, ®Ñ½²¶Ç®Ç³q
  • Rites: Chen Hao ³¯æP, §°O¶°»¡
  • Spring and Autumn Annals: Wang Kekuan ¨L§J¼e: ¬K¬îÄ¡²¨; Li Lian §õ·G: ¬K¬î½Ñ¶Ç·|³q
    Qing ²M:
    Commentaries on the Thirteen Classics ¤Q¤T¸gª`²¨ (1797)
    Ed. Ruan Yuan
  • Wang Bi ¤ý´] (226-249), Zhou Changes ©P©ö¥¿¸q
  • Kong Yingda ¤Õ¿o¹F (574-648), Book of Documents ©|®Ñ¥¿¸q
  • _______, Mao Odes ¤ò¸Ö¥¿¸q
  • _______, Record of Rites §°O¥¿¸q
  • Jia Gongyan ¸ë¤½«Û (fl. 655), Rites of Zhou ©P§
  • _______, Ceremonial Rites »ö§
  • He Xiu ¦ó¥ð (129-182), Gongyang Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals ¬K¬î¤½¦Ï¶Ç
  • Fan Ning ­SÚ¬ (339-401), Guliang Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals ¬K¬î½\±ç¶Ç
  • Du Yu §ù¹w (222-284), Zuo Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals ¬K¬î¥ª¶Ç
  • He Yan ¦ó®Ë (d. 249), Analects ½×»yª`²¨¸Ñ¸g Xing Bing ¨·Îô (932-1010), Filial Piety §µ¸g¥¿¸q
  • _______, Erya º¸¶®²¨
  • Sun Shi ®]¼] (962-1033), Mencius ©s¤lª`²¨¸Ñ¸g

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    Other websites on Confucianism and Chinese religions and philosophy

    Links to web sources on Asian Philosophy and Religions maintained by the Institute of Chinese Studies, University of Heidelberg

    Joseph Adler's links for Chinese religions and philosophy

    Benjamin Elman's Classical Chinese Historiography for Chinese History: a bibliography of sources on pre-twentieth century Chinese history

    Wesleyan Neo-Confucian Etext Project: Chinese character versions of the Four Books and major writings by Zhu Xi, Wang Yangming, and Liang Qichao

    University of Heidelberg's classified and annotated overview of useful Internet Resources concerning Chinese Religions

    Steven A. Brown's Chinese Philosophy Page

    Stephen Angle's Chinese Philosophical Etext Archive

    Bryan W. Van Norden's Essential Readings on Chinese Philosophy

    and also Bryan W. Van Norden's selected list of Chinese philosophy-related links

    Bibliography on Confucius and Confucianism


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