The Confucius Temple

Last week I visited a Confucius temple completely by mistake. The wonderful thing about Suzhou is there are so many things to see and such wonderfully designed places that you can stumble upon many things on a very short walk.

So I don't know much about Confucius but I just googled some stuff. It turns out Confucious is a very famous Chinese philosopher (that much I knew) who lived from approximately 551-479 BC. He is best known for the influence his philosophy had on China.

During the Zhou (Chou) dynasty. Confucius had many followers who absorbed his great wisdom and furthered his teaching upon his death. Though none of his teachings were ever put into writing, his disciples have handed down the priciples of his philosophy. His major moral and political teachings revolved around being a good and fair person.

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, "Confucius himself had a simple moral and political teaching: to love others; to honor one's parents; to do what is right instead of what is of advantage; to practice 'reciprocity,' i.e. 'don't do to others what you would not want yourself'; to rule by moral example instead of by force and violence; and so forth. Confucius thought that a ruler who had to resort to force had already failed as a ruler. 'Your job is to govern, not to kill.'"

After Confucius died, he was buried in a grave in the city of Ch'uFu, Shandong, which today is known as the K'ung forest. Because of his popularity, every city in China has a temple built in his honour.

Confucianism is a form of spiritualality/religion that is still practiced in China. This was one such temple that was built in his honour.

Here are a few quotes from Confucius:

"Everything has its beauty, but not everybody sees it."

"Study the past if you would define the future."

"It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop."