II - On Confucius

As you may know, I live in the hamlet of Phoenicia, in the Catskill Mountains.  Because I am rural, I must read books.  (Formerly I lived on 11th Street for 10 years, and read only newspapers I recovered from the garbage.)  Also, I own no TV.  The books I read are dictated by opportunity and whim.  My wife works at The Phoenicia Library, one room of which is a bookstore -- books donated to the library are sold therein.  Because I am married to a librarian, I may take any of the books for free.  This is a kind of wealth, for me.

One day I saw Confucius and Confucianism by Richard Wilhelm atop one of the piles in the library bookstore.  I opened it, saw how big the print was, and felt I would read it.  I had just read Joan of Arc by Jules Michelet, a 19th-century classic biography, and I was excited to become a scholarly reader.

I began the book almost immediately, read it quite slowly (probably over a month) and found it successful and improving.  Normally, I don't read spiritual texts; I fear reading them only confuses me.  But this book, which I took to be historical biography, transformed into a spiritual lesson unexpectedly.  Richard Wilhelm refuses to accept the stereotype of Confucius -- that he emphasized strict filial piety and ritual.  He insists that Confucius was an exalted being.  How can one assess this claim?

My favorite part of the book is certainly on page 6 where Sse-Ma Ch'ien casually remarks: "Confucius was nine feet six inches tall."  This is the only miraculous statement in the biography.  Unlike Jesus, who performed numerous remarkable feats, Confucius confined himself merely to height.

Could Confucius really have been nine feet six inches tall?  Does this mean something?  Is there some kind of numerology in the measure? (And what does the original say?  I have a feeling the ancient Chinese did not measure in feet.)

It happens that I lived, as a youth, in the same housing project as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.  He is six years older than me, and I watched him grow to his seven foot one height.  We called him "Louie Longlegs" -- at that time his name was "Lew Alcindor."  One of my most memorable images from childhood was Kareem walking past a policeman, who appeared like a child beside him.

This image, of a man dwarfing a police officer, could apply to Confucius as well.  What a brave figure he was!  The whole history of Confucius took place in regard to state power.  As Wilhelm presents him, he is an evolved person who sought to influence the policy of kings.  His nine foot and a half stature reveals (assuming it is not a metaphor) that he was above everyone he met.

***

I write this on Martin Luther King Day, and the story of Martin Luther King seems connected to Confucius.  I wish I knew what each of you thought individually of Martin Luther King.  I am uncertain of my own view of him.  One can say, however, that he had a spiritual vision -- in fact, he has become the soundbite "I have a dream."  (For some reason, in America one cannot speak of a "vision."  A person who announces publicly, "I have a vision" will be taken to a corrective mental facility.  And President Bush the Father spoke of the "vision thing" with vexation -- the tradition that American presidents must have some overarching Goal.)  But Martin Luther King's imagined dream, though spiritual, existed in politics.

Let us say, "The Rev. Martin Luther King supported a broad compassion" -- and this compassion must manifest through state power.  Also, King was a realist.  He must have been a realist, because he won his major struggle.  He died in Memphis supporting a strike by sanitation workers.  That is realism.  Jesus never supported striking sanitation workers.  Jesus' advice was "pray unceasingly."  Martin Luther King's advice was "pray and then act."

Compassion, realism, state power: these are Confucian elements (as described by Wilhelm).

Five years ago I heard someone say, "Martin Luther King would have been president, had he not been killed."  I had never considered this, but this is a key suggestion.  Personally, I doubt American racism would have allowed his presidency, but it is a logical projection of King's life.  Like Confucius, he required state power.

Is it significant that King was shot and Confucius was not?  Does this reveal some truth of Confucian politics?

Perhaps Confucius was closer to Jesse Jackson than to Martin Luther King.

Whom does Confucius remind you of, in the present world -- or any world?

***

Part of the reason Confucius seems so different to me in this book -- different from my theory and conception of "Confucius", is that his name here is usually "K'ung."  I have numerous images of "Confucius," but none of "K'ung."  I am a believer that words change everything -- that the word "banana", for example, deeply affects the taste of bananas.  The beautiful name "K'ung" (I hope I pronounce it well) remakes Confucius.

How can we know if Confucius was a great man?  McLuhan wrote: "We don't know if Homer wrote The Odyssey, or another blind poet by the same name."  These long-dead heroes may be only imaginings, or even gods.  There is no clear way for us to decide.  What can we say about this heroic, storied Chinese man, 2500 years past?

***

If I may, allow me to present a Confucian meditation.  The purpose of this meditation: compassion on earth.  There will be three stages to this meditation: silence, the awareness of compassion, compassion on earth.

Let us began with the luxury of silence.

Now let us sense, if we can, the presence of compassion -- that patient and awakening type of love.

Let us now see within us: compassion on earth.  Not compassion above, or below, but exactly on earth.

***

What is the significance of Confucius' fascination with music?  (Page 55)

Page 92 "Confucius founded the first private school..."

Page 153 the comparison of Lao Tzu and Confucius

Page 87 "a great change which took place in the master in his 60th year"

Page 89 "and Confucius there is, at first sight, absolutely nothing to attract our attention."

Page 91 the greatness of Confucius

What does his meeting with Lao Tzu signify (on page 7)?

***

"It is only the wisest and the stupidest who can't change." - Confucius

Here are recent poems (actually, the first is a song) that I have written while considering Confucius:

You Animist You

When we walk in the park

You notice every tree

When we go to the beach

You always drink the sea

You animist you

You animist you

When you pass a flower shop

You blow a kiss

To a daffodil

Or an Iris

You animist you

You animist you

And if we ever saw

A pixie or an elf

I'd say you must have

Brought him there yourself

You animist you

You animist you

 

Arabic Nuclear

The word for "nuclear"

in Arabic means

"10,000 flames"

 

Quote

"All famous people are losers."- Gore Vidal

 

Beth

forgetting to be lovely

she left

the room --

her feet now big

 

Outside the Fashion Institute of Technology

she holds a T-square

in the rain

 

Winter

snow

in the

lap

of the

Gertrude

Stein

statue

1/16/03, Bryant Park