Confucius and Lao Tzu

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Confucius and Lao Tzu

Confucius and Lao Tzu were two highly known scholars in Ancient China. These scholars with their intellectual writings changed the views of the Chinese people. Confucius believed in the moral values and filial piety, he also wanted civic obedience. Lao Tzu was a mystical writer, his comparison between a "perfect world" and the "real world" made people think to act as loving and caring peoples. (Expand on what they thought about)

Confucius was brought to the world sometime in 551 BCE in the state of Lu. Confucius was born to the name K’ung Ch’iu, and his father died when he was only 3 years old, leaving his family to a life of poverty. Even though poor, Confucius was given a fine education. Then at the age of 19, he married and had a son and two daughters, but after two years of marriage he was stricken with poverty once again. With poverty striking again he was forced into menial labors for the chief of the district in which he lived. When his mother died in 527 BCE he mourned for a long period of time. After this stage of his life he began a new way of life as a teacher, traveling from place to place with a small group of disciples preaching. His teachings of Chinese ideals and customs soon spread all throughout Lu. In his speeches he also taught the people gathered his view of filial piety and his views of moral values. Then at the age of fifty he was appointed as the minister of crime of Lu. This administration was very successful, and Confucius made Lu very powerful and free from crime. Confucius never wrote his teachings out on paper himself, however they were passed down through his disciples and later wrote out in text form in a document called "Lun Yu."(Encarta ’98, "Confucius)

Lao Tzu was born sometime around 570 in the province of Henan and there he was a court librarian. Lao Tzu was not his real name; this name was given to him as an honorific title meaning "Old Master." Lao Tzu spoke to groups of people, about life the way he thought it should be, which was a natural way of life with goodness, serenity, and respect. He did not lay down any code of law of behavior; he believed that conduct came from instincts. He also believed that human life as well as everything else was influenced by outside forces, and simplicity was the key to truth and freedom.

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