Today’s A Journey through Aesthetic Realms will be presented in Chinese, with subtitles in Arabic, Aulacese (Vietnamese), Chinese, English, French, German, Hungarian, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Mongolian, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Thai.

Halo, noble viewers. In today’s program, we introduce one of China’s most important enlightened masters of all time, Confucius. Confucius was born in China at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period in 551 BC.

Confucius’ last name was Kong and his first name was Qiu. He was also known as Zhong Ni. When Confucius was three years old, his father passed away. He and his mother, Ms. Yan then moved to Jue Li in Lu state. At the time Lu was considered the center of Chinese culture and music and this environment constructively influenced young Confucius’ development.

Though he lived in a disadvantaged household, beginning at age 15 young Confucius devoted himself to the pursuit of learning. Following his mother’s passing when he was 24, Confucius became even more dedicated to his studies and visited all the saints and famous teachers of the time.

Thus he humbly gained knowledge in a wide range of fields and mastered many skills. Among his teachers were the learned and multi-talented Yan Zi and the Chinese lyre musician Shi Rang. Confucius completed his studies at age 30 and began accepting his own students. He would take anyone who asked to be his student even if he was only given a simple gift in exchange.

When the king of Qi state came to Lu, he visited Confucius because of the sage’s fame. The noble people of Lu often consulted Confucius on different issues. His name became widespread because of his vast knowledge of many subjects.

Even after he became well-known, Confucius traveled to different places in China to meet saints. The wise and enlightened master Lao Tzu was a noted philosopher during the Spring and Autumn Period in China. In his 30s, Confucius went to visit Lao Tzu.

I am your lifelong admirer. Today, I want to ask you about your opinion on rituals.

The person who wrote the rituals is no long living. What’s left is his teaching only. A gentleman should serve in the government if he has the chance. If he is not born in the right time, he should be as flexible as the weeds which bend with the wind. I heard that a good businessman usually hides his goods from others, as if he has nothing. Likewise, a virtuous person should appear to be humble and unlearned. You should get rid of your pride and excess desires, put down your pretentious airs and unreachable ideals. They are not good for you. That’s all I can tell you.

I’ve learned a lot from this meeting today. I will now bid you farewell.

I heard the rich people give their properties as gifts, the wise people give their words as gifts. I am not rich, so I can only pretend to be wise and virtuous to give you a few words of advice, as your goodbye gifts. What I want to tell you is this: “An intelligent and insightful person is easily threatened by death, because he likes to argue with others; a learned, eloquent and knowledgeable person easily encounters difficulties and gets himself into trouble, because he likes to expose other people’s wrongdoings. No matter if you are a son in a family or an official in a royal court, you should try to set aside your ego and put yourself in the shoes of your parents and your king.”

I will always keep your words in mind.

Teacher, what is Lao Tzu like?

I know a bird can fly, a fish can swim and an animal can run, so I know how to deal with them. But I don’t know how to deal with a dragon because it flies above the clouds in the sky. When I saw Lao Tzu today, I felt that he is a dragon.

After returning to Lu state, Confucius had more and more students. Later a civil war began in Lu, so Confucius left for Qi. The king of Qi state, Qi Jing-gong asked Confucius for advice on ruling his country.

Confucius, may I ask you how to govern a country?

You can do it as long as you fulfill your duties as a king, the officials fulfill their duties as officials, the fathers fulfill their fatherly duties and the sons fulfill the duties of the son.

What you said is wonderful. If a king doesn’t fulfill his duties, the officials don’t fulfill their duties, the fathers don’t fulfill their duties and the sons don’t fulfill their duties, I can’t do anything even if I have all the tools.

On another occasion, Qi Jing-gong consulted Confucius again on governing the country. Confucius answered, “It’s important to be frugal and avoid overspending while governing the country.” Qi Jing-gong thought highly of Confucius and wanted to appoint him to an important government position.

However he learned that Confucius’ life would be in danger if he remained in Qi state, so he reluctantly let him go. Confucius returned to Lu state and continued to teach there. As time went by, he had more and more students from all corners of the country. Confucius taught his students to cultivate nobility, benevolence, and other virtues. Supreme Master Ching Hai has often spoken about the wisdom of this noble soul.

In the old time, only enlightened person are voted or recommended or revered as the king or queen or, you know, leader of the nation. That’s why in Confucius wisdom it is stated that you must first cultivate yourself, and then you can regulate your own household and your own personal affair. And then third, you can govern a country. And fourth, you can even pacify the whole world.

When we return, we will continue to review the life of the ancient master Confucius. Please stay tuned to Supreme Master Television.

Welcome back to A Journey through Aesthetic Realms, where we are examining the legendary life of Confucius, one of China’s greatest teachers of all time. At the age of 51, Confucius was appointed the head official in a town and was soon promoted to be the Grand Official of Justice for the state of Lu. Confucius advocated for using ethics to govern the country.

He once said, “If laws and punishment are used to manage people, then people will only behave to avoid being punished, rather than out of the sense of shame. If morals and ethics are used to manage people, they will feel ashamed for their wrongdoing and will try to walk on the righteous path.” As a justice official, Confucius knew very well the deterrent effect of severe punishment, but he also understood its many disadvantages. Thus he believed by promoting morals and ethics a nation could be great.

With Confucius’ wise assistance, Lu state became stronger and stronger. Fearing that Lu might become a major threat to Qi state, the Qi government sent many beautiful maidens to entertain the Lu king and his high officials with singing and dancing. As a result, the king of Lu didn’t hold court for three days.

Recognizing that he would not be able to implement his political ideals in Lu, at age 55 Confucius and 10 of his students including Yan Hui, Zi Lu, Zi Gong and Rang Qiu, left their motherland and roamed from state to state for the next 14 years. During his travels Confucius unfortunately encountered harassment, suspicion, civil wars and plots against him in many places and thus none of the states gave him the chance to implement his vision of good governance.

Once, King Chu Zhao invited Confucius to come to his state. Officials in the Chen and Cai states, worried that Confucius might help Chu state get stronger and thus become a threat, sent people to block Confucius and his followers from reaching their destination. Trapped in the wilderness, Confucius’ students became hungry and depressed, but Confucius continued to teach them poems, music and songs. He never stopped imparting knowledge. After a few days they finally managed to find some food and gave it to Yan Hui to prepare as he was the best cook in the group.

I dreamed of an ancestor last night. I think he was trying to help me to get out of trouble. Please bring me some food so that I can offer it to the ancestor before serving.

I can’t do it. Some dust fell into the food so I ate some of it.

It’s said that seeing is believing. But our eyes are not always reliable. We should believe in our heart. However, we can’t always rely on our heart either. It’s difficult to know a person.

Realizing that he had wronged Yan Hui, Confucius immediately apologized to his student and set a good example as a teacher. A few days later, they were able to make their way to Chu state. However, King Chu Zhao soon passed away. When Confucius was almost 70, the high official of Lu state, Ji Kangzi, invited him to return to Lu to serve as a revered elder statesman.

Thus Confucius returned to his homeland. However Confucius was never appointed to any important position. During this period Confucius devoted all his energy to compiling historical records and teaching. In 479 BC, Confucius passed away at the age of 73. People today still venerate Confucius as the “Sage” and “The Grand Master of All Ages.” The code of moral conduct and ethics that Confucius taught has become the guiding light in the lives and minds of Chinese people everywhere.

MS: Confucius was a Buddha, a great Buddha. He was an enlightened Master, in the past. His devotion to spiritual practice was very strong. He knew if the people in the world did not know the Tao and did not have morality, the world could not be pacified. We heard that he traveled to many countries to meet with many Kings.

We thought he was seeking government positions. No, he didn’t. As a spiritual practitioner, he had already stopped thinking about good and bad, he already knew God’s will, and he already became stable in his spiritual practice, why did he seek government positions and why did he seek power? He didn’t go to seek government positions. Instead, he wanted to make changes from the top down because he thought it was more effective that way and because he knew the proper way of conduct.

In ancient times, the Emperor was a Son of Heaven. If an Emperor said something, the whole nation would listen to him. So he thought it was better to make changes from the top. But he didn’t succeed every time either. It didn’t matter to him. He was doing his duty, being righteous. He knew we could not measure righteousness based on success and failure. “Righteousness” means we do what we should do.

Then we should let God’s will decide the result, and he already knew God’s will. He knew that when one was doing something, he should try his best. However, whether it was successful or not would depend on God’s will.

To close, we salute all teachers around the world on this Teacher’s Day. May the noble example set by Confucius continue to inspire teachers and students for centuries to come.

Thank you intelligent viewers, for your presence today on this episode of A Journey through Aesthetic Realms. Coming up next is Vegetarianism: The Noble Way of Living, after Noteworthy News. We wish you and your loved ones blessings and harmony.