An English Teacher in China

The more I read through this famous book by Confucius, the more the information sinks in.  As a teacher, I think he had some great practices: not helping students who don’t help themselves first; teaching to each individual: building up the confidence of a weaker student and knocking a cocky student down a peg;  always learning by always asking questions.  As I read through his Analects, I can’t help but compare the writing to a modern day blog: there are lots of short posts in each chapter, some related, some not, but all interesting in some way.  Here are my favourites from Chapter 17...

6/ Zi Zhang asked Confucius how to be benevolent. Confucius said, “tho embrace five qualities at once is benevolent.” Zi Zhang asked, “what are the five qualities?” Confucius said, “They are gravity, tolerance, trustworthiness, diligence, and generosity.  With gravity you will not be humiliated; tolerance brings the suppport of the mulititude; trustworthiness wins the trust of others; diligence pave the way to success; and generosity makes it easy to exercise control over others.”

14/ Confucius said, “To indulge in gossip and spreading rumours is to abandon virtue.”

Don’t spread rumours, as juicy as they might be.  It never pays off.  It really can only hurt you in the end.

17/ Confucius said, “A man who speaks with honeyed words and pretends to be kind cannot be benevolent.”

Words alone don’t work, no matter how sweet they sound.  It’s your actions and the honest thoughts behind those actions that matter.

22/ Confucius said, “He who always has a full stomach but does nothing meaningful is simply a good-for-nothing.  Is there not a game of chess? Even playing chess is better than idling the time away.”

Doing something is always better than doing nothing.  I really like this quote especially, when I want to procrastinate and watch a movie or something.  There is always something better to do…like play a game of chess.

25/ Confucius said, “Only women and petty men are difficult to deal with.  When you let them get close , they are insolent; when you keep them at a distance, they complain.”

I don’t know why, but I quite enjoy his remarks about women.  I guess that if even the great Kong Fu Zi could have woman problems, then anyone can.  For me it makes him more real, more human, for having such challenges.  Even he could have learned something from Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus, or from talking honestly with his woman.

26/ Confucius said, “There are no prospects for a man who is still disliked by the age of forty.”

I got to get a move on.  Frighteningly 40 is around the corner for me.