Confucius is easily one of the most famous men to ever have walk the planet. It was his teachings that made him so well known and many of them are still taught today. Born nearly five centuries before Jesus, it was the death of his mother that drove him toward teaching and away from the odd jobs he’d been filling before.
1. Crime Decimation
Confucius believed that if leaders were good, peaceful, and obedient, then those they were leading would do the same. He often encouraged government leaders and ordinary citizens to be polite and honest, leveling the playing field. At age 50, he was made a judge and the laws he created, based on these teachings, almost completely eliminated crime.
2. He Never Wrote
Although we have many books about the thoughts of Confucius, he never wrote one of them himself. His students got together to compile his thoughts into a useful compendium. When all was said and done, four books became the lasting legacy of Confucianism that have been studied for over 2,400 years. Not bad for a guy who grew up in a military family and worked as a bookkeeper for awhile.
3. The Golden Rule
Jesus is often known for his words of loving one’s neighbor as oneself. Confucius beat him to the punch by 5 centuries. He often taught that people should not wish upon others what they would not want to receive for themselves. To not impose upon people if that was not wanted. We often call thoughts like these the “Golden Rule” because it should be the foundation of how we treat one another.
4. The Largest Family Tree
The descendants of Confucius have been managing his family tree since his death. To date, more than 80 generations have been recorded in documenting father-to-son relationships in the Kong family. This makes it the most extensively recorded pedigree that is in the world today. There are an estimated 3 million total descendants, of which two-thirds have been registered and documented.
Confucius changed the world with just a few simple thoughts. Now imagine how you could change the world putting those thoughts into tangible action. There’s a reason why Confucianism has lasted for over 2,400 years. It works.
