Confucius' respect for life

Confucius was a scholar from the Spring and Autumn Period in ancient China, around 550 B.C. Today, he is considered the founder of Confucianism.

The following words appear in Chapter 27 of the Shu Er section of the "Analects of Confucius" angled but did not use a net. He shot, but not at birds perching."

This means that Confucius caught fish by fishing, but did not use a net and although he did shoot arrows with a string attached to them, he did not shoot sleeping birds.

When Confucius was young, his family was poor, and he worked on a farm. To support his parents, he sometimes caught fish by fishing and caught birds by shooting arrows. Although he caught fish by fishing, he did not block the flowing water and catch even young fish with a net. Even when he had no choice but to catch birds, he did not kill sleeping birds. Since he treated animals similarly, we can see how he treated people. Doing this at a young age shows that Confucius' innate character was noble and that he had the character of a saint. Confucius was not the only one who has this kind of mindset. Even if we do not speak of Mencius' theory of nature and goodness, it is human nature to cherish life and abhor killing. Who likes to kill living creatures? Because life is difficult and competition is fierce, their hearts become hardened and cruel, and they end up harming not only animals but also people.

So this aspect of Confucius is an example of the spirit of respect for life. The act of cruelly abusing animals does not end with simply abusing them. The trend of disregarding human life that is prevalent in our society is not a phenomenon that occurred overnight. Illegal hunting practices such as using pesticides to catch fish and migratory birds or setting snares to brutally catch wild animals not only destroy nature but also implicitly spread a cruel mindset that takes killing lightly. These cruel feelings expand to committing atrocious crimes such as kidnapping children and kidnapping and murdering women. The reason vicious and cruel crimes are increasing day by day is that people are losing their empathy and inability to harm others. We need an education that fosters a love for life in children. When fishing, you only catch a few fish, but when you fish, you catch all the fish within that range. When this happens, the baby fish disappear. Therefore, nets should not be used. This is an attitude of caring for nature.

Confucius valued human morality and recognized that all living things are interconnected. His teachings, therefore, emphasize the importance of respect for life and peaceful coexistence. It conveys that living in harmony without harming nature is a truly moral life. This belief still has many implications for the importance of environmental protection and sustainable living. These teachings of Confucius play a big role in encouraging people to be considerate of each other and not to forget respect for all living things. Confucius' philosophy of respect for life emphasizes the harmonious relationship between humans and nature. The expression "do not kill the sleeping bird" means that natural life should be respected and not harmed.

Park Sung-ik (parksi48@naver.com) is a retired English teacher from Pungmoon Girls' High School.