Confucius

Question

adapted from Little Journeys
by Elbert Hubbard

Confucius was a man of aristocratic origin and some official importance in a small state called Lu. Here in a very parallel mood to the Greek impulse he set up a sort of Academy for discovering and teaching Wisdom. The lawlessness and disorder of China distressed him profoundly. He conceived an ideal of a better government and a better life, and travelled from state to state seeking a prince who would carry out his legislative and educational ideas. He never found his prince; he found a prince, but court intrigues undermined the influence of the teacher and finally defeated his reforming proposals.
Confucius died a disappointed man. "No intelligent ruler arises to take me as his master," he said, "and my time has come to die." But his teaching had more vitality than he imagined in his declining and hopeless years, and it became a great formative influence with the Chinese people. It became one of what the Chinese call the Three Teachings, the other two being those of Buddha and of Lao Tse.
The gist of the teaching of Confucius was the way of the noble or aristocratic man. He was concerned with personal conduct as much as the Greek with external knowledge and the Jew with righteousness. He was the most public-minded of all great teachers. He was supremely concerned by the confusion and miseries of the world, and he wanted to make men noble in order to bring about a noble world. He sought to regulate conduct to an extraordinary extent; to provide sound rules for every occasion in life. A polite, public-spirited gentleman, rather sternly self-disciplined, was the ideal he found already developing in the northern Chinese world and one to which he gave a permanent form.

Passage 2

Confusing Confucius

One day Zi Lu came to see his teacher, Confucius, about a question. The disciple knew it pleased his teacher when they asked questions because it "stimulated their thinking." Confucius was sitting outside his humble hut talking with Ping Hui, another student. When Confucius saw Zi Lu approaching, his wrinkled face brightened, and he held up his hand.
"Zi Lu! How go your studies?" the sage inquired.
"Very well, Master, but I have a question," the young man replied. "When we hear a good proposal, should we put it into practice at once?"
Confucius did not hesitate to answer. "You should always first ask someone with more experience," he advised.
Humbly bowing, Zi Lu thanked his teacher and went on his way, and Confucius continued his conversation with his student.
In a short while, Ran You approached and begged an audience with his teacher. Coincidentally, Ran You had the same question. "Teacher, when we hear a good proposal, should we put it into practice at once?"
"Of course, you should put it into practice at once," Confucius replied, much to the astonishment of Ping Hui. After Ran You left, Ping Hui inquired of his teacher about the apparent contradiction of his advice.
"Why did you give the men different answers to the same question?" he asked.
"Zi Lu tends toward hasty decisions, so he should be advised to be more cautious. Ran You hesitates too much when making decisions. He must be encouraged to boldness. It is only natural that different people should get different answers, Ping Hui."
1
In the passage "Confusing Confucius," how does the author contrast the points of view of Confucius's students and illustrate that they have new and surprising things to learn?
A.
He describes the devotion, eagerness, and politeness that students display by frequently approaching their master, Confucius.
B.
He pictures several students struggling to come up with questions about things that are hard to understand.
C.
He demonstrates that Confucius would spend a long time with one student even if his attention was interrupted by other students.
D.
He shows how one student gains an important truth after other students ask a question and get different answers based on their character.

Answer 1

D. He shows how one student gains an important truth after other students ask a question and get different answers based on their character.

This option accurately reflects how Confucius provides tailored advice to each student based on their individual tendencies, illustrating that his teachings can be surprising and nuanced, and that each student has new insights to gain from the answers they receive.