The China of Confucius Series - Part 3It is unnecessary to recount in detail the almost constant wars of this period (770 b.c.) and the birth of Confucius (551 b.c.). Not only were the Chinese states always fighting with each other, and with the semibarbarian state of Ch'u, but the northern barbarians known as Ti were also an active menace at this time. At one point the reigning Chou king asked the Ti to help him against a Chinese enemy and ended by being temporarily ousted from his capital by the barbarians. A regular pattern developed of almost continuous warfare between the great peripheral states. The smaller states of the center would have been glad to remain neutral, but they could not; they were compelled to adhere to one side or the other and to change sides as new pressure was exerted. What was most unfortunate for them was the fact that, lying between the great states, they formed a predestined field of combat in which their powerful neighbors met for their battles, sometimes annually. Thus the great peripheral states were spared many of the horrors of war, but the central states got far more than their share. This is undoubtedly one reason why the philosophers of the central states were in general strong advocates of peace, while those of the peripheral areas tended to extol the glories of war.
Sometimes the armies of the great states did not fight each other but were content merely to punish the vacillation of the central states, and force them to swear new covenants of allegiance. The making of covenants was a solemn religious ceremony. A sacrificial animal was slain, and its blood was used to smear each copy of the agreement. Each of the rulers or officers subscribing to the treaty then read it aloud and smeared his lips with the blood of the victim. Finally, a copy of the treaty was buried along with the victim, so that the spirits might enforce its terms. Such a treaty made a few years before the birth of Confucius, forced upon the central state of Cheng and subscribed to by a group of states, ended as follows: "If any should fail to do as is enjoined by this agreement, may those who preside over men's sincerity and watch over covenants, [the spirits of] the famous mountains and rivers, the multitude of spirits and all those who are sacrificed to, and all the ancestcrs of our seven surnames and twelve states—may all these bright spirits punish him, so that he shall lose his people, his appointment shall fall to the ground, his family shall perish, and his state and his clan shall be utterly overthrown." A fearful oath. Yet within two months Cheng was compelled, under military pressure, to transfer its allegiance again.
Other states as well suffered in this manner. But the regularity with which Cheng was forced to swear eternal fealty to a new master became so farcical that at one point Cheng said frankly •hat the whole thing was meaningless, and asked that it be permitted to swear to be loyal, not to any particular state, but to whatever one acted as it ought to act.
This state of affairs had two important effects on men's thinking. First, it was quite obvious that states were constantly entering covenants with fearful sanctions and breaking them as soon as it was expedient, without suffering the penalties that the spirits were supposed to inflict. Indeed, it was those who tried to remain true to their undertakings even in the face of superior force who were made to regret it. It is quite natural, then, that in this period there was a growing scepticism as to even the existence of the spirits, not to mention their power. Second, not only religion but even ethics was shaken to its very foundations. Might seemed everywhere to be right, and the only right to which anyone but a fool would pay any attention.
Confucius' native state, Lu, was relatively small and weak. The wonder is that it was not destroyed and annexed by one of the large states. That it nevertheless persisted until the very end of the Chou dynasty is probably due in part to the fact that Lu was founded by the famous Duke of Chou, a brother of the founder of the dynasty, and was considered a repository of the ancient culture and ceremonies. It would have been easy for a powerful state to extinguish Lu, but it would not have looked well. This does not mean that the state had an easy time. It was constantly beset by troubles, from within and from without. As compared with the more central states, however, Lu suffered much less from war. James Legge has calculated that during the years covered by the Spring and Autumn Annals, 722-481 b.c., Lu was invaded only twenty-one times. While this is often enough, it is little for the period. State Spirit - Confucius and the Chinese Way - HG Creel
